The Not-So-Great Video Game Consoles: A Look Back at Some Flops

OnLive was one of the most promising console ventures in recent history, but it ultimately crashed and burned on live. What was initially hailed as a great idea - cloud gaming that allowed you to play games without the need for a dedicated console or expensive hardware - had some major drawbacks. It was limited by your internet connection, which meant that every time you hit a button, it wasn't just sending a signal 3 feet to your console, but rather 5, 10, 100, or even 1,000 miles to the nearest on live station. Even with a decent internet connection, lag and lower quality were common issues. A lot of people have fond memories of OnLive, but it's hard to deny that it was ahead of its time in more ways than one.

One of the most expensive flops in gaming history is Apple Pippin. When it was first being announced and before it actually came out, it was valued at up to $1.8 billion, making it a major investment for the company. However, just two years later when it finally released, it sold for a mere $4 million, coming in at number three on this list of failed consoles. The Pippin was not strictly a gaming console, but rather a multimedia player that could also run games and other applications. While it had some advantages over traditional consoles, its main disadvantage was price - it was $600 brand new in 1995, when the PlayStation one was available for much less. As a result, the Pippin struggled to find success.

Another console that failed to live up to expectations is Nintendo's Virtual Boy from 1995. On paper, it looks like a revolutionary concept - a pair of goggles and a controller that allowed you to play 3D games in the comfort of your own home. However, when you actually tried it out, things didn't quite work as planned. The graphics were simple, with only red displaying on screen, and the 3D effect was not nearly as impressive as modern gamers are used to. To make matters worse, the headset caused a lot of people headaches due to its design.

