What's The Worst Video Game Console You Own Or Have Owned?

[QualityChimp]

Neo geo. Lusted after one for ages, got one, realised I don’t really like fighting games

Same with this old Capcom CPS Changer I have lying around.

[samanosuke]

Can I say a PAL Saturn? Got one on the cheap from Cash Converters as they were fading into obscurity and was very underwhelmed by the console I’d lusted over in magazines and secretly wanted instead of the PlayStation I’d bought.

Got a Jp grey one a few years later and f*ck me, what a difference.

[Leon Retro]

In 2019 those tired clichés no longer hold water - things have long since moved on.

I was just commenting on the fact that the N64's video output was really bad back in the day. Even with an RGB mod, I thought the image was too blurry in most games. Lots of people have a negative view of the machine in Pal land, because of the borders and blurry image. My NTSC machine with RGB was just about acceptable, but really lacked the image clarity of the Saturn and PS1.

Clever folks have even managed to work out how to disable the system's anti-aliasing,

I have a 'de-blur' N64 that does a nice job of making games look clearer/sharper. Plugged into a CRT or scaler the image is really nice.

and with a SteelStick64 mod

I need to get one of those, or something similar.

Got a Jp grey one a few years later and f*ck me, what a difference.

Yeah, a JP Saturn using RGB has a really nice image. Plus there are loads of excellent JP games to still enjoy.

[monel]

Ok, I come in peace, don't get angry at what I'm about to write. I never owned certain consoles. I'm grateful for that - eg the Amstrad and Commodore efforts, the CDI, Jaguar, maybe the 3DO. Although it introduced me to gaming and computing, and isn't a console, I vote the Spectrum. I never had the rubber keys model but used that too. It had some very good games but due to it's success it was inundated with trash. I've mentioned before here that all 8bit comps often had publishers use Amiga screenshots on the box - how was that legal?

I suppose the Spectrum was never meant for games but that tinny, crappy speaker still comes to mind, and the colour clash. I purchased games like a young idiot while it seemed half the country was copying compilation tapes full of games. And with the tape loading, I had a very nice datacorder but if you even sneezed the games would haveten not load. I love and hate the spectrum - the graphics were less blocky than C64 and Amstrad but as a whole it sucked. When I later saw a C64 the sound effects and music were unbelievable compared to the beep beep of the Speccy. I still have respect for the Spectrum, but wish I'd done my research and bought something better.

Runner up for me is the NES. I liked maybe 3 games on it otherwise it's crap to me. Only Nintendo machine I liked was the Super Fami / SNES, actually the N64 is mostly terrible. PC Engine was NES on steroids and crack. Amazing machine but it seems an evolution of the Famicom.

Looking back, 90 percent of Amiga and ST games were crap, too. Especially once the 16 bit consoles came out to compare to.

[Escape-To-88]

On the contrary, the Virtual Console is among the worst ways to play N64 games. If graphical fidelity is your chief concern, then RGB via an upscaler, on an original NTSC machine, is the starting baseline. For the connoisseur, an HDMI mod.



In 2019 those tired clichés no longer hold water - things have long since moved on. Clever folks have even managed to work out how to disable the system's anti-aliasing, and there's a slew of control pad options on the homebrew market. My 1997 Nintendo 64 looks glorious via Framemeister, and with a SteelStick64 mod (admittedly these are expensive and hard to come by) I have a dream-worthy re-imagined controller too.

Slightly OT but I'd agree with this. Using an RGB modded (not Tim W's board) Japnese unit I was surprised how nice this looks via an OSSC. I use the software solution via a flash cart to remove one of the layers of AA and it looks pretty decent on my plasma, more so on a CRT. That said I only really have it for Star Fox 64 and Blast Dozer (and occasionally Animal Forest). Still, not as crap as the Atari Lynx I owned, that has to be the worst.

[monel]

Forgot to say - in terms of design, the Xbox 360 is the worst piece of what I ever owned. Liked the games but the console died again and again. I vowed to never buy MS again for that. Spent a small fortune on games due to being a hoarding idiot, never again Microsoft.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, the 360 is the only system that I gave up on due to a hardware issue. Having a PS3 at the same time, it just felt like buying games on the 360 wasn't worth the risk. I was hit with the RRoD on the day I got GTAIV and never trusted the console after that. And sure enough, years later, the PS3 is still hooked up to the TV (if almost never turned on because it now sounds like a jet engine) and the 360 is dead.

Which is a shame because, actually, I really bonded with that system. Dead Rising blew me away when I got it and I loved the Gears of War games. I have been tempted to pick up a cheap later model but just never got around to it.

[Leon Retro]

O When I later saw a C64 the sound effects and music were unbelievable compared to the beep beep of the Speccy. I still have respect for the Spectrum, but wish I'd done my research and bought something better.

I think the C64 was over £250 in the mid '80s, so the Spectrum being far cheaper made it attractive. Luckily, it did get loads of good games, despite also getting loads of rubbish. It was the same with all 8-bit computers.

