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. Every so often a console is born that, despite being actually not too bad, disappears into memory. It may have been too pricey, not had enough support, or just really badly marketed, but is worth your time to explore. Here’s a few of those forgotten gems….
Neogeo Pocket, 1999
You may actually have heard of this one, even you like your arcade games. A nifty little handheld, riding on the back of its arcade cousin’s shoulders, it was a colour handheld to rival Nintendo’s Gameboy Colour, and 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 3rd 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 failng though was though 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, even IF more of its games were translated, it was never marketed to a European audience, 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, this never got released in Europe and had an astonishing two-colour display – red and black. The effect though was that it all looked 3D, and it worked. It worked very well. It’s size though made it hard to use and it needed 6 AA batteries to power, controlled by a larger control pad then the SNES. Decent games, but no European release, meant it never caught on.
GAMES – Warioland, Mario Tennis, Tetris
Neogeo Pocket, 1999
You may actually have heard of this one, even you like your arcade games. A nifty little handheld, riding on the back of its arcade cousin’s shoulders, it was a colour handheld to rival Nintendo’s Gameboy Colour, and 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 3rd 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 failng though was though 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, even IF more of its games were translated, it was never marketed to a European audience, 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, this never got released in Europe and had an astonishing two-colour display – red and black. The effect though was that it all looked 3D, and it worked. It worked very well. It’s size though made it hard to use and it needed 6 AA batteries to power, controlled by a larger control pad then the SNES. Decent games, but no European release, meant it never caught on.
GAMES – Warioland, Mario Tennis, Tetris
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