Nearly every member here on GD has a PC gaming rig associated with their account, but I think most of us at one point or another have loved our time with certain consoles. If you’re anything like me then the appeal of consoles comes and goes depending on what unique aspects they bring to the table, and it’s always been fascinating to see what can be done with a pure gaming device.
Right now we’d knee deep into the so-called ‘eighth’ generation of consoles, a lineage stretching right back from the Pong-toting Magnavox Odyssey in 1972, right on up to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Over the years there’s been dozens and dozens of consoles, and there’s usually one out there that holds a special place in someone’s heart.
I don’t know about you but back in the day it seemed there was a little bit more magic involved. All of the big players had totally different products, and a game on one might be impossible to produce on another. It’s what lead to titanic battles like SEGA vs Nintendo, and later Nintendo vs Sony. Just as Sony was showing off Final Fantasy VII and it’s incredible soundtrack and pre-rendered cutscenes only possible with a CD-based format, Nintendo rocked up with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and blew the world away.
Anyway, I digress. As you may have guessed the Nintendo 64 is my favourite console of all time. It almost inarguably had a lesser lineup than the SNES before it, but the best games truly were great. 3D Mario and 3D Zelda were absolute standouts, while Rare were hitting their absolute prime with GoldenEye, Diddy Kong Racing and Banjo Kazooie. That said, the gaming droughts were like nothing I've known since. I mean, it launched with just two games. That's just crazy when you think about it.
Over to you then, what’s your most fondly remembered games console of all time? Which has the greatest catalogue of games? Let us know!
Login or Register to join the debate
PC Specs
I'm sad to se that the portable consoles are not included in the vote bar... I would definitely select PSP or GameBoy, but the PS2 wins this round.
PC Specs
Who knows, maybe another article will be made only for portable consoles.
PC Specs
Owning all sega, nintendo, sony, microsoft and atari console, with the exception of the Wii, WiiU, PS4 and Xbox One, I have to say, PS2 and PS1 are my all-time favorite, why both the PS2 and PS1? Well because as soon as I got a PS2 I just played all my PS1 games on the PS2 and both were amazing. Then it has to be the classical Xbox and The N64 or SNES.
PC Specs
Agreed, the PS2's backwards compatibility was a major benefit. Sony was good that way before seeing things as does Microsoft and dropping that feature in later PS3s.
PC Specs
Sony always want to have backwards compatibility, but that's really hard only because of the PS3's cell architecture. The first PS3(FAT) had a PS2 chip which allowed it to play PS2 games, but that was too expensive and sony was already losing 200$ per PS3 sold, the PS3 alone can't have backwards compatibility to the PS2 and PS1, it's physically impossible, same goes for the PS4, the CPU is different from both the PS3 and PS1,PS2.
The PS2 and PS1 have the same ISA, just the PS2 has a more powerful CPU, that's why the PS2 could play PS1 games.
PC Specs
I'd say the PS2 Slim but for its crappy optical drive. And, I still have a SNES and all those Mario carts stand the test of time. Hand it to Nintendo for making top notch games and rugged hardware. Sony and Microsoft could learn something.
PC Specs
Can't believe you have the Odyssey list ..... Was an awesome concept at the time with poor marketing :/ The keyboard overlays was an innovative way to make the keyboard unique experience. Poo no listing for the TI-99/4A with speech pack! XD
PC Specs
I have an Apollo 2001. It was a plug-in-play thing with two sliders for controls. It played pong, hockey, and that one game where you bounce a ball off walls. The graphics were literally just patches of static that moved. That thing was a good time.
PC Specs
Anyone voting for the ps4 or xbox one are kidding themselves. Own both and they do a decent job but lets face it they are already out of date and aren't exactly setting any standards in innovation or new ideas apart from how to sell false hope
N64
PC Specs
no duck, the N64 and PS1 were even more underpowered, on release than the PS4 and Xbx One were, same goes for the PS2, Game Cube and Xbox classic the problem with the PS4 and Xbox One is the lack of exclusives. Software sells a console, NOT it's specs.
PC Specs
Specs set the graphical quality of the software. so it is important...
PC Specs
I guess what Psychoman is saying then is that the graphical quality of games are not as important. I think this is true for a lot of console gamers.
If we're talking about setting standards for innovation, that's a different story.
