9 "Must-Have" Video Game Peripherals (That Instantly Flopped)

9. Sega Activator - Mega Drive/Genesis

What it was: Technology of the future, today!

By modern standards, the Sega Activator looks more like the prop from a budget sci-fi movie than a gaming peripheral, but in 1993, this was it - the device that would revolutionize video games and do away with the need to clutch a cheap hunk of mass-produced plastic in hand to play.

Hands-free gaming: the dream.

Why it flopped: Besides the absurd price point? A working product would have been a good start. The idea was that standing within the octagonal device would allow the Activator to read your movements and translate them into inputs on-screen. As you'd expect, the concept was immediately put to use on fighters like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, but the horrid accuracy made anything other than a fluke victory nigh-on impossible.

As expected, the deeply flawed device went straight back in the box once the novelty wore off, becoming just another forgettable footnote in the Mega Drive's history.