• 7 Gaming Systems that Were Epic Failures

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Here we have seven gaming consoles that we think were the all time epic failures of consoles.

7. TurboGrafx-16:
In the late 80's and early 90's the TurboGrafx-16 was marketed as an arcade-style gaming system with a 16-bit video graphics chip. While the graphics were an upgrade over the NES and Sega, the games were for the most part unoriginal rehashes or lame rip-offs—check out "Fighting Street"—of the releases from other systems. Adding to the problem of the games was the fact that you needed to use a CD attachment to truly get the full benefit of the system. Alternatively, you could use the a standard game card that looked like a SD card on steroids.  The TurboGrafx-16 was, at times, a fun system but the stiff competition and the difficulty of getting premiere titles in America ended this gaming console by the mid 90's.

6. Game Gear:
When Sega's Game Gear was released in late 1990, it seemed to be what every gamer was looking for but couldn’t get from Nintendo. The Game Gear had a lot of cool features including a backlit color screen and tons of games. It even had an optional adapter to watch TV on! This all sounds great, so what was the problem? Well it was crap. The Game Gear felt like union scabs that had worked for Willy Wonka built it. Aside from the low-quality craftsmanship, the Game Gear was powered by 6 AA batteries, which lasted for about 3 hours. This was only 1/3 the time of the Game Boy. The Game Gear did sell more then 10 million units, but durability, price and size concerns left it as the ugly step bother to the Game Boy.

5. Sega CD:
This CD attachment for the Sega Genesis was supposed to bring the user to the next generation of gaming. Life like graphics, in depth games and 3-D rendered screens were what we were promised. Instead we got giant pixels, games that did not work and  “Night Trap.” Night Trap was possibly the most over-hyped game ever made. It also directly lead to release of the ESRB rating system. I cannot think of too many great things about the Sega CD. This is mostly because I could never get a game to work it.

4. Virtual Boy:
Even the greats like Nintendo are not immune from making horrible, horrible system choices. The Virtual Boy is probably the most ridiculous looking system on this list. I cannot help but think of the Stephen King classic “Lawnmower man” when I see some one wearing one of these. To our friends reading this that may be prone to motion sickness or epileptic seizure you may want to avoid these puke goggles at any cost.

3. N-Gage:
The Nokia N-Gage was a hand-held system that doubled as a cell phone! I don't know any one who has bought or played one of these. The controls looked so bad that I was afraid that I might arthritis after just a few minutes of playing the N-Gage.

2. Atari Jaguar:
This is probably the worst gaming system ever made, but I have my own reasons for putting it number two. The Atari Jaguar was full of faults. Bad games, poor construction and questions of it really was 64-bit seemed to plague the Jaguar. I, on the other hand, always seem to dwell on the controller. The Jaguar's controller was the most insane controller I have ever seen. I am not a 100% sure on this, but I believe it had somewhere near 9,000 buttons. It was so beefy that you could kill anyone that questioned you for owning it. The Jaguar went on to end Atari's claim in the home gaming industry and left the company’s legacy in pieces.

1. Neo Geo:
If you were lucky enough to own one of these—I wasn't—you had to get your fill at an arcade. The Neo Geo had some of the most classic games such as Metal Slug, Fatal Fury and 2020 Super Baseball. The games looked great, they were fun and it the system was pretty well built. So what is the problem? The problem was the price to get your hands on one of the system. It cost over $600, and games were easily over $100 each! This low rating for the Neo Geo is really more over my jealousy of not being able to own one. SNK actually made a fairly good system. The Neo Geo has gone on to inspire game developers for the past 15 years and will continue that trend for the next 15.

Runner-ups to this list included the 3DO and Apple Bandai.

[• This story, marked with a • is weekend entertainment content only and should not to be considered factual ]

Bestofmedia Team
90 Comments Comment from the forums
  • JeanLuc
    The Neo Geo is cult classic how can you include that and not a system like the 32X or the Atari 5200!

