Most overrated video game console of all time

[Brave Volunteer]

I thought this might be a fun topic to discuss. What in your opinion is the most overrated game console of all time? Now, just to make clear what I mean by overrated. Overrated does not = bad. I'm not looking for what was the most "****" console of all time, as those can get identified pretty quickly. I mean, which console do you think is looked back on more favorably than perhaps it deserves. I think this could spark some fun debates/discussions.

For me, the most overrated console in history is without a doubt the Gamecube. I know a lot of people look back on that console with a lot of fondness but as someone who owned all 3 consoles that generation, I played my PS2 and Xbox way more! Other than Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Smash Bros, Double Dash, and Zelda Windwaker I hardly ever touched my Gamecube. I thought it suffered from what most Nintendo consoles post-SNES era suffered from, which was not enough 3rd party support and too long of a time gap between major 1st party releases. If the Gamecube had been my only console in the house at the time I actually would've been kind of pissed.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

I do think the Gamecube has a "nostalgia bias" but IMO it's worse with the Dreamcast. I think it's looked back upon a tad too fondly. I loved it but I think the love for it is more because it turned into a big "what if" more than what it actually accomplished. I sort of rank the Dreamcast first and the Gamecube second in this area. Both underperformed and the DC caused Sega to abandon consoles entirely and the failure of the Gamecube made Nintendo fundamentally change their marketing approach to where they no longer try to compete with Sony and Microsoft on the same level, almost like they made their own category.

And I say this as someone who bought 2 Dreamcasts and I played every game on the system that I wanted to and finished them all and it's by far the system that lacks the most games for me. In comparison the Gamecube I probably still owned double the games.

 

[CubsFanTN]

The N64. But honestly, the head-first dive into 3D gaming had to be made at some point so I can't blame them. There were some obvious gems (Goldeneye, The Zeldas) and a few really fun games peppered in, but Mario, Mario Kart, DK Country, Starfox were decidedly worse than their SNES predecessors. Conker, Banjo, Perfect Dark were overrated in my opinion. And that controller....sheesh.

 

[YankeeVol]

Dreamcast. It was a great system, just not enough games.

My grandparents kept one for years at their house on the lake for the kids.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

The N64. But honestly, the head-first dive into 3D gaming had to be made at some point so I can't blame them. There were some obvious gems (Goldeneye, The Zeldas) and a few really fun games peppered in, but Mario, Mario Kart, DK Country, Starfox were decidedly worse than their SNES predecessors. Conker, Banjo, Perfect Dark were overrated in my opinion. And that controller....sheesh.

My problem with the N64 is almost every game felt like it had to be in the same 3D platform style.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

I do think the Gamecube has a "nostalgia bias" but IMO it's worse with the Dreamcast. I think it's looked back upon a tad too fondly. I loved it but I think the love for it is more because it turned into a big "what if" more than what it actually accomplished. I sort of rank the Dreamcast first and the Gamecube second in this area. Both underperformed and the DC caused Sega to abandon consoles entirely and the failure of the Gamecube made Nintendo fundamentally change their marketing approach to where they no longer try to compete with Sony and Microsoft on the same level, almost like they made their own category.

And I say this as someone who bought 2 Dreamcasts and I played every game on the system that I wanted to and finished them all and it's by far the system that lacks the most games for me. In comparison the Gamecube I probably still owned double the games.

Oooh I don't know man. I really liked the Dreamcast. I still think it had one of the best launch lineups in history, it was the first home console that had built in online gaming, and the sports games on it were fire! I bought my Dreamcast day one and walked home with NFL 2K, Soul Caliber, Sonic Adventure, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, Hydrothunder, and Power Stone. Plus it had a lot of other great games like Virtua Fighter, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Phantasy Star Online, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Sega Rally Championship, NBA 2K, NHL 2K, World Series Baseball, Virtua Fighter 3, Dead or Alive, etc. I played my DC overall way more than I ever played Gamecube.

My biggest complaint about the Dreamcast was it's controller design. I could not believe Sega released a one analogue stick controller after dual sticks had already become standard with the Dualshock controller on the PS1. There were certain games that were literally unplayable with the Dreamcast controller! I had a game called Virtual On that forced me to import a dual arcade stick accessory just to play the damn thing.

