Is there any retro consoles that you never lived up to their potential? where the games fell short of the hardware?.
Personally I feel that the NDS was under-utilized, as it was a fully 3d capable console, that was used mostly for 2d pixel art games, and platformers. When it was able to support full 3d platformers and even a fan remake of portal.
The Dreamcast never really got given a chance. They killed it so fast, and even in its short lifespan it had a great library. It might have even been able to keep up with the PS2, at least for the first year or two with what I’ve seen of porting projects where people got shit like GTA3 running on it.
For such a short lifespan the Dreamcast had an abundance of peripherals too which were underutilized. Some of them were ahead of its time but you have to admire the passion!
Personally I think it would have done better against the PS2 in its later life, once the DVD craze died down. One of the reasons why the PS2 did so well was because it was a killer deal in the era of $1000 DVD players being the norm. But prices fell quick, and near the end of its life just about every home could afford a dedicated player.