N-Gage: Cell Phone Gaming's First Big Flop | Past Mortem | SSFF

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  • čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
  • The story of the biggest cell phone self-own in history. The Nokia N-Gage returns in our first documentary Past Mortem in over a year! It's the GAMES, stupid!
    ☠ Subscribe! ☠ ► go.stopskeletons.com/subscribe
    ☠ Support us on Patreon! ☠ ► bit.ly/SSFFpatreon
    ☠ T-Shirts and Merch! ☠ ► www.pixelempire.com/collectio...
    ☠Thanks☠
    ​ @ADAMNATOR
    ​ @KelseyLewin
    ​ @KinsZilla
    ​ @rerez
    ​ @SpawnWave
    @MattMcMuscles
    Scott Phillips
    The N-Gage Discord
    ☠Credits☠
    Written by Cassidy w/ Derek Alexander & Grace Kramer
    Shot by Grace Kramer and Derek Alexander
    Edited by Derek Alexander
    Intro/Outro Music by ☠ ► hellstarplus.bandcamp.com/alb...
    Artwork and Bumper by Studio Goblin ☠ ► www.studiogoblin.co.uk
    0:00 - Hey I'm Derek It's Me Derek!
    1:46 - Nokia Gears Up
    5:54 - The Games Begin
    10:23 - N-Gage System Breakdown
    13:46 - Legend of the Side-Talk
    16:10 - It's the GAMES, Stupid
    17:17 - Nokia Responds
    18:36 - Launch Fall-out
    21:06 - The QD Model Revision
    25:11 - Cell Phone Wars
    27:25 - Glory in Death
    28:22 - N-Gage 2.0
    31:18 - Gobbled Up
    32:55 - See You Again Real Soon, Stay Powerful
    #stopskeletons #pastmortem
  • Hry

Komentáře • 2K

  • @DankPods
    @DankPods Před 3 lety +1706

    N-Gage is a top tier Nugget 👌

  • @MichaelCutts7
    @MichaelCutts7 Před 3 lety +471

    Hopefully this leads to a internet-wide search for that E3 footage.
    THE N-GAGE RAP MUST BE HEARD.

    • @ChiruKobra
      @ChiruKobra Před 3 lety +59

      Someone call the lost media youtubers! Blameitonjorge, Whang, etc.

    • @DanPantzig
      @DanPantzig Před 3 lety +33

      Get Whang on it

    • @Gatorade69
      @Gatorade69 Před 3 lety +26

      @@DanPantzig Whang! gets results. (For the most part)

    • @empoleonmaster6709
      @empoleonmaster6709 Před 3 lety +22

      Someone call Nick Robinson, he has some legacy footage to find!

    • @Gatorade69
      @Gatorade69 Před 3 lety +3

      @@empoleonmaster6709 Don't you mean the Vtuber Car Misako ?

  • @WailingNinja
    @WailingNinja Před 3 lety +301

    I remember an early 2000s insult on various message boards being "You bought an NGage, didn't you?" Ah, the good times.

    • @Outta-hz1ej
      @Outta-hz1ej Před 3 lety +28

      newfigs can't sidetalk

    • @zicklane
      @zicklane Před 2 lety +10

      same energy as "you fucked the chicken, didn't you?"

    • @mihai96z3d
      @mihai96z3d Před 2 lety +4

      @@zicklane pfhahahaha i just saw the meme again today, nice seeing your comment.

    • @irighterotica
      @irighterotica Před 2 lety +10

      It was a big one on GameFAQs.

  • @Cheezburgercatz
    @Cheezburgercatz Před 3 lety +121

    "This is 2003. It ain't over until the booth babes show up" GOD, what a gem of a line. Takes me back to watching G4.

    • @CaptainJZH
      @CaptainJZH Před rokem

      "SEX! Now that we have your attention, buy the N-Gage"

    • @freakyzed8467
      @freakyzed8467 Před 14 dny

      So sad to see a booth babe be marked down like that. They just don't hold their value like they used to.

  • @TotallyTubularJonathan
    @TotallyTubularJonathan Před 3 lety +221

    the part where the piracy theme from the 2000s showed up I lost my mind

    • @kirbyfanprime
      @kirbyfanprime Před 3 lety +15

      I reflexively told myself I wouldn't download a car when it started playing. I probably hadn't heard that song since it was in front of new VHS movies, but those few bars made everything flood back.

    • @diegorojas2049
      @diegorojas2049 Před 3 lety +12

      @@kirbyfanprime Dude if I could, I would totally download a car, a house, a bed, a fridge, all furniture that could fit, and everything I would ever need

    • @DubsBrown
      @DubsBrown Před 3 lety +9

      I have been testing/cataloging a bunch of old DVDs and I forgot how annoying the FBI warnings and movie previews are to skip through.
      Some DVDs (like paramount) don’t even let you skip to the main menu immediately and force you to watch each message for a couple seconds.
      Also Disney DVDs had so many movie previews that they explicitly tell you that you should skip to the menu at any time so kids wouldn’t freak out.

    • @PriceAintRight
      @PriceAintRight Před 3 lety +1

      YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A FROG

    • @marscaleb
      @marscaleb Před 3 lety +3

      YOU WOULDN'T SHOOT A POLICE OFFICER AND THEN STEAL HIS HAT

  • @sebastiangreenan1774
    @sebastiangreenan1774 Před 3 lety +923

    It's nice that SSFF keeps making videos that "N-Gage" us.

