Obscurities

Make your own free website on Tripod.com

Obscurities

Ah, yes, the failures of Nintendo are plentiful. None of Nintendo's consoles have escaped the clutches of add-ons, gadgets, gizmos and do-hickeys, most of which were complete and utter failures. So today, I will mention the weirdest, most bizarre, freakiest Nintendo releases ever.... released.

The original Famicom (the Japanese name for NES) package came with the console, two controllers, two games, the light zapper and a robot. Yes, a robot. One of Nintendo's first failures, the robot, named ROB, was a toy that used infra-red, like a TV remote, to sense coloured chips, that it could pick up and drop. Like most of these obscurities, ROB was never released outside of Japan and was dropped from the Famicom package shortly after its release.

Another Famicom accessory was the Power Glove, a controller that was worn on your hand. Not very useful, but cool looking and original. Another hand accessory for Famicom was the U-Force, a box that you could stick your hand in. Motion sensors detected when your hands were inside. Good for punching games, bad for everything else.

Think dance mats originated from Sony? Think again. Nintendo did them first. Power Pad originated on the Famicom in the late 80's. Plugged into the controller port like its more recent counterparts, you could dance along to a variety of games and also perform aerobics.

Another "useless" invention was the Famicom Disk System. It was a portable disk drive that connected to the Famicom and allowed you to play games stored on disks instead of cartridges. This, of course, meant piracy, a common problem with some companies. Piracy turned this innovative idea, into a huge profit loss. Many later NES games were originally Disk Drive games.

Famicom was also the first to support online technology. The Teleplay System was a modem that you plugged into the console and used to connect to other players via the trusty telephone line to play multiplayer games. Although released in America, it flopped because of lack of knowledge of online play. The SNES also had online support, an add-on called the Satellaview and it used a Japanese satellite, where you could download updated games, the latest news, cheats and tips. However, you could only download at certain times of the day, and was never released outside Japan.

The largest failure by Nintendo was the Virtual Boy. The Virtual Boy was a binocular-like console that was 32 bit (like Sony Playstation) and was speculated to rule the gaming market. Unfortunately, with all two of its colours, the console flopped and cost Nintendo millions of dollars. The main reason for the failure was the lack of quality games and general interest. But one upside of the Virtual Boy, it housed the debut of Wario.

The SNES had its share of flops and failures. Nintendo tried to develop the SNES CD Rom three times, and dropped the project three times. Care to guess who was developing the CD Rom with Nintendo? Sony. So, if it wasn't for Nintendo, the PS1 and PS2 wouldn't exist.

The coolest looking gun for the SNES was the Super Scope, a SNES bazooka. Only compatible with a few games and ate through batteries quickly, it is a rarity and looked mondo.

One of the more later failures by Nintendo was the 64DD. This product was heavily hyped for several years, and when it eventually came out, it was a huge flop. The add-on connected to the bottom of the Nintendo 64 and used disks similar to zip disks. Games could be exclusively be made for 64DD or be upgrades of existing games with extras eg. more levels/tracks. Only notable games were a small Zelda game and a track editor for F Zero-X. The 64DD was a Japan-exclusive.

Perhaps the most bizarre oddity here is the Singer Izek Sewing Machine. This device plugged into the Game Boy via a link cable and could hold a number of stitches. As a majority of Game Boy owners were teenage boys, why was a sewing machine released on the Game Boy, considering the huge price.

Another weird invention was the Tilt Pack from Pelican. You know how some people think that turning the controller will help them during a game. This controller is for them, as it uses the tilt of the controller to control direction.

Another popular category of obscurities was chairs. The first was the Flight Chair for SNES, a chair where it was controlled by sitting in the chair and leaning in different directions. Another chair was the Rocket Seat Massager, a chair that rumbled along with the Nintendo 64 game and doubled as a massager.

A strange device that doesn't fit into any category is the Bio Sensor, a device that clips onto your ear and detects stress levels. Only compatible with Tetris64, as your stress level increases, the blocks fall faster.

The trusty Game Boy had its fair share of odd peripherals. A few are the Boom Box Boy, for playing the radio on your Game Boy, the Song Boy, a gadget that lets your Game Boy as an mp3 player and the Pocket Voice, a device that allows you to record and playback your sounds.

Perhaps the best obscurity of them all, the Game Axe Colour was an attempt to make a portable NES. Shaped like a Game Boy Advance, but bigger, the Game Axe Colour was compatible with Famicom games. The screen was blurry and it ate through 6 AA batteries in 2 hours, but it was one of the first handheld consoles.