Few things inspire more serious debate in
the video game community than which console
is the absolute best.
We’ve come to blows and been hospitalized
many times here in TripleJump Towers over
that very topic.
Therefore, in a small gesture toward bringing
this fractured world one step closer to peace,
we have decided to rank every video game console,
definitively, from worst to best.
How will we be doing that?
I’m glad you asked, because it gives us
another chance to photoshop the Rules Boss
hat onto somebody’s head.
We will be evaluating each console on a number
of factors, including the size of the console’s
library, its lifetime sales, its price at
launch, and the number of years it was officially
supported.
We think those are fair ways to compare systems
to each other, but of course we can’t stop
there.
We will also be awarding consoles bonus points
for the number of games they have that hold
an average of 90% or higher on Metacritic,
and will give bonus points to a small number
of consoles that were among the most important
to the industry.
Which ones were they?
Well, they’re the ones you’re thinking
of right now, trust us.
And, of course, there are a few caveats.
For starters, we are not including handhelds,
though we may make a separate list for those.
Stay tuned.
Secondly, we are not counting revised versions
of the same console as their own entries – think
the NES top-loader or the PS4 Pro – but
we are counting add-ons, as long as those
add-ons had their own unique game libraries.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, industry
records are spotty, especially in the first
two console generations.
We tried our best to be accurate, but in many
cases, reliable data simply does not exist.
Also, in that spirit, people are still buying
consoles as you listen to me read this sentence,
so be aware that sales figures are never final
and have likely changed a bit by the time
you watch this video.
Let’s rank ‘em.
I’m Peter and I’m Ben from TripleJump,
and this is every video game console ranked
from worst to best.
#92: First Generation (1972)
Yes, we are treating the entire first generation
of video game consoles as a single entry on
this list.
Why?
Well, I think we can all agree 92 entries
makes for a long enough list, and there were
more than 680 game consoles released in the
12-year period we call the first generation.That’s
around five new consoles released every month,
more than one per week.
It was without question an era of quantity
over quality, not least because nearly every
system was a clone of Atari’s Pong.
Maybe we could call them Pong-soles?
No offense to Pong, as it remains a profoundly
important piece of gaming history, but did
we need almost 700 knockoffs?
I’ll leave it to you to decide.
Actually, I won’t; the answer is no.
Aside from Pong, only two consoles in this
entire generation really have much significance
of their own.
One of them is the Magnavox Odyssey, which
used physical screen overlays, peripherals,
and other physical goodies to introduce more
variety to its primitive on-screen technology.
And the other is the Color TV-Game 6, which
still contained little more than a few minor
variations on Pong, but is notable for being
the debut console of a Japanese toy company
called Nintendo.
I wonder whatever happened to them.
#91: APF Imagination Machine (1979)
As the first generation wound down, console
manufacturers began to realize they could…you
know…do something other than rename Pong.
Not every experiment was successful – far
from it, in fact – but boy was it nice to
see some ambition.
The APF Imagination Machine might have been
a bit too ambitious, however.
The console’s main gimmick was that it came
with a built-in APF BASIC compiler; essentially
a way for consumers to write and execute their
own programs, or to input the code for programs
others had written.
However, the Imagination Machine was not successful.
It received a number of glowing writeups at
the time in various magazines and journals,
but consumers were not convinced.
We can’t blame them; there were only 15
games officially available for the system
and it had a launch price of $700 – the
equivalent of more than $2,400 today, cementing
it as the most expensive console on this list.
The Imagination Machine was designed to compete
with the Atari 2600, and the fact that you
won’t hear about that system until much
later in this video tells you exactly how
successfully it did that.
#90: Worlds of Wonder Action Max (1987)
We all love movies.
We all love games.
But I think it’s safe to say we love those
two things for very different reasons.
The Action Max, sadly, didn’t get that memo.
See, the problem is spelled out nicely by
the verbs associated with these very different
kinds of entertainment.
We watch movies, and we play games.
They are distinct experiences by their very
nature, and the Action Max did very little
to bring them together.
The entire Action Max library – five whole
games – consists of very passive light-gun
experiences.
Some targets float across the screen, you
squeeze the trigger, and…well, that’s
it.
Nothing happens, though a score counter on
the console would increase if your shot connected.
Hit or miss, the footage always plays out
the same way.
So I guess they never miss, huh ?
The Action Max wasn’t the only console to
try turning video cassettes into games, but
it was the worst one.
So… congratulations?
#89: Connor VideoSmarts (1986)
The Connor VideoSmarts is another video cassette-based
console, this time with a focus on edutainment.
It would be misleading to say it was a better
console than the Action Max, but it retailed
for half the price and had a game library
that was four times larger, so we’re comfortable
giving it the edge.
Also, there’s the fact that a console like
this could have some actual educational value.
The video cassettes are no more interactive
here than they were for the Action Max, but
that’s okay; kids can learn plenty from
educational videos, with or without a controller
in their hands.
We think it’s far more likely some kid learned
from this console than had fun with the previous
one.
The VideoSmarts was originally released with
an interface that was essentially the Windows
logo rotated 180 degrees.
A later version – rebranded the ComputerSmarts
– had a keyboard instead, though the video
cassettes themselves still didn’t give a
damn what buttons you pressed.
#88: Bandai Super Vision 8000 (1979)
As Atari saw the 2600 gradually work its way
into every living room, toy company Bandai
was hoping to replicate their success in Japan.
The Super Vision 8000 even launched at almost
exactly the same price as the Atari 2600:
the equivalent of almost $850 today.
Final sales numbers are not available, but
it’s safe to say the Super Vision 8000 did
not take off the way Bandai had hoped it would.
It did remain on shelves for around three
years, but the fact that only seven games
were ever released for it goes a long way
toward suggesting it literally remained on
those shelves.
Bandai also released a few consoles during
the first generation, but the flop of their
later consoles, such as this one, eventually
encouraged them to stop trying.
The company found more success developing
games for much-more-popular systems, so maybe
the failure of the Super Vision 8000 was the
best thing that could have happened to them.
#87: BBC Bridge Companion (1985)
There are consoles, and then there are educational
consoles, and then there are extraordinarily
specific educational consoles.
That’s where the BBC Bridge Companion fits,
as it was an entire console – with changeable
cartridges and everything – that taught
bridge.
You know.
Bridge.
The card game Bridge.
With that in mind, it’s actually quite impressive
that a full nine titles were released for
the system.
The fact that the console was only on the
market for around a year and had such a narrow
focus might cause you to suspect that the
BBC – yes, that BBC – didn’t actually
intend for the system to have a future, and
that it was just released as some kind of
one-off novelty.
The Bridge Companion’s game titles, though,
prove that that wasn’t the case; as a few
of them were marked as being the first in
a series, with no further entries ever released.
Someone at the BBC obviously planned for the
Bridge Companion to have at least some kind
of future, and I’m sure you will all agree
gaming is much poorer for the fact that it
didn’t.
#86: Takara Video Challenger (1987)
Look, another console revolving around video
cassettes.
That’s sure to be good.
Yes, once again, you watch videos on your
television and shoot at them, should you feel
so inclined.
There’s not much more to say about the Video
Challenger itself, though there is some interesting
trivia that sets it apart.
For one, the included gun didn’t just deal
damage to the foes on the screen; it could
take damage as well, with players needing
to point their gun away from attacks to avoid
them.
For another, there was cross-promotion with
the anime Transformers: The Headmasters, allowing
viewers to fire at Decepticons in the opening
credits and rack up a score.
That’s a sort of fun feature, we will admit.
Oh, and, also, with only seven games released
for the system and none of them any good,
advertisements for the Video Challenger ended
up showing footage from completely different,
incompatible games.
Hey, if you can’t sell a console on its
own merits, sell it on someone else’s, right?
#85: Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy (1983)
It’s difficult to find much information
at all about the Gakken Compact Vision TV
Boy.
It was a Japanese exclusive console that spent
only a few months on the market, and was met
with significant consumer apathy and enjoyed
little to no sales success.
It never got the chance to become a Gakken
Compact Vision TV Man, essentially.
It is one of the rarest consoles on this list,
which is probably a good thing as you should
by no means be tempted to find one.
The console released in the third generation,
but its technology was entirely the product
of the second, making it obsolete before it
was even on shelves.
It also had a very strange control system
, built right into the console.
There was a handle on the left with a Start
button, and a kind of joystick on the right
designed to be gripped from above.
The joystick had its Fire button positioned
for easy reach of your thumb…as long as
you were right-handed.
For lefties, the Gakken Compact Vision TV
Boy was virtually unplayable.
They should consider themselves lucky, really.
#84: Mattel HyperScan (2006)
Gaming is a rather expensive habit, which
is why we’re taking cost into account on
this list.
As much as we’d love to buy absolutely every
game and console that catches our eye, we
also have to pay for food and shelter.
Pff, Ridiculous.
It says a lot, then, that a console that sold
for only $70 – about $90 today – with
games that cost a mere $20 could barely shift
10,000 units.
In fact, toward the end of its life, the Mattel
HyperScan was discounted to $10 and games
to $2, and still nobody bought it.
Not that this flimsy plastic card-reader masquerading
as a game console deserved much more attention.
The HyperScan struggled to even load its own
software, and the interminable wait to boot
up the games was actually more fun than playing
any of them.
Only five games were released for the system,
and it was discontinued in just over one year.
#83: Unisonic Champion 2711 (1978)
You’ve already seen a number of consoles
on this list that failed right out of the
gate, so it says something when The National
Video Game History Museum singles this one
out as being “born dead.”
The Unisonic Champion 2711 isn’t just primitive
by today’s standards; it was primitive in
1978 as well.
If you think we are exaggerating, well, first
of all, how dare you.
And secondly, we’re not.
The system was only able to display playing
card icons and white text.
In fact, it could only display uppercase white
text.
And the background had to be green . Needless
to say, that severely limited the kinds of
games that could be developed for the system.
21 titles were released, all of them either
focusing on cards or arithmetic.
The system sold for the positively idiotic
equivalent of $600 today and was rightly laughed
off the shelves in under one year.
Unisonic attempted to sell it in Japan – rebranded
as Casino TV Games – but it did no better
there.
Thank God.
#82: Casio PV-1000 (1983)
Casio’s first video game console was a victim
of being too little, too late.