  • @tomstorm255
    @tomstorm255 Před 3 lety +203

    Interesting anecdotes:
    - Despite the FM Radio being an outdated feature in 2003.. Android manufacturers were still using FM radio as a selling point as late as 2015.
    - The DS's flagship launch game was a port of a 8 and a half year old game.
    Just goes to show how marketing and execution is everything

    • @wolfetteplays8894
      @wolfetteplays8894 Před 2 lety +43

      Super Mario 64 DS wasn’t a port, it was a completely new remake. You can tell because of the physics difference and the new features that would’ve been impossible to implement on the old engine (like the coin counter being unlimited instead of glitching out and the camera physics changes)

    • @CharlieRAnimaMX
      @CharlieRAnimaMX Před 2 lety +33

      Although FM radio is an obsolete function that continues to be marketed even in 2022... It must be recognized that more than an obsoleteness it is more of a necessary evil.
      -Because in the middle of 2022 now physical FM radios are becoming scarce [expensive] and rare (Yes, go to your nearest store or go to amazon and there are simply no radios or they are terribly crappy).
      -the need for cell phones to come with radio addresses a simple and classic problem: Cell towers, and the internet are not fail-safe and in a natural disaster or even war, they are the first media to fall. [and now with the arrival of more and more fiber optic lines also telephone lines are no longer reliable if there is a power outage unless you have a UPS and even then you only have minutes].
      -So for years it has always been established that the radio is a backup medium and even a basic component of any survival kit.
      -and the more the digitization of things advances, the more and more it will be necessary to make FM radio a means of emergencies.
      -so if we consider the scenario that now physical radios are in short supply... it makes us rethink several things.
      That and that... there are simply those who really like the radio (And it's Free)
      [also the android FM Radio in some terminals is a digital Radio operated/Decoded by software [RDS] so it's a good way of saying: "The future is today, you heard old man"]
      although there are places where even the eventuality of a natural disaster is almost unthinkable... Believe me, when an earthquake occurs in mexico, a radio is the first thing you want to have on hand (both in case you are just curious about the magnitude and to know if the way back home is safe or usable) Like because even in the event of an aftershock the seismic alert system operates [both in NOAA band] and it is a government mandate that TV and radio stations replicate the signal. [since public loudspeakers are not everywhere and they are not exempt from failure] besides that they can go days without power or places that are completely inaccessible so you will need something to distract you

    • @GoodlyPenguin
      @GoodlyPenguin Před 2 lety +18

      @@CharlieRAnimaMX With the BBC now favoring shortwave radio for Russia and Ukraine territories, your comment rings more true than ever before

    • @GatorRay
      @GatorRay Před 2 lety +8

      @@wolfetteplays8894 Probably called it one as a derogatory term cause a LOT of people think 64 DS is worse than the original.

    • @linkthehero8431
      @linkthehero8431 Před 2 lety +10

      I have a Motorola phone with an FM radio. As I can't afford unlimited data, FM gives me something to listen to on my walks.

  • @CaptainCiph3r
    @CaptainCiph3r Před 2 lety +5

    "Oh it doesn't look too terrible, I've seen wor-"
    "You have to take the battery out to change games."
    "YOU WHAT?!"

  • @Lightgod87
    @Lightgod87 Před 3 lety +365

    "So Wha Happun? Oh wait... that's not my show."
    You almost fooled me for a second, Derek.

    • @ayoits_tendo
      @ayoits_tendo Před 3 lety +5

      The confusion I felt for a moment

    • @SgtPotShot
      @SgtPotShot Před 3 lety +12

      Matt McMuscles? In my SSFF videos? More likely than you think?

    • @user-jl7cz2pe6d
      @user-jl7cz2pe6d Před 3 lety +9

      Well I mean they ARE both CZcams channels that have blue skeleton icons and cover gaming histories along with the occasional review...

    • @steel5897
      @steel5897 Před 3 lety +2

      Both some of my favorite gaming history shows on CZcams lol

    • @ianturnbow7011
      @ianturnbow7011 Před 3 lety +1

      This whole time I thought they were the same channel with another host. Son of a bitch!

  • @OSW
    @OSW Před 3 lety +847

    Its a video about the N-Gage but we're treated to a full retrospective of Nokia. Goddamn, what a great, thorough video. A winner is you! 💚

    • @FEARitself100
      @FEARitself100 Před 3 lety +9

      thats the beauty of SSFF is derek is super thorough. top quality content

    • @tixmctivy
      @tixmctivy Před 3 lety +4

      Agreed J, this was definitely a happening Lol

    • @johnr4836
      @johnr4836 Před 3 lety +3

      n gage killed my dog

    • @claybfx
      @claybfx Před 3 lety +6

      Derek never makes kids cry, brah

    • @byt3_tm
      @byt3_tm Před 3 lety +4

      My dad worked at nokia at the time it got developed.
      He told us(my brother and me) that they called it "schnitzel" internally because how you held it if you took a call.
      Sometimes I was allowed to play Asphalt on one of the development units.
      Ahh the good old times ^^
      EDIT: oh, this wasnt meant to be a reply.

  • @TheEDFLegacy
    @TheEDFLegacy Před 3 lety +63

    I used to work for a U.S. cell phone company, and I vividly remember finding the support files for the N-Gage, to help frontline reps troubleshoot their phones. I started in 2009 and worked until 2012, and not once did anyone ever call in about that phone.
    Pretty telling.

    • @Kenneth-cn8dx
      @Kenneth-cn8dx Před rokem +6

      What nobody had issues you mean? Sounds a pretty good phone

    • @ShadowStarkiller
      @ShadowStarkiller Před rokem +3

      @@Kenneth-cn8dx Considering the kind of stupid shit some people call tech support for, the quality of the device means nothing.

    • @TastelessTrees
      @TastelessTrees Před 5 měsíci +3

      @@ShadowStarkiller could be, could be. Or it's just the perfect phone that never has problems.

  • @MrAzleerico
    @MrAzleerico Před 3 lety +90

    The Ngage and QD sold quite well here in Singapore. Those night playing multi player games via bluetooth with friends were awesome. And it was really great for playing emulators on it. I still have both and they will always have a special place on my retro shelf.

    • @TunaStrata
      @TunaStrata Před 8 měsíci +2

      In indonesia ngage also big win. Atleast that my perception when i was in elementary school. Its either ngage or other nokia or sony ericson.

  • @kaimcdragonfist4803
    @kaimcdragonfist4803 Před 3 lety +245

    Inb4 the next Wha Happun starts with “Hey I’m Matt it’s me Matt”

    • @OhNoBohNo
      @OhNoBohNo Před 3 lety +11

      I feel like the two would super get along

    • @juanortiz9123
      @juanortiz9123 Před 3 lety +20

      @@OhNoBohNo they already do :)

    • @user-jl7cz2pe6d
      @user-jl7cz2pe6d Před 3 lety +5

      @@juanortiz9123 He shouted this episode out as soon as it came out

    • @Carsonj13
      @Carsonj13 Před 3 lety

      MundaneMatt McMuscles blocks you for telling him he's wrong about something.

