The 10 Worst-Selling Handhelds of All Time

Hygro

Obviously I didn't write this myself :pac:

Nintendo has crushed a large majority of competing video game handhelds since first popularizing the platform over 20 years ago. Save only a few, an overwhelming number of portables are commercial botches. Here are the top handheld failures.


10. Game Gear (11 million sold)
Sega released the Game Gear in North America in 1991 for what was then a hefty $150 asking price. The machine was basically a portable Master System with a larger color pallet for slightly better-looking graphics. Unlike the Game Boy, the Game Gear rocked the landscape holding position, making it less cramped for human beings with two hands to hold. And even though the Game Gear could be considered a success, its bulky frame, relative high price, constant consumption of AA batteries, and a lack of appealing games ultimately kept Sega from releasing a true successor.


9. Nokia N-Gage (3 million sold)
Nokia launched the first 3D-enabled handheld gaming device in October of 2003 just prior to the release of the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. The N-Gage was an extremely versatile cell phone that included wireless multiplayer and a built-in MP3/video player. Unfortunately, it under whelmed as a game system. Its high launch price of $299 and lack of enticing games are commonly cited for its early demise, not to mention the system's abhorrent, clunky, and widely mocked "taco" design. Gamers actually had to remove the battery to insert a game, and the 12-digit keypad doubling as command buttons would even make the Jaguar controller blush.


8. GBA Micro (2.5 million sold)
While beloved by many and heralded by some as the best of three GBA models, the Micro has been the lone commercial failure in Nintendo's expansive portable portfolio. First introduced at E3 2005 along with the unveiling of the Wii, the Micro was geared towards the few "image conscious" Game Boy owners in existence. While the screen set a new standard in brightness, even outshining the PSP, the Micro didn't support original Game Boy games like the SP did, and it forced gamers to upgrade to pesky adaptors not compatible with previous GBA hardware. Even Nintendo admitted the Micro's defeat saying "we failed to explain its unique value to consumers."


7. Neo-Geo Pocket (2 million sold)
Neo Geo released their first handheld, the Pocket, in late 1998. Due to lower than expected sales, the company quickly discontinued the monochrome version in favor of a 16-bit colored one released in 1999 across Japan, North America, and Europe at a retail price of $69. The portable initially sold well due to its attractive price, good battery life, and surprisingly strong line up of first-party games. Ultimately, however, a lack of third-party support, its cost-cutting cardboard box, and the impending threat of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance left Neo Geo with no choice but to gracefully bow out of the hardware business altogether as its home and arcade platforms had already shriveled up.


6. NEC Turbo Express (1.5 million sold)
The Turbo Express was the first ever handheld to play actual home console games some five years before the Sega Nomad could do the same for Sega Genesis games. It was a commensurate Turbo Grafx-16 if you will. While the most technologically advanced portable of its time, the Turbo Express was plagued with problems since first launching in 1990. The system was originally priced at an unheard of $349, could drain six AA batteries in less than 20 minutes, and a large number of units were shipped missing display pixels. Factor in NEC's disastrous marketing, and the oft labeled Rolls Royce of handhelds was quietly discontinued around the same time as NEC's Turbo Duo.



5. Sega Nomad (1 million sold)
The Sega Nomad was the second portable to allow mobile play of home console games. In its case, the device played both Genesis and Mega Drive cartridges. Sega launched the handheld in October 1995 for $180 in Japan and North America only. It featured a Genesis controller port on the bottom of the system for two-player games, and strangely, it supported an external out to TV so a second person could watch on the Nomad's smaller screen (Why not peep the larger TV?). Released at a time when 3D graphics were standard, the Nomad suffered an early death due to its poor timing, inadequate marketing, and dismal 2-hour battery life.


4. Atari Lynx (fewer than 500k sold)
Released in 1989, the Atari Lynx was the first commercially available color handheld to market. It featured a backlit display, a switchable ambidextrous layout by turning the unit upside down, local networking of up to 17 other systems, and it was the first system to support sprite zooming for pseudo-3D graphics. Though available in the US for five lackluster years, the rarely owned Lynx never caught on due to its high $189 launch price, poor distribution, limited 3 hour battery life, cumbersome design, and some of the worst games this side of the Pacific. Atari dropped the Lynx like a bag of dirt in 1994 to focus on the soon-to-fail Jaguar.


3. Game.com (fewer than 300k sold)
The Game.com (pronounced "game com") was released by Tiger Electronics in September 1997. It was the first system to use a touchscreen and stylus, first to provide internet access, and it was squarely aimed at an older audience with its PDA-style features. The touch screen lacked precision, however, due to its low sensor resolution and lack of a backlight. Furthermore, Game.com suffered from some of the worst game advertising in history; an insulting midget spokesman claimed "It plays more games than you idiots have brain cells," referring to the very gamers he was trying to sell to. Ironically, it only had a total of 20 games. Idiots!


2. Tapwave Zodiac (fewer than 200k sold)
The Tapwave Zodiac was another touch-screen handheld released shortly before the Nintendo DS in 2004. Despite its robust feature set including Microsoft Office support, MP3 and video playback, and an internet browser, the gamer-aiming system clearly lacked Nintendo's portable pixie dust as it did little right. The system was largely doomed at its birth being that Palm-base devices were already on their way out. More detrimental, however, was that Tapwave had zero experience in gaming, not to mention a piss-poor marketing budget to go up against both Nintendo and Sony. A year later, it was "game over" for the Zodiac as Tapwave declared bankruptcy.


