Top 5 Worst Gaming Consoles of All Time

The video game world has seen its fair share of poor systems that had no business being released in the first place. Some of these systems were created for getting something in time for a holiday. Others were carefully constructed, and failed for any number of reasons from poor games, to poor sound, to poor graphics, or to just plain bad ideas as we’ll see with the #5 entry specifically. Luckily, most of the video game world had always rebounded from its bad ideas, and created systems that were much more intuitive in the fun factor for the gamer. On this list then, we will highlight what we think are the worst systems of all time. As always, there will be those who disagree, especially with one of our entries. We expect a high amount of criticism and even some profanity from some of our choices, but we ask you to read the arguments and consider what is being said before flaming them to no end. We’re sure we’ll see a lot of your own “top 5 worst systems of all time” after this list. The systems that overlap between our lists may be cause for some agreement between us and the reader. But we’re pretty the sure the flames will be stronger. They always are.

5. Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy would be higher on this list except its made by Nintendo. Virtual Boy though, was Nintendo’s clearest misstep in the video game market. They would learn from their mistakes and watch for any hasty releases of portable systems that tried to cash in on “Virtual Reality“. Why was Virtual Boy so bad? The most obvious thing to start off with was the graphics, which looked like static infrared in a poorly lit room. Playing the Virtual Boy for more than 5 minutes would become difficult because of this. Along with the addling graphics, there was the fact that you had to wear the system on your head. This would grow tiring easily as your neck muscles were always stretched to the limit. Even the instruction manual to the Virtual Boy warned of headaches, seizures and nausea when playing the game. If anyone was able to open up the box first and read this, do you think they really would of bought it? On top of this, the system was way too expensive for what it was trying to offer. At a large 180$, the system didn’t carry enough games, or tolerable graphics to be able to warrant this price, not to mention the possibility of becoming sick when playing it. The games for the Virtual Boy were sub par including a version of Tetris and Mario Tennis which both failed immediately because of the benumbing “Kenny Rogers Roaster” color of the screen smashing your eyes with no distance in-between. “Teleroboxer” was awfully close to trying to seem as cool as the Sega catalog wanted to be. The game play though was difficult to control and the characters were tiresome quick. For these reasons, The Virtual Boy was a failure. It would be forgotten with all the other bad game systems designs that would go down in infamy. Nintendo though would learn from its mistake and create some of the greatest gaming systems of all time afterwards. The same clearly cannot be said for the maker of the next four systems.

4. Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn was Sega’s first serious entry into the 32 bit market. It didn’t last long though, as the Saturn was yet another failure in Sega’s repertoire. The Sega Saturn was more expensive than other systems in the 32 bit era, all of which were better. Beyond the exorbitant price of the Saturn, there were no memorable games. The Saturn launched many arcade titles though, like the Street Fighter Series, but those were available on better systems anyway. Beyond these arcade replicas though, the original games were easily forgettable, further establishing Sega as the company who didn’t know how to create good games. One had to rely on sub-par originals like Shining Force 3 and Dragon Force to attain any sense of originality in the Saturn system. Other games like “Shining the Holy Ark” and “Magic Knight Rayearth” were conspicuous reasons for Saturn’s and Sega’s demise. The games for the Saturn were expensive though, just like the system itself, creating a low market for any of the Saturn’s games.

That the Saturn had to compete with the likes of Playstation 1 was daunting considering that Playstation was 10X the system of the Saturn and was less expensive. Saturn was obviously demolished by the Playstation 1 which was a system which created memorable games at every release. The combination of below average games, lack of originality, expense, and being regarded side by side with the Playstation led to the Saturn’s doom. Once again (as we will see with the rest of the article), Sega would prove that it could not compete with the greater systems in each class.