It is technically part of the third generation
of consoles, but its graphics and sound capabilities
are far more in line with the second generation.
Now, graphics and sound aren’t everything…but
they are two things the system didn’t do
well, and they’re not the only two.
There were just 13 games released for the
system — many sources claim there were 15,
but two of them never made it to stores — and
it was pulled from shelves after only a few
weeks, never leaving Japan.
It’s likely that Casio realized quickly
that the PV-1000 was doomed.
After all, this console released a mere three
months after two others that put it to shame:
Sega’s SG-1000, and Nintendo’s Famicom.
Those two companies were pushing the industry
forward, and the PV-1000 represented little
more than an unwelcome step back.
#81: LJN Video Art (1985)
When gamers hear “LJN,” many words come
immediately to mind…none of which we can
repeat if we’d like this video to remain
monetized.
LJN infamously published mountains of terrible
licensed games, most notably on the NES.
Also, LJN made a console.
And it’s exactly as good as you suspect
it was.
The Video Art is more of a creativity tool
than a traditional game console, but that
actually makes it worse.
Its artistically inclined target audience
was certain to be frustrated by its stiff
and imprecise controller, and the tools are
limited to the point that scribbling on the
screen is about as complex a technique as
you can demonstrate.
Nine games – or, more commonly, digital
coloring books – were released for the system
before it was discontinued around two years
later.
Once again, reliable sales figures don’t
exist, but feel free to ask the next thousand
people you meet if they owned an LJN Video
Art and draw your own conclusions from there.
#80: Bandai Terebikko (1988)
The Bandai Terebikko combined our two favorite
kinds of consoles: it’s educational, and
it uses video cassettes.
Actually, on further reflection, those things
are terrible.
My mistake.
As might be expected, no official sales figures
for the Terebikko are available, but it seems
to have enjoyed a decent amount of success
with its target audience, as it remained on
shelves for more than five years.
That’s an impressive lifespan for a console
with only nine games available.
It also did well enough to be exported to
the U.S. as the See ‘n Say Video Phone.
Each of the games featured long, non-interactive
videos followed by question-and-answer segments.
Not very exciting stuff, but the games featured
characters from Sailor Moon, Hello Kitty,
and Dragon Ball Z… to even Super Mario . Kids
no doubt enjoyed the opportunity to spend
time with these icons, but something tells
us these aren’t the times they most fondly
remember.
#79: VTech Socrates (1988)
It’s pretty low on this list, but even we
have to admit the VTech Socrates is the absolute
best console of all time to be named after
a Greek philosopher.
Actually, we should give the Socrates its
due.
It was an educational console, which means
it should be held, overall, to a different
set of standards, but its games still looked
pretty good.
It also relied on a genuinely impressive early
attempt at digitised speech, as a cute little
robot offered guidance and instructions.
What’s more, the system used a wireless
keyboard, something quite advanced for 1988.
The Socrates was even priced well, with a
system going for today’s equivalent of $280.
Only nine games were available and, as near
as we can tell, the system was discontinued
a year or two after release.
That’s unfortunate, but the Socrates at
least lasted long enough to make it to Germany,
where it was rebranded “Professor Weiss-Alles.”
That translates to “Professor Knows-Everything,”
and that’s fantastic.
#78: View-Master Interactive Vision (1988)
For many of you, “View-Master” will be
a familiar name.
It was – and still is – a toy allowing
children to view stereoscopic images, usually
in the form of film embedded into cardboard
discs.
We’d like to say that View-Master’s experiment
with a video game console is no more impressive,
but the fact is…this console is genuinely
quite cool.
The View-Master Interactive Vision is easily
the best of the video cassette-based consoles.
A low bar to clear, we admit, but View-Master
cracked a problem the other consoles didn’t:
The company worked out how to make prerecorded
footage actually feel interactive.
The videos ran as normal, with the interactive
“game” elements overlaid on their own
layer.
That’s a clever solution.
Sadly however, the system saw almost no support.
There were six games starring Jim Henson’s
Muppet characters, one Disney game, and sod
all else.
The Interactive Vision left the market in
under one year, but we have to admit, it did
the best with the technology it had.
#77: VTech V.Flash (2006)
VTech tried their hand at an educational console
again in the seventh generation with the V.Flash.
It would be difficult to suggest that the
graphics or sound capabilities were impressive
for the time, as they were far more in line
with the PlayStation 1 than anything actually
on the market in 2006, but they were certainly
serviceable, and it’s always nice to see
edutainment that actually looks…well…entertaining.
The price was fair, going for the equivalent
of $150 today, and the games featured characters
children actually liked, including Spider-Man,
SpongeBob, The Incredibles, and Shrek.
It was certainly a more appealing purchase
than most of the other educational consoles
on this list, but we know that isn’t saying
much.
One interesting fact is that the games used
very simple copy protection, which made piracy
quite easy.
This would have been an issue for VTech had
anybody, at all, actually cared.
#76: APF-MP1000 (1978)
The APF-MP1000 is the very definition of an
also-ran.
Released with little to nothing that set it
apart from consoles already on the market,
the system floundered, understandably unable
to find an audience.
Only 13 games were ever released for the system,
and we’re being generous by counting Rocket
Patrol , which was built into the console
itself.
And, hey, since there’s not much to say
about this one, let us clear up one common
misconception: Many sources online claim that
the controllers were not detachable from the
system.
Well, they were . They were hardwired to the
console, but were still detachable.
So ends TripleJump’s lesson for the day.
APF did attempt to salvage the MP1000 by releasing
the Imagination Machine add-on, which itself
was about three times the cost of the console.
It allowed consumers to use the MP1000 to
do their taxes and manage their personal finances.
You know…things that really get gamers excited.
#75: Capcom Power System Changer (1994)
Capcom is one of the original classic game
developers, and it’s no surprise that one
point they dipped a toe into the home console
market.
In fact, Capcom was in a great position to
do so; by 1994 the company had a number of
hit franchises under its belt.
What’s more, Capcom’s games were popular
staples of arcades everywhere.
Why not bring their own arcade hardware into
the home?
It was a concept that couldn’t fail… and
yet it did.
But why?
It’s honestly difficult to say, though cost
was almost certainly a factor.
Perhaps surprisingly, the console itself was
priced competitively; it was the games that
were expensive, costing around $300 each.
Considering each one was essentially an arcade
game without the cabinet, that might be understandable,
but it was also well out of many gamers’
price range.
The Power System Changer was discontinued
after only 11 games were released, having
never left Japan.
#74: Funtech Super A’Can (1995)
The Funtech Super A’Can was exclusive to
Taiwan, and the box art seems to suggest Funtech
was banking on confusing people who were shopping
for the much-more-popular Super Famicom . The
system screams “cheap knockoff,” but,
oddly, it wasn’t one.
It was a 16-bit system that actually looked
and played pretty darn well.
Genuine effort went into building the Super
A’Can and designing its games, with graphics
and specs that were absolutely on par with
other systems of its generation.
As much as Funtech clearly tried in some areas,
though, they didn’t try at all in others.
The company developed its own games, without
reaching out to any third parties, resulting
in a total of 12 titles before they pulled
the system off shelves after just over one
year.
#73: VM Labs Nuon (2000)
In 2000, the DVD revolution was in full swing,
and learning nothing from the VHS-based consoles
of the past, VM Labs decided to be the first
to fail at a dedicated DVD game console.
In fairness to VM Labs, DVDs were far more
interactive than video cassettes, but they’ve
never been advanced enough to respond immediately
to button presses, as most games would require.
The Nuon failed, in spite of the fact that
its controller looked like a Batarang.
RAD.
It sold an estimated 25,000 units in total,
which is impressive as it only had eight games.
Of course, it’s possible people bought it
for the Nuon-enhanced releases of such great
films as…
Bedazzled, Dr. Doolittle 2, Buckaroo Banzai
(okay, to be fair that one is excellent),
Planet of the Apes (the crap Mark Wahlberg
one), and…erm…that’s all of them, actually.
Seriously, why did anybody buy this?
#72: Nintendo 64DD (1999)
Would you believe Nintendo made something
that sold less than the Nuon?
The Nintendo 64DD is one of the company’s
few unequivocal flops, moving only 15,000
units.
And that was in Japan, where I think it’s
safe to say people love Nintendo more than
they love their own mothers.
Citation needed.
The 64DD was Nintendo’s attempt to keep
the Nintendo 64 relevant in a quickly changing
landscape.
The PlayStation had redefined gaming, and
for the first time since the company had gotten
into the video game…erm…game, Nintendo
no longer seemed to be leading the pack.
The 64DD was intended to soup the console
up, allowing it to run more complex games,
but only nine titles were ever released for
it, four of which were Mario Artist paint
programs…hardly the most compelling way
to show off the system.
When Japanese gamers rejected the 64DD, Nintendo
scrapped plans to bring it to the west altogether.
We’ve been grateful to them ever since.
#71: Nichibutsu My Vision (1983)
Japanese company Nichibutsu made everything
from office equipment to yachts, and they
were not averse to trying new things.
The new thing they tried in 1983 was releasing
the most boring game console in all of human
history.
The Nichibutsu My Vision is a console designed
for playing electronic versions of board games…this
despite the biggest draw of video games being
the fact that they aren’t board games.
For the insane equivalent of more than $450
today, you could own a console capable of
playing a whopping six games in total, including
Reversi, Mastermind, and something called
Gozen Beetle.
The real kicker, though, was the fact that
it was actually less convenient to play this
version of these games, as if you wanted to
play against a friend or family member, they’d
have to purchase their own console and plug
it into yours.
$900 for a round of Gozen Beetle?
What a steal.
Literally.
This is theft and should be illegal.
#70: Atari Jaguar CD (1995)
The Atari Jaguar didn’t do exceptionally
well, but compared to the Atari Jaguar CD,
it was a runaway success.
Released as an add-on with its own library
of games, the Jaguar CD was doomed from the
start.
It was announced before the release of the
Jaguar proper, if you can believe that, but
it didn’t release until two years after
the Jaguar hit shelves and everyone realized
it was a bit crap.
Whatever the holdup was, it can’t have had
much to do with quality control.
The version that made it to market was prone
to frequent malfunction, to the point that
it’s notoriously difficult to get hold of
a working unit today.
Only 11 games were released for the system,
and the total cost was equivalent to $700
today, as you needed a Jaguar to use it.
