Welcome back to thaddius’ Console Roast 2014 Edition. For those of you who are not aware this is a poll where you, the GBATemp user, get to vote on what GBATemp thinks is the worst console ever is. For more information check out the Rules section below.
Recap:
Last week we got our poll on the home page which seriously boosted the number of votes. I haven't checked (and won't), but I do believe that this week’s selection received more votes than we did each week last time. Thank you GBATemp for giving us the visibility to really make this GBATemp's - as a whole - choice.
Without further ado this week’s ‘winner’ is:
The Fairchild Channel F
Congratulations Fairchild for winning this week with one of the worst console names ever! You will join the ranks of the Nintendo Color TV Game in the running for worst console. I don’t know how I feel about this victory as this is a console I actually struggled to come up with bad things to say about it, but GBATemp has spoken and I must honour the rules of the Roast!
For more information on last week's vote, check out the thread here.
Intro:
And so we make our way out of the crash of '83 and into the generations that more people know a bit about. This generation marks Japan's rise as a video game powerhouse and the decline of North American manufacturers (the ones who survived the crash, anyway).
I'm sure you'll all at least have played a game or two from one of these consoles so we may see some more 'informed' decisions being made. But before we find out more about these things, let's have a recap of the rules!
Rules:
Enough of that crap, time to get started!
This Week's Challengers:
The Atari 7800
Atari under new management was a cautious bunch. A little too cautious. The 7800 was only given a small release in ’84 to ‘see how things would go’. When the higher ups were finally convinced to release the system in earnest it was launched a year after the North American release of the roaring success that was the NES and was decidedly behind in the times. As if acknowledging it’s poor tech Atari later opted for a NES/Master System-style controller (pictured above), but only released it in Europe.
At least they got the 2600 backwards compatible thing right this time. And forgot about the 5200 for some reason…
The 7800’s lack of success from ’86 to ’91 (and the lack of success of a certain handheld) caused Atari to cancel a bunch of 7800 peripherals and and we wouldn’t get another console from them for some another generation.
The Casio PV-1000
Nintendo’s success spurred a lot of people to enter the market, but here we have another competitor that did not benefit from sharing shelf space with their powerhouses. The ill-timed PV-1000 was released to the Japanese market after the FAMICOM in ’83 and, as you’d expect, did not fare well.
For some reason Casio apparently pulled it from the shelves a few weeks after its release. So not only was it a failure next to the FAMICOM but it’s also vanishingly rare.
The Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System
While the FAMICOM was released successfully in the crash-of-’83-insulated Japan, Nintendo had a tough time eking out a place in North America post-crash.
Initially Nintendo couldn’t find a North American distributor to help them; even Atari said no. Atari couldn’t have known how well the NES would do with all the crash doom-and-gloom in the company. When Nintendo finally got a toy company, Mattel, to distribute their VCR-like console in ’85 it did much better than some thought it would.
Nintendo hoped to stymie the poor quality of games problem the Atari 2600 had with their ‘Seal of Quality’ and a strict policy of limiting the number of games a publisher could release each year. While these policies did ensure that there would be games of quality released for the system it didn’t prevent terrible games from being released for the system (which a dearth of AVGN videos can attest to). And while the NES didn’t start the trend of horrible movie tie-in and abstractly unplayable games, it certainly became known for some of the most iconic ‘horrible’ games of the generation.
The Sega SG-1000
Sega released the SG-1000 to Japanese, New Zealand, and Australian markets. There were also small releases of the console in some European countries and in South Africa.
It did not fare well at all. The SG-1000 was an antiquated console next to the FAMICOM. Poor sales led to Sega being bought out by another company and attempts to vitalize sales of the console with re-releases, hardware tweaks, and re-brandings were unsuccessful.
The Sega Master System
Not to be deterred by the ‘abject failure’ of the SG-1000, Sega got to work on it’s next console. Having learned a lot from their previous console’s performance they released the Master System to the market.
Hoping that mere technical superiority over the NES/FAMICOM would do the trick (a mistake you’ll see time and again) the Master System initially refused to allow third-party support for the console. This proved a poor decision and when they tried to find some of their own they were totally cock-blocked by Nintendo’s exclusivity contracts with third-party developers.
It was considered a failure in the Japanese and North American markets. In an effort to boost sales Sega took a page out of Nintendo’s book and approached a toy manufacturer, Tonka in this case, to distribute their Master System Mark II. It didn't fair too well either.
There were a myriad of other models around the world - like the Japan-only Mark III (which looks awesome, btw) - and while some were able to find limited success in the Brazilian market they were resounding flops in the larger markets.
Outro:
So there you have it, GBATemp. Who will you vote? Who will be the crap-de-la-crap?
Current Standings:
Recap:
Last week we got our poll on the home page which seriously boosted the number of votes. I haven't checked (and won't), but I do believe that this week’s selection received more votes than we did each week last time. Thank you GBATemp for giving us the visibility to really make this GBATemp's - as a whole - choice.
Without further ado this week’s ‘winner’ is:
The Fairchild Channel F
Congratulations Fairchild for winning this week with one of the worst console names ever! You will join the ranks of the Nintendo Color TV Game in the running for worst console. I don’t know how I feel about this victory as this is a console I actually struggled to come up with bad things to say about it, but GBATemp has spoken and I must honour the rules of the Roast!
For more information on last week's vote, check out the thread here.
Intro:
And so we make our way out of the crash of '83 and into the generations that more people know a bit about. This generation marks Japan's rise as a video game powerhouse and the decline of North American manufacturers (the ones who survived the crash, anyway).
