10 Real Video Game Consoles Axed Before Public Release

The video game industry has come a long way in just 50 years. From crude pixelated animations to photorealistic imagery, the likes of Nintendo and Sony have altered the way many people choose to spend their free time, introducing an array of best-selling gaming consoles for enthusiasts to drool over.

These days, it's all about the likes of the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, but people still hold fond memories for the consoles that got them into gaming in the first place, whether that's going all the way back to the Atari 2600 or something more recent like the GameBoy Color. There are even some intriguing discontinued video game consoles you may have forgotten about but are still worth looking into, simply for what they tried to achieve but perhaps fell short on accomplishing. While those devices actually hit the marketplace, there's also a fairly interesting history of companies trying to put their own mark on the industry, only to fail right before the finish line. 

These are the consoles that got pretty far along in the development process but never became available to sell, whether due to financial woes or the technology at the time falling short of making it a reality. These consoles may forever remain out of reach, but gamers can fantasize with this list about what might have been.

[Featured Image by Mats Lindh via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC-BY-2.0]

In the late 1970s, right before the Atari 2600 would change the game for many at-home video game players, the company was also working on a system with a practical purpose. The goal behind the proposed Atari Game Brain was that it would serve as a way for Atari to offload excess CPUs from other games the company had put out, like "Pong." That means that instead of just playing a single game, the Game Brain would allow individuals to play up to 10 on one device. Granted, most of these would've been spinoffs of "Pong," like "Super Pong" and "Ultra Pong," but "Video Pinball" was also in the line-up.

The system would also come with a unique design, most notably with the controllers built into the system itself instead of being separate peripherals. Users needed to insert the cartridges for each game into the dedicated slot. It was never meant to be a game changer in the industry, with a planned release date around 1978. However, before that time could come, the industry had moved beyond built-in games, so Atari decided to focus its energies on the Atari 2600.

It's reported that three separate Game Brain consoles exist out there, but it's hard to track down specific confirmation on that. Instead, the Atari 2600 came out in 1977 and became a landmark product for the company.

The Atari Cosmos, which was worked on from the late '70s to early '80s, really would've been something special had it been able to deliver on its lofty promises. It was going to be a handheld device, much like a GameBoy, but the real selling point was that it was supposed to have 3D holographic imagery. Naturally, it didn't quite meet the mark, and instead merely consisted of a grid of LED lights. These lights could shine at different angles to make one image look brighter over the other. 

Atari scrapped the console, and many online have discussed how it likely wasn't released because the video imagery quality wasn't up to par. Roger Hector, who worked extensively on the Cosmos, was interviewed by Atari Compendium about the development cycle of the product, and he refuted claims the Cosmos was shelved because the quality wasn't up to par. As he put it, "The official reason, as told to me directly by Atari's CEO Ray Kassar, was that Atari overbooked orders for the [Atari VCS] and needed more production capacity. Ray had decided to 'hold of' on Cosmos 'for now.' This sounded to me like it was being permanently shelved."

An ultra-rare (non-working) Atari Cosmos actually went for sale and sold for $7,500. A few working ones are out there, but sadly, we'll never know if all of Hector's hard work would've been a game-changer to players in the '80s.

The Magnavox Odyssey remains the forgotten pioneer of gaming consoles. Released in 1972, it's considered the first-ever home gaming system, completely changing the way people entertained themselves in their living rooms. Various iterations came out over the subsequent decade, which ultimately led to a proper sequel in the form of the Magnavox Odyssey 2 in 1978. The company intended to follow this up with the Odyssey 3, but it never saw the light of day.

The Magnavox Odyssey 3 basically would've been the American version of the Philips Videopac G7400 released in Europe. However, there were plans for some enhancements, such as a keyboard and places for holding the joysticks. It was even supposed to be the first console to offer backward compatibility and be suitable for games released for the Odyssey 2. Sadly, people were already moving onto gameplay on home computers by this point, and the video game crash of 1983 didn't help matters. Europeans had a taste of what it would've been like with the Videopac G7400, but Americans never knew what this console would be like.

