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:
With another gigantic vote count we have a new 'winner'. Last week GBATemp thought that the worst console of the Third Generation was:
The Casio PV-1000! Casio's one-time peek-a-boo game with the Japanese public has inspired the wrath of the Tempers as once again the title of 'worst of a generation' goes to a console few have ever played before.
What I found most interesting is that there were a few (possibly trolls/fanboys) who believed that the NES was the worst console of the generation. Now that's just staggering.
For more information on how the voting went, you can check out last week's thread here.
Intro:
I feel like something has been missing. There's a whole other 'side' to the video game market we've avoided so far. Handhelds.
Prior to this generation handhelds were sparse and usually one-off LCD games (a trend that Tiger would continue well into the 90s). While there were some exceptions, it wasn't really until the Game Boy hit that things started to change. Consumers quickly learned the difference between quality and crap and made it very clear that battery life trumped graphics. But who will be deemed the worst handheld of the generation? Well... before we get to that let's recap the rules that everyone loves to read o'er and o'er.
Rules:
Enough of that crap, time to get started!
This Week's Challengers:
The Atari Lynx
So Atari wasn't doing so well. They are still blamed (justly or not) for instigating the crash of '83 - probably because they had two consoles on the market at the time. The 7800 was not a resounding success either. So how about they try their hand at the handheld market? It seemed to work out well for Nintendo and their Game & Watch series.
Some people would define a handheld at the time to be a portable console that could fit in your pocket. And if the Nintendo Game Boy was pushing the limits of 90s jean pockets, the Atari Lynx was destroying them. This bulk of a handheld was released in '89 to a cool reception.
Atari hoped that unique features like left handed support, and deluxe features like a colour screen and better graphics would help the Lynx 'cut the mustard'. Sadly, to painfully stretch this metaphor, the knife that was the Lynx was dulled by a large price point ($189 at launch) and an abysmal battery life. In the end the mustard proved too thick...
The Sega Game Gear
Even though it was rushed into the market, Sega made a brilliant move by making their Master System portable! The same 8 bit graphics were now possible in portable form. There was just one major problem... despite having very similar hardware it didn't support Master System cartridges... This would later be fixed via an adapter.
The Game Gear was an attempt to one up the dominant Game Boy with a backlit colour screen. Just like the Lynx though this proved to be a setback as users were much more interested in the Game Boy's battery life and game library than the Game Gear's.
Sega would ultimately shift its focus onto the Sega Genesis and ramp up the much discussed 'console wars' of the early 90s.
The Nintendo Game Boy
Have any of you tried to go back and play an original DMG model? I cannot get over how bad the refresh rate is on the screen. The Game Gear and Lynx are similarly bad, but they had the back light to help out a little.
The Game Boy was the epitome of Gunpei Yokoi's 'lateral thinking with withered technology' mantra at work. It's no wonder Nintendo thought they could ride out that mentality with the Wii. The Game Boy was old tech when it was released in '89 and that is probably the only reason it had a superior battery life compared to the Game Gear and Lynx.
The Game Boy's saving grace would be its strong third party support - a layover from the NES days - with some companies like CAPCOM making remarkably similar GB versions of their NES games.
The NEC Turbo Express
For those who don't know, this was the portable version of NEC's Turbo GraFX 16/Turbo GraFX/PC Engine. Unlike the Game Gear this could actually play its console counterpart's games out-of-the-box.
This thing, advertised as the PC Engine GT (Game Tank) in Japan, allegedly suffered from a sound issue that's often blamed on faulty capacitors, and dead pixels were common. Another issue was that PC Engine games were clearly designed with a TV in mind, so text was often very difficult to read on the handheld. And just like every other backlit LCD handheld on the market at the time it burned through batteries very quickly.
The Watara/QuickShot Supervision
This was an attempt to recreate the success of the Game Boy. It's major selling point was its low price point (usually ~$50).
It was said to have similar screen and graphical capability to the Game Boy, but what the Supervision ultimately lacked was games. Especially quality ones. I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who owns/has played one of these.
Outro:
So there is it, GentleTemps and LadyGBAs. Users who were around for the last competition might note that I left out the Mega Duck/Cougar Boy and the Gamate/Super Boy/Super Child Prodigy this time around. While the Supervision was probably not any more or less notable than the left out entries I didn't want to bloat the poll or confuse the voters too much...
And with that, happy voting! See you all in the comments.
