What consoles just didn’t click with you?

[smac]

On 10/07/2022 at 19:23, Wiper said:

I guess the biggest contrast between general response and my own is the Wii.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure I switched mine on more than a half-dozen times.

 

But that was a timing thing - I picked both a Wii and a PS3 at the same time, both cheap, both late in the cycle, and the PS3 had my initial attention (Uncharted, Ico and SOTC remakes, etc., etc).

 

Then the WiiU came out with the WindWaker special ed, and I went straight onto that.

[dataDave]

4 hours ago, SMD said:

The Switch doesn't even have Netflix...

Good. I buy a games console for games, nothing else.

 

Apart from a handful of stuff (at that) Netflix is shit anyway.

 

When I look at a Gamecube I’m never arsed about it not being able to play CDs.

[bplus]

GameCube, they ruined my favourite games. Wave race blue storm is decent but just not as good as 64.

1080 avalanche was a completely different game to 1080. Deep controls replaced by I don't know what.

F zero was good though.

Selling Rare to ms probably totally killed the GameCube for me, their games were a perfect fit for Nintendo consoles.

 

Actually it was this period roughly I started to not really like games as much.

[deKay]

Definitely PS2. And PS1. And PS3. And PS4. And, although I have a PS5 it still hasn't blown me away (aside from load times).

 

I only got a PS2 because it was free with some thing I bought, and I immediately got Vice City for it (which had only been out a few weeks then). The game was fantastic, but the PS2 died after less than 24 hours so I had to wait a week for a replacement.

 

I never got on with the controllers. I still to this day couldn't tell you which button was where. I already had a GameCube, so the PS2 was a step back straight away.

 

The PS1 I hated at release and never actually bought one until about 2005. It annoyed me that it was so shit compared to the Saturn but had all the games.

 

The PS3 I bought from @Shimmyhill mainly just to complete the set (had a Wii and 360 already) and to play Demons Souls (which was shit) and Yakuza 3 (which was awesome). But, the day I got it was the day PSN was hacked and down for a fortnight so all I could play was my PS1 games. First PS3 game was Hugo 2 for the PS1! Still had issues with the controllers (but Shimmy had fitted convex triggers which helped massively), and the UI was awful and most good games I already had for the 360, but I did enjoy Yakuza 3, 4 and 5.

 

The PS4 I bought mainly because of The Big Three of No Man's Sky, Shenmue III, and Fallout 4. None of which were out until at least a year or two after I bought it, but I also got one as a Fuck You to Microsoft for their Xbone announcement fuckery. Still don't have an Xbone/S/X/Series/etc. as a result. Had some good times with the PS4, as the DS4 was a massive improvement over the DS3 and earlier, and of course, all the Yakuzaseses.

 

PS5 was an accident. I happened to be on Smyths' website shopping for Christmas at the exact time it came in stock so jumped on it. The controller is fine, and it's the best PS4 ever, but I don't think I'd have missed anything if I'd missed out.

[ScouserInExile]

17 hours ago, SMD said:

 

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.

I did wonder how long a thread like this would last before someone leapt to the defence of Nintendo and told us out opinions are wrong. 

 

I would question how influential the Wii was. Big seller, yes, but I'm not sure how much of a legacy it left. Similarly, I'm not sure how much of an influence the DS has had on anything other the the following Nintendo handhelds. Even then two screens is the only real thing that's carried through, I don't think touch has carried over into "proper" handhelds. Then the Switch is current gen, and there doesn't appear to be anything trying to copy it or any of its features, so I don't know what that's influenced either.

 

The problem the GameCube had wasn't anything to do with the power or epecs, it was just that it went up against the follow up to the PlayStation at a time when "playing PlayStation" had overtaken "playing Nintendo" as a byword for playing videogames. And the PS2 had a built in dvd player. The fact that I got a free dvd player with my Dreamcast shows what a system seller that feature was. 

 

Thing is, though, they don't really need to compete on a 1:1 basis with the "PC in a box" manufacturers. What they need to do every generation is release something that plays Mario / Luigi / Yoshi, Zelda, Pokémon, Smash Bros, Mario Kart and then maybe something like F Zero, Wave Race or Metroid as well and they'll do decent numbers. But if, like me, these aren't IPs you have any affection for, there's not been a lot left over the last few generations. Probably since the SNES, truth be told.

 

All IMO, obviously.

[Protocol Penguin]

 

18 minutes ago, ScouserInExile said:

I would question how influential the Wii was. Big seller, yes, but I'm not sure how much of a legacy it left. Similarly, I'm not sure how much of an influence the DS has had on anything other the the following Nintendo handhelds. Even then two screens is the only real thing that's carried through, I don't think touch has carried over into "proper" handhelds.

The Wii, well, every current games console has a controller with some form of motion sensing.

