Best/Worst Console Launches in History

How things have changed in 3 years, where I was saying the Wii U would be my favourite.

But I come here today to talk PSVR, insert boothisman.gif here. I was thinking about the launch line-up, now you have to forget VR for second and most of your distaste for it but look at it just as it's own system.

We've got:
RIGS
Until Dawn
Batman
DriveClub
Eve
Battlezone
REZ
Robinson: The Journey
VR Worlds AKA the NintendoLand of PSVR

Along with a few other things and the add-on for Tomb Raider and updates for Bound etc

That line-up which I can't decide to get what from on launch (I did ask in the PSVR thread but no reply not even from OR ), if that was any other system at launch I think most would go that's very decent.

I don't think their is a must buy like a SM64 for N64 or Halo for Xbox or if its even close to the Dreamcast North American brilliance of both quality and quantity at launch (N64 still has the quality part but lacked the quantity) but I would say I PSVR on par with the likes of the 360's, PS3, Wii U, PS4 and ONE's launch line up's.

Hmmm... you're probably right in that there's not really that much. The worry I have is that it's not going to get better. With the last generation of consoles, the launch was a bit drab because the big "proper releases" were still being finishes, and were on their way. I fear that, with VR what you see in that list is "it".

Looking back, the Wii U launch was rubbish. There were some good retail games right enough, but everything else screamed 'unfinished!'. I rememeber that the system loading times took the complete piss, the web browser was very basic, Miiverse was seemingly still in beta and years away from being complete, you couldn't automatically install stuff that you'd downloaded, there was no Virtual Console whatsoever and the eShop offerings were of a really sub-standard quality for well over a year. Nintendo TVii never even came out! It was such a botch job, it was bare-arsed cheek that they launched the Wii U in that condition. I really hope that many lessons are learned for when the NX is launched in the spring. All those things should be sorted by launch day, no questions asked. I'd rather wait another six months for a finished console than get something like what the Wii U was in late 2012.

And even though there were some good retail games, were there enough?  A bunch of ports of stuff on other consoles, including Mass Effect without the emotional investment.  Another NSMB game: was anybody genuinely excited for another NSMB, good though it was?  Likewise, Nintendo Land was genuinely good, but a minigame compilation should never be your new console's killer app.  The first game I played was Trine 2. Trine Chuffing 2.

And then there was the launch window: as soon as RLegends was callously delayed, the sparsity of it became obvious.  (Granted that's a problem with most launches these days.)

In hindsight, did the Wii U actually do anything right?  Miiverse, maybe (once in full flow)?  I still maintain a fondness for the gamepad in and of itself, while simultaneously feeling that most of the best games didn't really use it, and that it probably hindered better games from coming out as developers struggled to justify the second screen.

I think the Wii U had a pretty decent launch line up as far as they go, perhaps a few too many ports, but I think it was far stronger than anything else I can think of, look at the PS3/4 line ups, naff all there either.

Jimbob wrote:

Hmmm... you're probably right in that there's not really that much. The worry I have is that it's not going to get better. With the last generation of consoles, the launch was a bit drab because the big "proper releases" were still being finishes, and were on their way. I fear that, with VR what you see in that list is "it".

There is loads more PSVR games it may have something like 30 of the 50 game by year end just in October but I was pointing out the big name ones or ones you could go well RIGS = Killzone: SF, VR Worlds =NintendoLand, DriveClub = DriveClub actually its coming day one so more like Need for Speed.

It's a hard one it goes back to what Ubisoft once said about something (I want to say NX) that it needs over a million and a active installbase for them to support it, yet if they brought out games for the system people may buy the system.

Very much a catch 22 and PSVR very well could be the same, we know it's sold-out day one and what Sony want to sell in year one which is around 2m SKU's, and I do think the installbase will be very active sort like the VITA which isn't a good thing to compare anything to but the people that do own a VITA buy VITA games and I think it has the best attachment rate to any current gen system.

That from talking to indies it is now a very practical business practice to go for VITA and I reckon same will be for VR.