The console that is, not the animal.
Final sales figures are not available, but
only 20,000 units were confirmed to be made,
meaning, at most, only 20,000 children were
profoundly upset with Santa Claus in 1995.
#69 [NICE]: VTech CreatiVision (1981)
The 8-bit VTech CreatiVision did not fare
well in the market, likely thanks to its high
cost – the equivalent of nearly $800 today
– and small library of games; only 18 were
released, and almost all of them were clones
of better games on other systems, including
two different clones of Pac-Man.
But the lack of success was not for want of
trying.
The Japan-based VTech blasted the CreatiVision
out to any country that would have it…aside
from the U.S., as the console was discontinued
before it made it there.
As a result, you will find functionally identical
CreatiVisions all around the world under very
different names, such as the FunVision Computer
Video Games System, the Hanimex Rameses, the
Educat 2002, and – we couldn’t make this
stuff up if we tried – the Dick Smith Wizzard
.
Just think…had VTech been more successful
in 1981, we’d all be lining up for the midnight
release of the Dick Smith Wizzard Mini today.
#68: Philips Videopac+ G7400 (1983)
Does the name Philips Videopac+ G7400 ring
a bell?
Probably not, but the failure of this particular
console – it was off the market in less
than one year – actually marks the end of
an era; the Videopac+ G7400 was supposed to
have launched in America under a very different
name: The Odyssey 3.
The console flopped hard enough in Europe
that those plans were cancelled, and one of
the most classic names in gaming was finished.
The Odyssey 3 – it really is much easier
to call it that – was ambitious.
It had decent enough graphical and sound capabilities
for the time, and a number of high-tech add-ons
were planned, including a speech synthesizer
and a laserdisc player, which would have made
stunning games like that year’s Dragon’s
Lair a real possibility for the console.
Would this system have put the Odyssey back
on top?
We’ll never know; its brisk failure in Europe
and the Video Game Crash of 1983 stopped it
dead in its tracks.
That’s a shame; as this could have been
an interesting one.
#67: Bally Astrocade (1978)
Bally is known for their pinball tables and
slot machines, but they tried their hands
at a console exactly once with the Astrocade.
Released in 1978, this is one of the earliest
consoles on this list, and with that in mind
I’m sure you’ll agree it looks impressive
for the time.
Perhaps it was even a little too impressive,
as the console carried a high price tag: more
than $1,100 when adjusted for inflation.
It was more expensive than the recently released
Atari 2600, which had immediately established
itself as the must-have console of the generation.
The Astrocade did not stand apart from the
competition enough to warrant its higher cost,
and consumers passed it by.
Only 28 games were ever made for the system,
but unlike many other companies on this list,
Bally gave the Astrocade five years to find
an audience before pulling the plug.
At least they can be certain they didn’t
bury it prematurely.
#66: Konami Picno (1993)
Hey, remember when Konami used to make great
games?
Of course you do.
Remember when Konami used to make great game
consoles?
Of course you don’t, because that never
happened.
In fact, few people seem to remember that
they made a console at all, as there is precious
little information on the internet about the
Konami Picno.
What we do know is that it had a tablet interface,
and a revised version of the console was released
a year later.
Oh, and one of the people who worked on the
console later made…this . It seems as though
16 games and drawing programs were released
for the Picno– though we can’t even be
sure about that – and it cost the equivalent
of less than $300 today.
The Picno is a rare and strange footnote,
and it’s such an unimportant one that a
number of books about console history – including
the main one we used to help research this
list – don’t even mention it.
Which means we’ve probably talked about
it more than enough already.
#65: Apple Bandai Pippin (1996)
Apple has had great success with many kinds
of electronics.
Phones, music players, computers…they’ve
done fairly well for themselves.
So, hey, why not a game console?
Enter the Apple Bandai Pippin, a system nobody
wanted to buy, play, or make games for.
It cost the equivalent of nearly $1,000 today,
sold 42,000 units at the absolute most, and
had a grand total of 18 titles available for
it.
That’s not the best part, though.
Would you like to know the best part?
Okay.
When the Pippin arrived in Europe, only two
of those titles were made available.
It gets even better though: One of those was
a demonstration disc for different hardware
, and the other was Histoires d'Urologie , a
medical reference disc focusing on urinary
problems.
We really wish we were making this up.
Even collectors shouldn’t bother tracking
this system down.
If you do, urine for a bad time.
GOT EEM.
#64: NEC SuperGrafx/ PC EngineSuperGrafx if
u wanna get serious about this (1989)
NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 sold nearly six million
units, which was nothing to sneeze at, but
the company understandably wanted a presence
in even more homes.
The best way to do that?
Take their popular console and make it better.
The worst way to do that?
Well…the SuperGrafx was the worst way to
do that.
In fairness, NEC’s attempt at a souped-up
successor to the TurboGrafx-16 was more powerful,
but it was also rushed to shelves, resulting
in a console that wasn’t enough of an upgrade
to really justify another purchase.
There’s also the fact that the TurboGrafx-16
had only been on the market for around two
years at this point, meaning that those who
bought it were not keen to replace it already…especially
when only six games in total were made for
the SuperGrafx.
Interesting take on the definition of “upgrade,”
NEC.
The SuperGrafx sold a mere 75,000 units in
Japan and France.
NEC showed mercy to the rest of the world
and cancelled it before its stink could spread
any farther.
#63: Commodore 64 Games System (1990)
We can’t imagine many companies with a hit
on their hands sit around wondering how to
turn it into a failure, but that seems to
be exactly what Commodore was up to in 1990.
Their Commodore 64 home computer – introduced
in 1982 – was a runaway success.
We can’t blame Commodore for wanting to
muscle in on the console market, but we can
blame them for just about everything else.
The Commodore 64 Games System was little more
than a repackaged Commodore 64 computer, meaning
its technology was already eight years out
of date.
Also, it lacked keyboard support.
Thanks to this, the massive computer game
library that was technically compatible with
the Commodore 64 Games System couldn’t be
played.
Nice.
That would be fine if the console had a halfway
decent library of its own, but only 28 games
were released for it.
One of them was a Terminator 2 game that required
players to press a key on the non-existent
keyboard , rendering it literally unplayable.
It’s a sad state of affairs when that’s
what qualifies as a standout title.
#62: GCE Vectrex (1982)
This odd little console – manufactured by
General Computer Electronics but sold by either
Milton Bradley or Bandai, depending upon your
region – is actually quite fascinating,
mainly due to its impressive vector graphics.
Critics loved it, and the Vectrex has an appreciative
fanbase to this day, restoring units and creating
homebrew software just to keep those sweet
vectors alive.
So…what’s it doing so low on this list?
Well, final sales figures aren’t available,
but according to Gamasutra , the Vectrex lost
Milton Bradley “tens of millions of dollars.”
While this fact has not been verified, the
Vextrex was removed from shelves in under
two years, with just 29 games in its library.
That hardly sounds like it was a financial
success.
We’d be lying, though, if we said the Vectrex
didn’t have potential.
Had it been embraced by more customers, its
vector-based graphic technology could have
led to a much different gaming landscape today.
As it stands, however, it’s going to remain
cherished by those lucky enough to fall under
its spell…and probably not many others.
#61: Amstrad GX4000 (1990)
Many of you, we’re sure, didn’t even know
Amstrad made a dedicated game console.
At most, 15,000 of you did, as that’s the
number of units sold.
It existed under the slogan, “Bring the
whole arcade into your home!” – you’ve
got to love that non-copyright-infringing
“At Man” on the right – which were bold
words, considering the system only had around
25 games, the vast majority of which would
not dare show their faces in an arcade.
For an 8-bit system, the games on the GX4000
looked fine, but critics at the time tended
to focus instead on the fact that they weren’t
any fun.
Controls were stiff, games were uninspired,
and major developers had no interest in supporting
the system.
It also didn’t help that Amstrad released
this 8-bit system the same year Nintendo introduced
theirs and two years after Sega introduced
theirs.
System designer Cliff Lawson blames the GX4000’s
failure, at least partially, on not being
able to compete with those two companies in
terms of advertising.
We therefore challenge Cliff Lawson to actually
play the GX4000 and say that again with a
straight face.
#60: Bandai Playdia (1994)
Yet another educational console – and by
no means the last one on this list – the
Bandai Playdia didn’t really take off, and
ended up never leaving Japan.
Sales figures are not available, but Bandai
hoped to sell upwards of 200,000 units during
the Playdia’s first year.
The fact that it was quickly discontinued
suggests that it did not hit that target.
The system’s main competition came from
Sega’s Pico – which we’ll get to – and
in a desperate attempt to sell it to someone,
this educational console was rebranded halfway
through its life to focus instead on content
that would appeal to teenagers, such as anime
and pop idols-related media.
The gambit might have helped a bit, but mainly
it ended up confusing the console’s purpose.
Parents wouldn’t buy an educational console
that had abandoned educational content, and
teenagers could get their…erm…idolfix
elsewhere.
#59: SSD COMPANY LIMITED XavixPORT (2004)
Yes, the shouted parts are capitalized, because
the console is yelling at you for not buying
it.
Sales figures are not available, but only
14 games were released for it, which suggests
it was far from successful.
As you might guess from one of the words that
is sort of in its name, the XavixPORT was
a sports-based console.
It featured wireless controllers shaped like
boxing gloves, tennis rackets, and baseball
bats, allowing games to be played with a mixture
of buttons and motion controls.
Sounds like an obvious Wii knock off, right?
Well, the XavixPORT released in 2004, and
the Wii didn’t hit shelves until 2006.
We truly doubt the XavixPORT inspired Nintendo
– hell, we truly doubt Nintendo even heard
of the XavixPORT – but it’s a fascinating
case of parallel invention.
Speaking of Nintendo, the XavixPORT was designed
by a number of the engineers who worked on
the NES, but we can safely assume they weren’t
the most talented ones.
#58: Emerson Arcadia-2001 (1982)
The Emerson Arcadia-2001 existed.
We can say that for a fact.
It was marketed under at least 35 different
names around the world.
We can say that for a fact as well.
Beyond that, not much is known.
As IGN put it, “It was born, it died, and
it was forgotten, almost in the same breath.”
It received little attention when it launched
in May 1982, and even less when it was discontinued
a mere 18 months later, with literally no
human being noticing it was even gone.