1. Gizmondo (fewer than 25k sold)
Oh, the Gizmondo! Where to begin with this Euro trash? For the sake of time let's just summarize the mediocrity. The handheld was released in 2005 with two versions; a $400 ad-free unit and a $229 ad-supported unit. Only eight of the 14 planned games were ever released because the Gizmondo was never about launching a viable gaming machine; rather it was a front for company president Stefan Eriksson to sucker (ahem, bully) investors for money, throw a year long party, spend exorbitant amounts of cash, and bifurcate Ferrari Enzos in southern California before getting arrested for Swedish mob ties then going bankrupt a year later. Utter incompetence. Top handheld failure.

batari

I've got three off that list ( Game Gear, N-Gage, Lynx) And I know that you're not saying they're bad systems only bad sellers, but they're great gaming systems too! And before the N-Gage haters arrive, at least look at a few of it's best games:

Ashen (Best vid I could find - bear with me!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It3Ku5WFbTQ

Pandemonium

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds4nDaBl_PM

Trust me, if you ever play Ashen thru, you'll see this was a console with a lot of potential. Just another machine that could have been..

DinoRex

I'd love to get a Game.com

There was a version of Resident Evil 2 on it that looks kind of neat.

CiDeRmAn

But the ngage wasn't a games platform, just a Nokia Symbian phone with a poor frontend, poor controls and the screen orientation wring, portrait instead of landscape!
The stupid call position, terrible battery life, awful trouble to change games.
And I know these things because I had a series of symbian phones in those days and eventually picked up an NGage.
I ended up putting a Gameboy Color emu on the mam card and played that instead.

amacachi

I had both the N-Gages back in the day, first one broke and fairly sure my mam gave away my QD.:rolleyes: I thought the graphics were decent and found the controls easy to use tbh.

Retr0gamer

I remember Pandemonium on the PS1, It was terrible then as well.

Best thing on the N-gage was the, I think, successor to Dragon Force on the Saturn called Pocket Kingdoms which was a great strategy game and had great multiplayer features that nobody could use because nobody owned the thing.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

sugarman wrote: »

Its a very underated console. I need to get a few more games for it actually, does'nt get nearly enough play time because of the lack of

+1 :pac: mine also needs to get fixed, that's kinda a problem lol

batari

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

But the ngage wasn't a games platform, just a Nokia Symbian phone with a poor frontend, poor controls and the screen orientation wring, portrait instead of landscape!
The stupid call position, terrible battery life, awful trouble to change games.
And I know these things because I had a series of symbian phones in those days and eventually picked up an NGage.
I ended up putting a Gameboy Color emu on the mam card and played that instead.

Ah CiDeR, I know there's no point arguing with ya on this, we've been here before, but just to say you've obviously never seen the QD, cos' this didn't have the stupid call position, or changing games trouble.
Yea the battery is a bit crap, that's why I keep a spare on me!
About two-thirds of the way thru Ristar at the mo on it, excellent game.

o1s1n

DinoRex wrote: »

I'd love to get a Game.com

There was a version of Resident Evil 2 on it that looks kind of neat.

I had one of them on release.

I was not a happy bunny You can barely see anything on the screen in games due to the ghosting being so bad.

The touch screen is cool though. And it has some of the smallest game carts I've ever seen.

Dr Bob

love to know where that list game from, seems like a typical 'Nintendo can do no wrong , fap fap' US retrogaming article.
Much as its a a pretty cool peice of kit , surely the Virtualboy should be on that list?
Also the lynx had a lot of decent games!!

batari

o1s1n wrote: »

I had one of them on release.

I was not a happy bunny You can barely see anything on the screen in games due to the ghosting being so bad.

The touch screen is cool though. And it has some of the smallest game carts I've ever seen.

'Had'? They're pretty rare now aren't they?
When Retro Gamer Mag did a piece on it a while back, I couldn't shake the feeling I'd seen one in a Charity Shop somewhere a few years ago, and assumed it was some generic 100-in-1 cheapo game thingy and left it.:mad:

o1s1n

I still have it. However it would be gramatically incorrect to say 'I have one of them on release' as I was talking about the past

Last time I checked them out on ebay they didn't seem too expensive.

Always meant to get the modem cart for it but never did.

One thing that's quite nice about them is the stylus. I used it with my DS quite a bit.

ondafly

Have or owned the following.
Game Gear <-- from ebay a few years ago
GBA Micro <-- ebay
Neo-Geo Pocket <-- from Super Potato in person ^_^
Sega Nomad <-- from adverts, great product !
Atari Lynx <-- sold
Game.com <-- picked this up in TK MAXX years ago for £10, and recently discovered it in my Chrimbo decorations box ! along with the PS2 network hub


They are all pretty decent units, but battery life I suspect is what killed most of them

Hygro

More handheld info I'd never even heard of the Gamepark 32 ... but I think I want one!!! :pac:

Atari Lynx

In 1987, Epyx created the Handy Game; a device that would turn into the Atari Lynx in 1989. It was the first color handheld console ever made, as well as the first with a backlighted screen. It also featured networking support with up to 17 other players, and advanced hardware that allowed the zooming and scaling of sprites. The Lynx could also be turned upside down to accommodate left-handed players. However, all these features came at a very high price point, which drove consumers to seek cheaper alternatives. The Lynx was also very unwieldy, consumed batteries very quickly, and lacked the third-party support enjoyed by its competitors. Due to its high price, short battery life, production shortages, a dearth of compelling games, and Nintendo's aggressive marketing campaign, and despite a redesign in 1991, the Lynx became a commercial failure. Despite this, companies like Telegames helped to keep the system alive long past its commercial relevance, and when new owner Hasbro released the rights to develop for the public domain, independent developers like Songbird have managed to release new commercial games for the system every year until 2004's Winter Games.

TurboExpress

The TurboExpress was a portable version of the TurboGrafx, released in 1990 for $249.99 (the price was briefly raised to $299.99, soon dropped back to $249.99, and by 1992 it was $199.99). Its Japanese equivalent was the PC Engine GT.

It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16's games (which were on a small, credit-card sized media called HuCards). It had a 66 mm (2.6 in.) screen, the same as the original Game Boy, and could display 64 sprites at once, 16 per scanline, in 512 (some say only 482?) colors. It had 64 kilobytes of RAM. The Turbo ran its two 6820 CPUs at 3.58 MHz in parallel.

