The 5 strangest consoles in history
We are in an era in which every day there are more and more gamers. Therefore, we decided to review the 5 rarest consoles in history.
Find out which were the strangest video game consoles on the market. / Photo: Wikimedia – Jason Scott
LatinAmerican Post | Ariel Cipolla
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Leer en español: Las 5 consolas más extrañas de la historia
The sale of the Nintendo PlayStation, a prototype of a unique console in the world caused a sensation in the gaming world. According to what Clarín mentions, this device was sold at auction for about $ 360,000, all after its owner rejected a bid of $ 1.2 million.
In this case, we are talking about a truly atypical model, since it was one of the 200 prototypes that had been created until the project ended up being canceled in 1991. It was an alliance between Sony and Nintendo, where the idea was to generate a console that could be played with standard Super Famicom cartridges, although games could then be run from a CD-ROM drive.
However, we know that this alliance never took a specific direction, which explains the high price of the Nintendo Playstation. Knowing this, we decided to analyze what other examples of rare and atypical consoles existed, which you surely did not know until now.
5. Apple Pippin
Launched in 1996, it was an invention that arose long before the company started working on their iPhones or iPads. The intention? Being able to enter the world of videogames, thanks to a device that had a computer structure, but had a hybrid function with a console, reaching up to about 30 titles based on licenses, as was the case with Bandai and Dragon Ball.
According to the specialized website Applesfera, it was an absolute failure that is considered one of the worst technological products in history. A big reason was that a large part of the development focused on educational functions, something that contrasted with the wishes of the community, who were looking for a device to have fun.
4. Atari Lynx
It was in 1989 when Atari, a company that had enormous popularity for being one of the forerunners in the world of video games, decided to launch Atari Lynx, an 8-bit portable console that had an LCD screen, as well as stereo sound and had a curious reversible left-handed system.
However, it was a model that had little battery life, which is why many people knew that it had not yet been perfected, unlike what had happened with the Nintendo GameBoy, of enormous success. This was the reason why many people preferred this system and the Atari portable console was forgotten.
3. N-Gage
In charge of Nokia, this 2003 console was an invention that happened long before smartphones began to become popular with people. Nokia were among the first to try their luck in the world of video games, although doing it in a fatal way, due to a bad implementation of the dual function of phone and console.
The very concept of "mobile all in one" only fueled people's expectations, who later understood that it was a design that was not practical at all and that did not serve any of these two characteristics. As a curious fact, we can say that this platform hosted some good titles, such as the case of Splinter Cell or Tomb Raider.
Also read: The 5 worst videogames in history
2. Nintendo Virtual Boy
Although we currently have some virtual reality systems, such as the PlayStation VR, the reality is that few remember this innovative Nintendo system, which had been launched in 1991. Basically, they were glasses that were used to visualize the games in 3D, despite the fact that the technology was not prepared for the time.
Thus, according to the Xataka website, it was a console that only lasted a few months in the market, reaching 22 titles available, a very low number for what the players expected. Similarly, its size and its enormous technical limitations made few remember this product from the Japanese company.
1. Sega Nomad
One of the most unknown consoles in history, which came to light in 1995, is a portable platform that used cartridges from the legendary MegaDrive. It can be said that it was a kind of Nintendo Switch from the 90s, since it not only worked that way, but it could also be connected without problems to the TV and play on the big screen.
However, the fact that its autonomy was so poor (it required 6 AA batteries, which lasted 2 or 3 hours) made the company itself not interested in it, since it was an "experiment" that focused on America. Despite the fact that it included a good power for that moment, they decided that this 16-bit model should be forgotten, focusing on the Saturn.
