It’s almost expected that console makers will release a ‘slim’ or ‘pro’ model within a few years of a new console generation. Visual tastes change, manufacturing technologoies improve and/or sometimes a generation just needs a boost. The odd time, the market has shifted expectations and features need to be added or even taken away. Here are five of the very best console redesigns throughout gaming history.
For TechStomper’s Five Worst Console Redesigns, you could always click here and be angry at that one instead…
Nintendo Game Boy Pocket
Nintendo were one of the earlier companies to offer console redesigns. Their redesigns for the Nintendo and Super Nintendo console platforms were competent and well-received refreshes as subsequent consoles arrived.
Their Game Boy console redesign was more of an overhaul.
While the classic Nintendo Game Boy DMG-01 has aged incredibly well in a visual design sense, users were only too happy to drop the brick in favour of the Game Boy Pocket when it came along in 1996/97. This was for many reasons.
As its name suggests, Game Boy Pocket could easily fit into a pocket. While you could fit the brick into a pocket if you were into Mancunian music at the time, it was still a test for the fabric.
The OG Game Boy took four AA batteries while the Game Boy Pocket used just two AAA batteries. The green screen was replaced with a black & white one. That OG blurry LCD display was replaced with a crisp and reactive screen.
However, it took Nintendo a long time to release that diminutive follow-up. Game Boy Color was around the corner and seven years of DMG-01 meant Pocket never made the impact that it could have.
PlayStation 2 Slimline
The original PlayStation 2 was a bold and cutting-edge design when it was first unveiled in 2000. By 2004, it looked slightly dated and that mechanical drive tray had been revealed as a point of failure.
Sony had previously blown the public away with their magnificent PS One redesign and the PS2 Slimline would somehow top that. The angular and imposing figure was replaced with a space-conscious model with the hardest edges made a little friendlier.
The Japanese electronics giant had long been a master of miniaturisation but this was an incredible feat of engineering. A reduction in size of over 75% in just four years has never been beaten in the home console redesign realm. In fact, PS2 Slimline was scarcely bigger than the DVD-style cases that the console’s games were sold in.
The loading tray wasn’t the only reliability issue to be addressed. The laser assembly, though not completely fixed, was improved massively with release of the Slimline model.
With the rise of online gaming in between the PlayStation 2’s launch in 2000/1 and plans for a replacement a few years later, Sony decided to include an ethernet port as standard in the PS2 Slimline while the PS2 Original had required an adaptor. The inclusion of an infrared port as standard for use with the DVD remote was a nice addition.
Slimline did lose the ability to add a hard-disk to the setup but everything else was pure win. Sony would continue their run in excellent console redesigns, something that came in handy when they needed it most.
PlayStation 3 Slim
The original PS3 layout had had several redesigns before a proper replacement came along. PS2 compatibility and a host of useless stuff like card readers had already been axed to save costs and lower retail prices. The power consumption had been reduced just a little but was still very high. The console’s heft and bulk remained.
Sony’s ability to shrink tech and put it on a low wattage diet would show once again when they released PlayStation 3 Slim in 2009. PS3 Slim would use just half the power of the first model of PlayStation 3.
The ageing glossy black and silver colourway and branding was changed to a less gaudy matte black. And oh, how it shrank.
PS3 Slim was around 40% lighter and took up around half the volume. At two inches tall, it was easy to slide in anywhere around your TV. The loud whoosh of the OG PS3 fans was reduced to a sigh.
A lesser remembered detail was the move to a new logo that evoked and celebrated that of PlayStation 2 instead of aping a font used by a Sony movie. In our Enduring Legacy article about PlayStation 3 we spoke of how Sony did practically everything right after their lowest ebb at E3 2006. PlayStation 3 Slim was one of the last pieces in PS3’s ultimate recovery and redemption.
Xbox One S
While Xbox 360 S fixed practically every problem the original console had, it was probably too late. Microsoft had already decided that quality exclusive games were over-rated and were moving on to terrible Kinect stuff by the time the much-improved console was hitting shelves.
We think the Xbox One S had a far greater impact on console history. For one, the Xbox One S revived the Xbox One and saved it from complete humiliation, helping the brand endure a particularly hard-to-watch partial humiliation instead.
Xbox One S was timed well. Xbox had dropped Kinect and was trying to move away from the ‘entertainment centre’ stuff so a console that didn’t look like a VCR was desperately needed. And One S had the bold ‘console’ look that seemed to cleanse the public’s mind of that woeful period in Xbox’s life.
It still looks cool – the white Xbox One S is a piece of art in design. A very late-2010s marriage of minimalist micro and macro detail. The large, plain grille offers a motif that remains visible but changes in its nature as you move closer or further away.
It added HDR to its 4K Blu-ray playback which sounds quaint now but it allowed the cheeky b****rds at Microsoft to stick a HDR logo on the box.
PS Vita Slim (PCH-20XX)
This one will be controversial but hear us out. While the loss of the OLED panel was lamentable, it added an hour’s stamina to the four-ish of the original. That’s 25% so you can put the abacus away.
The loss of the SIM functionality was no loss as mobile hotspots became standard in every pocket.
The Slim model shrank significantly and added features to offset this losses. A mobile device being 20% thinner and 15% of its weight is a big deal. The 1GB of in-built storage was massive seeing as Sony were squeezing Vita users for their proprietary Memory Cards.
Changing to a USB charger saved packing space as well as adding convenience.
It could be argued that the original design was very much of the 2000s. Its materials and colour scheme echoed the original PSP, while the PS Vita tones it down significantly.
The OG Vita design was impersonal, monolithic and robotic as was common in the design language of the time. That mix of colours and textures, brushed silver and glossy black, simply fell out of favour as Vita hit shelves.
The redesign keeps the glossy black and replaces the brushed silver micro detailing with matte black macro detailing. A gentler combination less likely to look periodically awful as fashions change.
Dismissable Mentions – Console Redesigns
We left out ‘Pro’ models though both PS4 Pro and Xbox One X were both slick and powerful machines, they cost more than a regular console. The pair were more of an upgrade.
Game Boy Advance Micro is often cited as one of the best console redesigns and while it’s a marvelous object and fun way to play Advance games, it loses its entire Game Boy functionality. It’s almost a separate, pared-down platform of its own.
PS One didn’t make the cut because the competition was too hot. We also felt that PlayStation 2 Slimline felt like the smaller, better sequel to PS One. Feel free to roast the omission of PS One in favour of PS Vita Slim in the comments below.
That was our list of choices for the best console redesigns in gaming history. Do you feel our omissions were fair? Was the OLED that good that all Vita Slim improvements are offset? Did Xbox One S really help Xbox avoid complete destruction or are we talking a load of nonsense?
