I have spent waaaaaay too much time on the internet so sadly I know about most consoles these days.
But man, the first time I heard anyone say FM Towns Marty I just fucking lost it. How can that be the actual name of a console?!?!
I remember a well off friend of mine bought this the year it came out with all games. Going from the arcade down the block to his apartment and playing the same game was awesome... also using the memory card to continue games between arcade & home was surreal.I didn't even know the NEO GEO home console existed until I listened to GiantBomb regularly. Even then, I realized it was something only privileged rich enthusiasts would own. The idea of arcade-perfect ports was something I only associated with my Saturn and Dreamcast, but the insanity that Jeff Gerstmann explained as using the exact same software as the Arcades themselves for the "home" system is still unfathomable to me.
I didn't even know it existed because I just didn't know anyone rich enough that could have one. And that's growing up in an upper-middle-class suburban area with arcades that had NEO GEO cabinets there!
I was very tempted to buy a Neo Geo memory card back then to use in the arcades but they were pretty expensive, and then most of the Neo Geo arcade cabs stopped supporting them anyway.
I bought a mint, in-box, never used GX4000 a few months ago:
RDI Halcyon:
Home Page
Detailed information, history, pictures and reviews of the classic, new and obscure video gaming consoles.www.videogameconsolelibrary.com
Probably the WonderSwan Color.
One day as a kid I walked into my local videogames store and the guy showed me this.
It blew my mind that there were still consoles / handhelds that I didn't even know about.
I'm probably behind the curve here, but I had no idea the Pokemon Mini existed until a few days ago
The XEGS has a great library of games compatible with it but it was a really bad idea to release the system to compete with the 7800 and the 2600 Jr., not to mention Nintendo and Sega. It's kind of weird how the light gun isn't compatible with the SMS and vice versa. Both guns feel similar and use the same style port.It's just an Amstrad CPC 6128 Plus without the floppy port. Many of the systems listed in this topic are actually just 80's european or japanese micro computers crammed into video game console shells.
Here's another one:
A commodore 64 that could only play the cartridge games.
Yet another:
This is basically an atari 800XL in a console shaped box (although, unlike the Amstrad GX4000 or Commodore 64gs, this could pretty easily work as a full Atari 8-bit)
That said, the GX4000 is probably the most hastily thrown together of these kinds of consoles. There are several games that outright still include their keyboard title screens, with impossible to access options. Like, the title will say "Press 3 for sound effects/music", and that option is still in the game, but you can't toggle it because there is no keyboard and thus no 3 key.00
The C64GS is similarly hastily put together, although it has slightly more of an excuse because some of the games released for it were meant only for the normal C64, despite their box advertising. Like, Terminator 2 on the 64gs is advertised as being "64 gs compatible" but it's unplayable on the system for the same reason listed above -- no keyboard, and thus no ability to press 1 to start the game.
How about this:
Even in a topic about "unknown consoles" people don't know about my favorite handheld ever, the GP32:
The GP32 was vastly, vaaaaastly ahead of its time. The very first instance of digital distribution I ever had was with this thing -- I bought both GPlayer (the movie player) and Pinball Dreams through their online store and downloaded them to the memory card. It was also my very first MP3 player, releasing roughly the same time as the ipod (with the added bonus that it worked with windows computers, unlike the first gen ipod at release).
I remember watching movies on my GP32 in between classes in college.
You could also connect it to the dreamcast.
The Coleco Telstar Arcade
Triangle shaped cartridges yo
Someone should repurpose this absurd design for a GTA game.
I never saw this model in person but I remember the Western version (JVC X'Eye) in stores and seeing a TV commercial.I think the Wondermega (a combined Sega Mega Drive and Sega Mega-CD unit created by Victor) is the coolest looking console ever. It looks like a device from a cyberpunk movie.
There's one of these at store near me (as of a few months ago at least) but they only have one game for it. I have played all its games emulated, though.A whole five years before the gameboy. I would've loved one of these I'm sure but not many games came out for the thing really.
The Tapwave Zodiac. This thing was super cool. The Zodiac was a Palm-based, gaming-focused PDA that used SD cards as its storage medium. It also functioned as an MP3 player, an e-Reader, a media viewer, and an electronic organizer complete with calendar, memo pad, and date book. And, surprisingly, it did all of these things pretty darn well. There's a video at that link.
Wow.
I just found my one last week after going in the attic for stuff. Awesome little machine, useless on sunny days though lolEven in a topic about "unknown consoles" people don't know about my favorite handheld ever, the GP32:
The GP32 was vastly, vaaaaastly ahead of its time. The very first instance of digital distribution I ever had was with this thing -- I bought both GPlayer (the movie player) and Pinball Dreams through their online store and downloaded them to the memory card. It was also my very first MP3 player, releasing roughly the same time as the ipod (with the added bonus that it worked with windows computers, unlike the first gen ipod at release).
I remember watching movies on my GP32 in between classes in college.
You could also connect it to the dreamcast.
The Tapwave Zodiac. This thing was super cool. The Zodiac was a Palm-based, gaming-focused PDA that used SD cards as its storage medium. It also functioned as an MP3 player, an e-Reader, a media viewer, and an electronic organizer complete with calendar, memo pad, and date book. And, surprisingly, it did all of these things pretty darn well. There's a video at that link.
I keep forgetting the Pippin even existed lolAnyone remember when Apple and Bandai made a console together?
GP32 was my dream console back in 2002-2003, but due to me being a teenager in a non-western country at the beginning of the Internet democratization, I could never have one :( still I read about every piece of news about it, its games and homebrew. I remember wanting to play Astonishia Story R so bad. I finally did on PSP and it was shite lolEven in a topic about "unknown consoles" people don't know about my favorite handheld ever, the GP32:
The GP32 was vastly, vaaaaastly ahead of its time. The very first instance of digital distribution I ever had was with this thing -- I bought both GPlayer (the movie player) and Pinball Dreams through their online store and downloaded them to the memory card. It was also my very first MP3 player, releasing roughly the same time as the ipod (with the added bonus that it worked with windows computers, unlike the first gen ipod at release).
I remember watching movies on my GP32 in between classes in college.
You could also connect it to the dreamcast.
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