  • @SVPortfolio
    @SVPortfolio Před 3 lety +114

    As a Finn I can tell you that Nokia's Rubber Boosts were legendary. Top Brand. and they also made phones.
    Also Ovi means Door.

  • @AeroQC
    @AeroQC Před 3 lety +199

    *In an alternate universe where Nintendo and Nokia partnered up:*
    "Hey, you getting the new Samsung phone?"
    "Nah bro, I'm getting the new Samus phone next week."
    "ZS or Varia?"
    "Neither, I pre-ordered the limited edition JB model."
    "Nice."

    • @agentepolaris4914
      @agentepolaris4914 Před 3 lety +12

      I want to live in that universe

    • @WhitekidCvsual
      @WhitekidCvsual Před 3 lety +2

      @@agentepolaris4914 same

    • @WhitekidCvsual
      @WhitekidCvsual Před 3 lety +5

      I want my banking to work in bells.

    • @horrorvictim
      @horrorvictim Před 2 lety +7

      Playing Pokemon Go 3 where there's a holographic projector near the phone camera so you could have your pokemon actually be next to you.

    • @CasaiAgicap
      @CasaiAgicap Před 2 lety +8

      "I'm authorizing the use of your Camera feature, Samus phone."

  • @NonRandomUser
    @NonRandomUser Před 3 lety +337

    "Nintendo has described itself as 'unthreatened' by Nokia's upcoming entry into the market."
    Big N just downgraded the N-Gage into the n-gage.

  • @TheApacheNinja
    @TheApacheNinja Před 3 lety +94

    I remember when my brother saved up for MONTHS to buy himself an N-Gage when he was in 8th grade and when he got it he probably used it for 3 months and I could tell at an early age what a regrettable purchase that was for him lol.

    • @Phyrrax
      @Phyrrax Před 3 lety +15

      Oof, thats a really painful story. Wasting your saved money on a shitty game is bad enough, but wasting it on this...I cant imagine the regret he must have felt.

    • @nickfifteen
      @nickfifteen Před 3 lety +29

      I was 20 when I first heard of the N-gage in 2003, and I was legit excited for it cuz I was looking for ways to consolidate my gaming, cellphone and PDA functions into a single device. But years of being burned by being an early adopter taught me to wait for review and for new tech to ripen a bit more... and the N-gage simply reminded me on why I had that policy in the first place. Sadly dodged a bullet there...

    • @gregorybentley5707
      @gregorybentley5707 Před 3 lety +10

      @@Phyrrax yeah same here, this story hurts my heart it makes me feel really bad for his brother for some reason, maybe it's because I remember what it was like getting a game I saved up for from Funcoland and having it be terrible once I got home, but trying so hard to like it anyway.

    • @mirek190
      @mirek190 Před 3 lety +3

      I was using mine for 5 years ;)

    • @insensitive919
      @insensitive919 Před 3 lety +8

      Your brother got to be a part of history. He was literally gaming on a cell phone before it was cool.

  • @roquea.deleon6175
    @roquea.deleon6175 Před 3 lety +64

    “So Wha Happun? Oh wait that’s not my show” 😂😂😂

  • @ettcha
    @ettcha Před 2 lety +17

    I discovered the N-gage in isolation, years later. No press, no forums, no TV ads... Just an imagination stoking magazine advert that drove me to mild obsession! I think I might still have sketches of it and my own wacky phone designs inspired by it at my parents home! All that and I never even saw one in real life😂

  • @michel0dy
    @michel0dy Před 2 lety +7

    I remember being a kid and seeing the N-Gage in a magazine. That thing somehow really caught my attention and I asked my dad for one. He said that phones were made to make calls, not playing games. Kinda funny to think about that now.

  • @sodaraptor
    @sodaraptor Před 3 lety +203

    Ah yes, the N-Gage. I believe this was Captain Picard's favorite cell phone.

  • @morganhay3968
    @morganhay3968 Před 3 lety +242

    Somehow the early-'00s feels like a different world, in a way even the '90s don't.

    • @angrynorway
      @angrynorway Před 3 lety +16

      It was mad. I remember seeing N-Gages next to GBA SPs for sale.

    • @agentepolaris4914
      @agentepolaris4914 Před 3 lety +18

      Everything was so wild back then, I never really noticed it in mu childhood but compared to present time, everything is so damn tame and "safe" now...

    • @agentepolaris4914
      @agentepolaris4914 Před 3 lety +1

      @Weston Meyer oh I agree about nowadays's children TV, that is wacky as before.
      But everything else...

    • @KaiserMattTygore927
      @KaiserMattTygore927 Před 2 lety +6

      They both do, feels like an alternate timeline where you could away with a lot more silliness.

    • @stephenbianchi7141
      @stephenbianchi7141 Před 2 lety +5

      Because of mobile technology. Period.

  • @marscaleb
    @marscaleb Před 3 lety +30

    I almost bought an N-Gage back in the day. I was honestly pretty excited about it, which is far more than I can say for ANY other cell phone (only the Playstation Phone came close) and I can distinctly remember looking at the N-Gage display in Software Etc while weighing my various concerns.
    At the time, I heard about the problems like having to pull out the battery to swap games, and wasn't so sure I wanted it anymore. When I got wind of the QD, I decided to wait for that. But by the time it hit shelves, well, I still didn't see any good games I wanted on the system. And you could read the room; it didn't look like they were coming.
    If they had released even ONE game that I was genuinely interested in, I would have bought that sucker. I wanted it, I really did. But I didn't *need* a new cell phone yet, so I had to place my considerations as a game console. And it never saw a game I wanted.