@Andy what the PS4 was great, but the PS3 might be one of the worst ever yet I still bought one on launch for that sweet Blu Ray player.

It's been a while since a console launched alongside a game that I was genuinely excited about. On the Wii U, I liked Nintendo Land, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and all that, but as Balladeer suggests it was difficult to feel really hyped up about those and the rest of the Wii U launch line-up. The same goes for 3DS; lots of good games, but I was definitely buying the hardware as a future investment, rather for the software that was released there and then.

It's been almost a decade since the Wii. To my mind, in Wii Sports that was the last console that had a piece of software that made me buy the system that it operate on. How many consoles have come out since then?

We've had the PS3 (In Europe), PS4, ONE, Wii U, VITA, 3DS, then things like Ouya as well.

I think most like my point with PSVR is they don't do one big this is the game you're buying this system for like a SM64, Halo, Wii Sports but lots of okay decent games to guess keep you ticking for the first few months,

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I think the Wii U had a pretty decent launch line up as far as they go, perhaps a few too many ports, but I think it was far stronger than anything else I can think of, look at the PS3/4 line ups, naff all there either.

mas wrote:

@Andy what the PS4 was great, but the PS3 might be one of the worst ever yet I still bought one on launch for that sweet Blu Ray player.

I'm with Andy on this one ,PS4 was quite shocking in terms of games which is why I held off on buying it for quite some time as things like Knack, Killzone etc didn't scream "I need this system" at all.

I agree there was no I need this system game like a SM64 or Halo but shocking is a strong word as it had okay to decent games across the board unlike let's say the PS3 where it was pretty dreadful or most likely worst ever the PS2s.

I don't think it is strong to say it was shocking as it took a good year or so to get those top quality titles.

Like nearly all systems but shocking to me is having Cybermorph, Fantavison as your main launch game those are shocking not a 73 rated Killzone.

If the NX has a similar launch line up, you'd won't be saying that's shocking with if it gets stuff on par with Assassins Creed, Battlefield, COD, FIFA, LEGO, Madden, NBA 2K, Need for Speed and Resogun those are all decent titles not shockingly bad like the ones I mention.

Yeah you didn't need a PS4 for them that I agree but no way that's a shocking lot.

So the NX has a pretty low barline then. Honestly BotW alone should make it the best console launch in a while, even though it's on Wii U as well.

It needs a proper killer app to explain the tech to people straight away as well, I would say. It's too much to hope for another Wii Sports, but I am expecting something better than Nintendo Land. Maybe the GamePad was the issue, or the lack of other players, but I did not like that game.

I still maintain Nintendoland is brilliant, but the appeal wasn't immediately obvious a la Wii Sports.

Just because other line-ups have been worse doesn't make a shocking launch any less shocking.

masofdas wrote:

I agree there was no I need this system game like a SM64 or Halo but shocking is a strong word as it had okay to decent games across the board unlike let's say the PS3 where it was pretty dreadful or most likely worst ever the PS2s.

The PS2 launch wasn't the worst ever. SSX, Tekken Tag Tournament and Timesplitters aren't great, but they were good, solid titles that went on to become better. The Xbox 360 had a worse launch line-up.

The NX does have Zelda as a launch title, but it needs that one game that'll cause a Pokemon Go style buzz. They have the January to March window to themselves, so Nintendo need to make this thing go viral. They need a 3D Mario game in the launch window (or 2017). They need a Pokemon game that showcases the NX's purpose as a hybrid. I still think to capture ALL gamers' attention they need to drop a bombshell - MonolithSoft are working on a Pokemon RPG title (building on the work that went in to Xenoblade Chronicles X). Telltale Games are doing episodic Metroid or something... I want something to make the industry turn away from VR and this Scorpio/PS4 Pro tedium, and get people talking.

I'm convinced a really good Monster Hunter V is the game to show off the hybrid, the console's power and Nintendo's gamer focus, and get people talking about the machine . . . in Japan.

I don't think they're going to have a similar plan for the west right away.

