Who Owned An "Unpopular" System?

[DracIsBack]

If they count then also the dreamcast, N64, and gamecube.

 

 

I don't really count those. These are consoles that have all sold ten million or more units. To put it in perspective, the Jaguar sold (reportedly) less than 500K.

 

There's a difference to me between "not the market leader" and "unpopular". All three of those had solid fan bases, a fairly large library of games etc.

[geosteve]

I bought the NEC TG/16 when they first came out, and always preferred this system to the Genesis (which I finally got about 2-3 years later). With the TG/16 I have about 20 games, the TurboBooster add-on, the 5 controller adaptor, and the arcade stick.

 

Still have it today and still works great!

[Tempest]

I wouldn't mind stumbling across a Creativision in the wild . . . It's probably the rarest US system, don't even think they get eBayed that often

 

You're going to be looking for a long long time. The Creativision was never released in the US. The only NTSC version was released in Japan (I believe it was called the Funvision). I've never seen one of those but I'd love to get one.

 

Tempest

[Shannon]

If they count then also the dreamcast, N64, and gamecube.

 

I don't really count those. These are consoles that have all sold ten million or more units. To put it in perspective, the Jaguar sold (reportedly) less than 500K.

 

There's a difference to me between "not the market leader" and "unpopular". All three of those had solid fan bases, a fairly large library of games etc.

 

Not that I'm good with numbers, but is that really fair. Because nowadays gaming is alot more common than it used to be. Whereas in the early days it was just getting started.

 

But still, that is why I said if they count, because they are close. But I never got the impression of the N64 being very popular.

[ApolloBoy]

I have a Game Gear that I played alot when I was little.

[Kialan]

If they count then also the dreamcast, N64, and gamecube.

... I never got the impression of the N64 being very popular.

 

Funny, those consoles were very popular around here. Everyone had one. It's probably a regional thing.

[MADrigal]

You're going to be looking for a long long time. The Creativision was never released in the US. The only NTSC version was released in Japan (I believe it was called the Funvision). I've never seen one of those but I'd love to get one.

 

Tempest

 

 

No you're wrong. Funvision was PAL, and it's a clone to Rameses sold through Hanimex. Both were sold in Australia.

 

The NTSC version of creativision is simply... creatiVision, and it was released in Japan. I have one boxed (present of a dearest friend, who owns one too), and I'm not 100% sure it's NTSC. I need to build an adapter for the Power Supply, and test it shortly.

 

I can tell you that the Japanese version is powered by a DC adaptor, which is different to other models (Italian, Australian) having AC adaptor.

 

If you want to see pictures of the Japanese creatiVision, jump to my site:

 

http://www.madrigaldesign.it/creativemu/ -> go to the "Releases page" and download the Jap pictures.

 

On the site you'll find around 150 sets of scans from boxes, carts, manuals, etc. Furthermore, I also released a new version of the FunnyMu Emulator for Windows/Linux, the graphical interface, and a bunch of new (very rare!) ROM dumps.

 

We're also accepting pre-orders for the MULTICART, a single cartridge featuring all existing creatiVision games and utilities. All infos on the site.

[BONK]

Same here, I was gaming it up on the Saturn while all my friends were telling me it was crap, playing their PS1s. I didn't care, though, I had Sonic, Nights into Dreams, Vf2, and Clockwork Knight 1/2.

Saturn crap? Never it had alot of arcade perfect ports especially with fighters that PS1 could never do. PS1 xmen vs street fighter sucked so bad that it couldn't even do the 2 player system. Where as the saturn could. It might have been an unpopular system over here but in japan they had alot more for it. I would take saturn over poopstation 1 any day. As for me I own Texas TI-99 Channle F can't think of much more...

[Gregory DG]

Boy, this is an old thread, huh?

 

Hmm... I only ever owned Atari back in the 80's. So unless you count the Atari 400/800XL as unpopular I never owned an unpopular one. My friends had a Coleco, Intelly, Adam, etc. But not me. No sir. I was going to stick with what was popular right up until the Jaguar was released.

[Dr. Morbis]

I had a TRS-80 mini-computer thing called the MC-10 when I was a kid and man did it suck. It came with this book where you would literally type out the command lines of the game into basic yourself before you could play them. You don't know what suckage is until you spend 2 hours typing out code (and looking for your numerous typos) only to find out after 30 seconds of play that the game sucks absolute balls.