I think a lot of Spectrum owners would have been envious of how the C64 could run fast arcade style games --and how great the SID chip was. But despite that, lots of Spectrum owners have fond memories of its best games.

Runner up for me is the NES. I liked maybe 3 games on it otherwise it's crap to me.

The NES had a lot of trash in its library, but they're are plenty of good games covering all genres. The Famicom, especially, got loads of good games. Devs managed to enhance the capabilities of the NES/Famicom to deliver really nice graphics and sound.

Looking back, 90 percent of Amiga and ST games were crap, too. Especially once the 16 bit consoles came out to compare to.

Yeah, I'd say 80% of Amiga games are either bland or poor. But the 20% of good games really shine.

During the 80s and 90s, there really was a lot of rubbish games, but that's because there was a big divide between the talented and inept devs. These days, the games biz is far more professional in all areas, so even dodgy games aren't complete rubbish.

[Leon Retro]

Yeah, the 360 is the only system that I gave up on due to a hardware issue. Having a PS3 at the same time, it just felt like buying games on the 360 wasn't worth the risk. I was hit with the RRoD on the day I got GTAIV and never trusted the console after that.

I had a launch machine that got the RROD in the first year. I think it was to do with the solder they used not being strong enough; something to do with it being lead free? Anyway, MS repaired it and I decided to sell it. Then I bought the redesigned HDMI 'Falcon/Elite' machine a while later, which I still have. But I ended up buying another 360 in 2010 with the redesigned S case, and that's been going strong for 9 years.

I really like the 360 -- it still impresses me how capable the hardware was, and how devs managed to get games running smoother than on the PS3.



I bought(some guy had the French version new and boxed and cheap on Ebay) one of these for my collection -- the last 360 model with a 500GB HDD and Forza Horizon 2. FH2 was made by SUMO and looks quite impressive. I just keep it in storage.

[S3M]

On the contrary, the Virtual Console is among the worst ways to play N64 games. If graphical fidelity is your chief concern, then RGB via an upscaler, on an original NTSC machine, is the starting baseline. For the connoisseur, an HDMI mod

Haha no, N64 games look terrible even over the best HDMI modded units, due to the machines 240p output for most games. I've got a NTSC RGB modded unit and even via upscaler that doesn't look as clean as a the Wii U ouput, smoothing off those rough edges. RGB does make it way better, however. But the Wii U is the best way to go if the game is on the service I've found. Even if you do use a AR to remove the anti-aliasing. Sure they look way better than a base unit, but can't hide the systems core design flaws. Seems some fans still overlook them.

[Asura]

Yeah, the 360 is the only system that I gave up on due to a hardware issue.

Maybe not "gave up on", but the worst system for me, for that, was the Dreamcast. I've at various times owned 3 faulty units.

Conversely I had 2 360s, and neither of them died before I got rid of them, but I recognise that I was probably lucky. Generally I've always been fortunate with consoles and had very few faulty ones.

[Leon Retro]

I've got a NTSC RGB modded unit and even via upscaler that doesn't look as clean as a the Wii U ouput, smoothing off those rough edges.

The thing is -- once you wipe away all the nasty details such as all the dithering, and then smooth the edges etc... you end up with the games looking very different to what people remember.

Look closely at games like F-Zero X and Star Fox 64, and you'll see how messy/gritty the graphics look. Running them on a basic CRT hides the roughness to some degree, because of the machine's blurry image and lo-res, but then you have the vaseline-O-vision problem.

There really is no way to make N64 games look beautiful but retain a feeling of authenticity. No, you just have to accept that N64 games, even with de-blur and upscaling, are very rough looking. The only game that can look quite nice is Mario 64.

Of course, some people like to add all sort of image processing to old games, in an attempt to make them look modern and shiny. I personally don't like that option; I prefer to make the most of any given console in a way that still gives an authentic look.

[Leon Retro]

Maybe not "gave up on", but the worst system for me, for that, was the Dreamcast. I've at various times owned 3 faulty units.

They are known to develop a range of faults, but I think a lot of issues can be quite easily fixed. GDEMU now takes away the worry of having problems with playing discs. Only cost me £55, and was easy to install.

My launch PS3(the fat boy) blew up after a couple of years. The slim model has been going strong for 9 years.

It's why I don't like to buy launch period consoles, because manufacturers always redesign things and fix the problems reported with the first gen model.

[dvdx2]

Upscalers and HDMI mods won’t do much for an n64’s image quality. Putting a deblur mod on the console and hooking it up to to a decent pro crt, will make the 240p image shine, whilst still keeping authenticity. You really need phosphors, not pixels for the n64.

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[Mayhem]

I think the C64 was over £250 in the mid '80s, so the Spectrum being far cheaper made it attractive. Luckily, it did get loads of good games, despite also getting loads of rubbish. It was the same with all 8-bit computers.

The C64 launched at £349 (despite what many places say), was down to £299 within two months (basically just after Xmas 1982) and was around £199 by 1986. Around then the disk drive was priced higher at around £229!