There have been a plethora of handheld video game consoles, going back to the first one, the Microvision from 1979. While many fans know and love consoles like the Nintendo Game Boy and Valve Steam Deck, they’re outliers. Throughout the history of handheld gaming, most devices were forgettable, barely functional pieces of machinery with paltry game libraries that often cost more than they were worth. We’ve compiled a list of the five worst ones ever made, and they’re ranked on how poorly they sold, how crummy their library was, and how much players disliked them.
Videos by ComicBook.com
5) Tiger Game.com
Tiger Electronics, the company renowned for its line of handheld LCD games, released the Game.com in 1997, and on paper, it was a relatively advanced device. It boasted a digital touchscreen, limited internet connectivity, dual cartridge slots, and some web functionality. It was essentially a PDA with gaming features, combining them into one device. While that’s what cell phones ultimately became, the Game.com is an easily forgettable marketing and sales nightmare. Its game library was minuscule, it had a monochrome screen, and it was limited in various ways, making it unappealing. After Tiger killed it in 2000, it had sold fewer than 300,000 units.
4) Atari Lynx
Atari entered the handheld console wars with the Atari Lynx in 1990, hoping to dominate with its advanced features over the Nintendo Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, and NEC TurboExpress. The Lynx was an innovative console that allowed left- or right-handed gameplay and featured a 16-bit processor with a color display. The system wasn’t a total failure; Atari released a smaller version, but it was limited to 73 games. The Game Boy, for comparison, had more than 1,000. The Lynx’s display also chewed up batteries and caused eye strain for many players. As a result, it didn’t offer much competition for the other handhelds of its era.
3) Tiger Gizmondo
Having suffered an embarrassing defeat via the Game.com, Tiger Electronics returned with vigor in 2005 with the release of the Gizmondo. It sold primarily in Europe and remained available for less than a year, with fewer than 25,000 units sold. That’s a disastrous number, and it’s easy to see why it failed. While it boasted a digital camera, a GPS chip, and cellular connectivity for SMS and MMS, it had only 13 games, none of which were noteworthy. Only eight of those games were released in the U.S. for those consumers unfortunate enough to possess a Gizmondo, so it doesn’t have a great reputation.
2) Sega Nomad
If you had an extensive Sega Genesis library, the Sega Nomad, released in 1995, was definitely on your radar. The system was essentially a portable Genesis with a 3.25” backlit color screen, and it could play Genesis cartridges. Sega sold the handheld exclusively in North America and region-locked it to NTSC-format games sold in the United States, limiting its commercial availability. This was partly what killed it, because the Nomad was a failure, having sold around 1 million copies before it was discontinued. While a good idea at the time, the execution and its eagerness to eat up countless batteries made it fail in the marketplace.
1) Nokia N-Gage
Before cell phones became proper mobile gaming platforms, Nokia pioneered mobile gaming with Snake in 1998. Hoping to expand on this, Nokia created the N-Gage, a combination cellphone/handheld gaming console with swappable cartridges. Unfortunately, the design was terrible, requiring it to be held uncomfortably for communication, earning the nickname “Taco.” You also had to open the rear compartment and remove the battery to change games, which was way too much of a hassle when compared to other systems available in 2003. It only had 64 games, most of which were terrible ports that looked awful on its screen, making the N-Gage the worst handheld of all time.
Dishonorable Mention – Nintendo Virtual Boy
The Nintendo Virtual Boy isn’t exactly a handheld or a regular console; it falls somewhere in between. That’s why it gets a dishonorable mention here because it’s easily the worst console Nintendo ever created. The device would sit on a table, with the player leaning into the goggles. They controlled the game using a wired controller, though only 22 games were ever released. Nintendo rushed it through development, and it should never have been sold, as most players reported severe eye strain and migraines from minimal use. Nintendo killed the device after a year, selling only 770,000 units.
Did we leave off your most hated console? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios -
Image courtesy of Rare -
A screenshot from Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
