Top ten obsolete ports

Game cartridges
There's one port we really do mourn, and that's the one we eagerly stuffed into our console games, right up until the point where Sony launched the PlayStation and decided it would be better if we all played games on stupid, slow-loading CD. Okay, Sega started this idiotic trend with the ridiculous Mega CD, but as no one bought one of those, we're going to let them off.

Anyway, the cartridge-based game and its receiving port was one of the world's great inventions. Cartridge games load virtually instantly, and are resistant to scratches in a way that CDs can only dream of. That makes them ideal for children who have zero patience and absolutely no ability to look after something as ridiculously fragile as a CD.

What's more, cartridge systems were so flexible, you could even extend the console's functionality using one. Micro Machines 2 was one such cartridge -- it was special because it included an extra two controller sockets. That's right, the game cartridge improves the console. Brilliant! Try doing that with a CD that spins constantly -- quite clearly impossible.

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