Best console of all time

KTRIC

In your opinion what was the best console of all time. I've personally owned nearly every console that was released in the past 20 years. Post your top 5 and of course why ....

My top 5:

1. Nintendo 64 - Games had that good wholesome fun attitude and the N64 had GOLDENEYE, nuff said.
2. Gameboy - The ultimate handheld with 1000's of games
3. Playstation (mk1) - The first console with Grand Theft Auto and many other great games.
4. Xbox (mk1) - MS's first attempt at a console, Killer App's like Halo 2 and the GTA series made it a great machine.
5. SNES - Great machine, had classics like SF11 and F-ZERO

RE*AC*TOR

1. Nintendo DS - I've spent more hours of fun on this console than any other. Its only now getting fully into its stride, so expect more great things to come.
2. N64 - Goldeneye / Diddy Kong Racing / Ocarina of Time / Mario 64 - the first two were among the best non-online multiplayer games ever on any console. The latter two were defining games - masterpieces.
3. Mega Drive - Back when I had a mega drive I used to rent games a lot. I don't anymore. I remember games like Jungle Strike, I think Dune II was there (which would lead on to C&C), Sonic obviously. Too many to name. Also it was back in a time when owning two consoles (ie the SNES) was uncommon - so I was in the SEGA camp.
4. Atari ST - a poor man's Amiga - still I had my fun.
5. Commodore 64 - if you haven't loaded a game from a tape - you haven't lived.

Retr0gamer

1. SNES:
Just so many classic and wonderful games, far more than the MD. In my top 50 games of all time about half of the games would be SNES games. Super Metroid, Axelay, Mario World, Yoshi's Island, FF6, Chrono Trigger, Front Mission, Cybernator, Zelda LTTP, need I go on? The 16-bit colour and excellent DSP sound chip really enhanced the experience and it had some of the nicest looking 2D games ever.

2. PS1:
Huge selection of quality games. Definitely has the best RPGs. By far the best console of the 32-bit era. Highlights off the top of my head: Metal Gear Solid, FF7 and 9, FF Tactics, Valkyrie Profile, Einhander, G Darius, Front Mission 3, Vagrant Story, Soul Blade, Resi 2, Silent Hill, Medal of Honour, Suikoden 2.

3. Mega Drive:
Not as good as the SNES but had a good selection of games even though they were only really playing catch up to the SNES's selection. Colours were usually very drab except for a few exceptions and the sound chip struggled a lot. Highlights: Gunstar Heroes, Rocket Knight Adventures, Phantasy Star 4, Landstalker, Shining Force 2, Probotector, Thunderforce 3 and 4, Revenge of Shinobi, Soliel, Sonic 2.

4. N64:
Not a lot of games but definitely a lot of quality games. Most of the games on the N64 made up for this fact with decent longevity and excellent multiplayer. Highlights: Goldeneye, Zelda OOT, Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Mario Golf, Starfox 64, Rayman 2, F-zero X, Blast Corp, Space Station Silicon Valley.

5. Saturn:
Riddled with faults such as bad movie playback and the difficulty of programming for it but there is no better machine for hardcore gaming. Thankfully it's very easy to get import games working although many are horrendously expensive

*cough*it's easy to chip!*cough*

. Highlights: Panzer Dragoon Saga and Zwei, Radiant Silvergun, Shining Force 3 saga, Princess Crown, Wachenrodder, Parodius Forever with me, Virtua Fighter 2, Nights, Soukyugurentai, Sega Rally, Die Hard Arcade, Layer Section, Darius Gaiden, online duke nukem 3D, 10 player bomberman and not forgetting Death Tank! Due to all the arcade games it's a fantastic console to sit down at and have a quick game for 10 -60 minutes.

I'd have liked to include the GBA since the range of amazing games for it is phenomenal.

Worst Console I've ever owned:

Xbox:
Panzer Dragoon Orta, magnificent! Ninja Gaiden, fantastic! Halo, great for the first half, shame about the half arsed sequel. Anything else worth playing? Nothing you couldn't get for the superior PS2, although the third party games run unnoticably better.

