What’s the most worthless system or system add on ever made?

[nobitakun]

$80 cardboard. commendable.

I thought that piece of crap wasn't considered an add on, as it was not necessary for the game itself. I believe AR cards were more useful than that.

 

[Deleted member 420614]

$80 cardboard. commendable.

Well what´s commendable was the labo idea it self getting kids in to creative freedom and science.


But if you ask me Minecraft Education much better idea.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I'm surprised to see people citing Kinect, that thing is pretty useful for playing Just Dance. Although that is in fact its only purpose.

BUT ACTUALLY THOUGH?!
It is such a suburban U.S. memory (and one that could only have existed at a very specific period of time) but I distinctly remember Kinect being used in my school for Just Dance.
I am blessed and cursed to have that as a memory. You will find no other moment in human history where educators used KINECT FOR XBOX 360 as a teaching tool. It was used in Music class as a “physical activity”, specifically as a way to break up the tedium of learning an instrument in the fifth grade.

Post automatically merged: May 16, 2025

Something I need to clarify here is that the issue lies completely on NEC. Anyone that actually looks deeper into the system can understand that NEC was unbelievably incompetent and was basically the proto-Sega in terms of fighting within themselves over what to do. The Turbografx's overseas selection? At one point was handpicked from the CEO's daughter, who had absolutely no clue what she was even looking at. It was a total shitshow.

Come the PC-FX launching, and while it was an attempt to cater to the system's strengths of video playback (remember, FMV was one of the biggest crazes in 93-94), NEC put up tight restrictions that all games must have had it incorporated in some way, which put Hudson in a quandary and prevented some of it's bigger names (Adventure Island, Bomberman, and the PC-Engine mascot in Bonk, for the major examples. Arguably the only ones that did was Galaxy Fraulein Yuna and Tengai Makyou.) from getting onto the system. Given how long animation takes to make even back then, and there's the core reason why it rivals the Atari Jaguar in a number of categories.

I made a video on it back in December, and it's about as detailed as anyone's gonna get when it comes to it. I'll drop a link if you're interested.

I am interested. Also I didn’t meant to imply it was Hudsonsoft’s fault. No, they’re very much the victims of the story, and I was moreso mentioning how their fifth Gen titles ended up mostly not on the sequel to the PC-Engine, but rather on SEGA’s console (a thought unthinkable just a few years prior, as I think only Mega Bomberman was on on the Mega Drive. Nothing else from Hudson, from what I can remember.)

 

[Eclipse14]

I am interested. Also I didn’t meant to imply it was Hudsonsoft’s fault. No, they’re very much the victims of the story, and I was moreso mentioning how their fifth Gen titles ended up mostly not on the sequel to the PC-Engine, but rather on SEGA’s console (a thought unthinkable just a few years prior, as I think only Mega Bomberman was on on the Mega Drive. Nothing else from Hudson, from what I can remember.)

Mega Bomberman had little involvement with Hudson. A different company redeveloped it for release, there.
Hudson themselves basically went more multiplatform in the 5th Generation. There was always the Nintendo connection, helped develop a couple Sega CD games prior to going onto the Saturn, the PlayStation had five Bomberman titles itself (one shared with the Saturn in porting, that being Wars), and even published a Neo Geo game (Kabuki Klash). I don't really blame any company going that route though; 1993-95 was a very weird point in the industry.

Anyway, getting off track. Here you go. Excuse the shitposting once the inevitable comes up.

 

[UnDubious]

1993 is also the point at which HuCard games kind of die out and are replaced by CD games. The PCE-CD was around long before, but it was in the background for a few years. After the failure of the Supergrafx and once the SNES was firmly established, you see a rise in PCE-CD games and a drop in HuCards until it's basically all CD in the last few years; seems like Hudson went multi-platform around the same time. They had to divest from the whole PCE line of hardware they helped create (but didn't market) in order to survive.

