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Console reliability from your own experience

mαrkαsscoρ

Mr. SidleInYourDMs
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May 5, 2012
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Game systems fail, that's just the reality of it. Though for one reason or another, some are more prone to failure than others. Heck, do I even need to mention the 7th generation? But we all have our own luck for how reliable some systems are. So the question is, what game systems from what you've had personally are just unreliable? Like systems you've ran into trouble w/ on several occasions.
 

Princess Niki

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All of mine have been pretty reliable and i have only had to fix my 3DS once when it's R bumper broke, once it happened again but with both I upgraded to a new 3ds XL and I had to have the right stick fixed on my Joycon after I taught my niece and nephew to play Splatoon 2. It wouldn't press in anymore so no special.
 
Joined
Oct 30, 2018
Personally, from my experience, I've had to go through 3 PS2s in the span of 15 years, compared to the GameCube where that beast is still running, and I've had that GameCube for the same amount of time.
 

mαrkαsscoρ

Mr. SidleInYourDMs
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ok I have the opposite w/ gamecubes where I'm convinced they're just unreliable, I'm on my 3rd one right now, technically maybe even 4th considering the reason I even got my own was b/c my older brother's had stopped working; but the last gamecube I had was doing just fine then it crapped out on me out of nowhere, I wasn't even sad I was just like.....ok, but why???
the current one I have used to be my little brother's and works, but I was given disc read errors sometimes on games that I know for a fact work [they run perfectly fine on wii]
 

Jimmu

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I've never really had reliability issues with any of my consoles. The only issues I have noted in recent years are issues getting my NES and SNES to recognise a game cartridge properly (which does end up working after quite a few attempts) and a Nintendo 64 controller stick wearing out. I think given the age and reasonable wear those are to be expected though.
 
All of my Nintendo products have been fantastic, they have never let me down and still all function.
The exception is the Switch where I have savage drift in my left Joycon, but the console itself is still perfectly fine.

I've had to replace both a Ps3 and a Ps4.

I also have to replace my 360 but because I don't like the console I never did.

My Megadrive/Genesis was hit and miss if it wanted to work or not. However it was second hand when it was bought.
 
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Honestly I've only had two issues both game related.

Any PS4 discs that are more than a little scratched don't read properly. That's a flaw in the tech itself, being an optical media laser reading them I feel.
Secondly back in the day certain NES and SNES games would not read if the connectors were perfectly clean. Again that's a flaw in the tech. Today with the Switch there's a lot less going on in terms on what the cart is, and there's less connectors so the issue is mostly eliminated.

I've not had a second of drift with any joycon. This joycon drift is an overblown issue. The vocal minority crying the loudest. Nintendo is dealing with the issue. Hopefully the drift lawsuit will be thrown out of court.
 

GrooseIsLoose

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Honestly I've only had two issues both game related.

Any PS4 discs that are more than a little scratched don't read properly. That's a flaw in the tech itself, being an optical media laser reading them I feel.
Secondly back in the day certain NES and SNES games would not read if the connectors were perfectly clean. Again that's a flaw in the tech. Today with the Switch there's a lot less going on in terms on what the cart is, and there's less connectors so the issue is mostly eliminated.

I've not had a second of drift with any joycon. This joycon drift is an overblown issue. The vocal minority crying the loudest. Nintendo is dealing with the issue. Hopefully the drift lawsuit will be thrown out of court.
isn't there a software purchase. no risk of scratching
 

Spiritual Mask Salesman

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I'm going to have to say the Gamecube too. All my old consoles still work completely fine, except for my Gamecube. One day back when I was still using it I started getting disc reading errors. I found out that it was no longer spinning the discs for some reason, and the only way I could fix it was to take the machine apart and fix it myself, which I wasn't confident in doing at the time. I never bought another Gamecube because I could still play my Gamecube games on my Wii. Now keep in mind, my PS2 that I had for the same about the amount of time was still working, and it still works to this day. However I chalk it up to wear and tear. I used my Gamecube way more than I did my PS2. Sometimes I'd even forget to shut my Gamecube off and it'd run all night with a game paused. If I had been more careful perhaps it would have lasted longer?

My SNES and N64 still work but getting a game to run is touchy, lol, which I remember it was sometimes the same when I was a kid, but modernly it feels odd after years of having games respond instantly.

Oh, and if we're talking hardware that came with consoles: The N64 Controller did not have a control stick that was durable. I went through at least 5 N64 controllers by the time I got a Gamecube.
 
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However, the Switch has endured joycon drift on too many systems to call this just a normal fault.
Has it? I don't see any evidence to back that up. Over 20 million Switches sold so far. Even if you say 0.1% of that have the issue. That's 20k. Is there even that many people with this issue? All the evidence I've seen on this is the vocal minority speaking very loudly about this.
I do feel that this issue needs to be fixed. Some people feel it's a manufacturing fault with a few of the units. Others feel it's a design flaw that needs dealing with. I feel it's the former but I haven't seen enough evidence to definitively say which it is.

The one fact I think we can both agree on is this issue needs to be fixed. Improve their manufacturing processes at the factories and/or look at this at a design level to better design new joycon sticks.

Whilst Nintendo have certainly taken positive action regarding the situation, the fact that people buying brand new Switch's today are reporting the same issues means we have to keep speaking up about the problem lest we get game companies thinking they can get away with these kinds of mistakes.
I agree with you, the vocal minority does have it's place. Issues like this can become much more widespread (usually due to complacency) if it's not nipped in the butt early on. People have teared town Switch Lites to find the exact same sticks as in the joycon. Meaning that whatever the issue here, it's not been fixed oat a production/design level. Nintendo is dealing positively with the few who experience the issue. However I do feel that this is a reactive approach which never works out in the long run. Better to act proactively and fix the issue at the source.

I am not at all belittling those who have this issue. To them it's important and they deserve to have action taken on the issue. We just need to be realistic on how many people experience such issues. Just to put the issue into context. The issue should be fixed regardless of how many people experience it.

As an aside it will be interesting to see how many people sign up to be part of the class action lawsuit. We shall see then, how many people actually have the issue and how many have jumped on the badwagon.
 
Replaced my first GBA SP as the screen failed to display a picture while the audio still worked as well as my launch PS3 that stopped working completely. My left joycon on my current Switch is experiencing drift. Those are the only hardware issues I've had so far.
 

el :BeoWolf:

When all else fails use fire
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I've never had issues with any console I've owned ; N64, PS2, Wii, Wii U, Gameboy, GB Advanced, DSi, 2ds, and Switch
Except for the switch's Joycons. I've probably burned through so many of those.
 

mαrkαsscoρ

Mr. SidleInYourDMs
Joined
May 5, 2012
Location
American Wasteland
it just occurred to me that I'm actually on my 2nd wii and ps3
my first ps3 was an earlier model, but those things are ticking time bombs and got yellow lighted, so now I just have the slim model
as for my first wii, it stopped reading discs, but it did sorta get tipped over a few times so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it stopped working
 

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