  • @blacksunshine7485
    @blacksunshine7485 Před 3 lety +16

    You guys really deserve credit for how well your mini docs are put together and presented. Fun, funny, well paced and detailed. Kudos 👍

  • @arkane9b
    @arkane9b Před 3 lety +22

    To be fair, the N-Gage was a great idea on paper. Imagine a GBA or PSP, except you can also use it as phone if you want to. Kids and teenagers would have gone crazy for it back in the day. Had it not come out at a weird time, sort of mid-generation, and with better design (horizontal screen, no number keys, being able to put cartridges in directly) and price, I think it could have been a success.

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L Před 3 lety +6

      The concept certainly fired up my imagination. Of course, mobile gaming is the biggest market now, which goes to show the concept is sound when you do it right.

    • @arkane9b
      @arkane9b Před 3 lety +1

      Yeah, and the N-Gage came out a good number of years prior to smartphones. If it had been successful, Nokia could have made their own hybrid smartphone/handheld gaming device to succeed it and been a viable competitor today in the smartphone industry with a unique angle.

    • @tbk2010
      @tbk2010 Před 3 lety +4

      The idea seemd so great that Sony itself tried something similar despite the N-Gage failing. The Xperia Play was much better designed, but it had next to no software support, and it wasn't advertised much. To this day we don't have that no-compromise-phone-console-hybrid that the N-Gage was aiming at.

  • @MiharuHiramu
    @MiharuHiramu Před 3 lety +128

    As a Finn this video breaks my heart… we had our own ”game console” and it failed so bad. And so did Nokia after the windows phone fiasco.

    • @flp322
      @flp322 Před 3 lety +6

      But nowadays you can buy Nokia Android phones :)

    • @r.Ry4N.05
      @r.Ry4N.05 Před 3 lety +30

      @@flp322 I think Nokia would've been more successful in this day and age if they never touched Windows Phone and went straight to Android after they abandoned Symbian. Thanks, Stephen Elop.

    • @agentepolaris4914
      @agentepolaris4914 Před 3 lety +1

      @@flp322 those suck man

    • @NMTCG
      @NMTCG Před 2 lety +6

      I had (still have) and N-gage and I found it genial. it had audio input and output, radio, mp3, AAC recording, maps, games, emulators and apps including music apps and browser. it was so ahead of anything else.

    • @Pasi123
      @Pasi123 Před 2 lety +1

      @@NMTCG Other Symbian smartphones had the same features. It was pretty much a Nokia 3650/3660 but with a different design

  • @BabusGameRoom
    @BabusGameRoom Před 2 lety +9

    19:57 I literally laughed out loud.
    Piracy was a nail in the coffin for any console that wasn't doing well. It really hurts less popular consoles disproportionately.

  • @fangjokerLS
    @fangjokerLS Před 3 lety +11

    Lord, I can remember when sidetalking was the meme of the day.
    The internet deals with disappointment in strange ways.

  • @AllonBachuth
    @AllonBachuth Před 3 lety +110

    I love that you brought up the goatse angle. I fully believe the story that the system was getting all sorts of designs rejected, and that a designer made this one as a joke before quitting the company, only to be mortified later once it had somehow been approved.

    • @teranokitty
      @teranokitty Před 3 lety +25

      THIS is the legacy of the N-Gage. I accept nothing else.
      It's a shame that the speaker and microphone weren't on the front so that when the user took/made a call, they'd be metaphorically holding a poop-hole up against their cheek.

    • @geraldchurchill5576
      @geraldchurchill5576 Před 3 lety +8

      @@teranokitty Yes, but instead you show goatse to the rest of the world by holding it sideways and make the world a slightly better place.

    • @dtraindaimyo3377
      @dtraindaimyo3377 Před 3 lety +13

      My dad actually helped design the n-gage, but he was on the hardware side.
      It, along with the n95 were some of the last projects completed at Nokia Vancouver before they shut down their hardware sector and began making massive cuts.
      The management at Nokia was pretty awful. They paid good, and treated their employees great, but they often ignored any recommendations the staff would make.

    • @dtraindaimyo3377
      @dtraindaimyo3377 Před 3 lety +6

      @@ianturnbow7011
      Why would I lie about it? For clout on an anonymous CZcams comment? He passed away 5 years ago but I can give you his LinkedIn if you really don't believe me. He went on to work for General Fusion after Nokia shut down here.

    • @AceTrainerX3
      @AceTrainerX3 Před 3 lety

      Wait, what's goatse?

  • @Air_OK
    @Air_OK Před 3 lety +65

    4:56 “The forthcoming Willennium” omg, I completely forgot about that album lmao.

  • @Animefan8050
    @Animefan8050 Před 3 lety +3

    Your scripting and production in general just gets better every video; I love that your content keeps improving and is an instant perk for my mood when I see a new upload. :)
    Also, glad to see you tackle this behemoth, it's a cool device well ahead of its time despite being doomed early on.

  • @hotmailcompany52
    @hotmailcompany52 Před 3 lety +9

    My dad was one of the few in the UK to pick up an N-Gage back in the day. Fairly sure he only got it for the Tomb Raider port lol
    I remember thinking having to take out the battery to change the game was dumb as a little kid. I honestly have no clue how that got through testing

  • @vinicius100470
    @vinicius100470 Před 3 lety +44

    As old as Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk were at the time, I still think those ports are really impressive. Like, those are full 3D main console titles running pretty decently in a hand-held, something not even Nintendo was able to do at the time (not without major compromises that is)

    • @rcmero
      @rcmero Před 3 lety +3

      I mean, the GBA had Tony Hawk, but it was in an isometric view and looked nothing like the ones on PlayStation.

    • @davidmcgill1000
      @davidmcgill1000 Před 3 lety +2

      To be fair, Tomb Raider was made for being played on software renderer in DOS. 3D acceleration wasn't a priority for that game engine. All it needed was a decent CPU.

    • @AshleyWilliamsN7
      @AshleyWilliamsN7 Před 3 lety

      Is it something they couldn't do, or something they knew better not to do? Every time another company tried to take on Nintendo in the handheld market with a more powerful handheld, they always lost.

    • @vinicius100470
      @vinicius100470 Před 3 lety +2

      @@AshleyWilliamsN7 oh, I see what you mean, but maybe I didn't make my thoughts clear. I'm not trying to say the tech was revolutionary or anything like that, but at the end of the day, the N-Gage was the first portable to get these games and I really respect that.

