History AudienceAlienatingPremise / VideoGames

* As CD-ROM technology started becoming cheaper jack-of-all-trades "infotainment" systems, basically budget [=PCs=] that could load games like a console, became all the rage among electronics companies. That gave us the Platform/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer, the Platform/PhilipsCDi, and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_Video_Information_System VIS]][[note]]'''V'''ideo '''I'''nformation '''S'''ystem[[/note]]. The first two managed to scrape together enough sales to avoid this trope, there's a reason the third one doesn't have its own page. While all three of those consoles were hamstrung by a $700 MSRP (even ''30 years later'' consoles don't cost that much) the 3DO and CD-i at least made the attempt to get games released. Not good games in the latter's case, but they tried. 70 titles were released for the VIS but only '''one''' could be really considered a console game: ''Links: The Challenge of Golf'', which was ported all over the place. Everything else is point-and-click edutainment software that will make you wish you were using a mouse instead of a controller. Not that you would have known the VIS existed in the first place as it was only sold through Radio Shack (Tandy was a Radio Shack house brand), many Radio Shack employees later recounted that they knew the VIS was a lost cause (dubbing it the "[[SelfFulfillingProphecy Virtually Impossible to Sell]]") and didn't even waste their time trying to push it. Only 11,000 were sold and many collectors don't even know it exists, and many of the ones that do really don't care since everything released for the VIS was ported from something else.

* ''VideoGame/WarioWareDIY'', as it names indicate, focuses on the idea of making your own comics, music and microgames. Fans who like the previous installments for their simple gameplay and pick-up-and-play appeal would be unlikely to be interested in the complex editor (which requires undergoing a lengthy AutoPilotTutorial before being able to use it) nor sated the sparse and lackluster selection of pre-built microgames[[note]]For comparison, whereas previous ''[=WarioWare=]'' games included around 200 microgames plus unlockable minigames and toys, the base ''DIY'' has 95 microgames, none of which have difficulty levels.[[/note]]. People who were open to the editor focus, meanwhile, would be discouraged by the fact that any games you can produce can only last for a few seconds, and that being released on the Platform/NintendoDS meant the game lacked any ingame hub for players to upload their creations or download other's (due to the system-wide "Friend Codes" system). Additionally, any input is based solely on ''tapping'' with the stylus (no dragging or drawing, no microphone or button controls). While the game got great reviews and acquired a loyal cult following, [[AcclaimedFlop it was a sales flop]].

** The Platform/WiiU. Casual gamers, particularly those in the "blue ocean" that made the Platform/{{Wii}} a success, were barely aware that it was even a standalone console, with the name and marketing making many believe it was just an expensive add-on tablet controller for the Wii. Which by 2012, was nothing more than a ''VideoGame/WiiSports'' and ''VideoGame/JustDance'' machine for that audience. And those that did know had no interest in buying a new console when the type of gaming experiences they wanted were more readily available on smartphones. Meanwhile, hardcore gamers rejected it due to its relatively weak technical specifications compared to the Platform/PlayStation4 and Platform/XboxOne. The lack of a KillerApp, as Nintendo's first-party releases were few and far between for its early years, didn't help with this market either. The Wii U would become Nintendo's worst selling home console at under 14 million units shipped, and there is little reason for even Nintendo fans to hunt down the system except out of curiosity or to use it for homebrewing, as almost ''all'' of its exclusives were either given {{Updated Rerelease}}s or {{Even Better Sequel}}s on the company's far more successful follow-up, the Platform/NintendoSwitch.

* ''Demonophobia'' is a SurvivalHorror HGame in which you play as a teenage girl and expected via TrialAndErrorGameplay to die in all sorts of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath gruesome and brutal ways]] -- and it's played for {{Fanservice}}. The rampant {{Squick}} on display naturally scared off anybody not morbidly curious and/or interested in the niche of InterplayOfSexAndViolence, and they would [[ShockFatigue get tired of having to repeatedly see violent and sexual content]] while going through the [[GuideDangIt numerous hoops]] to either find all of the death animations, or actually beat the game. Predictably, its graphic content has made it impossible to be released on mainstream sites like Platform/{{Steam}}, instead having to be downloaded via underground filesharing sites, and it took its developer over a decade of radio silence to officially announce a CreatorDrivenSuccessor.

* ''VideoGame/CaptainNovolin'' is a Platform/{{SNES}} platformer based on... diabetes? And yes, the enemies are all sugary sweets trying to hunt you down. The fact that it's just not a well made game to begin with (weird control scheme, floaty jumping, the sprites are too big, repetitive level design, etc...) certainly did not help sales, and most people only knew of its existence years after the fact when it became a fixture of 2000s-era CausticCritic comedy sites and "worst games ever" clickbait videos on Website/YouTube.

* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'', Blizzard's MassiveMultiplayerCrossover MOBA, had a lot of hurdles. It attempted to be a casual and accessible game, in a genre infamous for its hardcore and beginner-unfriendly player base. In particular, the Team XP and rigid DamagerHealerTank roles greatly lowered the ability for individual skill to shine, turning away the huge crowd that wants to play [[TheAce carry]]. The premise of Blizzard universes coming together also did the game no favours. While it was appealing to long-time fans, Blizzard's characters don't have the star power to draw in a general audience. Add the fact that, as a PC-only MOBA, it couldn't find a casual audience who wanted a silly party game like ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' has. The game was the black sheep of Blizzard's [=IPs=], which resulted in its pro scene being cancelled and budget getting slashed at the end of 2018 as Blizzard ran into financial troubles. It still has a dedicated fanbase, but it's far smaller than Blizzard's other games or Heroes' rivals.

* ''Wall Street Kid'' for the Platformf/{{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES. Yeah, a stock market simulator is not exactly a concept with mass appeal, especially when it's being sold on the same 8-bit console as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI''. The demographic primarily consisted of children who wouldn't be interested in such a thing, while adults who would weren't normally buying game consoles for themselves. It also had some very, very boring aesthetics on top of that: unlike a board game approach similar to the ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}''-inspired ''VideoGame/FortuneStreet'', which released only a few years later, ''Wall Street Kid'' is mostly the player [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN5BgEZkyis looking and managing stock options in a menu]]. As such, you've got a game which was kind of doomed to fail from the start. To make matters worse, it was based off a misguided ''Japanese fad'' that anyone could get rich by being smart with the stock market that had little to no interest in the US.

* UsefulNotes/GoogleStadia was heavily pushed in late 2019 as Google's major foray into the gaming world, a UsefulNotes/CloudGaming-based platform for a relatively inexpensive price and theoretically high accessibility, but was completely overshadowed by skepticism and ridicule for its conditions. Cloud gaming is already heavily contentious, inherently demanding consistent, high-quality internet and introducing some degree of input lag, but the Stadia also came with a controversial subscription fee ''in addition'' to paying full-price for games, as well as concerns of longevity as since every game copy exists solely on Google's servers, [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes you'd lose everything if the servers or service itself went down]]. The latter concern was especially worrying among critics as Google built a history of quietly cancelling projects or services once they underperform, meaning its future was on shaky ground from the get-go, where [[TheFireflyEffect a lot of users refused to invest in something that Google was likely to kill anyway]]. One of its main selling points of not requiring users to purchase expensive hardware like a console or PC similary failed to gain it an audience, as anyone interested in non-mobile games likely already has said hardware and/or doesn't consider the tradeoffs of a purely cloud service to be worth it. It especially didn't help that Stadia severely lacked not just {{Killer App}}s, but exclusive content in general to provide any positive momentum, [[OvershadowedByControversy instead being marred by the bad publicity]] of connectivity issues and news of it shuttering its in-house development studio in early 2021, before it ever ''announced'' a single title. The service sputtered out entirely by the end of 2022, with Google terminating its storefront services and taking it offline in early 2023.

* The UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar CD. How do you try and save your last ditch failing console, and with it your company? With a $150[[note]]$295 in 2023 dollars[[/note]] CD-ROM add-on! Add-on systems are this trope to the portion of the population that doesn't own the parent console to begin with, but the UsefulNotes/SegaCD being a modest success (though not nearly as much of one as Sega thought it would be) and the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 TurboGrafix-CD]] selling well in Japan proved the concept can work if the parent console is also selling well. The Jaguar moved only 150,000 units at most, to give you an idea of how awful that sales figure is that's roughly the same amount of units as the Platform/AmigaCD32, which never got a full release outside of the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom, and the hated UsefulNotes/Sega32X (listed below) outsold the Jaguar by a 4 to 1 margin. Sales figures of the Jaguar CD are unconfirmed but it's believed that no more than 15,000 were produced, probably less than 10,000 were sold and many were returned as defective. Only 11 games were released. Thanks to the awful build quality and terrible sales the rare working Jaguar CD can fetch up to ''$1,000'' on auction sites.

* As CD-ROM technology started becoming cheaper jack-of-all-trades "infotainment" systems, basically budget [=PCs=] that could load games like a console, became all the rage among electronics companies. That gave us the UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer, the UsefulNotes/PhilipsCDi, and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_Video_Information_System VIS]][[note]]'''V'''ideo '''I'''nformation '''S'''ystem[[/note]]. The first two managed to scrape together enough sales to avoid this trope, there's a reason the third one doesn't have its own page. While all three of those consoles were hamstrung by a $700 MSRP (even ''30 years later'' consoles don't cost that much) the 3DO and CD-i at least made the attempt to get games released. Not good games in the latter's case, but they tried. 70 titles were released for the VIS but only '''one''' could be really considered a console game: ''Links: The Challenge of Golf'', which was ported all over the place. Everything else is point-and-click edutainment software that will make you wish you were using a mouse instead of a controller. Not that you would have known the VIS existed in the first place as it was only sold through Radio Shack (Tandy was a Radio Shack house brand), many Radio Shack employees later recounted that they knew the VIS was a lost cause (dubbing it the "[[SelfFulfillingProphecy Virtually Impossible to Sell]]") and didn't even waste their time trying to push it. Only 11,000 were sold and many collectors don't even know it exists, and many of the ones that do really don't care since everything released for the VIS was ported from something else.