 

The DS? Replaced my smartphones, really, at least for ‘casual’ gamesplayers. There’s a reason why the 3DS’s software library moved away from the Brain Training and puzzle type games that were popular on the DS – they couldn’t sell those for thirty quid any more when smartphones had them as downloadables for relative pennies.

[ScouserInExile]

3 minutes ago, Protocol Penguin said:

The Wii, well, every current games console has a controller with some form of motion sensing

I did think about motion controls, but I'm struggling to think of anything I've played that uses them. Little Big Planet on the PS3 had them, I think. Even then, they weren't integral to gameplay.

[Kevvy Metal]

The only two ever were - initially - the PS3. For the first few years it was very rough, but a bit of an ugly duckling, becoming my favourite console of that generation after around 2009. 

The Xbox One was - by far - the console I've got on with the least. It felt entirely pointless that it existed in every way. Basically the same machine - but worse - as the PS4, a simply absymal UI influenced from all sorts of shit like TiVO boxes, set-top boxes and Windows 8 Metro.... and lacklustre exclusive titles. 

[Wiper]

1 hour ago, Protocol Penguin said:

 

The Wii, well, every current games console has a controller with some form of motion sensing.

 

I'm pretty sure that isn't true for the Xbox? Kinect was the closest thing to that (though obviously closer to EyeToy than anything, and not strictly a "motion sensor"), and that died off before the Xbox One had reached end of life. Certainly no Xbox pads have motion sensors built in.

[Rex Grossman]

Of the consoles I owned, the only one I didn't get on with was the Game Boy, which I got for Christmas in 1990. Me not getting on with it was purely because I couldn't get my head around the games being more expensive that Amiga games (some of which only cost the price of a blank disk). Maybe if more of my friends had them and we were swapping games I would've appreciated it more often. To me the games never seemed worth the money. The GB proved useful for me sometimes but if I was playing games it was usually on my Amiga in my bedroom so it felt rarely needed.

 

I got a Super Famicom for Christmas 1991. Although the price of games was clearly higher than that of the Amiga they seemed totally worth it.

 

 

[Protocol Penguin]

44 minutes ago, Wiper said:

 

I'm pretty sure that isn't true for the Xbox? Kinect was the closest thing to that (though obviously closer to EyeToy than anything, and not strictly a "motion sensor"), and that died off before the Xbox One had reached end of life. Certainly no Xbox pads have motion sensors built in.

Oh, OK. Thanks. Was thinking of the PS4 and PS5 controllers.

 

(The only Xbox system I’ve ever played on to this day is the original console, and I’ve never owned any, so I’ll admit that I’m not clued up about Xboxes.)

[Paulando]

On 10/07/2022 at 12:37, Ketchup said:

The PS2, the most bought console in all of history. The power of the emotion engine, toy story like graphics and the ability to launch WMDs (supposedly) and yet it’s never a console I’ve really loved.

Same here.

 

I loved the PS1, but the PS2 turned me off from the get go. It looked awful, the launch line up was piss poor, and the catalogue was full of lesser sequels to blockbuster PS1 games (WipEout, Tomb Raider, MGS).

 

I bought an Xbox instead, then a GameCube. Both had far more character and more interesting line ups. I bought a PS2 Slim much later and played the games I’d missed (Katamari, Klonoa 2, Gitaroo Man etc), but I don’t look back on the console with any particular fondness, and there aren’t many games I’d go back to today.

[beakbeak]

The N64 for for me. I came from the snes and I was initially excited for it but I was in love with RPGs and fighting games back in those days and there was nothing on the horizon in those genres and the fact that final fantasy VII moved to playstation sealed the deal for me.

 

i did get an N64 quite late in its life cycle and enjoyed Mario 64 and Zelda but really, there wasn’t a lot on that console and I never felt that I’d missed out on anything much and was pretty happy with the route I took.

 

i always hoped Nintendo would release an N64 mini so that I could get into it properly. 

[Dig Dug]

PlayStation consoles after the first two have only been a means of playing certain games as opposed to something I genuinely am endeared to. My PS4 is basically a Resident Evil 2 / Final Fantasy VII remake box. Likewise my PS3 is there to play Metal Gear Solid HD and Ridge Racer 7.

The PSP was also a 2 game system for me.

 

PS1 is one of the greatest gaming systems ever made for what it did to the medium and to this day I can’t think of a system with such a fascinating and experimental game library.

 

The PS2 is fine also, not my first choice to play multi-platform stuff on but it does still have one of the strongest libraries ever.

[nakamura]

Xbox 360 is comfortably my least favourite mainstream console. Ugly everything and only one game I actually love in Forza horizon 1. Horrible controller too with overly hard buttons. 

 

Dreamcast I bought on JP release and that was a mistake really. I did have a decent amount of fun with it and it was a weirdly exciting time bit so much of it felt a little shoddy. Plus only one analogue stick is absolutely barmy. 

[spanky debrest]

N64 is definitely the ultimate retro punching bag.

