Absolutely Weird: IGN’s Generation NEX Review
December 21st, 2005 by Benj Edwards
Heh. And I thought all this NEX stuff was over. It has come to my attention that IGN posted a review of the Generation NEX yesterday on their site. And what’s more, they gave it a 9.5 out of 10. Whoa. They must have been on nostalgia overdrive to hand out a score like that to a piece of absolutely mediocre hardware. Considering that the reviewer probably hadn’t played a NES game since 1992, I can almost forgive him for his enthusiasm (“WHOA!! You can still play NES games?! Dude!!”). What’s more, IGN was apparently provided a set of Messiah’s wireless controllers for free (which cost $59.99 and don’t come with the unit) and that probably significantly improved their overall impression of the NEX. They should have reviewed the wireless controllers separately. I know that whether one likes/dislikes the NEX is really a glass half-full or half-empty issue, but the NEX’s glass is definitely not full enough to warrant a 9.5. I don’t know if I should be suspicious of IGN’s review integrity, or if they just don’t know any better.
I stand firmly by my review. But of course, I also respect the opinions of others who actually like the NEX. At least most of those people have the sense to take a realistic look at it (like my buddy Jake at 8-Bit Joystick).
Update (12/23/2005): I’m not the only one who thinks IGN’s review is weird. Take a look at this thread on the AtariAge forums.
January 1st, 2006 at 5:30 am
IGN giving a blatantly unfair review? Oh, THAT’S never happened before… as if a Zelda, Mario, or GTA game would ever get below a 9 on their site. And Transformers PS2 a 7.5? Yeah, pretty clear the reviewer was whining over 80s nostalgia there instead of playing the game… IGN reviews are basically bought anyway.
January 1st, 2006 at 1:33 pm
Thanks for your Comment, J. I never liked IGN much — couldn’t quite put my finger on it — so I never read it. Now I guess I know why.
January 14th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
The guy who runs the accessory page at IGN is a good guy, and fair in his reviews. The games though, more often than not, are biased reviews. Not to say they don’t give fair reviews to lesser games, but any big franchise is decided before the game is out. The new Zelda game could be absolute crap and they’d still applaud it.
June 17th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
How can you even back that up, Anderson? No Zelda game has ever sucked, barring those retarded Phillips games.
November 18th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
I bought the Generation NEX console based on “reviews” from IGN and other sites – you’re exactly right that it’s a piece of junk. It’s a repackaged NOAC-based clone. It has the same flaws as every other clone – bad video, bad sound, bad game and controller compatibility – and is a positively miserable experience. IGN should not be promoting it – anyone who believes their review is going to be extremely dissatisfied.
December 2nd, 2006 at 11:12 am
I don’t know about you, but I actually like the NOAC clones. For someone who is not willing to lug around that huge NES if you want to play it somewhere else, they are a great deal. I have one of the joypad type clones, and they aren’t really too bad. Sure, the games are a bit messed up, but can you really expect a perfect clone? If the first time you ever played a NES game was on a clone, would the colors and sound seem off on a real NES? Of course they would! Those who don’t have a NES would probably enjoy it. If you have one, though… it’s not worth it.
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
NEX sucks. So I bought an FC Twin and have been happy since. The only use I found for my NEX was to build an arcade cabinet around it and slap two NES Advantages onto it and run TMNT II Arcade Game for the unit. I bought the marquee decal off of eBay, so it fools many people into thinking that it’s the correct machine.
I also slapped a Game Genie into the game for unlimited players. After leaving the machine on for nearly a year in the arcade cabinet, I turned it off. I turned the NEX on a few weeks ago and it still works fine, to the best of it’s abilities anyways.
I’m not saying people should do what I did with in, especially at it’s price, but it can use the NES Advantage for those who want to build arcade machines with good joysticks.
November 3rd, 2014 at 1:46 pm
IGN is biased. REALLY biased. nuff said