21 Consoles And Handhelds That Crashed And Burned

The history of video games is littered with consoles that were epic fiascoes. Most were just bad platforms that either lacked in performance, compelling software, or a true market niche. But some had a good chance at success that was spoiled by management issues, marketing gaffes, or a lack of relationships in the software development community.

This year was a historic one for consoles, with the second-most-popular Kickstarter project, Ouya, becoming the world’s first console financed by Internet users (to the tune of $8.5 million). It uses Google's Android 4.2 operating system, a Tegra 3 SoC, and a heavily free-to-play philosophy. Square Enix announced that it will port Final Fantasy III to the platform.

The console is set to ship early in 2013, but its success is far from guaranteed. We decided to dredge up a few corpses from the past to quench a little of the excitement surrounding this project. We present 20 console failures that have left their marks on history.