While Magnavox pioneered home gaming, the failure of the Odyssey 3 signaled a death knell of sorts. With so many other consoles entering the marketplace that could weather the storm of the crash, Magnavox couldn't keep pace. 

Before it attempted to design a console, European manufacturer Konix had developed a range of video gaming peripherals, including controllers. When it finally came time for Konix to try its hand at a full-on console in the late 1980s, the controller was where the company really shined. The proposed Konix Multisystem would have a unique joystick design where the user could alter the handles to fashion a steering wheel, motorcycle handles, or flight simulator yoke. Clearly, the idea was to hone in on racing-type games, and the ambition didn't end there. Konix had plans for a motorized gaming chair and light gun, as well as other peripherals that could be purchased separately.

There were plans to release the console in 1989, and that same year, things looked promising. Pre-sale figures looked good, and there was even interest from George Lucas potentially to use the device to develop some "Star Wars" games. Sadly, the company had money troubles leading up to the release. Jon Steele, who worked on the Multisystem, spoke with Slipstream about knowing they were in a bad spot financially: "I do recall thinking 'Oh this is bad' when I heard Konix had used the rights to the Multisystem to secure a very small loan from the bank, a few hundred pounds I believe."

After running out of money, Konix sold the rights to a Chinese company, which released it as a standalone controller. It was a lackluster ending to a promising start of something special.

As you can likely tell, Atari has had several consoles in the works that never hit the marketplace. However, among all of these failed consoles, one remains just as much of an enigma today as when it surfaced many years ago — the Atari Mirai. With everything else on this list, we have a pretty good understanding of the intended goal and why it wasn't released for public consumption. However, the Mirai is a mystery; there's really not that much information about it. The only reason people know it was in the works at some point was due to the revelation of a prototype. Still, there's not much else to go off of to determine what the intention was behind it or if it was supposed to come with any groundbreaking features.

It seems like it was probably designed around the late 1980s and could've signaled a partnership between Atari and SNK, which came out with the Nat Geo arcade systems. Rampant speculation has run amok online of what it could've been, with the most popular theory being that this console would've been Atari's attempt to bring the Nat Geo to the United States under the Atari banner. Of course, all this stems from Atari forum chatter, so until more concrete information comes forward, it'll remain one of the great mysteries of the video game world.

Today, it's second nature for players to download games digitally rather than purchase hard-copy discs. However, Taito, a video game company that had already made a name for itself with titles like "Space Invaders" and "Puzzle Bobble," was ahead of the curve by looking into this satellite technology in the early 1990s. After making many games, Taito wanted to design its own home console called the Wowow. A prototype was actually designed and showcased at the 1992 Tokyo Toy Show, but it never went beyond the prototype stage as the technology just wasn't there yet. 

Unseen64 spoke with Yukiharu Sambe, who worked on the Taito Wowow, who explained that, fortunately enough, the project was suspended fairly early on in its process. Sambe continued, "Data transferring speed was not enough and many error correction packets eat up these precious data speed." A few years later in 1995, Nintendo tried its hand at the same technology by introducing the Satellaview, which became a rare misfire for the company. Despite titles from popular franchises like "BS The Legend of Zelda" and "Kirby's Toy Box," the Satellaview is widely seen as a failure, falling short in terms of sales for Nintendo.

Technology was expanding rapidly in the 1990s, and several companies wanted to take advantage of internet connectivity before everyone else. It would take a while longer before it became viable.

Speaking of being ahead of the times, Sega wanted to get in on virtual reality as far back as the early 1990s. Plenty of VR headsets have hit the marketplace in the years since, but the company could've beaten many of them to the punch with the prospective Sega VR, which is widely considered one of the biggest VR flops of all time. A 1993 Sega catalog promised all sorts of innovative features in the home model of the headset, including a head-tracking system, stereo headphones, and direct compatibility with the Sega Genesis system. 