Finally, we have the Sega Dreamcast, which is often considered one of the best consoles of all time. Released in 1998, it was ahead of its time in several ways - it was the first console to include a modem that allowed for online gaming years before Xbox Live and PlayStation Network became popular. The controllers also featured memory card slots and buttons on the screen, which made loading data and playing mini-games a breeze. While it didn't have the longest lifespan, the Dreamcast had a ton of potential and many of its innovations were carried over to Sega's next console, the Xbox.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys this is Austin and today I'm here with the top five failed video game consoles ever so in the last 30 years we've seen a lot of consoles come and go most have been pretty good A few have been spectacular while the rest will be a little uh we'll call them questionable so whether this is because they were ahead of their time because there were some poor business decisions or just the simple fact that they sucked here are the top five worst video game failures of all time coming in at number five is the Phillips CDI from 1991 now this actually wasn't strictly a game console what they were trying to here was actually make something that was a little bit of a computer little bit of a game console and it was ahead of its time in some aspects especially considering the fact that it used CDs well before the PlayStation 1 did unfortunately the CDI wasn't a very good console or computer now part of this was due to the fact that since it was launched in 1991 it was in between generations and because of this the hardware was really pretty underpowered on top of that this was the controller it uh it used so um that may have played a slight role and what what were they thinking as if the $700 price tag wasn't enough the CDI also had some licensed Nintendo games or were more specifically The Legend of Zelda which was horrible it was seriously one of the worst video games of all time making the CDI fittingly enough one of the worst consoles of all time coming in at number four is on live from 2010 now this one actually is still technically around so I guess we can't fully call it failed yet but for the most part this was one of those things it was a great idea but it was ahead of its time and pretty much crashed and burned on live used what's known as cloud gaming which meant that it was entirely limited by your internet connection as everything was going to be rendered and all the games were being run on some server somewhere if you had a decent internet connection actually was not half bad however and this was the big part you still had to deal with a little bit of lag as every time you hit a button it wasn't just going 3 ft to your console it was going 5 10 100 maybe even 1,000 miles to the nearest on live station unless you had an amazing internet connection on live was really difficult to work with all it took was someone in the house to start watching Netflix or downloading something and you would start seeing lag in your game it would even start to get lower quality and just did not work very well now when arive was first being announced and before it actually came out it was valued at up to $1.8 billion however a short two years later when it actually went under it sold for more like $4 million coming in at number three is the Apple Pippen from 1995 now this is the first and only console Apple ever designed and just like the CDI it wasn't strictly for games as there were other applications that were available on the console the Pippen was mostly based on Max of the time just cut down to a console like form factor now while there were advantages to this one of the big disadvantages was price as it was $600 brand new in a time where there was the amazing PlayStation one for much less than that it made the Pippen a really tough sell while the Pippen saw some very mild success mostly thanks to Bandai who actually licensed it and create quite a few of these consoles for the most part it was a flop and as soon as Steve Jobs came back to Apple it was one of the first things asked and number two we have the Nintendo Virtual Boy from 1995 now on paper this looks really impressive even by today's standards it was a bit of goggles as well as a controller that allowed you to see 3D images and play games and everything and it looked really cool except that well imagine what 3D and virtual reality looked like with 1995 technology not particularly good the Virtual Boy could only display the color red and the graphics were very simple making the 3d effect not quite as good as it could be on top of that just like with the Nintendo 3DS of today the 3d effect gave a lot of people headaches as you might expect at $180 the Virtual Boy didn't last too long as it sold well under a million units Nintendo quickly pulled the plug to go back to making piles of money with the Nintendo 64 lastly in number one we have the Sega Dreamcast from 1998 unlike the rest of the failed consoles on this list the Dreamcast was actually one of the best of all time it just so happened to S sega's Hardware business in the meantime the Dreamcast was ahead of its time in several ways for example it was the very first console to include a modem which allowed you to play online games years before Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network ever showed up there were other good ideas as well including the fact that the controllers had the memory card slots now while this wasn't anything amazing what was cool was the fact that the controllers actually had buttons on a screen which meant that of course you could go and load up all your data and everything like that but some of them actually had mini games that you could play straight on your memory card while the Dreamcast didn't have a long lifespan it did have a ton of potential and in fact a lot of what they worked on for the Dreamcast was moved on to the Xbox and we all know how that one turned out anyway I'm curious to know what's the worst video game console you guys have ever used definitely be sure to let me know in the comments below if you enjoyed definitely be sure to check out the last episode where I went over the top five worst phones ever if you enjoyed definitely be sure to leave this video a thumbs up and if you're interested in more videos like this be sure to subscribe anyway guys I will catch you next timehey guys this is Austin and today I'm here with the top five failed video game consoles ever so in the last 30 years we've seen a lot of consoles come and go most have been pretty good A few have been spectacular while the rest will be a little uh we'll call them questionable so whether this is because they were ahead of their time because there were some poor business decisions or just the simple fact that they sucked here are the top five worst video game failures of all time coming in at number five is the Phillips CDI from 1991 now this actually wasn't strictly a game console what they were trying to here was actually make something that was a little bit of a computer little bit of a game console and it was ahead of its time in some aspects especially considering the fact that it used CDs well before the PlayStation 1 did unfortunately the CDI wasn't a very good console or computer now part of this was due to the fact that since it was launched in 1991 it was in between generations and because of this the hardware was really pretty underpowered on top of that this was the controller it uh it used so um that may have played a slight role and what what were they thinking as if the $700 price tag wasn't enough the CDI also had some licensed Nintendo games or were more specifically The Legend of Zelda which was horrible it was seriously one of the worst video games of all time making the CDI fittingly enough one of the worst consoles of all time coming in at number four is on live from 2010 now this one actually is still technically around so I guess we can't fully call it failed yet but for the most part this was one of those things it was a great idea but it was ahead of its time and pretty much crashed and burned on live used what's known as cloud gaming which meant that it was entirely limited by your internet connection as everything was going to be rendered and all the games were being run on some server somewhere if you had a decent internet connection actually was not half bad however and this was the big part you still had to deal with a little bit of lag as every time you hit a button it wasn't just going 3 ft to your console it was going 5 10 100 maybe even 1,000 miles to the nearest on live station unless you had an amazing internet connection on live was really difficult to work with all it took was someone in the house to start watching Netflix or downloading something and you would start seeing lag in your game it would even start to get lower quality and just did not work very well now when arive was first being announced and before it actually came out it was valued at up to $1.8 billion however a short two years later when it actually went under it sold for more like $4 million coming in at number three is the Apple Pippen from 1995 now this is the first and only console Apple ever designed and just like the CDI it wasn't strictly for games as there were other applications that were available on the console the Pippen was mostly based on Max of the time just cut down to a console like form factor now while there were advantages to this one of the big disadvantages was price as it was $600 brand new in a time where there was the amazing PlayStation one for much less than that it made the Pippen a really tough sell while the Pippen saw some very mild success mostly thanks to Bandai who actually licensed it and create quite a few of these consoles for the most part it was a flop and as soon as Steve Jobs came back to Apple it was one of the first things asked and number two we have the Nintendo Virtual Boy from 1995 now on paper this looks really impressive even by today's standards it was a bit of goggles as well as a controller that allowed you to see 3D images and play games and everything and it looked really cool except that well imagine what 3D and virtual reality looked like with 1995 technology not particularly good the Virtual Boy could only display the color red and the graphics were very simple making the 3d effect not quite as good as it could be on top of that just like with the Nintendo 3DS of today the 3d effect gave a lot of people headaches as you might expect at $180 the Virtual Boy didn't last too long as it sold well under a million units Nintendo quickly pulled the plug to go back to making piles of money with the Nintendo 64 lastly in number one we have the Sega Dreamcast from 1998 unlike the rest of the failed consoles on this list the Dreamcast was actually one of the best of all time it just so happened to S sega's Hardware business in the meantime the Dreamcast was ahead of its time in several ways for example it was the very first console to include a modem which allowed you to play online games years before Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network ever showed up there were other good ideas as well including the fact that the controllers had the memory card slots now while this wasn't anything amazing what was cool was the fact that the controllers actually had buttons on a screen which meant that of course you could go and load up all your data and everything like that but some of them actually had mini games that you could play straight on your memory card while the Dreamcast didn't have a long lifespan it did have a ton of potential and in fact a lot of what they worked on for the Dreamcast was moved on to the Xbox and we all know how that one turned out anyway I'm curious to know what's the worst video game console you guys have ever used definitely be sure to let me know in the comments below if you enjoyed definitely be sure to check out the last episode where I went over the top five worst phones ever if you enjoyed definitely be sure to leave this video a thumbs up and if you're interested in more videos like this be sure to subscribe anyway guys I will catch you next time