Your favorite console that flopped?

[SirNinja]

Vita for me, even though my two favorite games on it were basically souped-up PS2 games (Persona 4 Golden and Final Fantasy X HD). I really enjoyed playing various PS1/PSP games on it as well. It's a shame the games made specifically for the device didn't interest me as much — or Sony, for that matter. :-/

I think that's one of the big reasons why I love the Switch so much, and why I mostly play it handheld. It feels like what the Vita could have been. Better hardware, it can easily be a handheld or a console (the PS TV was a super awkward attempt at that), and it just uses regular SD cards instead of ridiculously expensive proprietary ones.

 

[Deleted member 76797]

I think that's one of the big reasons why I love the Switch so much, and why I mostly play it handheld. It feels like what the Vita could have been. Better hardware, it can easily be a handheld or a console (the PS TV was a super awkward attempt at that), and it just uses regular SD cards instead of ridiculously expensive proprietary ones.

Click to shrink...

was gonna say this myself. feels like switch picked up the mantle from the vita. lots of indie support and cool one off games.

 

[nny]

I absolutely adore the Vita, and still have a backlog that will last me a few years <3

 

[SEATLiens]

Vita

 

[crimsonECHIDNA]

Technically the Wii U I guess.

 

[pjl93]

The game gear is significantly better than the gameboy and deserved more love

 

[electroshockwave]

Vita.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Definitely Vita. WiiU would be a relatively close second, but I own a Vita and Vita TV, so...

 

[Deleted member 17092]

Something about the saturn hardware specifically I really like. Nice heft to it and great controllers.

 

[KrillinLikeAVillan]

It's the dreamcast for sure.

 

[julian]

Too many to choose from. :(

Not sure I'd say Dreamcast flopped. It was killed because they went broke. Not that I think it could have recovered but unlike some other flops there really wasn't a choice and the sales of the system weren't the biggest issue.
So now I'm left with the Wii U, the Saturn or the NeoGeoPocketColor.... I guess I must go with the Saturn.

 

[DeathyG]

Dreamcast and Vita, obviously. Two amazing systems that were way ahead of their time.

 

[CountAntonio]

3DO. I bought it after it had failed cheap and bought a ton of games at bargain bin prices.

Killing Time
Road Rash
Crash N Burn
Mad Dog Mcree
Samurai Showdown
Another World
Flashback
Slam 'N Jam 95

It wasn't the greatest collection of games but I pretty much got them all in one large bundle. Going from SNES and being able to get one or two games a year to having a large collection of games that seemed like they were from the future put me gaming heaven.

 

[Rubik8]

Turbo Grafx 16. It had so much potential but was brought to the US too late and poorly marketed. I had one after it was basically dead, and I liked it more than the Genesis. If it had launched in 87-88 it could have given the NES some real competition.

 

[Qwark]

My answer is Vita. But since that's already been answered a lot, I'm going to talk about how good the Ouya was for local multiplayer games. It was the origin of Towerfall, Duck Game, Gentlmen, Toto Temple, King of Booze. It had versions of BombSquad, No Brakes Valet, Hidden in Plain Sight. Yes, it was managed terribly, had unrealistic expectations (that stupid survey), and the controller sucked (DS3's were a must), but it was a genuine blast to play with friends. I'm still waiting for a version of BombSquad to hit consoles, that game was SO much fun.

But I also love Saturn and Dreamcast too.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

If we're ignoring Japanese successes, I'd say the Turbografx-16 or Sega Saturn.

If we are saying globally, the Dreamcast.

Click to shrink...

Same for me.

Vectrex is pretty bad ass, too, although its small number of games takes it out of the top list.

And I'm surprised at how many people in this thread use the term "console" for handhelds.

 

[Bigg]

I love a lot of the Dreamcast's library but I never actually owned one - a lot of its big games I played later via ports/remasters and such. If I had $200 at the time I would have absolutely bought one but, well, I was 9 years old and my parents felt my N64 was enough.

As far as systems I've owned, Wii U. Being able to play console games on the couch or in my bed pre-Switch was great, and it had honestly one of the strongest first party lineups that Nintendo's ever produced.

 

[Jon Carter]

The Wii U for me. Any other console and you could just port all the games to a new console and get the same or likely a superior experience. Wii U games that use the GamePad, though few and far between, play best or are sometimes only possible on Wii U. Nintendo Land just can't be replicated on another system, the same is true for Affordable Space Adventures, and I enjoyed having the GamePad for games like Splatoon and Super Mario Maker. But really, Nintendo Land in particular is the reason why it's my number one. It's a ton of fun, I spent so many hours on it with my wife, my friends and my family, and it's an experience that will always remain unique to the Wii U.

I'm surprised at how many people in this thread use the term "console" for handhelds.

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Why? "Handhelds" is just short for "handheld consoles".

 

[TJ_Electronica]

Has to be either the Dreamcast or the Vita.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Why? "Handhelds" is just short for "handheld consoles".

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The term "console" was used mostly for just TV machines in the '90s. The definition seems to have changed to be more broad in recent years. It's not a bad thing but it's a noticeable shift.

 

[SpookySpice]

Definitely Dreamcast for me (Vita will always be a winner in my books, both for games and as a remote play option).

My older brother had one when I was a kid and I loved every single game so much I'd sneak into his room to play. Power Stone was the best party game and Jet Set Radio is my favorite game of all time. But those controllers and memory cards were ridiculous. Who thought to combine memory cards with basically a Tamagotchi. I do always wonder what could have been if Sega consoles made it to this current generation.

 

[The Real Napsta]

Dreamcast

Runner up: Vita

 

[Seaman]

Dreamcast by far, and no one here has even mentioned the most unique reason and one of the best games....

