← All Failed Consoles

Bandai Pippin

Bandai / Apple · 1996–1997 · ~42,000

An Apple-designed multimedia platform licensed to Bandai that sold 42,000 units at $599 — one of the lowest-selling named consoles in history.

Apple licensed its Pippin platform — a stripped-down Mac OS system on a CD-ROM base — to Bandai, who manufactured the @WORLD unit for North America and @MARK for Japan. The device was intended as an internet appliance and gaming platform simultaneously. It launched at $599 — more expensive than a PlayStation and Saturn combined — with a trackball controller and a handful of mostly educational and multimedia titles. Apple's then-CEO Gil Amelio cancelled the Pippin programme in 1997 as part of the cost-cutting that accompanied Steve Jobs's return.

Worth Playing:
  • Power Rangers Zeo vs. The Machine Empire
  • Super Marathon
Key Facts:
  • The Pippin used a stripped-down version of Mac OS 7.5 on a RISC processor
  • Only around 18 games were released for the platform in North America
  • At $599, it cost more than a PlayStation and Sega Saturn combined at the same time
  • Steve Jobs cancelled the Pippin programme upon returning to Apple in 1997
  • Bandai and Apple shared development costs; Bandai bore the manufacturing risk
Verdict: A platform so obscure that its failure barely registered — history moved on immediately.