FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Games

A Brief Look at the Worst Gadgets in Video-Gaming History

Remember the Power Glove? The Konami LaserScope? The Power Pad? The U-Force? No?

Power Glove advertising—turns out the "power of the future" was really hard to control

The latest in TheFineBros' series of "Teens React" videos, "Teens React to (the Nintendo) Power Glove" has accumulated, at the time of writing, close to a million and a half views since publication on February 8. It's the usual format: Young adults get shown something often unrelated to how their demographic is perceived, and they respond with first impressions. Past videos have featured 1980s fashion and Saved by the Bell.

Advertisement

The Power Glove video is interesting for how these kids initially react. The peripheral in question dates from 1989, a third-party developed controller, a product of Mattel, compatible with the Nintendo Entertainment System. It's a precursor of sorts to today's motion-sensor gaming tech, a forerunner to the Wii's breakthrough design. But while it was suitable for use with both its own, specially tailored titles and—with a little programming—just about any game for the NES, the Power Glove had a problem. It didn't work.

But the kids aren't to know that when the black-and-grey glove is thrust upon them. There's an obvious excitement about it. Says Rachel, 18: "This is either a piece of really new technology, or, like, a really old piece of technology." Seth, 16, begins to wonder how such a device might link up with today's emerging virtual reality units: "If you paired this with the Oculus Rift, this is next gen. This is the future, right here. The past future." It's only when they use the Power Glove that the enthusiasm drains.

The teens play Bad Street Brawler, one of only two NES games specifically designed for use with the Power Glove. It doesn't go well. Regarded as one of the very worst releases for the NES before we've even considered the Power Glove's disastrous controls, Bad Street Brawler was a mess of crappy visuals, monotonous gameplay, inaccurate commands, and curious chiptune takes on what feel like Chuck Berry or Little Richard songs processed through crashing satellites. TheFineBros are merciful and switch to Punch-Out!!, the classic boxing game that, surely, the Power Glove fitted perfectly. No such luck: While it's more successful than Bad Street Brawler, the imperfect inputs lead to frustration and, rather more pertinently, absolutely destroying right arms.

Advertisement

Teens React to Power Glove (Nintendo)

"This was pretty much useless," concludes 18-year-old Labib. "Oh, this is horrendous… Jesus," exclaims Ethan James, 19. While 100,000 Power Gloves were sold in the US, the kids of today are perfectly in tune with the players of the time: this is a completely useless, irrefutably horrendous peripheral that, while produced with the best intentions and arguably ahead of its time, only soiled the software library of Nintendo's iconic 8-bit console. Even the Nintendo-"sponsored" movie The Wizard, a Fred Savage vehicle of late 1989, called it right: "It's so bad," says the character Lucas Barton, his Michael Jackson-inspired lingo of the time having dated, wonderfully, into a more accurate expression of the Glove's usability.

These teens need to know, though, that gamers of the 1980s and 1990s played through far worse gadgets than the Power Glove. Staying on the NES platform, there was the Konami LaserScope of 1989. A twist on the NES Zapper, this was a laser gun for games like Wild Gunman and Duck Hunt. You wore it on your head, and the device had a little sight that hovered over your right eye, the laser emitting from around your eyebrow. It looked absolutely terrible, so if you had one, you'd probably keep quiet about it. Except, that's the catch: it was voice activated, so you couldn't play quietly. Shouting "fire" into the LaserScope's microphone would do just that, but as tests have shown, "fuck" works fine, too.

Advertisement

Nintendo Power Pad / Power Set advertisement

Many flawed but inspirational gadgets were released for the NES, like the Bandai-developed Power Pad—a dance mat ancestor—and the U-Force, which used infrared sensors to detect hand movements, like a kind of gaming theremin. The NES also had the Hands Free, a chest-worn unit that allowed physically handicapped gamers to play without the need for pads. It can be seen as a precedent for what the charity SpecialEffect is doing today.

The Roll 'n' Rocker, though, was both cheaply made and completely pointless, forcing the player to balance on a tiny platform that could take only so much weight, their wobbles replacing the controller's D-pad. It allowed the addicted to risk their ankles rather than wearing out thumbs on a lengthy session—though if anyone lasted more than five minutes on it, they'd have surely qualified for the US Olympic team's gymnastic squad for Barcelona 1992. And while he's enjoyed roles in Super Smash Bros. and Star Fox, quite what the point of 1985's R.O.B. was, as a gameplay device, remains unclear. It's a cool-looking toy, but with only two compatible titles, R.O.B. is one of Nintendo's greatest follies.

At least R.O.B. owners could choose between Gyromite and Stack-Up for their entertainment. If you forked out $200 for 2002's Xbox-exclusive Steel Battalion and its intimidating, 40-buttons-and-two-sticks (plus some pedals) controller, you were locked into that game and its expansion-pack-cum-sequel only. And while Nintendo continually endorsed weird and far-from-wonderful peripherals, their deadly rival Sega wasn't without its share of missteps. There was 1992's Action Chair, built for use with select Mega Drive games. Like the Rock 'n' Roller it registered player movements as D-pad inputs, but at least it allowed you to sit down. But the very worst Sega controller was, undoubtedly, the Activator.

Advertisement

The Sega Activator on ABC, 1993

I called it "inspirational" here, and I stand by that—it's easy to draw a line back from today's motion-sensor interfaces to Sega's attempt to surround the player with breakable light beams. But while it was the first-ever full-body games controller, the Activator was an expensive failure for its makers, and much like the Power Glove it routinely failed to acknowledge the player's movements correctly. It's probably the lamest gaming peripheral, ever, unless we are counting R.O.B. as anything more than a motorized doll.

Nintendo's Wii popularized motion control when it launched in 2006. But it's also home to several tacky pieces of plastic that merely attach to the standard Wii Remotes for, I guess, a more "authentic" experience. Playing golf games? There's this. Fishing? This. Bowling? There's a needless accessory for that, too. It's unlikely that these peripherals have a future beyond collecting dust in the dark, forgotten parts of an owner's wardrobe—but, to bring us back to where we began, the Power Glove has found life long after its NES usefulness expired.

Some games accessories find new reasons to be treasured through inspired repurposing. We highlighted the Rez Trance Vibrator as a private-time plaything last year, our writer explaining that the music-responsive buzzer was "somewhat 'weak' for a sex toy, though nonetheless pleasurable." And, earlier in 2015, the Power Glove became an invaluable Bluetooth controller in the hands of Robot Chicken animator Dillon Markey. Check out the video below to see it in action.

The Power Glove has no place in the contemporary gaming landscape. Only some kind of complete imbecile would try to make it communicate with today's VR units. (And yet you can bet someone is trying, right now.) It's entirely understandable that teenagers of 2015 would consider it horrendous. But seeing Markey use this supremely tactile peripheral in a way that could never have been envisioned at the time of its launch is pretty inspiring, and it makes you wonder if you were right to throw away that Sega Menacer when you did, all those years ago.

Nah, don't worry about it. You were right.

Follow Mike on Twitter.