    • @VexAcer
      @VexAcer Před 3 lety +4

      It was definitely cool for 2003 especially compared to the GBA.
      Unfortunately it paled in comparison a year and a half later when the newest Tony Hawk (THUG 2) was on the PSP with the console gameplay experience still intact. Along with actual PS1 games being available for the system in 2006.
      Tech wise it was a half step up and didn't have anything to be unique like the DS with it's two screens and touch capabilities.

  • @TheNegronomicon
    @TheNegronomicon Před 3 lety +63

    Nokia: It can't get worse than this.
    Announcer: It got worse.

  • @popsiclesshubert9609
    @popsiclesshubert9609 Před 3 lety

    Another goddamn fantastic video- the kinda deep-dive retrospectives y'all do for Past Mortem are so relaxing and fun to watch

  • @princesstamika
    @princesstamika Před 2 lety +1

    i don't understand why this doesn't have more views. I think about 'the longest period of silence in gaming history" during john romero's presentation almost daily.

  • @yeetleslaw8529
    @yeetleslaw8529 Před 3 lety +61

    The early aughts were so pure with its wackiness. Sure, it was a bit cringe inducing now, but 2004/5/6 will always have a special in my heart as a video game enthusiast.

    • @franklinbrooksstoppedcomme3267
      @franklinbrooksstoppedcomme3267 Před 3 lety +8

      I feel ya. I'm especially a fan of the chrome and navy color palette electronics I own from then have. Ya just don't see that sort of aesthetic in mainstream electronics nowadays, just boring, minimalistic lameness. I'll totally be getting a chrome and navy case for my Moto Z whenever I finally have one.

    • @VashStarwind
      @VashStarwind Před 2 lety +1

      04 was an especially good year for gaming

  • @skulldaisygimp
    @skulldaisygimp Před 3 lety +183

    The CZcams algorithm didn't tell me about this video, but Matt McMuscles did.

    • @BingoClamshell
      @BingoClamshell Před 3 lety +8

      That's awesome! (not the algorithm part) IIRC, SSFF told me about Matt's channel and I've been watching all his videos since around The Ring playthrough

    • @Mario583a
      @Mario583a Před 3 lety +15

      Wha Happun: CZcams algorithm.

    • @ARRRsonist
      @ARRRsonist Před 3 lety +7

      I've even got notifications on for SSFF, but the only reason I knew this had released was because Matt posted about it. CZcams is fucked.

    • @claybfx
      @claybfx Před 3 lety +3

      SAME

    • @solarstrike33
      @solarstrike33 Před 3 lety

      My subs list did, but the algorithm reminded me of this video.

  • @Sarah-qx4vz
    @Sarah-qx4vz Před 3 lety +1

    11:29 NO WE CAN’T MOVE ON
    that’s too accurate and I’m cracking up over that lmao! I can’t unsee it!

  • @eddydeez
    @eddydeez Před 3 lety +33

    I remember they were doing a focus group on the ngage at a local mall when I was in college. They lost everybody when they showed you how you were suppose to hold it when you were on the phone. They must have been pretty far along cause I don't remember the one they had people play on being that different than the released one.

  • @TheWoodyWoodpeckerShow
    @TheWoodyWoodpeckerShow Před 3 lety +140

    This looks like the lovechild of the GBA and a fucking brick

    • @appletuntrainer
      @appletuntrainer Před 3 lety +10

      Proof even the gba does a bag head every now and then

    • @MykiiMescal
      @MykiiMescal Před 3 lety +9

      it looks like an nsfw meme on purpose

    • @MA_KA_PA_TIE
      @MA_KA_PA_TIE Před 3 lety +1

      Yes this is what the product of incest between an SP and an original game boy looks like :\

    • @Gatorade69
      @Gatorade69 Před 3 lety +4

      You mean it looks like the GBA fucked a brick.
      Imagine this. Goatse. Except the guy reaches in and pulls out a Ngage.

    • @amylee9092
      @amylee9092 Před 3 lety

      So it looks like that purple iPhone (which essentially is a love child between a GBA and a brick with less functionality) 🤣?

  • @Slash0mega
    @Slash0mega Před 3 lety +36

    I still love the fact that the music for the "you wouldn't download a car" psa was in itself pirated for it!

    • @anotheryoutubeaccount5259
      @anotheryoutubeaccount5259 Před 2 lety

      Or was it free source

    • @patrickphelan279
      @patrickphelan279 Před 2 lety +4

      @@anotheryoutubeaccount5259 It's one of those where it's sort of complicated. They didn't strictly steal it, it wasn't strictly free... it was that they purchased it for a specific use - presenting the clip at a film festival - and then used it in theatres, on DVDs, everywhere they could. Outside of licence! No granted permission! Not strictly speaking piracy, but heck of illegal and massively hypocritical in that context.

    • @anotheryoutubeaccount5259
      @anotheryoutubeaccount5259 Před 2 lety

      @@patrickphelan279 Well... techically it isn't infringement if the other party doesn't claim it is.

  • @ArthurKiyanovski
    @ArthurKiyanovski Před 3 lety +1

    What a brilliant episode! This is like the gaming historian stuff but on high octane. Love it!

  • @robramirez440
    @robramirez440 Před 3 lety +2

    All bad, I remember hearing about this and seeing a lot of it when I was in high school. On a side note really happy to see you’re still making videos and going so in depth in these videos. You’ve done a lot and come a long way since the first video I saw 10 years ago you did on Splatterhouse. And your video on Shenmue is the only reason why I bought it for Xbox.

  • @makere
    @makere Před 3 lety +23

    I used N-Gage from 2003 to 2007. You can easily position the phone to your ear so that you don't need to sidetalk.
    The real issues were the vertical screen and needing to remove the battery to swap the game card.
    I've also heard stories from the developer side, which sounded like a mess.

    • @FatalistDC
      @FatalistDC Před rokem

      True, wirh the original N-Gage, sidetalking was not essential, simply by placing the N-Gage with the screen and keyboard facing out and placing the speaker at ear height, it can be used like any mobile.

