Underrated Game Consoles

[Wolf Kanno]

What it says on the tin, what are some of the gaming consoles you love or respect that just never seem to get the attention they deserve? While I'm sure most people will name drop the Dreamcast, I'm going to say the Sega Saturn and Sega CD which both had pretty interesting game libraries and some truly great gems in games like Lunar and Panzer Dragoon Saga.

[Sephiroth]

The Wii U. Good Zeldas. Fatal Frame. Smash Bros. Bayonetta 1 and 2. A lot of other stuff people like while I don't play them. Downwards compatible.

[Rez09]

The Sega CD is the one that immediately comes to mind; so many people I know just bash the thing for its FMV titles, but it actually has a solid enough library.

[Bubba]

Super Nintendo CD-Rom.

Very underrated considering it never actually got released. Nintendo wanted far too much control and the vast majority of the profits. Sony decided to pursue the cd-based machine themselves and ended up releasing the PlayStation.

I've a magazine showing cd-rendered FF characters for the release of FFVII on the SNES CD Rom.

Ooops.

[maybee]

Basically anything Sega.

The Mega Drive, The Saturn, The Dreamcast etc all good consoles. I heard the Mega Drive or Genesis did better than the SNES in Europe though.

The Nintendo Gamecube is underrated as well.

[Laddy]

The Saturn, Gamecube.

Also alternatively, Dreamcast is featured so much in lists like this I think it's a rad overrated.

[Darth Ganon]

I'm going to have to say the Wii U, too. It's a shame about the awful marketing because it has a solid library and the touch screen was infinitely superior to shoddy motion controls.

It gave us better versions of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker and Hyrule Warriors was a blast (however unfortunately easily replaced by the better Legends on 3DS). I hate that due to remakes, ports, and BotW on Switch that it's the only systems sans the Virtual Boy without an exclusive Zelda title.

Mario Maker was an awesome idea and I hope to see the idea expanded later on (Legend of Zelda Maker please).

LEGO City Undercover was a fantastic open world GTA-style game that was fun to play and legitimately made me laugh on several occasions.

Tropical Freeze was such a good DKC game that I consider it second only to DKC2 and it was thrilling to have one of my favorite parts of Mario 3D World spin-off into its own game: Captain Toad.

I'm currently playing Yoshi's Woolly World and people disappointed in recent Yoshi's Island games should play this because it's just like the original except with an Epic Yarn style. The music pales in comparison to the original, however.

I don't even know where to begin with Xenoblade Chronicles X. I can't believe the system is capable to pulling it off, but it manages to not only play smoothly, but look amazing at the same time.

It had it's down points like a less than thrilling Smash Bros. entry and a terrible attempt to breath life into Star Fox, but there is more to gush about the system than criticize. Another example of the potential Nintendo has to be an absolute powerhouse, but questionable decisions always make it fumble around.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Along with Saturn and Gamecube I will submit:

Playstation Portable
Playstation Vita

Particularly the Vita is a really nice portable console. Sony also had the chance to create something neat with the Vita VT, but dropped the ball on it harder than they did on the Vita.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

The vita and the Wii U both fit this for me. I feel like neither of those gained a ton of traction and lost support pretty quickly despite having some great titles and ideas.

I’ve never played a sega cd, but I can agree somewhat with the Saturn. It seems like a pretty cool system whose short life is mostly forgotten about.

I don’t know if it’s underrated, but I do enjoy the Turbografx-16 quite a bit. It’s definitely not as good as Nintendo and sega’s offerings, but I still like playing it. I also though the hu cards were really cool as a kid.

[Aulayna]

Nintendo Gamecube.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Metroid Prime
Mario Kart Double Dash
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Resident Evil 4 (first)
Tales of Symphona (first)
Lost Kingdoms
Donkey Konga
Mario Party
Star Fox Adventures
Super Mario Sunshine
Pikmin
The best version of Soul Calibur II
Super Monkey Ball

Quality system.

[Fynn]

Yeah, definitely the Vita and Wii U. The Vita is a very nice little console with a lot of power but it really doesn't get enough in the West for some reason? There's tons of games that went multi-platform this generation and curiously, the vita version of those games got ported the least (like, we still didn't get Romancing Saga 2 on Vita, even though it's out on iOS, despite the director saying we'd get it?)

Then the Wii U has some really awesome games and is my favorite party gaming experience, hands down. It's a shame it's a bitch to make games on it. I have a feeling we'll get a similar concept in the future and it'll do incredibly well, since it feels just like one of those things that was just made too early for its own good.

[Sephex]

I know I Gamecube has already been discussed, but I'd like to add that I feel it got vindicated by the passage of time. At that time video game publications RELENTLESSLY picked on the Gamecube for having poor online support. On one hand, they are right. I do agree that Nintendo should have tried harder in that area.

With that being said, a lot of these multiplayer games that were all the rage back around the Gamecube came out? Can you still play those games online? And if you can, are you able to do it on the original console or did you have to buy a new console with a HD release of the game? All I know is that I can pop in any of my "behind the times" Gamecube games and they still work. Can't really hop online and play Halo 2 or Rainbow 6 anymore on my original Xbox. And if I can, are other people playing? I don't seem that have that problem with Super Mario Sunshine.

