Peripherals that changed gaming

(Credit: Dave Lowensohn)

This week marks the latest release in the Rock Band series (see our hands-on). It features one of the biggest names in music--The Beatles. It also features pack-in instruments that continue to look more and more like their real-life counterparts.

Rock Band was definitely not the first video game to necessitate special hardware, nor will it be the last. Below we've put together a list of some of the most innovative peripherals and hardware that have helped change the way we play games. Some went on to become big, while others failed or were martyrs to future incarnations that proved successful.

In creating this roundup, one thing became clear: Nintendo's made great efforts to bring new ideas to the table every few years. And in that process, the Wii has proven to be one of the company's great successes. But there were also failures along the way. Those, along with winners from Nintendo's competitors and third parties, are all chronicled.

Disclaimer: This list is, of course, neither completely comprehensive nor as far reaching as it could be, but (we think) it does a pretty good job at painting a picture of how far gaming peripherals have come. Feel free to add your own favorites, or ones we missed in the comments.

Photos: Fun with plastic--peripherals that changed gaming

[adasha76]

That Joyboard was more than just an Atari console add-on. It was also the smoke and mirrors under which the Amiga was developed as secretly as possible and the reason for the old crash message 'Guru meditation'

[adasha76]

btw regarding the last few items, doesn't 'peripherals that changed gaming' imply they should have been released and had some impact first?

[Jfriedman_21]

Wow some of these I never even knew existed and some just brought back memories of my childhood...great post! But what about the the Sega 32x? I was expecting that to be in here as an absolute failure of an add-on to the Sega Genesis. I only say this cause I asked for it for Christmas one year and got yelled at by my parents when they stopped production on it after what seemed like a year.

[clsmithj]

Blame SEGA, they never intended to keep 32X alive once the Saturn was out in US, it was in all purpose used as a filler to keep Genesis owners occupied while Saturn was ready to launch only in Japan, and Nintendo was on a role releasing eye popping games for the SNES.

[Cruton502]

Oh the memories! We had a powerpad, and I so desperately wanted a powerglove! (I was in elementary school then).

[livingaudio]

Virtual Boy!
Great article! I hadnt even heard of some of these.
I loved the Sonic And Knuckles periph'

[play7]

Well Nintendo was head of its time then...................I remeber use the Virtual Boy my bother had it. It was a head spiining event.