3. Sega Dreamcast

When talking about video game consoles, the Dreamcast is synonymous with the word “failure.” The Dreamcast was simply an overrated system all around. That’s not to say back in 1999 when it was first launched that I didn’t want one. I’ll be the first to admit that I did. I wanted one pretty bad but as fortune would have it, the store was backordered so I bought a DVD player instead. Sega’s new console was too much money for what it was anyway, not to mention that like many people I was still feeling burned from the Sega CD, 32x, and Saturn. EA made the right choice in not supporting the Dreamcast, because they knew that nobody wanted it. Sega had ripped off their customers too many times, and then released a system with only a handful of good games. What good games did Dreamcast have? The first Crazy Taxi was an awesome game, one I still enjoy on my PS2 from time to time. But the Dreamcast game library is highly overrated, especially some of the games that are held so highly by the Dreamcast fanboys – Soul Calibur for instance. It’s nothing but a button masher with swords. Sonic Adventure was the only good game available at the launch of the Dreamcast. But past Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi there were simply no other games worth buying. Games like Chu Chu Rocket and Space Channel 5 were just plain stupid. And most of good games would eventually end up being ported to other systems anyway. It’s both amazing, and sad that the Dreamcast still has fans today. There are people who actually say that the graphics on the Dreamcast were just as good, or even better than the Playstation 2. These people really need to go to Wal-Mart and have their eyes examined. As luck would have it, the Playstation 2 would be released just sixteen months after Dreamcast, and many people didn’t even buy a Dreamcast simply because they were so excited about the PS2 coming out. By early 2001, game publishers had abandoned Dreamcast development en masse in favor of the PlayStation 2 and canceled many nearly completed projects. With the arrival of the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, Dreamcast was finished, thus ending a dark chapter in the history of video games.

2. 32x

Without a doubt, one of the worst things to ever come out in the video game world was the 32X. The 32X was made out to be an addition to the Sega Genesis along with holding its own as its own system. Instead, it made the Sega Genesis even worse, making it the first add on system to actually make it original worse. The 32X was marketed for it’s stealthy 3^rd technology and the explicit aspect of making the Sega Genesis graphics better. Unfortunately the graphics were noticeably worse when one tried any game through the 32X.

I remember the first game I tried using the 32X. It was Wonder Boy in Monster World, one of the few bright spots in the averagely conceived Sega Genesis. The screen in Wonder Boy went from average to worse. The screen was so annoyingly bright that one couldn’t even get out of Wonder Boy’s house without taking off the superfluous 32X. Somewhere along the line, the designers must have thought that an improvement in graphics consisted in how bright the screen was. Whatever the reason, 32X’s main marketing ploy decreased the quality of an already lagging system. This was certainly a first for the video game world.

So with this understood, one was left to the actual games on the 32X to hold its own as its own system, which consisted of what seems like five to eight games. The games on the system were some of the worst ever. The version of Doom on the 32X looked so poor that one wondered why they ever stopped playing the computer version, not to mention that it didn’t include anywhere near close to all the levels of the original for the PC. The same thing happened with the version of Virtual Fighter to be bought with this slipshod system. The virtual fighter blocs looked like some of the worst 3D graphics ever released. On top of this, the actual sound of the game was clearly terrible from the punch sounds to the music. It started to seem that every game that was released for the 32X were much poorer versions of games for other systems. If one were looking for original games on the system it would be difficult as software developers realized how poor of a system it was and stopped any creations for the system. So you had a system that was supposed to improve the graphics for the Sega, and include new improved 3d games. Both of these goals failed so obviously that the system soon left the gaming shelves after its initial release. It was with the 32X that Sega fully started to be realized as the weak company in the video game market.

1. Sega Genesis

There are many reasons why the Sega Genesis is the worst video game system ever released. For one, it was because of the moderate success of the Genesis that the video gamer had the bear the terrible systems that came after it, from the 32x, to Sega CD, to Dreamcast, and to Sega Saturn. Another reason was because of how poor the soundboard was. Compare the Tecmo Bowl of the Genesis to the one for SNES and you’ll understand the difference. Have someone play Pitfighter and one will understand even more clearly how bad the sound was with the Genesis system.

The Genesis also had an excessive amount of bad games that were part of its catalog. Most Sega Genesis games were utterly forgettable. Altered Beast was a shameful excuse for a side scrolling fighting game, especially with the poor idea of consistently moving screens taking up the bulk of the game. Kid Chameleon became boring quick with its excessive amount of levels which were never cool regardless of the inscrutable sunglasses that the kid would wear. The list of bad games could go on and on for the Sega Genesis. Sonic tried valiantly to compete with Mario but was crushed under the weight of its lack of innovation compared to the largess plumber.

In very simple terms, the Sega Genesis was the kid from school who tried to be cool, but everyone knew he was a loser. There was often talk of “Console Wars” between The Sega Genesis and the SNES, but we are sure that the SNES knew nothing about it. Again, its like a kid at school who wants to be cool trying to start a war with someone cooler, and the cooler kid having no idea who the loser was in the first place. Every game that was released between the SNES and the Genesis, the SNES version was better in all aspects from the graphics to the overall sound. Every original game that Genesis released was forgettable and augmented by failed attempts at coolness. That the Sega malediction carried on to all of its subsequent systems is no surprise with the Genesis never winning any timeless success for itself. It’s with the Sega Genesis that the definition of a bad gaming system first becomes conspicuous.