Bizarre, poorly advertised, obsolete, or underutilized console features

[Princess Viola]

The Nintendo TVii feature on the Wii U.

I remember actually thinking it was pretty neat and useful that I could just browse my channel guide on the Gamepad instead of on the TV, but the whole thing was so slow and laggy, I only ever used it maybe like two or three times before it shut down.

At least the regular remote control feature still works, helpful since the volume buttons on my regular remote don't work anymore and I can't be assed to buy a new one lmao.

 

[Stefarno]

Wait, does this actually stream the disc data and play the game locally, or is it just streaming video from the PS3 via remote play? I know that the PSX emulation on the PSP and Vita can tackle a lot more than just the games that were sold on the PSN since the CPU is compatible.

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It's just like PS4 Remote Play in that it's all running on the PS3 but is outputting video to the PSP/Vita and using their button inputs.

I just find it nuts that you can have a Vita using a remote play service designed for the PSP to connect to a PS3 to play a PS1 game disc. All for a game that could run perfectly fine natively if it was available to download from PSN.

 

[Efejota]

Excitetruck, a Wii launch game, let you use custom music from the SD card.

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Endless Ocean as well. Would have loved to see this as a feature in most games with a radio going forward.


The WiiU had a camera but I can't remember any games using it besides Game & Wario and Nintendo Land. Not even Fatal Frame 5, even though Spirit Camera on the 3DS was all around that idea.

Edit:
Also not sure if poorly advertised, but the Nintendo Channel on the Wii was amazing: let you download DS demos, check the total playtime of all the games you ever played more than an hour (ifrc) and send reviews to boost those games you felt they weren't popular enough. They even used that data for the Nintendo Selects in Japan and included licensed games in that line.

But one day they just closed it... I really loved checking out the playtimes so it was absurd to me that they never left it as an offline feature, given that they just took the data from the console's daily logs.

 

[Gpsych]

That's cool! I remember fiddling with WMC that came with my PC and dreamed of connected AV setup like that. I assume WMC runs locally on the 360 instead of streaming the interface and everything from PC?

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Yep. It did it all locally. It was truly extraordinary at the time. Unfortunately the first movie that I streamed was Xanadu starring Olivia Newton John. Yeah...

 

[褲蓋Calo]

Yep. It did it all locally. It was truly extraordinary at the time. Unfortunately the first movie that I streamed was Xanadu starring Olivia Newton John. Yeah...

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Just search Xanadu xD.
I miss the days when they designed consoles to be media centres instead of separating everything into apps...

 

[Hilbert]

The Xbox 360 can act as a Windows Media Center extender, I've never seen or found video of it in action...

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I used to do that, it was amazing. It connected to my pc, had access to all my media in the other room, in a sweet interface. We even used it for DVR and live tv. We were so sad when it went away

 

[Mass Effect]

Excitetruck, a Wii launch game, let you use custom music from the SD card.

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Yeah this one annoys me the most. Loved this feature in Excite Truck and wish more developers added it to their games on Wii.

Honestly it was an under-utilized feature all of last gen. The 360 and PS3 also supported custom soundtracks, but very few games bothered. The only two I remember having it were Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2010 and SSX 2012.

I think the OG Xbox was the only system with a decent selection of games that allowed for custom soundtracks.

 

[褲蓋Calo]

I used to do that, it was amazing. It connected to my pc, had access to all my media in the other room, in a sweet interface. We even used it for DVR and live tv. We were so sad when it went away

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Yeah I think one thing sucks about modern consoles being so connected is exactly this - design and features can be taken away and you don't get to choose to keep them.

 

[Syriel]

It's the same for the Switch too, and i guess the Xbox One

I think this is a consequence of using the USB standard, not an intentional thing

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Power while off is an optional feature. It is not a USB default.

The Xbox 360 can act as a Windows Media Center extender, I've never seen or found video of it in action...

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That's cool! I remember fiddling with WMC that came with my PC and dreamed of connected AV setup like that. I assume WMC runs locally on the 360 instead of streaming the interface and everything from PC?

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I used it, as did my parents. It needed the PC running (couldn't run standalone), but used RDP for the UI so it was easy to mistake for a local app.

I used to do that, it was amazing. It connected to my pc, had access to all my media in the other room, in a sweet interface. We even used it for DVR and live tv. We were so sad when it went away

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Yep. My parents loved it. Was the first DVR they had. WMC + cablecard + Xbox 360 for the spare room.

The 360 was cheaper than actual dedicated WMC extenders once the arcade unit came out so it was easy to justify.

WMC was amazing. It was the one thing I really missed about going to Windows 10.

 

[褲蓋Calo]

Power while off is an optional feature. It is not a USB default.




