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Top Ten Handhelds That Didn't Make It?
Decaffeinated Jedi writes "Over at GameSpy, they're running a feature looking at the top ten handhelds that never made it. Included on the list are such 'favorites' as the Atari Lynx and the more recent Nokia N-Gage, as well as commentary by the GameSpy editors on why these portables failed to set the gaming world on fire."
I have two of these and a TV tuner for each. The Turbo express was bar none the best portable video game machine until the GBA SP. It's ONLY drawback was the power consumption. The games were great on it and the screen is amazing. Not much can beat Blazing Lazers on that thing, good classic schmup action.
Granted I may be biased because I loved my TG-16, having purchased it myself in 8th grade (I think it was 8th grade). I was begging for one, as I was in the know and knew all about how good the PC Engine was doing in Japan. My mom sarcastically remarked that if I could pay for it myself I could have one... which of course sounded like a challenge to me. So I took my allowance money and bought cheap candy and snacks to sell from my desk at school for a profit and after about 3 months I managed to pull together the $200 needed. The TG-16 is one of the most under-rated systems of all times I think. There were some crappy games for it, but there were also some incredibly GOOD games for it as well (Bonk, Blazing Lazers, Legendary Axe, Chew-Man-Fu, etc), AND it was the first video game system to offer a CDRom drive.... ahh the good old days.
CharlesP
wordtrip.com
These guys will write anything to convince their readers they know what they're talking about.
;)
The list both the Gamegear and Wonderswan, both of which are/were solid systems. The gamegear sold quite a number of units when it was released, and gave some decent competition to the Gameboy. The wonderswan is still going stron in Japan.
What exactly qualifies as "making it" for these guys? By their measurements the only systems that ever "made it" were the GBA and gameboy. The latter being 10+ years old, which is a phenomenon in itself, and the former just happening to be the only handheld currently available in the US. (That Ngage thing is not real).
"Top Ten non-Nintendo handhelds".
It's just that there are very few (multi-game) handhelds, so most of them are in there.
In summary: battery life is much, much more important that anybody would think. Nintendo got lucky with its B/W (actually green/gray) display that required relatively little battery life and the popular franchises didn't hurt any.
Oh, and the Lynx's ultrathick design gives me cramps after playing certain games for only a few minutes.
Maybe this is a market with only enough room for one mainstream system?
I have a special place in my heart for two handhelds in particular, the Game Gear and the Turbo Express.
:)
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When I was younger and without a steady source of income I would always dream about owning the Holy Grail of handhelds, the Turbo Express. Running on the same cards as the TG16, being able to play Bonk's Adventure and Splatter House wherever you went, and on top of it all, a bright beautiful color screen and TV tuner add-on? Pure Bliss. I think I still have the drool marks on my old copies of Gamepro.
With the Game Gear, I ended up buying one cheap at a Thrift Store last year. Even with the grainy, dated screen and lack of saving games it provided some great, cheap entertainment. Very underrated, and it's next to impossible to find the games around town, but I managed to find some great ones for around $5-$7. Battery power was another issue
There's something about being young and owning a portable system. It's almost a sense of freedom from the parents, saying I can play this however and wherever I want, you can't kick me off the TV! I look at my son with his GBA and can't help sensing the familiarity, and how he'd rather play his GBA with the dated SNES-Era graphics than with the Xbox or PS2. Because "he's" in control.
And with the systems mentioned in the article, it's hard to imagine how Nintendo cornered the market. Being underpowered and going head to head with Color-LCD back in the day was quite a feat, and I give the companies credit for trying to steal some market share from the Big 'N'. I think Sony will have a viable chance with the PSP and for the first time in a long time I have been excited about owning a handheld again, let's just hope the price is decent
I never bought the "extreme" version, but the original one was dang spiffy. Yes, the games sucked since they were turned out by underemployed russians, but it came with a C compiler so you could always write your own. I even got the mp3 attachment, although that was mostly for the extra storage space, rather than wanting to use it as an mp3 player. It had a decent text reader and could hold several dozen books in the mp3 player's memory. Oddly, I don't use it much now, because the mp3 player's memory seems to have gone south and the internal disk only holds like half a book.
Am I really THAT old to have not found it that funny... I mean it was a huge pissing contest between which you had, a sega or a nintendo and which was better.... how is it shocking that Sega used to be a competitor??? Because they dont exist as a system maker???? Using that logic is like saying its hysterical that Atari owned the marked untill 81!!!!
Im 23 and I remeber getting a 2600, Nintendo and Super NES for christmas... I even remeber when the Playstation came out, do young people REALLY not know the history of video games???? :-\
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
I actually had one of these when I was a kid and it r0Xored! It was the first hand-held with a dot-matrix display that used cartridges and therefore wasn't limited to one game, so I don't have any idea why it's on this list other than journalistic myopia.
