For me it was Xbox One. From day one (no pun intended) it just didn’t feel good to me. The UI experience never got away from being awful. The system itself was a sluggish awful mess. It should never take more than 3 seconds to load your options menu . On top of that Everytime I turned on my console it would take a half hour or more to update. The must have games just never came. The games they did come played worse than nearly anywhere else. If I was a teenage when I bought this system and played everyday some of these short comings could have been avoided. But as an adult it just felt terrible . From here I went back to Pc gaming made a rig that would destroy any console at the time. It was so bad to me I canceled my Xbox Live Subscription I had for 15 years ! That killed my love to Xbox entirely.
Probably second place was the PS3 but I bought it at the end of the generation and never got the exclusives I should have …
I can’t say xbox series x disappointed me, but compared to playstation it felt meh - probably due to as unenthusiastic UI as a gaming console can get. I guess I was lucky with consoles if this is the biggest issue.
Master System 2
Super Nintendo
Game Boy
PlayStation
PlayStation 2
GameBoy Advance SP
PlayStation Portable
PlayStation 3
New 3DS
Steam DeckI honestly think the 3DS was probably the most disappointing; I bought it on a whim 2nd hand from EB Games along with a copy of a Pokémon game (I don’t remember which). Mechanics hadn’t evolved much since Pokémon Blue, and the experience was kinda “meh” overall.
I also dabbled with a few other games, but nothing gripped me. The only saving grace for that console was that it rapidly appreciated in value since my purchase (like 5x?) due to the relative rarity of that particular colorway.
I haven’t gotten into a console since SNES.
I bought a PS5, played it a few times, but it gathers dust. I think it was last powered up in 2024. I don’t find the games fun.
What games do you play?
Meta Quest 3s. It was an initially a cool way of playing games but the novelty soon wore off and most games are not that good with VR. Up until then I iterated through Nintendo systems and was always satisfied.
Hm, that’s tough.
For perspective, I’ve owned a lot of systems from the NES on.
The first year of the Nintendo DS. The (first, Grey) system was quite ugly and there really wasn’t much great software coming out. That all changed after the first year, oh boy. My favorite system ever now.
The Wii. Too much gimmick stuff distracting from the experience (eg metroid wiimote shooting and wiimote sideways). So much shovelware!. It’s still a nice system (especially considering backwards compatibility too) but still.
I also had the 32X and virtual boy at some point of time but did not regret them as I knew what I was getting. After burner, star wars and virtua racing or (then) cheap stereoscopic red games.
The Wii. Too much gimmick stuff distracting from the experience (eg metroid wiimote shooting and wiimote sideways). So much shovelware!. It’s still a nice system (especially considering backwards compatibility too) but still.
It’s funny you say the controls distract from the experience, when I’d argue they add to the experience.
You ask me, the Wii is great and just keeps getting better, even now, with active homebrew communities. Many games allow you to choose what controller type you want, and there is a lot of creativity in the different games for using the Wiimote (though you may find those gimmicky). The biggest downside is trying to play if your TV is near a window and the sun is out. You have to close the blinds or it messes with the IR sensor.
Switch is easily my least played console. Its library was nearly entirely made up of games I already played on the Wii U. On top of that they had the cheek to require a subscription to play online. No thanks.
In my case, there were two:
- Phillips CDi (need I day more?)
- PS2 after having a Dreamcast and a Gamecube
Switch was what made me realize golden era of gaming was over, but it took about a year to set in because of the disconnect between the NX presentation and the actual product.
Seriously, go take a look at the original NX Switch presentation and it would almost seem that Nintendo was selling a completely different product.
All of the Wii era inspired hardware went mostly unused because the Switch couldn’t play Wii games, and Nintendo didn’t bother to even port their own titles outside of recycled Wii U content that didn’t sell well on the original console.
The software similarly was a joke. I have more functionality on a Nintendo DS than a Switch, and that isn’t even including “unofficial” homebrew. You can’t even voice chat with your friends without using an external app, which is insane considering the DS, DSi, 3DS, Wii, and Wii U that preceded this.
Major features that gave Nintendo the edge were gone. DS Downlaod Play, Streetpass, included minigames & apps, themes, free online, eshop points, wifi events, etc.
On top of that, the library was just not interesting enough to warrant paying $60 a pop for single player games, and the multiplayer selection was sparse, despite the main feature of the console being joycon controllers.
I got bored of it after only a year, and ended up having to change the joycon c-sticks a couple years later because of the drift issues.
IMO it was a massive success just because of the portable format allowing you to play big name games on the go, but it absolutely fails as a handheld console when compared to the DS line, which did so much more for so much less.
Now that other handhelds like the Steam Deck, AYN stuff, Legion, etc exist, there’s really no need to buy a Switch (2) for third party titles, which makes it a complete Nintendo only buy in.
The kicker is that Nintendo made absolute bank which is now why the Switch 2 is going for $450 (soon to be $500) and bumped their game prices to a whopping $70-80 because they know people were fine with it.
If I had more time on my hands, I would legitimately go make a modern version of Streetpass and download play for modern handhelds because that stuff was so cool and useful.
I guess I’m lucky this never happened to me. I tend to do a lot of research on a console before I get it, and wait until mid-generation when it’s matured with some good games. The closest thing might be the Oculus Rift, since I never did find an addictive VR game I loved. If I hadn’t bought it, I might’ve never tried out Half-Life: Alyx, and would’ve been forever curious. But…it definitely wasn’t a killer app.
I guess the Wii U is the one I used the least. But I got it on sale and had some decent fun with it.
Nintendo Switch
Mario Odyssey was fine, but I didn’t really see the use for a portable slab compared to a pocket-size device like my phone or the 3DS. Also, this was the first Nintendo device that felt completely soulless. At least the Wii U had some charm to it.
yep, switch sucks balls.
Game selection was garbage and then the Super NES came out soon after and completely outclassed it.
Nintendo Switch
I’ve never really clicked with the Switch and we’ve had one since launch. It’s not all bad, handheld and home console in-one is a pretty cool concept, but it underwhelms in all ways. Also browsing the eShop is painfully slow too.
The thing is before the steamdeck the last one I had was ps2 and xbox. I can’t say any were a disappointment even going back to pong, atari, and odyssy. They were all nice at their time. I kinda just stopped getting them because my money went toward pc’s. I even justified the steamdeck to possibly use as a laptop replacement although that did not happen.
