What consoles just didn’t click with you?

[dumpster]

5 minutes ago, fat flatulent git said:

 

I get that it's only wikipedia, but according to its entry for list of Switch games

 

 

How many of them would you be interested in playing? The Switch has Nintendo first party titles and a load of shovelware.  I'm being deliberately belligerent but I'm kind of right. 

 

[fat flatulent git]

Plenty - I have a huge Switch collection.

 

Even if you delete the shovelware, you'll still looking at a huge range of games.  It's only driving simulators that are poorly catered for on the Switch.  Every other type of game has plenty of options.

[phillv85]

If you're a fan of shmups the Switch is up there amongst the elite consoles, even if you only count the physical releases.

[dumpster]

I'm deliberately mocking, I know for many people the switch is the best thing ever. @biglime did a piece on Gamesmaster which really resonated with me and he made a lot of very good points. For me, personally, I hated it and wish I could get back the T-150 PS4 steering wheel I swapped it for. But that's just me..  also I have just edited Wikipedia and this proves that the switch has no games.  Haha!

 

 

[fat flatulent git]

There are many legitimate criticisms of the Switch, but to say it has a poor range of games is absurd.  Anyone saying that is just making themselves look daft.

[fat flatulent git]

Interesting figures from this page.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_game_lists_by_platform

 

I was astounded to see that there are nearly 3,000 Xbox One games.

 

The Switch is higher than all the other consoles I checked, although only very marginally ahead of PS2.

[Down by Law]

Gonna catch some heat for this but every Nintendo console except the Gamecube which I really loved. That thing was built like a tank, had an excellent top loader when the PS2 and Xbox had those awful shaky disc trays. Video output was super clean and high quality, almost up to Sega standards. Amazing library of games, great to collect for with it being the first Nintendo system without crappy card boxes. For someone who doesn't get excited about the typical Nintendo staples, the Cube still had so much good stuff to offer. Sega F-Zero? Resident Evil 4? Viewtiful Joe? GBA player with no compromises (see below) ? So much good stuff.

 

Nintendo just can't manage satisfying hardware since, for me. There's always so many revisions that fix one problem and create another. GBA? Amazing form factor, terrible screen. SP? Great screen (for the time) painful form factor. DS? Heavy with terrible screens. DS Lite? It's lite because it's made out of awful cheap plastic *hinge breaks* Wii? Nice solid hardware design, terrible video out options and constant control compromises. Switch? Dodgy joycons and huge bezel. Switch OLED? Amazing screen, small bezel, same crappy joycons. Repeat ad nauseum.

 

 

Loved the PS1 but never felt the same about the PS2 and I still hate the hardware. That cheap shaky disc tray, the creaking plastic, the bizarre plug socket switch on the back. The PAL games with those awful, awful uniform spines. Apparently this is a full PAL collection

 

 

Just screams fun, doesn't it? PS2 just stinks for me, I dont like anything about it. And all the original Dual Shock 2s seemed to have self destructed in time. 

 

[ScouserInExile]

It's heresy, I know, but GameCube. As I've said a few times, other than Mario Kart, I'm not a fan of Nintendo's IPs. Zelda, Mario, Smash Bros... none of it holds any interest. So there wasn't really anything on GameCube that warranted getting one. I played a few things like Monkey Ball on a mate's and it just all felt a bit meh. Not helped by the fact I'd worked for Sony for years and then predominantly on PlayStation games, so anything that wasn't a Dual Shock felt weird to me.

 

I actually own one that I was given and I have literally never switched it on.

 

Similarly, the N64. It's something I played GoldenEye on a good bit and that's it. I actually had two at one point. One got powered on long enough to test it worked when I sold it to someone on here.

 

What makes these odd to me is that I loved the SNES. It was my first console, coming from Commodore micros, and I played it up death. You would have thought I'd progress to the next Nintendo offering...

[JamesC]

N64 and Switch for me.

 

I had an N64 for a bit and while I had some good times with it, and had some decent games, I always felt like I was missing out on the avalanche of great games available on the PS1.
Add in the stupid controller and ugly graphics and you have a console which, for me, holds very little appeal. And while it has a pretty decent library of games there are about 4 great PS1 games for every great N64 game.

