Worst console you ever owned?

Myrddin

kerinethan wrote: »

GameCube

I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten.

Retr0gamer

penev10 wrote: »

If the PS2 wasn't the cheapest DVD player at the time it would've had more competition from the DC imo.

Everyone says that it's the DVD player that sold the PS2 but at the time nobody really cared about it. Sure a handful of people probably bought it for the DVD player but it was a tiny amount. It was all about the brand name and games and the DC just didn't have a chance in that regard. When the PS2 was launched DVD wasn't really taking off, people were happy with VHS. It was the PS2 bringing DVD into the household that made DVD take off, especially in Japan. People bought the machine for the PS brand name and the promise of games like MGS2, the DVD was a nice extra that didn't matter to the vast majority of people.

The Last Bandit

LoGiE wrote: »

I was talking to a mate yesterday over a pint and he told me his family had bought him and his siblings an Amstrad GX4000. I recall seeing one in Peats and Cleary's but have never actually played one before.

Ya I got one a few months back (although a I remember on guy in college with me had one).

Its an absolute stinker of a yoke. Console itself looks ok but is poorly designed, the power switch for example doesn't turn off all the power to the console so you switching it off and pulling out the power jack can damaged it !! Hence the big stickers on the box warning you to remove the power adapter from the wall before pulling it from the console.

Controller is one of the worse I've used..

Ok, so they got the timing wrong and released this just as the 16bit era was starting off. But even compared to the NES and SMS the games suck.
Amstrad didn't even have enough faith to produce mask ROMs for the games (all 23 or so of them), they're all on eeproms -which is handy today

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Everyone says that it's the DVD player that sold the PS2 but at the time nobody really cared about it. Sure a handful of people probably bought it for the DVD player but it was a tiny amount. It was all about the brand name and games and the DC just didn't have a chance in that regard. When the PS2 was launched DVD wasn't really taking off, people were happy with VHS. It was the PS2 bringing DVD into the household that made DVD take off, especially in Japan. People bought the machine for the PS brand name and the promise of games like MGS2, the DVD was a nice extra that didn't matter to the vast majority of people.

You sure about that?

Around that time, loads of people I know bought them because DVD players were clocking in around €200-€300 so it made sense to get a PS2.

I can remember specifically waiting for a PS2 because of the DVD player and not getting a Dreamcast. .

In fact, I remember trying to convince my dad to buy a PS2 but in the end he bought a fancy DVD player

elfy4eva

o1s1n wrote: »

You sure about that?

Around that time, loads of people I know bought them because DVD players were clocking in around €200-€300 so it made sense to get a PS2.

I can remember specifically waiting for a PS2 because of the DVD player and not getting a Dreamcast. .

In fact, I remember trying to convince my dad to buy a PS2 but in the end he bought a fancy DVD player

PS2 had some really good hype and marketing. But having a DVD player on top of a new Gen console was definately the icing on the cake for me and my Bro when we bought ours. Made it the centrepiece of entertainment for the house 10 years ago

Retr0gamer

Was this around launch or well into it because my recollection of events was that it was the PS2 that drove the demand for DVD and not DVD driving the demand for PS2's.

What I find funny about the PS2 DVD is that it was far and away the worst DVD player on the market since it only output in composite so the increase in picture quality was near negligible

penev10

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Everyone says that it's the DVD player that sold the PS2 but at the time nobody really cared about it.

I'm only going from anecdotal evidence not any empirical data but at the time the PS2 was rated as the best budget DVD player in all of the technology magazines (Stuff, T3 etc) which surely must've swung a lot of sales it's way.

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Was this around launch or well into it because my recollection of events was that it was the PS2 that drove the demand for DVD and not DVD driving the demand for PS2's.

What I find funny about the PS2 DVD is that it was far and away the worst DVD player on the market since it only output in composite so the increase in picture quality was near negligible

It was definitely around launch as I was originally going to buy a Dreamcast but decided to hold off and wait for the PS2 for the DVD functionality.

Always regret doing that!

elfy4eva

o1s1n wrote: »

It was definitely around launch as I was originally going to buy a Dreamcast but decided to hold off and wait for the PS2 for the DVD functionality.