 

[CubsFanTN]

My problem with the N64 is almost every game felt like it had to be in the same 3D platform style.

Yep, they missed the opportunity to keep making great side scrollers with better graphics and more functionality and kind of mix that in with the 3D stuff. N64 was definitely the shortest lived console in my house growing up.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Yep, they missed the opportunity to keep making great side scrollers with better graphics and more functionality and kind of mix that in with the 3D stuff. N64 was definitely the shortest lived console in my house growing up.

The only reason I put the Gamecube ahead of the N64 in terms of being overrated was because Super Mario 64 was such a watershed moment in 3D polygonal console gaming. Frankly I don't think anything since then has been quite as impactful. Gamecube certainly never had a game like that. I would never in my life say a console is worth one game but Super Mario 64 probably came about as close as anything to meeting that criteria.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Yep, they missed the opportunity to keep making great side scrollers with better graphics and more functionality and kind of mix that in with the 3D stuff. N64 was definitely the shortest lived console in my house growing up.

Their decision to stick with carts also doomed them because the 3rd party support disappeared.

 

[CubsFanTN]

The only reason I put the Gamecube ahead of the N64 in terms of being overrated was because Super Mario 64 was such a watershed moment in 3D polygonal console gaming. Frankly I don't think anything since then has been quite as impactful. Gamecube certainly never had a game like that. I would never in my life say a console is worth one game but Super Mario 64 probably came about as close as anything to meeting that criteria.

I definitely get that. I know a lot of people still play Mario 64, there's one guy on YouTube that's playing it like every week on his live stream. Maybe it's just me and I personally wasn't ready for that kind of change. I wanted more of what Mario had always been and would quickly become again.

I never owned a GC and never heard any stellar reviews about it either. I do remember hearing that Wind Waker was an amazing game, but never played it.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

I definitely get that. I know a lot of people still play Mario 64, there's one guy on YouTube that's playing it like every week on his live stream. Maybe it's just me and I personally wasn't ready for that kind of change. I wanted more of what Mario had always been and would quickly become again.

I never owned a GC and never heard any stellar reviews about it either. I do remember hearing that Wind Waker was an amazing game, but never played it.

Everybody talks about Mario 64 but the game that everyone forgets about that I thought was just as awesome was Waverace 64! For it's time I thought the water physics were incredible! I played the living hell out of that game back in the day.

 

[CubsFanTN]

Everybody talks about Mario 64 but the game that everyone forgets about that I thought was just as awesome was Waverace 64! For it's time I thought the water physics were incredible! I played the living hell out of that game back in the day.

Hmm...this thread has me thinking about finding an emu and maybe playing a few things. I could go for some Mario Tennis.

 

[Christian Lowe]

Overrated? PS4. Hands down. The PS3/360 era was golden and they had the audacity to not make their system backwards compatible with those games. Xbox One was panned, but at least they retroactively introduced backwards compatibility. None of the PlayStations can play PS3 games to this day. It’s ridiculous.

 

[YankeeVol]

Everybody talks about Mario 64 but the game that everyone forgets about that I thought was just as awesome was Waverace 64! For it's time I thought the water physics were incredible! I played the living hell out of that game back in the day.

To this day, that was the Christmas I most remember. I played the heck out of WaveRace 64 (and Mario and later Goldeneye)

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Overrated? PS4. Hands down. The PS3/360 era was golden and they had the audacity to not make their system backwards compatible with those games. Xbox One was panned, but at least they retroactively introduced backwards compatibility. None of the PlayStations can play PS3 games to this day. It’s ridiculous.

Speaking of that, I didn't like for the Wii and PS3 they removed backwards compatibility on the later models. Lucky for me I got the first wave models that still work.

 

[C/O]

To this day, that was the Christmas I most remember. I played the heck out of WaveRace 64 (and Mario and later Goldeneye)

And don’t forget possibly the greatest game of all time, Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

I still laugh when I see a chicken in someone yard. I just have the urge to go kick it and see what happens.

 

[CardsNVols]

I agree the N64 is probably overrated, but it will always be one of my personal favorites just because of the fun I had with it as a kid. And even though it was only a handful of games, some of them remain all-time greats.

