We're here with our list of novelty video game consoles both real and fake; some we wish were real, and some are just a stain on the gaming community. We're not here to judge...we'll leave that to you!
1. Tiger Electronics LCD Handheld Games
Company: Tiger Electronics Ltd
Release Year: 1980s – 1990s
Novelty Factor: The only other (& much cheaper) portable gaming option to the Game Boy, Tiger Electronics Handheld Games mastered the art of licensing franchises. Most major movie franchises, and quite a few TV shows, had their own LCD game. Tiger Electronics even got the licenses to many video game brands like Castlevania, Double Dragon, Duke Nukem, Ninja Gaiden, Sonic, Street Fighter, and Virtua Fighter; many of which can still be bought on Amazon or eBay today!
2. Bud Light BL6
Company: Anheuser-Busch
Release Year: 2020
Novelty Factor: The Bud Light BL6 is the world's first self-cooling six-pack console that also plays video games. It's 1/2 Coozie, 1/2 Console, 1/2 Projector. That's 3 halves so you know it's good, just don't ask it to do the math!
3. KFConsole
Company: Cooler Master Technology Inc.
Release Year: TBD (initially announced in June 2020)
Novelty Factor: The KFConsle debuts the world's first built-in patented Chicken Chamber – never risk letting your chicken go cold again! The KFConsole utilizes its own natural heat and airflow system so you can now focus on your gameplay and enjoy hot, crispy chicken between rounds.
4. Okama GameSphere
Company: Okama
Release Year: 2001
Novelty Factor: The Okama Gamesphere was a revolutionary console, satirically said to have 128 Gigahertz D-RAM, priced at $399.99, and a parody of the real-life Nintendo GameCube on the hit series South Park. Thanks to Reddit user u/mafnxxx for this amazing artist rendering.
5. The Game Sphere
Company: Nickelodeon (Drake & Josh)
Release Year: 2004
Novelty Factor: It's only the most sophisticated gaming experience ever created by humans. AND, it's spherical. SPHERICAL! To this day we still don't know how Granny was able to get her hands on this console 3 months before the public release but she did! So, in all honesty, the GameSphere was a Memorex BoomBall with an original Xbox controller, affectionately known as "The Duke", paired with it.
6. Soulja Boy Handheld Console
Company: SouljaGame
Release Year: Doesn't matter
Novelty Factor: The Gen 1 handheld was clearly an emulator of the major console companies’ hardware. Soulja Boy quickly ran into legal trouble with Nintendo for not licensing the thousands of games available on the console despite publicly stating that “everything is 100 percent legit” and that unspoken deals had taken place.
Editor's Note: His new console attempt was promptly taken down on his website in favor of a handheld console version instead. We're not going to bother keeping up with his fly-by-night gaming scam. If you want to hear an unbiased opinion (less judgy take), check out the video below.