Emerson didn’t have any unique or exciting
ideas to bring to the table, so they brought
a fairly basic, run-of-the-mill console that
stood apart from the competition in no way.
Actually, that’s not entirely true.
Emerson did market the Arcadia-2001 as a portable
games console.
And, in the sense that anything that can be
lifted by two human arms is technically portable,
that was true.
However, the fact that you’d also have to
have a portable television and portable power
supply – not very common in 1982 – made
this selling point strictly hypothetical.
#57: Casio Loopy (1995)
Here’s a fact: Girls like video games.
That’s probably not mind-blowing to you,
but in the 80s and 90s, the industry refused
to believe that young girls enjoyed the likes
of Mario and Sonic just as much as boys did.
And so, they behaved as though young ladies
would have to be “won over” in ways that
simply had no basis in reality.
Enter the Casio Loopy, also known as “My
Seal Computer,” which I feel obligated to
mention only because that’s hilarious.
Marketed exclusively toward little girls,
this bizarre console came with a thermal sticker
printer.
Girls could either design their own images
or print premade ones during gameplay, and
we’re absolutely positive none of them looked
upon their brothers playing Mortal Kombat
with any jealousy whatsoever.
Only 10 games were made, all of which had
to do with shopping, fashion, or flirting;
the only three things girls ever did or ever
will enjoy.
I think I speak for everyone at TripleJump
when I say, “If the PS5 doesn’t print
stickers instead of unlocking Trophies, I’m
simply not interested.”
#56: ZAPiT Game Wave Family Entertainment
System (2005)
Just about every console has its share of
quiz-show games, either officially or unofficially
based on familiar formats.
The ZAPiT Game Wave Family Entertainment System
is the only console based entirely around
the concept, however.
It was essentially a barely more powerful
DVD player that allowed up to six competitors,
each with their own remote controls, to play
against each other in trivia and puzzle games.
It launched at a low price – around $130
today –and wasn’t a terrible idea for
a console, but it was a pretty unnecessary
one.
By 2005 there was no shortage of options in
the world of gaming, and any of them would
have much more variety.
Then again, no other console had Veggie Tales:
Veg-Out!
Family Tournament , so…swings and roundabouts?
In total, this console sold about 70,000 units
in the U.S. and Canada.
Not all that impressive, but it somehow remained
on store shelves, collecting dust, until 2009
– four years later.
We’ll give them points for tenacity, at
least.
#55: Tandy Memorex Visual Information System
(1992)
Ideally, you want to get your system in front
of as many customers as possible.
You want people to see it on shelves wherever
they go.
You want it to appear in their advertisements.
So why did Tandy sell the Memorex VIS exclusively
at American electronics retailer Radio Shack?
Probably because they knew it was a bit crap.
In 2015, ex-Radio Shack store manager Joe
Duncan shared the many, many reasons for the
system’s failure.
Fuzzy graphics, underwhelming “games”
– the majority of which were narrated storybook
slideshows – and the fact that parents could
get their kids an SNES for $400 less were
just a few nails in the coffin of the Memorex
VIS.
Duncan even said his colleagues joked that
“VIS” stood for “virtually impossible
to sell.”
To the system’s credit, 70 titles were available.
To its much larger discredit however, it sold
only 11,000 units in total, making it the
third-worst-selling console on this list.
#54: Interton Video Computer 4000 (1978)
The Interton Video Computer 4000 mainly had
a presence in Germany, though versions of
slightly different designs and under completely
different names were released elsewhere.
The funny thing about the redesigns is that
the cartridges and cartridge slot were different
on each, so that even though each version
of the system was technically able to play
games from the other versions, they wouldn’t
physically be able to fit.
Exactly how many VC 4000s were sold is impossible
to know, thanks to its many variants, but
units come up for auction often enough that
it doesn’t seem to be especially rare.
40 titles were released for the system, all
of which, as you can see, are primitive by
today’s standards, but they were more or
less in line with other offerings of the time
and enjoyed a lifespan of about five years.
It sold for the equivalent of around $575
which is, of course, madness in hindsight,
but the VC 4000’s biggest issue is that
there was just nothing to set it apart from
the competition.
#53: Daewoo Zemmix (1985)
Its name may look like a particularly difficult
set of Scrabble tiles, but the Daewoo Zemmix
is actually a long-defunct console exclusive
to South Korea.
Well, it was technically a series of consoles
that all shared the name Zemmix, but we won’t
get into that as this entry is going to be
hazy enough as it is.
Regarding the number of games available for
the Zemmix – any Zemmix – no reliable
figures exist.
Regarding the sales of any particular Zemmix
model, no reliable figures exist.
Regarding the years during which each model
was manufactured…well, you get the idea.
As such we were at a bit of a loss in terms
of how to place this.
What we do know is that Zemmix units were
produced for almost exactly 10 years, which
we think speaks to at least moderate success.
Also, the Zemmix was compatible with games
designed for the MSX computer architecture,
so it had plenty of titles available at launch.
Beyond that, though…yay Zemmix?
#52: Epoch Cassette Vision (1981)
The Epoch Cassette Vision was intended to
be a more economical gaming console, costing
very little when compared to other systems
– the equivalent of less than $170 today
– which was probably not a bad idea.
That’s the only way in which the Cassette
Vision stood out, though.
The games were not particularly advanced for
the time, and there were only 11 of them.
The controls were built right into the console
itself, making gaming awkward and uncomfortable.
And while Epoch had its eye on expanding to
other markets, a lack of consumer interest
kept it from ever leaving Japan.
At one point Epoch doubled down on the appeal
of having a low cost and released the Cassette
Vision Jr. for around a third of the price.
It didn’t do much to generate interest,
however, and both versions of the system were
discontinued with only around 400,000 units
sold in total.
#51: VTech V.Smile (2004)
VTech tried to kickstart an educational console
craze a number of times, bless ‘em.
In 2004 they launched a number of console
variants under the V.Smile name, with differences
including voice input and motion controls.
Those are two clever ways to engage children
who can’t yet read, we must admit, and the
price was certainly right; with units costing
the equivalent of just under $82 today.
They even had a decent selection of licensed
characters in the system’s 70-game library,
including Batman, Bob the Builder, Blue’s
Clues, and possibly some things that didn’t
begin with B.
Reliable sales figures are not available,
but considering the fact that the company
focused its attention on the V.Flash – this
console’s successor – only two years later,
we have to suspect they didn’t quite meet
VTech’s expectations.
Still, it was not a bad system and, as we’ve
seen, when it comes to educational consoles,
you could do much worse.
#50: RCA Studio II (1977)
Many failed consoles come with humorous stories,
but the RCA Studio II actually comes with
a pretty sad one.
Joseph Weisbecker, an engineer working for
RCA, spent years toying around at home with
computer designs and console ideas.
He was unable to convince his management at
work to produce a console, until finally they
released the Studio II using a CPU designed
by Weisbecker himself.
The problem was that by the time they agreed,
the technology was already well out of date.
Had RCA listened to Weisbecker sooner, the
Studio II might have found an audience.
Instead, the product Weisbecker fought so
hard for turned out to be an embarrassment
for his company.
It was discontinued just after Christmas 1977,
having sold only 53,000 units.
There is a positive Studio II fact, however.
The system featured TV Schoolhouse I, Speedway,
and Tag…three games developed by Weisbecker’s
daughter, Joyce.
This makes her the first professional female
game developer in history.
#49: Tomy Pyuuta Jr. (1983)
In 1982, Tomy released a basic computer system
called the Pyuuta.
Depending on where you grew up, you might
have heard of it referred to as the Tomy Tutor,
or the Grandstand Tutor, but you probably
didn’t because we can’t imagine anyone
ever talked about it.
In 1983, Tomy scaled back that computer and
released it as a video game console called
the Pyuuta Jr.
There was no real reason to do this aside
from the fact that other companies had consoles
on shelves and Tomy thought, “We’d like
to have some money, too.”
The library consisted – as far as we can
tell – exclusively of games already released
for the Pyuuta, and there were only 26 of
them.
The Pyuuta Jr. did nothing to introduce Tomy
as a serious contender in the market, and
in fact this console and its computer-system
predecessor only moved a combined total of
140,000 units.
#48: Zeebo (2009)
Actually, since Zeebo is the name of both
the manufacturer and the console we should
probably call this the Zeebo Zeebo, but I’ve
already said Zeebo more times in this sentence
than I expected to say in my entire life.
Intended to give Brazil its own foothold in
the industry, the Zeebo was designed to be
an inexpensive console that would allow gamers
to enjoy their hobby without paying exorbitant
import costs.
As a result, the Zeebo relied on digital content
distribution, which also went a long way toward
thwarting piracy.
Eventually the Zeebo expanded to other markets,
such as Mexico, and found support from major
developers including Namco, Capcom, and Activision.
Its library of around 60 games mainly consisted
of ports, but it did have a few exclusives
as well.
All told the Zeebo only sold 40,000 units,
but considering the fact that it was specifically
designed for developing markets, that’s
not a figure to be ashamed of.
#47: Pioneer LaserActive (1993)
The LaserActive was one of a few multipurpose
consoles that intended to bring reference
materials and artistic experiences into the
living room.
Think the CD-i, for example.
In terms of sheer hardware, the LaserActive
wasn’t a terrible product, but its ridiculous
price – almost $1,800 today – and limited
library – 36 titles, few of which can even
be classified as “games” – held it back
from any kind of real success.
It was outsold by the CD-i at a rate of around
four-to-one, and that thing was a hunk of
crap.
Here’s the truly weird bit, though: With
the purchase of additional attachments, the
LaserActive was able to legally play Mega
Drive and TurboGrafx-16 games.
That immediately gave customers access to
two quite strong libraries of around 1,500
titles.
Probably should have advertised that feature
just a bit more prominently, Pioneer; it was
a really good one.
#46: iQue Player (2003)
In the year 2000, China enacted a ban on consoles
as their way of fighting video game addiction.
Just leave it to Nintendo to find a solution
that adhered to the letter of the law and
still made their games available to Chinese
fans.
Nintendo worked with tech entrepreneur Dr.
Wei Yen to develop the iQue Player…a console
that wasn’t a console.
For just over the equivalent of $100 today,
Chinese gamers could purchase what was essentially
a plug-and-play Nintendo 64, minus the branding.