I used it, as did my parents. It needed the PC running (couldn't run standalone), but used RDP for the UI so it was easy to mistake for a local app.



Yep. My parents loved it. Was the first DVR they had. WMC + cablecard + Xbox 360 for the spare room.

The 360 was cheaper than actual dedicated WMC extenders once the arcade unit came out so it was easy to justify.

WMC was amazing. It was the one thing I really missed about going to Windows 10.

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Oh wow it used RDP, that's impressive consider they have to account for 2006 home network....

 

[EvilBoris]

The Party/ Matchmaking system for the Xbox One where you joined the dashboard's party then the leader would launch matchmaking , which ran in the background too.
confused the hell out of people and developers so it was removed.

PS4's install the multiplayer first option. Which never manifested itself outside of a few launch games

 

[EvilBoris]

Not so much of a bizarre feature but more of a bizarre omission of one. Launch xbox 360s didn't support HDMI at all, I think if you wanted HD you needed to use component.

People have already mentioned the gamecube digital out port being used by the component cables but that only applies in america/japan. No pal games support the use of those cables making the port entirely unused in those territories despite pal gamecubes still having the port.

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Later models removed it I think.
I guess the bigger reason for games not supporting them was that component inputs or progressive scan TVs were super rare in Europe , mainly due to us having Scart connectors

 

[BringBackSonics]

The Dreamcast, with that strange things you stuck on the middle

 

[Cengizhan]

This thread is a goldmine. I'm also weirdly proud that I recognize a bunch of them.

Ironically, Nintendo would end up using this feature, not on the Wii... but on the Wii U!

Splatoon 1 has a 2 player local multiplayer mode that is only playable if you play by connecting both a Wii Remote and a Classic Controller and taping them together. I shit you not!

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Actually, there is a post on the Live from Squid Research Lab blog post explaining this "discovery"! I didn't know that the slots behind the Classic Controller were actually meant for an add-on like that though. It could probably made by 3D printing it nowadays. It surprises me that they already added the slots way before the release of the Wii Motion Plus accessory. I don't really see an use to slapping a Wii Remote to a Classic Controller since it does not have a gyroscope. Maybe they already knew they would release the Wii Motion Plus. Which makes it even more surprising to me that they did not add a gyroscope to the Classic Controller Pro or the Wii U Pro Controller.

Anyway, talking about the Classic Controller! The original Classic Controller has GameCube-like analog shoulder buttons. These were removed on the Classic Controller Pro. I remember there was a list of games that supported this, but I can't seem to find it. There are a bunch of Wii titles that supported GameCube controls as well, which was awesome. And special shout-out to Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. It supported the Wii U GamePad, Wii Remote, Wii Remote and Nunchuk, Classic Controller, Classic Controller Pro, Wii U Pro Controller, GameCube controller, and the Nintendo 3DS systems as controllers.

I'm sure there are a bunch more bizarre features that I can think of, but I don't have a lot of time. One of my favorite weird consoles is the Nintendo DSi. Even though it was not possible to play GBA games on it anymore - and with that, we lost Nintendo DS with GBA connectivity - it still has some weird quirks that make it unique such as it's own music player, camera, gallery (which allows you to share a picture on social media) and of course DSiWare. One bizarre feature is the addition of animating game icons. Pokémon Black, White, Black 2 and White 2 support it: The game icon is animated when viewed on the Nintendo DSi or 3DS home screen—the Poké Ball inside the icon wiggles. There's only an incomplete list that I found over here.

 

[Rookhelm]

Man, I remember the pitch for Playstation Home.

All your friends can meet up in Playstation Home, and launch as a group into a multiplayer game (Warhawk comes to mind as the example).

Like, so much more cumbersome than just forming a party and starting the game. They expected people would just hang out in Home while not playing a game, and then someone goes, "let's go play Warhawk!"

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

Anyway, talking about the Classic Controller! The original Classic Controller has GameCube-like analog shoulder buttons. These were removed on the Classic Controller Pro. I remember there was a list of games that supported this, but I can't seem to find it.

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AFAIK, only one Wii game ever supported the analog shoulder triggers on the original Classic Controller and that is Art Style Rotozoa (It also supports the GCN controller). It's used for analog rotation of your playable character.

One bizarre feature is the addition of animating game icons. Pokémon Black, White, Black 2 and White 2 support it: The game icon is animated when viewed on the Nintendo DSi or 3DS home screen—the Poké Ball inside the icon wiggles. There's only an incomplete list that I found over here.

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All DSi Enhanced, DSiWare and DSi Exclusive games have animated icons, without exception (They only appear when running on a DSi/3DS). That's how you can tell that a game supports/requires DSi features. You can also look on the model number on the back; if it's listed as "TWI_____", then it's a DSi game (The DSi's codename was "Twilight", hence the model number).

