Disappointing Game Consoles/Platforms with a lack of decent games

with the exception of obscure and poorly received consoles, or consoles that don’t have many games (There are like way too many of those to list and platforms like Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, Atari Jaguar, etc were tragic commercial failures) what are some platforms which you feel just have really poor quality control in terms of the games available that interested you, or not many games you like?

I think for me it’s going to be the Game Boy Color. The device itself is awesome. It’s a major upgrade to it’s internationally known predecessor in every way, AND it’s backwards compatible so what’s not to like? Some of the games on it are awesome, but by and large, the game library is just so full of crap. Ever since the mid 90’s Nintendo has published games that were franchisee related nonsense that was mediocre from the beginning and has aged badly since, but for the Game Boy Color you not only have a high number of these cash ins, you also have other odd things like 20 year old titles essentially ported to the platform. Like, publishing 2600 titles, (come onnnnn… That is not how you party like its 1999!) In addition you have these wonky/scummy ports of PC titles which never should have come to exist (Hell I actually have Daikatana for GBC on my wishlist because i’m genuinely curious) but come on i was looking through many of these ports last night and they remind me of the shitty era of britcoms where very bad and lazy ports were made for Amstrad, Commodore 64, etc… Because thats what many of these games literally look like.

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Go back to UK lol

For GBC, maybe it’s because the chief marketing component was ‘its in color’ so you have lots of sloppy stuff that has a pallette, and little else going for it. getting away from the monochrome monitor was a way you could sell a game. and they did make original monochrome versions (game boy) of stuff, as well as ‘colorized’ versions. So, in the same way, it seems like that trend resurfaced.

but it doesn’t explain this trend of re-releasing old stuff from early 1980s… multiple times:
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Come on nintendo…

And the very best and well liked games, such as pokemon gold/silver/crystal… while very nice upgrades, are still essentially rehashes of the originals from the game boy era. My point is, it feels like so much of what was available is less than fresh. much of it is trash or recycled.

and its not a small library. Its very close in size to the original Game Boy with well over 1000 legit releases, despite having a product cycle less than half as long.

I’d imagine some candidates for this would be short lived platforms that were superseded by other things. GBC meets this qualification as well. it was not that long until it was replaced by the GBA, about 5 years.

Also handhelds might get the short end of the stick when it comes to quality control, with more attention being on an era’s main platform (unsure) since it be more lucrative. Do other’s find that they dislike some of the other handhelds (Sony Vita, Switch) I often see disappointment for these particular two around here for various reasons

I’ve been sorting my stuff and I never really looked at GBC until last night and i’m venting. I think it’s got to be the low point for Nintendo.

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Honestly I can’t think of a single console or platform that I find disappointing. Every console I’ve ever played offers a unique experience. Even if there is overlap, they have experiences I can’t find elsewhere, be it exclusive titles or titles that are simply different due to the hardware architecture. I’ve played a lot of games on a huge history of devices and I have fond memories of them all.

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Your writeup on the Game Boy Color reminded me of this video I just watched a few days ago. Scott makes similar points, in that the Game Boy Color is an oddity that was kind of halfway between an upgrade console and a next generation console. The next generation for Nintendo’s handhelds of course was the Game Boy Advance, but the Color had too many games released specifically for it to be considered just an upgrade version of the original Game Boy.

At any rate, the Color definitely suffered in its lineup of titles since it was never really given Nintendo’s full attention. I personally have no experience with the console myself, though I have been curious to try out the original Shantae game, which bizarrely released for the Color well after the GBA was out. Other than that… Survival Kids? Can’t think of much that piques my interest really.

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For me, it’d be the Xbox One. Microsoft isn’t releasing many big hit exclusives that make an Xbox One worth it. Remember Scalebound by Platinum Games? That game had potential but is now cancelled. As a PC player, having an Xbox hurts even more since many exclusives come to PC because Xbox is a branch of Microsoft and Microsoft is a major brand in the PC market.

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Currently I’m playing LoZ Oracle of ages and that’s what triggered me to look into GBC. I was reminded of how I havent played a pokemon game since Red/Blue, but i’m not sure if that’s enough to sway me to try Crystal (I’d sooner venture to a later installment or other monster battler type games) but some of the color re-releases are quite nice and some ‘upgraded’ games like Crystal… Tetris DX and Links Awakening DX… They are very nice games. and there are games taht are maybe nice if you appreciate a series: there are more but i’ve got these on my current play list: Wario Land II, pokemon Pinball, Metal Gear Solid, The Harry Potter games, and Daikatana!!!

…Especially Daikatana!

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This may be somewhat of an obvious mention but I feel the mobile gaming market is very disappointing unless you want to shell out your whole wallet in order to either play anything decent or get far within a game. I have found that there are just too many gacha games within this platform and that is a big disappoint. The last mobile game that I truly fell for in a way would be Groove Coaster as the platform lends itself perfectly to playing a rhythm game.

