Skyler Orton
Over the years we have been blessed with countless peripherals, external gaming devices, to enhance and compliment our gaming experience. You might think that the DK Bongos are at the top of this list. Or maybe, if you’re a little older, the Game Boy Camera might be up there. Fortunately, they’ve made some crazy ones over the years so these don’t even top the list. Here’s our top Ten.
10. Wii Bowling Ball (Wii)
Anyone who has ever played Wii Sports would know just how satisfying throwing a virtual bowling ball feels. Well apparently a company thought they could make it feel better so we ended up with this. This weird gadget may look like a controller on its own, but it’s actually a sphere you open up to put a Wii remote inside. Mildly cool, but in practice this hunk of plastic isn’t going to improve your skills. Can’t help but wonder who thought this insane thing would be a good idea.
9. Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller (GameCube and PS2)
This will always be a grail collectible for me, not because I’m a huge Resident Evil fan, but because it’s a huge weird piece of gaming history. Released in conjunction with Resident Evil 4, this strange controller was meant as a collectors item. It has no gameplay purpose, but fortunately it does have a ripcord just for the fun of it. The controller had two versions both for the GameCube and the Playstation 2 versions of the game, and they both control equally terribly. These things are unintuitive and almost impossible to play with. Despite all this I can’t help but love the idea of these and would love to own one.
8. Exciting Boxing Inflatable (NES)
Upon release, Exciting Boxing was supposed to be Konami’s answer to Punch-Out. Unlike Punch-Out this game shipped with an inflatable stand of a boxer with sensors lining the insides. To punch in game, you literally have to punch the inflatable. Does this work well? Well, no not at all. Punching an inflatable, obviously, will knock the inflatable itself over. Plus the hits barely register. I still have to applaud the effort put into this thing but perhaps this was a bit ahead of its time. No wonder it never got a worldwide release.
7. Onimusha Katana Controller (PS2)
Following up the Resident Evil 4 controller in terms of very bad ideas released for the Playstation 2, the Onimusha 3 katana controller is incredible. It’s got joysticks and a d-pad on the back of the handle, but most of your gameplay comes from actually swinging the sword. That alone gives it the edge over the Resident Evil 4 controller, but it also just looks very cool. Can’t imagine a niche peripheral in a niche franchise sold well, but I bet those who bought it broke countless light fixtures in their time with it.
6. Babysitting Mama Interactive Baby (Wii)
The Wii, for better or worse, was an era of creativity for Nintendo. There are many wild attachments for the system, but this is one of my favorites. Plug the Wii remote into a plush baby’s back and simulate having an actual baby in minigames. The Cooking Mama franchise is no stranger to weird pieces of hardware (see the arcade machine) but this is one of my favorites. Mostly since the image of the Wii Remote-baby hybrid is really creepy. Things like this really make me miss the Wii days of 3rd party companies using weird features for every game.
5. Playon Game Boat (Xbox 360)
Ah the Kinect. The Xbox 360 era showed Xbox at its most creative, for better or worse. For those not in the know, the Kinect was a camera that let you take part in Xbox games using your body as a controller. At least that was the pitch, but it never quite worked or caught on. One of the flagship titles for the system was Kinect Adventures which had a mode which involved whitewater rafting. Naturally a third-party just had to make an inflatable raft for you to stand in while playing it. This hefty inflatable is entirely unnecessary, and has no real gameplay function. I suppose it’s to make your Kinect Adventures experience more “immersive” but realistically this product was a complete flop.
4. Wii Cyberbike (Wii)
Not much to this one. A Wii exercise bike. I can only assume after seeing the wild success of Wii Fit, expanding the Wii further into lifestyle territory must’ve seemed like an obvious move. Unfortunately, most people probably weren’t into buying a whole exercise bike that cost more than their console. Maybe if it was compatible with more than just the pack in software it’d be entertaining and worth a look. But as it is now… nope. That being said, send this to a couple of Twitch streamers and somehow they’d beat Elden Ring with it.
3. Seaman Controller (PS2 and Dreamcast)
I will take any chance I can to talk about the PlayStation 2 and Sega Dreamcast’s Seaman. This game is easily the most absurd virtual pet to ever exist. You have to keep a fish with the face of a man alive for weeks all while he loudly berates you for well, anything and everything. That’s where the peripheral comes in. The Dreamcast uses a weird microphone plugin (PlayStation 2 has a special controller) all for you to talk to your Seaman. You can tell him about your life and the weird creature will somehow remember it and bring it up to you days later. I know this is more about the game not the peripheral, but when the game has Leonard Nimoy berate you for letting a fish man die I think we can make an exception.
2. Game Boy Sewing Machine (Game Boy)
Technically there are a number of Game Boy peripherals that should be on this list. Camera and Printer? Check. Mobile phone adapter? Check. A pocket sonar for fishing? Definitely check. But for the sake of becoming too redundant, I’m just gonna talk about the sewing machine because this is easily the weirdest. Not only was there one sewing machine they somehow made three different models. The machines let you send patterns from the included software to the sewing machine through the Game Boy link cable. While this is weird, even weirder is that these were released in the early 2000s, well after the Game Boy’s heheyday had passed. Very up there with the strangest, but somehow not the top.
1. Steel Battalion (Xbox)
If you’re active in the gaming enthusiast community, or you were in the early 2000s, you might have heard about this strange beast of a controller. Used exclusively in Steel Battalion and its multiplayer sequel Steel Battalion: Line of Contact for the Xbox, this insane controller has 40 buttons, two joysticks, and 3 foot pedals. Why would anyone make this? Because it’s awesome that’s why. It’s definitely one of the most immersive peripherals on the list. You might think this would flop, after all it was critically panned, but this thing’s limited release flew off the shelves. Now, it’s popular enough to have a dedicated fan base, although the peripheral itself is incredibly expensive, and kits tour around conventions for curious gaming fans to get their hands on. Also it got a weird Kinect exclusive sequel developed by FromSoftware of Dark Souls fame. Overall this weird idea looped back around to becoming one of the greatest peripherals of all time.
