-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
What's your pick for the most underrated console library?
- Thread starter Discontent
- Start date
OP
OP
I didn't even play it more than a few minutes and even that was mostly just idling in shock.
I can't get behind the Wii U support. Some of the blandest first party support backed by almost no third party love. Yuck.
The Gamecube was a much better failed Nintendo console, and its library gets dumped on all the time. That's the one.
The Gamecube was a much better failed Nintendo console, and its library gets dumped on all the time. That's the one.
The NGPC was short-lived, but full of quality stuff. Much better games on average than were coming out on the Game Boy Color at the time.
The Nintendo DS first party library. I've seen a retrospective tendency among people to view the DS as having great third party support but lackluster first party support. It's a viewpoint I thoroughly disagree with. The system got:
Two critically well-received Zelda games developed by EAD
The return of an original 2D Mario platformer
Two fantastic pokemon generations culminating in the most content rich entry (Black and White 2)
Mario Kart DS which was Nintendo's first online multiplayer game (afaik) in addition to having some of the best singleplayer content in the series
A plethora of great original kirby games and remakes
Animal Crossing Wild World which introduced a ton of elements that are now mainstays of the series
The second best mario rpg
And lots of great new ips (Elite Beat Agents, Rythm Heaven, Hotel Dusk, Nintendogs)
The first party support was well above and beyond the GBA imo, where Intelligent Systems was the only first party studio consistently releasing output for it.
Two critically well-received Zelda games developed by EAD
The return of an original 2D Mario platformer
Two fantastic pokemon generations culminating in the most content rich entry (Black and White 2)
Mario Kart DS which was Nintendo's first online multiplayer game (afaik) in addition to having some of the best singleplayer content in the series
A plethora of great original kirby games and remakes
Animal Crossing Wild World which introduced a ton of elements that are now mainstays of the series
The second best mario rpg
And lots of great new ips (Elite Beat Agents, Rythm Heaven, Hotel Dusk, Nintendogs)
The first party support was well above and beyond the GBA imo, where Intelligent Systems was the only first party studio consistently releasing output for it.
I have to agree for sure. The 3D glasses were awesome back in the day. The SD carts or whatever they were called were also awesome. We also had Alex Kidd in miracle world!
Master System. People always take about how legendary the NES was but there are some 8-bit gems on the MS too. The Ninja, Cloud Master, Kenseiden, Darius II etc.
Not quite up to the standard of the PC Engine port but R-Type for the Master System is still really good
Not quite up to the standard of the PC Engine port but R-Type for the Master System is still really good
The Vita. I had like 30 exclusive games on that little thing and enjoyed them all. Every time I felt in the mood for a specific genre I could reliably pick up my Vita, hit up the PS Store, and find something.
Yeah, it's the little console that could!
I never tried the 3D glasses or any games on those Sega Cards, but my Master System is the OG version that supports those card-based games.
Weird seeing some options like the OP with consoles that sold a lot... The only one i accept is the wii but because it didn't sold a lot because of the type of person who post here or because the amazing games like Sin & Punishment 2
My vote is the GBA because it had a considerable smaller life and is mostly remembered for snes ports but it has sooo muuuch moore
But wii, wiiu, dreamcast, saturn and master system are all good examples
My vote is the GBA because it had a considerable smaller life and is mostly remembered for snes ports but it has sooo muuuch moore
But wii, wiiu, dreamcast, saturn and master system are all good examples
OP
OP
How you gonna say my examples are weird cause they sold a lot then proceed to nominate the GBA lmao
I'd say Saturn and/or Wii.
Saturn's strength in hindsight is that a lot of its best exclusives are still trapped on the console, for better or worse (it's worse). But in my experience, most gamers wouldn't even know what those are - Nights is probably its most significant thing (and likely due to its connection to the Sonic series and needing to act as the Saturn's de facto flagship title after X-Treme was canceled), but beyond that there's a bit of a gap unless people are clamoring for like, old versions of Virtua Fighter.
I also agree with what someone said about Wii earlier, it has such a terrible reputation among "hardcore gamers" who dismissed it at the time of release and missed its best games because they thought everything was just Wii Sports. Which, setting aside that Wii Sports was fun in its own right... I'm just reminded of the phenomenon where you'd see all these gamers on GAF, GameFAQs etc. curse the skies whenever a badass game was announced as a Wii exclusive, before claiming in the same breath that "Wii had no games." Fun times.
Problem with Wii U is that while it had a small, but strong library, most of those games have seen Switch ports/sequels by now. It's kind of a funny catch-22 in that many of those games have seen way more success on Switch, so on one hand its library was vindicated, but on the other there's just not really a compelling reason to come back to the original console anymore. It's like, Zelda HD ports (which are probably heading to Switch this year anyway), Xenoblade X and NintendoLand in terms of notable exclusives. While you could say the same for virtually any Nintendo console, I guess the recency bias here makes it harder for me to ding like, the NES library just because those games have seen countless re-releases, but usually only decades later.
