When it comes to gaming, there are winners and there are losers.

Here are 41 systems and accessories that truly were a waste of time.

A good gaming machine is indispensable.

Many of these additions end up being fundamental to the consoles they were designed for.

But sometimes these efforts fall very short and are virtually forgotten and never spoken of again.

Thats what this list is all about: the hardware that didnt need to happen or failed miserably.

With so little purpose, it makes you wonder why they even bothered.

Youve seenThe Wizarda thousand times; I hear you.

But theres more to this peripheral than it being prime meme fodder.

Yes, you have?

Okay, well then this offshoot is entirely redundant.

Just a thin layer of extra rubber to make gaming easier on your hands.

Besides, the Famicoins even come with fun stickers that you’re able to put on them!

How can you not have confidence in a product that hides behind stickers?

NES SPEEDBOARD

Heres a peripheral that is absolutely going to change your life.

With a bunch of crazy stuff in the middle!

Ideally, this feature was billed to work with games likePunch-Out!

!and offer a real advantage to the player.

Sega was far from done with experimenting with online gaming in its earlier years.

The Sega Saturn in fact eventually had a modem made for it allowing gamers to compete against each other.

This camera was largely seen as a luxury for children and more of a toy.

Any product where you could run out of fuel for it, is certainly problematic.

This tech was always seen as a frivolity rather than something fundamental to gaming.

), so it makes sense that some of its weirder features would be equally unrecognized.

The 3DO controllers had a port in the back that could be connected to another one.

This meant that you didnt need some multi-tap or additional controller ports at all; these controllers were self-sufficient.

A progressive idea, but one that could barely ever be implemented and enjoyed.

Its not as if the rumbling technology was too powerful here and ruining gameplay as a result.

If Nintendo couldnt fully embrace it, why should we?

was essentially a built-in, official PlayStation emulator.

from stores, which sets interesting emulation precedent).

If this legal grayness wasnt enough to keep this peripheral behind, the fact that Bleem!

Nintendo was throwing a lot of ideas at the wall in these earlier days, and while R.O.B.

Its somewhat comical that R.O.B.

worked by receiving optical flashes from the TV that would correspond to his LED eyes.

was then capable of completing six commands, which would correspond to the game.

There some attempts to update R.O.B.

VIRTUAL BOY

The little system that could!

The bulk of the games ended up being re-designed for the Gamecube.

NAMCO NEGCON

One of the absolute weirder controllers that was out there for the PlayStation.

PALMTOP CONTROLLER

Okay, dont you love those dance rhythm games likeDance Dance Revolution?

Well, the Palmtop Controller answered these prayers and then some.

Unsurprisingly, you likely havent seen these things being used in wide support.

But at least with the Power Glove no one was falling to the ground, getting hurt.

At tournaments, you dont see people busting out the controller glove forSuper Smash Bros.orSilent Hill, though.

Online functionality was added to a system purely to facilitate the use of one game.

If that doesnt qualify as unnecessary, Im not sure what does.

with encoded data printed on them.

Like most modern consoles, they are built with the ability to either stand vertically or horizontally.

Its doing nothing here.

Its literally a ground surrogate.

Take for instance theSteel Battalioncontroller, a $200, highly obtrusive, forty-button control station.

That answer is…maybe?

Look, I can see whats going on here.

Its even built in a way that youd hold it like you would an actual chainsaw.

Isnt that more important than it handling like a functional game controller?

The vibrator also worked with SegasSpace Channel 5: Part 2, but two titles is hardly a library.

ASCII KEYBOARD CONTROLLER

I really dont even need to say anything here, do I?

WII BOWLING BALL

Remember that first time you tried out bowling in your copy ofWii Sports?

Furthermore, wedging your Wiimote into the plastic bowling ball lost you precision if anything.

If you just stuck with the standard Wiimote, youd be saving money and bowling a better game.

Its a blow-up go-kart that you sit in while you playMario Kart Wii.