Games were downloadable either at dedicated
stations called iQue Depots or over the internet,
the latter making iQue Player the home of
Nintendo’s first true digital distribution
service as we know it.
Only 14 games were released for the system,
but they were important ones, including Super
Mario 64, Animal Crossing, and Ocarina of
Time.
Impressively, though games were only released
until 2006, the iQue Player servers remained
online until 2018.
For Westerners, the iQue Player is an interesting
little footnote.
For the Chinese market, though, it was a crucial
part of gaming history.
#45: Fairchild Channel F (1976)
The Fairchild Channel F isn’t often spoken
about with nostalgic reverence, but it was
a genuinely important device.
It was the first console to use a microprocessor,
and it’s the console that introduced the
concept of programmable ROM cartridges to
the industry.
It also had a pretty interesting take on a
joystick , as their version was essentially
what we’d now call a thumbstick.
It had eight-direction controls and could
either be pressed, pulled, or twisted for
additional inputs.
Pretty innovative stuff all around.
Sadly, the Channel F didn’t catch on.
Over the course of its seven years on the
market it only moved around 250,000 units,
lagging behind the more popular systems of
the era.
This wasn’t helped by the fact that fewer
than 30 games were available for the system,
and only a few of them were seen as worth
owning.
Ultimately, Atari and Fairchild were duking
it out for the same audience, and we know
who the winner ultimately was.
#44: Commodore CDTV (1991)
One of several home systems that aimed to
provide more than video games, the Commodore
CDTV went head to head with the Philips CD-i
for an audience that, quite frankly, wasn’t
all that big.
It even sold at the same astronomical price
point of $1,000, or around $1,900 today.
It’s no surprise companies such as Commodore
and Philips assumed an all-in-one unit would
be popular.
They thought people would love a singular
device that let them connect to the internet,
play games, read the news, and keep in touch
with friends.
In fact, that singular device is indeed popular
today: It’s your smartphone, and not some
cumbersome, beastly machine that sits in your
living room reminding you of all the money
you wish you could have back.
The CDTV barely sold at all, moving fewer
than 55,000 units before being discontinued.
Commodore gave it more than a year on shelves
and stocked it with a library of 155 titles,
but the interest just wasn’t there.
#43: Atari XEGS (1987)
With the XEGS, Atari proved conclusively,
once and for all, that they had no idea how
initialisms work.
“XEGS” evidently stands for XE Video Game
System.
What does that “XE” stand for?
Who knows.
Where did the V that starts the word “video”
go?
Who knows.
Are we going to stay up all night worrying
about it?
You know.
The XEGS was an interesting system in that
it was sold as either a console or a computer.
The less-expensive console version was marketed
toward gamers, and the pricier computer version
was marketed toward families who might have
a wider range of uses for it.
But it just wouldn’t be an Atari product
without a series of terrible decisions behind
it.
In this case, it was the fact that the XEGS
shared shelf space with two other completely
different Atari consoles: the 2600 and the
5200, both of which were more popular and
had larger game libraries.
The XEGS was discontinued with only 130,000
units sold.
#42: Epoch Super Cassette Vision (1984)
Hey, remember the Epoch Cassette Vision?
Probably not.
We only talked about it 10 entries ago and
we don’t remember it either.
Well, Epoch released a successor to the system,
this time called the Super Cassette Vision.
They should be proud of the fact that they
beat Nintendo to the “Super” title by
about six years but…that’s probably all
they should be proud of.
They did at least triple the size of the previous
console’s library, which is a wonderful
thing until you do the maths and realize that
still means this system only had 30 games.
The really interesting thing about the Super
Cassette Vision, though, is its decidedly
feminine variant : The Super Lady Cassette
Vision came in a pink carrying case designed
to look like a makeup kit.
It even came with a game called Milky Princess,
presumably just so we’d have more ways to
make fun of it today.
Honestly, we’re just relieved that this
trend died out after this console and the
Loopy.
Otherwise Sony would be out there marketing
Lady PlayStations.
Or PladyStations?
#41: Atari Jaguar (1993)
This is the way Atari ends; not with a bang,
but a Jaguar.
Despite being the undisputed king of the second
generation – and arguably the first – Atari
spent each subsequent generation not just
trying to get back on top, but to get anywhere
at all.
Their final standalone attempt came in 1993
with the Jaguar, which they attempted to market
as the very first 64-bit system, demonstrating
either that they didn’t know how to calculate
bits, or that they hoped nobody else did.
Only 50 games were released, reportedly due
to the hardware being buggy and difficult
to develop for.
This led to many developers simply not bothering.
Atari also seemed to be trying to set the
world record for least-comfortable controller
, which made the system even less appealing.
All told, the Jaguar shifted south of a quarter
of a million units before its fate was sealed
by the releases of the much-more-popular Sega
Saturn and Sony PlayStation.
#40: NEC PC-FX (1994)
After the moderate success of their TurboGrafx-16,
electronics company NEC hoped to hold on to
their place in the crowded gaming market with
the 32-bit PC-FX.
The fact that you’ve heard of the TurboGrafx-16
and haven’t heard of the PC-FX tells you
exactly how well that went for them.
The PC-FX was underpowered compared to other
32-bit consoles, as it did not have a 3D polygon-based
graphics chip…a big problem in the generation
of 3D polygon graphics.
What really sunk the console, though, was
the fact that it released while the TurboGrafx-16
was still popular in Japan.
Fans were reluctant to shell out for the expensive
new console – almost $900 today – when
the one they already owned was treating them
just fine.
But hey, that’s just Japan, right?
Surely the PC-FX would fare better in other
markets.
And it might have, except that NEC didn’t
release it anywhere else.
Whoops!
#39: Atari 5200 (1982)
Atari wanting to release a follow-up to its
massively successful 2600 makes sense, but
almost nothing else about the 5200 does.
For starters, it’s barely an incremental
upgrade; much of the system’s technology
was on par with the 2600.
In fact, both systems are so similar, they
belong to the same console generation.
Despite this, the enormous library of the
2600 was not compatible with this new system.
If that were simply not possible, technologically
speaking, we’d understand…but it was!
Atari saved backwards compatibility for a
later, upgraded version of the system.
The 5200 didn’t get many of its own games
because – and I swear I am not making this
up – Atari kept its game development focused
on the 2600, which had a larger install base.
The console understandably sold about one-thirtieth
of what the 2600 sold.
And, trust me, that was for the best.
#38: Sega 32X (1994)
The 32X was one way in which Sega attempted
to prolong the life of its Mega Drive/Genesis.
Quite why they’d want to do that in late
1994 is beyond us, however.
The Sega Saturn released the very next day
in Japan, and there was never any doubt that
it would soon come to the West.
40 games were released for the 32X, most of
which didn’t even take advantage of the
increased power of the hardware.
In fact, very few 32X games stood out as must-haves.
Knuckles’ Chaotix…maybe?
A port of Doom missing a third of the content?
A shoot-em-up starring a hummingbird ? Please,
don’t all stampede at once.
Ultimately the 32X moved 800,000 units, which
doesn’t sound all that disappointing until
you learn that many of those ended up being
sold at massive discounts – as low as $20
toward the end – just to move unsold stock.
Oh well.
It could have been worse, we suppose.
The 32X could have come packed in anthrax.
#37: Amiga CD32 (1993)
Unlike most other failed consoles on this
list, the Amiga CD32 actually had a fairly
strong launch, accounting for almost 40% of
all CD-ROM sales that Christmas.
Critics at the time were impressed by the
hardware, and gamers, at least for the moment,
seemed willing to give it a chance.
So, what went wrong?
Well, debt.
Amiga’s parent company, Commodore, owed
$10 million for a patent used by the machine,
and paying it meant they couldn’t afford
to pay their manufacturing facility, which
understandably held the stock of CD32s hostage
until…y’know…they got paid for making
them.
Since those systems couldn’t be sold to
bring in more money, Commodore declared bankruptcy
in 1994, and the Amiga CD32 was officially
dead after only eight months.
Strangely, the unsold stock ended up finding
homes in some unexpected places, powering
interactive museum exhibits, slot machine
hardware, and even license tests for new drivers.
Of course, when a game console ends up being
used for everything aside from games, that’s
hardly something to crow about.
#36: Fujitsu FM Towns Marty (1993)
Great Scott, it’s the FM Towns Marty!
You might assume that this Japan-exclusive
console is mainly notable for having the silliest-sounding
name in history.
And you’d be right.
Seriously, good work.
But it honestly was not a bad system.
It was one of the earliest 32-bit systems
on the market, and fully backwards compatible
with computer systems under the FM Towns name,
giving gamers immediate access to a library
of more than 400 titles.
The games on the system looked amazing for
the time, with critics referring to a number
of ports as “arcade perfect.”
So, what happened?
Sadly, not much.
Its high price point – it went for the equivalent
of almost $1,000 – and stiff competition
from established console manufacturers kept
it from becoming the phenomenon it, in all
honesty, could have been.
On the bright side, its failure meant that
not many children had to humiliate themselves
by asking for something called the FM Towns
Marty.
#35: Atari 7800 (1986)
Atari did its best to regain some traction
after the failure of its 5200, attempting
to atone for the many sins of that console.
It was backwards compatible with the 2600
from launch, giving consumers immediate access
to hundreds of titles.
It included redesigned controllers to be…well,
less crap.
And its graphical capability represented a
notable improvement, as well.
By some measures, it performed better than
its predecessor.
It had more games – though not by a wide
margin – and stayed on shelves for around
six years, as opposed to the 5200’s two
years.
It was even significantly less expensive than
either that or the 2600.
Sadly, development of the system was delayed
as Atari sold its consumer division.
When it finally did release, manufacturing
delays meant that sales of the 7800 were limited
to a measly 100,000 in the first year.
Beyond that, the NES and the Sega Master System
bookended the 7800’s release, and the console
could not possibly compete.
#34: SNK NeoGeo CD (1994)
The Neo Geo AES – which we will discuss
in due time – had at least one major flaw:
Its cartridges were around six times the price
of games for other consoles.
SNK sought to rectify this with the Neo Geo
CD.
It was a very similar system with a very similar
library, but one that used far-less-expensive
CD-ROM technology.
The games looked and sounded great on the
Neo Geo CD, but the load times were abysmal.
It would sometimes take one minute or longer
for games to load new stages or areas, and
this frustrated both critics and fans.
