Accessories and Peripherials

Examples of this are Nintendo's R.O.B. and Sega's 3D glasses. With these extra periphrials, it would increase interest in the system and its games. The R.O.B. robot, for example, would get the attention of customers looking for a more traditional toy and get them to consider using the NES. Often keyboards and disk drives are announced to make the game console look more like a real PC and not just entertainment.

Eventually, the gimmicky nature of most peripherials came to light, and most die a quick death.

Overview

• A. Nintendo's R.O.B. or Robot Operating Buddy. It was only released and distributed during the early days of the NES. It utilized technology where the robot would interact with small disks based on the TV signal. It was gimmicky and only 2 games were ever made for use with it. This makes it a great collectable.

• B. The NES Advantage. An Arcade Joystick controller. Its sturdy design, slow-mo, and turbo feautures make it a great pickup for NES fans.

• C. The Capcom Soldier Pad. This Japanese item was for use with the Super Nintendo (the successor to the NES). It features a special layout that had 6 buttons on the side of the controller for easier use with the Street Fighter series.

• D. The Power Glove by Mattel. This gimmicky controller was to use motion sensor technology to control your character. However, this feature was less than dependable. A high price tag and poor software with the Power Glove meant that it died out fairly quickly. It was featured in the movie The Wizard.

• E. The Power Pad. When the NES exploded in popularity in the late 80's, parents became concerned that their kids were spending more time on the couch and not playing outside. To get around this complaint, Nintendo created the Power Pad. Power was a familiar theme in NES advertising. By jumping on the buttons on the pad in time with the game, kids could control their character. This found a little bit of success, it was even packed in with the NES for a time, but eventually died out without making a large impact.

• F. The Sega Arcade Stick. This was Sega's answer to the NES Advantage. However, it was not as well made.

• G. Light Guns. Before violence in games became a large concern, light gun games were a fairly popular genre. Nintendo had the orange Zapper and Sega had the Light Phaser. The Zapper was packed in with many NES consoles.

• H. Half offscreen is the Sega Sports Controller. It featured a trackball instead of the standard d-pad. Mostly for collectors only.

• I. Sega 3D SegaScope Glasses. These technologically superior glasses provided headache-free 3D play for compatible titles. The anonymity of the Master System kept this unique accessory from becoming mainstream.

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