What console is your lovable loser?

[entremet]

Loveable loser meaning console that wasn't well received commercially but you still adore to this today. From the Sega Master System (US!), to the Atari Jaguar and 3DO. The Dreamcast is generally considered one of the most beloved failed consoles. And recently, we've had the Wii U and Vita have a whole bunch of ardent fans.

I'm partial to the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Loved the microswitch joystick and chunky design. Hard to say if it was loser as it was kinda niche, but Nintendo was just dominant with the Gameboy line at the time. But I finally got to have access to a Neo Geo system. Hey, it wasn't an AES. But still in the Neo Geo family. I also loved the hard cases, a nice call back to the AES carts. I know they're not the best for the environment, but you were also less likely to chuck them unlike the GB's cardboard cases--something we all regret when we look at CIB prices today.

 

[Lobster Roll]

Wii U. Absolutely loved that console, and the Virtual Console makes me wish that the Switch had something comparable.

 

[AlgusUnderdunk]

Virtual Boy. That little goober has a permanent spot on my shelf along with the majority of the VB library.

And I did genuinely enjoy a bunch of games on it too.

 

[Abi]

Wii U no question. I love its exclusives library. Mario 3D World is one of my all-time favorites.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

I still think Stadia is the best cloud gaming tech/service. Everything was pretty seamless with it and worked a hell of a lot better than other services.

Although IDK if that qualifies as a "console".

 

[Rats]

Definitely my Vita. Love that little dummy.

For years I thought I had lost it in a move, but last summer I was cleaning out my car and found it buried in the back of my glove compartment. I was god damned elated. You have no idea.

 

[Apathy]

The Vita was too pure for this world

 

[purseowner]

Vita will live forever

 

[Leafshield]

The Vita. Not overly keen on the games library but the hardware was ace.

 

[crimsonECHIDNA]

Wii U

 

[Guaraná]

Gamecube

 

[_bemusedchunk]

playstation 5

 

[Bigg]

Wii U. Love that weird little thing.

Being able to play console games lying on my couch while having TV on in the background years before the Switch felt like magic at the time.

 

[PianoBlack]

Gotta be the Cube, what else? Still has a significant collection of stone cold classics never released elsewhere.

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

I think WiiU has overtaken the Dreamcast for me over the years, but that's mostly because I think it had an amazing software library (albeit delivered at a trickle pace) and not necessarily because I'm fond of the hardware. I still find the GamePad to be underutilized and overly bulky to use.

I think WiiU's quality software is a bit cemented by how much WiiU software got ported and saw immense success on the Switch. Despite some of them getting additional content or enhancements, I think the WiiU still deserves originating credit for just how good some of those games were.

 

[Stowaway Silfer]

Vita. Deserved better. Too good for this world.

 

[Strings]

I mean, the Vita. It's an absolutely fantastic system. It wasn't it that was wrong, but the world!

 

[Tolby]

PSTV (the PS Vita TV thingy)

Never was a portable person, and it was quite cheap shortly after release. It got so many amazing otome games, still play on it sometimes.

 

[Abi]

Mario Maker on a Wii U gamepad will never be topped

 

[Tailzo]

Dreamcast for sure. I keep returning to that game library

 

[Nax]

Vita. Absolutely amazing console in every way. It deserved better.

 

[supercommodore]

Dreamcast for sure. Had some of my best childhood gaming memories during its short life.

Still waiting on Skies of Arcadia to come back to life...

 

[Reynolds Woodcock]

Dreamcast for sure.

Followed by the Saturn and Vita.

 

[Captain_Vyse]

Dreamcast - I loved that little system. Was my first experience with online gaming. Spent so much time playing Phantasy Star Online. Other gems like Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio, Grandia 2, and many others.

Wii U - I find it amusing that people said it had no games, yet want every Wii U game to be ported to the Switch.

 

[Dead Man Typing]

Wii U.
Dreamcast and Wii U suffer a similar fate: lots of amazing exclusives at the time but most of them have been ported to other machines now.

I think the novelty of the Wii U gamepad pushes it over the top. I had one of the best multiplayer sessions of gaming ever with the Wii U. Nintendoland and Mario Kart being the standouts.

Luigi's Ghost Mansion with 4 people drinking and shouting at each other as their Wii remotes buzz while the player with the pad cackles I'm the corner was just phenomenal.