** The UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy. While virtual reality was being seen as the next big leap in gaming at the time, the system failed to make good on that promise. The red-and-black graphics every game was stuck with was eye-straining, for being a portable system, you couldn't really use it without a table since it was too big and bulky to wear, and few games actually gave the feeling of [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D visual effects]], much less virtual reality. Few were surprised when it was discovered years later that it was a [[ChristmasRushed proof-of-concept prototype thrown onto market to bide time for the]] UsefulNotes/Nintendo64. The Virtual Boy remains Nintendo's [[MedalOfDishonor least successful piece of standalone hardware]]; the 3D gimmick of the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS almost didn't exist because execs were worried about another VB-style failure, and the most acknowledgement the system gets from Creator/{{Nintendo}} is through the occasional [[SelfDeprecation self-deprecating gag]], though it took a decade before they [[CreatorBacklash even felt comfortable acknowledging it]].
** The UsefulNotes/WiiU. Casual gamers, particularly those in the "blue ocean" that made the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} a success, were barely aware that it was even a standalone console, with the name and marketing making many believe it was just an expensive add-on tablet controller for the Wii. Which by 2012, was nothing more than a ''VideoGame/WiiSports'' and ''VideoGame/JustDance'' machine for that audience. And those that did know had no interest in buying a new console when the type of gaming experiences they wanted were more readily available on smartphones. Meanwhile, hardcore gamers rejected it due to its relatively weak technical specifications compared to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne. The lack of a KillerApp, as Nintendo's first-party releases were few and far between for its early years, didn't help with this market either. The Wii U would become Nintendo's worst selling home console at under 14 million units shipped, and there is little reason for even Nintendo fans to hunt down the system except out of curiosity or to use it for homebrewing, as almost ''all'' of its exclusives were either given {{Updated Rerelease}}s or {{Even Better Sequel}}s on the company's far more successful follow-up, the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.
* The UsefulNotes/{{Ouya}}. Instead of functioning as a cheap home console that supports Android games and user-generated content, the Ouya ended up combining the home console's lack of portability and convenience with the smartphone's weak hardware and shallow pool of games. Many developers and gamers were frustrated by the base console's locked software and the [=DRMed=] video output, which they claimed made it too difficult for homebrewing custom software and creating LetsPlay videos. The hardware itself was poorly built, the game library was filled with shovelware games (with one game even being nothing but animated rain) and struggled to run even basic smartphone games despite its Android operating system; even the main unspoken side benefit --its easy means of retro console Usefulnotes/{{Emulation}}-- could also be accomplished by numerous other, far cheaper Android-based TV boxes. The console was subsequently discontinued in 2015, less than two years after coming to market.
* The PC-FX, [=NEC=]'s second attempt at a successor to the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16[[note]]The first being the ''[=SuperGrafx=]'', which died after just half a dozen games[[/note]]. It completely lacked a polygon graphics processor at a time when the industry was making a major shift towards 3D gaming, as the company wasn't convinced polygons would be the future of video games due to the blocky and simple appearance of such games at the time. Instead, they tried to advance {{interactive movie}}s, heavily pushing for software based on popular anime series and featuring pre-rendered animated footage. The lack of 3D made it come across as vastly inferior to consumers and developers alike. The PC-FX also boasted a higher price than the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn; [=NEC=] tried to offset said pricing by marketing it as a multimedia device, but the only popular format it was capable of playing was audio [=CDs=], which Sony's cheaper console could already do. In the end, the system only had a library of 62 games, never left Japan, and became [=NEC=]'s final console.
* The Pioneer Laseractive was a console designed to use UsefulNotes/{{LaserDisc}}s and came with add-ons that doubled as a UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16, and other functions. The problem that it quickly ran into was that anybody who was interested in the systems represented by the add-ons likely already had them or would just buy those instead. Furthermore, the system's exclusive library required at least one of the two to play its games, with some only functioning with one of the two, which at $970 for the Laseractive plus another $600 for each add-on in 1993 was far too steep for anyone but the ultra-wealthy. It thus quickly fell into extreme obscurity.

