System afterlife

[Harrison]

I've just been thinking about the afterlife of many games systems and it seems they are following a similar path to that of films. Films we now know as "cult classics" were usually panned and slated on release, and this seems to be very true of games systems too.

Look at the Dreamcast. Those of us who actually bought into the system knew how great it was at the time, but the press panned it and warned people not to buy one (mainly after the complete failure of the Saturn!). But now the system is long dead it is starting to see a revival and an ever increasing fan base.

This is being bolstered now by an emulator that can actually run game images perfectly so that new users can experience the best games from old systems without even owning them (although the experience isn't as good without the controllers), and emulation is the key aspect responsible for the recent popularity and interest in many originally less successful systems. But equally I think fast internet connections and torrent technology has a big part to play too.

The Atari Jaguar, 3D0 and Philips CDi are all systems that failed badly, but they now seem to have big followings among emulation and retro gaming fans.

Any other systems you can think of that failed badly in the marketplace, but are now seeing a revival in their afterlife thanks to emulation and collectors?

One other I can think of that is now more popular than ever, and yet wasn't at the time was the CD32!

[toomanymikes]

The other ones I can think of are:
neo geo - too expensive, and that was just the games. Have you ever played one of these? Its amazing - arcade perfect cos it basically is an arcade board.
Sega Mega CD - I remember this being super expensive to buy at the time of its release. It did quite well but never replaced the megadrive or challenged the snes in any meaningful way. Probably because it was one of the first real mainstream cd based consoles and they all seemed to have a really hard time getting support.
PC engine - about as rare as chickens teeth so what was the chances of it succeeding?
I also think that the gamecube would have ended up in this category too if the wii had not been (and still is) the commercial success that nintendo hoped for.

[Harrison]

Not sure about the Gamecube. It did quite well and had a lot of exclusive titles that were popular. It definitely did better than the N64!

Was the PC Engine actually released officially outside of Japan? I read recently that it did quite well there and was very popular, even though it was expensive.

And I have actually played a real Neo Geo a couple of years ago and it was hard to believe the quality of the games considering when it was released. But that was why it was so expansive, and real systems still sell for a lot on ebay these days. Just glad we can emulate it.

[Sharingan]

The PC Engine has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. I remember seeing reviews for its games in C+VG, and being quite impressed with the screenshots, but shops 'round here only carried Sega and Nintendo consoles.

According to Wikipedia, the PC Engine was released in North America officially, and unofficially in Europe (as the Turbografx ... daft name).

As for the Neo Geo, it isn't a surprise it didn't sell well, seeing how much its games cost. That's relatively speaking, though, since it offered arcade-quality games, and we all know how much a real arcade cabinet can cost.

Fun fact is that up until the end of this month, SNK still officially offered repairs to Neo Geo home consoles, while repairs to arcade hardware will still be carried out in the future. That's dedication for ya. I mean, it's been nearly 18 years ago already since the console hit the streets.

[toomanymikes]

That is impressive - i suppose they could subcontract it out to any old dude that fixes cabs as its essentially the same. Either that or they have superb confidence in its build. On that I heard that the gamecube was basically indestructable compared to the ps3 and xbox. I went through 2 ps3's and I hardly played it as much as my gamecube - the little square beast never let me down. I was kinda sad wheni relegated it to the loft when i got my wii...

Not sure about the Gamecube. It did quite well and had a lot of exclusive titles that were popular. It definitely did better than the N64!

Was the PC Engine actually released officially outside of Japan? I read recently that it did quite well there and was very popular, even though it was expensive.

And I have actually played a real Neo Geo a couple of years ago and it was hard to believe the quality of the games considering when it was released. But that was why it was so expansive, and real systems still sell for a lot on ebay these days. Just glad we can emulate it.

Thats true about the gamecube, but it hacked me off that things like viewtiful joe and RE4 got ported to the ps2 after 6 months with more content because sony offered capcom a bag of cash. I think that consoles live in their exclusives and the gamecube had a fair few quality titles such as metroid prime. It did die commercially towards the end of the millenium gen consoles life tho - trying to get RE4 was like trying to find a 4 leaf clover.

I never actually played or even saw a pc engine in britain but i did see a few games released for it - I remember seeing Robokid in Boots! Your certainly right about its popularity in japan - I heard that it was more popular than the megadrive!

[Harrison]

I've just thought of another very rare Japanese system that is now gaining popularity in the west thanks to emulation. The FT Towns! That is a system I didn't even hear of when it was being sold commercially. It is only more recently that I've come to know it. And it's popularity now is partly down to the best versions of my adventure games, normally sporting 256 colour graphics and full speech.

A sequel called the FM Towns Marty was later released on Japan in 1991, and was actually the first 32-bit home console with a CD drive. Not the CD32 as Commodore claimed. The Marty was also backwardly compatible with older FM Towns software.

Shame that never took off in the west.