Pokémon, proper 3D Mario, and Zelda are the three Ninty franchises I can think of (outside multiplayer-focussed ones like Mario Kart and Smash) that would have good cross-playerbase support in the West - in order from most casual-appealing to most core-appealing. They've got one, of course, and given the number of people who bought the Wii U, BotW should be a killer app. for many. Throw in something that will actually attract the casuals with similar pizazz (Wii Sports equivalent, Pokémon, whatever), and that's Wii levels of launch hype right there.


Also, meaning no offence to Mr. Jones, a Telltale Metroid game sounds like a terrible idea! What do most Telltale games consist of? Talking. What's the thing that Metroid has ballsed up in the last two proper Metroid games?

We won't see a proper Pokémon so soon after Sun and Moon. A 3D Mario would be a banger, but it probably won't do much of interest with the machine's unique features, and it historically doesn't sell the best with casual fans. Zelda we've got, and it'll do well, but it doesn't capture non-gamers much and it doesn't sell well in Japan.

Mario Kart and Smash could work well to sell this as a multiplayer machine. I don't think anything fans like us want will work like Wii Sports did.

Balladeer wrote:

Also, meaning no offence to Mr. Jones, a Telltale Metroid game sounds like a terrible idea!  What do most Telltale games consist of?  Talking.  What's the thing that Metroid has ballsed up in the last two proper Metroid games?

That's why I said 'or something' afterwards as it was more of a throwaway example of a popular Western developer working on a Nintendo franchise.

It could work though, if they used the storytelling and choice to create something more akin to Alien Isolation (or the game of The Thing that was on PS2). My guess is that a traditional Metroid Prime is highly unlikely.

masofdas wrote:

That line-up which I can't decide to get what from on launch (I did ask in the PSVR thread but no reply not even from OR )

Don't think I saw it!

My most-wanted VR games is RIGS, although not having the system preordered and anticipating it won't be easy to get hold of, I haven't been following it too deeply simply because I won't be able to play any for a while until stocks come back!

masofdas wrote:

Like nearly all systems but shocking to me is having Cybermorph, Fantavison as your main launch game those are shocking not a 73 rated Killzone.

If the NX has a similar launch line up, you'd won't be saying that's shocking with if it gets stuff on par with Assassins Creed, Battlefield, COD, FIFA, LEGO, Madden, NBA 2K, Need for Speed and Resogun those are all decent titles not shockingly bad like the ones I mention.

Yeah you didn't need a PS4 for them that I agree but no way that's a shocking lot.

It's just my opinion, mas & it's fine for you to disagree as well but when I don't feel the need to buy a system for almost a year because none of the games interest me whatsoever then I'm entitled to think that. For a console launch to be great for me I only need one or two games to hold my interest & as mentioned NX has one already in BoTW but if it didn't I'd honestly be thinking of holding off on buying it just like I did for PS4.

Did you buy the Wii U at launch Jas? If so, what for?

Balladeer wrote:

Did you buy the Wii U at launch Jas?  If so, what for?

I did & I bought it mainly for Zombi U, which turned out to be one of my favourite survival horror games in years. (Mas will obviously disagree with that because he didn't like the game, natch)

Yeah you are entitled to your opinion and like I said I agree it was bad because you could play the games elsewhere and you didn't need a PS4 for them but to me saying shocking is like we got utter trash not some of the biggest gaming franchises around which were fun to play be on PS3 or 4.

Now ZombiU is a shockingly bad game

What people are saying about the NX is sort of true it needs that killer app as at the moemnt I'm happy to buy BotW on Wii U and play it on that, which is sort of the problem with PS4 launch and the Wii U's as nearly all the games could be played on an other system.

Sure I could do like I did with the Wii U & PS4, that's wait and get X game on the NX instead of PS4 for instance (If NX gets a decent batch of 3rd party) but that's not going to make me buy one, I'm not saying having South Park, Mass Effect Andromeda or Resident Evil 7 is a bad thing as they'll all likely be great games that I can play elsewhere.

For me it needs that much rumoured Beyond Good and Evil 2.