The optional "TurboVision" TV tuner included RCA audio/video input, allowing users to use TurboExpress as a video monitor. The "TurboLink" allowed two-player play. Falcon, a flight simulator, included a "head-to-head" dogfight mode that could only be accessed via TurboLink. However, very few TG-16 games offered co-op play modes especially designed with the TurboExpress in mind.

Gamate

The Bitcorp Gamate was the first original handheld game system created in response to the Nintendo Gameboy. It was released in Asia in 1990 and distributed worldwide by 1991.

Like the Sega Game Gear, it was horizontal in orientation and required 4 AA batteries. Unlike many later Gameboy clones, its internal components were professionally assembled (no "glop-top" chips). Unfortunately the system's fatal flaw was its screen. Even by the standards of the day, its screen was rather difficult to use, suffering from similar motion blur problems that were common complaints with the first generation Gameboys. Likely because of this fact sales were quite poor, and Bitcorp closed by 1992. However it has recently been discovered that new games continued to be published for the Asian market, possibly as late as 1994. The total number of games released for the system remains unknown.

Interestingly, Gamate games were designed for stereo sound, but the console was only equipped with a mono speaker. To appreciate the full sound pallet, a user must plug into the head phone jack.

Sega Game Gear

The Sega Game Gear was the third color handheld console, after the Lynx and the TurboExpress. Released in Japan in 1990 and in North America and Europe in 1991, it was based on the Sega Master System, which gave Sega the ability to quickly create Game Gear games from its large library of games for the Master System. While never reaching the level of success enjoyed by Nintendo, the Sega Game Gear proved to be a fairly durable competitor, lasting longer than any other Gameboy rivals.

While the Game Gear is most frequently seen in black or navy blue, it was also released in a variety of additional colors: red, light blue, yellow, clear, and violet. All of these variations were released in small quantities and frequently only in the Asian market.

Following Sega's success with the Game Gear, they began development on a successor during the early 1990s, which was intended to feature a touchscreen interface, many years before the Nintendo DS. However, such a technology was very expensive at the time, and the handheld itself was estimated to have cost around $289 it were to be released. Sega eventually chose to shelve the idea and instead release the Sega Nomad, a handheld version of the Mega Drive (Genesis), as the successor.

Watara Supervision

The Watara Supervision was released in 1992 in an attempt to compete with the Nintendo Gameboy. The first model was designed very much like a Gameboy, but it was grey in color and had a slightly larger screen. The second model was made with a hinge across the center and could be bent slightly to provide greater comfort for the user. While the system did enjoy a modest degree of success, it never impacted the sales of Nintendo or Sega. The Supervision was redesigned a final time as "The Magnum". Released in limited quantities it was roughly equivalent to the Gameboy Pocket. It was available in three colors: yellow, green and grey. Watara designed many of the games themselves, but did receive some third party support, most notably from Sachen.

A t.v. adapter was available in both PAL and NTSC formats that could transfer the Supervision's b&w pallet to color, similar in some regards to the super gameboy from nintendo.

Hartung Gamemaster

The Hartung Game Master was an obscure handheld released at an unknown point in the early 1990s. Its graphics were much lower than most of its contemporaries, similar in complexity to the Atari 2600. It was available in black, white, and violet, and was frequently rebranded by its distributors, such as Delplay, Videojet and Virella. The exact number of games released is not known, but is likely around 20. The system most frequently turns up in Europe and Australia.

Game.com

The Game.com (pronounced in TV commercials as "game com", not "game dot com", and not capitalized in marketing material) was a handheld game console released by Tiger Electronics in September 1997. It featured many new ideas for handheld consoles and was aimed at an older target audience, sporting PDA-style features and functions such as a touch screen and stylus. However, Tiger hoped it would also challenge Nintendo's Game Boy and gain a following among younger gamers too. Unlike other handheld game consoles, the first game.com consoles included two slots for game cartridges and could be connected to a 14.4 kbit/s modem. Later models had only a single cartridge slot.

Neo Geo Pocket Color

The Neo Geo Pocket Color (or NGPC) was released in 1999 in Japan, and later that year in the United States and Europe. It was a 16-bit color handheld game console designed by SNK, the maker of the Neo Geo home console and arcade machine. It came after SNK's original Neo Geo Pocket monochrome handheld, which debuted in 1998 in Japan.

In 2000 following SNK's purchase by Japanese Pachinko manufacturer Aruze, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was dropped from both the U.S. and European markets, purportedly due to commercial failure.

The system seemed well on its way to being a success in the U.S. It was more successful than any Game Boy competitor since Sega's Game Gear, but was hurt by several factors, such as SNK's infamous lack of communication with third-party developers, and anticipation of the Game Boy Advance. The decision to ship U.S. games in cardboard boxes in a cost-cutting move rather than hard plastic cases that Japanese and European releases were shipped in may have also hurt U.S. sales.

The Wonderswan Color

The WonderSwan Color is a handheld game console designed by Bandai. It was released on December 30, 2000 in Japan, and was a moderate success.

The original WonderSwan had only a black and white screen. Although the WonderSwan Color was slightly larger and heavier (7 mm and 2 g) compared to the original WonderSwan, the color version featured 64KB of RAM and a larger color LCD screen. In addition, the WonderSwan Color is compatible with the original WonderSwan library of games.

Prior to WonderSwan's release, Nintendo had virtually a monopoly in the Japanese video game handheld market. After the release of the WonderSwan Color, Bandai took approximately 8% of the market share in Japan partly due to its low price of 6800 yen (approximately US$65).

Another reason for the WonderSwan's success in Japan was the fact that Bandai managed to get a deal with SquareSoft to port over the original Famicom Final Fantasy games with improved graphics and controls. However, with the popularity of the Game Boy Advance and the reconciliation between SquareSoft and Nintendo, the WonderSwan Color and its successor, the SwanCrystal quickly lost its competitive advantage.