Cuddlesworth

1=N64

Why because its the console that kept me coming back for so long. Having played Goldeneye, Mario64etc to the end and then againn. Plus you knew if you bought a N64 game it would not be binned 20 minutes later

2=Snes

As above I have spent nearly the same amount of time on it. Completed nearly everything. It was all about gameplay with nintendo

3=Commador 64

Nothing could beat Flimbos quest.

4=Playstation

Large selection of games, some quailty ones. But with the amount of crap games I bought and gave up 5 minutes in, it never appealed to me

5=Gameboy

Why? Why? ........................Tetris!

Rhyme

SNES: A real solid console, some outstanding games, a fantastic controller and the ability to continually surprise me when i get to have a play on my cousins one. Also possibly the hardest console to break, and that SNES has been in the wars.

Sega Saturn: Vastly underrated and pretty ugly to boot but claims some of the finest gaming moments i can recall (shooting through Panzer Dragoon on the light class, disarming a perp in Virtua Cop etc)

PS1: One of the pinnacle consoles, the ones that fecked with the system and made jumps. The best RPG's (the obvious ones and the sad fact that i only got to play BoFIII for 4 days ) and a damn solid controller to boot. Also holds my favourite game of all time (Resident Evil 2).

Sega Megadrive: Fond memories of that 6 pack of games i got free with it (Golden Axe, Revenge of Shinobi, Streets of Rage, Columns, Super Hang On and something else) and a horrible controller which paired with the Game Gear give me nightmares. But one of my first forays into console gaming... lovely.

Gamecube: This place was hard to fill, it could have been the C64 or 2 or 3 other consoles but to be honest... i really like the Gamecube. It's so neat, the controller is a beauty to use and with such a fine bevvy of games like Metroid Prime (almost finished), Zelda, Paper Mario etc... it had to claim a spot, perhaps in years to come it'll overtake the MegaDrive... but not now.

Laguna

1)Nintendo DS
2)N64
3)SNES
4)NES
5)PS1

steviec

1) PS1
If I was to list my favourite games of all time, the PS1 would cover a lot of them. It was the console that really got me addicted to games. It really was very very special.

2) Commodore 64
Long after I was bored to death of 16-bit consoles and had my PS1 and cutting edge Pentium, I'd still pull this out now and again for some retro action, certainly had the longest life and widest variety of games of any machine I've owned, was a sad day when it eventually stopped working.

3) PS2
Again, an endless list of brilliant titles continuing on from the PS1. Even now, after I've bought my 360, the PS2 has still proven its worth with the best game this year so far, Shadow of the Colossus.

4) Gamecube
Mario Party. Mario Kart. Mario Golf. F-Zero. And, most of all, Monkey Ball. None of them are probably considered the Gamecube's biggest games, but for me this machine was all about the party games, since the whole multi-tap idea never worked on the PS2.

5) Xbox 360
I've bought a lot of consoles down the years, but none of them really added new features other than more power before this. The fact that I've been using my 360 lots in the last few weeks without ever putting a disc in the drive gives you an idea of the changes it could make to gaming. Live Arcade is a brilliant idea. Free downloadable demos mean there's always something new to try. And the media centre features, they weren't the reason I bought the console, but they're such a nice thing to have! It's still lacking blockbuster titles but there's plenty of time and there's a number on the horizon. Things can only get better!

Note: The absence of 8-bit and 16-bit consoles may be down to the extortionate price of cartridges and my lack of money at the time, I just never got into the SNES or Megadrive like I did my trusty Commodore before them, or certainly my Playstation after them. Many seminal games from this era I only later played on emulator, and they don't stand up to modern games on their own merit anymore.

i_am_dogboy

1 Nintendo DS
2 Gamecube
3 Mega Drive
4 PS2
5 Xbox 360

Regardless of what's above my pc has provided me with far more entertainment when it comes to game than any of the consoles...