** The UsefulNotes/Sega32X was an add-on for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis that allowed for, as the name suggests, 32-bit gaming. However, not only did it came out shortly after the UsefulNotes/SegaCD, another add-on for the Genesis that was met with lukewarm reception, but consumers would soon learn that Sega was developing a standalone 32-bit system as well: the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn. Which would release in Japan before the 32X's launch and would be released in North America just six months after the 32X's launch. Gamers had little interest in purchasing a very temporary stopgap that wouldn't be supported with games for long, and Sega themselves forced their American division to make it out of fear of the UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar. As a result, the 32X was a flop that only sold 600K units worldwide[[note]]Which is still 4 times the amount of Atari Jaguars that were sold, so as it turns out Sega needn't have worried[[/note]]. It also greatly damaged the company's reputation in the West, being one of the reasons for the failure of the Saturn in North America, as a distrustful consumer base was now wary of a third piece of hardware that might under-deliver. The irrevocably-tarnished reputation Sega had gotten due to the failures of the 32X and Saturn would ultimately doom their last console, the UsefulNotes/{{Dreamcast}}, to an early grave and make them [[CreatorKiller exit the console market]] to focus exclusively on 3rd-party games.
** The [[UsefulNotes/OtherSegaSystems Genesis Nomad]]. While on paper it seemed like a great idea to have a portable version of the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, several aspects of it were alienating: The short battery life (six AA batteries would last about an hour or so -- if that), the bulky size, and being out around when Genesis games stopped being made (released around the time of fifth-generation consoles like the Sega Saturn and Sony [=PlayStation=]). The handheld was a flop, selling around one million units, most at heavy discounts (peanuts compared to the UsefulNotes/GameGear's 11 million) and disappeared shortly after release.[[note]]You could arguably add the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboExpress TurboExpress]], which was a portable UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 released all the way back in 1990, to this list as well. Particularly in the U.S., where there TG-16 flopped to begin with. Considering the rather eye-watering $250 sticker price (about $575 in 2023 dollars) NEC knew that it was a niche product for wealthy gamers (or gamers with wealthy parents), and it still managed to outsell the Nomad by a half million units. Tellingly no one else would try a portable version of a home console until Nintendo decided to combine their home and portable consoles into one device and released the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in 2017, which outsold the combined sales of the Nomad and [=TurboExpress=] within a month of it being released.[[/note]]
* UsefulNotes/{{XBAND}} was a product for the SNES and Genesis that allowed gamers to play various games online, predating the likes of Xbox Live and [=PlayStation=] Network and Sega's [=SegaNet=]. It was critically acclaimed, but it ultimately failed commercially and was shut down a few years after launch. The truth of the matter is that it came out at the wrong time: online gaming was a particularly niche new market in 1994, as the internet itself had yet to reach any sort of widespread adoption. Lack of developer support meant the already small team had to spend extra time reverse engineering games to work on the service themselves, and when attempting to expand to the Saturn in Japan, they found themselves unable to compete with Sega's own Net Link service (the predecessor of the aforementioned [=SegaNet=]).

*** The game was developed for Capcom's brand new CPS-3 arcade cabinet. This allowed for far more detailed, fluid sprites than in the CPS-2 fighting games like the ''Alpha'' series, but consequently made ''III'' far more expensive for arcade operators. This, coupled with the declining popularity of 2D fighting games and arcades in general, meant that many operators passed on ordering the game. The advanced graphics also meant that ''III'' couldn't be ported to most of the then-current home consoles without sacrificing features or animations, as had happened with ''VideoGame/XMenVsStreetFighter'' the previous year. It didn't get a home release until two years later, and even then, only for Sega's [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]] system. While the ''Alpha'' games and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterEX'' had sold well on home consoles, Capcom couldn't repeat that same success when ''III'' was only available on the Dreamcast, a system that had never been as successful as the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}}. ''III'' eventually saw a [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2 release]] in 2004, ''seven years'' later.

** ''VideoGame/{{Boktai}}'' had a [[DancingBear gimmick]] of UV sensors built into the game cartridge, the idea being that you should play in real-life sunlight (although you can "cheat" by using a blacklight) so the solar power can be used to power the main player character's in-game weapon. Despite getting positive reviews, the idea of a game that penalizes you for playing at night or during bad weather or forces you to endure overly hot weather didn't appeal to many people (not helped by the first two games' Western releases being in the months of September and October respectively, not times one would associate with enjoying sunshine), leading to the games' AcclaimedFlop status, the third game getting NoExportForYou, and the gimmick being made completely optional for ''Lunar Knights'', the fourth game. [[note]]Albeit for technical reasons, since it's for UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, whose Game Cards are smaller and harder to fit gimmicks onto, so to use solar power in that game, you need to insert one of the GBA games into the second slot.[[/note]]

* Any of the games developed by "Mystique" (later re-branded as "Playaround") can apply. The company made [[HGame pornographic video games]] for the UsefulNotes/Atari2600, a system with extremely limited graphics, a recipe for FetishRetardant.

