Best/Worst Console Launches in History

With Sony seeming to be on path to a very successful launch and Microsoft looking very gloomy indeed, I figured a thread like this would be a good idea.

Let's talk about the best console launches and see if we can determine what console kicked things off best, and conversely, who really cocked it up the most.

I'll start by suggesting that I reckon the Wii was the best launch of all time. A hardcore, highly anticipated title in Twilight Princess to reel in established fans, a casual title in the box with the console to hook the new gamers, and a revolutionary concept to attract fresh eyes too and build a lot of hype in the process.

Worst... not sure. Will need to think on it. What about you guys?

The only launches I've followed so far are the Wii, 3DS, Vita and Wii U, so my vote has to be Wii, there were plenty of great exclusives that I still love playing today.

Wii is one of the worst from a personal perspective.

How so FF?

Well first off, the console crapped out on me & I had to return it to GAME for a refund, which wasn't a good start. I think I then waited for quite some time before I bought another one, but it was the Wiimote & Nunchuck that I always hated. With a passion. And a lot of games have little importance/relevance to me, if that makes sense.

The Wii cocking up on me on Christmas Eve makes it a rubbish launch in my eyes too; but objectively, I can see that it had some good stuff. I haven't experienced too many launches, but I'd probably give the best launch to the N64, solely for the joy that was SM64. As for the worst... probably the 3DS. There was not a single title out at launch that appealed to me, with the best bet being Pilotwings Resort. The Wii U comes a close second, but NSMBU saves it.

The 3DS had a pretty shit launch. Nintendo released basically nothing for it with the intent of letting third parties have the limelight. The result was the third parties not bringing anything worth bothering with over and a system spending the next six or so months highly overpriced with no games to speak of. Nintendo may have changed the fortunes of the system since then but that launch was just appalling. If they had just used some common sense and released it either cheaper or with something like Mario Kart 7 I very likely would have leaped on one at launch.

Best was probably the Gamecube or the Playstation 2. I didn't game back then but from what I've heard both systems had stunning lineups within their launch periods.

I thought the 3DS had a great launch line-up - Street Fighter IV, Ridge Racer 3D, Pilotwings Resort, Nintendogs & cats and PES 2011 were all really good, Super Monkey Ball 3D and Rayman 3D weren't bad either. Plus: Ghost Recon, which has plenty of fans for some reason. The launch window - which was basically those with Steel Diver, Ocarina of Time and Lylat Wars until the end of the year- was pish though.

The problem is Street Fighter was a downgraded port of a game that had been out on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 for over a couple of years at that point, and the rest had critical flaws like Pilotwings being incredibly short.  

The system simply lacked a killer exclusive, a system seller.  While some of those games would have been decent enough as a side to something, none of them at least in my opinion have any true pulling power.  I was in fact persuaded by the lineup to not buy one and only recently picked one up.

I prefered 3DS launch to Wii U's Pilotwings was fantastic and is probably one of my most played 3DS games by trying to get high scores, Ghost Recon was amazing and also took up plenty of my time. I can't remember if DoA was a launch game but that was pretty snazzy too. Wii U had Nintendo Land and NSMBU and as much as I like Nintendo Land I never feel the need to play it and NSMBU was just another average NSMB.

Of what i can remember dreamcast, xbox and 360 all had great launch line ups and of course the n64 okay it only had about 2 games day one but one was mario 64.

Did 360 have a good launch? All I can remember was that forgettable fantasy platformer by Rare, Kameo, was it?

it had perfect dark,  kameo, amped 3, pgr3, call of duty 2 just to name a few

I suppose the original Xbox had Halo, can't go wrong with that as a launch title.

and jet set radio,  dead or alive 3 to name a few on the original xbox

The PS2 launch was a bit bleak at the time. Brilliant hardware, but there was nothing else that could be cited as a compelling reason to buy one. SSX, Timesplitters, Tekken Tag, Ridge Racer V and Smuggler's Run (rememeber that!) were all good, but none of them were better than the best stuff on offer on the PSone at the time, and several of those could be completed in a matter of hours. I mostly used my brand-new launch day PS2 as a means to play Smackdown 2.

I didn't think the Wii had a lot going for it, at first. I had an opportunity to buy one a few days before Christmas 2006 but passed on it, as - beyond Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz and Wii Sports - nothing interested me. I waited until Easter to get one with Sonic and SSX.

Anyone remember the PS3 launch? No? There's a reason for that, stupidly high price and about 8 games, the best of which were Motorstorm and Resistance which are so so.

I personally thought the 3DS launch was great, I must have picked up about 5 or 6 of the launch games within the first month and got on well with all of them, Pilotwings was a great high score challenge as Andy mentioned, Street Fighter may have been just a port but a port of an already great game and plenty of other solid games, then there's of course the brilliant Ghost Recon Shadow Wars which kept me busy for bloomin ages.

I remember the PS3 launch as i bought one.  I thought the 3DS line up was okay,  I cancelled my preorder when i saw the line up, i still ended up buying day one though after playing a demo unit in GAME which had street fighter on.  Here's the launchs i remember as i bought on day one (apart from one).

Consoles

N64,
My nan won one and it was delivered to my house on launch, my uncle bought me star wars shadow of the empire for it

GameCube,
Bloody Roar
Luigi's Mansion
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

Xbox 360
Call of Duty 2
Hexic HD (if this counts as it was built in)
Kameo
Perfect Dark Zero Collector's Edition
PGR3

PlayStation 3
MotorStorm
Resistance
And X-Men on Blu Ray

Wii
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Red Steel
Super Money Ball Banana Blitz
Wii Sports (Duh)

Wii U
Assassin's Creed 3
Call of Duty Black Ops 2
Darksiders 2
New Super Mario Bros U
Nintendo Land
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Trine 2 (if this counts as it's a download)

Handheld's

Game Boy Advance (first system I bought day one)
Super Mario Advance

DS (Imported via eBay on USA launch)
Super Mario 64DS
Metroid Prime Hunters-First Hunt Demo

3DS
Super Monkey Ball 3D
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition

VITA
Escape Plan (if this counts as it's a download)
Everybody’s Golf
FIFA Football
MotorStorm: RC (if this conuts as it's a download)
Rayman Origins
Super Stardust Delta (if this counts as it's a download)
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Sorry it's links but couldn't remember them all.

The PS3 was awful, begun retail at over £400 ect, no games and Blu ray seemingly an unnecessary attachment with very few titles. Picked up quickly once they lowered the price though and bought out more worthy games.

Hmm....wasn't the GBA launch really bad Or am I remembering that wrong?

It wasn't great...

PS3 Launch was good hence why I bought one, 
no it was mainly for the Blu Ray player

JayMoyles wrote:

It wasn't great...

Stupid question probably but... sarcasm?

It wasn't at first, but I went back and looked again, and it's a good line-up. I just saw Circle of the Moon and scowled, because it is a shit Castlevania.

I'd go as far as saying it's perhaps the best launch line up of the lot.