Rnger

Retr0gamer wrote:

1. SNES:
Just so many classic and wonderful games, far more than the MD. In my top 50 games of all time about half of the games would be SNES games. Super Metroid, Axelay, Mario World, Yoshi's Island, FF6, Chrono Trigger, Front Mission, Cybernator, Zelda LTTP, need I go on?

Please do go on... I've never played Axelay! Was cybernator really that good? I dont remember it being as good as the rest mentioned. Contra 3, sunset riders, Donkey Kong Country, super star wars....

SNES is my no.1 console by a country mile

I can only decide which is worse amongst the others, not which is better

Lemlin

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the Dreamcast yet which was actually my fave. It's just a pity nobody stood up and took notice of it. Games like ChuChu Rocket, Shenmue, Sega Bass Fishing, Fur Fighters and Toy Commander were superb.

Creamy Goodness

1. SNES.
2. Mega Drive.
3. N64.
4. PS1.
5. Gameboy.

FranchisePlayer

1)Nintendo ds: has lots of good games and the stylus brought a whole new way to play games
2)dreamcast:Was good for me for the sole fact that shenmue came out on it
3)N64:Goldeneye and Lylat wars were so much fun to play
4)Game boy advance:because it had loads of cool Rpg's liuke golden sun
5)Xbox 360:I like the 360 but i kinda wish it would have more good games for it like oblivion.

po0k

I'm boycotting this farce.

"Best Console Of All Time" != "Top 5 Consoles Of All Time"

VirtualBoy ftw.

Sarky

Amiga CD32.

>_>

<_<

Nevyn

Amiga ftw
senseible soccer,
speed ball
chaos engine
rainbow island
and the orginal rock star game A rock star ate my hamster.

Ruu_Old

Cremo wrote:

1. SNES.
2. Mega Drive.
3. N64.
4. PS1.
5. Gameboy.

What Cremo said, 'cept switch Megadrive with SNES. *swishes Golden Axe sword around*

arbeitsscheuer

1. PS2
2. Xbox
3. MegaDrive
4. GameBoy
5. PS1

*Only reason Xbox is 2nd and not 1st is cos I never actually got round to owning one... Make of that what you will.

amp

If we're calling an Amiga a console then for me it was number one. Sure I played a lot on our Atari 2600 and I learned basic on a Speccie 48k but only my PC in it's various incarnations rivals the gaming hours, days and weeks I spent with my aul Amiga 500.

The first console I actually bought was a PS1, which I got for only one reason; it's ability to save me money playing what I felt was an excellent port of Ridgeracer.

I have played a lot on both PS2 and Xbox and I currently own a snes, a gameboy advance (l33t non backlit version) a second revision Atari 2600 and my pride and joy, my purchase based soley on one of boards.ie's longest running in-jokes. I speak of course of the Atari Jaguar.

Of the next gen consoles, I find all three have things that I find interesting. The 360 is here and looks good, the PS3 has got immense power inside and while expensive could still be producing great games many years from now and the Wii should be cheap, has some great controller concepts and Nintendo's reputation for quality games.

I like the PSP. The first time I played on one my brain couldn't get around the fact that I was playing a 3D game on something so small. The DS has the better games and a great user interface.

Jimi-Spandex

1. Sega Dreamcast
2. Snes (If you'd asked me this 13 years ago it would have been a different story)
3. Megadrive
4. PSX
5. N64

tman

1. SNES - Purely for Super Metroid... everything else was just gravy:)
2. Gamecube -
3. Amiga - most likely because i never owned one, so the brief tastes of gaming i had on one were all the sweeter.
4. DS - just as i was beginning to think i'd finally grown out of games, this beauty comes along
5. Mega Drive - had some fairly nifty games

with the gameboy and N64 just missing out (i'm not that much of a Ninty fanboi!):p

