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

2. 64DD - Nintendo 64

Nintendo 64dd
Nintendo

What it was: An N64-shaped device that slotted snugly into the underbelly of Nintendo's 64-bit console, providing heaps of added functionality, including magnetic, disc-based games, user-created content, e.g. Mario Artist's suite of drawing software, and even rudimentary online capabilities allowing for content sharing and the like.

For the late 90s, that was some pretty slick tech all packed onto one device.

Why it flopped: Despite dozens of prospective titles having entered development at one time or another, just 10 games ultimately made their way to the 64DD, a poor showing that helped little in driving sales.

Nintendo had announced the peripheral prior even to the launch of the N64 itself but it took a further three years to arrive, just in time for nobody to care, what with the GameCube scheduled to arrive less than two years later.

Had it launched alongside the N64, who knows, it could have seen some semblance of use before being retired to attics and second-hand shops. Tragic.

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Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.