** ''Stunt Flyer'' was a 1983 game for the ''UsefulNotes/Commodore64'' that was a clone of ''VideoGame/MicrosoftFlightSimulator'' with one gimmick: If you crashed your plane in Competition Mode, the game would '''erase from your disk'''. Not a saved game. ''The game itself''. Meaning you either had to have a backup or buy a brand new game. All it did was alienate any potential audience and kill any chance of the game going anywhere, to the point where [[CreatorBacklash Sierra themselves disparaged it]]. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sierra_flight_sim_interaction_mag_fall_1994_4.jpg This feature was mocked]] in the fall 1994 issue of Sierra's [=InterAction=] magazine, celebrating Sierra's fifteenth anniversary, comparing old games to new:

* ''VideoGame/CaptainNovolin'' is a UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} platformer based on... diabetes? And yes, the enemies are all sugary sweets trying to hunt you down. The fact that it's just not a well made game to begin with (weird control scheme, floaty jumping, the sprites are too big, repetitive level design, etc...) certainly did not help sales, and most people only knew of its existence years after the fact when it became a fixture of 2000s-era CausticCritic comedy sites and "worst games ever" clickbait videos on Website/YouTube.

* ''VideoGame/RadiantSilvergun'' is a shmup with many odd mechanics -- you start with many sorts of weapons, but is based off what combination of buttons you press. This can be very confusing for both newcomers and shmup veterans, who would likely drop the game long before they can get used to it. The combo system, vital for a high score and to power up your weapons (lest it be nearly impossible to play) can also throw many players off, especially when they have to ''avoid'' shooting the majority of enemies and evade them when they can, quite the opposite of what players are used to. The ''insanely'' depressing story where [[spoiler:all of life on Earth is destroyed at the start and [[ShootTheShaggyDog you also die in the end resolving nothing no matter what]]]] doesn't help, either. These factors kept it a niche solely on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn and [[NoExportForYou did not leave the country or system]] until 2011, ''thirteen years'' after its initial release. Though as the years passed, the game was [[VindicatedByHistory more warmly received for its uniqueness in a sea of shmups]].

* ''VideoGame/SonicLabyrinth'' is an isometric 3D game for the UsefulNotes/GameGear where the box art’s ExcusePlot outright says is one where Sonic was tricked into wearing shoes that robbed him of his famous SuperSpeed. Needless to say, a game that explicitly outlines the lack of what made the series iconic was a tough sell to most consumers. It has since gained a reputation as being among the worst games in the franchise, and has gotten very few re-releases in the years since.

** ''SSX Blur'' was a {{UsefulNotes/Wii}}-exclusive entry in the SSX franchise that used motion controls for its tricks and steering. It turned out that the number of fans who wanted to play using relatively unproven motion controls and people who wanted to play a snowboarding game whose motion controls weren't very reflective of snowboarding was not a large group. The game's failure would then put the series on ice for the next 5 years.

* ''That Dragon, Cancer'' garnered rave reviews in the tech press and on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, but it's about experiencing the viewpoint of a father (who is based on the developer of the game) caring for his baby son, who suffered from (and eventually succumbed to) cancer. The game is an idealized experience of the real-life event of the limited time the father (and the family) had with his son. Needless to say, for a large number of gamers, the subject matter is uncomfortable, and even a large number of those who like tear-jerking works of art were put off by the fact that it was based on a personal real-life event. The game only sold 14,000 copies in its first two months, disappointing the developers.

* ''Wall Street Kid'' for the UsefulNotes/{{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES. Yeah, a stock market simulator is not exactly a concept with mass appeal, especially when it's being sold on the same 8-bit console as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI''. The demographic primarily consisted of children who wouldn't be interested in such a thing, while adults who would weren't normally buying game consoles for themselves. It also had some very, very boring aesthetics on top of that: unlike a board game approach similar to the ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}''-inspired ''VideoGame/FortuneStreet'', which released only a few years later, ''Wall Street Kid'' is mostly the player [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN5BgEZkyis looking and managing stock options in a menu]]. As such, you've got a game which was kind of doomed to fail from the start. To make matters worse, it was based off a misguided ''Japanese fad'' that anyone could get rich by being smart with the stock market that had little to no interest in the US.
* ''VideoGame/WarioWareDIY'', as it names indicate, focuses on the idea of making your own comics, music and microgames. Fans who like the previous installments for their simple gameplay and pick-up-and-play appeal would be unlikely to be interested in the complex editor (which requires undergoing a lengthy AutoPilotTutorial before being able to use it) nor sated the sparse and lackluster selection of pre-built microgames[[note]]For comparison, whereas previous ''[=WarioWare=]'' games included around 200 microgames plus unlockable minigames and toys, the base ''DIY'' has 95 microgames, none of which have difficulty levels.[[/note]]. People who were open to the editor focus, meanwhile, would be discouraged by the fact that any games you can produce can only last for a few seconds, and that being released on the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS meant the game lacked any ingame hub for players to upload their creations or download other's (due to the system-wide "Friend Codes" system). Additionally, any input is based solely on ''tapping'' with the stylus (no dragging or drawing, no microphone or button controls). While the game got great reviews and acquired a loyal cult following, [[AcclaimedFlop it was a sales flop]].
* Creator/ElectronicArts decided to jump on the wrestling bandwagon in 1998, signing a licensing deal with Wrestling/{{WCW}} and releasing ''WCW Mayhem'' in 1999. That game was a sales dud mostly due to circumstances outside of EA's control, mainly the fact that they picked the worst possible time to hitch their horse to WCW[[note]]Case in point, to help promote the game WCW created a PPV called ''WCW Mayhem''... which ended up being the first WCW PPV booked from the ground up by Vince Russo (he also booked ''Halloween Havoc 1999'', but all the TV leading up to that show was done under the previous administration)[[/note]], though generally mediocre reviews and stiff competition from ''WWF Wrestlemania 2000'' (on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64) and ''WWF Smackdown'' (on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation) didn't help. EA decided to go in a different direction with the universally hated ''WCW Backstage Assault'', and here's where the Audience Alienating Premise comes in: '''it's a wrestling game with no ring.''' As the name indicates the entire game is just a poor simulation of the backstage fights often seen on wrestling shows (especially during that time period), with none of features or match types seen in most other wrestling games. On top of that it was a glitch-ridden mess that was likely rushed just to get it on store shelves while there was still a WCW to base video games on, and sure enough the wrestling promotion would be out of business about 5 months after ''Backstage Assault'' was released. With WCW dead EA came up with the rather odd idea of making another wrestling game, but with rappers instead of wrestlers. While on paper that seems like another example of this trope ''[[VideoGame/DefJamSeries Def Jam Vendetta]]'' was [[AvertedTrope actually released to glowing reviews and strong sales]], and ''Vendetta'' would later get two sequels.

