Forgotten Consoles

Every so often you come across a games system that you've<br/>never seen, or even heard of, before...

Feature by Steve Adams | 12 Nov 2006
Scouring the bargin basement bin of the internet (more commonly know
as eBay) every so often you come across a games system that you've
never seen, or even heard of, before. Sometimes a console is born
that, despite being actually not too bad, disappears quickly into memory. It may have been too pricey, not had enough support, or just been really badly marketed, but it may still be worth your time to explore. Here's a few of those forgotten gems…

Neogeo Pocket
You may actually have heard of this one, especially if you like your arcade
games. A nifty little handheld, riding on the back of its arcade
cousin's shoulders, it employed a colour screen to rival Nintendo's
Gameboy Colour, which had a surprisingly decent selection of games. It
was small, easy on batteries, and boasted a stick controller instead
of a D-Pad. The games were pretty good, but with slow sales and just
not enough third party support, it died shortly afterwards. This is a
pity, as it could have been a contender for Nintendo's handheld crown…

GAMES – Puzzle Bobble, Sonic The Hedgehog, Namco Golf, King Of Fighters


Wonderswan
Bandi's WonderSwan was available in ten case colors, playable both
vertically and horizontally (looking damn odd doing it), and featured
a fairly large library of games. It's ultimate failing was
that 90% of these were in Japanese and were never translated into
English, making its success in Europe and the US impossible. It has to
be said though, that even if more of its games were translated, it was
never marketed to a European audience, and so had little chance of making
it anyway.

GAMES – Final Fantasy II, Golden Axe, Rainbow Islands



Nintendo Virtual Boy

Seen more as a 'gimmick' than a serious console, looking like an old
VR helmet, with an astonishing two-colour display – red and black. The effect was that it all looked 3D, and it worked. It worked very well. However it's size made it hard to use and it needed six AA batteries to power. Decent games, but no European release, meant it never caught on.

GAMES – Warioland, Mario Tennis, Tetris
None of the consoles are in production any more, but you can find out more about them at :
http://www.virtual-boy.org for the Virtual Boy,
http://www.neogeo.org.uk for the Neogeo Pocket and
http://www.wonderswan.co.uk for the Wonderswan.