SNK promised a faster-loading version was
on the way, but consumer interest had already
waned and the improved version was only released
in Japan.
All told it sold around half a million units,
and is remembered nowhere near as fondly as
the Neo Geo AES.
#33: Sega SG-1000 (1983)
Sega’s console history is often defined
by the company’s rivalry with Nintendo,
and while we’d love to say it’s more complicated
than that, it really isn’t.
Sega’s very first console, the SG-1000,
was developed in direct response to the news
that Nintendo was developing its Famicom.
Both companies were well known in the arcade
space, and Sega did not want to be left behind.
The SG-1000 was released the very same day
as the Famicom, in the hopes of stealing a
bit of Nintendo’s thunder.
It didn’t work.
As Chris Kohler put it for Wired , “Few
have heard of it, even fewer have played it,
and the games weren't that great anyway.”
The system wasn’t a complete bust however;
it sold two million units.
Considering the fact that the Famicom sold
sixty-two million units, though, it’s fair
to say Sega realized they’d have to step
up their game if they were going to be able
to compete.
And, hey, it probably wouldn’t be a bad
idea to come up with some kind of memorable
mascot, right?
Maybe someone who could go toe-to-toe with
Mario?
Just a thought…
#32: Philips CD-i (1991)
Are you surprised to see the CD-i so high
on this list?
Trust me, I am, too.
I will make clear, though, that it’s not
because the legendary awfulness of this console
has been exaggerated…it’s just that so
many others managed to be worse.
In the CD-i’s defense, it was not primarily
designed as a console.
It was intended to be more of an interactive
tool for education and commercial purposes,
and that at least somewhat makes up for the
fact that it ended up being home to some of
the worst video games of all time.
The CD-I actually fared well by many of our
criteria.
It was supported by Philips for an astounding
seven years – long after it was a proven
commercial failure – and it had just under
200 games in its library.
We won’t claim that it was a good console
– in fact, let me be absolutely clear: It
was not a good game console – but it had
a richer life than most critics would have
you believe.
Still, don’t buy one.
It really is the pits.
#31: Magnavox Odyssey 2 (1978)
The Odyssey, released in 1972, is commonly
referred to as the very first home video game
console.
As ever, it comes down to how one personally
defines “video game console,” but without
question it was the earliest one to make any
kind of impact with a wide audience.
The Odyssey 2, therefore, had quite a lot
to live up to.
Surprisingly, it succeeded.
Whereas the original Odyssey was considered
a rousing success when it moved 350,000 units
– remember, this was before there was technically
even an industry – the Odyssey 2 sold two
million.
It represented a big step forward, both in
terms of popularity and in terms of technology.
The games of course look extremely simple
to a modern eye, but they were novel and refreshing
to the public in 1978.
While Atari ultimately won the generation
– its 2600 outsold this system by 15 to
one – the Odyssey 2 at least kept Magnavox
in the game for a few more years.
#30: NEC TurboGrafx-CD / PC Engine CD (1988)
Just one year after launching its TurboGrafx-16,
NEC was already releasing add-ons to bring
the console up to the level of performance
it probably should have had at launch.
As we’ve seen already, console manufacturers
do often release these upgrades with their
own dedicated libraries to extend the lives
of their systems, but when those upgrades
are released while the system is still…you
know…new, it makes the base console look
like it was rushed out the door.
Such, of course, is true of the TurboGrafx-CD
– sometimes referred to as the TurboGrafx-CD-ROM-ROM
by hyphen aficionados – which was released
in multiple versions for maximum confusion.
It had its own library of almost 150 games
which, all told, is not too bad.
It also, however, launched at the positively
insulting equivalent of $870 today.
It obviously also required the TurboGrafx-16,
meaning the cost to entry for the TurboGrafx-CD
was the equivalent of around $1,300.
The TurboGrafx-CD sold about a million units,
meaning around one in six people who owned
the TurboGrafx-16 sprung for it.
All I can say is, I hope they’re happy.
#29: 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (1993)
Often referred to as a console for simplicity’s
sake, “3DO” actually refers to technology
and specifications that were licensed to a
number of manufacturers, including Panasonic,
Sanyo, and GoldStar.
The idea was that The 3DO Company would collect
royalties on each console and game produced,
which made for a nice arrangement.
The 3DO Company would not need to work out
how to produce their product, and interested
manufacturers would not need to develop them
from scratch.
It allowed everyone to focus on what they
were already good at.
In practice, the 3DO was plagued by the same
problems faced by other multimedia systems
of the era.
It was expensive – the equivalent of more
than $1,200 today – had a high failure rate,
and had a library that leaned heavily on low-quality
FMV games.
The 3DO sold around two million units in total.
It could have been worse, but many of those
were sold in Japan, where the system had an
unexpected second life as a home to pornographic
titles that better-established consoles wouldn’t
touch.
3DOh my.
#28: SNK NeoGeo AES (1990)
Just to be clear, SNK Neo Geo AES, you are
allowed to use more than three letters per
word.
Anyway, this console was actually born as
an innovative arcade system.
Rather than requiring the costly and difficult
work of swapping out a cabinet’s system
board for another game – or replacing the
cabinet entirely –Neo Geo arcade units allowed
owners to simply insert different cartridges.
This obviously lent itself pretty well to
a home console version, but SNK didn’t think
there’d be any interest.
Instead, they created “rental units” in
Japan, so that interested parties could borrow
the system for a low cost.
Demand for the rental units was higher than
SNK anticipated…and with that, the Neo Geo
Advanced Entertainment System was born.
SNK understood from the very start that the
Neo Geo would be a premium console.
In fact, it would be the most powerful console
available, as it was basically a plug-and-play
arcade system.
As such, they only shifted around 750,000,
but that’s okay.
The Neo Geo was designed for a niche audience,
and that audience loved it.
Well done, SNK.
#27: Mattel Intellivision (1980)
A classic console in every sense of the word,
the Intellivison immediately established Mattel
as a console manufacturer with a bright future
ahead.
In fact, let me just take a quick look at
my notes here to see what they did next and…the
HyperScan!?
Oh, Jesus…
Okay, well, future horrors aside, the Intellivision
was the first console to really threaten Atari’s
stranglehold on the industry.
As a forerunner to the classic “Genesis
does what Nintendon’t” commercials, Mattel
ran ads featuring sportswriter George Plimpton
comparing the Intellivision head to head with
Atari’s aging 2600.
The ads did a great job of showing off how
much better the Intellivision’s games looked
and played…albeit through some carefully
selected examples.
Ultimately the Intellivision sold three million
units, around one tenth of the 2600’s sales,
so it never quite seized the ball from Atari.
#26: Ouya (2013)
Can you believe it took us this long to get
to the Ouya?
Birthed from an extraordinarily successful
Kickstarter – it raked in $8.5 million,
almost nine times its goal–the Ouya at first
seemed like it could represent an upset to
the industry.
Essentially an independent console, it was
positioned to eat into the market domination
of the big names: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.
It promised a platform that was easy to develop
for (in fact, every unit doubled as a dev
kit), sold for a very low $99, and every game
was required to offer at least some of itself
to play for free.
All lofty ideas, but the reality didn’t
pan out.
The system sold less than one million units,
and game sales were abysmal.
The best-selling game on the system, Towerfall,
only sold 7,000 copies.
The Ouya shop was flooded with shovelware
and careless mobile ports, and the requirement
that games be free to play caused many developers
to focus on other consoles where, you know,
they’d get paid.
The Ouya storefront remained active until
June of 2019, but I think you’ll all agree
that the console died a long time ago.
#25: Nintendo Satellaview (1995)
Though it never left Japan, the Satellaview
is an important part of gaming history, as
it represents perhaps the earliest serious
attempt at downloadable and streaming game
distribution.
It was clearly a bold idea and one that, by
all accounts, was executed pretty well.
During the lifespan of its Super Famicom,
Nintendo entered into a partnership with Wowow,
a Japanese satellite broadcasting station.
The idea was that gamers could “tune in”
to participate in live gaming events from
their own homes.
This gave Nintendo access to high-tech data
transmissions that it wouldn’t have had
otherwise, and brought Wowow new subscribers.
It was a smart partnership, and Nintendo shifted
two million units, which is pretty impressive
considering it was catering to a very particular
kind of audience.
Of course, the fact that Nintendo held some
of gaming’s most popular IPs didn’t hurt
at all, and subscribers got to enjoy an impressive
114 gaming events based around Fire Emblem,
F-Zero, Super Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and much
more.
#24: ColecoVision (1982)
Upon its launch in 1982, the ColecoVision
was poised to make a significant impact on
the industry.
Atari was struggling to recreate the success
of its 2600, and heavy hitters such as Sega
and Nintendo were a few years away from asserting
dominance.
The ColecoVision – priced low and with a
pretty solid port of Donkey Kong as its pack-in
game –sold one million units in just a few
months, and reviews were positive.
Their timing, on the other hand, could not
have been worse.
The Video Game Crash of 1983 was just around
the corner, and it hit the ColecoVision hard.
Sales slowed to a crawl.
In its three-ish years on shelves, the console
eventually hit two million units sold, but
it wasn’t profitable enough to sustain.
Coleco withdrew entirely from the console
market in 1985.
While it lasted, though, the ColecoVision
was an impressive early console.
Just how much of an impact it could have made
on gaming history, we’ll never know.
But we at least think it deserved to die with
a little more dignity.
#23: Sega CD/Mega-CD (1991)
The Mega-CD has a bit of a confused reputation.
While few people will argue that it was a
success, it actually was not the resounding
failure history has made it out to be.
In fact, it launched to enthusiasm from both
critics and gamers, who saw a lot of potential
in the unit.
It wasn’t until the system’s library swelled
with underwhelming FMV games that sentiment
really turned negative.
Developers did support the unit quite well,
releasing more than 200 games during its short
life, including Sonic CD, Snatcher, and a
great port of Final Fight.
Much of the confusion about the system stems
from this article by Blake Snow for the now-defunct
GamePro Magazine, calling it the seventh worst-selling
console of all time.
That’s far from the case; on this list alone
it outsold at least 42 others.
Weirdly, Snow actually inflates the sales
of the Mega-CD significantly, saying it sold
six million units…a figure, so far as we
can tell, that came to him in a dream.
Had that figure been correct, it would have
outsold even more.
In reality, it sold just over 2.2 million,
so… not really sure what they were talking
about to be honest.
