When you sit down on your comfy seat to play a game, there are really only 4 things that matter: The TV or other viewing source, the console, the game, and some sort of accessory or peripheral to control such game. Some people don’t consider the controllers that the console comes with as accessories, but they really are, even though they’re 100% necessary to play your game.
I’m not here to talk about the semantics of video game controllers being accessories or part of the system, I’m here to actually talk about accessories. Ones that are hard to find, difficult to use, and just outright suck or perform no good function to justify the price you paid – but look awesome or have great potential.
You can find 5 of these items after the jump.
5. The Power Glove (NES) – Back in the days of the original NES, people were excited to see new and inventive ways to control their games. Why not have a robot that plays with you? How about a pad that you can run and jump on multiple times? Maybe a glove that let you really get into the game? Okay, so the pad was a decent idea that Konami went on to milk for about a decade, but the robot and glove were simply horrible. As a kid, it felt really cool to wear the glove, but even at such a young age I realized it was pure crap to try and play games with. At least we got the Zapper, because THAT was freaking awesome.
4. Wireless Headset (Xbox 360) – When the 360 hit store shelves and gamers were treated with wireless controllers that actually worked quite well, gamers were ushered into a new era of wireless gaming technology. Sadly, if you were playing online and wanted to talk to the other people in the game, you had to have a cord coming from your head to your controller. This certainly wasn’t much of a problem, but players still wondered what it’d be like to be completely wireless.
Microsoft answered that question with the wireless headset for the 360, and the answer was “It sucks.” The headset itself is pretty cool. It looks weird, but it fits well and is pretty comfortable for a while. Sadly, the voice quality is horrible and the speaker would frequently be full of static or would simply cut in and out while people were talking to you. Plus, the hardware is just shoddy and would fail at the drop of a hat. It was a good idea, but I’d rather look like a dork with a cord connecting my head to my controller than to not be able to communicate with my teammates.
3. Gameboy Accessories (Gameboy) – When you talk about bad accessories, Nintendo is really at fault. They kind of 
slowed down on bad console peripherals when the SNES came out and didn’t really start again until the Wii (see below,) but their handhelds have had a slew of bad crap made to stick onto them. The Gameboy is probably the most notable of these, and anyone in the reading audience who had one of these bad boys has probably seen either their Gameboy or a friend’s look like the picture to the right.
For anyone who doesn’t know, the original Gameboy was massive, and the accessories that came out for it only made it that much larger and unwieldy. Most of them were quite useless, too. I remember the light only lighting half the screen, the magnifier making things look weird, and don’t get me started on the camera, printer, e-reader, and everything else that appeared in later generations.
2. Wii Accessories (Wii) – Not all of the Wii accessories are horrible, but most of them are quite useless. Take the Lightsabers for instance. Do I want a lightsaber controller? Hell yeah! Do I want to use them in a crappy Wii title? Nah, not so much. The Wii has such a plethora of cool looking items to place the Wii-Mote into that I couldn’t help to put them on this list. The sad part is that most of the objects don’t do anything but give you a visual representation of using the said object, and 75% of the games they’re used for are extremely poor quality. I could go on and on about the Wii peripherals, but it’s a horse that’s been beaten into a pulp already, and I don’t want to get horse pulp on my Wii Beating Stick™.
So what’s the number 1 most “awesome” gaming accessory of all time? Find out on Page 2.
CONTINUE TO PAGE: 1 2
| Related Posts:
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Awesomesauce
I remember the Powerpad! And the blaster! Duck Hunt was the shizzlenit (that’s what we called it, too, back in 1987 – we were street before Snoop).
You could pick up a fog machine and light that will do the same thing for far less than $100 – go to Musician’s Friend or Guitar Center’s website. I really like the concept, though. What would be better is if you built your own “lightbar.” Or install a real one – now that’s hardcore.
It seems like most of the add-ons these days are lost in the shuffle. There are a TON. What I’d love is an HD version of Silent Scope with a realistic rifle. Loved that game in the arcade, but I heard the hardware for consoles was wonky.
The best accessories are the ones that protect your system and/or controller from scratches, dings, cracks etc. Some look goofier than others but most work ok. Some dont’ work at all like those super thin skins that really just change the look of the system or controller without really protecting it. I’ve seen controllers where they’ve put the skins on them and then later peeled them off to discover that they still got scratched up as the scratches went through the skin.
The best ones I’ve seen are the ones by Nerf that use the nerf foam to protect your system (in the case of portables) or the controller (the ones for the Wii Remotes work really well). These cases let you play your games while still protecting the hardware from drops and scratches. They also make holding the controllers and/or system for long periods of time more comfortable as the foam is softer than the hard plastic. They do look a bit dorky, especially if you opt for the bright colored ones.
Then there are the screen protectors. The cheapest ones are not worth the money as they let scratches through and are too hard to instal without getting bubbles. The more expensive ones may seem to expensive at first. But once you try installing them (much easier) and try playing your portable system with them, you see why they are worth more.
F*CKING Awesome cant see why u would ever buy number 1… even if i was given it i wouldnt use it =/
@OMG: True, but the Stage Kit syncs up with the game
I imagine that’s a much cooler experience.
@John: I smell a list. Thank you.
@ahtisharry: Imagine a full band, it syncs with the game, and the game it syncs with is my top game at the moment (though as I type this, Fallout 3 just got here from Gamerang)