Gaming's last stands

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What happens when games machines die

Oct 22, 2007

It's a sad fact of life, but games consoles die. We can still remember people in the playground claiming that their Sinclair Spectrum was still alive when we were playing our Mega Drives and Super Nintendos. They were wrong - every games machine eventually becomes obsolete. But the fact is, developers have usually got the hang of the hardware at the exact moment it loses its shelf viability. The result? Some absolute gems that get released to declining audiences and lost in the excitement around newer, shinier technology.

So we take a look back at the major consoles of the last decade or so and see what last hurrahs were on offer for each platform before it bit the dust. It's not an exhaustive list, just the brightest stars in dying galaxies. Starting with a small blue planet...

Justin Towell
Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.