There’s nothing as exciting as a new console release, but every so often a company misses the mark with new hardware by a considerable margin. It’s even more disappointing when one of these consoles is released by a company that usually puts out high-quality products.
We discussed our most disappointing consoles below, and now we want to hear from you. Vote in the poll and leave your replies in the comments section!
Paul Tamburro, executive editor: “The Wii U. The GamePad was a clever idea best exemplified by Nintendo Land and ZombiU, but after those launch games, Nintendo swiftly gave up on it and it became a near-useless gimmick. The Switch was made in the Wii U’s ashes, so it wasn’t all for nothing, but it was still the only Nintendo console in history without a must-have exclusive.”
Michael Leri, features editor: “Given its rocky pre-release presentations, the writing was on the wall but the Xbox One has been a disappoinment. Not only is it so bulky and constantly emitting a high pitched buzz, but it just doesn’t have a workable UI. Since launch, getting around the dang thing has been a nightmare full of too many button presses. Microsoft’s games have also been mediocre for the most part and have not even come close to touching Sunset Overdrive or Ori and the Blind Forest. The Series X is on the right path for greatness and we probably the bummer-ass Xbox One to thank.”
Jason Faulkner, senior editor: “I think the Atari Jaguar CD is the most disappointing console ever. It was Atari’s swansong in the hardware business, and it exemplified the decision making that destroyed the company. I’m not sure what the thought process behind the Jaguar CD was, but I can’t imagine the company thought it would be some sort of Hail Mary that would save the platform. It was only supported for about a year and not one of the 13 games released for it constituted a “killer app.” It’s estimated that only around 20,000 of them were made, and due to how incredibly fickle and poorly designed they are, it’s hard to find one in worker order. The only console I know that performed worse than the Jaguar CD on the market was the NEC Supergrafx, which only got five games before being discontinued. However, since that console was backward compatible with the PC Engine you didn’t get screwed over as bad if you bought it.”
Mack Ashworth, lead editor: “For me, it’s the Xbox One. It’s the only current-gen system that I got rid of. It was gathering dust due to “Xbox exclusives” coming to PC, which made the console pointless. Clearly there are still people who want the Xbox experience in an easy-to-use form factor, but that isn’t me. With no exclusives to hold my attention, the Xbox One has been disappointing”