 

[Thera]

Vita without a doubt.
Not the Wii U, I really disliked this console.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Would definitely be the Vita for me. It had everything I wanted and I played the hell out of it.
WiiU just never managed that same level as I only played the exclusives I was interested in which was only a handful.

Dreamcast was really cool from a variety perspective but i've oddly never played all that much on it.

 

[pswii60]

Oh definitely the Dreamcast thanks to that diverse and incredible first party library, along with the plethora of NAOMI arcade ports.

 

[Sealord of Braavos]

Sega Master System.

I kinda rooted for it against the NES, which I also owned of course.

 

[Buff Beefbroth]

I like the 32X and I don't care who knows it.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Wii U

shit's stupid but I was 100% on board with the Switch because of it. off tv play was amazing. and the library is great as proven by the switch ports. and it has Xenoblade Chronicles X

 

[pyxl_8]

Easily the PS Vita. For as much as the market rejected it and it pulled Sony out of handhelds, I think the Switch has proved that they were definitely on the right track (widescreen handheld, home console games on the go, indie dream machine, legacy software support, being able to play the same game on the TV and handheld without buying twice and with progress carrying over), just with more of a "beta" execution.

People will say it's the proprietary memory cards that made it DOA but with Switch digital game prices being what they are I don't know. In my eyes, Nintendo's real differentiator was that it has to be the *same* game and hardware in both use cases so you're not tasking devs with creating two versions, or buying two devices, and all the cross-buy, cross-save, cross-play stuff is no longer needed. But I'll always see the Switch, for all it's mega success, as a brilliant refinement of the core Vita concept.

 

[Xwing]

At this point it's a tie between Dreamcast and Wii U. Probably give the edge to Dreamcast just because it has way more exclusives that were never properly ported.

 

[Dark Knight]

It's Virtual Boy for me. It's just weird, charming, and esoteric enough to be lovable.

 

[Tom Nook]

Gamecube

 

[mael]

I think that's the WiiU to me.
Gamecube I kinda soured on with its Mario and Mario Kart.
WiiU also has access to the best Zelda games (actually close to all of them in 1 way or another).

I think even the concept of the gamepad I actually really like and I think it was criminally underused.
There also needs to be a miiverse replacement, it's absolutely great.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

The Vita means life.

 

[djplaeskool]

Dreamcast > Vita > Saturn

 

[mrmickfran]

Gamecube

Unlike the Wii U it didn't feel like a waste of money for me

 

[OldBritBloke]

I absolutely ADORED my Vita. Love at first sight (of the initial promo images put out by Sony). I enjoyed many of the launch and early games but more than anything it got me interested in indies.

More recently I hacked it, and then fell in love with it all over again as a portable emulation system. My Steam Deck gets all the love right now but I'll always have a special place in my heart for that Vita.

 

[Nocturnowl]

The WiiU ultimately deserves its fate, but by the gaming gods, a console platform that was focused on primarily Japanese platformers and action games in the 2010s is like one last glorious salute to a fading era.

Also the switch owes it for handing out release schedule filler that is still among the platform's best, and even the platform's highest selling title.

 

[Dirtyshubb]

Vita and I'm not sure how it could be anything else considering the sheer depth of its library and from a technical perspective too.

 

[Neutron]

Recently I fished out my PSP, and the battery cover shot off like a rocket. Inside, the battery had bloated to almost spherical proportions. Fortunately it was intact and the PSP was unharmed.

I have the feeling this will be a Vita-heavy thread. Vita-enjoyers, is this an issue I'll need to monitor on my Vita?

 

[EntelechyFuff]

Always gonna be the TurboGrafx-16 to me.

I was just looking at the switch cartridges and thinking about how reminiscent they are of the old HuCards.

 

[Deluxera]

Gamecube was peak Nintendo for me (when it comes to home consoles). The orientation the company took after that with the Wii systems made me slowly drift away.

 

[oni-link]

Dreamcast, Vita and Wii U, the lovable failure holy trinity

 

[giapel]

Gamecube.
All around fantastic piece of hardware.

 

[ResetEraIsTheBestEra]

The Vita was too pure for this world

Click to shrink...

too pure and too good for us.

 

[Kill3r7]

GameCube. It had that Nintendo charm while having some really neat games.

 

[logash]

I was gonna say my Vita but the first page reminded me that the GameCube was the undisputed sales loser that gen. Seriously, I was young at the time so I always forget that it didn't sell well. The library for that console is absolutely incredible.