Greatest Console, all time

[esteban]

Will everyone touting the PS2 please leave and go somewhere else?

"Greatest console of all time? Dur... that Sony thing I bought at Gamestop ten years ago. It had Madden and the FPS = GREATEST CONSOLE EVA!"

Greatest Console Evva (GCE).

[slinkyturd]

It's not just the FPS (which it had many great ones). How about the third person awesomeness of God of War and Hitman franchises? How about the many unsung RPGs on there aside from the like 10 Final Fantasy games? How about the open worlds of games like the GTA series? you want survival horror, how about several Silent Hill releases and the greatest zombie game ever created in RE4? This system had great games in every genre of games. So much so that if you personally only like just one or two genres of games still made it worth it to own this system. It had the ability to play DVDs, which at the time was a new concept. It took 0 adapting to the controller of the PS2 from the PS1. It may not be the greatest ever (I think it is), but it, at the very least, is in the conversation of the 2-4 systems one could in good conscience make an argument for.

[vexcollects]

Dreamcast: home of the gimmicks.

I don't see it that way. What you describe as "gimmicks" are/is actually "innovation". You have to try new things in order to succeed. If they had not released interesting new products as well as the standard gaming goodies, how would the Dreamcast have differentiated itself from any other system? Yeah, these accessories may not have hit wide spread acceptance, but I can't fault them for trying or fault the many Dreamcast fans who enjoyed the system for this reason. Sony's dominance had a lot to do with the Dreamcast's short life. If the black monolith (PS2) had never reared its head, Dreamcast may have lasted a lot longer. The "gimmicks" are part of what made the Dreamcast interesting as a gaming console. A slight welcome departure from the constant genre repetition the game industry can sometimes produce.

A gimmick would also imply that none of these innovations were ever widely accepted, which is not true of all of them. The Wii profited greatly off of motion control. That is not to say they mimicked Sega's Samba De Amigo as there were many motion control devices in the past, but motion control was not a gimmick...................................just a fad 

[MrBroadway]

Dreamcast: home of the gimmicks.

I don't see it that way. What you describe as "gimmicks" are/is actually "innovation". You have to try new things in order to succeed. If they had not released interesting new products as well as the standard gaming goodies, how would the Dreamcast have differentiated itself from any other system? Yeah, these accessories may not have hit wide spread acceptance, but I can't fault them for trying or fault the many Dreamcast fans who enjoyed the system for this reason. Sony's dominance had a lot to do with the Dreamcast's short life. If the black monolith (PS2) had never reared its head, Dreamcast may have lasted a lot longer. The "gimmicks" are part of what made the Dreamcast interesting as a gaming console. A slight welcome departure from the constant genre repetition the game industry can sometimes produce.

They had a crap ton of none gimmicky games, too, though! Virtua Tennis, Crazy Taxi, Ecco the Dolphin, Jet Set Radio (though it's not my favorite), MvC, freakin' Phantasy Star Online! Top class the Dreamcast is, though fishing reels and maracas were super lame imo.

A gimmick would also imply that none of these innovations were ever widely accepted, which is not true of all of them. The Wii profited greatly off of motion control. That is not to say they mimicked Sega's Samba De Amigo as there were many motion control devices in the past, but motion control was not a gimmick...................................just a fad 

When Wii's motion controls came out, everyone called it a gimmick. I don't disagree.

[Azzurri]

I'm very found of SNES and Dreamcast.

[glazball]

Some friends and I actually had a big discussion about this earlier this year.  I'll list below what I believe are the greatest US home consoles of all time.  However, this list is NOT the same as my 10 favorite of all time.  In fact, after thinking about it for days, I was surprised to find that my #1 pick for greatest console is nowhere near my favorite.  Considering ALL things - hardware and library, I think SNES is the greatest console ever.  (Again, I love SNES but I'd take a Genesis first any day).  You simply can't deny that the SNES nailed it - great hardware, comfy controller with shoulder buttons, great library of truly amazing games.  For all you PS2 lovers (the choice of a few of my friends also), I would have rated it higher but I had too many optical drive problems over the years.