 

I still own the MC-10 my parents bought me too: complete with the box and its $199.99 price tag. Ouch!

[warmachine]

Back in 98 or so, I found a super a'can while I was doing some urban exploring.

I thought that it was some kind of super nintendo ripoff, but the super nintendo games didn't fit in the cartridge slot.

I never did find any games for it so I eventually threw it away.

[Cheese007]

My latest "unpopular" purchase appears to be the Gamecube which will probably be added to this list a few years from now by all appearences.

Now thats just creepy. Especially since that is the only unpopular system I've owned when it was current.

[Prodos8]

My family had an Apple ///+ back in the day that my dad purchased in a computer store liquidation sale (remember those) for around $250 with monitor back in '86. This was well after the ///'s hay-day. He bought it mainly because my brother and I would complain to no end that his 'work' was interfering with our gaming time. Thank heavens ///ez pieces was compatible with AppleWorks files and the generic Apple // PIO card, w/proper SOS driver of course.

 

Except for a few people I met at a user group meeting for the ///, I knew of no one else with one. My friends would come over and be like WTF is that thing?

[nester]

The first system I ever played was the Atari 7800. I must've been about 4 years old when my grandma got that thing. I was amazed by the thing because it seemed really old to me. I guess that's not a very good sign for the system itself. When we got the NES in '89 it only made me love the 7800 even more. I've still got it proudly displayed in my collection.

 

A few years back I got a Neo Geo Pocket color when they were starting to go on clearance. It always surprised me how much fun that system was, and I played the heck out of it. I used to love carrying it around college with me and showing it off to all my nerdy friends. I was looking for a girl who would be impressed by that. I guess that's what I'm still looking for.

 

Up until 2005 the only current system I had was a Gamecube. I've always been kinda loyal to the ol' Gamecube, and I'm still upset that Resident Evil 4 came out on PS2.

[ratfink]

I had a Timex Sinclair 2068, the American version of the UK's Spectrum computer and the computer that came after the TS1000 and TS1500. Talk about a flop. It never caught on and was discontinued about 3 months after its release. My parents bought it for me so you can't really blame me for buying such a strange computer. I actually loved it and wrote a bunch of BASIC games on it for my friends to play.

[Tempest]

My family had an Apple ///+ back in the day that my dad purchased in a computer store liquidation sale (remember those) for around $250 with monitor back in '86. This was well after the ///'s hay-day. He bought it mainly because my brother and I would complain to no end that his 'work' was interfering with our gaming time. Thank heavens ///ez pieces was compatible with AppleWorks files and the generic Apple // PIO card, w/proper SOS driver of course.

 

Except for a few people I met at a user group meeting for the ///, I knew of no one else with one. My friends would come over and be like WTF is that thing?

 

I remember the construction office at our new subdivision had an Apple /// (this was about 89-90), and I had never seen one before. I always had an Apple IIe growing up, and had never ever heard of an Apple ///. Of course I naturally assumed it was better than my IIe (3 > 2 after all). Now I realize that it was actually inferior.

 

I'd still like to get my hands on one. They're sort of like the Edsel of the classic Apple world.

 

Tempest

[Jess Ragan]

My first game system was an unpopular one. When you consider that I owned an Odyssey2, it's hard to believe that I'm still playing video games today.

 

JR

[shadow460]

My family owned an Emerson Arcadia 2001, and I loved it. The games were graphically superior to the VCS, and the programmers dared to try new things with their games. Look at Star Chess for example, with the shooting and warping away.

Most of the new features detracted from the games, but a few added a lot to them. I liked the catnip in Cat Trax that would let you warp if you needed to, but would yield a bonus after a few minutes if you didn't use the warp.

 

I also proudly own two Sega Game Gears. they might not be quite as advanced, but with default color graphics, the backlight, and the ability to play home games from the Master System, they have no problem besting the Color Game Boy. The short battery life is over hyped, and can be remedied with inexpensive NiMH cells. The Game Gear's software lineup could stand to be better, though.

[Pengwin]

I was also a Saturn owner, although not until after the Dreamcast came out.

 

The most obscure system I owned, and still do own, is probably the Oric Atmos. I was a vastly underrated machine, comparable to the Spectrum, but suffered from last of support and advertising, as well as arriving on the scene after Sinclair had pretty much sown up the UK market.