But they should have switched to disc technology and competed directly with Sony. Would have definitely expanded the number of strong titles and likely made the Gamecube much more successful. Nintendo really should've filled the niche that Xbox ultimately did. Factor in the brand recognition and worldwide renowned franchises (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.) and it would probably still be #1 in the market.

Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. They've remained very strong in the handheld market though, and overall I think the Switch has been awesome.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

And don’t forget possibly the greatest game of all time, Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

I still laugh when I see a chicken in someone yard. I just have the urge to go kick it and see what happens.

I'll get crap for this but....I enjoyed Majora's Mask more than OoT.

Also IMO the best Zelda game is A Link to the Past.

 

[CardsNVols]

And don’t forget possibly the greatest game of all time, Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

I still laugh when I see a chicken in someone yard. I just have the urge to go kick it and see what happens.

Probably an unpopular opinion, and not trying to hijack the thread, but I thought Majora was better.

Both are phenomenal games, but for whatever reason, when I replayed both a few years ago, I was struck by how much more fun I had replaying MM. It was so dark for a Zelda game.

 

[CardsNVols]

I'll get crap for this but....I enjoyed Majora's Mask more than OoT.

Also IMO the best Zelda game is A Link to the Past.

Damn near posted the same thing at almost the same time.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Damn near posted the same thing at almost the same time.

Yeah I love OoT but something about MM just grabbed me more. It was weird and oddly more emotional and heartfelt to me. I risk sounding like a pansy but honestly that game has a few moments that had me a tad weepy, like the end when the Skull Kid is like he doesn't have any friends and the Giants reveal they are his friends and he was manipulated. And parts like when you get the Goron mask and the Goron ghost follows you around and reveals he used to be a champion and is depressed and then it shows them all cheering for him. And the one Deku who said he lost his son and you realize it's the dead Deku from the beginning and the ending shows briefly the father finding him.

 

[CardsNVols]

Yeah I love OoT but something about MM just grabbed me more. It was weird and oddly more emotional and heartfelt to me. I risk sounding like a pansy but honestly that game has a few moments that had me a tad weepy, like the end when the Skull Kid is like he doesn't have any friends and the Giants reveal they are his friends and he was manipulated. And parts like when you get the Goron mask and the Goron ghost follows you around and reveals he used to be a champion and is depressed and then it shows them all cheering for him. And the one Deku who said he lost his son and you realize it's the dead Deku from the beginning and the ending shows briefly the father finding him.

I think that's one of the best things about it and why I enjoyed it so much. There's actually some emotion and heart in MM. It doesn't play around with dark subject matter either. Death and mortality is one of the central themes of the game. The little girl in Ikana Valley hugging her dad when he turns back human is another heart tugging moment in that game.

And it had some of the best side quests of any linear game I've ever played. The mask trading sequences alone were amazing. I think the only reason that game wasn't bigger is because of how late it came along in the N64's lifecycle. By that point it was straight up competing against the Gamecube and PS2, and it STILL got a cult following almost immediately.

 

[C/O]

I think that's one of the best things about it and why I enjoyed it so much. There's actually some emotion and heart in MM. It doesn't play around with dark subject matter either. Death and mortality is one of the central themes of the game. The little girl in Ikana Valley hugging her dad when he turns back human is another heart tugging moment in that game.

And it had some of the best side quests of any linear game I've ever played. The mask trading sequences alone were amazing. I think the only reason that game wasn't bigger is because of how late it came along in the N64's lifecycle. By that point it was straight up competing against the Gamecube and PS2, and it STILL got a cult following almost immediately.

Don’t get me wrong MM was great and all. But to me it just felt like it was part 2 of OoT.

 

[C/O]

To this day, that was the Christmas I most remember. I played the heck out of WaveRace 64 (and Mario and later Goldeneye)

I mean here is the real question. Did you allow Oddjob when you played multiplayer? Or where you the jerk that always grabbed him?

 

[VolInNorthCack]

Dreamcast was the most UNDERRATED console of all time. Way ahead of it's time. i wish I still had mine.

GameCube was definitely most overrated. Trash.