PC Specs
what I'm saying is that if you think that the PS4 and Xbox One have weak specs, just look consoles pre Xbox 360 and PS3, for example the PS1 had 2mb of Ram, my father's PC at the time(1995) had 16mb Ram... Not to mention the Am5 CPU just blew away the PS1's...
PC Specs
But nobody complained back then...
PC Specs
Having lived through most of the past eras of gaming consoles I have to totally agree with you Psychoman.
PC Specs
Well I haven't lived through them but my father has and he was a passionate gamer, he bought all the consoles from sega, atari, sony and nintendo until 1999, when I got born, thus he became a father and had to grow up then he bought consoles for me :D
But right now I have 0 interest in current gen consoles for 2 reasons, I don't have friends with consoles, thus I buy and play multi-plats on PC and I'm interested in only 2 games on the PS4 and 2 games on the Xbox One, don't like the Wii and WiiU.... So if I buy them, after a couple of months they will be a bunch of plastic boxes taking space in my room.
PC Specs
My dad got me started into gaming as well on the Odyssey 2000. I have actually owned at least one (if not 2 or 3) console from each generation since the Atari 5200 & Intellivision days until this current gen. This current generation of consoles has been lacking on exclusives so far though which is why I have passed them by so far.
PC Specs
Indeed it's software(exclusives) that sell a console NOT hardware(specs).
But people who grew with the PS3 and Xbox 360 believe that a good gaming console needs to have stronger than PC Specs, like the PS3 and Xbox 360 at release, which is NOT true, that's only if a console is to last more than 4-5 years, but a normal console generation should be 4-5 years.
PC Specs
no hand-helds? too bad, I loved my psp.
PC Specs
I vote PS2..
But no love for old school NES? Haha
PC Specs
That show GD audience age.
PC Specs
Actually it shows that more people like the Playstation consoles which makes sense
PC Specs
The Playstation 2. The icon of video gaming at the time. The original model with the vertical stand in a silver coat. I loved it.
PC Specs
the only console other then a PS2 slim i got when young was one of the controlers that came that had built in to it 5000 games sure such control were found to have been breaching like 1000+ copyright laws and end up banned boy it was fun!
PC Specs
n64 for the win
PC Specs
Gotta say ps2 nfs underground series burnout black the original cod midnight club and lets not forget all ps1 games were compatible on ps2;)
PC Specs
THEY WE'RE ???!!!!???????!! DAMN!!!!! T_T i literally wanted to play some ps1 games when i had my PS2 !1 didnt know that..... #sadlife
PC Specs
Dreamcast and PS2 had very good hardware on release.
PC Specs
PS2 all the way
PC Specs
Mostly as a PC user I vote for PS2 even though I had the original xbox a PS3 and PS4. PS2 had the largest collection of video games!!!
PC Specs
I think for me it was the gamecube, I had a huge family, my mother had 9 sisters and 2 brothers, and each one of them had about 1-3 kids. We all had gamecubes even was able to connect mario kart double dash at 8 players. Metroid Prime 2 with 4 player mode. DDR Mario edition. Super Smash Bros Melee. When I got the ps2 I was only able to play 2 players because I was never able to afford that one device to play 4 players. So in my experience as a kid Id say my fav was Gamecube. but I did love the PS2 for its singleplayer games like MGS 3, Shadow ofColossu
PC Specs
I am going to list it this way, Gamecube > PS2 > 360 (why 360 was my third fav was because of the controller, but sadly the cost of online and the red ring was brutal for my age during the beginning of its release) > PS1
PC Specs
console emulators >all consolols
PC Specs
Console performance is way better than emulator performance.
PC Specs
Dreamcast>all consolols
PC Specs
Dreamcast can run simulations of the speed of light
PC Specs
PS1 was my favorite and then PS2 and Xbox 360
PC Specs
Am I the only person on planet Earth who has never owned a PS2? I had an Xbox instead. Personally either the GameCube, the SNES or the Xbox 360 is my favorite. Probably the GameCube.
PC Specs
Also, how could ANYONE like the current gen more than the previous (read: better) generations of consoles. Especially the PS4.
PC Specs
Clever marketing and gullible teenagers. That, and how else will people play their favorite console exclusives?
PC Specs
That show the average age of GD audience.
PC Specs
I never owned a PS2 either, got an Xbox - you are not alone :-)