Greatest Consoles

[Madame Adequate]

I'd like to hear about what you all think are the greatest consoles to exist or have existed. I'm also interested in your reasoning for this! I'm curious because I know I rate the Dreamcast as perhaps the greatest console ever, but when I started thinking about why that is, I realized I was struggling to really say - there's something ineffable about the 'atmosphere' of the DC that was and remains distinctly unique to me. It doesn't have the most games or the largest number of classics, or maybe even the best, but stuff like Skies of Arcadia, Soul Caliber, Crazy Taxi, and Jet Set Radio all seemed to work together to make a perfect storm of a truly great console.

So I'd love to hear why you think the greatest consoles are the greatest!

[Fynn]

Do handhelds count? If so, Nintendo DS.

[FFNut]

I couldn't pin point the greatest consol ever, but I can rate with what I played favourite to least favourite. Mostly it was the games that made the console though.

1: Super Nintendo
2: PlayStation 2
3: Dreamcast
4: Nintendo 64
5: Xbox one
6: Xbox360
7: Nintendo 3DS (just got it and only really have two games so far)
8: NES
9: PLay Station
10: Atari

like I said, it was mostly the games that made the consoles for me though not really the power or graphics.

[Wolf Kanno]

I feel like many consoles had some great elements to them, it would almost be easier to list ones that did nothing.

For me, I have like three that come to mind for consoles and then maybe two for handhelds.

For consoles:

The SNES and PlayStation were both pretty sweet consoles with some of history's greatest games on it, but more importantly, I feel like these two systems saw the biggest strides in technology for the medium. With the SNES/Genesis, we got to see the gap between home console and arcade get closed in and many sub-genres began to really take root in this era. It was also the last gen where I felt Nintendo was truly king of the gaming hill. The PlayStation was simply when the gap disappeared almost entirely between arcade quality and home version and we saw several genres really transform and the medium mature. Companies like Square and Konami were in a Golden Age by this time, and we finally saw the massive Japanese gaming market open up in the West, while western developers really started to step up their game to compete. I also consider these eras to be the last time the console wars were actually "fun and good nature" before all of us grew up to be pricks about it with consoles that didn't deserve the attention.

My third choice is the PlayStation 2, which largely benefited from the advancements made from the previous two gens. While the previous two gens were largely more groundbreaking in terms of technology and theory, the PS2 beats them both out by have the largest and possibly best collection of titles at it's disposal. The PS2 library is so large, I can't imagine someone couldn't find at least one great game to play on it. So it's largely here for having a stellar gaming library, and that's even before talking about backwards compatibility and ports.

For handhelds, I'll give it to the GameBoy for starting it all in terms of making a portable game system with interchangeable games something viable and away from simple Tiger Handheld titles. Super Mario Land, Final Fantasy Legend, Link's Awakening, and of course Pokemon all really help make this handheld standout.

My second choice is probably the DS for having a pretty gimmicky premise but actually making it really work. Not to mention it also had a pretty sound gaming library which was made better with the backwards compatibility of the underappreciated GBA.

[Elly]

Sega Genesis... because, in a time when Nintendo was censoring everything into the dirt, Sega was not turning your blood white or green and your beer into frothy glasses of milk... as well as Phantasy Star 1-4 being far better games than Final Fantasy 1-4, in my opinion... otherwise i've liked my Playstations more than other consoles from their respective generations...

[Del Murder]

SNES has a special place in my heart because some of my favorite games are on it. FFVI, FFIV, Chrono Trigger, Yoshi's Island, DKC2, A Link to the Past, I could go on. I also grew up with that system which makes it even more special.

PS2 was a great system because you had access to the full lineup of PS2 and PS1 games and both had very strong lineups. Most of my favorite games ever are either SNES or PS1 games.

Nintendo DS, like PS2, was great since it played both DS games and GBA games. GBA had some fantastic games and the DS did as well. The DS may have been Nintendo's best system. You could argue GBA had better games but you could play those on DS anyway. I was sad when 3DS got rid of the GBA slot.

[Bubba]

Super Nintendo. No contest.

