Nokia N-Gage
2003

During the early-2000s renaissance of handheld gaming consoles, mobile phone manufacturer Nokia wanted a piece of the action. With great fanfare they released the N-Gage, a mobile phone which also functioned as a gaming handheld.

The N-Gage failed to meet any measure of commercial success. Users of the taco-shaped device as a telephone found it uncomfortable and awkward to use due to its edge-placed microphone and speaker, and the “sidetalking” meme became a running joke at the N-Gage’s expense. Video game enthusiasts found it an awkward and unappealing system to play with; the device was underpowered compared to other handheld consoles, its library was limited, and users had to remove the phone’s battery to swap cartridges.

Mobile phone gaming would not take off as a serious concern until the smartphone generation roughly a decade later. While the N-Gage is remembered as a failure today, its place in history is that of an early attempt to pioneer in a field which didn’t yet exist.