Always regret doing that!

hey hey hey I wont be hearing about any regrets about owning a PS2, I have mine still hooked up to the bedroom telly for DVD's in bed and my PS1/PS2 Games! Still going strong two Red ring Xboxes and a YLOD PS3 later!

Andrew76

Yeah built in DVD player was a factor in buying it for me also - back then top DVD players were silly money (to me anyway) and I wasn't at all anal about the quality of the dvd output - the fact it played them was enough for me. Even bought the snazzy PS2 remote also.

o1s1n

elfy4eva wrote: »

hey hey hey I wont be hearing about any regrets about owning a PS2, I have mine still hooked up to the bedroom telly for DVD's in bed and my PS1/PS2 Games! Still going strong two Red ring Xboxes and a YLOD PS3 later!

No regrets about owning a PS2 - regrets about not buying a Dreamcast therefore contributing to Sega no longer making consoles :(

The Last Bandit

[Sega HQ Japan - circa 2001]

Damn it, if we had only sold 1 more unit then we could keep the hardware business afloat. Even a lousy PAL sale would do..
Now, anyone find that Panzer code yet ?

o1s1n

The Last Bandit wrote: »

[Sega HQ Japan - circa 2001]

Damn it, if we had only sold 1 more unit then we could keep the hardware business afloat. Even a lousy PAL sale would do..
Now, anyone find that Panzer code yet ?

Hahaha! You just know that's exactly how it went down :pac:

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

No regrets about owning a PS2 - regrets about not buying a Dreamcast therefore contributing to Sega no longer making consoles :(

Sega mod contributes to demise of Sega

Gotham

Probably the Wii.
The only good game on it is Zelda, and it's sub par at that.

o1s1n

EnterNow wrote: »

Sega mod contributes to demise of Sega

Gotham

EnterNow wrote: »

Sega mod contributes to demise of Sega

Sega's demise wasn't the consumers fault.
They made too many consoles with short life spans, developers couldn't trust them and they drifted away from sega platforms for ones that had a longer lifecycle.
It probably started with the 32X. The Sega CD didn't help either.

o1s1n

Gotham wrote: »

Probably the Wii.
The only good game on it is Zelda, and it's sub par at that.

Please tell me you're trolling!

Sin and Punishment 2?
Xenoblade Chronicles?
Mario Galaxy 1 and 2?
Smash Bros Brawl?

You mad bro!

Gotham

o1s1n wrote: »

Please tell me you're trolling!

Sin and Punishment 2?
Xenoblade Chronicles?
Mario Galaxy 1 and 2?
Smash Bros Brawl?

You mad bro!

Mario galaxy maybe.
But even then, is a handful of games really worth buying a console over? We're comparing all consoles we owned now.

CiDeRmAn

Gotham wrote: »

Probably the Wii.
The only good game on it is Zelda, and it's sub par at that.

Eh, no.
You can see yourself out

The Wii set the standard with the two Mario Galaxy titles.
They also played host to many cracking games, I've been picking them up over the last month or so, not a mini game compilation in there.
There may be complaints about the controller but it was a bold design step and made the machine more accessible to most, opening gaming up to a vast new market.

o1s1n

Gotham wrote: »

Mario galaxy maybe.
But even then, is a handful of games really worth buying a console over? We're comparing all consoles we owned now.

I didn't list every good game for the Wii, I just listed a handful of the good ones as an example. There are millions of games for it, you just have to look.

Gotham

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Eh, no.
You can see yourself out

Sorry, but you cant tell me what the worst console I ever owned was.
It might be the only console I've ever owned.

Myrddin

Gotham wrote: »

Sega's demise wasn't the consumers fault.
They made too many consoles with short life spans, developers couldn't trust them and they drifted away from sega platforms for ones that had a longer lifecycle.
It probably started with the 32X. The Sega CD didn't help either.

o1s1n helped a bit too in fairness

o1s1n

EnterNow wrote: »

o1s1n helped a bit too in fairness

Yeah, popular opinion believes it was the 32X and Mega CD, but it was in actual fact just me not buying that 1 Dreamcast

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Yeah, popular opinion believes it was the 32X and Mega CD, but it was in actual fact just me not buying that 1 Dreamcast

And don't you forget it! It's why you were made the Sega mod, to constantly remind you of what you are responsible for

o1s1n

Gotham wrote: »

Sorry, but you cant tell me what the worst console I ever owned was.
It might be the only console I've ever owned.