Game Park 32

The original GP32 was released in 2001 by the South Korean company Game Park a few months after the launch of the Game Boy Advance. It featured a 32-bit CPU, 133 MHz processor, MP3 and Divx player, and e-book reader. SmartMedia cards were used for storage, and could hold up to 128mb of anything downloaded through a USB cable from a PC. The GP32 was redesigned in 2003. A front-lit screen was added and the new version was called GP32 FLU (Front Light Unit). In summer 2004, another redesign, the GP32 BLU, was made, and added a backlit screen. This version of the handheld was planned for release outside South Korea; in Europe, and it was released for example in Spain (VirginPlay was the distributor). While not a commercial success on a level with mainstream handhelds (only 30,000 units were sold), it ended up being used mainly as a platform for user-made applications and emulators of other systems, being popular with developers and more technically-adept users.

Tapwave Zodiac

In 2004, Tapwave released the Zodiac. It was designed to be a PDA-handheld game console hybrid. It supported photos, movies, music, Internet, and documents. The Zodiac used a special version Palm OS 5, 5.2T, that supported the special gaming buttons and graphics chip. Two versions were available, Zodiac 1 and 2, differing in memory and looks. The Zodiac line ended in July 2005 when Tapwave declared bankruptcy.

The Gameking 2

The Gameking was a handheld game console released by the Chinese company TimeTop in 2004. The first model while original in design owes a large debt to Nintendo's Gameboy Advance. The second model, the Gameking 2, is a more direct rip-off, this time of Sony's PSP. This model also was upgraded with a backlit screen, with a distracting background transparency (which can be removed by opening up the console). A color model, the Gameking 3 apparently exists, but was only made for a brief time and was difficult to purchase outside of Asia. Whether intentionally or not, the Gameking has the most primitive graphics of any handheld released since the 1980s.

As many of the games have an "old school" simplicity, the device has developed a small cult following. It is unclear if the Gameking 3 supports more advanced graphics. The Gameking's speaker is quite loud and the cartridges' sophisticated looping soundtracks (sampled from other sources) are seemingly at odds with its primitive graphics.

TimeTop made at least one additional device (sometimes) labeled as "gameking", but while it seems to possess more advanced graphics, is essentially an emulator that plays a handful of multi-carts (like the one-station).

The Gizmondo

Tiger's Gizmondo came out in the UK during March 2005 and it was released in the U.S. during October 2005. It is designed to play music, movies, and games, have a camera for taking and storing photos, and have GPS functions. It also has Internet capabilities. It has a phone for sending text and multimedia messages. Email was promised at launch, but was never released before Gizmondo, and ultimately Tiger Telematics', downfall in early 2006. Users obtained a second service pack, unreleased, hoping to find such functionality. However, Service Pack B did not activate the e-mail functionality.

The Game Park Holdings GP2X F-100

The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and media player created by GamePark Holdings of South Korea, designed for homebrew developers as well as commercial developers. It is commonly used to run emulators for game consoles such as Neo Geo, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, MAME and others.

A new version called the "F200" was released October 30, 2007 and features a touchscreen, among other changes.

o1s1n

Hygro wrote: »

5. Sega Nomad (1 million sold)
The Sega Nomad was the second portable to allow mobile play of home console games. In its case, the device played both Genesis and Mega Drive cartridges. Sega launched the handheld in October 1995 for $180 in Japan and North America only. It featured a Genesis controller port on the bottom of the system for two-player games, and strangely, it supported an external out to TV so a second person could watch on the Nomad's smaller screen (Why not peep the larger TV?). Released at a time when 3D graphics were standard, the Nomad suffered an early death due to its poor timing, inadequate marketing, and dismal 2-hour battery life.

Just had a quicker look at this.

It says they launched it in America AND Japan. I read this somewhere before, however Retr0 said it wasn't released in Japan. I've done a bit of research into it and the only device I've ever found being released in Japan is the Megajet..which is far from a Nomad and meant for a totally different market.

Also, the AV out isn't for a second person to watch on the Nomads smaller screen..it's so your portable can double up as a normal console if you have a tv around.

The battery life is also more like 3-4 hours, not 2. (Still bad, but not as bad as they're saying)

Who wrote this?

Hygro

got that info from wikipedia

o1s1n

Ah, that's interesting. I'll have to edit it so

Professey Chin

No mention of the Barcode Battler? :pac:

Retr0gamer

Yep Nomad was US only, kind of strange until you realise that there was a hardware division in Sega Japan and US working on different projects. The 32X was a Sega US project. The retrogamer article also says it was a US only console and I'd trust them more.

I remember the barcode battlers and the tabloids running scare stories about gangs of teenagers cutting the barcodes off of products in stores to use on them. Apparently it was happening in Japan at the time. I know a few people that won them through a Quinnsworth competition. I was so jealous.

Dr Bob

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Yep Nomad was US only, kind of strange until you realise that there was a hardware division in Sega Japan and US working on different projects. The 32X was a Sega US project. The retrogamer article also says it was a US only console and I'd trust them more.

I remember the barcode battlers and the tabloids running scare stories about gangs of teenagers cutting the barcodes off of products in stores to use on them. Apparently it was happening in Japan at the time. I know a few people that won them through a Quinnsworth competition. I was so jealous.

I had one for a bit when they came out . they came with pokémon style cards , and then you could cut barcodes off run them through it.I remember it was a bitch to get it to scan a lot of them unless you were prepared to sellatape them to a thick bit of card and spend ages running them through .I remember being able to "hack" stats with a bit of trial and error and a black marker too

Retr0gamer

I really want a NGP and wonderswan now, thanks guys

yrwhu8jxtni06a

This junk wasn't mentioned,people of certain vintage will remember its advert on tv-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIS2G9271qU

ambro25

ondafly wrote:

Have or owned the following.