#22: Microsoft Xbox One (2013)
The Xbox One has the sad distinction of being
the lowest-ranked living console on this list.
By a decent margin, as well.
Much of that is down to the fact that in the
runup to release, Microsoft seemed to advertise
the console exclusively by assuring gamers
that it would be full of the things they already
hated.
The Kinect would be mandatory, and it would
always be switched on.
The system would require a persistent internet
connection.
There would be aggressive DRM.
When fans questioned the wisdom of these decisions,
Creative Director Adam Orth responded with
an ill-considered “deal with it” tweet
. Orth left the company in the fallout and
Microsoft backpedaled on much of what had
been said, but the damage was done.
As of now, the Xbox One has sold about half
of what the Xbox 360 sold.
It also has half as many games, and of those
a very small percentage are exclusives.
With both Sony and Nintendo doing great with
their latest consoles, Microsoft will have
to work damned hard to win back the audience
it has lost.
Stranger things have certainly happened, though.
#21: Sega Pico (1993)
Probably the most obscure of Sega’s consoles,
the Pico was their dip into the educational
gaming market, and it was a decently successful
one.
You’re seeing footage from the later upgrade
– the Advanced Pico Beena – as that one
allowed games to played through a television.
And, yes, okay, as they do have two different
libraries they technically should be two different
entries, but this list is long enough and
you’re already typing angry comments about
the fact that the Sega Pico placed higher
than the Xbox One, so let’s just move along.
The Pico sold 3.4 million units, impressive
for a strictly educational console.
It’s even more impressive when you consider
the fact that the Beena was almost entirely
Japan-only.
The original Pico and 20 games came west,
but that’s it.
The Advanced Pico Beena however, never left
Japan.
The Pico line was discontinued when Sega retired
from the console market.
Few may miss it, but for an educational console,
parents really couldn’t do much better than
this.
#20: NEC TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine (1987)
Computer company NEC and game developer Hudson
Soft pooled their talents to develop the world’s
first 16-bit console: the TurboGrafx-16.
The system struggled overall in America and
had its European launch scaled back substantially,
but it actually made some fair inroads in
Japan, where it outsold the Famicom at launch.
Granted, the Famicom had been on the market
for two years by that point and when the Super
Famicom came out it roundly kicked the tar
out of this thing but, still, credit where
it’s due.
For its time it was a decently impressive
system, and it sold for a reasonable cost:
around $450 today.
In the long run, though, consumers weren’t
completely sold on the system’s value.
Additionally, the TurboGrafx-16 had a number
of add-ons available – such as the aforementioned
TurboGrafx-CD – with several variations
of each, confusing customers even further
about what they needed and why they should
buy it.
Even adding a second player required a peripheral.
The system sold 5.8 million units in total
and is certainly remembered fondly by some,
but overall the TurboGrafx-16 represented
more of an experiment than a revolution.
#19: Nintendo Family Computer Disk System
(1986)
Released only in Japan and utilizing higher-capacity
disks than the Famicom’s standard cartridges,
the Disk System was more than just an expansion;
it allowed for Nintendo and other developers
to let their creativity run wild in an industry
that had just received a new rush of inspiration.
This led to DiskSystem exclusives such as
Kid Icarus, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda,
each of which pushed the medium forward in
its own way and cemented Nintendo as the leader
in game design.
Of course, if you lived outside of Japan,
you know that you were able to play these
games without a Disk System.
That’s because Nintendo learned from this
new hardware how to significantly increase
the capacity of their standard cartridges,
ultimately rendering the Disk System moot.
If you’ve ever wondered why early NES games
looked like this, and later games looked like
this , now you know.
Though it ultimately made itself obsolete,
the Disk System sold 4.4 million units in
Japan and had a library of over 200 games.
It may never have left its homeland, but the
rest of the world reaped its benefits all
the same.
#18: Sega Mark III/Master System (1985)
Known as the Sega Mark III in Japan, this
console is recognized in the rest of the world
as “the one before the Mega Drive.”
The Master System is not held in especially
high regard today, for two big reasons.
The first is that it’s been eclipsed by
Sega’s later, better-received consoles.
The second is that it paled in comparison
to its rival, the NES.
Technically speaking, the Master System’s
hardware was more advanced than that of the
NES, but its relatively limited library – around
300 games compared to almost 1,800 on the
NES – and slightly higher price tag didn’t
convert many Nintendo fans.
The Master System fared better in Europe than
in the rest of the world, but it wouldn’t
be until their next console that Sega became
a force to be reckoned with.
Interestingly, the Master System was still
in production in Brazil as late as 2015, making
it the longest continuously produced console
in history.
Fascinating stuff, but we have to wonder why
they didn’t keep producing a more beloved
console.
Such as, say…
#17: Sega Saturn (1994)
The Sega Saturn is one of the rare failed
consoles that makes us wistful for what could
have b een.
Ultimately, it was a victim of timing.
Sega launched the system soon after a glut
of unnecessary and underwhelming add-ons for
its Mega Drive.
It was also, however, Sony’s fault for murdering
it live on stage at E3 1995 . Immediately
after Sega announced that the Saturn had been
secretly launched in U.S. stores that very
day for $399, Sony’s spokesman stepped to
the podium, said “$299,” and sat down
again to raucous applause.
The PlayStation almost immediately outsold
the Saturn two-to-one, and the gap only grew
from there, ultimately reaching ten-to-one.
In spite of a number of well-reviewed games,
the Saturn failed to gain traction and just
barely sold more than 9 million units.
The Saturn could not compete with the attention
Sony was getting, and Sega moved on to its
next project.
The lesson here, of course, being: If you
liked it, then you should have put a ring
on it.
…because Saturn.
Rings.
Listen, we’ve done 75 entries already, okay?
I’m tired.
#16: Atari 2600 (1977)
When the pop-culture hivemind thinks of “classic
game consoles,” it nearly always settles
on the NES and the Atari 2600, which speaks
to the profound impact both of those systems
had not just on the gaming industry, but on
the world.
The success of Pong made Atari a household
name, but with the Atari 2600, the company
launched gaming into an exciting new era.
Yes, the games look ancient now, but releases
such as Adventure, Pitfall, and Haunted House
set the groundwork for entire genres.
For gamers who were used to knocking a square
back and forth across a black screen, seeing
nearly any Atari 2600 game in action was downright
revelatory.
The 2600 single-handedly turned the video
game console into a living-room staple.
It was the first console in history to sell
30 million units, and to this day that’s
a feat that only 12 other consoles have ever
managed to achieve.
#15: Nintendo Wii U (2012)
Pity the poor Wii U.
It had the unenviable task of having to follow
up the Wii, the most popular console from
gaming’s most iconic brand.
In a way it was destined to fail, and that’s
exactly what it did.
Or did it?
The narrative put forth by the gaming media
and even by Nintendo certainly suggests so,
but the console actually sold upwards of 13
million units.
To put it in perspective, that makes it the
16th most-successful console on this list.
It also had an impressive library of almost
800 games.
So why is it spoken of in such dismissive
tones?
Well, in the gaming industry, failure is relative.
With the Wii U barely scratching the sales
of its mighty predecessor and coming in well
behind Sony’s and Microsoft’s systems,
the Wii U made Nintendo look like it was losing
its magic touch.
If the company wanted to remain one of the
big three, keeping a console alive that the
rest of the industry had already written off
wasn’t going to work.
Fortunately, they did a bit better with their
next one.
#14: Sega Dreamcast (1998)
Sega’s last hurrah in the console market
definitely allowed the company to go out on
a high note.
The Dreamcast launched to a wave of excitement,
had a low price point – around $313 today
– and had a library of 620 games, 15 of
which hold averages of 90% or higher on Metacritic.
Sega clearly went all out on this last-ditch
effort to stay competitive, and, for a while,
it worked.
The console shifted more than 9 million units
in a very short time.
Sega launched the system in late 1999 in western
regions, but its competitors refused to allow
it to gain any momentum.
Sony announced its PlayStation 2, coming out
the very next year.
Nintendo announced what would ultimately become
the GameCube.
Microsoft said they’d be debuting a console
soon as well.
Sega’s thunder was well and truly stolen
several times over.
In January 2001, Sega made its own announcement:
The company would withdraw from the console
market entirely and focus on developing games.I
must say, though, it was fun while it lasted.
#13: Nintendo 64 (1996)
It’s pretty high on this list – and rightly
so – but the Nintendo 64 was the first indication
that Nintendo’s status as industry leader
was far from guaranteed.
After the unbeatable triple punch of the NES,
SNES, and Game Boy, the Nintendo 64 struggled
for attention.
It handily beat out the Sega Saturn, saleswise,
but sold only a third of the units Sony’s
PlayStation sold.
Perhaps ironically, one of the reasons Nintendo
lost ground to Sony is also one of the Nintendo
64’s strengths: It was cartridge-based.
These were more reliable than the discs favored
by Sony and Sega, and they virtually eliminated
loading times, but they were also significantly
more expensive to manufacture, turning developers
towards other systems.
What games the Nintendo 64 did get, though,
were of pretty high quality, with some of
the best-loved games of all time in its library.
Super Mario 64, Super Smash Bros., GoldenEye
007, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Banjo
Kazooie…the list goes on.
It’s not Nintendo’s most celebrated console,
but it’s far from forgettable.
#12: Nintendo GameCube (2001)
After the relative stumble of the Nintendo
64, the GameCube continued to divide opinions.
Time Magazine referred to it as “an unmitigated
disaster,” while others praised its strong
exclusives and varied library of more than
650 games.
Of those games, 26 hold a Metacritic average
of 90% or higher.
It moved just under 22 million units, but
many of those were at a discount due to surplus
stock.
It was handily outsold by the PlayStation
2, which was probably to be expected, but
it was also outsold by the Xbox.
Not by much, mind you – the Xbox sold around
two million more – but the fact Nintendo
fell behind a newcomer represented a genuine
industry upset.
Having said all of that, it’s possible with
hindsight to appreciate just how much great
stuff the GameCube had to offer.
The Wind Waker is still one of the most beautiful
games ever made.
Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi’s Mansion
were unexpected diversions from the norm.
Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Eternal Darkness, and
the positively smashing Resident Evil remake
are just a few highlights of the generation’s
bronze medalist.
