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Consoles of the '90s

Nintendo loses the lead and Sony takes over the world as we fill out our console catalog

Words: Brett Elston, GamesRadar US

Console: Super NES
Manufacturer: Nintendo
Discontinued in: 1999

The US version of the Super Famicom we covered on the previous page. People love it. You should too, so go try some of the Virtual Console ports. Contra III, Super Metroid and Link to the Past, anyone?

Console: TurboDuo
Manufacturer: NEC
Discontinued in: ~1999
Yet another CD/game card hybrid from NEC, and therefore another system that's hard to say when it died. The graphics looked like NES, but the audio was far beyond anything carts could accomplish (thanks to vast CD storage). Didn't matter though, and that's why you'll be playing its best games (Ys, Lords of Thunder) on the Virtual Console.

Console: Lynx II
Manufacturer: Atari
Discontinued in: 1994

The second version of Atari's ill-fated handheld. It should have been obvious there was no stopping Game Boy, even with a new look and some mumbling about better specs. Doesn't matter anyway, as barely anyone played either version of the damn thing. Kung Food, really?

Console: Sega CD / Mega CD
Manufacturer: Sega
Discontinued in: ~1995

Released in the US a year later and Europe after, Sega CD was supposed to enhance the Genesis beyond the SNES. The marketing ploy "Welcome to the Next Level" drove the idea home, though anyone who actually played the thing knew the truth - most of the games were FMV trash or Genesis ports with a new soundtrack. It did, however, give us Lunar, Sonic CD and early SRPG Dark Wizard, so thanks for that.

Console: CD-i
Manufacturer: Philips
Discontinued in: 1998

Immensely expensive, embarrassing Nintendo shilling and the bastard child of a multimedia deal gone wrong, the Philips CD-i is arguably the worst console of all time. It's the kind of machine people collect now only to see the look on everyone else's face. "You have a CD-i? Why?"

Console: FM Towns Marty
Manufacturer: Fujitsu
Discontinued in: 1999?

Another Japan-only machine that made little impact. It was backwards compatible with previous FM Towns machines, which might have been good news for a few distraught children who couldn't find a Super NES. It is, however, the first 32-bit console and sported a CD and hard drive, so eat it everyone else!


 
12 Comments
Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First
abovedefault  - 1 year 2 months ago 
holy crap, i had a game.com! i wonder what happened to it...
Sukururu  - 1 year 2 months ago 
I still remember...I had a Super NES
barrage7667  - 1 year 1 month ago 
lol im bout to go play my nintendo and genisis tht i havent played in 8 or 9 years
goombaisawesome  - 1 year 17 days ago 
I think that you forgot the halycon laserdisc system. But there were only two games, and VERY few sold at the $1000+ Pricetag, so it doesn't matter.
hardcore_gamer1990  - 10 months 24 days ago 
Does anyone else think that the TurboDuo looks like a PS2 slimline with a "quirky" controller? no? just me then...
Taxtm  - 10 months 22 days ago 
Dude, I actually had a Gamegear way back when! That thing used up so much juice, every time I took it in the car, we'd have to bring a brand new 8 pack of AAs!
Taxtm  - 10 months 22 days ago 
Ahh, the Sega Genesis... my first game system at the age of 4, and my first game being Sonic 3. Man, those were the days...
Fallenangle  - 10 months 18 days ago 
Wow, the Master System II was my very first console ( i still have it somewhere) it does have the alex kidd game built in,

which was cool to think you could just turn it on and play without taking the Cartridge out and blowing on it.

Also is it wrong to have own at least half of these?
AA95mp  - 10 months 18 days ago 
i remember my psone i still have it. it was my 1st console
dougle  - 10 months 3 days ago 
i miss the 90s lol
spiderking2009  - 4 months 18 days ago 
wow the PlayStation series is the same age as my
arcwulf  - 2 months 11 days ago 
You neglected to mention that the Tiger Game.com had the absolute worst display of any video game system ever. The graphics were only visable in direct light, and the refresh rate was so bad that any motion graphics whatsoever became blurry green.

Also a note about Sega's Genesis and Game Gear:

Sega was notorious in the 90s for changing the hardware (which all successful consoles do eventually) to less-than 100% compatibility and not telling anyone (which no one else does - heck even Microsoft released a list of compatible Xbox games for the 360). This is why some earlier games do not work with later releases of the hardware.

The Pioneer Laseractive Player (which I am happy to say that I own) also plays "Mega LD" games, only one of which I know of to exist, and sadly I do not own it.
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