 

The Switch is a great product in its niche, it just isn't what I want out of a console. I'm only really interested in home consoles and Nintendo have made one with a horribly designed dock which stands upright. They should have made the Switch slide into the dock horizontally, so it could fit in a TV cabinet just like a Sky box or Blu Ray player. It also has that horribly designed cart slot which is fiddly and requires you to take the swicth out of the dock to change the game (I prefer to buy physical games). I felt like I was pretty much required to buy a pro controller because the joy-cons were so tiny and flimsy feeling (and everyone was complaining about stick-drift) and I don't really like it. The lack of analogue triggers is pretty crap and the whole thing just feels a bit cheap. While there's tons of software available, it feels like all the best stuff is WiiU remasters, which I already own for the previous console.

[dumpster]

Nintendo seems to be getting a lot of stick in this thread.  I've deliberately turned up the anger on the Switch for fun, although I do hate my Switch and hi still can't understand how something I used so rarely kept breaking.  But Nintendo seem to go for the special obvious "thing" regardless of whether a new feature is needed.  When everyone is doing games on CD, with CD audio and FMV clips, Nintendo released a cartridge based machine.  I can see the benefits, no loading delays etc, but come on... With hindsight that seems a stupid decision. Likewise the DS showed promise (I remember a football game being previewed where you saw the overall view on one screen and closer up in the other, looked interesting and new) but the reality was you don't need two screens.  Games ended like Sonic or Contra, playing on one tall screen, like holding a PSP in Tate Mode. Mario Kart squandered the whole second screen with a HUD.  ridge Racer used the bottom screen as a steering wheel.  I don't recall any games where the second screen was used in a truly innovative way.  

 

Then the Wii, with the famous waggle controls.  A huge success but a way underpowered console compared to the competition. Basically the same hardware as the GameCube but with a controller that appealed to your gran, Xmas morning the whole family played Tennis but how many more games did those families buy?  The best games on Wii can be played much the same on a regular controller.  I'm enjoying Super Mario Galaxy on Xbox, with the emulator having a "Shake" button. You can play the game fine.  

Wii-U had a poor quality tablet screen that was underused.  That Zombi U game had some great ideas and again, we would like to see more of that stuff. And now the Switch, underpowered, too big to be a handheld, not powerful enough to be a TV console.....  

 

Imagine if Nintendo did a Xbox/PS5 beating piece of hardware.   Launch with a new Mario, Metroid, F-Zero.   Would be marvellous.  

 

Nintendo have been massively succesfull with their approaches, for the most part.  But they are always playing alongside the main console market, never the leader.  Nd they could be if they dropped the gimmicks and made a whole new system that blew us away.  Having said that, more than happy for F Zero VR.

 

[Colonel Panic]

I can't believe I'm even responding to your posts but here we are... I've had an original and OLED Switch, both played a LOT and none of the hardware issues you're complaining about.

[JamesC]

I don't know about hardware issues in general but stick-drift on Joycons is a pretty widely reported and generally accepted as a design/build quality issue. 

[Colonel Panic]

Yeah, that's fair. If I go "works fine for me" without acknowledging that, I'm no better!

[ScouserInExile]

1 hour ago, dumpster said:

  I'm enjoying Super Mario Galaxy on Xbox, with the emulator having a "Shake" button

Oh interesting, I might have a look at giving this a go 

[SMD]

2 hours ago, dumpster said:

Nintendo seems to be getting a lot of stick in this thread.  I've deliberately turned up the anger on the Switch for fun, although I do hate my Switch and hi still can't understand how something I used so rarely kept breaking.  But Nintendo seem to go for the special obvious "thing" regardless of whether a new feature is needed.  When everyone is doing games on CD, with CD audio and FMV clips, Nintendo released a cartridge based machine.  I can see the benefits, no loading delays etc, but come on... With hindsight that seems a stupid decision. Likewise the DS showed promise (I remember a football game being previewed where you saw the overall view on one screen and closer up in the other, looked interesting and new) but the reality was you don't need two screens.  Games ended like Sonic or Contra, playing on one tall screen, like holding a PSP in Tate Mode. Mario Kart squandered the whole second screen with a HUD.  ridge Racer used the bottom screen as a steering wheel.  I don't recall any games where the second screen was used in a truly innovative way.  