I'm sure you'll all at least have played a game or two from one of these consoles so we may see some more 'informed' decisions being made. But before we find out more about these things, let's have a recap of the rules!
Rules:
There can only be one!
Each week I pit each console generation against itself to determine what the worst console of that generation was. Updates will hopefully be up every Thursday from now till the end.
We’re going to work our way up through consoles and handhelds until we reach the current generation. Once that’s all done, we’ll determine the worst console and the worst handheld. From there we choose the definitive GBATemp-approved WORST CONSOLE EVER.
Your only job, Mr. or Miss GBATemper, is to cast your vote for what you think the worst of the generation is. Please try to do some research, watch some videos, maybe play a few of these games on a (completely legitimate) emulator, and you just might learn a little about the weird amorphous blob that is video game history. But I can't (and won't) keep you from just shooting from the uninformed hip. You're also encouraged to explain your choice in the form of a response to this topic.
In the event of a tie, I (Sir thaddius prigg) will cast the deciding vote. It is my Roast after all...
Aggressive discussion is allowed, but please try to keep within the rules of the forums. Just try to have fun and don’t be a jerk, k?
Each week I pit each console generation against itself to determine what the worst console of that generation was. Updates will hopefully be up every Thursday from now till the end.
We’re going to work our way up through consoles and handhelds until we reach the current generation. Once that’s all done, we’ll determine the worst console and the worst handheld. From there we choose the definitive GBATemp-approved WORST CONSOLE EVER.
Your only job, Mr. or Miss GBATemper, is to cast your vote for what you think the worst of the generation is. Please try to do some research, watch some videos, maybe play a few of these games on a (completely legitimate) emulator, and you just might learn a little about the weird amorphous blob that is video game history. But I can't (and won't) keep you from just shooting from the uninformed hip. You're also encouraged to explain your choice in the form of a response to this topic.
In the event of a tie, I (Sir thaddius prigg) will cast the deciding vote. It is my Roast after all...
Aggressive discussion is allowed, but please try to keep within the rules of the forums. Just try to have fun and don’t be a jerk, k?
This Week's Challengers:
The Atari 7800
Atari under new management was a cautious bunch. A little too cautious. The 7800 was only given a small release in ’84 to ‘see how things would go’. When the higher ups were finally convinced to release the system in earnest it was launched a year after the North American release of the roaring success that was the NES and was decidedly behind in the times. As if acknowledging it’s poor tech Atari later opted for a NES/Master System-style controller (pictured above), but only released it in Europe.
At least they got the 2600 backwards compatible thing right this time. And forgot about the 5200 for some reason…
The 7800’s lack of success from ’86 to ’91 (and the lack of success of a certain handheld) caused Atari to cancel a bunch of 7800 peripherals and and we wouldn’t get another console from them for some another generation.
The Casio PV-1000
Nintendo’s success spurred a lot of people to enter the market, but here we have another competitor that did not benefit from sharing shelf space with their powerhouses. The ill-timed PV-1000 was released to the Japanese market after the FAMICOM in ’83 and, as you’d expect, did not fare well.
For some reason Casio apparently pulled it from the shelves a few weeks after its release. So not only was it a failure next to the FAMICOM but it’s also vanishingly rare.
The Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System
While the FAMICOM was released successfully in the crash-of-’83-insulated Japan, Nintendo had a tough time eking out a place in North America post-crash.
Initially Nintendo couldn’t find a North American distributor to help them; even Atari said no. Atari couldn’t have known how well the NES would do with all the crash doom-and-gloom in the company. When Nintendo finally got a toy company, Mattel, to distribute their VCR-like console in ’85 it did much better than some thought it would.
Nintendo hoped to stymie the poor quality of games problem the Atari 2600 had with their ‘Seal of Quality’ and a strict policy of limiting the number of games a publisher could release each year. While these policies did ensure that there would be games of quality released for the system it didn’t prevent terrible games from being released for the system (which a dearth of AVGN videos can attest to). And while the NES didn’t start the trend of horrible movie tie-in and abstractly unplayable games, it certainly became known for some of the most iconic ‘horrible’ games of the generation.
The Sega SG-1000
Sega released the SG-1000 to Japanese, New Zealand, and Australian markets. There were also small releases of the console in some European countries and in South Africa.
It did not fare well at all. The SG-1000 was an antiquated console next to the FAMICOM. Poor sales led to Sega being bought out by another company and attempts to vitalize sales of the console with re-releases, hardware tweaks, and re-brandings were unsuccessful.
The Sega Master System
Not to be deterred by the ‘abject failure’ of the SG-1000, Sega got to work on it’s next console. Having learned a lot from their previous console’s performance they released the Master System to the market.
Hoping that mere technical superiority over the NES/FAMICOM would do the trick (a mistake you’ll see time and again) the Master System initially refused to allow third-party support for the console. This proved a poor decision and when they tried to find some of their own they were totally cock-blocked by Nintendo’s exclusivity contracts with third-party developers.
It was considered a failure in the Japanese and North American markets. In an effort to boost sales Sega took a page out of Nintendo’s book and approached a toy manufacturer, Tonka in this case, to distribute their Master System Mark II. It didn't fair too well either.
There were a myriad of other models around the world - like the Japan-only Mark III (which looks awesome, btw) - and while some were able to find limited success in the Brazilian market they were resounding flops in the larger markets.
Outro:
So there you have it, GBATemp. Who will you vote? Who will be the crap-de-la-crap?
Current Standings: