The 10 Worst Video Game Consoles of ALL TIME!

When one thinks of game consoles, only a few names come to mind. People tend to think that the only consoles out there are the ones made by Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and maybe Sega. And if you’re a little more in the now you might recall some outliers in the 90s like the Turbografx-16 or the 3DO, but thats pretty much it. But no, there are so many forgotten consoles out there, almost all of them forgotten for a reason. So lets take a dive into the worst of the worst, shall we?

10. Apple Pippin (1996)

Created by Apple, and manufactured by Bandai, the Pippin was a high profile fail on the part of the massive computer company. With lackluster games and a strange, banana shaped controller, the Apple Pippin flopped HARD. At least the build quality was high and desighn of the machine was interesting. Which is something I can’t say for the rest of the devices on this list.

9. Nokia N Gage (2003)

In some ways, this console was ahead of it’s time. It could play video games and worked as a phone, much like our modern cell phones. But sadly, the games here were mostly mediocre sports and puzzle titles that were ill suited to the N-Gage’s absurdly tall screen. The confusing button layout was awkward as well, providing a very unsatisfying experience. The systems awkwardness made it sell terribly, especially compared to the Game Boy Advance, an excellent system that absolutely trumped this sad excuse for a game console.

8. Phillips Cd-I (1991)

The Phillips CD-I is most well known for the 4 games released on it using Nintendo properties: Hotel Mario and 3 Legend of Zelda games. Not made by Nintendo, these odd games are mostly known for their hilarious cut scenes animated in a strange animation style with awful voice acting. Of course the internet got a hold of these terrible games and turned them into some great memes, with a particularly great example being the hilarious “Link CD-I Revisited”.

Check this video out to see the scenes in all their glory.

7. Casio Loopy

An Japan only console, this oddity was the first game system to market towards girls. Not a bad idea really, but unfortunately the consoles games were boring romance and dress up games that, strangely, all revolved around printing out stickers from the consoles built in printer. What a loopy idea.

6. Nuon (2000)

With only 8 games released on it, they’res not much to say about this one, as it was primarily a DVD player, but even then the only 3 movies released were Brendan Fraser’s Bewitched, 2001 Planet of the Apes, and Buckaroo Banzai. What a great collection.

5. Gizmondo (2005)

The Gizmondo was a hand held console that might be the only game system involved with the Swedish Mafia. Yes, the consoles mastermind was involved in the infamous “Uppsalamaffian” criminal organization, although that claim to fame didn’t make it any better. The console actually melted if left in the sun after some time, which might actually be more convenient. Rather than throwing out your Gizmondo, just leave it out in the sun! Foolproof, especially because no-one will buy it if you try to sell it off.

4. Mega Duck (1993)

A cheap Taiwanese Game Boy ripoff, this dud is notable only for its awful name. Really guys? Why not just call it a Game Duck?

3. View Master Interactive Vision

YIKES. Look at that hunk of junk. It looks like two Lego bricks glued together with a fishing pole attached. I can’t decide whether the Lego brick design is cool and futuristic or clunky and terrible. I’m beginning to think it’s the first…. Anyway the games here are just boring VHS based educational games starring the Muppet’s. Speaking of which, I feel like the Muppet’s deserve a good video game. I’m thinking of a Wario Ware type game with a ton of mini games. Hit me up, Henson Company!

2. Hyperscan

I came pretty close to putting this console in my number One spot. It’s a dismal little machine that utilized a card reader to play the games. Except half the time the cards were faulty and didn’t work properly and the games had horrific lag. The most popular game was a mediocre Ben 10 game with terrible jumping psychics, but the rest were Marvel related games and one weird fighting game. The gimmick of cards was annoying and unnecessary, and as I said, half the time it didn’t work.

1. Tiger R-Zone

Forget the Virtual Boy. This system was a RIP OFF OF THE VIRTUAL BOY. How terrible is that? A weird headset game console displayed in red, the screen was a red color that was entirely displayed with stencils already displayed on the screen like an LED clock or a calculator. The cartridges actually had the displays on them, and the awful, rudimentary graphics were only made worse by the tiny screen mounted to the eye. Mortal Kombat 3 was ported to the dismal system, receiving a serious graphical downgrade. Even the sound was terrible, being Atari-like Blips and Boops. This is without a doubt the worst system out there.