There are three main ways to play a video game. The arcade games tend to have arcade sticks with a few buttons, consoles have controllers, and PC gamers usually go with the keyboard and mouse. But every now and then, a game comes out that is so revolutionary, it needs a special controller.
When these games hit it big, the decision to create a unique controller is applauded, but when the games bomb, that one-game-only controller starts to look like a huge waste of money. Still, the developers and publishers who took these risks deserve credit for trying something new and thinking outside the box. If nothing else, they created something that didn't exist before, and likely will never exist again. Sadly, many of these unique peripherals have found their final homes in trash heaps across the planet.
10 The Joyboard Brought Only Sorrow
In 1982, there was nothing kids wanted more than the Atari 2600 (no one wanted the Atari 5200). However, even that couldn't turn the Joyboard into a hit. Created for the slalom skiing game Mogul Maniac, the Joyboard was a balance board that the player could use to turn the game character left or right.
A second Joyboard game, Off Your Rocker, was made but never released. A quarter of a century later, Nintendo would release the Wii Balance Board, which proved to be far more popular. Sadly, Mogul Maniac never made its way to the Wii.
9 The Steel Battalion Controller Was Just Too Much
Created by Capcom for the first Xbox, Steel Battalion was a game series that consisted of three titles, even though the first one didn't sell well. Part of the reason gamers were apprehensive about playing Steel Battalion was the Mega-Jockey-9000, the special controller that you didn't need to play the game, but needed if you wanted to get everything out of the game.
The Mega-Jockey-9000 consisted of 44 input points, including the throttle handle, radio channel dial, eject button, and 3 foot pedals. To get the Mega-Jockey-9000, gamers had to dish out $200 dollars. By the third game, the Mega-Jockey-9000 was replaced by the Kinect Motion Sensor.
8 The Guitar Hero Guitar Started A Rock Revolution
Not every peripheral has been a disaster. A partnership between developer Harmonix and game controllers producer RedOctane led to multiple franchises and billions of dollars of peripherals sold when Guitar Hero hit stores in 2005.
The guitar created for Guitar Hero turned the title into a party game, with kids and adults alike spending hours perfecting their favorite songs. Activision would buy RedOctane and take over the Guitar Hero franchise in 2006, while Harmonix went on to create Rock Band, creating more peripherals to go along with the guitar, including bass, drums, and vocals.
7 DJ Hero Didn't Have The Beats
Now that Activision owned a peripheral maker with RedOctane and saw just how successful Guitar Hero could be, the publisher decided to branch out from rock and start designing games for other styles of music.
DJ Hero, which came with a turntable that connected to the console, included music by DJ Shadow, DJ AM, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Daft Punk, allowing players to create their own mixes of popular tunes. A sequel was released, but, by that time, gamers were tired of expensive peripherals, and DJ Hero 2 failed to meet sales expectations, ending the series.
6 The Tony Hawk Skateboard Bailed
Activision didn't see any reason why they should only make peripherals for music-based games and saw the opportunity to revive the once-popular Tony Hawk series with Tony Hawk: Ride. The game, which came with a wheelless skateboard that connected to the player's console, allowed them to mimic the tricks they were pulling off in the game.
Costing $120 dollars, Tony Hawk: Ride tanked, selling just over one hundred thousand units in its first month and being named "Worst Game of 2009" by GamesRadar. Surprisingly, Activision didn't learn their lesson and released a sequel, Shred, which sold just 3000 units in its first month and essentially ended the Tony Hawk franchise aside from remakes of the original games.
5 Skylanders Started A Trend
Still, Activision wasn't quite done trying to find a way to create popular peripherals, and in 2011, the company struck gold with Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. To play the game, players needed to buy character figures of the Skylanders that they would then place on the "Portal of Power," adding that character to the game.
Skylanders proved to be massively successful and led not only to a number of sequels but to other publishers following the path. Disney Interactive Studios released Disney Infinity, which allowed players to mix and match famous characters from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel, while Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released Lego Dimensions, which sold figures from nearly 30 franchises, including DC, Harry Potter, and Ghostbusters.
4 Baller Beats Was A Mom's Worst Nightmare
The worst thing a child can do to their mother is play ball in the house, but that was exactly what NBA Baller Beats wanted you to do. Developed by HB Studios and released by Majesco Entertainment to be used with the Xbox 360 Kinect, NBA Baller Beats came with a replica Spalding basketball that the player was meant to dribble in sync with the beat of the music in the game. In theory, NBA Baller Beats could help someone improve their dribbling skills, but in reality, it was a game that anyone with carpeting couldn't play.
3 The Konami LaserScope Was A Misfire
Konami is one of the most respected video game publishers out there, having released games like Frogger, Castlevania, Metal Gear, and Silent Hill. Still, not every move Konami made worked out. Created for the game Laser Invasion, the LaserScope was a helmet the player would wear. The helmet included a mic that the player could yell "fire!" into, which would then - in theory - make the in-game character fire their weapon.
Unfortunately, the mic didn't work well. Sometimes it wouldn't register at all, and, at other times, it would acknowledge an input whenever there was a noise in the room. The helmet also had a scope that the player could put over their eye, helping them aim, but it didn't align with the shots in the game. Overall, the LaserScope was a dud.
2 The Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller Cut Fun In Half
Created by NubyTech especially for Resident Evil 4, the chainsaw controller had two versions - a yellow one for the GameCube and a red one for the Playstation 2. The controller looked like the chainsaw that the Chainsaw Ganados use in the game. Trying to use this controller to actually play the game is the real nightmare.
While NubyTech claimed that the chainsaw controller would improve the player's experience, the reality was that the controller's layout wasn't very intuitive, leading to a lot of missed button presses and dropped controllers from time to time. But as a collectible, the chainsaw controller is one of the cooler-looking peripherals.
1 The Kinect Game Boat Sunk
Created for Kinect Adventures on Xbox 360, the Kinect Game Boat was more of a hassle than a fun peripheral. For one thing, to use the Kinect Game Boat, you first had to spend a few minutes inflating it. Then, when it was all set up in your gaming space, you would quickly come to the conclusion that, aside from adding an overpowering rubber smell to your room, the boat didn't actually do anything but make playing Kinect Adventures slightly more annoying. According to the box for the Kinect Game Boat, the inflatable boat could actually be used on water, but it probably wouldn't be smart to take it white water rafting.