CiDeRmAn

1: PS2, I am surprised the lack of representation this has on the lists, given the amount of pleasure this console has given me over the past, what is it, 5/6 years it has to be here, still own my 1st one, one of the 1st pal machines in the country, still play it every week.
2: Megadrive, I loved, just loved Sonic3, bought it with my 2nd purchase of Segas best and played it to death, loved it together with Biohazard Battle, Thunderforce 3/4 and the Road Rash series.
3: 3DO, not a console I expect to see cropping up here often, but I played this to death and still own one after all these years, it saw the rebirth if the Test Drive series as Need For Speed, still brilliant even now, Road Rash on it is wonderful, a great version of Starblade and of course the best multiplayer game ever Return Fire, lovely gubbly.
4: Snes, has to be here, Super Metroid, Super Mario Allstars, Sim City, Batman Returns, Donkey Kong Country, Super Scope, ok, maybe not the last one!
5: Vectrex, gods, but I love my Vectrex, I really do, there is sonething about this machine, the desire to have true arcade clarity in the home was a dream to most back in '83 when playing Pole Position in "Block O Vision" on the 2600 was the norm, but this beauty played vector graphic titles as they were in the arcades, I am lucky enough to have a programmable cart for the system and have 20 odd titles dumped to it, Invaders, Missle Command, Minestorm, Tempest, all have versions on the platform and nothing quite compares to it, and its a great talking point in my sitting room, people remark on it long before they comment on the 360 next to it!

Earthhorse

SyxPak wrote:

I'm boycotting this farce.

"Best Console Of All Time" != "Top 5 Consoles Of All Time"

Also, Amigas and Commodores aren't consoles.

Surprised the NES hasn't been mentioned yet. Super Mario 3, Mega Man 2, Probotector, Faxanadu - this was the console that started it all. I genuinely got more fun out of my NES than my SNES and Gamecube.

Retr0gamer wrote:

3. Mega Drive:
...Probotector...

Guzzah? I know there was a Contra game on the Megadrive but I didn't think it was released under the Probotector brand.

Retr0gamer

Earthhorse wrote:

Guzzah? I know there was a Contra game on the Megadrive but I didn't think it was released under the Probotector brand.

Contra: Hard Corps was what it was called in America and Japan. For us PAL gamers the name was changed to Probotector and the marines were replaced with 'teh gey' robots. I actually preferred this to Contra 3. Took me months to beat since it was so bastard hard.

ShiverinEskimo

SNES - no competition.

Super Mario World
Zelda: A Link to the Past.

And the best game in history: Super Mario Kart.

Also the first console to use shoulder buttons on controllers - paved the way.

arbeitsscheuer

Sh*t, I forgot to mention the Spectrum... B0llocks!
First console we ever owned... (Took hours to fúcking load though)

Sarky

Earthhorse wrote:

Also, Amigas and Commodores aren't consoles.

The CD32 was. The first 32-bit console, in fact. Shame it was more or less an Amiga 1200 with the keyboard replaced by a cd drive and put in a box resembling a particularly ugly ashtray.

the-lad

enters

shouts SNES

leaves

ObeyGiant

CiDeRmAn wrote:

3: 3DO, not a console I expect to see cropping up here often, but I played this to death and still own one after all these years, it saw the rebirth if the Test Drive series as Need For Speed, still brilliant even now, Road Rash on it is wonderful, a great version of Starblade and of course the best multiplayer game ever Return Fire, lovely gubbly.

I'm with you on this. The 3DO gave us a real taste of the next generation of gaming before the Playstation game along. I still think the version of Need for Speed on 3DO was the best I've played on any platform. Ditto Wing Commander and Road Rash. And like you said, Return Fire is still such a great two-player game ever made.

And I think I clocked more time on the 3DO version of Space Hulk than any other game. So awesome.

BETHOR! WHERE ARE YOU?!

