From the dawn of video games, developers have looked for a 'twist" that would make gamers flock to stores to try them out. We all know about playing games with your feet, as in Dance Dance Revolution, and the Nintendo Wii that exercised our arms and sometimes broke our screens. There are even more that debuted with a splash but did not stand the test of time.
You might be too young to remember it, but in 1987, a game called Exciting Boxing came with a controller that was actually a small punching bag with a boxer painted on it. If you saw the Sony Glasstron now, it would remind you of a VR headset. But it didn't do anything but put the TV screen right in front of your eyes, which was useless then and ludicrous now with flatscreens available in any size. And the picture above shows us the LJN Roll ‘n Rocker from 1989. It let you play games with your feet, but unlike the Dance Dance Revolution pad, it required that you also use your hands at the same time. It also tended to make the player fall to the floor.
Some of these bygone accessories were too hard to use, too expensive, or too limited. Or just plain dumb from the start. Read about 15 bad ideas in gaming accessories at Den of Geek.
(Image credit: LJN/Nintendo)