What's The Worst Video Game Console You Own Or Have Owned?

[buzz909]

Either the SuperGrafX or the Virtual Boy. The SGX was simply rushed to production with no outlook in mind, similarly to the VB, but the VB has some serious design flaws and I'd say it takes the cake..

The Supergrafx only had maybe 6 games? But it did have Ghouls n Ghosts....

The worst one I've ever had would be the Jaguar , the worst one I still own, is the Wii

The Jaguar would have been my 2nd choice, I sold mine after a year. BUT I did start to miss Cybermorph and some of the 3D games. That was the good thing about it - it was the only console you could really play evolved versions of 16 bit computer 3D games. Iron solder and Cybermorph were basically those but the next stage on. Also being an Intellivison fan - I liked the overlays

I can't think of any machines that I've owned that I've disliked. I found enjoyment in all of them. The Jaguar is interesting, as it's a close as we saw to a next gen Sinclair machine. It was a distant relative of the Sinclair Loki, and was designed by a team of ex Sinclair engineers.

Hey you have to choose the one you like the least

The Atari VCS was incredibly crude and any extended play showed how basic the games were.
Empire Strikes Back was just shooting endless AT-ATs, Smurfs only had a few levels and 147 slight variations of Pong.

Controversial! But got to be honest - I kind of agree. Most of the games suck...

[Leon Retro]

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When you examine N64 graphics on a screen without scanlines, you really notice there's a huge amount of dithering that gives a very rough look. F-Zero X really highlights this. It's just how graphics were created/rendered on the machine. The 'de-blur' does wonders for cleaner, more simple looking games like Mario 64. but does highlight blockniness and roughness in most of the library.

Of course, you can wipe away all the roughness with an emulator and create a smooth, shiny look, but it ends up with a very late '90s PC graphics card style. Some people might like that.

As you say -- using a 'de-blur' N64 with a top quality BVM will make the most of N64 graphics. If someone wants N64 games to look all smooth and shiny, they'll have to use an emulator.

Maybe Nintendo will offer a 'smooth & shiny' mode with N64 Mini if they get around to making one.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I went through 2 xbox 360s, the original and the Elite both red ringed on me. And my fat PS3 died and locked my Skyrim disk in the drive. I had to dismantle the thing to get it out.

[Leon Retro]

And my fat PS3 died and locked my Skyrim disk in the drive.

I switched my fat PS3 on one day... and it went 'boom' with a really bright explosion inside. I then found out that's it's a common problem with the fat PS3. I still have it, but I've never bothered to have it fixed. It might just need a new PSU.

I've heard so many stories about fat PS3's going wrong. The early PS2 models also had problems. All of that together with the 360 having the notorious RROD issue, made a it a terrible time for consoles when it came to reliability. i think console design and standards have improved since then.

[shinobi7000]

I had a phat PS3 that lived and still is after I gave it to someone. I never had a Dreamcast die personally, although someone used mine and played it till smoke came out - I saw the burn marks by the laser... Only issue I had with the DC was the laser was LOUD.

[Leon Retro]

I had a phat PS3 that lived and still is after I gave it to someone.

The Dreamcast can sound like gears grinding bones. The GDEMU fixes that.

[Tetsuo]

Haha no, N64 games look terrible even over the best HDMI modded units, due to the machines 240p output for most games. I've got a NTSC RGB modded unit and even via upscaler that doesn't look as clean as a the Wii U ouput, smoothing off those rough edges. RGB does make it way better, however. But the Wii U is the best way to go if the game is on the service I've found. Even if you do use a AR to remove the anti-aliasing. Sure they look way better than a base unit, but can't hide the systems core design flaws. Seems some fans still overlook them.

'Terrible' is your opinion, and 'design flaws' simply sounds much too like 'old system is old'. The Wii U is an emulator experience: glitches and all, with a darkness filter, and the inability to play using real hardware controllers. Therefore is reduced and an inauthentic way to experience the hardware, unless all you care about is resolution, in which case just play on a PC with plugins. But like I said, there are these things called upscalers for games consoles now.

Look closely at games like F-Zero X and Star Fox 64, and you'll see how messy/gritty the graphics look. Running them on a basic CRT hides the roughness to some degree, because of the machine's blurry image and lo-res, but then you have the vaseline-O-vision problem.

There really is no way to make N64 games look beautiful but retain a feeling of authenticity. No, you just have to accept that N64 games, even with de-blur and upscaling, are very rough looking. The only game that can look quite nice is Mario 64.

We've all heard you repeat these hackneyed remembrances here a hundred times before, it's yawn-some, even down to the nonsensical 'vaseline-O-vision', and the "only good looking game" being Mario 64. So to everyone else, and to repeat in kind: an NTSC machine via an upscaler like the Framemeister or OSSC looks, on the contrary, beautiful, even via S-video, which is what I have on one of my units.

As I think is quite clear, one's tolerance for what 3D graphics constitute will vary and inform your experience. For some, 3D games didn't exist until the Dreamcast/PS2, for others it's a Saturn, PlayStation, 3DO, or PC in 1993. For others still an Xbox 360 in the mid 2000s. But to hone in on blurry/gritty/smeary/resolutions --whatever-- is just a pointless tech-specs pissing contest, and as boring as it's always been.

[Leon Retro]

We've all heard you repeat these hackneyed remembrances here a hundred times before, it's yawn-some

You obviously don't get that an important part of being a retro enthusiast is having a tolerance for going over the same old stuff again and again and again....

How many times have I discussed Super Mario World? A crazy amount. The same for F-Zero, Sonic, Contra III, Castlevania IV etc.. etc.... If someone finds this sort of repetition "yawmsome" they should maybe avoid retro gaming forums.

You're acting like I'm anti-N64 and talking nonsense about the machine's bad points. When in fact -- I've enjoyed the N64 since I bought an import machine with an RGB mod in 1996. I have great memories of being really into the machine back in the day. I also bought a 'de-blur' US N64 when people said the image looks clearer/sharper.

If you want to act like I'm being unfair about the N64's visual quality, then I can only disagree. It's a much talked about fact that a standard N64, even with an RGB mod, outputs a very soft/blurry image. I wasn't the person who coined the phrase 'vaseline-O-vision' to describe the blurry image, but I also feel it's an appropriate description.

Of course, it would be stupid to compare the N64 or any other 32-bit era consoles image quality to modern HD standards. If you're a retro gamer, you should naturally accept the shortcomings of lo-res early 3D consoles. I've stated that I think some people might not like how the image looks on a 'de-blur' N64, because I think it can make some games look too blocky. But it is a great option for people who wish the N64 had a clearer image.

I've actually expressed my liking for retro games to look authentic, so I'm not a fan of emulating N64 games and adding all sorts of filters to make them all smooth and shiny. I just like to make the most of any given retro console, in a way that retains a very authentic look. It's all about achieving the best image clarity possible and still respecting how the games should look.

Lots of people have noted how Mario 64 looks cleaner and sharper than any other N64 game. That's because the game has a very simple art style without intricate texture mapping. So it avoids the messy look lots of N64 games exhibit.

80% of my gaming time is spent with really old retro systems from the 80s and 90s. So I'm far from a modern gaming zealot who's in love with HD. No, I'm the opposite of that. I still enjoy playing Atari 2600 games on my RGB modded machine. I absolutely love all sorts of retro gaming -- including playing great games like Wave Race 64, Star Fox 64, and F-Zero X.

It's sort of funny how you're acting like I'm some sort of casual, modern gamer who thinks retro consoles are garbage. Anyone familiar with me on this forum will know I'm a retro gaming enthusiast.
I won't be changing my forum name to Leon HD any time soon.