The third console curse: Which was the biggest stumble?

[SanAndreasX]

curl-6 said:

So it would seem the consensus here is that the Saturn was the biggest fuckup of the four, though Xbox One also garnered a lot of votes.
N64 meanwhile got off the most lightly, with the least number of people crowning it biggest stumble.

It would seem a major factor was how well the system in question satiated the fans in spite of its commercial missteps; PS3 and N64 for instance are generally looked back upon fondly for their killer exclusives, while Saturn and Xbox One are somewhat more controversial.

The PS3 and N64 were less successful outliers from generally successful console lines. Yes, Nintendo has been up and down, but they've been overall pretty strong. The Gamecube outsold every Sega console other than the Genesis and ran neck-and-neck with the Xbox. The Saturn and X1, OTOH, were the baseline for their manufacturers, with the Genesis and 360 being the more successful outliers for those lines.  

The best-selling game of the 5th generation was a N64 game, Super Mario 64, and the two Zeldas and Rare's output help the N64's ongoing reputation in a way that games like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Sunset Overdrive don't for Sega or MS. Konami also had some pretty good games on N64. 

Last edited by SanAndreasX - on 24 October 2024