  • @TripleSMoon
    @TripleSMoon Před 3 lety +44

    I remember thinking the N-Gage was such hot shit back in the day, and then a friend of mine who had one showed me how you inserted cartridges. What a disaster lmao

    • @Thor-Orion
      @Thor-Orion Před rokem +1

      The games weren’t good either. I traded in my game boy color and a bunch of games for it, and there really weren’t any games that played particularly well on the NGage, I sold it and got a GBA within a year. That experience taught me so much about hype and trained me to try things before buying them.

    • @TripleSMoon
      @TripleSMoon Před rokem +2

      @@Thor-Orion yeah I remember everyone was freaking out about how this was going to destroy the Game Boy and it didn't come even close to happening. How naive we all were.

  • @bananabike279
    @bananabike279 Před 3 lety +1

    Man I didn't think that when you mentioned the N-Gage in your last video, you would be doing an entire 30+ minute documentary on it! Awesome video, it was super interesting to learn about the history of this forgotten piece of tech! Even though it flopped, I still unironicly want my own N-Gage someday

  • @kuropixel6871
    @kuropixel6871 Před 3 lety

    Just wanted to say, great video and thanks for going through the history!

  • @TheWorstThingEver
    @TheWorstThingEver Před 3 lety +29

    The design flaw I could never get over was requiring the battery to be removed in order for games to be changed.

  • @oshikiri999
    @oshikiri999 Před 3 lety +52

    I remember being inside Funcoland, N-gage in one hand, Gamboy SP in the other. The choice was killing me... ultimately I went with the SP. *Best decision of my young life.*
    I thought I would've been so cool to be the 1st kid with an N-gage 😭

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L Před 3 lety +3

      I never actually had the opportunity, but I did fantasies about it for a while. Wireless multiplayer, ooh, ah. Plus I was weirdly obsessed with wanting a colour-screen phone back then. But like you I’m so glad I went for the SP.

    • @oshikiri999
      @oshikiri999 Před 3 lety +2

      @@kaitlyn__L Haha yep, me to! I had the really old green screen Nokia just like...I REALLY want one of those color bad boys lol

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L Před 3 lety +2

      @@oshikiri999 yeah I had the 1100 called out in this video, haha. But I mean, snake and that shoot-em-up were pretty okay in the car at night or when my GBA batteries died. I didn’t have a colour phone until a few years after the N-gage, which was some crummy version of a Motorola flip phone. But by then I had replaced the GBA with the SP (I traded in and saved up) so having a backlit screen wasn’t so magical to me by then. Also the Motorola phone only had one crappy fish eating get bigger type game. Didn’t have a patch on Snake.

    • @oshikiri999
      @oshikiri999 Před 3 lety

      @@kaitlyn__L Haha freakin snake! I remember my older cousin bragging about her score all the time...meanwhile I'm 11 with a full maxed out party on Pokemon Ruby beating the elite 4 with only 1 Pokemon Like *Ok* lol I was actually trash at snake, so naturally I was a big ol' hater.

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L Před 3 lety

      @@oshikiri999 I was kinda both lol. I was like 8 but good at snake and at Pokémon. A friend of mine insisted some of the bonus foods in snake were definitely specific animals but I could never see the resemblance. I’d keep playing until the snake literally filled the screen, there’s basically a cap on how high the score can even go.

  • @ItsRetroPlanet
    @ItsRetroPlanet Před 3 lety

    I got to hand it to you, I'm very impressed with the video. I expected maybe a short clip of the ngage, followed by maybe a short debut of the Sonic or Tony hawk game, but you gave me an entire history of these guys. Well done!

  • @JoeBushOnline
    @JoeBushOnline Před 3 lety

    Great video!!! Really great, thorough research for this video, something I have come to really appreciate from Cass from my time reading Bad Game Hall of Fame

  • @346436
    @346436 Před 3 lety +3

    I recall GMR magazine did an article on this when it came out and described it in the most 2000s way possible with "the Gigli of gaming is here".

  • @ThePreciseClimber
    @ThePreciseClimber Před 3 lety +18

    5:08 That GBA screen looks WAY too good! What a bunch of liars!

  • @Treychik
    @Treychik Před 3 lety +1

    33:59 - THANK YOU, GRACE FOR EDDITING THIS OUT! lol

  • @PaulBosanova
    @PaulBosanova Před 3 lety

    Great Doc, cheers. Really appreciate your work.

  • @InternetTAB
    @InternetTAB Před 3 lety +25

    It's funny that the PSP's mic and a speaker were aligned that you could hold it up to your ear like a phone, yet it never had a phone app

    • @TheWartH0g
      @TheWartH0g Před 3 lety +4

      It didn't have a phone app because phones can't function without cellular antennae, something the psp never had (to my knowledge).

    • @TheyCallMeContra
      @TheyCallMeContra Před 3 lety +5

      there was skype, iirc

    • @123456qwerty939
      @123456qwerty939 Před 3 lety +2

      it had skype

  • @iCaramba0815
    @iCaramba0815 Před 3 lety +40

    I used to write for a German N-Gage website and I must say, the support Nokia gave us was amazing. Great work from marketing side. I always have a soft spot for the little taco that could. The later game library is actually not that bad and there are some titles you really should try out on an emulator. Pathway to Glory, both games, are amazing and a lot better than just Commandos-Clones. Gameplay, Graphics, Sound are top notch and the multiplayer really stood out. High Seize from the same developer is a pirates version of Advance Wars. Mile High Pinball can relax you after a stressful day. Ashen is a nice doom clone and runs fine on emulation. And it’s the only system with a mobile Elder Scrolls experience (which also runs flawless on emulation and a lot better than on original hardware).

    • @cringer8107
      @cringer8107 Před 2 lety +2

      worms world party war einfach nur krank ... und asphalt war auch echt nen schnieke racer ... colin mc rae war auch recht gut , wobei das nicht mit sonem free titel mithalten konnte ... hiess glaub nur rally.sys

    • @minignoux4566
      @minignoux4566 Před rokem

      @@cringer8107 krank?