The 3DS may have used the cameras to reduce drift on the gyro, but it has gyro and accelerometer sensors inside it. You can cover the cameras and gyro still works just fine.

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This was never the case. No 3DS game ever did this. The camera was only ever used for taking photos/video, for games that made use of AR features (of which there are actually quite a lot of; including Pokemon X/Y and both 3DS Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games), for QR code scanning (another popular feature; which Pokemon Sun/Moon made extensive use of) and for backwards compatibility with DSi games.

The 3DS Camera actually got some good use out of it across its library. It definitely doesn't deserve to be mentioned in this topic.

If we're talking DS? Then how about the DS Expansion Pak? Literally only one commercial title ever got released that used it; and that's the DS Web Browser. It's main use is now for homebrew DS applications that require additional RAM to run.

 

[Green Yoshi]

The firewire port of the PS2.

 

[Dphex]

The firewire port of the PS2.

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:-)

 

[julian]

The firewire port of the PS2.

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What?!?! I still have all my cables too!

 

[Vexed]

I have cable and just use the HDMI-In on the Xbox One for that as intended with OneGuide, basically my entire living room is controlled by the Xbox controller (I've also mapped basically all of the standard remote functions like volume, mute, etc. using the shift paddles on my Elite controller). The original vision for the console might have been an overreach but I totally get the idea and enjoy the convenience of making it "input one" and my One X will probably end up anchoring the living room until they drop support because of how neatly it ties together.

 

[Richietto]

The DS4 gyro. All these shooting games and like 1 uses gyro. Come the fuck on Sony. Should have been at least using your own controller hardware for your own games.

 

[Arthois]

Man, I remember the pitch for Playstation Home.

All your friends can meet up in Playstation Home, and launch as a group into a multiplayer game (Warhawk comes to mind as the example).

Like, so much more cumbersome than just forming a party and starting the game. They expected people would just hang out in Home while not playing a game, and then someone goes, "let's go play Warhawk!"

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To be fair, it's what we did with all those avatar based chat sites & iirc.

 

[Dylan]

Skimmed through the thread and didn't see this mentioned, but the original NES has an expansion slot on the bottom of the console that lots of people never knew about.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I may be pulling this out of my ass, but I vaguely remember being able to connect my Sony DSLR to my PS3 by cable and being able to view photos from the memory card on the TV?

 

[spad3]

SharePlay on PS4.

You can play a game with a friend that doesn't own it and you can pass the controller to them virtually. You can also play co-op games through this as well by passing them a "player 2" controller.

Insanely underutilized. I helped my friend beat the Valkyrie Queen in God of War this way. He was stuck, I showed him how to turn on SharePlay and he passed me the controller and I beat her for him.

He lives on the east coast, I'm on the west. And passing controllers was almost as easy as handing it over in person.

Absolutely insane.

 

[mgrimble2]

Gyro on PS4. It took Days Gone to another level for me.

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I'm a decent ways into Days Gone and I haven't encountered any Gyro aspects. Am I missing something?

 

[basic_text]

I'm a decent ways into Days Gone and I haven't encountered any Gyro aspects. Am I missing something?

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Sorry, I should have said gyro aiming!

 

[Punchline]

i think the switch is able to play sounds through the rumble or something? i remember it played the kirby theme song in a secret room in star allies and people freaked out

 

[Rassilon]

I didn't know the Dual Shock 4 had speakers until I played GTAV (LTTP) and the ringtone sound effect shat me up.

It took me a long time to realise the Dual Shock 4 light bar thing changes colour too.

 

[Rookhelm]

i think the switch is able to play sounds through the rumble or something? i remember it played the kirby theme song in a secret room in star allies and people freaked out

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Golf Story makes a lot of sound effects using HD rumble. it's actually quite neat!

 

[mgrimble2]

Sorry, I should have said gyro aiming!

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Oooh I think that's off by default now. I remember seeing something in the menus but left it turned off.

Side Note: Really friggen enjoying that game. They must have patched the sh*t out of it since launch.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Supposedly was for an accessory to put the wiimote in instead of having it laying elsewhere. Kinda like this

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Nyko does what Nintendon't.

And yes, this used the built-in clips on the back of the Classic Controller.

 

[Deleted member 4247]

the switch's touchscreen. criminally underutilized, even by Nintendo

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This is true, to the point that I have occasionally actually forgotten that it even has one.

 

[Cugel]

Also Demon's Souls, hold the X button long enough and shake the controller to die.

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WAT

 

[Why_So_Serious]

PS2 usb ports. Wth was their use?

 

[Deleted member 61326]

The firewire port of the PS2.

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Firewire... only ever had one device that used it. The original iPod, had to get a PCI (?) card to be able to connect with my PC.