Also, the article is factually incorrect in one place. The snap-on cartridge/faceplates didn't have a whole set of controls in the cartridge - that would be stupid and expensive. Instead, the device had a touchpad matrix of FLAT calculator-style button "areas" (like a Sinclair ZX81 or an Atari 400 keyboard) above the paddle on the base unit. The cartridge faceplate, supplying a decorated film that fit over this area, just functioned as an overlay, masking off the buttons you didn't need and labeling the ones you did. I'm not sure why GameSpy editors don't know this because they *SHOULD* have actually inspected physical units before reporting these facts and it's a technique that's been used elsewhere.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
I can tell you something about some of those sega handhelds that made it on there....
Firstly, I never even knew the Nomad existed until well after its death. I didnt exactally live under a rock either. I know I would have saved my pennies for this, vs something like a gameboy.
Then we have the Game Gear. This one was more out in the open, but the true treasure of it was NEVER known by many people... that you could buy a $10 adapter and play your old Sega Master System games! Had my friends and I known this much earlier in its life, we ALL would have owned one.
Sega made good stuff. They just didnt know how to sell it.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
One handheld gaming system that should have been listed was the Game Boy Light. It was basically a Game Boy Pocket with a built in backlight. It failed because Nintendo released it around the same time as they released the Game Boy Color. The GBL was not capable of playing the newer "Color" games and gamers were forced to chose between being able to play the newer games or being able to easily see their older games.
Nintendo wisely decided to not release the GBL outside of Japan. Unfortunately, this blunder may have made them think that the public wasn't willing to spend money on a backlit portable; something that they held fast on until their release of the Gameboy Advance SP.
Offtopic... when the Gameboy and the Lynx were released, I chose the Lynx camp and still have three of the systems: A Lynx, a Lynx II, and my self-modified Turbo Lynx which is overclocked to 1.5 times normal speed. (playing Stun Runner on it is a blast) Personally, I've always believed that the Gameboy prevailed simply due to the Tetris license and Nintendo's foresight to include it as a pack-in. The Lynx had an early lineup that was wonderful (Blue Lightning, Chip's Challenge, Gates of Zendocon) and put the Gameboy's games to shame but it did not have Tetris. The rest is history.
Of course, the PSP and whatever's next will be in the same boat.
Here's why I think this:
Home gaming seems to be for adults and older kids. Supposedly, the average age of a gamer is over 20, etc. etc. etc. This is, as far as I know, with consoles (home) not portables.
The only people I see with gameboys are kids. They carry them in there backpacks, pockets, whatever... they play them in backseats (because they don't drive), they play them in school, church, wherever.
Adults (save a few... I actually have a gba -- but rarely play it) don't fit in well to the portable market for the following reasons:
1. They drive
2. They listen when they go to meetings, classes for work, church, etc.
3. They go home after work and CAN take over the tv set
4. Because of 3, would rather play on a 50" tv than a 3" LCD Screen.
5. Why buy something for the same price on one of these when I'd rather play a better one on a bigger screen at my only disposable time (which is at home)
6. These are always going to be a generation behind the at-home model... even with the PSP.
7. Because they are a generation behind, the games are fine, but not as good.
8. more reasons, but am supposed to be working...
The price point is aimed at adults. The games will be aimed at adults. But, I THINK, adults aren't as interested as they think they are...
Nintendo owns this market because they're cheap, the batteries last long, and they KNOW kids.
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor
Is it too early to just go ahead and put the Nintendo DS on the list? Hey, I'm just trying to save us all some time.
Along similar lines, it seemed particularly odd that the Virtual Boy wasn't included on the list.
DecafJedi
my weblog: apropos of something
I'd have to disagree.
I live in Brooklyn and ride the subway to work every day. I'm 30, know a lot of other 25-30 year olds who all have gameboys. On any given day I'll see 5-10 GBA SP's on the subway, and usually only one of those will be in the hands of a kid.
At home I have a gamecube, decked-out pc, and what I find myself playing the most are my gameboy games. Wario Ware, Advance Wars 1 & 2, Golden Sun, Mario & Luigi... these are all just great games. Sure I can load stuff up on the tv, but I can play my gameboy in the subway, I can take it with me on lunch breaks, I can play it in any room in the house, take it on planes, trains, etc.
Gameboys are not just for kids. That's similar to how people erroneously state that all gamecubes are owned by kids. Plenty of adults play and enjoy gameboys. They have incredible, quality games on them. I can name more wonderful gameboy games I've played in the last year than I can for my console and for my pc. There's some serious creativity going on with that platform.
Granted I didn't have this same love of my gba before the SP. I had a number of games that were fun, but I had to play those in good lighting, or buy a separate light kit. Plus the unit was so large. My SP fits in my coat pockets, heck, even in my jean pockets if the pants are baggy enough. Great games and portability, it's a good thing. Can't wait to see how the PSP does.
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. - Anais Nin
What about the portable version of the Phillips CD-I system?