At the height of my 'retro period' (2002-2004), bearing in mind that initially I collected handhelds only, I had:

• Microvision (the grand-daddy of them all)
• Sega: Game Gear, Nomad
• Nintendo: GB (original), GBC, GBP, GBP Light (the JP indiglo one, in silver), GBA, GBA SP, DS (Mk1), Virtual Boy (US model)
• NEC: Turbo Express (US)
• Atari: Lynx I, Lynx II
• NeoGeo: NGP, NGPC
• Bandai: Wonderswan (B&W), Wonderswan Colour
• Tiger: Game.com
• Watar: Supervision (I had the 'bendy' version)
• Philips: CDI 350
• and some Game & Watch (3 Panorama and 2 Tabletop). These didn't really meet my collecting criteria at the time ("must have interchangeable game cartridges") but I just couldn't resist their look and feel

Of these, without a shadow of a doubt, by a country mile and then some, the absolute worst (and worst seller, which should be no.1 in the OP if the article was 'serious' and researched) was the Supervision.

The most over-hyped was the Turbo Express (woeful screen, battery life in minutes, not that ergonomic). To me at least, it near unuseable, to the extent that I kept taking Hucards out of it after 5 minutes and slapping them back in my white PC-E for some TV action instead.

The most 'meh' was the Game.com (pretty much concurring with o1s1n's earlier post). Got one brand new on FleaBay for pennies, took it out of its box for a look-see-play that lasted 10 minutes, and it never saw the light of day again until I flogged it back.

The ones I enjoyed playing most were the Wonderswan (Gunpei in B&W, battery life was so long it seemed to be nuclear-powered) and the NGPC (various). That stick on the NGPC, just felt so right (not sure how you'd go about grafting it onto a GBA SP carcass).

I did toy with the idea of flogging the lot (handhelds and lounge consoles, I eventually went the whole hog with CDI, PC-E/Supergrafx, Pana 3DO, Vectrex, Saturn, Jaguar and more) towards financing an LT at the time

johnny_ultimate

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I really want a NGP and wonderswan now, thanks guys

Don't worry, will bring both to the next retro beers to dangle in front of you again :pac:

Alas, along with my MegaDrive / acidy GG they're pretty much my entire retro collection!

pdbhp

Hygro wrote: »

GBA Micro (2.5 million sold)
While beloved by many and heralded by some as the best of three GBA models, the Micro has been the lone commercial failure in Nintendo's expansive portable portfolio. First introduced at E3 2005 along with the unveiling of the Wii, the Micro was geared towards the few "image conscious" Game Boy owners in existence. While the screen set a new standard in brightness, even outshining the PSP, the Micro didn't support original Game Boy games like the SP did, and it forced gamers to upgrade to pesky adaptors not compatible with previous GBA hardware. Even Nintendo admitted the Micro's defeat saying "we failed to explain its unique value to consumers.

Pfffft, the Micro is one of the greatest handhelds of all time, the screen is amazing on it and despite its 1 inch size it is easy to read text on it. It's so small and snazzy I could bring it to work and blast MarioKart all day long:D
The battery is the Terminator of batteries and will not waste at all.
It can be used as an MP3 player if you have a flashcard:)

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Just had a quicker look at this.

It says they launched it in America AND Japan. I read this somewhere before, however Retr0 said it wasn't released in Japan. I've done a bit of research into it and the only device I've ever found being released in Japan is the Megajet..which is far from a Nomad and meant for a totally different market.

Also, the AV out isn't for a second person to watch on the Nomads smaller screen..it's so your portable can double up as a normal console if you have a tv around.

The battery life is also more like 3-4 hours, not 2. (Still bad, but not as bad as they're saying)

Who wrote this?

The modded ones output to both the internal screen & tv's don't they? WHat happens the standard ones, does the internal screen cut off when it detects the external display?

Battery life? Pffft...we laugh in the face of that these days :cool::pac:

Ron DMC

I should really look into either fixing my QD or giving it to someone who might want it for parts or whatever.

Can't find my Game Gear either, I fear it may have been given away/thrown out by the mother.

Paparazzo

I remember I got an Atari Lynx around 1992. I got it because i wouldn't need a tv.
The lynx was always regarded as the best and most powerful hand held, but it always had the fewest games. But it still had a lot off good games. The nintendo gameboy was way more popular because it was so cheap. I never bought into it at the time because it was basically a step up from a "game and watch" (remember them?) where the lynx was another league. Nintendo marketing a shíte product well, they learnt early for the WII.

But the lynx had some great games. Hard to remember the good ones, but Shadow of the Beast, Crystal Mines, Bill and Teds excellent adventure, and Zenophobe were all games I remember spending hours on.
It took 6 AA batteries that lasted about half an hour! That was serious money. The Sega Game Gear was the closest to a Lynx, but it wasn't great. It eventually came out with some sort of TV card. It was like a game cartridge with built in rabbit ears that slotted into the back. Amazing at the time, but I never saw one working and I assume it was shíte.

I got calafornia games with my Lynx. Just youtubed it, sad to think I spent so many hours playing this shíte:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql2S-wXa-H8

ghostchant

Bit harsh to call the gameboy sh*te, it was the only one of the handhelds you mentioned to last a bus journey without a supplementary case full of batteries, and its game library was (and is) excellent. Link's Awakening and the pokemon games alone would make it the winner in my book! (I won't mention the Wii remark, since I might be mistaken for a fan-boy, which I swear I'm not!)

pdbhp

Paparazzo wrote: »

The Sega Game Gear was the closest to a Lynx, but it wasn't great. It eventually came out with some sort of TV card. It was like a game cartridge with built in rabbit ears that slotted into the back. Amazing at the time, but I never saw one working and I assume it was shíte.

I got calafornia games with my Lynx. Just youtubed it, sad to think I spent so many hours playing this shíte:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql2S-wXa-H8

The TV tuner on GameGear was an excellent peripheral it worked beautifully, I watched the whole of world cup 1994 on my GameGear.
California Games is one of the greatest sports games ever made however I've never played the Lynx version so can't comment on that one still though I loves that game

o1s1n

EnterNow wrote: »

The modded ones output to both the internal screen & tv's don't they? WHat happens the standard ones, does the internal screen cut off when it detects the external display?