 

[starseeker300]

My uncle who was also big into gaming, and who helped ushered me into gaming as a whole, one day gave me his old Sega Genesis, and with it a neat little add-on:

The 32X....Oh boy.
View attachment 69399
This thing....reeeeeeks!

It stinks. It was supposed to be an add-on that would "extend" the lifespan of the Genesis. Did it?

Well for only having 40 games in it's library, with the added on launch price tag of $159.99, do YOU think it helped the console survive and kept players from not having to switch to a different console, or even worse, TO A DIFFERENT HOBBY?? What if they took up knitting?? And make sewing circles?? OH THE HUMANITY!!!

But no, the answer is "no". And for reasons of obviousness. Barely any games worth a darn for the thing, the price tag wasn't a friendly moniker either, and on top of all of that, why even bother buying it? The Saturn was coming out the following year, which had it's own library of titles to play from, so really, why even bother?

Plus out of those 40 games only released, 6 of them required the addition of yet ANOTHER Sega add-on to even get those games to work: The Sega-CD.
View attachment 69403

IMO: Not even worth it for the start up music, and unless you were into FMVs (Full Motion Video) based games, then buyer beware.

Sadly I had to give them to a second-hand shop during a move years ago, but my god, I can only imagine the disappointment my uncle felt when he first started playing on this.

I was also going to say the 32x, I think that in addition to everything you said, that it might have also hurt sales of the saturn which caused it to fail which in turn hurt the dreamcast which caused sega to stop making consoles.

This thing killed sega consoles

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

This thing killed sega consoles

And this is the conclusion people have come to over the last three decades.

Long story short: why trust a company who just created a machine to give it little support and then kill it off, when you can at least trust Sony to support their devices? Why support the schizophrenic SEGA when you can go over to the Nintendo side and at least trust that they’ll give you games for a long time. SEGA CD, maybe it didn’t have a bad library, but the perception with that system was not good. It wasn’t its fault, but it needed help its whole life, and people took notice. And here comes the 32X, having a good launch but almost immediately after feeling like an odd duck. And then THAT DIES.

And, when Saturn finally does its thing, it’s no wonder nobody believed in it. And what did SEGA of America do? They gave it little support, a horrible marketing campaign in the face of Sony, and killed it off super early. I’m thankful for the games we got, but the sheer number the west never had is DISGUSTING. And I’ve been reading magazines from the time recently: this affected the Dreamcast in the U.S. Yeah, the games look good, but why trust the company known for killing their consoles quickly? A lot of people at least wanted to wait to compare with the PS2, because the trust was GONE. And, sadly, SEGA needed PS2 level numbers to pull themselves out of the debt of the Dreamcast launch, so the system had a short commercial life from SEGA themselves.


It all starts at 32X. Nobody knew at the time, but this was the mistake that was the lynchpin in the argument for investing in SEGA. Not the games being bad, because that wasn’t the case, it was the support. Why buy a machine you’ll scrap in less than a year?

Post automatically merged: May 20, 2025

I’m so sorry, Saturn. Your baby brother gave you no chance of survival.

The bigger issue is that it took the world until the 2020’s to start to realize how awesome the Saturn is. Now THAT is a discussion for another day.

Post automatically merged: May 20, 2025

Oh, and a final note:
In my opinion, as a SEGA obsessive, the company would’ve fallen out of the console business anyway. Even with all we said: their backbone was the arcade. And when that lost all western steam in the early 2000’s, it was over for them. Is that unfair? Absolutely. But it’s industry trends.

NOT EVEN MENTIONING that discussions of SEGA going third party started back in the Genesis days. That idea had slowly taken hold in the company over a whole decade, and it finally took hold with Dreamcast. It’s a sad story SEGA has, it really is. But that doesn’t mean the games or systems they put out are any less incredible.

 

[χKai]

If we're being serious:

This godawful thing is awkward and cumbersome. At this point I'd rather just be emulating the game on a nice big screen than a stupid handheld.

