Consoles built around specific games

[Craig]

I was recently reading this excellent interview on the design of the NES from USgamer.

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/nes-cre ... st-console

One thing that stuck out for me is that the famiclm was initially designed to be able to run Donkey Kong with parity to the arcade original. It seems that objective even went as far as to influence the control design as they were testing differ by schemes using Donkey Kong as the standard.

It started to make me think about what other consoles had been built with a specific game in mind. Most famously, the N64 controller feels to be built around controlling Mario in Mario 64 but it feels the rest of the hardware also complimented this with many of the big games (zelda, star fox) using a modified Mario 64 engine.

I think you can probably make a strong case for the Wii being developed for Wii sports, though I've not seen anything definitive. Nintendo were already heading in that philosophy with the GameCube with quotations that the best games can be played with only one button (hence the big A button on the GameCube controller) and wanting to make shorter games. It feels like the Wii they really went all in with it.

Have there been any other systems designed with specific games in mind? I've a fairly Nintendo centric view of gaming history so filling in the gaps from other companies would be great. I believe the mega drive, much like the famicom, was made with arcade ports in mind.

[Matthewjbutler]

A cynic might say that the Wii-U was made for Nintendoland as no other game has really bothered to make proper use of the Gamepad!

Not me though - I adore my Wii U.

[ratsoalbion]

As do I. ZombiU (another launch title) does some cool things with the GamePad too, no?

Of course, controllers built around games is a different subject.

I believe as per the OP that certain components/features have been included in consoles to facilitate specific launch games.

Then of course there's the spin-off subject of game carts which included extra kit to 'boost' the power of the host machine (such as Super Mario Bros. 3 and the more famous examples of Super FX and SVP chips).

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

Certainly Sega's consoles were always built with a firm consideration on them being able to run conversions of their arcade hits, which made up a large proportion of their first party output on their home platforms.

I so miss the term 'arcade perfect' being bandied about in the days of the Saturn and Dreamcast for their Model 2 and 3 ports respectively (whether they ever actually achieved it is another question...)

Great days!

[brutaldeluxe09]

there are plenty of peripherals that have been built for the use in just one specific game but for actual machines to be built for a specifically for software, I have no idea. Crazy

[ratsoalbion]

Certainly Sega's consoles were always built with a firm consideration on them being able to run conversions of their arcade hits, which made up a large proportion of their first party output on their home platforms.

I so miss the term 'arcade perfect' being bandied about in the days of the Saturn and Dreamcast for their Model 2 and 3 ports respectively (whether they ever actually achieved it is another question...)

Great days!

Well STV to Saturn (Radiant Silvergun/Athlete Kings etc.) and Naomi to Dreamcast (Power Stone/Crazy Taxi etc.) ports were obviously arcade perfect TAIAP.

Model 2 and 3 titles - not so much!

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

Yeah true the STV and Naomi were effectively the innards of Saturn and Dreamcast weren't they! Forgot about those!

The Saturn of course had some pretty spot on conversions of Capcom's later 2D fighters of the era, particularly if you had an imported Extended RAM Cart! Mine got lost in a move a long time ago

[ratsoalbion]

Yeah, I had a 4MB RAM expansion cart for use with X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, Vampire Savior, Metal Slug et al.
Fortunately there have been arcade perfect versions of most of those games for other systems since (though sadly not X-M vs SF and Marvel vs SF).

MAME is your friend, as are the compilations by Iron Galaxy for 360/PS3 (although sadly the Marvel Origins one is no longer on sale I believe due to licensing issues).

I'm still gutted that the Darkstalkers Chronicles pack sold so poorly that the Street Fighter Zero/Alpha one never happened. Fortunately I still have my imported PS2 trilogy pack.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

It's the lack of X-M vs SF and Marvel vs SF that makes me particularly sad as well. Don't suppose well ever see them again thanks to boring rights issues!

You're right there are lots of great ports out there nowadays, but I just loved playing 2D fighters with that Saturn pad. Trying to play anything on a Playstation pad of any generation just isn't right due to the awful d-pads. Same for Xbox.

I've never really jumped into the world of MAME. Always get scared off by the apparent complexities of it all (I'm sure it's simpler than I've built it up to be in my head), and the fact I've been using nothing but Macbook Pros due to work for so long and I'm nervous about putting anything on it that might blow up my laptop (again, probably entirely unfounded fears!).

[ratsoalbion]

Trying to play anything on a Playstation pad of any generation just isn't right due to the awful d-pads. Same for Xbox.

Couldn't agree more, hence my lovely collection of arcade sticks.

[Beck]

Once the calluses have passed the playstation d pad is usable...

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

I wish I had a lovely collection of arcade sticks.

Although having said that I'm probably actually better at fighters with a d-pad! Hailing from Brighton you probably got more practice on the real thing than I did growing in a Wiltshire village!

[ratsoalbion]

Once the calluses have passed the playstation d pad is usable...

Well indeed, famously one of the world's better SFIV players uses a modified original PS1 controller.

[ratsoalbion]

Hailing from Brighton you probably got more practice on the real thing than I did growing in a Wiltshire village!

That is a very good point!