The Most Useless Gaming Accessories Ever Made

For some people, when their hair is drying, or they’re tired after a challenging day in the office, gaming is the perfect offering. A fun and relaxing entertainment option to enjoy, it’s also even more impressive these days, particularly when assessing some of the must-have accessories gaming communities can purchase in 2025. Some products have been absolutely useless, though.

Gaming is going through an unprecedented boom right now. There’s more choice than ever before, ranging from AAA games on PS5 to top-rated McLuck slots. Everything is at your fingertips in this multi-billion-dollar sector, and there’s a massive sub-sector built up around it to provide gamers with the latest accessories.

With companies aiming to release the next big gaming accessory, there are generally new and improved options coming to the fore on a regular basis. While most of them deliver, some of them most definitely don’t. We’ve seen some classic examples of this over the years, with many having some accessories to avoid. We aren't talking about cutting-edge controllers here or must-have gaming chairs; it's more of a selection of accessories that brought absolutely nothing to the table.

With the gaming category of entertainment being filled with some undeniably bad products over the years, below we briefly highlight some of the most useless gaming accessories ever made. Hopefully, you weren’t one of the unfortunate consumers who wasted their hard-earned cash on these absolute monstrosities.

Guitar Hero microphone

Guitar Hero is a game many people will never forget. It’s fun, and it’s filled with iconic music tracks to master through some of the game’s various musical instrument-like accessories. This special rhythm game probably didn’t need to introduce a microphone, though, especially as it was such a bad one. People couldn’t get it working, and it wasn’t the best quality mic you’ll ever see, either. Overall, it wasn’t Guitar Hero’s finest moment.

Video Jukebox VJ

People adore the Sega Genesis, but they don’t always tell you about potentially useless inclusions like the Video Jukebox VJ. Designed so gamers could plug 6 game cartridges in at once, it was oddly bigger than the console itself and was ugly in terms of its design. Thankfully, it never came to market in the end, but the plans for it gathered plenty of media attention at the time and left many gamers wondering what Sega was up to with such a poor idea.

Game Boy camera and printer 

The Game Boy is an iconic handheld gaming device but as it aimed to evolve and move into the future, it struggled in some areas. One notable failure came through its camera and printer contraption, with this 1998 inclusion being an add-on that was meant to be a must-buy for Game Boy gamers. It was far from it, though, as most of the images gamers could snap and print off were faded and blurry, making the device itself a complete waste of money.

Power Glove for Nintendo

A terrible product many more senior players might remember, the Power Glove for the NES was truly baffling. Looking like something Iron Man would consider wearing, players could use hand motions to control the action on the screen and press programmed buttons. In the end, though, the vast majority of consumers struggled to use it properly and it bombed massively.

The Novint Falcon 

For gamers, the Novint Falcon was meant to be a product that would excite PC gaming communities as they’d no longer require a mouse. In the end, this USB haptic device was a disaster, with its look and all-round functionality not working too well as gamers explored its removable handles and pistol grips without seeing any real benefits to the actual gaming experience on offer. Overall, it was an odd creation.

Special mention must also go to the Wii sports pack and the Side Winder Dual Strike.