Now that's obscure.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
It's so easy to bash something, and while the DS does sound a little goofy, it's challenging the norm - a punk rock approach to gaming. Even if it loses, who cares? It tried at least! The only way we're going to get ahead is by breaking the rules - and I welcome that. This is coming from a guy who's played one too many Spikey-Haired RPG's(TM), seen too many fake video game breasts, and played as too many stealthy ninjas. Not that there's anything wrong with it. But on a complete off-rant, is anyone else agree the stealth genre needs a severe kick in the ass?
Nintendo probably cornered the market with 3 things. Battery life, price, and later, backwards compatability. How can you compete with a system that launches with a library of 1000 games? Helped out Sony a little with the PS2 at launch too.
Oh, and we can't forget a legion of brainwashed Nintendo Power subscribers, back in the day.
Karma: Excellent^(-t/Tau), Tau=Wittiness/Trollishness
Game.Com: ;) The pocket pro has nice design. I loved the backlight and touchscreen, but unfortunately the refresh rate was far too low to enjoy games for too long.
I kinda liked the device. It was a pity my favorite game was Lights Out.
Lynx:
I purchased one off of eBay some years back with a whole bunch of games and accessories (All new). Not too bad, great games, especially Chip's Challenge and the Mahjongg one, but unfortunately the cards lacked memory and ate batteries.
Game Gear: It was ok, but everytime I saw someone playing it, they were using an AC adapter to play it. It defeats the purpose, plus it didn't fit in your pocket. Although the Disney games were some of the best.
Nomad:
Battery WHORE.
Turbo Express:
THICK, bright screen.
GP32:
I like SM cards, but the community is built off of pirated roms and emulators. Plus the Zodiac2 blows it away now.
NGPC:
Got one at Fry's with 6 games for $70. Great deal. I love it all around. There's a reason it was #1.
N-Gage:
I own an MDM game that works in PPC, PalmOS and N-Gage. I hate the N-Gage.
Microvision:
A collector's item I'd like to have.
Wonderswan:
I never really had a chance to see one. Some games intrigued me, especially the MMBN on it.
First of all, the Game.com has no business being on this list. Not only didn't it "make it"... it never had any chance whatsoever. I bought one of these things off of eBay with about 8 games a while back for a total of about $30... and let me tell ya, it's just barely worth that. The "PDA functions" are a joke (you can enter some telephone numbers, use calculator, and view (but not annotate) a calendar), and most of the games are unplayable. Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Fighter's Megamix animate so poorly and move so choppily that you can't even really play them... Sonic Jam and Indy 500 move far too fast, which causes the screen to blur horribly (WAY worse than the Gameboy ever did), which in turn makes them impossible to play properly. The only games worth a damn on this system are the built-in Solitaire game, Wheel of Fortune, and Tiger Casino. Oh, and Resident Evil 2 is surprisingly decent on this system... it's not good, but I expected it to be a LOT worse. The only redeeming factor for the Game.com is that it was still MUCH better than Tiger's other system, the R-Zone... boy, was that ever a horrible failure.
The Microvision also failed for a very good reason: It was horribly underpowered. I know it was released in the 70's, but the thing uses a 100kHz 4-bit CPU (I'm not kidding here), 32 nibbles of ram (Since the CPU is less than 8-bit, it's meaningless to refer to things in bytes), and the screen resolution is 16x16 (again, I'm not kidding). I seriously don't see how you can actually do anything meaningful with a system like that. I commend Milton Bradley for their innovation, but the technology just wasn't there.
I also question the wisdom of including handhelds that were never released in North America. Even if we're talking about worldwide sales, the fact that the Wonderswan and GP32 were never released here pretty much guarantees that they won't be successful regardless of how good they are.
Having said that, I think the Lynx and Nomad are very underrated... the Lynx had a lot of nifty features, like the ability to turn off it's backlight to save batteries when you pause, the ability to flip the screen so you could play left handed, and some games could play sideways to get a better aspect ratio. It really could have used more big name games though... all it really had were Atari's arcade ports, which weren't as popular as they were in the Asteroids heyday. Atari's marketing certainly didn't help either.
As for the Nomad, the system was overpriced and undermarketed... aside from the fact that it tears through batteries (If you got three hours from 6 AA's, then you did good), it's a very impressive system from a technical standpoint. A friend of mine has one, and he plays it all the time. You really need an AC adaptor for this one though.
-"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH
Even though people are complaining about the virtua boy, I wish that I could've had one to try for myself. At the time I was too young to buy one myself and my parents weren't going to buy me another gadget for a while.
Lots of people hate it, that's for sure, but did anyone ever try modding one to do something else, maybe play a game they made themselves, or add another colour or two to the display? ambitious, yes, impossible, dunno.
Also, are there any handhelds that allow you to develop your own games for and play them on the handheld? I've heard of the lik-sang(sp?) ram carts that could allow you to do this, but it's frowned upon as far as I know.
Wouldn't it be nice if the Nintendo DS came with or allowed you to buy flash carts that had pc interfaces to allow you to develop your own games, let the public try their hand at taking advantage of two screens!