Axelay
Chrono Trigger
Contra III
Cybernator
Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 & 3
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VI
International Superstar Soccer
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Megaman X
NBA Jam
Pilotwings
Prince of Persia
Secret of Mana
Star Fox
Stunt Race FX
Super Bomberman
Super Castlevania IV
Super Ghouls N' Ghosts
Super Mario Allstars
Super Mario Kart
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario World 1 & 2
Super Metroid
Super R-Type
Super Smash TV
Super Star Wars
Super Empire Strikes Back
Super Return of the Jedi
Super Tennis
Street Fighter II (turbo, super etc.)
Turtles in Time
U.N. Squadron
and many more...


Checkmate atheists.

[Spuuky]

Obligatory PC Master Race post

[Psychotic]

It was tricky as the PS1 and PS2 both have special places in my heart, but I'm going to go with the Xbox 360. Which is kind of a strange one for me to say because I've never had the urge to pick up either of the other consoles in the Xbox series.

It had some of the most wonderful and mind blowing game experiences I've ever had. I'll preface this by saying I'm well aware that some of these titles are on the PS3 and PC as well, and indeed probably better on the PC. Allow me to qualify my choices by saying that the Xbox 360 is what I first experienced these titles on and I'll freely admit this is me being as subjective as possible rather than telling you the objectively greatest console. So Dead Rising 1 and 2, Fallout 3 and the only non-FF game that could make a claim to being my all time favourite New Vegas, the Gears of War trilogy, Halo 3, Skyrim, the Saints Row series, the Mass Effect trilogy, Red Dead Redemption, Minecraft, GTA V - I can go on.

It had functionality that I had never experienced on another console too. Online play wasn't anything new to me having been particularly partial to a couple of MMORPGs and online shooters, but doing it in such an easy and smooth way on a console with voice chats was a big thing to me personally. It was also mind blowing to me that Halo 3 and Gears had screenshot and video capturing and sharing functionality which is now a standard feature for consoles.

[Vyk]

- there's something ineffable about the 'atmosphere' of the DC that was and remains distinctly unique to me. It doesn't have the most games or the largest number of classics, or maybe even the best, but stuff like Skies of Arcadia, Soul Caliber, Crazy Taxi, and Jet Set Radio all seemed to work together to make a perfect storm of a truly great console.
This is how I feel about the SegaCD, and I'm not entirely sure why. But I recall feeling a magic when playing Sonic CD, Shining Force CD, Snatcher, it had my favorite version of Flashback, it told the original stories of Lunar 1 and 2, which alone had their own magical charm that still kind of holds up today. And during that magical psychedelic trip I enjoyed FMV games way more than I should have, and the beauty of being introduced to CD quality sound for the first time

I can't really say it's my favorite or personal best console experience. But I get that feeling

[Wolf Kanno]

^ Honestly, I feel Sega always put out pretty good quality systems. Even though I grew up with Nintendo consoles, my rich friends usually owned all the gaming systems, so I had a chance to really check out the Genesis, Sega CD, Saturn, and Dreamcast. Hell, I feel the Saturn is one of the most underrated consoles in the west.

[Mr. Carnelian]

For me, the console is just a tool to play the games. I don't really care about or identify with the console itself. So, I'd have to say that for me the greatest consoles are the ones that me and Formy currently own and have games for, i.e. the Xbox 360, PS3 and PS4 and Nintendo 3DS.

[Madame Adequate]

I agree that all of SEGA's consoles were good (or better!) or had potential, but damn they dropped the ball in the mid-90s with that 32X/CD/Saturn debacle. All perfectly respectable in their own rights but all cannibalizing each other's sales, requiring dev time that devs didn't have to spare, and making the consumer mad as hell because they just spent £129.99 on a SEGA-CD and suddenly this 32X thing is also here, and if you manage to get the money together for that then you suddenly hear about the Saturn and it's off to buy a PlayStation because Sony haven't pulled that troute.

Which is a tremendous shame because I mean, the Genesis-Saturn-Dreamcast chain is a pretty damn hefty combo.

@Psy that's interesting as my boy Mike and I had a similar realization about the original XBox just around the time the 360/PS3 were arriving. We looked back and realized that we had spent an awful lot of time playing an awful lot of games we liked on it. Not enough that I would put them as my personal favorites, but still, both damn good. Haven't had enough time with the Bone yet because it's in Montana, but from what I saw it was largely the continuation of and improvement on the 360 you'd desire so in another decade who knows, I could well be giving it similar praise!