As I was writing my next System Overview article, I found myself asking the question "What in the world were they thinking?" when looking at some of the console designs in my Room of Doom. Some are very unique and others are just plain elephant-man ugly. With that image in mind, who will take the home coveted
Joseph Merrick Award for
worst-looking video game console? The contenders:
Magnavox Odyssey 2
![](http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-009/bf/U-009-H-00010-A.jpg) Just what I need - 15 million keys to play a game.
| Amstrad GX 4000
![](http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/E-114/bf/E-114-H-00010-G.jpg)
Space-age design or just a cheap rip-off of the Land Speeder from Star Wars?
| ![](http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/images/articles/mg-blogs/244px-Joseph_Carey_Merrick.png)
Cast Your Vote!!
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Atari 5200
![](http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-023/bf/U-023-H-00010-A.jpg)
Hmm... make it bigger and they will love it - NOT.
| Gakken Compact Vision
![](http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/J-139/bf/J-139-H-00010-A.jpg)
What in the heck am I supposed to do with those funky handles?
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Nintendo GameCube
![](http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-076/bf/U-076-H-00010-H.jpg)
Simple design or designed by simpletons?
| RCA Studio 2
![](http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-006/bf/U-006-H-00011-A.jpg)
Brutal, just plain brutal.
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Bally Professional Arcade
![](http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-008/bf/U-008-H-00010-A.jpg)
Bally should have stuck to designing arcade machines.
| Pioneer LaserActive
![](http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-053/bf/U-053-H-00031-A.jpg)
"Customer needs assistance in aisle 3. Fork lift will be required." |
The 5200 and Gamecube? Blasphemy!
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Gamecube! What are you smoking! The Gamecube looks great!
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Gakken TV Boy for me. By looking at it you can't even tell it is a game system. Looks like a wall mounted phone with a handle.
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Wow, some real nasties there. ![Tongue](http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/Smileys/RFG/tongue.gif)
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The 5200 is huge and a beast - but nothing under the hood demands that kind of casing. The GameCube - let me think... a square box - now that is something dramatic. Nintendo should have released a 2nd version of this system like the Panasonic Q - now that is cool!
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My vote is for the RCA Studio 2 to be honest... it is brutal looking and that diseased mustard yellow color of the game casing is truly repulsive.
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@Marriott_Guy: The motherboard is actually pretty big. However, I find the 5200 to be attractive; they don't call it the "Big Sexy" for nothing...
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I also voted for the Gakken. I don't know why, but it seems my vote went to the 5200? >_<
The Gakken Looks like a telephone with a "T" shift handle attached to it.
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Sorry for the coding error all - the 5200 was getting the majority of the votes. Thios has been corrected.
"Big Sexy" - if I am going out to the local speak-easy, you are going to be my wingman Apollo - take the heffer, I'll take the slim and slimy ones ![Smiley](http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/Smileys/RFG/smiley.gif)
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@captain_nintendo: Perhaps it's rigged? =P
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Also, I believe "The George Foreman Grill", A.K.A. The PS3 belongs up there more then the Gamecube does....
;P
*jab* jab*
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@captain_nintendo: Countdown 'til Tondog comes in...
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lol... the GF Grill comparison is a classic... I did forget about that, and didn't include it since it also serves as my bathroom mirror when flossing my teeth.
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The Game cube may be a box, but what is the Xbox? That thing is ugly!
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@shadowforte: Trust me, I said the same thing. As such, I voted for the thing that looks similar.
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It was tough between quite a few of them....
There are quite a few uggos though.
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@ApolloBoy:
Why hello there. ![Smiley](http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/Smileys/RFG/smiley.gif)
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Gakken and the RCA are by far the ugliest ones up there. Personally, I have never liked how the PS2 looks. It looks like a damn scanner. The original Playstation was by far their best design and captain_nintendo's comparison of the PS3 to the Grill is just hilarious. ![Cheesy](http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/Smileys/RFG/cheesy.gif)
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The Gakken is awesome. Handles FTW.
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I think the PS3 looks pretty good, actually. It's much better looking than the Xbox 360 (
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Some of my post got cut off there for some reason...
PS3 looks better than the Xbox 360 ( heart (maybe the bracket for heart put it in html)).
While the Gamecube isn't great looking it isn't the ugliest.
I voted for the Gakken thing. It looks like a toddler's toy.
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@James:
I don't know what it was, but any HTML is stripped. ![Sad](http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/Smileys/RFG/sad.gif)
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By the way, I voted for the Gakken.
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I quite like the looks of the GX 4000 I don't think it should be up there, they are much worse looking consoles like the PS3 or the uglyBOX.
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I agree that the Xbox might need to be up there as well - it just missed the cut (8 was the magic number). I do not find the GX4000 offensive, but I included it since it is definitely unique and has a love/hate appeal.
Tondog has a great PS3 YouTube feed to the PS3 performing it's George Foreman grill function.
Any other systems that I should have been considered in the top 8?
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@Marriott_Guy: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Hh3tBdHwM
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