What do you think is the most overrated retro console?

[dreama1]

What do you feel is the most overrated retro console? And why?

[egen]

Sega Saturn... because I never played one

No, I'm joking about that. I wish I had played one. I do kind of feel like Sega Genesis is a little overrated though, and I have played quite a few Genesis games. To me they never had the meat that games from other consoles had. It had like... 3 RPGs, if you count Shadowrun... I dunno, it's an alright console, but other than Sonic and... well, nothing else, pretty much, I don't have too many great memories from it.

N64 is a good console, but I think not as good as some people remember it to be. My personal opinion. I do like it a heck of a lot more than the Genesis though and I have a lot of good memories from it.

[dreama1]

Sega Saturn... because I never played one

No, I'm joking about that. I wish I had played one. I do kind of feel like Sega Genesis is a little overrated though, and I have played quite a few Genesis games. To me they never had the meat that games from other consoles had. It had like... 3 RPGs, if you count Shadowrun... I dunno, it's an alright console, but other than Sonic and... well, nothing else, pretty much, I don't have too many great memories from it.

N64 is a good console, but I think not as good as some people remember it to be. My personal opinion. I do like it a heck of a lot more than the Genesis though and I have a lot of good memories from it.

It's funny alot of people seem to say Genesis. Well that was the first search result I got. Wonder if there's any Genesis fans around.

[egen]

Do they? I'm more expecting everyone to come in here and call me crazy and say that the SNES is the most overrated. But then that's the expectation that comes from usually not sharing the same opinion as most other people (seems to happen to me a lot).

[telly]

*Doesn't have a console older than the PlayStation    How recent are we going in terms of retro, by the way? I guess it's what you consider to be retro.

[burningdoom]

Saturn. I had one for years, and it mostly collected dust. The arcade favorites like Virtua Cop, Marvel fighting games, and Daytona USA are fun, but can get old pretty quick. And apparently the RPGs are good, but then I wouldn't know since they usually go for like $100+. The shoot-em ups are admittedly pretty damn good, but it's not like I can't get just as good shoot-em ups on the PS1. Other than that, the library is kind of limited, and a lot of what's good is going for more than I like to pay for retro-games. My PS1 still gets a ton a playtime, though; because of it's large, varied, and affordable library. I feel Sega fell hard that generation. But a lot retro-gamers put the Saturn on a pedestal and I've never felt that kind of love for it.

[soera]

Im not going to comment cause everyone knows my answer.

[matimo]

The Dreamcast, it failed for many good reasons, yet people seem to love it now because it's collectible. 

[segaomega21]

Probably I would have to say the Atari 2600, There are several games for this system, and given the option to play NES or Atari 2600 its obvious that most people would rather play something where they don't have to use their imagination to tell whats going on. I guess the 2600 probably isn't that overrated to begin with, but people who give it praise don't realize how boring the games got over time, and how poorly the good ones aged. I literally can't sit down and play any 2600 game for more than 10-15 minutes without a friend to poke fun at the quality, and goofy qualities of the "graphics". I have a lot of respect for the 2600 but there's just not that much replay-ability.

[Cartagia]

I think I would have to go with NES, actually.

Seeing some of the other answers so far (Saturn, Atari), I wouldn't be able to call them overrated, because most of the people I talk to don't have high opinion (or any opinion at all really) on them.  You'd have to look at thinks that generally have a positive reputation, which really only leaves you with the NES, Genesis, Dreamcast, N64 and SNES, and I think most people (and not everyone) think that Genesis was a good, but possibly not great console.  I personally think the Dreamcast is a little underrated, which leaves me with NES, SNES, and N64.

I'd say the N64 is out right away.  Its got some fantastic games, but a ton of unmitigated crap, and not nearly as strong a library as the other two.

They both had their share of bad games, but I think the SNES edges out a bit because it didn't really have as much hardware problems as the NES.  At least for me.

[bikingjahuty]

The Dreamcast, it failed for many good reasons, yet people seem to love it now because it's collectible. 

The console is an arcade lover's dream and has so many other good games as well. It barely has any shovel ware and had so many innovations when it was released in terms of the console itself and games that were on it. I completely disagree, but you are allowed to have your own opinion.