Well there's the 'worst console you ever owned' from your own personal perspective (which factors in your own game tastes)

and then 'worst console you ever owned' from a general understanding of how consoles were rated by critics.

I mean I can say that the Super Nintendo was the 'worst console I've ever owned' 'in my opinion' if I didnt like any of the games.

Popular opinion (and down right common sense) would say it's by far one of the best consoles you could own, not worst.

Gotham

o1s1n wrote: »

Well there's the 'worst console you ever owned' from your own personal perspective (which factors in your own game tastes)

and then 'worst console you ever owned' from a general understanding of how consoles were rated by critics.

If that is the logic, then only people who own the Philips CDI can reply to this thread and opinion doesn't matter.

Myrddin

Gotham wrote: »

If that is the logic, then only people who own the Philips CDI can reply to this thread and opinion doesn't matter.

There's a good point made about that here

Steve X2

Gotham wrote: »

If that is the logic, then only people who own the Philips CDI can reply to this thread and opinion doesn't matter.

The CD-I isn't all bad. It raises my CRT up a couple of inches to the perfect gaming height for me
And that Burn:Cycle game case is is a nice shade of green.
Yeah, that's about it, apart from interactive boobies of course.

DesperateDan

Xperia Play phone, dreadful and expensive piece of crap. I waited and it was delayed so I waited some more. Terrible touch joy pads were never implemented properly in any of the games that used it (Minecraft came closest but still as buggy as crap).

We were promised 'Playstation Certified' integration. This was alluded to the possibility of cloud storing games and picking up where you left off on PS3 / tablet etc. Over the course of 2 years and 6 months it amounted to the original 8 or so PS1 games that came out on it. (Playstation mobile games aren't available in Ireland, although I could make and publish one here, no-one could buy it in this country!). It was promised to be one of the first phones to get ICS and then they said that wasn't possible either. The thing couldn't run any of the more demanding android games that came out 6 months after launch (GTA IV was nearly unplayable).

No wonder people just run emulators these days on phones!

the purple tin

The Supervision. Hand held piece of sh1t, even the name was sh1t like it was minding you or something.

o1s1n

Gotham wrote: »

If that is the logic, then only people who own the Philips CDI can reply to this thread and opinion doesn't matter.

Ah id thought this thread was about people owning flopped consoles rather than just consoles they didnt like.

Crossed wires!

CiDeRmAn

the purple tin wrote: »

The Supervision. Hand held piece of sh1t, even the name was sh1t like it was minding you or something.

Ah, finally someone who gets the OP, a truly awful machine, possibly the worst console I've ever played.

briany

the purple tin wrote: »

The Supervision. Hand held piece of sh1t, even the ]name was sh1t like it was minding you or something.

Looks like the Game Boy's meteosexual brother.

the purple tin

briany wrote: »

Looks like the Game Boy's meteosexual brother.

:pac: I had the bendy bus version. One good thing about it was you got a nice workout in the arms just from holding it up, weighed a fupping ton.

The Last Bandit

But it has "High Quality Stereo Sound" ...

briany

The Last Bandit wrote: »

But it has "High Quality Stereo Sound" ...

You know a product is crappy when it's extolling a feature that should just be the standard.

CiDeRmAn

Perhaps they missed a trick there, using the obvious as a sales point,
The Supervision, the only console to mention that it accelerates towards the ground at 9.80665 m/s2 when dropped!
The Supervision, you too can own a console that can be put in a bag!
The Supervision, now in 3D! (that is it occupies space)

OwaynOTT

Do you ever get moments when you completely surprise yourself with your own stupidity?
I just looked at that and thought, 'wow, that's crap and it would be so awkward to play it considering the d-pad is on the opposite side. The gameboy is so much better with it's button layout.'
I just done it there.

CiDeRmAn

Doesn't look like they had much of a D-pad in mind anyway, just a mass of buttons, and I'm not thinking Samwa here either!