I only tried it via the TV after the screen mod was done! Have no clue how it displays without it.

Something else I've never tried, does it display to an external display on just batteries? That's pretty interesting as it means you really could take over a TV anywhere.

EnterNow wrote: »

Battery life? Pffft...we laugh in the face of that these days :cool::pac:

I still can't get used to using the thing without being wired to the wall It's a novelty that will just never wear off.

ChnGamer

Despite how retarded the concept behind Barcode Battler i remember being captivated for hours on end. Pretty sure i got it packed away somewhere, not the best tenner i've ever spent but can't complain.

Neo Geo Pocket was awesome for it's time, obliterated the GB colour in so many aspects. What could have been

Got a nice collection of Game Gear games as well, maybe i'm old school but there are still some awesomely playable games on this system.

Gotta give it up for Nintendo, they've kept me glued to their miniature screens since the age of 6. With the upcoming launch of 3DS i'm just as excited as i was all them years ago. Please don't let me down *fingers crossed*

CiDeRmAn

Paparazzo wrote: »

The nintendo gameboy was way more popular because it was so cheap. I never bought into it at the time because it was basically a step up from a "game and watch" (remember them?) where the lynx was another league. Nintendo marketing a shíte product well, they learnt early for the WII.

This couldn't be any more wrong if it had a big sign saying WRONG hanging around it's neck with a set of loudspeakers on it's head shouting "Wrong!" every 3 seconds.

The Gameboy was not a "step up" from the Game&Watch series, what it did do was take advantage of the innovations of that series, the D-Pad and the portability and built a mono chrome 8-bit system around it, the D-pad was the motion control of the day, getting rid of joysicks and replacing them with an elegant, easy to use solution.

The console was not so cheap either, and the games were all about the same price as the GG and Lynx.
The difference was there were more of them, far more, tons of great 1st and 3rd party games, Marioland, Pokemon, Zelda and the mighty Tetris, the Gamegear had a great series of games but were nearly all Sega titles and the poor Lynx had to settle for third with a capable machine but not much made for it, certainly not compared to the GG and GB.

The screens were a big difference, while the GG and Lynx were colour they did eat batteries while the big monochrome display on the GB was much less power hungry.

In no way shape or form could the Gameboy be considered a "****e" product, it was an inspired product.
The Gameboy Pocket was near perfection as well, compact, better screen and fantastic battery life, the Gameboy Color less tremendous but they all set the scene for the best handheld of all, the Gameboy Advance SP, a genius piece of design, plays all the Gameboy games on a big screen and when closed is a solid, comforting little block. I love my Gameboy Micro but I can't play my GB/C collection on it, I always come back to the GBA SP.

So, please, no more of this Gameboy is rubbish nonsense, thank you very much :rolleyes:

o1s1n

Nintendo really have handhelds down to an artform. They are the only company that seems to realize that battery longevity is quite possibly the most important factor. There's no point having a super powerful multi coloured display if it doesn't last five minutes without being tethered to a wall.

I loved my Gameboy. The only thing that ever annoyed me about it was the ghosting..but that is something that happened with all LCD screens at that time.

Retr0gamer

Even I had no faith in the DS beating the PSP. Now it's almost a shoe in to beat the PS2 as the biggest selling console ever.

Hygro

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Even I had no faith in the DS beating the PSP. Now it's almost a shoe in to beat the PS2 as the biggest selling console ever.

I'd say nearly half of the people who own DS are female, petting their Nintendogs. Not that I've anything against that, but I would still consider the PS2 to be the best selling games console of all time, purely based on the fact that it was aimed at gamers.

I own a DS by the way :pac:

o1s1n

I'm sure just as many people own a pink ps2 to play Barbie's Dream Love Affair with Ken*

The DS is most definitely made for gamers. It's made for everyone.

















*might not be an actual game.

Hygro

That's where Nintendo have cornered the market, consoles/games for everyone ... Cute hoors

3DS will fall flat though, they bit off more than they could chew with that one.

CiDeRmAn

Hygro wrote: »

I'd say nearly half of the people who own DS are female, petting their Nintendogs.

That's ok, nearly half the planet happen to be female, the pretty sweet smelling half, unless of course you are in prison, then you could be the pretty sweet smelling thing, and in some demand....

Retr0gamer

I don't know how any real gamer can say the DS isn't aimed at gamers. There's tonnes of amazing games on it aimed at the core market, a lot of which are by nintendo as well. Nintendo's genius is that it is aimed at everyone, not just the small core market. I also think the DS has been hugely positive to videogaming as a whole. Hardly any girls played games before in the west. It's not that girls can't enjoy games, any girl gamer I know is as hardcore as any of us, it's just that they completely dismissed without trying it. DS has introduced gaming to a whole heap of people thatwould have traditionally not played games and this will mean in 5 years time videogaming will be more like in japan and be far more accepted and enjoyed by most people.

Hygro wrote: »

3DS will fall flat though, they bit off more than they could chew with that one.

If the 3DS isn't the fastest selling console ever I'll eat my hat. I hate the price and I really hate region locking but the developer support nintendo have and the games that are coming out on it means I can't ignore the 3DS.

pdbhp

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I don't know how any real gamer can say the DS isn't aimed at gamers. There's tonnes of amazing games on it aimed at the core market, a lot of which are by nintendo as well. Nintendo's genius is that it is aimed at everyone, not just the small core market. I also think the DS has been hugely positive to videogaming as a whole. Hardly any girls played games before in the west. It's not that girls can't enjoy games, any girl gamer I know is as hardcore as any of us, it's just that they completely dismissed without trying it. DS has introduced gaming to a whole heap of people thatwould have traditionally not played games and this will mean in 5 years time videogaming will be more like in japan and be far more accepted and enjoyed by most people.