 

Hardware vaseline filters you need mods or gameshark codes or patches to bypass, low grade compressed audio to fit on overpriced carts with teeny tiny ROM chips in the age of 650MB CDs, lopsided library without key genres represented, dozens of straight up so-bad-they're-bad kusoge titles, a controller it's hilarious watching kids try to handle for the first time.. it's a disaster, right?

 

Nah.

 

I only bought one circa 2000 because I was a Treasure fanboy and Sin and Punishment was due out and Mischief Makers and Bangaioh were also things I needed. These games are mostly incredible and worth buying a system for IMO. And there's a surprising load of weird exclusives that personally appeal to me way more than Rareware games and 90% of what you find on generic best of lists. 

 

Anyway, I quit home consoles with the GameCube but the Wii I never liked because pointing a laggy cursor at a screen via a remote control will always be a war crime. 

[dataDave]

Wow. I’m glad I didn’t start generally disliking consoles until around 2013. I’d have missed out on so much.

 

Up until that point there were at least ten games per system worth playing. Excluding things like the CD-32, CDi, etc.

[dataDave]

4 hours ago, spanky debrest said:

N64 is definitely the ultimate retro punching bag.

Back in the days of running everything through RF on a 14” TV the N64 shone. Nobody was ever thinking about ROM chips and Vaseline filters while being amazed by the non-warping geometry and extended draw distances that weren’t found anywhere else at that period.

[Colonel Panic]

Yeah those Turok draw distances! 😂

[SeanR]

1 hour ago, Fallows said:

Back in the days of running everything through RF on a 14” TV the N64 shone. Nobody was ever thinking about ROM chips and Vaseline filters while being amazed by the non-warping geometry and extended draw distances that weren’t found anywhere else at that period.

[bplus]

1 hour ago, Colonel Panic said:

Yeah those Turok draw distances! 😂

Yeah it's horrific and a shite game ! But then look at the dam on Goldeneye for draw distances!

[Colonel Panic]

It’s an awesome game! Just fog city! The Pc remake is boss. 

[dataDave]

1 hour ago, bplus said:

Yeah it's horrific and a shite game ! But then look at the dam on Goldeneye for draw distances!

Most of Rare’s games were great for “all that way over there!” moments. SM64 as well.

[ScouserInExile]

15 hours ago, Paulando said:

PS2 [...]  looked awful

The PS2 was, largely, praised for its looks at the time. It was designed to conformably sit under a living room TV alongside a VCR / stereo system at a time when games consoles looked like, well, games consoles. The GC especially looked like a child's toy. I remember being hugely impressed with the way it looked.

 

However, I think it has aged horribly. Looking at it now, it's as ugly as original sin. I really like they way the GC looks these days. And the DC, now I think about it. The Xbox exists as well.

[JamesC]

I didn't mind the look of the PS2 and, as you say, it fits right in with other 'under the telly' devices. It was cool that it could be stood upright too.

I love the look of the Gamecube but, again, Nintendo failed to think about the practicality. It doesn't work under the telly because it needs too much clearance above it - being both quite tall and top-loading.

[ScouserInExile]

5 minutes ago, JamesC said:

 

I love the look of the Gamecube but, again, Nintendo failed to think about the practicality. It doesn't work under the telly because it needs too much clearance above it - being both quite tall and top-loading.

And it's not an exaggeration to say it looks like something Fisher Price would make. Especially the controller.

[Paulando]

12 minutes ago, ScouserInExile said:

The PS2 was, largely, praised for its looks at the time. It was designed to conformably sit under a living room TV alongside a VCR / stereo system at a time when games consoles looked like, well, games consoles.

I remember hating that it looked that way. Didn’t look fun at all. But honestly, considering how dinky it is compared to today’s consoles, and the practicality of it, I probably wouldn’t mind it now.

[Lorfarius]

1 hour ago, ScouserInExile said:

And it's not an exaggeration to say it looks like something Fisher Price would make. Especially the controller.

 

They did a black unit at launch. That was ace. I spent hours queuing up to collect it from Game got it home to find out the drive wouldn't load any discs. Went back to the shop and luckily they had a spare so launch day saved. I miss queuing for consoles as it was always fun meeting loads of peeps and talking about the games.

[bplus]

3 hours ago, Lorfarius said:

 

They did a black unit at launch. That was ace. I spent hours queuing up to collect it from Game got it home to find out the drive wouldn't load any discs. Went back to the shop and luckily they had a spare so launch day saved. I miss queuing for consoles as it was always fun meeting loads of peeps and talking about the games.

I bought a black unit near launch and now I regret it!

[ScouserInExile]

I really didn't like the design of the GC at the time because of the afore mentioned Fisher Price design issue. Now, however, I think they're so good looking that I could happily have a row of them on a shelf in my games room. Especially the orange one. I'd never play anything on them, they'd just purely be for decoration.