"The system that tried to battle Game Boy"

Back in '94, Tiger Electronics decided to throw it's head into the handheld ring. Tiger had been producing many handheld games for the past decade or so, and they were all pretty good games. You remember those games, don't you? The ones where they only played one game, and you had to move your character usually down a street until a boss? They were pretty stupid, but were fun for some reason. Well, that same company decided to make an actual handhold game where you can change cartridges, something entirely new to the company. What they were in store for, was much more than expected.

The tiger Game.com bewilders me. I don't know how a system that boasts so many things and then actually offers them could do so horribly. The system has so many great things that it does. It was moderately cheap, 69.95 when it first came out if I'm not mistaken. It has so many great qualities, like a game in the system already. You could play solitaire with only the system, and it was pretty fun. It also had a lot of other features that didn't need any games to do. It had an phone book, calculator, calendar, and even a high score list of the games you have been playing. Pretty hefty, huh? It also had an add-on that would allow someone to gain access to the Internet. The Internet, for crying out loud! It also contained a little pen at the bottom, making this thing kind of like a palm pilot. But, this was not nearly as cool as a palm pilot, and palm pilot aren't that great anyway.

As with all systems, it's not the specs or the add-ons that your system has. It's the games. And that was where the game.com failed best. So many big-name companies signed on to create games, games that were classics and great series on the home consoles. Capcom made Resident Evil 2 for it, for goodness sake! Sega made Fighters Megamix. Even GT interactive software was making a Duke Nukem game for it! How could a system do so bad, you ask? Just play one of these games and you'll know why.

Most of the games for the system look all right, or maybe not. Scratch that, they all look bad. Not one of them looks playable, and none of them are. All the games had bad controls, which was the systems fault to begin with. It was a large handheld machine, and couldn't nearly fit in your pocket or something like that. The screen is very small, there are four buttons, and most of the time, two are all that is needed. Worst of all, you could only see in black and white, which turned up for some very screwed up graphics. You sometimes can't tell what is what, especially in a dark game like Resident Evil.

Sadly of all, so many developers were supporting this system. I have no idea why, but they all had big plans to make games for the system. Konami planned to translate Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Metal Gear Solid to the system. Red Alert was getting ported, and this was all very weird, indeed. But, most of these titles never got made. I would have really liked to have seen how they would have turned out on such a system, but alas, they were never made. I e-mailed some game.com people, and they just simply wrote back, telling me the system is dead and all games that would be made are gone.

Another stupid thing about the system was that if you left it in the sun, the screen would turn black. I hope that tiger knew at the time, but most handheld systems are made so we can go outside and play games! That is kind of like making a console game that requires 10 controllers to play it, it's like jumping in a pool of acid, you just don't do things like that.

The game.com has made no mark on the video game world, except maybe a bruise that will heal some day. If you play this system, you can tell why Nintendo is king of the handheld, and there is so much better that can be done. If someone offers this thing to you, take it and laugh at it. You will for a little while. Then, you will probably start to cry.

Graphics: 4/10
Laughable at best. Nothing is very strong for the system. For example, if you take a look at the graphics for the Atari 2600 game, Adventure, you could have an idea of what everything was. On this system, all of the games look pretty bad. Black and white only? Sad, sad, sad.

Control: 5/10
Even dumber than the idea to have black and white graphics are the controls for this system. Most of the time, you only use 2 out of the 4 buttons possible, and the pen doesn't always hit on what you want. They fit fine, but don't do anything to enhance the current market of games (well, at least at the time).

Sound: 5/10
It just keeps getting funnier. All of the sounds are pretty much the same. While on some games, it is possible to hear people speak. But, I would rather have some good music instead. The music is always way to heavy, and usually isn't good to begin with.

Concept/Originality: 7/10
The high point of the system. There are very new and unique things about this system that will make you think, ''hey, Daniel is just crazy. It doesn't sound that bad.'' It doesn't sound that bad, but all of the games do. And, the sound sounds that bad. If you want a portable solitaire game, I guess you can try the system out, but only if it was in the 1 dollar or less bin.

Entertainment: 2/10
This thing is entertaining? Maybe for the solitaire and the laughable games. That is where you will stop wearing a smile, if it was possible to wear one to begin with. None of the games are that fun to play, and if you have the choice of the Game Boy or this thing, which one would you choose?

Replay Value: 4/10
I better put this drink down, I'm laughing so hard. Nothing would make you want to keep batteries in this thing, and you would sooner take them out and put them into your electronic fan than play this thing again. At least the fan will keep you cool. All the system does is make you cry tears for something to drink.

Overall: 5/10
It is really 4.5, but I have to round, so I'll be nice and round up and give it a nice 5. Should you buy this system? I guess if you are a collector or are looking for a portable solitaire game, then by all means by the system for some fun. But, there are no reasons that you will keep batteries in this system.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/01, Updated 07/19/01