Illuvatar

1.NES- I grew up with it. And it started so many great games.
2.PS1- made a new step in the world of gaming.
3.PS2- great games and yet again made a step (if slightly) in the world of gaming.
4.GBA- can't get enough of the good games
5.SNES- classics.

PogMoThoin

Had an Amstrad 64k in the mid 80's when i woz a kid. Deadly. Took bout 15mins to load by tape. Great line-up of games....wonder boy, bomb jack, rainbow islands etc (cant rem any more off hand). Was great cos you could copy the tapes off other people. Bought floppy disk drive then, cost an arm & a leg. Rig lasted me for bout 8 yrs. Look how far things we've come.

CiDeRmAn

Happy days, another person in this large lonely universe who loved the 3DO, its easy to love the Snes, cool to love the Saturn, normal to have loved the PS but hard to stick up your hand and say you owned a 3DO, never mind loved it.
Wing Commander 3, stayed up all night til I finished it, it was sweet 3D space combat at its best.
I am lucky enough to have a 3DO with Return Fire Maps 'O Death, SpaceHulk, Burning Soldier, Road Rash and Need For Speed all getting at least semi regular workouts, ok there were a few stinkers, Patannk, Megarace, Gex to name but a few but when you are tearing up the Californian blacktop in a Ferrari in time trial mode with nothing but the sunshine and other road users for company, there's little to beat it, not even the PS version.

iregk

1. SNES - great console, just great and lets not forget was the base on which the PS was born.

2. NES - Saved long and hard for this baby and got it with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pack. Top down and side platform. Stunning machine.

3. XBOX - The first console that you could turn into a complete media center (which i duly did) and it had Halo + Forza Motorsport (the real mans racer). Nuff said.

4. PS - The quantum leap in gaming at its time. I still recall the shivers I got when playing destruction derby, how beautiful it looked.

5. Atari 2600 - How could I not put it on my list. My first console and afaik the first ever console? Sheer quality in a time when games had no ending, they just got faster and harder until you died! Pole position kept me going for years....

Dont be at yourself

1 week bans to those who neglected to mention the Dreamcast.

super_furry

1) Dreamcast. Sega's finest hour - I curse you all for not buying one.

2) Amiga. The pinacle of 16bit gaming. Take you SNES' and Megadrives and shove' them, nowhere else was there such a huge and diverse library of great games.

3) Xbox. Brought online console gaming to the fore and played host to some of the best multi-player games ever seen.

weemcd

#1 - Playstation.
Imo probably the most prolific brand of the last decade. Brought gaming further into the mainstream than ever possible, and made grown up, mature games that paved the way for games consoles to be more then purely kids toys, it is now almost a necessity for any male aged 13- mid twenties to have a playstation. For those who aren't familiar with gaming and consoles, if they see an xbox,gc etc in a shop window or a living room, they would call it a playstation. Hows that for brand naming?Also brought horror and racing games to (pardon the pun) a new dimension. Brought me some of the tensest and most memorable moments I've ever experienced with games. Memories like swimming in underwater in the opening scene of MGS with the haunting opera and green hue will stay with me forever.

#2 - Megadrive.
First games console I ever owned, after having only brief encounters with gear like Amstrad's CPC this blew me away. Colours and graphics that were more then just 4 cubes on the screen. The lush environments, sheer speed and astounding rage of enemies of the sonic games. The infinite cool of the techno soundtracks to the streets of rage games. The progression of Shinobi the white ninja passing through the dark caverns, throwing shuriken and calling on his Ninjitsu powers.

#3 - Original Gameboy.
Revolutionary console that firmly establishing handheld gaming.

