Five sympathetic console flops – – Gamereactor

Master System (1985)

When we talk about the 8-bit generation today, we are talking first and foremost about the NES, which in many ways is the ancestor of the modern console. Not because it was the best or the first, but because it had the best games in a perfectly designed console with a brilliant controller. But it had a competitor, even if it didn’t offer much competition. Sega released the much more powerful Master System (1987 in Europe) and delivered plenty of great games. But Nintendo were smart businessmen and made sure that those who released games for the NES were not allowed to collaborate with competitors. It didn’t help that the Master System had many cool accessories that revealed Sega’s willingness to experiment even then, and just three years later the Mega Drive was released in Europe, sealing Master System’s fate forever. In all, some 12 million copies were sold.

Atari Lynx (1989)

A few days before the Game Boy was released and changed portable gaming forever, Atari had released its Lynx. Where the Game Boy could display four shades of gray, Atari filled it with 4096 colors and a gaming experience that far surpassed any existing desktop console. Moreover, the cartridges looked extremely high-tech, and I remember how I could barely speak when I first saw one and how excited I was when I bought one and took it on a school trip. Unfortunately, it kept eating batteries like they were cereal, but thanks to an included adapter, it was still possible to keep it alive. As with the PS Vita, however, games were missing, and eventually the Atari Lynx sold a paltry two million copies, though it was undoubtedly ambitious as few others at the time.

PlayStation Vita (2012)

We all remember this console, right? Few thought Sony would return to handheld consoles after the death of the PSP, but they announced the technological marvel that is the PS Vita, which today truly exudes equal parts ambition and luxury. Moreover, it was incredibly cleverly designed in terms of both hardware and software working beautifully together, and the entire back was a single touch surface that made new kinds of games possible. But Sony soon lost track and released half-baked portable versions of their biggest console series, leaving the PS Vita to live off indie games before Sony had enough and pulled the plug. The PS Vita would have been higher on the list as a piece of hardware if Sony had given it more love, but this high-tech marvel was allowed to die on its own, and when the Switch was released, it was goodnight forever, with an estimated just under 16 million copies sold.

Neo Geo (1990)

When the Neo Geo was released in 1990, it was primarily an arcade machine. But the system became popular and SNK released the home version AES – and never before or since has a console been so overwhelmingly superior to the competition in terms of performance. But it came with a price tag, and the Neo Geo was originally intended to be a rental-only system. Fortunately, SNK changed its mind and began selling the device with games that, in today’s currency, cost the equivalent of about $200 each (yes, that’s not an exaggeration). They never reached a large audience with these prices, but the Neo Geo became a cult classic and lived for seven years, selling a million copies for the home version – and game development continued until 2003. Even today, you only have to look at Neo Geo to realize its exclusivity, and playing Art of Fighting, Magician Lord or Metal Slug 3 on a real device is still powerful.

Dreamcast (1998)

A serious contender to be named my favorite console of all time is also the flop that was so bad that Sega decided to stop making consoles and concentrate on games instead. I am of course talking about the Dreamcast, which I first saw at a Gamereactor colleague’s home long before it was released in Scandinavia. I had good Japanese contacts at the time and managed to buy a device myself, which I had a great time with. The console itself was absolutely stunning and incredibly stylish, complete with an unmatched ergonomic controller, accessories and games straight from the arcades. All complete with built-in internet and a memory card with a screen that you plugged into the controllers, so they had screens too (so you could see your character’s life in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica without a meter on the screen). It’s hard to describe how much fun I had with this superior device, which disappeared when Sony released the best-selling console of all time – the PlayStation 2 – and at the same time Nintendo launched their lovable GameCube and Microsoft suddenly wanted their own console. The Dreamcast was loved and missed, but only nine million copies were sold.