Have you ever been dissapointed by the library of a console?

[Reprise]

Although I enjoyed discovering the Wii during the Wii U period, particularly as that console had those awful release droughts, I do think I would have been disappointed by the Wii if I had picked one up during its generation. It does have some great hidden gems and of course some great first party titles, but overall the library doesn't do much for me. It's also in a weird situation where it feels like a glorified Gamecube with motion controls and I've never been a fan of the wiimotes and nunchuks as controllers. Motion controls really enhance some games, but it's not something I want from all games.

[Jagosaurus]

... it feels like a glorified Gamecube with motion controls and I've never been a fan of the wiimotes and nunchuks as controllers.

You're correct in your assumption there for the most part. The Wii is basically a rehashed GCN with a CPU clocked at roughly 50% faster. Both on Power PC architecture, similar GPU power.

"Of note, "Broadway, the Wii's CPU, is a derivative of the PowerPC 750 CL clocked at 729Mhz," and that the "Hollywood" GPU has "no notable increases in programmability" over the Gamecube's "Flipper" GPU. The end result? "The Wii has the processing power of one-and-a-half GameCubes with no noteworthy increases in functionality."

Link:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnic ... %3Famp%3D1

[samsonlonghair]

... it feels like a glorified Gamecube with motion controls and I've never been a fan of the wiimotes and nunchuks as controllers.

You're correct in your assumption there for the most part. The Wii is basically a rehashed GCN with a CPU clocked at roughly 50% faster. Both on Power PC architecture, similar GPU power.

"Of note, "Broadway, the Wii's CPU, is a derivative of the PowerPC 750 CL clocked at 729Mhz," and that the "Hollywood" GPU has "no notable increases in programmability" over the Gamecube's "Flipper" GPU. The end result? "The Wii has the processing power of one-and-a-half GameCubes with no noteworthy increases in functionality."

Link:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnic ... %3Famp%3D1

Y'all are talking about a "glorified gamecube" like that's a bad thing.

The gamecube is a fantastic console. What's wrong with glorifying that?

Imagine someone says to you, "a PS4 Pro is basically a glorified PS4 with VR."

You might respond, "So what? I like the PS4! I don't mind a glorified PS4. Even if I don't use VR much, I still might enjoy a glorified PS4."

[marurun]

One of the big problems with understanding the Wii is that neither Nintendo nor ATI have revealed any of the specs for the various chips. We know now that the CPU and GPU are clocked up and are very similar to their predecessors, but they’re also manufactured on a smaller process, which tends to improve efficiency. Further, it is entirely possible there are more processing units in the GPU or minor improvements to the CPU, but of course that’s nothing but speculation since it is nearly impossible to tell without close inspection of the die itself. The unit also has double the RAM and the RAM is faster, so some memory ops will likely perform at least twice as fast. So what we can determine is that this thing is at least a GameCube and a half, but at most, completely unknown. And while the shaders are not programmable, they are capable of highly complex effects due to them almost being like micro-T&L units. This naturally does not help the system in any real way against the PS3 and Xbox 360 in performance or power. But it does mean the Wii shouldn’t be underestimated. I see the Wii as a spiritual Dreamcast successor rather than a follow-up to the GameCube, despite the close lineage otherwise.

[Blu]

This thread has me stumped. I can't emphatically say that any particular console's library disappointed me. I think it can be questioned in any of our typical criteria for weighing in on retro video games:

1. Is the game enjoyable and fun?
2. Does it appeal visually?
3. Does it control well?
4. Is it accessible by means of hardware and affordability?
5. Last, and most importantly, are there enough games on this console that merit keeping it around?

There's so many games that I'd love to play on Saturn, but the library is disappointing because it's expensive and burning copies of the game doesn't sit well with me. Sega CD might fall into this same category. I couldn't justify shelling out $100+ for Popful Mail, Panzer Dragoon Saga. I don't doubt the games' quality, but it's disappointing that playing these games the way they were intended has a high access of entry. On a different note, I continue to await being disappointed when disc-based media starts to fail due to disc rot or optical drives dying out.

That said, of the consoles I own, I think the library that disappoints me is PS2. It had so many great games, but there's so many similar games from genres that just don't seem compelling to play through now. Frame rates, polygon textures, and other things. The same could be said of the PS3/360. I think a lot of it is the saturation of popular games and how the industry continued to pump out game after game.

[Jagosaurus]

... it feels like a glorified Gamecube with motion controls and I've never been a fan of the wiimotes and nunchuks as controllers.

You're correct in your assumption there for the most part. The Wii is basically a rehashed GCN with a CPU clocked at roughly 50% faster. Both on Power PC architecture, similar GPU power.

"Of note, "Broadway, the Wii's CPU, is a derivative of the PowerPC 750 CL clocked at 729Mhz," and that the "Hollywood" GPU has "no notable increases in programmability" over the Gamecube's "Flipper" GPU. The end result? "The Wii has the processing power of one-and-a-half GameCubes with no noteworthy increases in functionality."