Current Standings:
Recap:
With another gigantic vote count we have a new 'winner'. Last week GBATemp thought that the worst console of the Third Generation was:
The Casio PV-1000! Casio's one-time peek-a-boo game with the Japanese public has inspired the wrath of the Tempers as once again the title of 'worst of a generation' goes to a console few have ever played before.
What I found most interesting is that there were a few (possibly trolls/fanboys) who believed that the NES was the worst console of the generation. Now that's just staggering.
For more information on how the voting went, you can check out last week's thread here.
Intro:
I feel like something has been missing. There's a whole other 'side' to the video game market we've avoided so far. Handhelds.
Prior to this generation handhelds were sparse and usually one-off LCD games (a trend that Tiger would continue well into the 90s). While there were some exceptions, it wasn't really until the Game Boy hit that things started to change. Consumers quickly learned the difference between quality and crap and made it very clear that battery life trumped graphics. But who will be deemed the worst handheld of the generation? Well... before we get to that let's recap the rules that everyone loves to read o'er and o'er.
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 Lynx
So Atari wasn't doing so well. They are still blamed (justly or not) for instigating the crash of '83 - probably because they had two consoles on the market at the time. The 7800 was not a resounding success either. So how about they try their hand at the handheld market? It seemed to work out well for Nintendo and their Game & Watch series.
Some people would define a handheld at the time to be a portable console that could fit in your pocket. And if the Nintendo Game Boy was pushing the limits of 90s jean pockets, the Atari Lynx was destroying them. This bulk of a handheld was released in '89 to a cool reception.
Atari hoped that unique features like left handed support, and deluxe features like a colour screen and better graphics would help the Lynx 'cut the mustard'. Sadly, to painfully stretch this metaphor, the knife that was the Lynx was dulled by a large price point ($189 at launch) and an abysmal battery life. In the end the mustard proved too thick...
The Sega Game Gear
Even though it was rushed into the market, Sega made a brilliant move by making their Master System portable! The same 8 bit graphics were now possible in portable form. There was just one major problem... despite having very similar hardware it didn't support Master System cartridges... This would later be fixed via an adapter.
The Game Gear was an attempt to one up the dominant Game Boy with a backlit colour screen. Just like the Lynx though this proved to be a setback as users were much more interested in the Game Boy's battery life and game library than the Game Gear's.
Sega would ultimately shift its focus onto the Sega Genesis and ramp up the much discussed 'console wars' of the early 90s.
The Nintendo Game Boy
Have any of you tried to go back and play an original DMG model? I cannot get over how bad the refresh rate is on the screen. The Game Gear and Lynx are similarly bad, but they had the back light to help out a little.
The Game Boy was the epitome of Gunpei Yokoi's 'lateral thinking with withered technology' mantra at work. It's no wonder Nintendo thought they could ride out that mentality with the Wii. The Game Boy was old tech when it was released in '89 and that is probably the only reason it had a superior battery life compared to the Game Gear and Lynx.
The Game Boy's saving grace would be its strong third party support - a layover from the NES days - with some companies like CAPCOM making remarkably similar GB versions of their NES games.
The NEC Turbo Express
For those who don't know, this was the portable version of NEC's Turbo GraFX 16/Turbo GraFX/PC Engine. Unlike the Game Gear this could actually play its console counterpart's games out-of-the-box.
This thing, advertised as the PC Engine GT (Game Tank) in Japan, allegedly suffered from a sound issue that's often blamed on faulty capacitors, and dead pixels were common. Another issue was that PC Engine games were clearly designed with a TV in mind, so text was often very difficult to read on the handheld. And just like every other backlit LCD handheld on the market at the time it burned through batteries very quickly.
The Watara/QuickShot Supervision
This was an attempt to recreate the success of the Game Boy. It's major selling point was its low price point (usually ~$50).
It was said to have similar screen and graphical capability to the Game Boy, but what the Supervision ultimately lacked was games. Especially quality ones. I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who owns/has played one of these.
Outro:
So there is it, GentleTemps and LadyGBAs. Users who were around for the last competition might note that I left out the Mega Duck/Cougar Boy and the Gamate/Super Boy/Super Child Prodigy this time around. While the Supervision was probably not any more or less notable than the left out entries I didn't want to bloat the poll or confuse the voters too much...
And with that, happy voting! See you all in the comments.
Current Standings: