TIGER GAME COM

 Probably the most worthless game system in existence. 

 

 

THE RANT: Tiger is the king of the handheld LCD game. Go into a store, throw a rock, and you'll hit a product made by Tiger. But Tiger's attempts to make a portable game system that takes carts have failed miserably. This system might have done better if it was released in the late 80's but by 1997 the gamming public already knew what they liked in a handheld game system. The system has a black and white dot matrix display, yet all the games use two or three step animations, making it look just like the same light-up LCD games they always make.  What I mean is the animation in the games is really choppy. I don't know if this is because of system limitations or cheesy programming (CPU runs at like 3.2mhz, so maybe it can't make a screen that scrolls.) So this system was dead in less than a year. I got mine from a Kaybee toys clearing house sale for $25.00. There is also a more compact version with a back-lit screen. 

THE GOOD: The system has a lot of stuff going for it. Has built in date book, address book, memo pad, alarm functions, etc. Also uses a PDA like touch screen with a stylus. The games have very good voice samples, very clear and free of static. Has a lot of Sega conversions like Fighters Megamix (one of the better games, but still pretty sad,) Daytona USA, and Panzer Dragoon, as well as PC conversions like Duke Nuk'em. The graphics aren't bad when they stand still. 

THE BAD: Most of the games suck my log. Like I said before the animation sucks. Still shots of the games look cool but when you see them in action you'll know what I'm talking about. The game carts are really small, like postage stamp size. You could easily lose them. Good graphics, good sound, cruddy animation, crappy games.

THE UGLY: I think these retailed for around $50 originally, nowadays you can't give these things away. You can get a complete system in the box and ten games for like five dollars.