Here's my list: Top 10 US Home Consoles of All Time
10. PS2
9.  TG-16
8.  Dreamcast
7.  Vectrex
6.  PS3
5.  N64
4.  Atari 2600
3.  NES
2.  Genesis
1.  SNES

Those that didn't quite make it: Colecovision, Intellivision, PS1 and GameCube (though the GC controller is my favorite controller of all time)

[esadajr]

(after the almighty PCE off course) I'm most fond of the Dreamcast. I can play MvsC, Powerstone, Vampire, Crazy Taxi, Vanishing Point, etc any day.

[Medic_wheat]

(after the almighty PCE off course) I'm most fond of the Dreamcast. I can play MvsC, Powerstone, Vampire, Crazy Taxi, Vanishing Point, etc any day.

If I have said it once I have said it many many times...


I am shocked...SHOCKED by the number of great Sega only games that I never got to play until the past three years when I put down the Nintendo lust and picked up some Sega stuff...

Dreamcast, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, Genesis, Master System...I am constantly finding great great titles.....


I just hope the shift in attention does not happen just yet from Nintendo fandom to Sega in the Retro market.....I still have lots and lots of Sega games to pick up that I want to check off my want list before the prices start to get "Nintendarded"

[vexcollects]

(after the almighty PCE off course) I'm most fond of the Dreamcast. I can play MvsC, Powerstone, Vampire, Crazy Taxi, Vanishing Point, etc any day.

If I have said it once I have said it many many times...


I am shocked...SHOCKED by the number of great Sega only games that I never got to play until the past three years when I put down the Nintendo lust and picked up some Sega stuff...

Dreamcast, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, Genesis, Master System...I am constantly finding great great titles.....


I just hope the shift in attention does not happen just yet from Nintendo fandom to Sega in the Retro market.....I still have lots and lots of Sega games to pick up that I want to check off my want list before the prices start to get "Nintendarded"

SEGA! Oh yeah, have you acquired :

Genesis: Shadowrun (different than the snes version), Starflight, Buck Rogers, Musha, Trouble Shooter

Sega Cd: Heart of the Alien, Dark Wizard, Dungeon Explorer, Vay... and on and on.

Although some Sega CD and Saturn stuff can be ridiculously priced already. Very few DC games cost too much, which is good. I rarely see pricey Genesis stuff. One of my collector friends gave me his entire genesis collection for free. 6 or 7 systems and something like 50 or 60 games. He figured they were not worth bothering to sell them. I acquired a lot of good titles from that.

[vexcollects]

Here's my list: Top 10 US Home Consoles of All Time
10. PS2
9.  TG-16
8.  Dreamcast
7.  Vectrex
6.  PS3
5.  N64
4.  Atari 2600
3.  NES
2.  Genesis
1.  SNES

Those that didn't quite make it: Colecovision, Intellivision, PS1 and GameCube (though the GC controller is my favorite controller of all time)

I'm saddened by the low low ranking of the tg16 on  your (your friends and yourself) list. I think somewhere a baby panda dies if the tg16 is not ranked properly at number 1 in any best of ranking. 

[glazball]

I'm saddened by the low low ranking of the tg16 on  your (your friends and yourself) list. I think somewhere a baby panda dies if the tg16 is not ranked properly at number 1 in any best of ranking. 

Considering only US consoles, it does pain me to rank it low-ish, but it's still there!  Trust me, I have nothing but love for the Turbo.  However, it did have some painful flaws, most notably the single controller port and having to buy the TurboBooster for improved a/v quality.

If I made a list of my personal favorite consoles, the TurboDuo would be up there, prob 1 or 2.

[MrBroadway]

N64 over PS1 makes that list a joke, anyway.

[glazball]

N64 over PS1 makes that list a joke, anyway.

lol, ok but did you ever have to put something heavy on top of your N64 to get a game to play?  Ever have to sit through a 2 or 3 minute loading screen while playing an N64 game?

[esadajr]

N64 over PS1 makes that list a joke, anyway.

lol, ok but did you ever have to put something heavy on top of your N64 to get a game to play?  Ever have to sit through a 2 or 3 minute loading screen while playing an N64 game?

loading times were not that bad, and, waiting on lets say FFIX to load, was totally worth it.

[slinkyturd]

N64 is clearly a better choice over PS1. PS1 has a hundred terrible ass crap games for every one playable one. N64 was quality over quantity.