If you could go back and change the fate of ONE system...

So, say you get this power- you can go back in time and change the fate of any onegame system that came before. You could make a hit system a total bomb, and you could make a dismal flop a runaway hit. You can change the degree of its success any way you like, in any direction you like- the question is, which system would you go back and change the fortunes of?

For me, this was a hard question to think about. There are many deserving candidates that I think should have gotten different degrees of success than they really did (most notably, I'd want the Gamecube more successful than it was, and I'd have the Wii U be at least sell about 20 million than its current state; I'd make the Saturn and Dreamcast far more successful than they were, to keep Sega in the hardware business), but the system I ultimately settled on? It was none of those. It was this one:

The PS Vita is my favorite piece of gaming hardware, ever. I have never before held gaming hardware and found it to be so... perfect. So sublime, just so incredible and flawless in every way. It was the perfect handheld, too- the only issue was that of support. Sony never supported it, neither with games nor with marketing, and because Sony didn't back it, neither did anyone else. The result? The Vita sunk without a trace, and is one of the biggest failures in recent memory.

It's a damn shame, because the Vita's failure puts the entire handheld market in jeopardy. I don't want the handheld market in jeopardy. I love handheld gaming, and I love handhelds. And there has never been a better handheld than the PS Vita. It's just so perfect, I find myself trying to invent reasons to play on it even as no reasons exist, simply because I love playing on it so much.

I would have changed the Vita's fate. I don't care if it is more successful than the 3DS or not, here- what I would have wanted would have been for it to be a viable system in the handheld market, much like the PSP was. It would have been proof, alongside the already successful 3DS, that the handheld market was still viable. It would have shown us that there was room for a premium handheld in the market. Most importantly, it would have meant we would get more PlayStation handhelds in the future- and after just how incredible the PS Vita is, I want more PlayStation handhelds in the future.

So yes, that is the system I'd change the fate of. How about you? Which one would you pick? How would you change its fate? And why?

Dreamcast

/thread

I'd keep the SEGA CD, erase the 32X, and then make the Saturn financially successful. It's such a beast of a system, and yet only collectors and retro gamers seem to know it. Panzer Dragoon Saga alone wipes the floor with most gen 5 games, and rpgs of today even, but the only way to play it now is if you're willing to cough up $400 since there is still no PD collection. If the Saturn didn't bomb, SEGA might have had a shot to keep afloat since they did get the marketing and hardware right for the Dreamcast, aside from the critical blow of not having a DVD player. With all that said, I still think SEGA would have killed themselves eventually with how there was (and still) such a disconnect with SoJ and SoA.

Dreamcast!

I think most people will say the Dreamcast, that's the one system people loved a lot at that time.

Sure, but unless you can explain why you want to keep the Dreamcast around, there isn't much point to the answer, is there?

For what it's worth, the Dreamcast was one of my considerations before I settled on the Vita.

Definitely the Dreamcast.

I'm with the OP, Vita. Sony would put out more 1st Party games, no back touchpad, concave thumbsticks, cheap memory, and second set of triggers.

@Renegade_Fury: I'm reading a book called Console Wars right now, which actually goes into the schism between Sega of Japan and Sega of America in that era. I definitely recommend it.

^^^^^^^^ this!

Vita.

I mean, c'mon. You guys know how much I love the Vita. Do I really need to post why.

I would say n64 because it had great games.

Dreamcast, was way ahead of its time and bit the dust way too soon.

The N64, I would warn Nintendo that using cartridges instead of CD's would kill the system and cause Nintendo to fall and begin the rise of PS

It would be nice to have a PD collection with all 3 saturn games, would love to see a Shining Force 3 with all 3 parts localized as well. Just too bad people are price gouging PDS on ebay. $450+ for a game so rare there are 12 US copies available. Should be $200 at best ;\

Also I think the reason the biggest blow to the Dreamcast was how easy it was to obtain and play burned copies of games for the machine. They had nothing in place to protect themselves from piracy right as piracy hit its stride in the early 2000's.

The games, the developers, the risks and experimentation with strange and new ideas. The Dreamcast was what I would love to see every console embody, something different, something innovative, something that's not cookie cutter and something with a strong emphasis on arcade inspired games. After the Dreamcast passed on a lot of great developers seemed to as well and ideas for new games started to fall flat. My most fond memories of gaming for my entire life were on my Dreamcast, not my Xbox, not my PlayStation 2, not my GameCube, it just had something nothing else did, and it's a crying shame more people didn't get to experience it.

