Tiger Game.com (1997)

If the Game.com isn't the ugliest system of all time then I don't know what is. Compared to the other portable systems of the time, the Game.com is enormous. It's also black and white and offers a screen that is extremely difficult to see. This system had two things going for it: it allowed you to load two games at once and featured a touch screen. Unfortunately neither of these aspects is worth talking about. What is worth talking about is the ugly shape, which actually made it very difficult to play the games. Not that you would want to since the games were so bad. There is a place for the pencil-sized stylus in the front, but that was yet another one of those questionable design choices that ended up making the whole thing look messy. On top of that the system had the world's most boring color scheme ... but what do you expect from a portable called Game.com?

Wow, can you say generic? This looks like every Tiger pocket game ever made, which may have been intentional. If that's the case I'm almost glad the system was such a dismal failure. I've never personally owned one of these, so I cannot comment on its weight or its feel. It appears sturdy enough, and I like the button placement. I am reminded of the Wonderswan and Neo Pocket when looking at this one, but on a more generic scale; I just can't shake that word. Making a handheld system is a serious gamble, and when a moderately popular player like Tiger tries to go big against the mighty handheld manufacturers like Nintendo, it's nearly suicide. This one just wasn't in the cards.