 

Then the Wii, with the famous waggle controls.  A huge success but a way underpowered console compared to the competition. Basically the same hardware as the GameCube but with a controller that appealed to your gran, Xmas morning the whole family played Tennis but how many more games did those families buy?  The best games on Wii can be played much the same on a regular controller.  I'm enjoying Super Mario Galaxy on Xbox, with the emulator having a "Shake" button. You can play the game fine.  

Wii-U had a poor quality tablet screen that was underused.  That Zombi U game had some great ideas and again, we would like to see more of that stuff. And now the Switch, underpowered, too big to be a handheld, not powerful enough to be a TV console.....  

 

Imagine if Nintendo did a Xbox/PS5 beating piece of hardware.   Launch with a new Mario, Metroid, F-Zero.   Would be marvellous.  

 

Nintendo have been massively succesfull with their approaches, for the most part.  But they are always playing alongside the main console market, never the leader.  Nd they could be if they dropped the gimmicks and made a whole new system that blew us away.  Having said that, more than happy for F Zero VR.

 

 

I like how you came for the Switch, the DS and the Wii, 3 of the most successful game consoles ever and possibly some of the most influential, as if they were dirge.

 

Also Nintendo did do an Xbox/Playstation beating piece of hardware with a Mario, Metroid and F-Zero: it was called the Gamecube and it sold so badly it put Nintendo off ever competing again.

[Camel]

8 hours ago, Down by Law said:

Gonna catch some heat for this but every Nintendo console except the Gamecube which I really loved. That thing was built like a tank, had an excellent top loader when the PS2 and Xbox had those awful shaky disc trays. Video output was super clean and high quality, almost up to Sega standards. Amazing library of games, great to collect for with it being the first Nintendo system without crappy card boxes. For someone who doesn't get excited about the typical Nintendo staples, the Cube still had so much good stuff to offer. Sega F-Zero? Resident Evil 4? Viewtiful Joe? GBA player with no compromises (see below) ? So much good stuff.

 

Nintendo just can't manage satisfying hardware since, for me. There's always so many revisions that fix one problem and create another. GBA? Amazing form factor, terrible screen. SP? Great screen (for the time) painful form factor. DS? Heavy with terrible screens. DS Lite? It's lite because it's made out of awful cheap plastic *hinge breaks* Wii? Nice solid hardware design, terrible video out options and constant control compromises. Switch? Dodgy joycons and huge bezel. Switch OLED? Amazing screen, small bezel, same crappy joycons. Repeat ad nauseum.

 

 

Loved the PS1 but never felt the same about the PS2 and I still hate the hardware. That cheap shaky disc tray, the creaking plastic, the bizarre plug socket switch on the back. The PAL games with those awful, awful uniform spines. Apparently this is a full PAL collection

 

 

Just screams fun, doesn't it? PS2 just stinks for me, I dont like anything about it. And all the original Dual Shock 2s seemed to have self destructed in time. 

 

GB Player has some compromises; it frame skips to keep up with the awkward refresh rate.

[Colonel Panic]

There’s great home brew software that sorts the GB Player. 

[Oh Danny Boy]

Long list here for me. When I think about it most consoles I don’t vibe with.

 

PlayStation 1/2/3/4/5 - never got on with it, never liked the controllers, found them too uncomfortable to use and subpar to every other twin stick controller out there. 1/2 lacked real quality first party games compared to SEGA/Nintendo, though I do recognise both systems had a large variety of third party games their exclusives were rarely the types of games I go for. 3/4/5 too many first party linear third person action faves which are the antithesis of what I like about gaming. Just never vibed with Sony’s consoles. 

 

Gameboy - underpowered with a horrible screen which severely compromised any game on it. Only really rate Tetris, links awakening and Pokémon. Otherwise the system has been a whole load of meh. 
 