Oh yes, Shining Force 3 and its three scenarios is another one that needs a modern day release, and I still don't get why SEGA never bothered to localize Scenario 2 & 3 in the first place. Saga is constantly shocking me with its increase in value, because it was going for $200 a couple of years ago, but it seems like it jumps another $50-$100 annually now.

That was also another big blow, for sure. With the Saturn, you have actually to do some physical (albeit minor) modifications, but with the Dreamcast, all you have to do is insert the burned disc, and there you go.

@charizard1605: Yeah, they were definitely a mess of an organization. All you have to do is watch the story on Sonic Xtreme, and it paints the picture of how disorganized those guys were.

No there isn't and it's not my choice at all but I know the general consensus in here will be the Dreamcast just for nostalgi.

Yeah, I've been meaning to get a copy of PDS for years now, but the price is a major issue for me, I won't pay over $225 for it. It's also not at the top of my list, Super Marathon on the Apple PiPPiN is, and that's a game that's actually worth $500-1000 since it's actually rare, only about 500 copies in the wild iirc.

I used to use a boot disc and did the old swap trick on my DC, kept the boot disc for playing imports only. Saturn I have 2 or 3 different Memory upgrade carts that allow imports & burned disc, but I only use them for the extra memory.

The only correct answer............

This is a ruff one. On one hand I have the Sega Saturn with its imports and basically finished Shenmue. It makes me wonder if that could have helped the Saturn in the end. It has the Panzer Dragoon Saga which was excellent. It had a ton of schmumps. Nearly arcade, if not arcade perfect 2d fighters, including an arcade perfect Street Fighter Alpha 3. The best version of it. It had great RPG's that never made it over thanks to good ol Bernie.

On the other the best handheld of all time the PSVita. No I did not say that wrong. It's fantastic. I play that little bastard more than my PC, PS4, Xbone, and Neo Geo combined. That is a feat. It really is a tragic tale of how Sony squandered its potential.

It's honestly on par with Sega Japan/US managem ent in the late 90's and early 2000's. To this day if I have the choice of PS4 or PSVita versions I usually get the Vita version.

The Steam Machine

With the Steam's lackluster linux library during the SteamOS launch, I can't help but think that Valve should've been giving cash injections to various companies that would otherwise never bring a game to home computers. If it were up to me, i'd pay bribes to Bandai Namco Entertainment for Tales of Vesperia and Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme VS MAXI BOOST, Harmonix for a moddable Rock Band 4, Relic Entertainment so that they can buy themselves from Sega and get the Warhammer 40,000 license, PlatinumGames for Scalebound and ZeniMax Media for a remaster of Vanquish.

Dreamcast

They should have never done it period, Gabe Newell demonized Window's and Microsoft (what can you expect from an ex-employee) and tried to do something to spite them, and it backfired beautifully. Not only did he misjudge the market, he misjudged Microsoft and what they are and have been doing, he tried to paint them in a terrible light and now he looks like a horses ass.

Linux users make up less than 1% of the gaming populace on PC and all the Steam Machine is is a Linux based PC, what in the hell did he think he was going to accomplish with any of this...

Vita as Nintendo needs the competition.

@nyadc: I agree, it would have been for game if the dreamcast had a longer life.

Oh God...

1. Dreamcast
2. OG Xbox
3. Vita

I think those are my top 3. So many others.

I'd destroy the Famicom/NES, that way they wouldn't pollute the gaming industry.

so edgy

Vita. It's the perfect hardware if you could afford it. I think it missed out on a lot of console port and games in general because of the numbers.

Dreamcast to be a runaway hit, one of the best consoles of all time.

It was way ahead of the game when it released.

Probably Dreamcast because I remember a Castlevania game that was supposed to come out on it at one point but got cancelled I believe. Also I'm pretty sure there was a Japanese game based on one of my favorite Manga/Anime series called "Berserk".

I thought the PS Vita had lots of potential to be a great system. What let down consumers and developers was:

• Pricey proprietary memory sticks
• Lack of first party titles and AAA games
• The risk and costs of developing a AAA game for the PS Vita
• Not enough purchases incited enough big developers to make games for it.
• The size of the game cartridge is quite small to fit a console-like experience with portable aspects to it.
• Making games downloadable AAA games titles that take up a lot of space probably wouldn't sell as well because of the costly memory sticks. This is why we'll probably never see an ambitious open world title on it.
• The hardware was high end at the time but was quickly beaten by smart phones in about 2 years.