Saturn's strength in hindsight is that a lot of its best exclusives are still trapped on the console, for better or worse (it's worse). But in my experience, most gamers wouldn't even know what those are - Nights is probably its most significant thing (and likely due to its connection to the Sonic series and needing to act as the Saturn's de facto flagship title after X-Treme was canceled), but beyond that there's a bit of a gap unless people are clamoring for like, old versions of Virtua Fighter.
I also agree with what someone said about Wii earlier, it has such a terrible reputation among "hardcore gamers" who dismissed it at the time of release and missed its best games because they thought everything was just Wii Sports. Which, setting aside that Wii Sports was fun in its own right... I'm just reminded of the phenomenon where you'd see all these gamers on GAF, GameFAQs etc. curse the skies whenever a badass game was announced as a Wii exclusive, before claiming in the same breath that "Wii had no games." Fun times.
Problem with Wii U is that while it had a small, but strong library, most of those games have seen Switch ports/sequels by now. It's kind of a funny catch-22 in that many of those games have seen way more success on Switch, so on one hand its library was vindicated, but on the other there's just not really a compelling reason to come back to the original console anymore. It's like, Zelda HD ports (which are probably heading to Switch this year anyway), Xenoblade X and NintendoLand in terms of notable exclusives. While you could say the same for virtually any Nintendo console, I guess the recency bias here makes it harder for me to ding like, the NES library just because those games have seen countless re-releases, but usually only decades later.
I think that at least here, the Wii U and Dreamcast libraries are well respected and highly rated - I think those answers apply more to the general public because they didn't buy those systems.
I think for me I would say the Gamecube gets most overlooked in terms of a great library that I experienced. Never owned a Saturn or a Vita so I can't say on those.
I think for me I would say the Gamecube gets most overlooked in terms of a great library that I experienced. Never owned a Saturn or a Vita so I can't say on those.
My first thought as well. I believe every first party game ported from the Wii U to Switch has been successful, some of them had crazy success like Mario Kart 8. This shows that it was the hardware, not the first party software that held the system back (third party software was a whole different story, but it did have a decent indie selection with games like Shovel Knight).
OP
OP
Saturn/Wii have absolutely stellar libraries, both are great picks
The 3DS when coupled with backwards compatibility of the DS is a top 3 system all time but never gets the love or anywhere close it.
Yup, the PSP was an absolute joy if you were into RPGs. So many great titles, both original and remasters.
We probably don't talk about how good the Wii's library was often enough, because usually only the big first part titles get discussed. But it was a lot more solid than that. All sorts of weird and wonderful games.
Let's completely ignore first party games and just talk third party developers.
Zack and Wiki
Tatsunoko vs Capcom
No More Heroes games
Trauma Center games
MadWorld
LostWinds games
Sonic Colours
Red Steel 2
The Last Story
RE4: Wii Edition (the best version)
Little King's Story
Sin & Punishment 2
The list goes on and on, although as it goes on I'm sure more people would have conflicting opinions (Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, RE Chronicles games, so on).
Let's completely ignore first party games and just talk third party developers.
Zack and Wiki
Tatsunoko vs Capcom
No More Heroes games
Trauma Center games
MadWorld
LostWinds games
Sonic Colours
Red Steel 2
The Last Story
RE4: Wii Edition (the best version)
Little King's Story
Sin & Punishment 2
The list goes on and on, although as it goes on I'm sure more people would have conflicting opinions (Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, RE Chronicles games, so on).
Facts. The Wii has the best home console library for a Nintendo platform since the SNES.
OP
OP
Now that you mentioned it, I have to give a shout out to GBC (sorry NGPC is cool too) it didn't have many so I wouldn't call it underrated but there were two in particular that were well worth getting: New Super Mario Bros DX, Metal Gear Solid, two of the greatest handheld games ever made.
The entire WonderSwan library is underrated or actually no rated due to being the major japanese console to never be officially distributed in the west (it was available only in Japan and a few other asian countries).
It doesn't help that a good chunk of the library require knowledge of japanese but then again even genres that don't have a language barrier (for example there are some excellent puzzle games) are little talked about.
Last edited:
Think I might have to go with the Master System, there's a lot of classic games where the Master System has the definitive 8-bit version, including a lot of Sega's older arcade stuff, plus some surprisingly competent ports of 16-bit games, plus a few oddities. I wouldn't say it's an outstandingly brilliant system or anything, but the lack of attention it gets suggests that it's hasn't gotten the consideration that it should have.
I think the PSP is maybe an honourary mention. I'd never say that it's got the most under-rated library, because it did sell in large numbers, but I think that alongside the popular stuff that most people know of, there's a lot of stuff there that's been overlooked.
I think the PSP is maybe an honourary mention. I'd never say that it's got the most under-rated library, because it did sell in large numbers, but I think that alongside the popular stuff that most people know of, there's a lot of stuff there that's been overlooked.
