5 Revolutionary Console Features That Went Unused

Many crippled consoles person astatine slightest a fewer features that spell unnoticed by astir players. In uncommon cases, immoderate of these features ne'er adjacent spot the airy of day, adjacent if they are already built into the hardware.

From unrealized multiplayer to selling memes, present are immoderate perchance revolutionary features successful well-known consoles that you've astir apt ne'er heard of.

5 The Game Boy Is Capable of 16-Person Multiplayer

Every iteration of the Game Boy supports multiplayer functionality crossed a assortment of games. You tin link 2 Game Boys unneurotic utilizing Nintendo's Game Link cable, oregon hook up 4 handhelds utilizing a four-player adapter. Games similar the Pokémon series usage wired-multiplayer to alteration trading with different players, portion co-op multiplayer titles similar the Game Boy Advance (GBA)'s The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords let you acquisition unforgettable adventures with your friends.

Multiplayer was a important portion of the Game Boy's success, but it was susceptible of hosting adjacent much players. The Game Boy mentation of Faceball 2000—a handheld larboard of the multiplayer first-person shooter MIDI Maze—was primitively planned to diagnostic a 16-player deathmatch mode. Developer Xanth intended to bundle the crippled with an adapter that supported up to 16 players, but failed to person Nintendo's support to merchandise the device.

As a result, the ambitious mode had to beryllium scrapped and replaced with a four-player mode that utilized the authoritative Game Link Cable.

Despite its removal from the last release, the implicit codification for Faceball 2000's 16-player mode is inactive contiguous successful the game's files. Modders were capable to reconstruct the chopped mode, but moving it with a afloat lobby is simply a batch much complicated. One mode of moving the crippled is by connecting aggregate GBA Link Cable adapters unneurotic and attaching a GBA for each player.

Unfortunately, this method is highly prone to freezing—an contented that lone becomes much predominant with higher subordinate counts—and an unfortunate glitch guarantees the crippled volition instantly clang aft adding a sixteenth player.

In 2024, a squad of modders yet managed to tally the 16-player mode with the max subordinate number and connected the archetypal Game Boy hardware. To execute this, they utilized a customized adapter to link each 16 Game Boy handhelds and ran a ROM hack titled Faceball 2000 DX that patches the archetypal game's bugged multiplayer.

4 The Wii U Supported Multiple GamePads

The Wii U GamePad is 1 of Nintendo's astir inventive controllers, but its galore problems outweigh the positives. Unlike different types of controllers, lone 1 GamePad tin beryllium connected to the Wii U astatine a time. This occupation not lone constricted however the Wii U GamePad could beryllium utilized successful multiplayer games but was besides the crushed Nintendo refused to merchantability the GamePad successful stores.

Before the console's launch, Nintendo repeatedly suggested that the Wii U could enactment 2 abstracted GamePads. The diagnostic was initially confirmed astatine Nintendo's E3 2012 showcase and aboriginal reaffirmed connected the company's authoritative website. But that wasn't the lawsuit erstwhile players got their hands connected the console. So wherefore was determination specified an important discrepancy betwixt Nintendo's messaging and the world of its hardware?

The information is that the Wii U's single-GamePad regularisation wasn't ever meant to beryllium a imperishable problem. In an interview with MinnMax, erstwhile Nintendo of America COO Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that the Wii U is susceptible of connecting with 2 abstracted GamePads, but the diagnostic was ne'er afloat implemented. Initially, the diagnostic was deemed unnecessary since nary of the Wii U's motorboat titles supported the usage of aggregate GamePads. Any chances of the diagnostic being added astatine a aboriginal day were dashed by the Wii U's lackluster income and abbreviated lifespan.

3 Some Retro Nintendo Consoles Have Unused Expansion Slots

Ever since the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), astir each Nintendo console has included a seemingly pointless enlargement port. This antithetic plan inclination extends to consoles arsenic caller arsenic the Wii U. The questionable reasons for the inclusion of these unused enlargement ports alteration betwixt consoles, though they each subordinate to Nintendo's penchant for releasing unorthodox console add-ons.

Nintendo's first 3 consoles—the NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64—all received console add-ons that were ne'er released extracurricular of Japan. Of enactment were the Famicom's Family Computer Disk System and the Nintendo 64's 64DD, which served arsenic floppy disk readers for their respective consoles.

These add-ons allowed developers to present larger virtual worlds and much analyzable crippled mechanics (such arsenic the real-time timepiece successful Animal Crossing) than a accepted NES oregon N64 cartridge would allow. The 64DD was besides susceptible of connecting to Randent, a subscription-based online work that includes entree to online multiplayer, messaging, and an net browser—three years earlier Microsoft debuted Xbox Live.

Similarly, the SNES's enlargement larboard was a leftover from the add-ons made for its Japanese equivalent, the Super Famicom. Instead of a floppy disk reader, the Super Famicom received a modem known arsenic the Satelliview. Much similar the 64DD, the Satelliview connected to an online subscription-based service, done which users could presumption caller issues of fashionable magazines, perceive to broadcasted interviews and music, and entree a rotating room of Satelliview-exclusive games—three decades earlier Xbox Game Pass.

Each add-on connects to the ports located astatine the bottommost of their respective consoles, which is besides wherever the unused enlargement ports of their planetary equivalents are located. It's apt that Nintendo whitethorn person considered worldwide releases for its console add-ons astatine immoderate point. However, factors specified arsenic the Satelliview's reliance connected licensing agreements and the 64DD's disastrous income whitethorn person enactment a halt to these plans.

The GameCube and Wii U GamePad besides diagnostic spare ports, but not overmuch is known astir their intended purpose. Even successful Japan, determination weren't immoderate authoritative add-ons that made usage of the other enlargement ports. It's apt that Nintendo ne'er recovered a bully crushed to usage the GameCube's spare port, arsenic astir of the console's peripherals and add-ons plugged into its controller slots. Even little is known astir the Wii U's imaginable add-ons, though it's apt that immoderate plans to usage the GamePad's larboard were canceled pursuing its commercialized failure.

2 The Virtual Boy (Sort of) Invented Multiplayer VR

You whitethorn person noticed that I didn't notation the Virtual Boy with Nintendo's different consoles, and that's due to the fact that it deserves its ain peculiar mention. Like galore different Nintendo consoles, the Virtual Boy features an unused enlargement port, though it was included to service 1 circumstantial function.

Nintendo primitively planned to merchandise a nexus cablegram add-on for the system, which would person enabled multiplayer for definite games by connecting 2 Virtual Boy consoles—similar to the Game Boy nexus cable. But betwixt the Virtual Boy's horrendous sales, wide captious panning, and galore imaginable wellness hazards, the console didn't past agelong capable for these multiplayer plans to travel to fruition.

The Virtual Boy's deficiency of multiplayer games is besides commonly cited arsenic different crushed for the nexus cable's cancelation, but determination were a fewer games that were already being developed with plans to usage the console's multiplayer functionality. Waterworld and Mario's Tennis were some primitively intended to feature multiplayer modes, but were scrapped during development.

Modders were capable to reconstruct the latter's multiplayer aft uncovering unused codification relating to the scrapped feature. It's besides worthy noting the canceled Virtual Boy larboard of Faceball—the aforesaid crippled that brought 16-player functionality to the Game Boy—was likewise planned to diagnostic a two-player mode.

If the Virtual Boy had received authoritative multiplayer enactment erstwhile it launched successful 1995, it would person been 1 of the archetypal virtual world (VR) systems to diagnostic multiplayer functionality. Although it was predated by the Virtuality VR arcade machines—which debuted with multiplayer VR games successful 1991—the Virtual Boy could person been the archetypal home-released VR instrumentality with functioning multiplayer. Although you could easy find better multiplayer experiences connected virtually immoderate different console, I'm definite that adjacent subjecting yourself to the Virtual Boy is much amusive with friends.

1 The Sega Genesis Actually Has Blast Processing

If you are adjacent remotely acquainted with the console wars of the aboriginal 90s, you've astir apt heard of "blast processing." Throughout the heated battles betwixt the Nintendo SNES and Sega Mega Drive (Genesis), Sega's selling regularly touted a diagnostic they referred to arsenic "blast processing." The console's selling claimed that blast processing was the crushed Sega's games looked amended and ran faster than thing connected the SNES, supposedly powering games similar Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Ecco the Dolphin.

Nobody extracurricular Sega truly understood however blast processing worked, and galore players assumed that "blast processing" was a nonsensical word invented by the selling team. In actuality, blast processing was a existent diagnostic connected the Genesis, but it didn't bash arsenic overmuch for the console arsenic Sega's selling would person you believe.

Contrary to fashionable belief, the crushed the Genesis was faster than the SNES was simply the effect of amended hardware alternatively than immoderate peculiar processing techniques. The Genesis featured the combined powerfulness of 2 central processing units (CPUs); a Motorola 68000 with a timepiece velocity of 7.67 MHz and a Zilog Z80 clocked astatine 3.58 MHz. By comparison, the SNES relies solely connected a WDC 68516 CPU with a max processing velocity of 3.58 MHz.

The Sega Genesis besides includes a Yamaha YM7101 video show processor (VDP) with a nonstop representation entree (DMA) function, meaning it tin transmit information from its interior representation to its RAM astatine a overmuch faster complaint than the SNES. Thanks to the VDP, Genesis games were susceptible of delivering clearer visuals, smoother parallax scrolling, higher framework rates, and larger sprites. The Genesis was besides capable to enactment 3D polygonal graphics successful games similar Vectorman and Virtua Racing without immoderate enhancements, whereas SNES games similar Star Fox required a built-in Super FX graphics spot to enactment their 3D visuals.

Although "blast processing" is often associated with the Sega Genesis's awesome specs, the word originated from an unused console feature. To explicate however blast processing works, it's important to recognize what makes it special. I'll effort to support this simple, but I highly urge Digital Foundry's video connected blast processing for a much elaborate explanation.

Normally, the Sega Genesis divides a game's inheritance tiles, quality sprites, and different graphical elements into abstracted layers, which the console's video show processor (VDP) past displays on-screen arsenic 1 implicit image.

An exploit successful the Genesis allows the VDP to disregard these other layers and lone show the inheritance colour area—the bottom-most furniture that is usually unseen during gameplay. Blast processing involves utilizing this exploit and "blasting" (sending ample amounts of data) axenic colour information to the VDP. When this happens, the CPU's afloat processing powerfulness is dedicated to displaying colour pixels connected a azygous layer, allowing the console to show much colors and contiguous visuals with a vastly higher level of item than usual.

Unfortunately, blast processing was excessively analyzable and unreliable to beryllium a feasible instrumentality for developers. Due to the precision required to show axenic colour information alternatively than idiosyncratic assets, the VDP needs to beryllium intimately synced with the tv display. On CRT televisions—which 16-bit consoles similar the Genesis were designed for—any important desync betwixt the surface and console tin effect successful the pixels being displayed retired of order, resulting successful a scrambled messiness of colors. Blast processing besides uses the full CPU to function, limiting what tin beryllium displayed with this method.

Most importantly, blast processing wasn't an intended diagnostic for the Sega Genesis, but alternatively a unsocial glitch that took vantage of its hardware. It's not wide if Sega's ain developers understood however to marque usage of blast processing, and fans person lone precocious cracked the codification to make tech demos that showcase its capabilities.

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There's a batch much enactment that goes into console improvement than we whitethorn realize. Gaming systems are not lone equipped to grip existent technologies, but they besides request to beryllium susceptible of handling aboriginal add-ons. Even erstwhile these features spell unused, their beingness often provides a mode for console modders to rediscover the unrealized imaginable of our favourite retro systems.