Link:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnic ... %3Famp%3D1

Y'all are talking about a "glorified gamecube" like that's a bad thing.

The gamecube is a fantastic console. What's wrong with glorifying that?

Imagine someone says to you, "a PS4 Pro is basically a glorified PS4 with VR."

You might respond, "So what? I like the PS4! I don't mind a glorified PS4. Even if I don't use VR much, I still might enjoy a glorified PS4."

PS4 Pro example isn't apples to apples. The Wii wasn't marketed as an improved GCN with a new control scheme. It was presented as an entirely new platform.

I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned the GCN as their disappointed console library here. Looking back on it now, sure - there's some nice games, but at the time all my friends with one were disappointed and coveting the PS2 or oXbox (save Smash Melee & REs).

That gen I picked the DC at launch... which was obviously short lived . I also bought the Wii at launch, well that December.

@marurun, good points on specs. RAM is a known, big improvement.

Not trying to change your opinion but thought you might enjoy this video on all the similarities between the oXbox & DC, viewing it as DC2. His videos are very well done & he gets into much deeper than the normal 2 or 3 points you hear about this.

https://youtu.be/lWGiHgTdLBc

[benderx]

I didn't like n64 list of games. They we're expensive to buy, some content were cut out. I did want to buy n64disk drive, but that product failed to be. Street fighter did not come to n64 or any Capcom games. I'm surprised there were not any snes ports for n64. Basically I felt sucker punched by Nintendo, PlayStation was the winner. I almost wanted to get Atari Jaguar and Sega Saturn (Virtua fighter was interesting) but that never happened.

Basically I skip a Nintendo generation. I bought these when it was hot: Nes, n64, Wii, Nintendo switch revised console is the real winner for me for next year.

There is something about Sony console games that is funny to me secretly. Microsoft despise them for. Maybe someday Sony will do something that is expoitable but in right way, I can't say what but it's something obvious. Sort like insurance if something like PlayStation ceist to exist.

[marurun]

@marurun, good points on specs. RAM is a known, big improvement.

Not trying to change your opinion but thought you might enjoy this video on all the similarities between the oXbox & DC, viewing it as DC2. His videos are very well done & he gets into much deeper than the normal 2 or 3 points you hear about this.

https://youtu.be/lWGiHgTdLBc

I knew most of that, but not all of it, in part because I only paid so much attention to the Xbox beyond the hardware and the implications for console design. It's clear MS took inspiration from the Dreamcast and Sega wanted it to be like the Dreamcast, and in a way Microsoft was incredibly forward-looking in the hardware design, since the current console generation somewhat mirrors MS's decisions at the time. That said, I think the GameCube is the successor to the Dreamcast's hardware design/development philosophy. So while the Xbox is more officially the unofficial Dreamcast 2, I think Nintendo made a similar series of design decisions as Sega did when developing their hardware platform.

And to get back on-topic, I think this whole thing about being disappointed in system libraries is more about what kinds of games we like and what kinds of games were prioritized on various platforms. For example, there's lot of stuff in the Xbox library I don't care for, but there are a few games that are just really attractive and intriguing to me, and that makes the library worth it. I feel the opposite with the N64. Nintendo was targeting gamers who were clearly not me and did not share my interests. The N64 is a system I feel no interest in owning as a result, because there's nothing in the library that interests me enough to care. Lots of people aren't interested in the Dreamcast library because tons of the good stuff had ports to other systems, but the library remains attractive to me because I love having all that interesting and compelling content in one place. The GameCube, meanwhile, is interesting to me because of only a few titles, but those are enough to keep it compelling.

The real question here is, was there anything on Atari Jaguar that warrants not including it in this thread?

[Jagosaurus]

Although I really like the Wii, I also had access to a PS3 & 360 during most of that time. Had I owned the Wii only, I would've been a bit disappointed.

The vast majority of the Atari Jaguar games were ported to (or ports from) other systems, Amiga, or PC. Notable exceptions off the top of my head:

Alien vs Predator
Iron Soldier
Iron Soldier 2
Super Burnout
Battlemorph
World Tour Racing
Atari Karts
Busby in FFT
Defender 2K
Missile Command 3D
Power Drive Rally
Zero 5
Ultra Vortek

The entire library is roughly 63 commercial games, just named 13 above so roughly 20%. Sure I missed some. More turd exclusives such as Club Drive, Checkered Flag, & Trevor McFur but above list is worth experiencing IMO. I think Cybermorph gets unfairly judged but left it off with other mediocre exclusive games such as Hover Strike & I War.

The versions of Doom, Wolf 3D, Rayman, & Tempest 2K vary from other versions enough that I'd consider them standalones for the Jag.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I got into the Wii late so I totally missed the Wii Sports craze, waggle hype, etc. It always felt like a "traditional" console to me, despite the obvious differences in controls.