As much as it pains me I will have to agree with you on this one, Nintendo set the bar really high with the DS and the sheer number of quality hardcore titles is mesmerising, each and every day I come across another stellar game on the DS. No matter what genre you are into there is literally hundereds of games available, yes there is a lot of games aimed at a younger more casual audience but for the whole the game library is crammed full of sweet titles.
Everywhere you go in Ireland or anywhere in the world even you see someone playing a DS which shows exactly why Nintendo have thier stranglehold over the handheld market

Edit: passed the 1000 post mark with little fanfare

o1s1n

pdbhp wrote: »

Edit: passed the 1000 post mark with little fanfare

CiDeRmAn

I think the 3DS is going to rock, and rock hard, and not just because I preordered one with Amazon this morning!
Nintendo are the only people in some 30 years of handheld gaming to get it right, and have success everytime.
From G&W to GB, from GBpocket to GBC, GBA to GBAsp to GBmicro, from DS to DSlite to DSi to DSLL, all good, all the time...
No reason to believe that they might screw up the 3DS, the launch lineup is weak for gamers like ourselves but there is just enough variation to make it attractive and by Christmas, well, once that user base expands I think the big guns of EA, Ubisoft, Sega, Capcom, they'll all roll out and it will be the must have console.
I mean, do you want to play more Uncharted and Killzone? Or do you want to play Bayonetta in 3D?
Do you want another Gran Turismo or Resistance game? Or do you want to download Super Mario Kart or F-Zero in enhanced 3D?
I think I know the one I'll be having.

CiDeRmAn

Oh, and referring to the long forgotten OP, no one mentioned my darling little Pokemon Mini console, a gorgeous little device with the smallest carts ever that plays nifty little games, and was bought by about 8 people in europe, including me! I still have the one I bought at launch.

LoGiE

Ah the bar code battler.... Were you raided your mothers freezer to scan a packet of frozen peas. I clearly remember Eason's having a ton of them!

It was a pity the Atari Lynx didn't do better. It had some pretty good arcade conversions like Klax and pac-land. If Atari had only managed to have one
final stab at the handheld market instead of ditching the Lynx and the ST in favor of...the jaguar.

Hygro

Forgive me for my old fashined ignorance, thinking of a gamer sat in front of a tv/pc screen, arcade monitor Most people you see on a bus/train playing a DS wouldn't call themselves gamers, it's just an alternative to listening to the radio/reading the paper for the majority of them.

Only gonna be a matter of time till a (good) phone/handheld console is created and it'll be interesting to see what happens to dedicated handheld consoles then.

Wither regards to the 3Ds, I should have phrased it better. It'll sell well, but not as well as nintendo will hope, or have been used to in the past, it'll be a flop in their eyes. Someone will be committing seppuku!


Articles about it below..

Capcom compares the 3DS to the Dreamcast launch

This would be a scary thing - a kiss of death even - if this were in reference to the Australian Dreamcast launch (a legendary blunder), but no. The Dreamcast enjoyed a healthy birth everywhere else in the world!

Capcom's Yoshinori Ono is extremely excited about the 3DS, what with Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition and all. Featured in an interview with Edge magazine, Oni was questioned why he chose the 3DS as the next Street Fighter destination.

"First, we are in Nintendo country," he confusingly replied. "Second, the feeling I have with 3DS is the same as when the Dreamcast came out - as a developer, I mean, these machines are so exciting. We're fascinated by it at Capcom, and diving into the innards at the moment, but you know there's just so much more there to unlock; it's got more to give."

Considering the strong library of Capcom fighting games the Dreamcast gained, this enthusiasm can only be a good thing. Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is shaping up to be one of the better launch titles for Nintendo's 3DS. Not only is it incredibly close to its arcade counterpart, it also highlights the system's StreetPass function, includes online multiplayer and makes genuinely excellent use of the actual 3D effect.

Then again, perhaps the real news here is that Capcom is now in Nintendo country.

Nintendo 3DS vs Playstation (NGP) PSP2: Who's going to be holding your hand? (Pre-Launch analysis)

The word is out that Nintendo and Sony are releasing their next iterations of handheld gaming platforms. Nintendo is keeping its DS brand going by naming it 3DS after the 3D visual screen used in the platform. Sony doesn’t know what it wants to call its Next Generation Portable, so they decided to code name it that (NGP) until further notice. We have just enough information on the 3DS and NGP to begin comparing them against each other in the eternal struggle to take the biggest share of consumers’ money.

I’ve gone over most of the details of the systems that are available at this time (3DS info here and NGP info here), and my early impression is that the Playstation NGP is the superior system all around. This superiority is going to come at a premium price. I don’t consider the 3DS a failure, though. It is only a disappointment by comparison, especially since Nintendo is usually the big innovator in this industry.

Both machines are aiming to be more than gaming machines. Both companies are becoming desperate to compete with the growing mobile games market that smart phones are giving rise to. Apple’s iPhone and iPad in particular have caused much worry to the gaming two-some. Apple fans have been begging and rumoring that the fruit will bear a dedicated gaming platform. No such luck, but that hasn’t stopped the accessory feature of games from claiming a lot of dollars from current customers.

Both systems are going to offer a bevy of non-gaming uses like picture taking, internet browsing, music playback, video of some sort, and other social networking features. My impression of the NGP comes from the fact that Sony has already provided most of these multimedia functions in the past on the PSP. The NGP will expand on those functions while providing current console level control, connection, and graphic capabilities.

Nintendo has been slow to adapt to the multimedia nature of our society, offering gaming focused hardware with small expansions of multimedia applications. They demonstrated their recognition of the current state with the DSi, which featured built-in cameras, a downloadable games shop, and free downloadable web browser. Still, Nintendo uses archaic systems to handle these applications. Nintendo simply doesn’t match the offerings of its competitors. The 3DS is big step forward, but nowhere near the leap they need to be making.

