Yeah! It's great for fine tuning your aim. I suck aiming with sticks.
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Bizarre, poorly advertised, obsolete, or underutilized console features
- Thread starter Theorymon
- Start date
Yeah! It's great for fine tuning your aim. I suck aiming with sticks.
it's not haptic. Nintendo went through every feedback function prior to the the release and haptic was never brought up, and teardowns show it's a regular screen. Nintendo is probably just licensing the non-haptic touchscreen functions. they might have a license to haptic stuff but never bothered to use it
Anyone remember WiiConnect24? A feature of the wii to always be connected to wifi, or something?
Copying music discs to your hard drive on Xbox 360 so that you can use the songs in several games, or in one small time period, use songs and custom chants in FIFA for every single club, that was freaking insane.
What I mean is the reason there are few games that use the touchscreen extensively is because Nintendo doesn't want to push too many games that make you play the Switch a certain way. They want most games to give you options, crucially a touchscreen-heavy game couldn't be played Docked.
Haha, yeah. Cute idea using it for the NMH phone calls, but the audio in some scenes was barely comprehensible from what I remember.
I'm debating whether the Wii MotionPlus qualifies here. It came out late and was only utilized in a few games, but those games were fairly successful. I can't help but feel it was what the Wiimote should have been from day 1.
On topic... there was a Wii U feature that was a last minute addition that (so far as I know) never got used. Originally, the system was going to only support a single gamepad. After outcry from fans Nintendo announced that it would be possible to drive two gamepads from one Wii U system (at 30fps)... but there was never a convenient way to get a second gamepad, nor were there any games announced that would have utilized this feature. It's a shame, there were some cool multiplayer possibilities if each player had their own screen in addition to the main TV.
It was possible for Wii games to lift information from the Weather Channel, so you could theoretically have life sim games that accurately matched your real-world weather conditions. The only game that I recall actually using it, though, was NiGHTS and its weird sandbox mode.
It's kinda obvious why few games implemented it, though. If you lived in somewhere with a pretty mild or dry climate for most of the year it'd be pretty boring in games like Animal Crossing.
It's kinda obvious why few games implemented it, though. If you lived in somewhere with a pretty mild or dry climate for most of the year it'd be pretty boring in games like Animal Crossing.
That was before they allowed USB flashdrives via update to be used for save games. The OG Core 360 came with no HDD at all, only the Pro version with 20GB (and later the Arcade version with 4GB). The Pro version were only upgraded to 60 GB in later revisions and only then, with bigger HDDs and the aforementioned firmware update, memory cards became obsolete.
SharePlay.
Out basically since the PS4 launched, as an aside to remote play.
Allows you to share your screen with another person for making local coop games work as if online, or handing off the controller to someone else across the world to help you pass something difficult or tricky (or secret).
Yeah.
Out basically since the PS4 launched, as an aside to remote play.
Allows you to share your screen with another person for making local coop games work as if online, or handing off the controller to someone else across the world to help you pass something difficult or tricky (or secret).
Yeah.
I was literally mid-typing this out then your post appeared. SharePlay is a huge feature but it suffered under weak internet connections and then certain games started to block it from being used.
Pressure sensitive buttons and gyro in the controllers. Sony has been ignoring them since 2008 and it's baffling.
Yeah but would it kill them to touch support to menus? Especially in something like Pokémon where you spend a ton of time in menus and has been all in on touchscreen menus throughout the entire DS and 3DS generations.
Interesting - I've yet to encounter a blocked game, but since it's up to devs (like blocked scenes for recording / streaming, ugh) I totally see how it'd happen.
Just last night helped someone in GTAV who is still super new to do the 50 headshot challenge using the RDR2 double-revolver so they could get the $250,000. reward. Connection was fine enough that I could whip between targets and then adjust to do headshots. They had a PS4 for years, but had no idea the feature existed lol.
I thought it was like you clipped the controller onto something to hold it, and the top middle button released it. Yeah though, I don't remember anything ever using it.
The worst is Persona 5, which just blocks the entire game once you hit start on the title screen.
And yeah I miss the custom soundtrack feature of the 360. The original Xbox had this feature for a few games like Project Gotham, but it was on every game on the 360 and it was great. It not the same just muting the game audio and putting on a phone with the tracks playing.
Dreamcast VMUs could link together presumably to trade items or save files.
OG PSX had ports in the back for certain light guns to connect to? That or component ports?
LAN and online adapter for GameCube was used for like 3 games.
GBA to GameCube link cable also limited use.
3DS never utilizing the 3D outward facing cameras.
Wii remote (and DS and 3DS) not using their built in microphones for communication (maybe metroid prime hunters used it for online play?). Very weird animal Crossing had the TV mic when the Wii remote had a mic built in that was never used for anything.
OG PSX had ports in the back for certain light guns to connect to? That or component ports?
LAN and online adapter for GameCube was used for like 3 games.
GBA to GameCube link cable also limited use.
3DS never utilizing the 3D outward facing cameras.
Wii remote (and DS and 3DS) not using their built in microphones for communication (maybe metroid prime hunters used it for online play?). Very weird animal Crossing had the TV mic when the Wii remote had a mic built in that was never used for anything.
Xbox 360 supported, via its plethora of cables (some resolutions were analog only):
640x480
848x480
800x600
1024x768
1280x720
1280x1024
1360x768
1440×900
1680x1050
1920x1080
Remember WiiConnect24? A (not even) half-baked digital distrubution method hindered by Nintendo's fear and ineptness with the internet?