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongBarrelBlast'' was the last attempt to do something with the DK Bongos... sort of. The original premise of the game was that it was a racing game controlled with the Bongos, using drumming and clapping to control your speed and movement. However, when the game was moved to the Wii, the concept shifted late in development to instead be based on flailing the Wiimote and Nunchuck in a drumming motion, to the point that in the finished product, the Bongos don't even work as an alternate control method. If you were tired of the Bongos and wanted ''Donkey Kong Country'' back, this game didn't help matters, if you weren't tired of them, they'd been tossed aside in favor of a much less precise and responsive control scheme, and if you just wanted a game with motion controls, you were positively ''drowning'' in options circa 2007. As a result, the game sold unusually badly and became one of the worst-reviewed Nintendo-published games, which seemingly convinced Nintendo to [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns bring the franchise back to its traditional platformer days]].

* The UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar CD. How do you try and save your last ditch failing console, and with it your company? With a $150[[note]]$295 in 2023 dollars[[/note]] CD-ROM add-on! Add-on systems are this trope to the portion of the population that doesn't own the parent console to begin with, but the UsefulNotes/SegaCD being a modest success (though not nearly as much of one as Sega thought it would be) and the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 TurboGrafix-CD]] selling well in Japan proved the concept can work if the parent console is also selling well. The Jaguar moved only 150,000 units at most, to give you an idea of how awful that sales figure is that's roughly the same amount of units as the UsefulNotes/AmigaCD32, which never got a full release outside of the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom, and the hated UsefulNotes/Sega32X (listed below) outsold the Jaguar by a 4 to 1 margin. Sales figures of the Jaguar CD are unconfirmed but it's believed that no more than 15,000 were produced, probably less than 10,000 were sold and many were returned as defective. Only 11 games were released. Thanks to the awful build quality and terrible sales the rare working Jaguar CD can fetch up to ''$1,000'' on auction sites.

* ''VideoGame/MarvelNemesisRiseOfTheImperfects'': After the success of ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'', Creator/MarvelComics had the idea of doing a similar thing with Creator/ElectronicArts and creating a fighting game where Marvel's characters faced off against EA's. There was one problem with this: Creator/{{Capcom}} had a lot of popular properties to pull from, several of which were fighting games, whereas EA in the early 2000s was mainly known for sports titles, licensed games, and ''VideoGame/TheSims''--not exactly a killer lineup for a clash of the titans. To counteract this, the idea changed to EA creating the Imperfects, an OriginalGeneration of characters to fit into the Marvel universe, leading to the game going from "Marvel vs. EA" to ''Rise of the Imperfects''. Unfortunately, this turned out to be, if anything, a worse idea than a game where Spider-Man fights Brett Favre, because now the game was basically a pure Marvel game, but with half the roster and almost the entire story mode being dedicated to a bunch of completely new characters. Even if the Imperfects had been executed perfectly, that would have left the game with quite the uphill battle for acceptance--that the execution of the idea ended up being a bunch of unappealing-looking anti-heroes who spend most of the story fighting or even ''killing'' the established Marvel cast was just a cherry on top. Consequently, the game sold badly and reviewed worse, and the Imperfects, clearly set up to be something bigger, have [[StillbornFranchise not appeared since]].