That said, the PSP was one of my favorite handheld devices of all time for gaming on the go. It got a huge library of amazing games.

I agree. The PS Vita, absolutely from a hardware perspective, is by far the best handheld system to have ever been released. If only Sony had bothered to market it properly and actually support it with proper, well-made first party titles, it might have made for a great, great system, whereas right now it remains a well made system with what will always remain vast untapped potential.

Original Xbox & Gamecube come to mind... both very underrated consoles that deserved better sales than they got.

Anything else doesn't make sense.

its a hard choice between the vita and gamecube.

i really wish the gamecube was more successful. it is the perfect console. excellent bang per buck in terms of horsepower, developer friendly (but hard to master), built like a tank and 100% focused on gaming. no bloat. the perfect console for me today would be one with the gamecube philosophy....just with an online store and network and a small HDD for saves and caching. no installs (unless the game is bought digitally of course..though it should be like steam: download and ready.), no OS taking up half the ram, minimal patches and no messing. just pop the disc in and get into the game quickly.

i really wish games like metroid prime and fzero GX were massive system sellers. these are masterclasses in how to make a game.

but then there is the vita. i bought the vita knowing full well that it wasnt doing well. i had a PSP before and was not impressed. i got it because i moved to a new place where my only gaming options had to be portable. so i had a laptop with limited gaming chops and 3dS. the vita would fill a bit of a gap i thought.

the second i took it out of the box the first thing to pop into my head was "why isn't this thing selling? its bloody excellent". as a piece of gaming hardware it set the standard for mobile gaming and still nothing has surpassed it (sure phones/tablets are more powerful but they are still rubbish gaming devices). the build quality is gamecube good, the screen is excellent, i love the interface (yes buttons and all), the controls are wonderful and the back touch surface is a great idea (im surprised tablets and phones havent adopted it....the pointless quest for thinness i suppose).

i think the first game i played on it was gravity rush and again the question popped into my head: "Why isnt this selling? its frickin amazing!!!".

it's difficult to choose between them to be honest. the one thing they both have in common though is that their manufacturers were their worst enemies. i wish it was the sony gamecube and nintendo vita. the vita with the 3DSs library and some of the 3rd party game available on the vita would be the second best gaming platform available today (hell the entry price would be worth it for monster hunter alone). the gamecube with the PS2s backing would have been a truly wonderful system.

Yep I have it. It's called Sword of the Berserk. Fantastic game

This and simply because when Sega was a console maker they were the most diverse, forward pushing and creative video game maker among all the game companies.

Agreed 100%.

For success I would go for N64 it had some of my favourite games.

For failure I would pick xbox/360 whichever one started the trend of paying to be online, day 1 dlc, moneyhatting 3rd party games and exclusive content. The only thing MS did not screw us with was microtransactions, that came from mobile which infested pc and now consoles. I don't hate xbox as I owned a 360 I just hate the crap policies that came with it.

Yeah, the Dreamcast is the system I wish would've seen more success.

The Sega Saturn since it was mainly what crippled Sega in the console market. The Dreamcast did semi-well but enough to get them out of their hole.

Literally all the Dreamcast needed to survive was better marketing, better disc protection and a DVD player, that's it. It still could have outlived what it did by a pretty large margin and gotten many more games if Sega just continued to push it as it was. It's a shame because it had so many wonderful things to offer, I am fortunate enough to have been able to acquire about 2/3 of its North American library, so I sit down and enjoy it all the time, still my most beloved console and I plan to get everything for it.

I think the N64, Wii U, and original Xbox all deserved much better sales than what they got, but ultimately my answer has to be the Dreamcast so that Sega would have continued making consoles.

@storm_of_swords: Having the Dreamcast be successful would not lead to Sega making more consoles. Sega had already decided the Dreamcast would be their last console in early 1998, before the console even got to launch in Japan. They were in too big of a financial hole after the triple whammies of Sega CD, 32X, and Saturn, they had lost $3 billion in four years. There was no getting out of that hole. Nothing short of a PS2/DS level success would have changed that.

Making the Dreamcast a success changes nothing, except the Dreamcast is now a success. Sega is still not a factor in the market afterwards. You want Sega around, you need to go back and make the Saturn a success.

Ooh, too hard a question.

The Vita for sure.