 

[Don Patch]

View attachment 69371

Haven't thought about the game.com in DECADES!
And I ain't even that old, lol

 

[spacebear]

Most worthless console? Hyperscan, it’s a hyperscam.


Most worthless add-on? This piece of shit:
View attachment 69397
The majority of the games the Kinect was used in didn’t work properly and made them near unplayable. Also the main reason why people hate motion controls to this very day. Also it makes you look like an idiot while playing it.

The Kinect was not only bad but also Microsoft pushing it so hard for years managed to make the 360 go from an absolute juggernaut to a joke during the final years of its life. They shot themselves in the foot so bad we're still seeing the long term ramifications of it.

 

[Hourai]

Well what´s commendable was the labo idea it self getting kids in to creative freedom and science.

So would a cardboard box, some markers, and a speech about how this cardboard box holds an immense amount of technological prowess, and that it's up to the kids to design what it is. Children deserve better than a cheap cash-in, and pretending the Labo has any merits because it's for them means refusing to acknowledge that.

 

[Burzuru]

the rumble pak and rumble functionality in general. i always turn them off.

i suppose you could use it for your "junk".

 

[ciro64]

the rumble pak and rumble functionality in general. i always turn them off.
View attachment 71437
i suppose you could use it for your "junk".

I had the chance to buy one of those around 2016~2017 in a store near me for 50 reais, I regret not buying it. I finally could have experienced Star Fox 64 the way it was meant to.

EDIT: Ok I can just buy it online, but it's gonna be more expensive

 

[Guillotine977]

This cant be playable.

 

[Frickinfrik]

This cant be playable. View attachment 71518

It also uncomfortably looks down at your lower body when holding it. Not a good place to put the Slime’s face at…

 

[starseeker300]

This cant be playable. View attachment 71518

what is that even a controller for?

 

[spacebear]

This cant be playable. View attachment 71518

I got the PS2 release of this and it's actually pretty comfy despite its looks. The real issue with it are the horrendous dead zones for the analog sticks.

 

[Piper Halliwell]

I've never owned a Zeebo, but I've seen reviews about this being the most unresponsive controller out of all the accessories. However, the Zeebo review I mentioned is from Stop Skeletons From Fighting (SSFF). Overall, the Zeebo did lack consistency and quality in game releases which lead to it's downfall in Brazil and Mexico.
SSFF Zeebo Review Video

 

[spacebear]

The most baffling thing about the Zeebo is it somehow wound up with one of the best versions of Double Dragon as an exclusive.

 

[Piper Halliwell]

The most baffling thing about the Zeebo is it somehow wound up with one of the best versions of Double Dragon as an exclusive.

Yeah I've heard about that actually. Do you know if that was archived? Or did it die with the number of games after the Zeebo shutdown their networks?

 

[spacebear]

Yeah I've heard about that actually. Do you know if that was archived? Or did it die with the number of games after the Zeebo shutdown their networks?

It's been playable on a Zeebo emulator since last year.

 

[thecrow2313]

Nintendo DS Digital TV Tuner

The Nintendo DS Digital TV Tuner is a Nintendo DS accessory exclusively released in Japan in 2007. The accessory receives programs through a service called 1seg. The top screen of the Nintendo DS broadcasts the digital TV programs, while the bottom screen allows for navigation between programs...

nintendo.fandom.com

 

[MajesticSiN]

The Sega 32X

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Nintendo DS Digital TV Tuner

The Nintendo DS Digital TV Tuner is a Nintendo DS accessory exclusively released in Japan in 2007. The accessory receives programs through a service called 1seg. The top screen of the Nintendo DS broadcasts the digital TV programs, while the bottom screen allows for navigation between programs...

nintendo.fandom.com

WHAT

 

[thecrow2313]

WHAT

Yeah I know, if the Sega Game Gear had one why not the Nintendo DS. It was pointless at the time since everyone was watching TV & and the transition from analog to digital.

TV Tuner - Sega Retro

segaretro.org