Most of those more obscure systems are more obscure largely because their libraries sadly just aren't very good. There are some good Lynx games but they're occasional standouts in a tiny library. There's quite a few retro game compilations out there that have more good games included in them than there were in the entire Lynx library. The 3DO did a lot better in terms of accumulating decent games before dying off, and I would agree with anyone saying that it was under-rated, but I don't think it's a real contender for most under-rated system ever.
OP
OP
'Celine replied to the thread What's your pick...' I knew it's gonna be something to do with the Wonderswan <3
OP
OP
One that is understandably absent in this thread (at least i think so) but I feel deserves a mention is the AES. All those fighting games and shmups on one system + Metal Slug, Sengoku, Shock Troopers, Windjammers, Nam 1975, Ninja Commandos etc. Wipingsweatoffbrow.gif!
Easy answer for me, the Sega Saturn.
I've noticed that the Saturn is often placed alongside true failure consoles such as the Atari Jaguar when it comes to discussion. It's not uncommon to see people thinking of it as totally irredeemable but the fact is you can own a Saturn and still have library of quality titles large enough to justify owning the system as a legitimate gaming platform and not just a curiosity for die-hards.
Unpopular opinion, but I think that overall it has a better library than the N64, which is though of a lot more fondly.
I've noticed that the Saturn is often placed alongside true failure consoles such as the Atari Jaguar when it comes to discussion. It's not uncommon to see people thinking of it as totally irredeemable but the fact is you can own a Saturn and still have library of quality titles large enough to justify owning the system as a legitimate gaming platform and not just a curiosity for die-hards.
Unpopular opinion, but I think that overall it has a better library than the N64, which is though of a lot more fondly.
I think the widespread and low-cost availability of many of those games over the past few decades means that the system library is probably not really under-rated any more. I suppose there's still some under-appreciation specifically for the AES as hardware, but not so much for the library.
OP
OP
Love the N64 but that shouldn't be an unpopular opinion, the Saturn has a much stronger library.
OP
OP
...fair
but as i said, the console was killed short because of the DS success so it had a weird small life so it is not a regular console that sold a lot =P
but fair
OP
OP
<3 I know what you mean though, GBA had a buttload of good games that weren't SNES ports.
Wii U's library is constantly brought up, so it's not underrated.
I'd hear arguments for Saturn, maybe? Dreamcast's library more or less got ported to its contemporaries, plus its 2-year shelf life sort of hampers the volume of games there. I also think some of the heavy hitters (Sonic Adventure, namely) are, well, bad.
PS3's library was pretty nuts. Sony was hungry to crawl back from their rocky start, and they put out game are after game for something like 7 years. Sony would make produce a game for PS3... then make 1-2 super sequels (usually). It's a derided console, so I think you can claim "underrated" with the PS3.
The PSP, for one reason or another, has a crazy ratio of games + hardware sales versus being overlooked. I think something like 80+ million PSPs were sold, and a shitload of software came out for it, but the PSP is always poo-poo'd away when discussing handhelds.
I'd hear arguments for Saturn, maybe? Dreamcast's library more or less got ported to its contemporaries, plus its 2-year shelf life sort of hampers the volume of games there. I also think some of the heavy hitters (Sonic Adventure, namely) are, well, bad.
PS3's library was pretty nuts. Sony was hungry to crawl back from their rocky start, and they put out game are after game for something like 7 years. Sony would make produce a game for PS3... then make 1-2 super sequels (usually). It's a derided console, so I think you can claim "underrated" with the PS3.
The PSP, for one reason or another, has a crazy ratio of games + hardware sales versus being overlooked. I think something like 80+ million PSPs were sold, and a shitload of software came out for it, but the PSP is always poo-poo'd away when discussing handhelds.
Yup… as someone who owned and played pretty much every good exclusive Nintendo made for the Wii U, the Switch is getting pretty long in the tooth on rereleases and stuff.
If you count original titles, the Switch is actually coming out pretty poorly.
Of course PlayStation is ultra famous but I think there is some merit in thinking that the japanese library is kind of underrated or better, lesser known in its totality, due to sheer vastness.
Saturn was by far the Sega console with the biggest number of game releases in Japan with roughly one thousand games (977).
PS1 could count on more than thrice that number (3268).
Now of course we aren't talking about Japan only games but I was always impressed by the sheer number of games japanese developers ended up producing for PS1.
Note: The figures above don't include re-releases.
It has to be the Vita right? I mean everyone just says it has no exclusives, but what an amazing lineup it had.
The Saturn absolutely shreds the N64 in sheer volume of titles and genre representation.
OP
OP
Psp stays underrated af. It's library is way better than the DS's imo. Where's the fighting games and racing games on the DS? Smh in confusion. And it can stand toe to toe in the genre the DS is most renowned for: RPG's.
Tbf a LOT of the Japan only games on the PS1 are, I don't wanna say shovelware cause I've always hated that term, not the best lol. BUT there are some absolute monster games too, maybe just as many as the Saturn.