    • @no64256
      @no64256 Před 4 měsíci

      I might have to check out High Seize, I'm always down for more Intelligent Systems-esc SRPGs

  • @salmansengul
    @salmansengul Před 2 lety +1

    I love how you have some Tombi / Tomba songs in many of your videos!
    Still love that game to this day! ❤️♥️

  • @tonic777
    @tonic777 Před 3 lety +1

    Great in depth video. Making that quality content on YT!

  • @Pressbutan
    @Pressbutan Před 3 lety +36

    “Wait, that isn’t my show.”
    10/10 episode 👍👍👍

  • @burtbackattack
    @burtbackattack Před 3 lety +35

    Derek and Grace really are my favourite gamer CZcamsrs.
    So passionate.
    So unique.
    So much fun.

  • @deathofkings5633
    @deathofkings5633 Před 3 lety +4

    We did a cell phone show off at my work with everyone crowded around back in early 2000’s, between me and this guy who viewed himself as a big baller.
    my N-gage with tony hawk tore his Phone a new one.

  • @OtakuUnitedStudio
    @OtakuUnitedStudio Před 2 lety +1

    You're quickly becoming one of my top two cyan skeleton themed CZcams channels.

  • @originalscreenname44
    @originalscreenname44 Před 3 lety +16

    "And there's an EDF Game!"
    I can hear Matt McMuscles trying to find a way to get a 2008 Nokia phone with EDF on it.

  • @FatalKitsune
    @FatalKitsune Před 3 lety +13

    Thanks, Derek. Now I cannot un-see N-Goatse. My eyes will never be clean again.

  • @marknicholl6281
    @marknicholl6281 Před 2 lety

    Superb review! I grew up during this time and it gave me many nostalgia feels seeing these great Nokia products again.

  • @itxofficial8281
    @itxofficial8281 Před 3 lety +1

    Thank you for this awesome video!! As a long-term user (and huge fan) of the N-Gage, I love watching retrospect videos and hear other people's opinion about it - especially if they didn't have the phone themselves back then. I got this phone as a birthday present in 2004, and it replaced my (also incredibly quirky) Nokia 5510. Since I was so used to green backlit, monochrome screens, the N-Gage felt like alien technology and my perception was always a bit biased - to me, it was the greatest thing in the entire world! I held on to it for almost 4 years, until I finally laid it to rest and replaced it with a Nokia N95 8GB. Unfortunately, my original N-Gage doesn't work anymore. Luckily though, I bought another used one back in 2009 for very little money, that surprisingly still works! Every once in a while, I still take it out and play SonicN or Red Faction on it.
    Thanks for this nice walk down memory lane, greetings from Vienna (Austria)! ITX

  • @fattiger6957
    @fattiger6957 Před 3 lety +24

    When you think about it, handheld gaming has never been a very good market to enter. The only company that has been consistently successful there has been Nintendo. The only other major success was the PSP, but Sony quickly bungled that with their handling of the Vita. Now with mobile and game streaming, I don't think any company will ever try to enter the dedicated handheld gaming space.

    • @rcmero
      @rcmero Před 3 lety +4

      I mean, even Nintendo stepped out of the handheld gaming space, the Switch Lite is basically just a portable only Nintendo Switch and not its own thing.

    • @Christopher-md7tf
      @Christopher-md7tf Před 3 lety +5

      @@rcmero That doesn't make any sense when the Switch's unique selling point is its portability. You could just as well take the opposite angle and say they're only making handhelds now than can also be docked.

    • @rcmero
      @rcmero Před 3 lety

      Maybe I didn't make myself clear, that was my bad. Yes, the regular Switch can be used as a portable that can then be docked to be used with a flat screen TV. I was referring to a dedicated portable system, like what the 3DS was. The Switch Lite fits that moniker now.

    • @Christopher-md7tf
      @Christopher-md7tf Před 3 lety +2

      @@rcmero I get that. I'm just saying it doesn't make much sense to say they left the handheld gaming space when their console's major selling point is that it is a handheld (that can also be docked).

    • @purkle200
      @purkle200 Před 3 lety

      Nintendo: This is MY domain!!!

  • @sbanner428
    @sbanner428 Před 3 lety +6

    Oh my god now I can’t unsee Goatse N-Gage.
    Thanks Derek.

    • @rcmero
      @rcmero Před 3 lety

      What, you didn't hear that already from Larry Bundy Jr?

  • @grinbrothers
    @grinbrothers Před 3 lety +6

    If I ever own a mobile phone one day, it'll be an N-Gage. Fantastic in-depth coverage of the topic and it was great to get plenty of history on the company.

  • @albatross1688
    @albatross1688 Před 3 lety +1

    I remember there being a TV ad for this thing that advertised playing Tomb Raider in a phone booth. I was intrigued at the time, but stuck with my GBA.

  • @punkxblaze
    @punkxblaze Před 3 lety +40

    My brain is having a hard time understanding short haired John Romero. He suddenly looks like early 2000s game dev #0075753.

  • @greenhowie
    @greenhowie Před 3 lety +13

    Oh damn I knew a kid at school who had one of these, hope he kept it - being one of 500 sold in the UK must mean it's kind of a collector's item now.

    • @JallenMeodia
      @JallenMeodia Před 3 lety +4

      A quick check on eBay says they're going anywhere between £40-150 depending on the unit, accessories, etc. One new-old-stock is selling for £400 and, of course, one chancer is trying to sell one a used one for £550. So definitely a market, but it probably consists solely of CZcamsrs reviewing them. 😅

  • @k-dawg7867
    @k-dawg7867 Před 3 lety +1

    Great video!! Thorough and informative, I learned a lot! I remember the N-Gage coming out and being confused and then I just continued playing my GBA.
    I still come across the odd comment saying Nintendo should make a phone, but man would that be a bad idea. Smartphones are known for their obsolescence so they'd need to make a new model every year to stay relevant and be able to run the constantly updating apps well. And lord knows they wouldn't come cheap. I'm quite happy to have a dedicated Nintendo handheld that I only need to buy once every 5+ years.

  • @Luxocell
    @Luxocell Před 3 lety +1

    I'm here to stan John from Spawnwave cameo at 22:58
    Also this video is SO GOOD!! I hope it does really well!!!