With the 3DS, Nintendo needed to renounce the Friend Code system or restructure it to make it user friendly. They need to stop locking down digital purchases to hardware and get their own cross-platform network up and running. Club Nintendo is the perfect start for this. All they need to do is build their downloadable game shops into it. Lastly, the 3DS needed to have two analog pads. In my honest opinion, the 3DS is Nintendo’s take on the PSP; Almost-but-not-quite, in every capacity, now with 3D.

This time, Nintendo really only has brand recognition to boast about. The 3D effect isn’t easily marketed. The titles of the games and the system are all they have. The DS brand was so successful that developers reflexively agreed to develop for this new machine. Sure, 3DS is going to have great games available, maybe even a lot of them as time goes on. What new features they added have been around before on the competitors and done better. The NGP is fully capable of replicating anything the 3DS has to offer. Unless developers find the key aspect of 3D that makes it integral to gameplay, the effect will be relegated to a gimmick. I don’t see the 3DS’s two screens as much of an advantage anymore with the NGP having the touch-screen and rear touch-panel.

I think Nintendo stands a chance of capitalizing on Hollywood’s 3D Movie push if they can get 3D movies to be released on the system. They were already showing off trailers on the system, but they’ll need more than that.

For those who will have to choose between the two, it’s going to be all about the software (games and more) but the NGP is giving me the best feeling. The NGP looks most promising for those looking for a long-term investment. Right now, the 3DS seems like another example of 2-steps-forward-one-step-back. Nintendo hasn’t proven that its offerings are a step above. Nintendo needs to prove that the 3D really is the next big thing, or they’re going look extremely dated in a short period of time.

Retr0gamer

PSP2 looks like the superio system to the 3DS. Definitely.

However the Game Gear and Lynx looked like the superior system.

So did the Neo Geo Pocket and Wonderswan.

The PSP also looked far superior to the Ds.

Nintendo left all those consoles in the dust with inferior cheap technology. How did it do this? Because it created a portable system that was indeed portable instead of a portable console and back this up with a stellar line up of games that catered to the portable nature of the console.

You may think you want to be playing Uncharted on the bus. I don't. I'll want to be playing Ouendan, Picross, golden sun or a variety of other games that are truly portable and not slimmed down versions of console games.

I'm sorry but only a fool would back against the 3DS.

I haven't seen many games on the PSP2 that I want and what I did see I'd rather be playing on a console. 3DS has an amazing amount of games coming up that look superb.

If you call yourself a gamer I don't know how you can dismiss the DS since for me it's probably the best console since the snes if not better.

o1s1n

Hygro wrote: »

Most people you see on a bus/train playing a DS wouldn't call themselves gamers, it's just an alternative to listening to the radio/reading the paper for the majority of them..

You have this a bit backwards. People who play handhelds on public transport are the true gamers. They love gaming SO MUCH that they cant even be without it when leaving the house.

ghostchant

Retr0gamer wrote: »

If you call yourself a gamer I don't know how you can dismiss the DS since for me it's probably the best console since the snes if not better.

+1000000

The DS lives in my bag, I don't go anywhere without it whereas I haven't switched on my PSP in a couple of months. That being said, I do love the PSP, and if the DS never existed it would have pride of place in my bag instead. But the DS is my favourite console full-stop.

CiDeRmAn

Everyone is a gamer now, cast off such narrow constraits as "Hardcore" and "Casual", doesn't matter that someone likes Picross, WiiSports and Layton, thats good enough for many and acts as a gateway to other games.
This is the time when people who never considered playing a game on a console to be worthy of their time and now they see it as a valid and enjoyable way to spend 15 minutes.

And how many have Sony contributed to this awakening amongst former non-gamers?
None, not a one, not since the 90's anyway when their "club" scene cool marketing made the system attractive to a clique of club goers for whom videogames = mario/sonic and so was for kids, then Sony brought them Wipeout and merged music and media into games.
But since then they have done little but maintain that base, bringing in the same core of people.
Now they say little or nothing to people, especially in handheld form.
When was the last time someone you know mentioned a must have PSP game?
When was the last time someone you know mentioned a must have DS game?
In the former it was Outrun 2006, back in, well 2006!
In the latter it was the other week, talking about Pokemon:White coming to our shores this year.

I can't see the next-gen PSP being any different, people are not banging on the door of HMV looking for Uncharted, why would they do the same for a handheld version?
In fact can anyone mention a "killer app" for the NGP that you really want to play and can only have on that format?
Isn't the Sony device going to play little more than portable versions of PS3 titles?
Do we really want this, or want a new experience, tailor made for on the go?
And only the 3DS has this killer IP built in, 3D.
Anyone who has seen the effect says it's amazing, I can see all the games I like to play becoming better with it, Ridge Racer, Pilot Wings, Monkey Ball.

If the NGP had 3D I would be the first to buy one, no question. The expense of buying a 3D tv prevents me from diving into 3D gaming now, but an NGP with 3D would mean I can play Assassins Creed, Wipeout and all the other big IPs in 3D on a big screen, but Sony have missed the boat, no 3D here, and that's that for another format before it's even released.
Maybe we should give them 5 years to replace this one with the "real" NGP, and just politely forget this next attempt at portable gaming, that once again seems to have missed the point completely.

We want portable gaming, not home gaming turned portable.

Retr0gamer

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

When was the last time someone you know mentioned a must have PSP game?
When was the last time someone you know mentioned a must have DS game?
In the former it was Outrun 2006, back in, well 2006!

Ah it's not that bad. We have had Valkyria Chronicles, Peace Walker, the two Ys games and a few others with Tactics Ogre coming in the next week. The big problem with the PSP is that if I get Tactics Ogre I'll first have to update my PSP. That will take about 30 minutes. However since the battery persistence on the PSP is terrible my PSP will be dead so I'll have to plug it in to update it. What's that? My battery is too low to perform the update? I'll have to wait 2 hours while the PSP charges, perform the update and then wait another 3 hours or so until the system is fully charged. In the mean time I'll have not bothered with all that and just picked up the DS to play a new game since it actually caters to people looking for a portable system.