Trust me HD Rumble is for sure going to be the new Rumble on everything. The Steam controller was the first Device to support it and it gave you an almost native trackpad feel. The Joycon Versions are used in a ton of games really well (The Mario Party Jingle is the best one). There's no reason to use Rumble Motors when things like HD Rumble are both smaller & has better use cases.
Supposedly was for an accessory to put the wiimote in instead of having it laying elsewhere. Kinda like this
The one which allowed you to start playing a game while it's still being downloaded. Most of the games that did implement this feature on the Xbox One just took you to a static screen telling you to wait until the game has finished installing.
that means the Switch is a successor to that in a way. the Wii U really was a prototype SwitchSupposedly was for an accessory to put the wiimote in instead of having it laying elsewhere. Kinda like this
This is what I always imagined, but it either never happened or it wasn't really used much.Supposedly was for an accessory to put the wiimote in instead of having it laying elsewhere. Kinda like this
I came in to mention this. SACD's weren't "DVD's with audio data" though, that was DVD-Audio, which is an even MORE obscure audio format that never took off.
SACD is exactly what the name says- super audio CDs.
The format was EXTREMELY dead by the time the PS3 launched and Sony never mentioned it was there, so it's inclusion (and later exclusion) is one of the stranger things about the system.
Yeah, kind of curious, right? It also lines up with that initial info about the classic controller as a controller you would put your Wiimote on
Nintendo never implemented it themselves, but there were some grips and accessory packs that included something to put the Wiimote on. I've been working on something similar to hold my Gbros
Sort of?
There was a game released called the namco cillection, and it included a game called Pac Man Vs. Originally on the gamecube.
On the gamecube, 1 player would have a gba hooked up to the gamecube and would dodge the ghosts who had limited vision of the map while pacman could see the entire thing.
On switch, there was a seperate app you can download for free that lets you play as Pac-Man and search for slmeome with the full game locally to play as the ghosts.
The problem with all that is it permanently hamstrung developers. You ended up with weird stuff like Halo 3 performing worse if you installed it on the hard drive and people who didn't have hard drives unable to do co-op. Giving devs the expectations they could install stuff to the hard drive would have made playing games better.
I think it can, the problem is game files have gotten so big that it's not that feasible anymore
I'm so glad it's unused. I still haven't finished Heavenly Sword because of mandatory sixaxis use. I got sutck on one puzzle where I had to use it to aim some projectile or something. I couldn't use something else and no matter how many times I tried, I could't. I simply cannot use sixaxis, any game making it mandatory would've made itself impossible for me.
The SEGA Dreamcast includes an alternate system menu that was inexplicably only accessible by playing Puyo Puyo Fever. (Note that it was the last first-party game released on the system. Which might explain things a bit.)
The PS3 includes an entire PSP emulator in it's system firmware, complete with the somewhat ahead of it's time feature of replacing textures with higher res ones.
But it's only used in two specific edge cases.The ill-fated "Playstation Minis" collection of small PSP games, alongside a small selection of Japan-only "HD remasters". and only the latter actually makes use of the HD textures function.
They also briefly experimented with implementing the "Folding@Home" distributed computing project onto the system, but it was removed in 2012.
Only early PS3 models include the Compact Flash slot, as part of a fold-out compartment on the front.
Later original models, and all slim/superslim models. Remove those ports entirely.
The PS3 includes an entire PSP emulator in it's system firmware, complete with the somewhat ahead of it's time feature of replacing textures with higher res ones.
But it's only used in two specific edge cases.The ill-fated "Playstation Minis" collection of small PSP games, alongside a small selection of Japan-only "HD remasters". and only the latter actually makes use of the HD textures function.
They also briefly experimented with implementing the "Folding@Home" distributed computing project onto the system, but it was removed in 2012.
Only early PS3 models include the Compact Flash slot, as part of a fold-out compartment on the front.
Later original models, and all slim/superslim models. Remove those ports entirely.
Expecting Nintendo to get online gaming is like expecting Apple to get gaming. Just ain't in the company DNA.
Best case scenario is Nintendo gets to the point where they're not as many as two generations of competitor features behind.
I remember being so so excited about this feature only to have it just fizzle out. A few really cool ideas, but mostly weird gimmicky stuff....and then weird shit like in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.
But what really blew my mind was that Nintendo didn't keep rolling with this. The Nintendo DS and the Wii could communicate with each other, as evidenced by the bizarre "download a game demo to your DS" thing that never really got much traction.
In a world where both the DS and Wii did insane numbers why not then release that asymmetrical Pac Man game? Why not then release a co-op RPG where players didn't have to bug one another with the menus?
Is it because they can't sell you the link cable since all communication would be wireless? Blows my mind.
They should have made the touchpad highly customizable. Every game that doesn't have a bespoke use for it should allow you to assign different menus/uses to the touchpad. It is criminally underutilized as it stands.
The coolest part of Battle Revolution was using the DS as the controller to select moves. Was also able to transfer Wild World saves to City Folk. Needed more of stuff like that.
They technically are just DVDs afaik, just authored/mastered/whatever differently, so no normal player can deal with this layer.
There is a surprisingly good selection of SACD out there and I really enjoy the ones I managed to get my hands on XD
Even more obscure is the ability to play your own selfmade "DSD Discs" on every PS3 model. They are just data DVDs containing the same kind of audio format as SACD, but in its uncompressed form (which means SACD rips won't fit on one disc).
Also Demon's Souls, hold the X button long enough and shake the controller to die.