# What were the biggest wastes of your gaming dollars? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 15, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533 "2009-05-15T15:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/81 "2009-05-18T20:09:34Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Could you find out? Because that doesn’t sound right to me at all. I’ll try and find the box. I mean, I love the PES series (I played it in the UK and now in the States) and this version of Winning Eleven was nothing like any of the PES series I’ve played. Clunky controls, bad graphics, etc. Very weird. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/82 "2009-05-18T20:10:05Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Somebody, somewhere bought _ET_, you know. My next door neighbor had it. We played it when I was a kid. We had no idea what was going on…still don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/83 "2009-05-18T21:07:54Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > That had to have come out before [Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rigs:_Over_the_Road_Racing) slithered into existence. YOU’RE WINNER! I’ve got that! 😃 Cost me 75 cents from the GameStop used PS2 bargain bucket. I just had to buy it to see if it was really that bad. It was. ---
**Author:** ![mbetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@mbetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbetter)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/84 "2009-05-18T22:24:03Z")
> [@by-tor](#): > > Sacred 2. It can crash your computer at least 5 different ways. I will never buy another Ascaron game again. ..and a lot of the skill levels are so bugged as to be considered broken. However, the hidden Blind Guardian song / rendered performance is absolutely amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/85 "2009-05-19T01:16:38Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > That had to have come out before [Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rigs:_Over_the_Road_Racing) slithered into existence. YOU’RE WINNER! I’ve always wondered if you could successfully sue the company for releasing a game that is literally broken. Small claims court perhaps? Odesio ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/86 "2009-05-19T08:01:15Z")
For me, video games truly have been a financial black hole like no other. It would take the better part of the week to list all the bum deals I got. As for the worst of the worst, however, that’s easy. In order: 1. The Neo Geo - It’s tough to overstate just how utterly dismal the time between the end of the 8-bit era and the debut of the Playstation was. You had the Super NES, saddled by Nintendo’s most boneheaded, shortsighted policy decision…y’know, “family system” (an albatross so massive that they’re still fighting it **to this day** )…which not only demolished whatever potential for greatness it had, but gave us some of the most moronic video game dialogue in history. (“Those who live by the sword are also destroyed by the sword.” Buh-arf.) Then there was the Genesis, a hopelessly underpowered system that had almost no marquee titles to speak of, not to mention some of the most aggravating gameplay I’ve seen in my life (Be honest now: Did you _enjoy_ the original Sonic The Hedgehog? And how did it feel traversing between “brisk walk” and “stop” for about 80% of the game?) And then there were a bunch of other hopeless dead-end systems. Trust me, if this period wasn’t such an ungodly nadir, I wouldn’t have even considered plunking down $400 plus on this system (used!), not to mention anywhere from $50 to $220 on the games. Oh, and don’t forget the successor, the Neo CD. At least the games were no more overpriced than the PSX titles of the time, but the system was still on the bad side of $400, and it was shoddy as hell (I left it alone for a few months and it just plain stopped working forever). I hesitate to speculate at how much this exercise cost me, but over $2000 is a safe bet. And we’re grumbling about the PS3 being overpriced? 2. Specialty controllers - Oh, for an Asciiware that didn’t stick and was built to last. Or a Pelican that didn’t invariably have some stupid defect. Yep, my quest to find just the right PSX/PS2 joystick has been a serious big burden, especially how amazingly quickly these things break or simply cease to function. I once shelled out over $60 for a big arcade-qualtiy stick. About four months later, one button completely stopped working. That was it. Oh, and lets not forget a certain music game’s needs…$120 down the crapper. And that wheel that I’ve used for all of 10 minutes that’s currently collecting dust. I’ve blown more money on useless specialty controllers than on college textbooks. 3. Modifications that didn’t get the job done. Nothing like putting out $80 to discover that the modchip doesn’t work all the time. Nothing like putting out $150 more when the chip ends up wrecking the entire console. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/87 "2009-05-19T08:59:30Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > **PC:** Dominions 3: The Awakening OK, you’re gonna have to elaborate there - I didn’t play the 3, but Dominions 2 was one of the best, most complex Master of Magic-style games I ever played. I only ditched it because of the graphics, and the stupid AI. What’s so bad about the third ? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/88 "2009-05-19T11:28:57Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > 1. The Neo Geo - It’s tough to overstate just how utterly dismal the time between the end of the 8-bit era and the debut of the Playstation was. You had the Super NES, saddled by Nintendo’s most boneheaded, shortsighted policy decision…y’know, “family system” (an albatross so massive that they’re still fighting it **to this day** )…which not only demolished whatever potential for greatness it had, but gave us some of the most moronic video game dialogue in history. (“Those who live by the sword are also destroyed by the sword.” Buh-arf.) Then there was the Genesis, a hopelessly underpowered system that had almost no marquee titles to speak of, not to mention some of the most aggravating gameplay I’ve seen in my life (Be honest now: Did you _enjoy_ the original Sonic The Hedgehog? And how did it feel traversing between “brisk walk” and “stop” for about 80% of the game?) And then there were a bunch of other hopeless dead-end systems. Trust me, if this period wasn’t such an ungodly nadir, I wouldn’t have even considered plunking down $400 plus on this system (used!), not to mention anywhere from $50 to $220 on the games. Oh, and don’t forget the successor, the Neo CD. At least the games were no more overpriced than the PSX titles of the time, but the system was still on the bad side of $400, and it was shoddy as hell (I left it alone for a few months and it just plain stopped working forever). I hesitate to speculate at how much this exercise cost me, but over $2000 is a safe bet. And we’re grumbling about the PS3 being overpriced? Are you seriously suggesting the Super NES/Genesis era was the low point of video game history? I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that before. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/89 "2009-05-19T13:02:24Z")
Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. God what boring fucking games those were. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/90 "2009-05-19T13:42:10Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Are you seriously suggesting the Super NES/Genesis era was the low point of video game history? > > I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that before. I’ve certainly never heard anyone over 18 complain that the SNES was a failure because of Nintendo’s (admittedly short-sighted) “family friendly” policy. Incidentally, the “underpowered” Mega Drive/Genesis was actually more powerful than the SNES… and the Neo Geo was simply ridiculously overpriced. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/91 "2009-05-19T14:06:54Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Incidentally, the “underpowered” Mega Drive/Genesis was actually more powerful than the SNES… and the Neo Geo was simply ridiculously overpriced. That is completely untrue. The Genesis was two year old tech by the time the Super NES launched. It was an amazing machine, but there’s no way it was on the same level as the SNES, let alone more powerful. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/92 "2009-05-19T14:10:53Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Are you seriously suggesting the Super NES/Genesis era was the low point of video game history? > > I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that before. Well, here it is. It’s happened. The video game thing that we can both agree on. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/93 "2009-05-19T14:15:51Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > That is completely untrue. The Genesis was two year old tech by the time the Super NES launched. > > It was an amazing machine, but there’s no way it was on the same level as the SNES, let alone more powerful. It doesn’t matter. Neither was exactly “state of the art” in terms of processing power even compared to contemporary home computers. The Mega Drive was objectively more powerful, because the SNES used 8-bit architecture even though both had a 16-bit processor core. The SNES’ big advantage was greater graphics processing power, which allowed it to do all the sprite scaling and Mode 7 rotation stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/94 "2009-05-19T17:34:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The Mega Drive was objectively more powerful, because the SNES used 8-bit architecture even though both had a 16-bit processor core. The SNES’ big advantage was greater graphics processing power, which allowed it to do all the sprite scaling and Mode 7 rotation stuff. Your first statement does not jive with the second. It’s true the Genesis featured a “faster” processor (as in, its megahertz was higher), but that’s a rather meaningless figure when the two processors had completely different architectures. You also didn’t take into account the Super Nintendo did feature a state-of-the-art (at the time) dedicated sound processor, which the Genesis did not. It should also be mentioned that virtually every game that was released on both systems look superior on the SNES, thanks in part to its 256-color palette (out of 32,000), whereas the Genesis could only display a mere 64 out of a paltry 512. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/95 "2009-05-19T17:45:52Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Your first statement does not jive with the second. It’s true the Genesis featured a “faster” processor (as in, its megahertz was higher), but that’s a rather meaningless figure when the two processors had completely different architectures. You also didn’t take into account the Super Nintendo did feature a state-of-the-art (at the time) dedicated sound processor, which the Genesis did not. > > It should also be mentioned that virtually every game that was released on both systems look superior on the SNES, thanks in part to its 256-color palette (out of 32,000), whereas the Genesis could only display a mere 64 out of a paltry 512. FTR, I was a SNES owner only and I turned up my nose at those poor mugs who had Mega Drives. I was just responding to **DKW** ’s assertion that the Mega Drive was “underpowered”, which isn’t technically true. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/96 "2009-05-19T17:51:19Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > FTR, I was a SNES owner only and I turned up my nose at those poor mugs who had Mega Drives. I was just responding to **DKW** ’s assertion that the Mega Drive was “underpowered”, which isn’t technically true. No worries; I didn’t think you had any inherent bias. While I wouldn’t use the word “underpowered,” I don’t think its unfair to say it was at a slight technical disadvantage when placed against the SNES, as the multi-platform games demonstrated time after time. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/97 "2009-05-19T17:54:09Z")
I’d always thought that the SNES was too slow to handle Genesis games like the Sonic series. Not true? I had both, and preferred the SNES, but the Genesis was great too. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/98 "2009-05-19T17:59:07Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > I’d always thought that the SNES was too slow to handle Genesis games like the Sonic series. Not true? “Blast Processing” was a Sega marketing myth. A brilliant one, but a myth all the same. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/99 "2009-05-19T18:02:07Z")
I do recall SNES having significantly more slowdown than the Genesis though. Even Mario games had slowdown. I highly doubt SNES could handle the faster Genesis games. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533/100 "2009-05-19T18:04:45Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > I do recall SNES having significantly more slowdown than the Genesis though. Even Mario games had slowdown. > > I highly doubt SNES could handle the faster Genesis games. You must be really good at Sonic if you never got hit and lost all your rings, as the games always slowed way-the-hell-down whenever that happened. And the SNES had plenty of “fast” games without slowdown, such as F-Zero and Uniracers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-biggest-wastes-of-your-gaming-dollars/496533.md?page=6)