Sorry, I have a chip on my shoulder from that era about that subject. I said this before, but I think multiplayer gaming as a whole is VASTLY overrated. I'm not saying it doesn't have its place and other people shouldn't enjoy it. I just value the single player experience that much more.

I'm getting old.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Nintendo Gamecube.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Metroid Prime
Mario Kart Double Dash
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Resident Evil 4 (first)
Tales of Symphona (first)
Lost Kingdoms
Donkey Konga
Mario Party
Star Fox Adventures
Super Mario Sunshine
Pikmin
The best version of Soul Calibur II
Super Monkey Ball

Quality system.

It's nice to see at least one other person appreciates Star Fox Adventures. I never understood all the hate, but seems almost universal.

[Sephex]

Nintendo Gamecube.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Metroid Prime
Mario Kart Double Dash
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Resident Evil 4 (first)
Tales of Symphona (first)
Lost Kingdoms
Donkey Konga
Mario Party
Star Fox Adventures
Super Mario Sunshine
Pikmin
The best version of Soul Calibur II
Super Monkey Ball

Quality system.

It's nice to see at least one other person appreciates Star Fox Adventures. I never understood all the hate, but seems almost universal.

Though I have no horse in this race, my understanding is that people just wanted another Star Fox 64. It didn't help that what little flying there was in the game was actually good, so that was a bit frustrating. Also at this time, many gamers were really, really burnt out on Rare collect-a-thons. After two Banjo-Kazooie games and Donkey Kong 64 (which made the collecting elements in the Banjo games look minuscule in comparison. Also, the game did not help itself by having a very odd opening full of a fictional language. No skin off my back, but that kind of thing rubs people the wrong way if you open with that. Most people rather be eased into a world.

I think the game would have been fine if it was an original IP. The problem is you put the face of a rail shooter on the cover of a collect-a-thon. That sort of highlighted the flaws in those type of games while irritating an entire fanbase that just wanted to shot shit in space.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Nintendo Gamecube.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Metroid Prime
Mario Kart Double Dash
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Resident Evil 4 (first)
Tales of Symphona (first)
Lost Kingdoms
Donkey Konga
Mario Party
Star Fox Adventures
Super Mario Sunshine
Pikmin
The best version of Soul Calibur II
Super Monkey Ball

Quality system.

It's nice to see at least one other person appreciates Star Fox Adventures. I never understood all the hate, but seems almost universal.

Though I have no horse in this race, my understanding is that people just wanted another Star Fox 64. It didn't help that what little flying there was in the game was actually good, so that was a bit frustrating. Also at this time, many gamers were really, really burnt out on Rare collect-a-thons. After two Banjo-Kazooie games and Donkey Kong 64 (which made the collecting elements in the Banjo games look minuscule in comparison. Also, the game did not help itself by having a very odd opening full of a fictional language. No skin off my back, but that kind of thing rubs people the wrong way if you open with that. Most people rather be eased into a world.

I think the game would have been fine if it was an original IP. The problem is you put the face of a rail shooter on the cover of a collect-a-thon. That sort of highlighted the flaws in those type of games while irritating an entire fanbase that just wanted to shot trout in space.

I hear those complaints, and I'm guilty of some of that myself with franchises. I do think fans are shooting ourselves in the foot with it though. We want developers to make a franchise out of games we really like because we want them to recapture the magic, but also make the sequels fresh and new. That's pretty difficult. Especially by game number 3 or 4. Star Fox is basically the same shooter retelling the same story every time. They're afraid to do anything new with it or progress the story. After Adventures, who knows if they ever will.

A lot of the bigger games create whole world and/or some really indepth lore that can lend itself well to other types of games. There's a ton of time and effort put into the worlds, and it would be nice to see more of those big worlds utilized to more of their potential.

One example I mention is how I'd like to see a mission based action platformer/shooter using The Turks from FFVII. The Turks are a pretty popular part of the game. They're a black ops/espionage group. Y'know, a less evil KGB/CIA. There could be a lot of fun story telling to be had by creating a game based off of their adventures investigating Jenova, sabotaging competitors, and other types of nefarious stuff. You could create your team for each mission based on the different members strengths. There's enough FFVII lore to chock the game full of familiar references and other neat things if done correctly.

Dirge of Cerebus wasn't a great game, but it was nice to see Square try a totally different game set in the FFVII universe. They had the right idea, but the game play itself was a bit weak.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I actually like Star Fox adventures I’m pretty sure. I haven’t played it in a lot of years, but I enjoyed it.

[Aulayna]

Damn I just realised I forgot the iconic Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem from my list.

[Cell]

I still have my Saturn, Dreamcast and Gamecube. I sold my 360 and PS4 a while back. I was playing the previous three more than the newer two.

[CimminyCricket]

Sega Saturn had some of my favorite games.

The PSVita is underrated cause it's basically a hand held PS1 and in the era of ultimate nostalgia, it is number 1!