All of this could have been the general public's at a price tag of $200, and while the release was pushed from 1993 to 1994, it was ultimately shelved for good. There are some conflicting reports of what went down, but according to one engineer who spoke with Sega-16, health concerns surrounding players' vision were definitely worth considering. "If the IPD for the LCDs are wider than the user IPD, you force the user's eyes to look outward," the engineer said. "This is the opposite of cross-eyed. This can really stress the weak muscles around the eyes, and can cause permanent damage in less than 30 minutes."

Today, virtual reality is widely considered the future of gaming, with many companies getting into the business. The Sega VR remains an early precursor to all of those, and even today, there are still concerns surrounding how such devices could negatively impact people's vision.

There's a wild history behind a rare PlayStation prototype that's known by a few names. Whether you've referred to it as the Nintendo PlayStation or the Super Disc, the SNES CD-ROM represented a joint venture from two behemoths in the industry — Nintendo and Sony. CDs were slowly replacing cartridges in consoles going back to the 1980s, largely due to the fact they could hold more data, so there was more room for things like video cut scenes. Nintendo was interested in incorporating CDs into its already popular SNES, so it signed an agreement with Sony to help develop the technology. 

While there was a ton of promise, there were also issues that soon became apparent, particularly ones related to licensing. Nintendo pulled out of its partnership with Sony and instead moved forward with Sony's competitor, Philips, to work on a CD drive. Shortly thereafter, Sony announced it was moving forward with its own standalone console that would become known as the PlayStation. 

As a result, Nintendo somewhat inadvertently created one of its biggest rivals. The first PlayStation was a huge success, and it spawned a slew of follow-ups that have consistently given Nintendo a run for its money. The CD-ROM between Nintendo and Philips never came to fruition, Philips came out with its own console called the CD-i, which is a footnote these days when it comes to popular home consoles. 

The idea behind the mythical Sega Neptune was that it would combine the capabilities of the 32X and Genesis consoles, which could be made available to the public for less than $200. Despite an announcement, the product was promptly shelved because the company wanted to focus all its endeavors on the Sega Saturn instead. The price would've been too close to the Saturn, and it's not like Sega was hurting for gaming systems at the time. In addition to the Saturn, the company also continued to support the 32X, Mega-CD, Nomad, Game Gear, and Genesis. 

Despite never hitting the market, the Sega Neptune has earned a bit of cult status. In fact, Electronic Gaming Monthly did an April Fools' Prank in 2001 claiming that a bunch of Neptunes had been found in a warehouse and could be purchased. Naturally, that wasn't the case, but the Neptune may just receive life yet. In June 2024, it was announced that the company GamesCare from Brazil was coming out with the GF1 Neptune that would be compatible with 32X and Mega Drive cartridges.

Of course, this new Neptune will come with some modern amenities, including the addition of an online store where you can download games remotely. Even though the Neptune never existed properly, it's remained a fun "what if" scenario that people still clearly want to play with.

The legacy of the Infinium Labs Phantom is forever marred in controversy, and perhaps people should've known from the start that the console was too good to be true. The idea behind the Phantom was that it could bring PC gaming to players' living rooms, and there would be no need for any physical discs. Everything would be 100% downloadable, a lofty promise back in 2004. It would have a huge library of PC games right at launch, meaning gamers didn't have to wait for good games to get manufactured. However, it's unclear if there was ever any actual plan to the Phantom. 

YouTuber Brad Lynch uploaded a video showcasing the Phantom at 2004's E3, but it's possible the development was all part of an illegal "pump and dump" scheme. Infinium Labs founder Tim Roberts ran afoul of the United States Security and Exchange Commission after allegedly finding how he tried to oversell the imminent release of the Phantom in order to inflate the company's stock prices. The SEC even alleged that there was no intention to release the Phantom due to significant technological hurdles. Roberts eventually settled with the SEC and paid a fine.

Designing a video game console is tough. Even many systems that have actually been released failed to make much of an impression, so it comes as no surprise that various companies wanted to get in on the action only to fail for one reason or another. After all, not everything can be a PS2.