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Dead Videogame Systems That I Have Known (Besides the Xbox 360)
The Xbox 360 is not the only video game system out there that I've know to die a premature death although none as systemic, chronic and spectacularly as the Xbox 360. Actually I should not jinx it since my 360 has not had any problems so far. But I have had other game systems that wore out from use over time or met their untimely demise from an accident. Most have had their optical drives wear out over time or have met their death from falls.
Here is a brief history of dead video game systems that I have personally known.
Colecovision
Problems: cracked motherboard due to damage from being knocked over from a TV dinner tray that we had it on. They didn't have the same extention cords in the early 80s like they do now. One of these days I need to find another Colecovision.
Atari 2600
Problems: I got an used Atari 2600 Jr and it is almost impossible to tune it in normal modern TVs but still works sort of.
Nintendo Entertainment System
Problems: I’ve had two NES systems that developed bad bad connector pins I finally gave up on the trey loading toaster NES and now have a top loader and a Generation NEX
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Problems: I had a Snes die by a broken motherboard due to a skateboard accident while I had it in a backpack in the early 90s and my pal BBQs SNES just suddenly died last year after over a decade of use. Besides that very reliable system and he got a new smaller SNES from Pink Godzilla Games.
Gameboy Color
Problems: An previous girlfreind had her Gameboy Color on in her backpack when she dropped it and a glass bottle of juice in the back pack broke and shorted out the Gameboy. I drove her over to Redmond and Nintendo swapped it out for a new one.
NEC TurboDuo CD
Problems: BBQ's beloved TurboDue has an optical drive that is slowly dying.
NEC Super Grafx
Problems: A friend in highschool saved up to buy an import NEC SuperGrafx but it came with defective malfunctioning graphics chips and had glitches while playing SuperGrafx games but played PC-Engine games fine.
Sega Dreamcast
Problems: Both BBQ and I have had Dreamcasts that had the GD drive die over time
Sony PlayStation
Problems: BBQ's old PlayStation's drive worn-out and had to be turned on it’s side to spin up
Nintendo Gamecube
Problems: When he first got his Gamecube BBQ had a defective drive that used to give him disc read errors. Nintendo swapped it out for free.
Sony PlayStation 2
Problems: BBQ's first run PS2 drive is dying slowly from years of use.
Sony PlayStation Portable
Problems: Right before I gave my first PSP to BBQ it was bricked by an update and had to be fixed by Sony, plus it has a dead pixel on the screen.
Videogame systems that I have had no problems with:
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis/Megadrive
Sega Saturn
Nintendo Super Famicom
Sega CD
Sega 32X
TurboGrafx-16
TurboExpress
Sony PSOne (smaller)
Sony PSTwo (smaller)
Gameboy
NeoGeo Pocket
Gameboy Advance
Gameboy Advance SP
Nintendo DS “Phat”
Nintendo DS Lite
Xbox one
Nintendo 64
Nintendo Wii
Note : As of 2008, none of my close friends and co-workers ever got a PS3.
Jake at February 25, 2008 
Games
Comments
You know, I had the same problems with the old NES as you. After looking up some solutions online for the bad pin connector issue, I found out that there's a way to take apart the toaster-style NES and gently bend the connector pins so that the system has a great connection to the carts every time. I always knew blowing was worthless.
Posted by: Crapknocker at February 26, 2008 4:50 AM
You notice that just about every console that died not because of bumps or accidents was due to a bad drive? Any wonder why people still like solid state, and why an old 2600 still works, assuming it was not dropped or bumped? We need 10-20GB SD cards for cheap soon!
Posted by: Deezul at February 26, 2008 6:00 AM
Since it has no moving parts the N-64 and Nintendo DS are going to be around forever.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at February 26, 2008 12:36 PM
Hey dude, this is Alan from Fred Meyer. I'm the nerdy guy who usually talks to you about games when you come in to Home Electronics.
Just wanted to say awesome site, I've got the feed in my reader so I should be checking out your stuff pretty regularly.
See you around!
Posted by: alan8r at February 27, 2008 1:38 AM
i myself have never had problems with my ps2 psp or xbox or xbox 360 on the other hand in my quest for a snes i have been foiled twice by two faulty systems i bought them both used and the first one had a dead motherboard, the second worked fine except for the first controller port. I had a ps1 and loved it but alas it was knocked off a shelf to many times from tripping on a controller cord.
and yes the n64 will be around for ages to come, it seems that nintendo is one of the few companies that doesnt suffer from shotty designs these days.
Posted by: newtie at February 27, 2008 3:40 AM
I have a Colecovision with the Atari 2600 adapter, sports controllers and several games if you are interested. I'll have to dust them off but my wife would thank you greatly if they were gone. Make me an offer.
Posted by: Brian at February 27, 2008 8:49 AM
Correction! My Turbo Duo, the first one, just up and died on me one day. I replaced the AC adaptor to no avail, so I sent the console into NEC and they replaced it. The new one had some problems early on. It had trouble reading certain tracks unless it was propped at a certain angle. That problem eventually went away and now it seems fine. The Gamecube had a problem with freezing up, not a drive problem. My first Genesis also suffered from constant freezing and had to be replaced. Oh and my Wii has a minor graphical glitch that occurs with Resident Evil 4.
Posted by: BBQ at February 27, 2008 1:19 PM
That last comment I typed from my cell phone! I'm so funky. Anyway, my Dreamcast doesn't have any drive problems either, I don't think. However my CD-R copy of Capcom vs. SNK 2 seems to be unreliable now. The biggest problem was that controller you gave me. Remember the story?
http://www.8bitjoystick.com/archives/bbq_bbqs_dreamcast_disaster.php
Darn thing shorted out something in the console so none of the controllers would work.
Oh yeah and on the PSP, it wasn't a dead pixel, it was a piece of dirt. I could see behind it. Still annoying though.
Posted by: BBQ at February 27, 2008 5:03 PM