    Saying that I agree with pretty everything else on the list, the Virtual Boy....................what pills were they taking.
    Reply
  • Spanky Deluxe
    I disagree with the game gear's placement on the list. It lasted for years and was far better than the game boy. Yes it was big and yes you had to buy rechargeable batteries but it had some great games and great graphics for the day. I just wish they'd released the mega gear properly. :(
    Reply
  • cliffro
    Hmm, its not as big of a failure, but the Sega Master System seemed to not sell well in the states, and I only had 1 friend that had one, and honestly I had never heard of it till I saw it at his house, The TG16 and Neo Geo, however I knew of and lusted after.....alas I grew up poor, my first and only console was the Playstation.....
    Reply
  • hemelskonijn
    This list seems to be a personal list since epic fail's like the 32x and the 3DO are missing.
    Also the atari jaguar was a great system and the most advanced in its time but it had flaws we also found in the saturn and some other consoles.
    The Jaguar ran a multi chip setup so if you wanted to get the best out of it you had to program for each chip in stead of porting games to one of them.

    To call the NeoGeo an epic fail is a lot like saying "i am a moron".
    It seems like you wanted to make a list of epic fails but chose to only use systems every reader on tom's knows or worse you never even heard of machines other then these.
    Reply
  • bpogdowz
    only stupid because you tried to over clock it
    Reply
  • Zoonie
    "By Bestofmedia Team" LOL! I guess noone wanted to take credit for putting NeoGeo in the list. You guys are gonna get alot of **** for that :)
    Reply
  • avericia
    How did you guys miss the Sega Dreamcast?

    It came out in 1998 and was discontinued in 2001 and I doubt anyone here bought one :P
    Reply
  • afrobacon
    avericiaHow did you guys miss the Sega Dreamcast?It came out in 1998 and was discontinued in 2001 and I doubt anyone here bought oneMuch like the PS3 the Dreamcast outperformed the competition, but the lack of games and price tag left much to be desired.
    ...Also, I remember there being talk that the first group of consoles sold could play games from other systems; not sure how much truth there is to this.
    Reply
  • industrial_zman
    avericiaHow did you guys miss the Sega Dreamcast?It came out in 1998 and was discontinued in 2001 and I doubt anyone here bought one
    If I'm not mistaken the Dreamcast came out in 1999, remember the release date was 9-9-99. It was a head of the game by the first console to include internet access and options like a motion activated fishing rod (precursor to wii's motion sensors today) mouse and keyboard. but sadly the choice of using Giga-Disc over DVD media was it's downfall. Yes, I owned a Dreamcast. After it's retirement, I turned it into a Linux box.

    I also owned an N-Gage QD; a great phone, horrible game platform.

    I am going to cry foul here. The Sega CD was not an independent platform. how can it compete in the console wars? it required you to have a Genesis first. By this logic the 32x and Super Gameboy should be lumped into the same category.

    I'm surprised to not see Sega VR on the list. it was the whole reason why Nintendo rushed the Virtual Boy on to the market only in a monochromatic screens. After the epic Virtual Boy failure, Sega decides not to launch the VR.

    I have to agree with Spanky Deluxe on that point, the Game Gear should not be on the list. if you wanted another portable device pick the Atari Lynx. battery life so horrible that I always had to leave it plugged in while playing.
    Reply
  • depressingsteve
    hemelskonijnThis list seems to be a personal list since epic fail's like the 32x and the 3DO are missing.Also the atari jaguar was a great system and the most advanced in its time but it had flaws we also found in the saturn and some other consoles.The Jaguar ran a multi chip setup so if you wanted to get the best out of it you had to program for each chip in stead of porting games to one of them.To call the NeoGeo an epic fail is a lot like saying "i am a moron".It seems like you wanted to make a list of epic fails but chose to only use systems every reader on tom's knows or worse you never even heard of machines other then these.The issue with the Neo Geo wasn't that is was bad system because it was really cool, the problems was the price.
    Reply