Despite all the terrible F2P games on mobile, I have played some fantastic games. Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go, Monument Valley, Year Walk, Device 6, Sayonara Wildhearts, Donut County, Gorogoa, Threes, Sword + Sorcery, Attack the Light, Ridiculous Fishing, Edge, Downwell, Jetpack Joyride, Carr of Darkness, Guildlings, Grindstone, Triple Town, Republique, Burly Men at Sea, The Path to Luma, Kami 1&2, and likely a ton more I’m forgetting. I think mobile has been a great platform for new enjoyable experiences and games that had to be designed creatively using touch controls. Yes there is a lot of trash, but there’s probably more trash and shovel ware on Steam than there is on mobile, and I don’t think I’d write off PC as a platform as a result. So nor would I with mobile.

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I can see where you are coming from with the examples you provided. I guess I find it hard to get so tied to games I find on the mobile platform as I am so used to other platforms that have more ground covered, and more of a foundation be it handheld/ PC/ or specific consoles. I have found the mobile platform as a whole to be more forgettable in a way with my current line of thinking.

You also brought up the notion and reality of shovelware on Steam and I can certainly agree with you there the more that I think about it, but unlike mobile, I tend to have a pretty good way of navigating around the Steam storefront in search of possibly decent games, whereas I have chosen to ignore completely mobile gaming, whether it be on the Apple Store, Play Store, etc, only seeing what is popular currently when I open the storefront up to search for non-gaming apps.

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It’s all a matter of time and investment. I never browse the Steam store because most of what I see is shovel ware and games with asset flips. I find my Steam gems through reviews and articles, be they on gaming site or here on Grouvee. I do the same with mobile. Wading through the AppStore or Steam is something that I find to be unenjoyable, so instead of doing that I look for recommendations from people I trust. The result is some great gaming experiences. I think digital game retail requires a lot of improvement across the board, regardless of platform, and curation is crucial to finding quality titles. The key with mobile is not to ignore it but to recognize that there are gems, just as there are on other platforms and consoles. There are talented and passionate people making great games for all platforms, which goes back to why I originally said there are none I’d consider bad. I can find things that blow my mind on all of them. Year Walk, for example, is one of my favourite games ever made not only because it is a great game with a haunting story, but because it used the mobile platform, and the AppStore to provide a intertextual experience that was quite clever. It pulled tactics that used to be employed in games like Star Tropics (dip the paper in water) or even earlier text based games that had companion booklets, and created an experience that requires both game and “manual” to craft something great via a companion app. It was simple yet brilliantly executed and thus very affective. And that game was first a mobile game, something I would have missed if I dismissed the platform. For me games come in all shapes and run all all sorts of hardware, and I don’t want to cut myself off from any of those available experiences.

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I can see your point of view. For me, there are just so many games and just experiences available to all of us, that I have had to become pickier and pickier as time has progressed in order to experience some of the gems hidden out there. While there are mobile games that I might enjoy that I am missing out on due to my chosen ignorance, it is somewhat necessary for me. I am not completely closed off to the idea of picking up my phone and playing a game, be it any of the ones you mentioned or others, I simply am too overwhelmed as it is by what I do know.

I do like learning about them as options, possibilities and even just as things that exist, but choosing to experience them firsthand is a different story altogether. This also isn’t solely tied to mobile gaming, as I have spread that line of thinking out to all current platforms. I love and have loved gaming since I was a small child, and that love has only deepened as I’ve grown to learn more about this hobby. Unfortunately this curiosity and chosen line of thinking has also caused me to be a bit more cynical in my approach to games; that and there are also movies and books, and artwork that I want to experience as well as games, spreading my already limited time into a seemingly minuscule amount of time available to me.

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When it comes to mobile, for me I think it’s a case of – there are surely plenty of good games to be found there, but the platform just isn’t for me. I greatly prefer buttons and joystick/D-pad for “regular” games, am not a fan at all of the mobile storefronts, and don’t have a great phone so running newer titles is difficult and/or faulty and/or will melt a hole through the palm of my hand and/or has a bunch of ads (and I really hate ads). If I were the type to buy the latest and greatest (or hell, even just decent) model phone, I’m sure I would care a lot more about games for it.

I feel that phones work great for very simple games like Angry Birds or Bejeweled, nice little ways to kill a few minutes and use the touch screen intuitively. I have no problem with games like those (personally, I only have Sudoku installed on my phone). But I will never step foot in the incredibly popular realm of gacha mobile games. I have seen way too many people online waste away, gambling off so much of their money in hopes of the RNG granting their deepest wish of some better character or equipment or what have you. I have an especially low opinion for these sorts of games when they are aimed toward younger audiences… but that’s a whole 'nother topic.

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Virtual Boy :grin:

I think only like a dozen games even came out for it. I had one game, Mario Tennis.

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I have always wanted one and I plan on getting one before this decade is over even though I am 90% sure it will give me a bloody headache trying it.

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It’s such a pain to play. I once saw a mod where someone rigged to strap onto their head. It would probably still be a pain, but better than sitting, leaning forward into it. I’ve thought about modding mine because then I might go back and play through some of my games.

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The closest I have gotten is through emulation which isnt all that bad. The modding and emulation community for it is apparently pretty fervent.