#11: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive (1988)
Ask anyone who’s been gaming for decades,
and they will tell you that the Mega Drive
– or Genesis, if they lack proper gun control
and healthcare – is one of the most classic
consoles in history.
If you’d like to hear our thoughts on 64
of the 900+ games in the Mega Drive library,
you can check out our Mega Drive Mini video
, but here, in overview, we’ll just say
that there’s something inherently warm and
comfortable about the games on this system.
Their simplicity is almost elegant, their
color palettes immediately recognizable, and
that sound chip produced some truly sublime,
unforgettable soundtracks.
Sega invested a lot of money into marketing
this system, knowing full well that this was
their chance to truly challenge Nintendo.
Whether or not they succeeded is up to each
of us individually.
Only joking; they did not succeed and were
outsold around two-to-one.
Still, the fact that they were able to go
toe-to-toe with the big guy at all speaks
volumes about the quality of the Mega Drive.
And now, it’s time for the 10 - according
to our calculations - greatest home consoles
ever produced.
#10: Nintendo Switch (2017)
Nintendo needed a strong showing after the
public embarrassment of the Wii U, and – against
all odds – that’s exactly what they had.
Nintendo took its reputation as the unrivaled
king of the handheld market and translated
that directly into a home console that would
function as both.
Gamers were won over almost immediately; only
two years after release, the Switch is already
within striking distance of the lifetime numbers
of the Xbox One.
The system already has 2,000 games available
and, yes, many of them are ports, but the
sheer fact that huge releases such as Skyrim
and The Witcher 3 are now portable absolutely
justifies their rerelease.
The Switch is the most recent console on this
list, making its high showing even more remarkable.
Another year or two down the line, its placement
will almost certainly increase.
Great job, Nintendo.
We honestly weren’t sure you still had it
in you.
#9: Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom
(1983)
It is difficult to express just how important
a console the NES was.
It didn’t quite save a collapsing industry;
it single-handedly rebuilt an industry that
had already collapsed.
We’re simplifying, of course, but we sort
of have to.
Entire books have been written about the NES
and its impact, so all we can really say here
is that if you are playing video games today,
you owe the NES enormous gratitude.
And if you’re not playing video games today,
sweet Jesus have you spent a long time watching
a video that isn’t relevant to your interests
at all.
The NES was a genuine sensation the world
over, and it introduced many of gaming’s
all-time best franchises.
It had a fair price and a library of more
than 1,700 games.
It was also the very first console to surpass
50 million units sold, and it remains the
seventh-best-selling console in history.
The NES has been outdone in almost every category
since, but it’s never been outdone in terms
of sheer importance.
#8: Microsoft Xbox (2001)
We give Microsoft a lot of guff on this channel,
but that’s only because they tend to make
decisions that are objectively terrible.
Even we must admit, though, with their console
debut they did one hell of a lot of things
right.
The Xbox was unquestionably a gamble, but
with Sega’s departure from the console space,
there was once again room for a third option,
and Microsoft came out all guns blazing.
For starters, the fact that the company was
so huge meant it could afford to take a significant
loss on every console sold, keeping the cost
low.
Then there was the impressive Xbox Live which,
for the first time in industry history, made
online gaming streamlined and easily accessible
to foul-mouthed 11-year-olds the world over.
But, really, we all know that the Xbox owes
its success to one launch title – Halo:
Combat Evolved.
The console never really made a dent in Japan,
but it sold well enough elsewhere, moving
more than 24 million units in total.
It was a solid and genuinely impressive debut.
#7: Nintendo Wii (2006)
For a good few years, everybody had a Wii.
We don’t just mean gamers, either; the system
was designed to appeal to a wide audience.
Everyone from Little Timmy right up to Nana
Bettie loved that console, and its decidedly
simple, intuitive control scheme made them
feel equally comfortable with it.
Of course, this success made it a haven for
shovelware, and it’s often remembered as
being home to some truly abysmal games.
That’s a shame, because its library also
contained gems such as Super Mario Galaxy,
the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Donkey Kong Country
Returns, and almost certainly the best-ever
version of Resident Evil 4.
It also introduced the Virtual Console, allowing
players access to hundreds of classic titles
from consoles past.
It wasn’t the most powerful system on the
market, but it was the most imaginative, and
this daring approach gave Nintendo their best-selling
system ever, with more than 101 million units
shifted.
#6: Sony PlayStation 4 (2013)
You’ve got to hand it to Sony; their lowest-ranked
console still hit the top ten, and as this
list was being prepared, sales surpassed the
Wii to make it the third-best-selling 
console of all time.
The PlayStation 4 has admittedly slowed down
a bit in the past year or so, as developers
and gamers turn their eyes towards the upcoming
PlayStation 5, but there is no denying just
how great a run it’s had.
This is perhaps most easily illustrated by
its positively stellar run of exclusives.
God of War, Persona 5, Uncharted 4, Horizon
Zero Dawn, Spider-Man, Bloodborne…if those
were the only six games on the PlayStation
4, it would still be a system worth owning.
So why isn’t it higher on the list?
Honestly, it’s down to the fact that it
was edged out by other consoles in a few different
categories.
For example, the system only has around 2,300
games.
Yes, the fact that we’re using “only”
in that statement says a lot about just how
stiff the competition is here at the top.
#5: Super Nintendo Entertainment System/Super
Famicom (1990)
Nintendo had a runaway success with the NES,
and the SNES represented no kind of sophomore
slump.
Everything that great console did, the SNES
did a little bit better.
The graphics were prettier and more colorful,
the sound was richer, and the games…well,
the games are some of the best in history.
The SNES’s library was almost exactly the
size of the NES’s – it had only nine fewer
games – but these were almost uniformly
bigger, better, and more fun.
The SNES sold just a hair under 50 million
units, making it the eighth-best-selling console
ever.
It remained popular well into subsequent generations,
and in fact was only officially discontinued
in 2003.
For the second generation running, Nintendo
had the most popular console on the market.
The NES was proven to not be a fluke, and
Nintendo was proven to be a fount of innovative
game ideas.
The company’s star has both risen and fallen
since, but the SNES is – and will likely
always remain – an industry highlight.
#4: Sony PlayStation (1994)
Entering a market dominated by two beloved
and well-established names, the PlayStation
killed Sega outright and positioned itself
as a more mature alternative to Nintendo.
The PlayStation became the first console in
history to move 100 million units, something
only three other consoles have done to this
day.
It’s also the second-best-selling console
in history, though the PlayStation 4 may well
have taken that title away by the time you
watch this video.
Silent Hill, Spyro the Dragon, Ape Escape,
Crash Bandicoot, and many other beloved names
made their debuts on Sony’s little grey
box, with other franchises such as Castlevania
and Mega Man essentially jumping ship to join
the action.
In all, there were just under 8,000 games
officially released for the system – far
and away the largest library on this list
– and 68 of them hold Metacritic averages
of 90% or higher – also the largest amount
on this list.
#3: Sony PlayStation 3 (2006)
We can all acknowledge that Sony did the PlayStation
3 a disservice by slapping a ridiculously
high price tag onto it.
It launched for $499, which equates to around
$640 today.
Without question, that encouraged a number
of consumers to pick up less-expensive consoles
from Microsoft and Nintendo.
The price eventually came down, but the PlayStation
3 ended up being Sony’s worst-selling console
to date.
To put that in perspective, though, it sold
80 million units.
Sony’s worst-selling console was still only
outsold by five others…three of which were
also Sony consoles.
That kind of failure only reinforces how much
they’ve succeeded.
The PlayStation 3 is home to some of the greatest
games ever made: The Last of Us, the first
three Uncharted games, Ni No Kuni, Little
Big Planet, Valkyria Chronicles, and Dark
Souls.The PlayStation 3 has squeezed into
our top three, which is something to be very
proud of, but we can’t help but wonder how
it would have fared if it had only had a stronger
launch.
#2: Microsoft Xbox 360 (2005)
There, see?
We put the Xbox 360 at number two.
Happy now?
You should be, because it’s exactly the
kind of recognition this console deserves.
Its strong emphasis on online functionality
– vastly improved from the original Xbox
– set the standard for the industry.
As many times as console manufacturers tried
to create all-in-one media units, the Xbox
360 was the first one to actually make good
on that promise, offering movies, TV shows,
and games for download.
It wasn’t perfect; the Red Ring of Death
is famous enough that you didn’t even need
to own a 360 to know how serious it was, and
Microsoft spent the console’s final years
trying to cram the barely functional Kinect
down everybody’s throat, but the Xbox 360
was unquestionably an enormous success.
It moved almost 84 million units (the fifth
highest on this list), has 54 games with a
90% or higher average on Metacritic (the second
highest on this list), and was supported for
a full 11 years.
It was a truly great console, and without
question Microsoft’s best.
What more could anyone want?
Well, funny you should ask…
#1: Sony PlayStation 2 (2000)
Sometimes we know exactly what will occupy
the top spot before we even begin making the
list, but, really, what else could it have
been?
The PlayStation 2 was a sensation.
It moved a positively insane 155 million units,
making it the best-selling console ever and
putting it 53 million units ahead of the second-best
selling.
To put that 53 million in perspective, only
seven consoles on this list managed to sell
that many in their entire lives.
The PlayStation 2 sold for a fair price and
was supported for a remarkable 13 years.
It proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that
Sony was not a temporary disruption, but the
new name in the industry.
Its library consists of nearly 4,500 games,
which is a few thousand less than the PlayStation
1, but the level of quality was overall much
higher, with highlights including Silent Hill
2, Persona 3 and 4, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus,
Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 3, KatamariDamacy,
Psychonauts, Kingdom Hearts, and…honestly,
the odds are good we haven’t even mentioned
your favorite PlayStation 2 games, because
there are just so many truly great ones.
The PlayStation 2 was nothing short of a miracle,
and it’s one the industry has yet to repeat.
And that’s every console ranked from worst
to best, aside from the ones we excluded,
decided not to cover, or forgot about.
Which consoles ranked lower than you expected?
Where would you have placed the Pyuuta Jr.?
Do you have a compelling argument for why
something other than the PlayStation 2 should
have been at the top?
If so, type it in all caps in the comments.
Also, if you have suggestions for other “Every
X Ranked From Worst to Best” videos, let
us know.
As long as things exist, we will be right
here to rank them.
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I’m Peter and I’m Ben from TripleJump,
and thanks for watching.