 

[laxu]

I've seen speculation that it's due to a lack of demand for gyro on the PS4 vs the Switch and PC.

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I remember quite a few people were saying Horizon should have gyro aim because it makes a lot of sense for that game. There is no lack of demand, just lack of devs implementing it. I think a bigger issue is that the Xbox doesn't have a gyro so devs are reluctant to implement a feature that works only on some of the consoles.

I really hope MS throws in a gyro for next gen Xbox so we can get rid of this stupidity. Gyro aim is wonderful and should be a standard feature in every game involving any kind of aiming.

 

[Grue]

I wish more games used the Dualshock speaker feature. Listening to audiologs in The Last of Us through it was really quite effective.

 

[Kelanflyter]

pressure sensitive buttons on old playstation controllers

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And on the Xbox Controllers

Near on Vita. I found out someone in my neighborhood was a massive weeb that imported tons of games.

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I never understod how Near was supposed to work.
For my defense, i was maybe the only one in my city to have a Vita lol

 

[Illusion]

Pokemon Black and White had infrared tech built into the cartridges. Lol

It was so much slower then just regular wireless trading. It hardly worked half the time. There was literally no reason to put it in.

I have no idea what Game Freak was thinking.

 

[ffvorax]

PSVITA back touchpad. Only a couple of early game used it...
Also Darkest Dungeon used it, but in the worst way possible.
Could have been much more used and in smarter ways.

 

[Galactor]

You could take 3d pictures on 3ds to make little dioramas

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

Pokemon Black and White had infrared tech built into the cartridges. Lol

It was so much slower then just regular wireless trading. It hardly worked half the time. There was literally no reason to put it in.

I have no idea what Game Freak was thinking.

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HeartGold and SoulSilver did too, and also Black2 and White2

Infrared worked fine, but you needed a direct connection between the carts

You could take 3d pictures on 3ds to make little dioramas

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But that's not exactly obscure. It was heavily advertised on pre-release (Even post release) and has a whole dedicated app

You could even record videos and stop motion videos, and there were sites dedicate to download and upload mpo photos compatible with 3DS

 

[kami_sama]

Pokemon Black and White had infrared tech built into the cartridges. Lol

It was so much slower then just regular wireless trading. It hardly worked half the time. There was literally no reason to put it in.

I have no idea what Game Freak was thinking.

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I used that on HeartGold for the pokeball step counter, but that's it.

 

[Deleted member 31873]

I'm pretty sure I once did video chat with a friend on PS3 using the PlayStation Eye? I always thought it was weird that we couldn't do that on PS4 even though my buddy and I both have the PlayStation Camera.

Also being able to play music from USB devices. Like how Wipeout HD on PS3 allowed me to load in my own music and integrated it properly into the game, yet Wipeout Omega Collection completely omits this possibility.

And being able to manage and copy Vita content by connecting it to the PS3 (since I don't have a Windows PC), which has never been possible on the PS4.

And pressure sensitive face buttons on the DualShock 3, which were used in maybe two games? (I think maybe the DualShock 2 had this too, but not sure).

-The Wii U pad's TV remote feature. Yeah, the entire point of that TV button! I actually still sometimes use that when I lose the tv remote lol, it actually works perfectly fine with modern smart tvs!

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I wonder if the bolded is true though? My LG C7 OLED doesn't use IR (the remote doesn't need to be pointed at the TV, and even works through solid walls), and I'm guessing the Wii U TV depends on IR to function?

the switch's touchscreen. criminally underutilized, even by Nintendo

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Understandable seeing as Switch games need to still work entirely without the touchscreen in order to support docked mode.

 

[SirFritz]

The Xbox 360 can act as a Windows Media Center extender, I've never seen or found video of it in action...

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I've used it a handful of times. My dad used to use windows media center on his PC with a TV tuner to record TV and I used to stream the TV to my xbox connected to my PC monitor.

 

[degauss]

I feel like the PS4 touchpad... should it not evolve into a basic black and white screen next generation, qualifies.

 

[SinkFla]

I kinda miss Xbox One snap feature and PiP. That was some cool but now deceased shit.

PS4 touch pad is criminally underused. I loved the swiping functions in KZ. I'm actually surprised that the DS5 is gonna likely have a touchpad considering how much it's just a glorified select button now.

Switch touchscreen as well for sure.

 

[Crumpo]

The memory card slot on the 360. I remember demo consoles let you do something with them, but I never saw people use them and never used it when I got my 360. Seems like an odd feature in the age of the HDD.

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I had to buy a memory card when MS basically ran out of HDDs and split the launch into two SKUs...that was some bullshit.

 

[harry the spy]

Six axis is single handedly redeemed by until dawn. The vita had lots of these useless features in terms of software- like that social map thing