* ''VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDiva X'' attempts to include a story mode unlike previous games. However, this has been criticized by fans as being a poor move that turned away many, since a major part of Music/{{Vocaloid}}'s appeal was they were interpretive {{Blank Slate}}s that can be used for anything by anyone, which a story mode in an official Music/HatsuneMiku project greatly goes against, on top of getting in the way of what most people play the series for to begin with, that being the challenging rhythm gameplay. Even those who found the story mode to be interesting, however, were turned off by the story being little more than a basic ExcusePlot that fails to properly flesh out the world and characters in any meaningful way, on top of having almost none of the pre-existing ''Project Diva'' lore from previous games. The addition of a story mode and its execution is considered by many to have played a large part in ''X'''s underperformance in sales and why later ''Project Diva'' games would just stick to the rhythm gameplay going forward. ''VideoGame/ProjectSekai'' would attempt to include a story again and unlike with ''X'', it would fare much better in winning fans over, as it featured an [[OriginalGeneration original cast of its own]] that it can flesh out without interfering with the Virtual Singers, on top of playing with the interpretive nature of the Virtual Singers by exploring them through alternate versions of them as opposed to their base selves, which fans were more okay with.

* ''VideoGame/YsStrategy'': This is a RealTimeStrategy spin-off of ActionRPG series ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}''. ''Ys'' was a niche franchise in 2006, more so outside Japan, so it turned off a good number of already small fandom, who didn't sign up for such a different genre. The game also sets in an AlternateContinuity that has little to do with the main ''Ys'' lore, leaving little merit for fans who wanted to play it for the story. The game ended up getting passed for localization in the US, received middling reviews in Japan and Europe, and was forgotten quickly with the publisher Falcom ignoring its existence since.

* ''Pulse Racer'' is a futuristic MascotRacer whose big gimmick is that your driver gets a heart attack if you use the boost too much. Predictably, every outlet that reviewed it questioned the widsom of making a racing game that actively punishes players for going fast and the game was a massive critical and financial failure as a result, being widely considered one of the worst game for the original Xbox.

*** ''Street Fighter V'' is the most simplified entry in the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' series since ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'', the idea being that the simplified gameplay would bring in new players, while a stripping-down of single-player content and a stronger focus on online and competitive play would bolster the hardcore fan-base. The result was that the casual audience complained that there was not enough single player content, while the hardcore audience complained that the game was too dumbed-down and boring. Capcom expected the game to sell 2 million copies in its first month, a mark it had failed to reach '''8''' months after its release.

* ''Pulse Racer'' is a futuristic MascotRacer whose big gimmick is that your driver gets a heart attack if you drive too fast. Predictably, every outlet that reviewed it questioned the widsom of making a racing game that actively punishes players from going fast and the game was a massive critical and financial failure as a result, being widely considered one of the worst game for the original Xbox.

* ''Pulse Racer'' is a futuristic MascotRacer whose big gimmick is that your driver flatlines if you drive too fast, requiring players to hold back lest their characters suffers a cardiac arrest and forfeit the race. Predictably, every outlet that reviewed it questioned the widsom of making a racing game that actively punishes players from going fast and the game was a massive critical and financial failure as a result, being widely considered one of the worst game for the original Xbox.

* ''VideoGame/YsStrategy'': This is a RealTimeStrategy spin-off of ActionRPG series ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}''. ''Ys'' was a niche franchise in 2006, more so outside Japan, so it turned off a good number of already small fandom, who didn't sign up for such a different genre. The game also sets in an AlternateContinuity that has little to do with the main ''Ys'' lore, leaving little merit for fans who wanted to play it for the story. The game ended up getting passed for localization in the US, received middling reviews in Japan and Europe, and was forgotten quickly with the publisher Falcom ignoring its existance since.

* With a name like ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Massacre_(video_game) Muslim Massacre]]'', the game had this trope at "hello". Yes, it's a game with the tagline of "take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons", [[ActionBomb suicide bombers]] as enemies, and where you fight UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden, Muhammad, and ''Allah'' as bosses. Bin Laden even has an attack where he carpet bombs the arena with ''crashing planes''. Yeah, this game didn't have a chance in hell of getting an audience and stirred up a buttload of controversy, though admittedly, this was probably the intended reaction (the creator claims it was a StealthParody). The irony too is that if you were to drop the offensive content and replace the enemies with generic aliens or robots, you'd have a surprisingly competent, if repetitive, 8-bit style ShootEmUp.

* As CD-ROM technology started becoming cheaper jack-of-all-trades "infotainment" systems, basically budget [=PCs=] that could load games like a console, became all the rage among electronics companies. That gave us the UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer, the UsefulNotes/PhilipsCDi, and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_Video_Information_System VIS]][[note]]'''V'''ideo '''I'''nformation '''S'''ystem[[/note]]. The first two managed to scrape together enough sales to avoid this trope, there's a reason the third one doesn't have its own page. While all three of those consoles were hamstrung by a $700 MSRP (even ''30 years later'' consoles don't cost that much) the 3D0 and CD-i at least made the attempt to get games released. Not good games in the latter's case, but they tried. 70 titles were released for the VIS but only '''one''' could be really considered a console game: ''Links: The Challenge of Golf'', which was ported all over the place. Everything else is point-and-click edutainment software that will make you wish you were using a mouse instead of a controller. Not that you would have known the VIS existed in the first place as it was only sold through Radio Shack (Tandy was a Radio Shack house brand), many Radio Shack employees later recounted that they knew the VIS was a lost cause (dubbing it the "[[SelfFulfillingProphecy Virtually Impossible to Sell]]") and didn't even waste their time trying to push it. Only 11,000 were sold and many collectors don't even know it exists, and many of the ones that do really don't care since everything released for the VIS was ported from something else.