[BassGuitari]

This was well after the ///'s hay-day.

 

The Apple III had a heyday?

[RangerG]

The only system I ever had growing up was the TRS-80 color computer 1. I think it had 4k and the really hard chicklet keyboard which was a real pain when typing all those type-in games that usually turned out to be pretty bad. I upgraded to 32k over the years, but it didn't stop friends from mocking my "Trash 80".

[Steril707]

Well, i was given a homepong system, made by a german company called Telefunken around 1983, but i wanted a 2600 off course.

My first computer was a Vtech "Laser VZ 200", at around the time everybody of my friends had a C64 (that was 1985). Later in that year i got a cheap Sanyo MSX homecomputer, which had a nice basic interpreter, but nothing else. So while my frineds played all of these cool games for their C64, i had to program my own little stuff.

In 86, after all these nice computer i finally got a C64, and life was good.

[Steril707]

Well, i was given a homepong system, made by a german company called Telefunken around 1983, but i wanted a 2600 off course.

My first computer was a Vtech "Laser VZ 200", at around the time everybody of my friends had a C64 (that was 1985). Later in that year i got a cheap Sanyo MSX homecomputer, which had a nice basic interpreter, but nothing else. So while my frineds played all of these cool games for their C64, i had to program my own little stuff.

In 86, after all these niche computers i finally got a C64, and life was good.

Edited June 8, 2007 by Steril707

[Prodos8]

My family had an Apple ///+ back in the day that my dad purchased in a computer store liquidation sale (remember those) for around $250 with monitor back in '86. This was well after the ///'s hay-day. He bought it mainly because my brother and I would complain to no end that his 'work' was interfering with our gaming time. Thank heavens ///ez pieces was compatible with AppleWorks files and the generic Apple // PIO card, w/proper SOS driver of course.

 

Except for a few people I met at a user group meeting for the ///, I knew of no one else with one. My friends would come over and be like WTF is that thing?

 

I remember the construction office at our new subdivision had an Apple /// (this was about 89-90), and I had never seen one before. I always had an Apple IIe growing up, and had never ever heard of an Apple ///. Of course I naturally assumed it was better than my IIe (3 > 2 after all). Now I realize that it was actually inferior.

 

I'd still like to get my hands on one. They're sort of like the Edsel of the classic Apple world.

 

Tempest

From a technical stand-point its actually better than the //e, out of the box anyway. The ///+ had 256k base ram, built in floppy drive, 80-cols, numeric keypad, double rez graphics, 16 color text mode foreground & background, and a re-definable text character set. Yeah that's right the text character set was stored in ram and could be redefined. There was a kick-ass demo that came with the thing that showed this array of horses running in place (an animation) and then they started to gallop across the screen. I assumed it was double-res, since it had 16-colors, but no it was done by redefining the text character set to make the animation possible. Oh, and business basic put standard applesoft to shame.

 

Anyway the dismal hardware sales led to no software support. So the // series ended up eclipsing it.

 

My dad ended up abandoning his in 2004, along with an external drive (housed in a disk II case) and three silentype printers when he sold his house. It had been in the attic for 15+ years or so. IIRC correctly it still worked except for the 'D' key on the keyboard it was flaky. He wanted me to throw it away, but I ended up leaving it boxed up in the attic for the new home owners to find. Hope, they didn't just throw it away. I would have taken the thing but didn't really have space for it, its big like the 5200.

[Ross PK]

Okay, I had an Acorn Electron which was my first computer/games system, and after that an Atari 800XL. The reason why I got these two was bnecause my mum bought them me, and I did really enjoy them, and still do.

 

The next one would be the N64, can't remember whether I got it because my mum bought it me or whether I actually choose to get it. If it was the latter it would've been because of Goldeneye. I never really did enjoy this console, apart from Goldeneye on it, but how often and for how long can you play the same game and nothing else?

 

The next and final one is the Dreamcast which I picked and paid for myself, I got it before it was out long enough to be considered as popular or as being a flop. I got it because the games really looked like my kinda games on it, and I wasn't dissapointed at all. The console was actually supposed to have been selling well too over here in the UK before Sega pulled the plug on it.

Edited June 8, 2007 by Ross PK