They say that "victory has 100 fathers, but defeat is an orphan." For every PlayStation, Super Nintendo, and Xbox 360, there are several gaming platforms that utterly failed in the market. However, some might argue that certain consoles get better with age. Some platforms might have redeeming qualities that were overlooked upon their initial release.
Additionally, there's a certain old-school charm to the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo Entertainment System that can't be captured through emulation. On the flip side of the coin, some consoles merely regarded as underwhelming upon their initial release can look even worse with time.
10 Magnavox Odyssey Was The First Games Console
Constructed by a team led by engineer Ralph H. Baer, the Magnavox Odyssey was the very first commercially sold electronic gaming device, and it certainly shows. Capable of only producing three square dots and a single line, many titles necessitated the use of visual overlays that came bundled with their respective titles.
While there is some quaint charm in seeing where the medium's home efforts started, it lacks the playability accessibility of even the Atari 2600. It may be worth a purchase just to own a part of gaming history, but gamers who want some old-school fun are better off checking out the efforts from Atari or Mattel.
9 Many Of The Original PlayStation's Best Titles Are Available On Modern Machines
The original PlayStation was home to some of the greatest titles of all time, with classics in every single genre: Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy VII, and so much more. However, the fact that many of its successors boast backwards compatibility with additional visual and gameplay options makes the original console somewhat obsolete.
There are some graphical hitches when running games like Symphony of the Night on the PlayStation 2, but for the most part, gamers aren't really missing much if they choose to skip the PS1 altogether and play these classics on more modern machines.
8 The Original Xbox Had Its Share Of Hurdles
The original Xbox managed to find enough success to establish Microsoft's gaming brand and lead into the 360, but there's no denying there were several hurdles. Despite courting several Japanese studios such as Sega and Artoon, the company would never really find any success in the land of the rising sun.
One major reason might have been its ludicrously sized controller nicknamed "The Duke." A much smaller model made in Japan would become the default controller for future releases. The 360 and many of its successors boast backwards compatibility with almost every Xbox title (aside from Voodoo Vince and Jet Set Radio Future).
7 Xbox One Nearly Destroyed The Brand
The Xbox One was the console that nearly destroyed the Xbox brand. Its anti-consumer features and sheer contemptuous response towards players' legitimate grievances resulted in the PlayStation 4 utterly dominating the eighth generation of gaming. While many of these features would be scrapped or eventually patched out, there's no denying that many solid first-party and exclusive titles could easily be purchased on PCs as well.
With the Series X aiming to avoid the pitfalls of its predecessor and featuring backwards compatibility with every iteration, it becomes hard to justify the purchase of an Xbox One.
6 Wii U Is The Nintendo's Saturn
It really is a shame that the Big N's first foray into HD gaming hasn't stood the test of time. Trying to please both the casual audience who loved the novelty of the Nintendo Wii and the hardcore base who felt alienated, the Wii U failed to find an audience.
The touchpad was a solution created for a problem that didn't exist, scaring off potential third-party support that might have compelled a purchase. While a number of quality titles made it to the Wii U, many of them have seen better ports on consoles such as the Nintendo Switch and 3DS.
5 The Sega Saturn Was Not Ready
Many mark the Saturn as the beginning of the end for Sega's foray into the hardware business. It didn't help that Sega of Japan made several disastrous decisions that not only helped its competitor Nintendo, but actually formed a new one in the form of Sony's PlayStation.
Even though 3D was the wave of the future, the Saturn was designed for 2D capabilities. It wasn't until Sony and Nintendo unveiled their new tech that CEO Hayao Nakayama mandated that a second processor be added, making the system hard to develop for.
4 The 3DO Even Less So
Panasonic attempted to poach some fresh talent with its low licensing fees. However, this had the unfortunate effect of allowing the console to be oversaturated with low-effort garbage like Plumbers Don't Wear Ties — a painfully unfunny and classless collection of still images and voiced narration that must be seen to be believed.
The lack of any meaningful copy protection made it very easy for pirates to just burn some ISOs and run the disc through the console. With most of its best titles getting ported over to platforms like the PlayStation, it became hard to justify the purchase of the 3DO.
3 The Atari 5200 Simply Crashed
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The Atari 5200 was the wrong console at the wrong time. During the early 80s, Atari's lack of any regulation allowed the market to get oversaturated with multitudes of terrible 2600 titles such as Custer's Revenge. In addition, the abysmal port of Pac-Man and E.T. The Extraterrestrial were subjected to massive refunds from dissatisfied customers, culminating in the Western games crash of 1983.
The 5200 would have to make a pretty persuasive argument for purchase during a time when the industry was perceived as a passing fad. Unfortunately, its un-intuitive controller, lack of must-own titles, and over-reliance on updated 2600 titles failed to impress.
2 The Atari Jaguar Used Up The Last Of Its Nine Lives
Purported to be the first 64-bit console, The Jaguar was Atari's last chance to reclaim its throne in the hardware business. Unfortunately, this cat used up the last of its nine lives. Clunky hardware, lack of third-party support, and the looming threat of the upcoming PlayStation and Saturn secured this console's place as one of the worst of all time.
Atari tried to extend the lifespan of the Jaguar with a CD add-on to compete with its future competitors. Unfortunately, the number of supported titles was small, and the console was prone to hardware failures.
1 The Phillips CD-I Has Only Become An Even Bigger Joke Over Time
Phillips wanted to court the gaming market, but they didn't want to make the commitment necessary to make the CD-I a must-own platform. They heavily marketed the console as a multimedia experience that could play films as well as video games.
Unfortunately, this approach from Phillips alienated consumers who preferred to stick to their VCRs and Laserdiscs and gamers who wanted more than the typical interactive movies and activity centers that populated the console. The platform's biggest claim to fame was its abysmal titles starring several of Nintendo's characters after securing the rights for a proposed CD add-on.