 

[HOTSPUR]

either Dreamcast or vita for sure

 

[Warrior of Light]

PS Vita, followed by Sega Saturn and then Dreamcast.

 

[Amnixia]

WiiU the thread.

It had some great games (DKTF, W101, Bayo2, Mario 3D World) and awesome remasters (Windwaker/TP).

It gave us Splatoon.


VC support was amazing


NO FRIEND CODES

The plastic on the controllers felt kinda cheap though

The social media (plaza iirc?) was also so nice and fun cause everyone there was a WiiU user.

I loved my WiiU

 

[SRTtoZ]

Dreamcast for sure. I liked the Vita in theory but that was more on the hardware side.

 

[Inspector Detector]

Definitely the Dreamcast. So many great and memorable games in such a short amount of time.

The Wii U deserved its fate and every game worth mentioning (except Xenoblade X) has been ported to the far superior Switch.

 

[Duane]

Dreamcast.

I've owned every Sega system and every Xbox (mostly because I've owned pretty much every console).

To me they're one lineage, kinda: SMS>Genesis>Saturn>Dreamcast (which MS contributed to/ran a custom version of Windows CE)>Xbox>360>Xbone>XSSX

And of ALL those systems, Dreamcast was my favorite.

 

[FlashFlooder]

Depends how you look at it I guess, it was the product that almost put Sony out of business. They made hardly any money despite selling 80 million units. On the other hand it's where their core dev teams locked in their winning formulas and because of those mistakes they were able to put out the most successful console of all time. Can go either way I say.

Click to shrink...

A flop means it didn't sell much. 80 million units is a lot.

 

[ProtomanNeo]

Gamecube.

 

[FaceHugger]

I suppose the Vita, as it never got massive support, but managed to have a quaint little run. I was amazed with it at the time. I definitely got my money's worth out of it, that's for sure.

 

[nanskee]

I really enjoyed my Wii u. A homebrewed Wii u is kinda nuts.

But I think the Dreamcast is definitely the best flopped console of all time

 

[Chiramii]

I have a really soft spot for the Commodore 64 GS because it's the first console I ever played and grew up with, apart from the NES.

 

[Carnby]

Of all the flops I owned? Sega Dreamcast, I guess. I didn't like it much.

 

[cvxfreak]

Dreamcast, no doubt.

 

[senj]

The Wii U honestly, for all its weirdness, was a lovable little machine with a lot of great games that thankfully have mostly made it to the Switch.

 

[EntelechyFuff]

The Wii U honestly, for all its weirdness, was a lovable little machine with a lot of great games that thankfully have mostly made it to the Switch.

Click to shrink...

Every time I see or play BotW, I lose track of how often I register indications that the Wii U was always meant to be the lead platform for the game, and the GamePad was intended as an analog to the in-game Sheikah Slate. I still want to play that vision of the game (with the obvious performance bump the Switch brought).

 

[MisterGrey3000]

The WiiU!
It had top tier software like Mario 3D World, DK Tropical Freeze, and Bayonetta 2. It's also the birth place of one of my favorite kart racers ever, Mario Kart 8. Smash 4 and Pikmin 3 were also hella dope.
And Miiverse was pretty cool in spite of all it's faults.

it's too bad that Nintendo made so many dumb decisions with that machine, the software deserved better and I'm happy to see it all getting a 2nd chance on Switch.

 

[tiebreaker]

Hardware wise I really like Vita.

Software wise I enjoyed my time with Wii U. Xenoblade Chronicles X is a great game, and Mario Kart 8 is fun for local multi.
Such a shame that the hardware is rubbish.

 

[SweetJohnnyCage]

I think the Wii U, honestly. Most of the games have been ported to Switch, so I miss it less, but I had a great time with it. Now if only Nintendo would release WWHD and TPHD on Switch.

 

[freikugeln]

Since Saturn did pretty good for years in Japan, l 'll also go with Dreamcast.

It 's still crazy that it managed to have such a great library in such a short lifespan and despite limited 3rd party support.

 

[Grouch Douglass]

Does the Game Gear count as a flop? I feel like there was far more potential there.

 

[karmaforgotme]

Gamecube.

Click to shrink...

Same. I loved that cube design. I think the first games I got on it was SSX Tricky and Mario Sunshine..

 

[Ghost of Jhoto]

Relative to its competition, Dreamcast is the greatest console ever.

 

[FinFunnels]

I had a Sega Pico when I was a kid and that thing blew my mind lol.

My real answer would probably have to be Dreamcast. So many amazing and unique games. Fighting games especially were amazing on the console, but it also had gems like Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5 and Shenmue.

I really wanted to love the Vita. I was so hyped for it for it, ever since it was revealed as "NGP". I adored the PSP. But Vita was a huge let down. The hardware was way too weak, so you had all these sun-native res games with long load times and 30 FPS at best. It did have a lot of great games, but thankfully most of them have been ported to either PS4 or PC where they can be enjoyed with much better resolution and performance. A few gems like Soul Sacrifice are still stuck in Vita hell, though.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Handheld-Vita

Trophies on the go, dual analog sticks, free online, wireless headphone support, lots of japanese and indie games.

Console-Wii U

The DS/3DS/Wii were obviously monster success stories for Nintendo, but for me it was the dark ages. Horrendous controls and lackluster performance completely ruined multiple generations of Nintendo games for me, The Wii u was a return to form with dual analog sticks and proper control schemes and Nintendo games look beautiful in HD.

 

[dreamfall]

I still play my Vita all the time and I absolutely adore it!

 

[Navid]

Only console hardware I've bought that kinda flopped was the PSP... and it didn't do much for me and made it clear that I just am not a person who enjoys playing games on a handheld device.

 

[Orioto]

It's absolutely the Saturn