DS/3DS - gimmicky features which made gaming on it far more uncomfortable and unintuitive than simple face buttons, such as touch screen, stylus, fuckin blowing into a screen and 3D. Pointless double screen, well underpowered that looked shoddy compared to even mobile games of the time yet the software was very very overpriced. DS arguably has the worst launch line up of any console ever and the 3DS wasn’t far behind. If only Nintendo stuck with their GBA 2 plans.

 

Wii - ugly Fisher Price does Apple aesthetics. Gimmicky controller which doesn’t even do what it’s supposed to do on the tin, in an era in which everything was transitioning to HD it’s games really were an eyesore, being underpowered wasn’t the problem but sticking to SD made it look dated from launch. Also arguably the worst good games to shovelware ratio than any system ever. 
 

Wii U - just a hideous joke of the system. One of the worst consoles ever made, I rate it lower then the Jag and 3DO. 
 

Xbox One - Such a shame as the first half of the 360’s life was a little gaming golden age. Somehow Microsoft’s feedback told them that a) everyone loves the Kinect (ignoring how many sales were simply due to pack ins and due to it simply riding the waggle wave) and b) people like using Xbox for Netflix (ignoring that rather than people buying Xbox’s to watch TV it simply meant that people watched TV more than gaming in their down time). So the next console has to be Kinect plus TV! Let’s torpedo our first party studios because who needs those when gamers want more TV content (losing valuable IPs like Fable for a whole generation in the process). Probably the worst gaming decision any company has made ever, beating the 32X hands down. Still haven’t recovered leading MS to spend billions to build back the first party talent it squandered. 

 

[Camel]

43 minutes ago, Colonel Panic said:

There’s great home brew software that sorts the GB Player. 

Yes I know. It’s compromised if you need home brew software to improve it though right?

[Colonel Panic]

Of course, just flagging the existence of a solution. we’re fortunate that GBI can be run quite easily and the games work perfectly!

[JamesC]

2 hours ago, SMD said:

Also Nintendo did do an Xbox/Playstation beating piece of hardware with a Mario, Metroid and F-Zero: it was called the Gamecube and it sold so badly it put Nintendo off ever competing again.

I'd argue that the Gamecube's problem when it came to sales was mainly to do with the proprietary media format and pissing off loads of third party publishers. And the fact that, while the system was great for games (even if the library was far smaller than the Xbox or PS2's) it didn't play DVDs. Therefore, as a box under the telly it had less functionality than it's rivals, despite its processing power.
I don't think it proves that a Nintendo powerhouse console couldn't be a great thing.

[SMD]

13 minutes ago, JamesC said:

I'd argue that the Gamecube's problem when it came to sales was mainly to do with the proprietary media format and pissing off loads of third party publishers. And the fact that, while the system was great for games (even if the library was far smaller than the Xbox or PS2's) it didn't play DVDs. Therefore, as a box under the telly it had less functionality than it's rivals, despite its processing power.
I don't think it proves that a Nintendo powerhouse console couldn't be a great thing.

 

The Switch doesn't even have Netflix...

[JamesC]

2 minutes ago, SMD said:

 

The Switch doesn't even have Netflix...

Ha ha. Yeah but nearly every other device in my house has Netflix, so that's OK!

I did know a lot of people who got a lot of use out of the DVD playback on the PS2 /Xbox though, and it certainly impacted their choice of console. 

I remember my brother almost bought a PS2. He has had practically no interest in games since his Spectrum broke but he nearly bought a PS2 because he wanted a DVD player and this one did other stuff too. 

[Down by Law]

2 hours ago, Camel said:

GB Player has some compromises; it frame skips to keep up with the awkward refresh rate.

 

1 hour ago, Colonel Panic said:

There’s great home brew software that sorts the GB Player. 

 

51 minutes ago, Camel said:

Yes I know. It’s compromised if you need home brew software to improve it though right?

 

48 minutes ago, Colonel Panic said:

Of course, just flagging the existence of a solution. we’re fortunate that GBI can be run quite easily and the games work perfectly!

 

In 2003 I didn't even know what frameskip meant. I was just glad I could see Castlevania  😅

[SMD]

14 minutes ago, JamesC said:

Ha ha. Yeah but nearly every other device in my house has Netflix, so that's OK!