** The [[UsefulNotes/OtherSegaSystems Genesis Nomad]]. While on paper it seemed like a great idea to have a portable version of the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, several aspects of it were alienating: The short battery life (six AA batteries would last about an hour or so -- if that), the bulky size, and being out around when Genesis games stopped being made (released around the time of fifth-generation consoles like the Sega Saturn and Sony [=PlayStation=]). The handheld was a flop, selling around one million units, most at heavy discounts (peanuts compared to the UsefulNotes/GameGear's 11 million) and disappeared shortly after release.[[note]]You could arguably add the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboExpress TurboExpress]], which was a portable UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 released all the way back in 1990, to this list as well. Particularly in the U.S., where there TG-16 flopped to begin with. Considering the rather eye-watering $250 sticker price (about $575 in 2023 dollars) NEC knew that it was a niche product for wealthy gamers (or gamers with wealthy parents), and it still managed to outsell the Nomad by a half million units. Tellingly no one would try a portable version of a home console until Nintendo decided to combine their home and portable consoles into one device and released the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in 2017, which outsold the combined sales of the Nomad and [=TurboExpress=] within a month of it being released.[[/note]]

** The [[UsefulNotes/OtherSegaSystems Genesis Nomad]]. While on paper it seemed like a great idea to have a portable version of the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, several aspects of it were alienating: The short battery life (six AA batteries would last about an hour or so -- if that), the bulky size, and being out around when Genesis games stopped being made (released around the time of fifth-generation consoles like the Sega Saturn and Sony [=PlayStation=]). The handheld was a flop, selling around one million units, most at heavy discounts (peanuts compared to the UsefulNotes/GameGear's 11 million) and disappeared shortly after release.

* As CD-ROM technology started becoming cheaper jack-of-all-trades "infotainment" systems, basically budget [=PCs=] that could load games like a console, became all the rage among electronics companies. That gave us the UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer, the UsefulNotes/PhilipsCDi, and the [[https://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg90-vis.htm#page=reviews Memorex-Tandy VIS]][[note]]'''V'''ideo '''I'''nformation '''S'''ystem[[/note]]. The first two managed to scrape together enough sales to avoid this trope, there's a reason the third one doesn't have its own page. While all three of those consoles were hamstrung by a $700 MSRP (even ''30 years later'' consoles don't cost that much) the 3D0 and CD-i at least made the attempt to get games released. Not good games in the latter's case, but they tried. 70 titles were released for the VIS but only '''one''' could be really considered a console game: ''Links: The Challenge of Golf'', which was ported all over the place. Everything else is point-and-click edutainment software that will make you wish you were using a mouse instead of a controller. Not that you would have known the VIS existed in the first place as it was only sold through Radio Shack (Tandy was a Radio Shack house brand), many Radio Shack employees later recounted that they knew the VIS was a lost cause (dubbing it the "[[SelfFulfillingProphecy Virtually Impossible to Sell]]") and didn't even waste their time trying to push it. Only 11,000 were sold and many collectors don't even know it exists, and many of the ones that do really don't care since everything released for the VIS was ported from something else.

* As CD-ROM technology started becoming cheaper jack-of-all-trades "infotainment" systems, basically budget [=PCs=] that could load games like a console, became all the rage among electronics companies. That gave us the UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer, the UsefulNotes/PhilipsCDi, and the [[https://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg90-vis.htm#page=reviews Memorex-Tandy VIS]][[note]]'''V'''ideo '''I'''nformation '''S'''ystem[[/note]]. The first two managed to scrape together enough sales to avoid this trope, there's a reason the third one doesn't have its own page. While all three of those consoles were hamstrung by a $700 MSRP (even ''30 years later'' consoles don't cost that much) the 3D0 and CD-i at least made the attempt to get games released. Not good games in the latter's case, but they tried. 70 titles were released for the VIS but only '''one''' could be really considered a console game: ''Links: The Challenge of Golf'', which was ported all over the place. Everything else is point-and-click edutainment software that will make you wish you were using a mouse instead of a controller. Not that you would have known the VIS existed in the first place as it was only sold through Radio Shack (Tandy was a Radio Shack house brand), many Radio Shack employees later recounted that they knew the VIS was a lost cause (dubbing it the "[[SelfFulfillingProphecy Virtually Impossible to Sell]]") and didn't even waste their time trying to push it. Only 11,000 were sold and many collectors don't even know it exists, and the ones that do really don't care.