[bikingjahuty]

The NES


I will preface by stating that the system is very important in terms of bringing gaming back from the dead and also releasing some of the best games ever made. Now onto why its overrated.


It's library is saturated with shit and mediocrity, on the level of Nintendo's other console, the Wii. Of the games that can be considered decent or good, many of them have very limited appeal and some have aged horribly. And then, there is the insane collecting scene for the NES which has boosted prices up to obscene amounts, making games that would otherwise be thrown in bargain bins appear to be plastic gold! I believe the main reason why the NES is so sought after these days is mostly nostalgia and less the games themselves. Most of the NES library has been outdone in terms of quality at some point over the past 25-years, rendering a ton of the games obsolete. As someone who has very limited nostalgia for the NES, it has been hard for me to get into the systems library and often find myself underwhelmed by most of the games I've played in it, save about 25-30.

[aliensstudios]

I'd say the SEGA Saturn. While it does have some great games, I feel like overall they pale in comparison as to what the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation were putting out at the time. The original controller was utter garbage, and even the second version of the controller, which many say is the best controller of all time, isn't all that great, it doesn't even have a true Sonic game on it.

The Atari 2600. Where do I begin? This system I think sold very well because it was a novelty item with a vast library of games and a low price, however if consumers were more well informed at the time, the 2600 would have absolutely been dominated by Colecovision and the Intellivision, which are both rather underrated consoles in their own right.

A lot of people will say NES, SNES, Genesis, N64 but I can't make a case for any of them. Although they have a lot of shovel ware, the library of all time classic games on these systems simply makes it too difficult for me to categorize any of  them as overrated, and if you do, I'll have to respectfully disagree with you about that.

[dreama1]

I'd say the SEGA Saturn. While it does have some great games, I feel like overall they pale in comparison as to what the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation were putting out at the time. The original controller was utter garbage, and even the second version of the controller, which many say is the best controller of all time, isn't all that great, it doesn't even have a true Sonic game on it.

The Atari 2600. Where do I begin? This system I think sold very well because it was a novelty item with a vast library of games and a low price, however if consumers were more well informed at the time, the 2600 would have absolutely been dominated by Colecovision and the Intellivision, which are both rather underrated consoles in their own right.

A lot of people will say NES, SNES, Genesis, N64 but I can't make a case for any of them. Although they have a lot of shovel ware, the library of all time classic games on these systems simply makes it too difficult for me to categorize any of  them as overrated, and if you do, I'll have to respectfully disagree with you about that.

Classics don't mean much more than novelty, and being put on the pedestal because they were above average at the time; some exceptions. This is evident because as soon as anyone remakes a classic to give these people what they want, they will always complain and say it's not as good as the original a game they haven't played in 15 years probably, because it was never that good to begin with. And don't be fooled if they own the game it doesn't mean they play it, it's very much a different cult.

The first thing that should be taken into account when talking about this subject is nostalgia means nothing. The greatest acid test is time.

[dreama1]

Saturn. I had one for years, and it mostly collected dust. The arcade favorites like Virtua Cop, Marvel fighting games, and Daytona USA are fun, but can get old pretty quick. And apparently the RPGs are good, but then I wouldn't know since they usually go for like $100+. The shoot-em ups are admittedly pretty damn good, but it's not like I can't get just as good shoot-em ups on the PS1. Other than that, the library is kind of limited, and a lot of what's good is going for more than I like to pay for retro-games. My PS1 still gets a ton a playtime, though; because of it's large, varied, and affordable library. I feel Sega fell hard that generation. But a lot retro-gamers put the Saturn on a pedestal and I've never felt that kind of love for it.

As a average consumer maybe it's overrated. But the games are selling for a high price for a reason. And most playstation games are also selling so cheap for a reason. No one wants them because 3D was trash in that generation for the most part. Saturn did 2D to rule them all, and that's why people will pay top dollar for that reason. In fact the only playstation games in demand are mostly RPGS, and 2D games. I don't think it's fair to say its overrated because the RPGS are out of some peoples price range. If say that person came rich and could afford those RPGS would it suddenly become not overrated?