Top 10 Worst Video Game Consoles of All-Time

#5-Pioneer Laseractive

At release this electronic was $970. It could not play games by itself, instead you had to buy $600 PAC add-ons. There were both Sega and NEC PACs produced, allowing you to play Sega Genesis, Sega CD, CD+G, TurboGrafx-CD, PC Engine CD, as well as a few other types of games. Laserdiscs were never even practical, as they were about 12" across. The technology was quickly outdated, so this console was too, and the extremely high pricetag (second most expensive console of all-time) scared people away.  

#4-RDI Halcyon

Ah, the most expensive console of all-time. The RDI Halcyon cost $2500 at release, which is equal to nearly $5000 today. This was the first laserdisc (large 12" discs) console. It was ahead of its time in every way. It was supposedly named after the computer in the movie 2001: The Space Odyssey. It featured voice synthesis and recognition, and was able to interact on a personal level with the user. When the console was first powered up, your name would be asked, and after you entered it, it would call you by name. It would ask personal questions when it was waiting for a selection to be made.
Despite being so advanced, and more powerful than most PC's on the market (if you don't believe me, look at its specs), it was still a massive failure as a console. Only 2 games were ever released for it: Thayer's quest and NFL Football: Chargers vs. Raiders. Great selection right? This console was for a market that didn't even exist. Rich people had better things to do than play video games, and I doubt even they wanted to pay $2500 for a console.

#3-Tandy/Memorex VIS

This VIS was simply a knockoff of the CD-i. It ran on a stripped down windows platform, therefore the game discs could be played on any Windows computer. The software was mostly educational games, and the lack of decent software, the $700 price tag, and the fact it was only sold at Radioshack made it a commercial failure.

#2-Action Max

The Action Max seems to be relatively unknown in console gaming circles. If you look up any information or reviews on this, you will quickly realize that it was a true atrocity. The "games" are VHS tapes, and the "console" is connected between your VCR and the TV. The cheap looking plastic gun is supposed to be a light gun, although it does not work very well. The problem with this console is there was no way to win or lose. All that you did was shoot at stuff as the tape ran, and if you hit whatever you were shooting at, the score would go up. However, there was no real way to tell where you were aiming, so essentially the score just went up randomly. You couldn't be hit, so it was just a shooting gallery for your TV. The tapes would run until completion either way, so there was no losing, no excitement, and no difficulty. To top it all off, there were only a few tapes even released for the Action Max.

#1-RCA Studio II

 First of all, there is never any record of a RCA Studio I. The controllers are those number pads on either side of the console. It was the second console in history to use interchangeable ROM cartridges, but the first and third consoles to do this, the Fairchild Channel F and the Atari VCS, were much better. The RCA Studio II did not feature color graphics, while the other two did. What you saw instead were blocky, black and white graphics. The audio came from the speakers embedded on the console. Only 10 games were released for the console before RCA dropped it, making it one of the smallest game libraries of any console to date.

Pages: Previous 1 2