  • @RBelmont
    @RBelmont Před 3 lety +4

    Take a shot everytime Derek says "Nokia".

    • @marscaleb
      @marscaleb Před 3 lety +1

      You won't drink anything because he winds up say "Noh-Kia" instead.

  • @mallqui123
    @mallqui123 Před 3 lety +15

    I love the Ngage, I ended up picking it up at a garage sale when 10. Then I ended up using it throughout my whole high school years 2010-2014. As you can expect, everyone made fun of it 🤣.

  • @SinisterMailbox
    @SinisterMailbox Před 3 lety +1

    Man this felt like a gaming historian episode about Nokia and it was awesome!

  • @jnerdsblog
    @jnerdsblog Před 2 lety

    1:21 Since I found you from him, I gotta shout this out. Love this stuff. Y'all keep being good folk.

  • @KevinCow
    @KevinCow Před 3 lety +7

    The N-Gage was incredibly stupid, but I loved it. It was my first cellphone. I saved up and got it after the price dropped, and I remember feeling so cool using the 30 days of unlimited data to browse the internet at school. I mean it was slow and the tiny screen made it kind of annoying, but still. In an age before smartphones, browsing the internet in any capacity on the go felt futuristic.
    I didn't actually play a lot of N-Gage games on it though. But I had a bunch of J2ME games, and it also had some pretty solid NES and Game Boy emulators. And I had like 10 songs from OCRemix that I listened to over and over.

    • @faustinuskaryadi6610
      @faustinuskaryadi6610 Před 3 lety +1

      In early 2000s, Symbian OS powered cell phones were called smartphone while non-symbian ones were called feature phones.

  • @Mechanicoid
    @Mechanicoid Před 3 lety +16

    I still have my QD, and I'm still sore that the Taito Collection never came out for it.

  • @terreausore2435
    @terreausore2435 Před 3 lety +1

    10:46 Nokia predicted that trend of people listening to snapchat (trash) stories in public with their phone sideways

  • @LNSLateNightSaturday
    @LNSLateNightSaturday Před 3 lety

    Great intro. Love ya', Uncle Derek!

  • @batmangovno
    @batmangovno Před 3 lety +167

    Not gonna lie, Apple being the third-biggest game company depressed me a bit.

    • @kirbyfanprime
      @kirbyfanprime Před 3 lety +45

      Tencent being the first is debatably more depressing

    • @nickfifteen
      @nickfifteen Před 3 lety +24

      What's funny is... I was a huge Apple fanatic during their pre-iPhone years. I remember the Apple Pippin and wanted it. I hated how all my friends were getting cool stuff on their PCs and I had to get ported hand-me-downs (except for Bungie's Marathon). I wished so hard that Apple products could get awesome games and for Apple to be a serious gaming platform.
      Well, as they say, be careful what you wish for. It may come true.

    • @randomtinypotatocried
      @randomtinypotatocried Před 3 lety +6

      I didn't expect it to be that high. Though lately the Arcade library has been getting some good games it seems so maybe people ended up deciding to try out the subscription

    • @phoebeaurum7113
      @phoebeaurum7113 Před 3 lety +5

      It's important to consider the fact that smartphone users who casually play games are lumped into those figures.

    • @ListenerOfficial
      @ListenerOfficial Před 3 lety

      JNCO jeans held EVERYTHING. you could carry a sawnoff without anyone noticing..

  • @cadburybunny
    @cadburybunny Před 3 lety +11

    The device designed as a classic troll meme before memes were even a thing ... good old Goatse *shudders from the memory and books another therapy session*

  • @cypto_niti2897
    @cypto_niti2897 Před 2 lety

    Love the background collection is amazing love from Toronto

  • @neutrino64
    @neutrino64 Před 3 lety

    This is a great, entertaining, AND educational video. 👍🏻👍🏻

  • @Soonjai
    @Soonjai Před 3 lety +14

    Despite all the flaws, I still somehow love my N-Gage. It it is the weirdo odball System in my collection.

  • @LuffyMcDuck
    @LuffyMcDuck Před 3 lety +10

    The greatest handheld to ever come out from Finland.

    • @nickfifteen
      @nickfifteen Před 3 lety +4

      Technically correct. The best kind of correct.

  • @adrian.ecomeau6808
    @adrian.ecomeau6808 Před 3 lety

    Brilliant episode... who knew there was such a story behind that little phone/hybrid/thing

  • @facethesun
    @facethesun Před 3 lety

    Thanks for putting in all the work it took to make that video! It was definitely an interesting part of my life.

  • @kubo407
    @kubo407 Před 3 lety +25

    When I've been really depressed these videos have cheered me up a bit

  • @ClexYoshi
    @ClexYoshi Před 3 lety +10

    Man, I love how much Bomberman 64: TSA music you used for this video.

    • @GibTG
      @GibTG Před 3 lety +1

      I'm not the only one that heard that, very cool!

  • @Zero_Chaos
    @Zero_Chaos Před 3 lety

    Great job on the video!

  • @AlexFiliUK
    @AlexFiliUK Před rokem

    Great video, thank you so much for the informative and funny video about the NGage

  • @dhruvsharma003
    @dhruvsharma003 Před 3 lety +10

    The n-gage qd was my first phone and it's still my favourite.

  • @Coffee_Caster
    @Coffee_Caster Před 3 lety +11

    This vid was incredibly n-gageing. Thanks so much for bringing back the weird nostalgia.

    • @Gameboy-Unboxings
      @Gameboy-Unboxings Před 2 lety

      Wow why tf is the comment some idiot saying "n GaGe iS a ToP tiEr NuGgEt" and this awesome comment only has 5 likes?? That's sad..

    • @gewiotevan
      @gewiotevan Před 2 lety

      @@Gameboy-Unboxings If you watch his content, then you would know he has history of dealing with them nuggets.

  • @TechHippie
    @TechHippie Před 3 lety

    Another N-Gage video? I've never clicked so fast. This is one of my favorite tech blunders.

  • @SpiderFab4
    @SpiderFab4 Před 3 lety +2

    "My name is Derek! That's me, it's me, Derek!" should have been the opening line of that rhyme.