2011-12-21, 11:52 PM
Dark Link Wrote:When has a console / handheld launch NEVER been bad?
Is this a serious question? The last two I could think of were Dreamcast and GameCube, but that was a long time ago. Also, I'm only counting US launches.
Google: "Dreamcast launch", and it's the first link iirc.
Quote:The Dreamcast was released in November 1998 in Japan; on September 9, 1999 in North America and on October 14, 1999 in Europe and November 30, 1999 in Australia. Despite problems with the Japanese launch, the system's launch in the United States was successful. In the US alone, a record 300,000 units had been pre-ordered and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks (including a record 225,132 sold during the first 24 hours). In fact, due to brisk sales and hardware shortages, Sega was unable to fulfill all of the advance orders. Sega confirmed that it made US$98.4 million on combined hardware and software sales with Dreamcast following the September 9, 1999 launch. Four days after its launch in the US, Sega stated that 372,000 units were sold bringing in US$132 million in sales.
Launch titles such as Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Power Stone, Hydro Thunder, Marvel vs. Capcom, The House of the Dead 2, and NFL 2K helped Dreamcast succeed in the first year. Sega Sports titles helped fill the void left by a lack of Electronic Arts sports games on the system. Dreamcast sales grew 156.5% from July 23, 2000 to September 30, 2000 putting Sega ahead of the Nintendo 64 in that period. However, the launch of Sony's PlayStation 2 that year marked the beginning of the end for the Dreamcast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast
As for GC, it was hyped as it is before launch, let alone launch. But these are consoles, not handhelds, so I guess they shouldn't really count though.