#4 - Sony PSP.
Bound to be a controversial one, this. In my own opinion, from a technical viewpoint at least, the PSP has to be one of the most impressive consoles ever made. When I first saw a picture of the psp concept, I was blown away. I remember telling my friend at the time on msn, that it looked awesome, and it was a pity the real portable playstation will look nothing like this. As a proud owner, the device has given me a vast amount of portable entertainment options. Impressive 3d graphics on the go, MP3 playback, UMD format/ the option to convert your own vids to psp resolutions, browser functionality, and in certain games ad hoc or full blown multiplay - that I might ad in my experience has been an absolute dream to set up (Burger King GTA after school being the most memorable.) I will admit there are some poor games, but portable and quick sessions of multiplayer GTA and singleplayer Wipeout, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Dynasty Warriors have served me well. I havn't even gotten round to excellent and unrivaled homebrew capabilities, with the likes of snes emulators, gens, the ever improving n64 scene, the up and coming Playstation emu, and the countless other retro emulators. Also the excellent homebrew Beasts of Rage, which holds a special place in my heart, for reasons see above. With games such as metal gear portable ops, FFVII Crisis Core, Devil May Cry - Dance of Sparda and talk of a portable Z.O.E game, the future looks very bright for the Sony Portable.

#5 N64
Only console on the list I haven't owned. When I was busy with my playstation, weekend sleepovers at my cousins house became a breath of fresh air thanks to the N64. While the controller wasn't to my liking, we spent hours playing Mario Kart 64, truly one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played. I also became engrossed with Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (opening level and the junkyard being 2 of my favorites.) I have since obtained many games through emulators, but the feeling of sitting up past bedtime when I was 12 years old playing mario kart will never be felt again. You need the physical console in front of a tv.

CiDeRmAn

Best portable gaming has to be from the GBA SP, what a great little device, plays all of your GB back catalog on a lovely big bright screen and can stand to be linked to the GC, rechargable battery was a revelation too, and it could withstand being dropped and abused.

Best handheld game for me has been Lemmings on the original GB, couldn't believe it, sitting out in the sun back in '94 on my lunch break in work, nukinh the little gits as I put the blocker guy in exactly the wrong place, and I still remember that lunch break, weird isn't it?

Johnny_the_fox

iregk wrote:

2. NES - Saved long and hard for this baby and got it with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pack. Top down and side platform. Stunning machine.

i got for christmas...

1no console - zelda,track and field, nintendo world cup, etc

L31mr0d

I still remember running home from school to finish Echo the dolphin, Bomberman, Earth worm Jim, Sonic (all in the series), to name a few. Waiting for the weekend and getting my pocket money to go out and rent a game from the local video store. I used the love the feeling of pushing the cartridge into the console, powering it on and hearing "SEGA" come out of the TV.

I also had an Atari Lynx, one of the first colour screen handhelds, 6AA batterys lasted all of 1 hour but I loved it.

Also the PS1 for giving me FF7, still the best game I have ever played, purely because it was so revolutionary for its time.

iFight

No. 1 SNES ---- SO good

No. 2 Megadrive ----Sonic the Hedgehog, what can I say

No. 3 N64 ---- Cant beat a good owl game of golden eye

No. 4 PS2 ---- some good games, loved SSX

No. 5 Gamecube ---- Really good, lack of anything on it these days pulls it down unfortunately

BlitzKrieg

dude...you had a mega drive 2...what a poser.



Classic Mage Drive was the way to go (with the audio control dial i never touched and that funky white reset button.)



EDIT: Goddamn you iFight...the above was aimed at l31mr0d

weemcd

L31mr0d wrote:

They got the design of that one so right. Looked great then, and still looks great now. I remember unboxing mine, and my da was hookin up the cables to the back of the telly, and my young 10 year old head was goin the lines of this thing are perfect.

QuadLeo

1) Nintendo DS - wireless fun!
2) Nintendo 64 - goldeneye, perfect dark.
3) Nintendo GameCube - for Resident Evil4 and Zelda!
4) Sega Mega Drive II
5) PS2

BlitzKrieg

I had a fondness for the original...but i guess thats cause i owned one.
though the original mega cd looked like a really old cd deck. which it was i guess





Though i hate the fact the european saturn is so bloody ugly compared to the one the japanese had.

euro


jap



i never saw an original master system, only master system 2. Which has alex the kidd built in.