Gadgetory

hey guys this is Austin with over 40 years of console hits and misses here are the weirdest coming in at number 5 is the Nintendo Wii mini making cheaper versions of consoles late in the lifecycle has been going on for a while but Nintendo really went over the top with the Wii mini it comes in a red light finish which doesn't look too bad but it's about a stripped down as it gets want to play online no Wi-Fi how about GameCube games not happening take one look at the menu and you'll see just how basic things are this is made to play games and that's it you do get the newer motion plus controller included in red so games like Wii Sports who are totally fine but even here were limited to 480i as there's no component video out the list goes on and on - like the lack of an SD card slot and a top loading disc versus the original slot loading drive to be fair there is still a solid library of games but the mini is missing out on a lot compared to the standard we'd this wouldn't be crazy on an older console but the Wii mini was released in 2013 here in the US this definitely gets weird points all around for number 4 there's the Sega Nomad unlike the wii mini which was generally kind of terrible the Nomad had one big selling point it's a full portable version of the Genesis it is an absolutely massive handheld but it has the full internals of the Genesis pop in a game and you're basically good to go you've got all your controls built in along with a color screen it's not exactly what I would call great but considering is 20 years old it's usable it has some cool extra features too like a controller port and AV out to connect with TV letting it fully replace the Genesis unless you're really really attached to your Sega CD the weirdest thing is the lopsided design it slopes down which makes everything seem slightly crooked especially the screen unfortunately being a full game console in a portable package means powering it is a pain you either have to plug in or use six double-a batteries which only lasts a couple hours release six years after the Genesis the Nomad wasn't very successful but it's still unique even to this day next up at number three is an obscure one the Apple Bandai Pippin as Apple's first and only game console back from 1995 this was essentially a small computer running a modified version of Mac OS 7 the Pippin was a massive failure with just over 40,000 sold and for good reason it didn't make much sense it's a CD based console which only had a few games including Super marathon which was actually bungees very first console game before they moved on to hello back in the 90s Apple was all over the place and this might be one of the best examples the Pippin was meant to be a gaming platform that other companies could license to make their own consoles using the basics of the Mac such as the PowerPC processor band I made this one which came with the bizarre Applejack controller that it's best to be both a controller as well as a mouse with a trackball and left and right click buttons around back it was a little ahead of its time with the built-in modem but for the most part it was just a really weird experiment and number 2 is the Nokia ngage now this was absolutely ahead of its time as an early smartphone that could play games back in 2003 on paper this has a lot going for it including the ability to run apps online gaming dedicated physical games and decent controls try to use it as a phone though and you'll find the speaker on top which forces you to hold it in a very specific way it actually does still connect to cell networks today and even has bluetooth but there are tons of poor choices like having to remove the rear shell and pull the battery just to put a game in which is crazy the screen is small but decent with a backlight but the taco shape not only looks ridiculous but seriously you were supposed to talk into it like this Nokia followed it up with a QD version which fix some of these issues but it was still a pretty major failure if Nokia try something like this five years later it actually may have worked out but as it is modern smartphones have absolutely replaced what the engage was trying to be last but absolutely not least at number one is the Nintendo Virtual Boy it doesn't get much weirder than this the Virtual Boy was its own console that was shipped alongside the Game Boy right before the Nintendo 64 and was the first serious effort toward virtual reality the headset has a pair of red displays that cleverly scan up and down to mimic a 3d effect the graphics have a Super Nintendo feel but it's not bad and most importantly the 3d works surprisingly well with an actual sense of depth it likes head tracking and is fairly heavy so you'll need to use it on a stand which can get pretty uncomfortable over longer periods it has a decent controller but it has the AC adapter built-in which makes things a little awkward all of this put together with a fairly expensive price meant the Virtual Boy just didn't catch on with less than a million units sold it was discontinued less than a year after release it's a shame considering that 20 years later virtual reality is just starting to hit the mainstream but there's no doubt that the Virtual Boy was one of the weirdest consoles of all time if you guys enjoyed be sure to go check out my friend Kevin Kenton's video going over some of the weirdest controllers of all time anyway guys thank you so much for watching and I will catch you in the next one