So, which is worse?

Supervision?
Barcode Battler?
Amstrad GX4000?
C64 GS?
PS2 ??
DC ???
Yer Ma?

KeRbDoG

Barcode Battler has to have been one of the worst no?

briany

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Doesn't look like they had much of a D-pad in mind anyway, just a mass of buttons, and I'm not thinking Samwa here either!

So, which is worse?

Supervision?
Barcode Battler?
Amstrad GX4000?
C64 GS?
PS2 ??
DC ???
Yer Ma?

Hollee god. There's a name that's after firing some long dormant synapse!

Was the Amstrad GX4000's controller compatible with a C64 because one of my abiding childhood memories is my brothers getting a lend of a C64 with a tape drive plus a shopping bag full of game tapes and going to town on it. Seem to remember getting a lend of a cousin's GX4000 controller to use on it as well but this could easily be one of those hazy, not-quite-sure-if-it-was-real-or-imagined memories.

CiDeRmAn

The Colecovision had one the worst controls ever, and it's a big ugly sonofabitch too, making the ps2 look like the belle of the ball, but the games on it were exquisite, some brilliant arcade conversions, at a time when most gamers made do with some appalling dross on the 2600. Donkey Kong, Smurfs, Looping just to name a few.

OwaynOTT

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Doesn't look like they had much of a D-pad in mind anyway, just a mass of buttons, and I'm not thinking Samwa here either!

So, which is worse?

Supervision?
Barcode Battler?
Amstrad GX4000?
C64 GS?
PS2 ??
DC ???
Yer Ma?

Jaysus didn't even notice it wasnt a dpad. It's such a rip of the game boy my mind just put it there.

circadian

Sega Saturn was pretty poor. Some good titles but even at the time the likes of Virtua Fighter looked horrendous.

Steve X2

circadian wrote: »

Sega Saturn was pretty poor. Some good titles but even at the time the likes of Virtua Fighter looked horrendous.

Mr.Saturn

What's with the influx of Sega-hate?

o1s1n

circadian wrote: »

Sega Saturn was pretty poor. Some good titles but even at the time the likes of Virtua Fighter looked horrendous.

Yeah, Panzer Dragoon Saga and Radiant Silvergun are two of the worst games I've ever played. So many crap arcade ports.

And dont get me started on the terrible perhiperals like the Jap Virtua Stick. Rubbish Seimitsu parts. Its a pile of crap. Or those rubbish multi taps whicj let you play 8 player bomberman. wtf is bomberman anyway?

Burning Rangers? More like burning hemmorhoids.

CiDeRmAn

circadian wrote: »

Sega Saturn was pretty poor. Some good titles but even at the time the likes of Virtua Fighter looked horrendous.

The above statement is not true.
It may be the posters opinion but they neglected to mention that in the post.
Had they done do they'd still be wrong though

VF was a disappointment but it was quickly followed by an excellent port of VF2.
Daytona did not look the best on the Saturn but it played wonderfully.
The Panzer Dragoon series is still a great bunch of games.
Burning Rangers, Guardian Heroes, Fighting Vipers, Fighters Megamix, Duke 3d, Quake, Exhumed, DEATH TAAAAANK!, Radiant Silvergun, Souky, Garegga, Sonic R! Sega Rally, Marvel Vs Capcom, Xmen CotA, Tomb Raider (it debuted on the Saturn).
In a nutshell the Saturn was a great machine, a very different beast to the PS and N64, meaning lucky gamers of the mid 90's had 3 formats with radically contrasting games libraries.
Probably there hasn't been that sort of format polarisation since.
All this is, of course, my opinion.
You may differ if you like (you'd be wrong though )

circadian

Mr.Saturn wrote: »

What's with the influx of Sega-hate?

I'm actually a big Sega fan boy, even had the crazy Mega Drive add ons. Absolutely love the Dreamcast and still play it from time to time.
The Saturn just didn't do it for me. Sega Rally and Nights were great, I missed out on the 8 player bomberman alright. I just can't think of enough games that make me think it was a great console.

Sonic 3D was awful, even Sonic CD was better.