I did know a lot of people who got a lot of use out of the DVD playback on the PS2 /Xbox though, and it certainly impacted their choice of console. 

I remember my brother almost bought a PS2. He has had practically no interest in games since his Spectrum broke but he nearly bought a PS2 because he wanted a DVD player and this one did other stuff too. 

 

I made this point the other day but Microsoft made a console almost as powerful as the PS4 that got almost all the games it did and it got brutalised. The Xbox was also relative skidmarks compared to the PS2.

 

I think the conventional wisdom that Nintendo could make a box comparable to Sony and it would sell just as well needs a lot more substance to it before it can be accepted as a viable prediction. The DS had dogshit specs compared to the PSP and wiped the floor with it. The Wii fell off a cliff after 3 years and it still took an entire gen for both Sony and MS to come a respectable second behind it.

 

I think it's long past time that enthusiasts accept the things they look for in a gaming box is different to the wider population and the idea that the Switch/Wii/DS are gimmicky and underpowered doesn't matter since they're compelling and exciting.

 

I doubt we'll see another Nintendo console that just tries to offer a conservative, traditional gaming experience and I'm at peace with that.

[JamesC]

Yeah, I think that's fair enough. The Switch isn't my cup of tea but no doubt Nintendo will continue to plough their own furrow and at least it's always interesting to see what they come up with. 

 

I really liked the WiiU and far preferred it to the Wii or Switch, so what do I know? 😆 

[Protocol Penguin]

Anyway, I’ve never gotten on with the Dreamcast either. Now, it seemed a blisteringly powerful machine when it was new – the gulf in graphics over the established PS1 and N64 consoles felt like going from an Atari 2600 to a Super Famicom. And I enjoyed playing hours of Soul Calibur on my friend’s new Dreamcast during the launch week. But it wasn’t something I aimed to buy one of myself. The default controller was unpleasant to use, for a start, and the expensive memory cards with gimmicky screens in, I disliked immediately. Also, it felt too much of a risk to buy a Sega console: I really like the Saturn, genuinely, but it flopped hard, and many gamers who moved to the Saturn from the Mega Drive felt burnt by Sega, which did seriously affect the viability of the system from day one.

[Protocol Penguin]

13 hours ago, fat flatulent git said:

There are many legitimate criticisms of the Switch, but to say it has a poor range of games is absurd.  Anyone saying that is just making themselves look daft.

Indeed.

 

“It’s got too much shovelware” = it’s a commercially successful games console, basically translated. It’s not like every successful system hasn’t been host to what might be generically considered shovelware, from the Famicom to the Super NES to the PS1 to the PS4, etcetera. 

[Protocol Penguin]

8 hours ago, dumpster said:

Imagine if Nintendo did a Xbox/PS5 beating piece of hardware.   Launch with a new Mario, Metroid, F-Zero.   Would be marvellous.  

What you’re saying there is you’d rather Nintendo went third-party, as another PS5/XSX type system but slightly more powerful would be completely redundant in the games market.

[dumpster]

I guess so, although I was unfairly harsh on all Nintendo this morning, got up on the wrong side of the bed. But it seems Nintendo only release new hardware with a gimmick, be that waggly controls, a tablet pad, hybrid portable, dual screens, 3D... And after each has been very successful, hindsight shows they were most successful in their games. Like, many Wii games don't use the waggle, or it feels tacked on. The extra screen of the DS often had a big pause button or the HUD. The 3D only really got used imaginatively in a handful of titles....  After the dust settles and the next generation comes,  the gimmicks don't seem to have caused the success, the systems were successful with those features but not because of them.

 

Just to add, consoles you don't get on with...   I remember the first time our store for Atari Jaguar consoles in.  We set one up and within 5 minutes I'd decided there was no chance this console would be a success in any way and we sent them a back.  Weird because at the same time I was sold on the 3DO and was convinced it would be huge.  Looking back through emulators, I can't see a single 3DO game worth playing - Road Rash and NFS had better versions released on other formats, and the only game that feels somewhat unique is Demolition Man, which has FMV featuring the real actors.  It adds a lot to the feel and at the time I was blown away. Then most of the other games were truly awful.