Sometimes the most distinctive video game consoles are the limited editions that come out on special occasions.
In case you missed it, there is a limited edition of the PlayStation 4 being released with the new Star Wars: Battlefront game. It’s a bit underwhelming, featuring a graphic of Darth Vader on the side and a recolored controller and little else. The designs submitted by fans were far more interesting, such as these below:
It’s a pity, because some game-branded limited edition consoles are truly beautiful and interesting. Here are some of the most visually attractive and distinctive consoles that came bundled with particular games.
You want to know how to make a great Star Wars-branded console? This is how you do it. The body of this Xbox 360 bears the colors of series’ star R2-D2 and the Star Wars logo. The controller is gold-plated after C-3PO and even has exposed wiring like him. It even plays R2’s chirps when you turn it on and hit the eject button.
This is a great console for a Star Wars fan, though that’s assuming you can get over the fact that this gorgeous console is packaged with the abysmal Star Wars Kinect. It’s certainly a cut above the Star Wars: Battlefront PS4, even with the inferior game.
A similarly attractive console sold with a more bearable game is the Halo 4 Xbox 360, which is translucent and has a beautiful silver and blue color scheme. It also plays Halo noises when you hit the buttons.
Some limited edition consoles are extremely bright and colorful, and more often than not they seem to be bundled with a Pokémon game. There were the gorgeous blue and red 3DS consoles that came with Pokémon X & Y; and the rainbow of special Gameboy Advance SPs marked with correspondingly colored Pokémon (Torchic orange was my personal favorite).
The cutest of them all is probably this blue Nintendo 64, which comes emblazoned with a giant Pikachu on the side and has a Pokeball in place of the power button. It came with a copy of Hey You, Pikachu! as well as the voice recognition unit that was required to play that game. It was presumably intended for use with the Pokemon Stadium games and Super Smash Bros as well.
When Nintendo puts out limited edition consoles with their own games, they seem to really go all out. As another example, the 25th anniversary Legend of Zelda 3DS is a black-and-gold beauty. It came with a copy of Ocarina of Time 3D as well.
I admit to having a thing for white and gold, at least when it comes to video game consoles. They aren’t very common. Usually white consoles will have silver or chrome accents, like this Yakuza 3 PS3 with its silver dragons.
But chryselephantine consoles will always be some of the most beautiful available. My favorite is the Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch version of the Playstation 3. It’s a variation of the PS3 Slim. Unfortunately it was only available in Japan, which means that, like all things that didn’t make the transition to the west, it’s hard to find and expensive.
As another example, here’s a PS4 bundled with Destiny: The Taken King. Look at this gorgeous golden emblem! It’s available for western audiences and it’s a slightly different version of the current model of the PS4 that is commercially available.
The Game Boy Micro wasn’t as popular as its big brother, the Game Boy Advance, or its slick nephew, the Game Boy Advance SP. You couldn’t play any Game Boy or Game Boy Color games on it, but the trade-off was a handheld so small you could almost carry it in your ear. It came in several different colors, including a blue-and-white Final Fantasy IV edition.
I dub this Famicom version the best due to the nostalgia factor. This Micro is colored red and gold so that it looks like the familiar controller, and it was sold in the US in 2005. If you get this along with the GBA SP and the 3DS XL with the NES controller patterns, and you’ll have the complete Nintendo nostalgia collection!
Sometimes it amazes me to think that gaming has been around long enough for a generation of gamers to go gaga over retro memorabilia. Sony offered up a PS4 in the original PlayStation colors for their 20th anniversary, and it sold like hotcakes; and I didn’t think anyone wanted to see that ugly, hospital gray again.
There’s nothing particularly special about this Dreamcast, but it is very visually striking. “Maziora” is a kind of Chromaflair pearlescent paint usually used on cars. It takes on different tints from different angles and under different lighting conditions.
There are only about 500 of these things, sold only in Japan (of course) and some of them are signed by a race car driver. They can sell for four figures on Ebay and various other trading sites. I’ve only been able to track down a few images and videos, but the tint appears to shift from purple to green in different lights.
A similar sixth-gen console notable mostly for the pretty color is the Tales of Symphonia Gamecube bundle, which is a pretty mint-green in color. No, it wasn’t available in the west either.
What limited edition consoles did you think were the most beautiful? Let me know in the comments section below!
Image Credits: Fan Battlefront Designs, Star Wars Xbox 360 bundle, Blue Pikachu N64, GBA Torchic Orange, Legend of Zelda 3DS, Ni no Kuni PS3, Game Boy Famicom, Yakuza 3 PS3, Destiny Taken King PS4, Maziora Dreamcast, Retro 3DS NES
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