What retro system do you just not understand the appeal of?

[dsheinem]

...but would like to?

For me it is the Atari 5200. I can't figure out what I'd really want to play on it that isn't better elsewhere, why I'd want to use that controller, or whether it would be worth doing anything with it for more than a few minutes to try it out.

Any ideas on the 5200? What system baffles you?

[ElkinFencer10]

I love my 5200. I'd love it way more if it weren't for the controller. It has the charm and simplicity of 2600 games with better visuals and sound.

With me, it's weird, so I've got two answers to this question. My main answer is going to be the Intellivision and Colecovision. The controllers are awkward and cumbersome, and to my knowledge, there aren't any real stand-out titles that you can't find elsewhere. Plus I don't really like the aesthetic of the Colecovision or the Intellivision II, and while I love the way the original Intellivision looks, I hate the controller.

Now this answer is the weird one because rationally and intellectually, I absolutely get the appeal of it, but I've personally never been able to like it much - the PlayStation 2. I think most folks here know that I'm not too fond of the PS2 despite having forty or fifty games for it. I don't know why. I've just always preferred the Dreamcast, Gamecube, and Xbox. It's always my last choice for multiplats from that generation. I just don't like the PS2. Call me crazy - I know it fits - but I just don't dig it.

[Exhuminator]

For me it's the 3DO*, CD-i, or the Jaguar. Any of those.





*Yes Microcabin made some nice games for it. Exceptions don't prove a rule however.

[ElkinFencer10]

For me it's the 3DO*, CD-i, or the Jaguar. Any of those.





*Yes Microcabin made some nice games for it. Exceptions don't prove a rule however.

My love of the Jaguar is how fucking trippy the system looks and how weird the cartridges are. As for the 3DO, I love it because of an emotional connection to the company - I'm a hardcore Army Men fan, and 3DO made that series. I don't get the CD-i, though, aside from the weird quirky Zelda games for the lulz.

[Sarge]

3DO could have been pretty great. That price barrier, though, was a killer.

That just reminds me that I need to fix mine. Need to recap it, or at least part of the audio circuit.

[prfsnl_gmr]

My main answer is going to be the Intellivision and Colecovision. The controllers are awkward and cumbersome, and to my knowledge, there aren't any real stand-out titles that you can't find elsewhere.

Play AD&D on the Intellivision sometime. It's pretty great, and the Intellivision had some other stand out games too. I understand its appeal, but I also do not get the Colecovision.

One I don't get is the Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color. I have never understood those systems' appeal.

[ElkinFencer10]

My main answer is going to be the Intellivision and Colecovision. The controllers are awkward and cumbersome, and to my knowledge, there aren't any real stand-out titles that you can't find elsewhere.

Play AD&D on the Intellivision sometime. It's pretty great, and the Intellivision had some other stand out games too. I understand its appeal, but I also do not get the Colecovision.

One I don't get is the Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color. I have never understood those systems' appeal.

I've not had the chance to play a lot of Intellivision games, so I'll definitely check out that one.

I love the Neo Geo Pocket Color mainly because of the control stick. The 8 way control stick with the legit arcade click is so damn satisfying.

[Tanooki]

I think the appeal of the NGP/PC isn't that hard to get, but you have to be a SNK fan, specifically of the big read beast in the arcade by that time. What you had there, aside from some genuine variety, were solid conversions, homages and chibi style remasters of some very key franchise titles. You could hop into the NGPC for under $100, the games were all like $20-30 right in there with GBC. Had it not been killed off due to those pachinko weenies at Aruze they had more arcade lineage coming (youtube Magician Lord 2 for one.) Beyond that you had some mascot favs with Sonic and Pac-Man, then some really solid unique titles too. Library got cut short but the quality was there. It was my first SNK hardware and gave me my first taste of Neo Turf Masters and The Last Blade, and today I own the arcade ones because of just that and they're pretty faithful too.

I'd have to go with the originally mentioned 5200, intentionally marketed as a game system yet failed to have a library of anything you couldn't do elsewhere with far less shoddy controllers. I'd toss the Jaguar in there but it had some nice stuff for it even if the controller sucked. 3DO kind of fits though with the 5200, not because of the controller, but because it was basically a grossly overpriced(console) port box of stuff you could get elsewhere.

Other than 'just pokemon' being why I never got the appeal of the Pokemon Mini and I even was gifted one around 15 years ago. It's fun in supremely short bursts but with less than 10 games for it and being very limited by the screen capabilities you could find yourself driving to go pick up a game back then or mailing away from it taking longer than you'd actually put into using it.

[Sarge]

My main answer is going to be the Intellivision and Colecovision. The controllers are awkward and cumbersome, and to my knowledge, there aren't any real stand-out titles that you can't find elsewhere.

Play AD&D on the Intellivision sometime. It's pretty great, and the Intellivision had some other stand out games too. I understand its appeal, but I also do not get the Colecovision.

I loved the Intellivision. It had some unique titles that you couldn't get on the 2600, which is the closest comparison. Sea Battle, Space Hawk, Triple Action, stuff like that was great. (I really love the physics in Triple Action's airplane game, you can stall your plane out and all sorts of stuff.)

The Colecovision was really a victim of bad timing. I think its appeal was a nearly arcade-perfect port of Donkey Kong, and had the market not bombed like it did, perhaps it could have cashed in on some early NES-style support.

One I don't get is the Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color. I have never understood those systems' appeal.

If you love fighters, these systems are great. Some of the best portable experiences to be had at that time. SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium is a legit great fighter. It also happened to have a few decent games outside that genre, like Faselei!, Dark Arms, a pretty solid Sonic game, and some Metal Slug.

[fastbilly1]

CDi and 3do have never made sense to me. Everyone I know who owned a 3do in its heyday had Alone in the Dark, Crash and Burn, Twisted, and Star Control. None of those that I still know, still have it. It was priced out of market, controller was a genesis controller but with worse components, and was full of FMV games.

CDi was everything wrong with the 3do, but with no redeeming games apart from Burn:Cycle.