The Top 10 Consoles of All-Time According to You

[Croooow!]

1. Playstation 2 - It was really hard for me to put this above the SNES but I couldn't deny that this is the most balanced system ever in terms of genre representation. Whatever I want to play the PS2 has me covered whether it is an PS2 game, a PS1 game, or a compilation of older games.

2. Super Nintendo - My favorite system growing up even if I didn't own one. While I was one of the kids stuck with regular Nintendo, my cousins and the daycare I spent my school year afternoons and summer days at had me covered. While I didn't own one until college (and finally owned that collection of games I always wanted), discovering SNES emulation in Junior High cemented my love for the system and gave me a chance to enjoy all of the classics until I could own one for myself.

3. Nintendo Entertainment System - Growing up my brothers and I went through three NESs, probably because one of my brothers was outright violent to the system and cartridges if they didn't work and the other once blew in the console while chewing gum. We ended up getting one when my mom couldn't tell the difference between a Game Boy and NES game and got about 30 free games from our babysitter who had outgrown it. Because of this we got early exposure to the typical classics: Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Mega Man as well as hidden gems like Jackal, Little Nemo, and Duck Tales.

4. Playstation Portable - If you had told me at its launch that the PSP would be one of my favorite systems a few years later I would have laughed at you. I pretty much consider it a portable Dreamcast. Think about it, it has the exact same button configuration, similar graphic capabilities, and the benefit of being an underdog with enough popular support to allow for creative and experimental games. The volume of high quality original games, high quality ports, compilations, and remakes, and high quality PSone classics blows any other handheld out of the water. The gorgeous screen and design are just icing on the cake.

5. Sega Dreamcast - I have Racketboy to thank for introducing me to this wonderful console. While many of its best games were ported to other consoles and others were ported from other consoles, this little machine still has enough quality exclusives, fantastic design and build quality, and soul in it to stand on its own. While many people prefer the Genesis I definitely prefer Sega in the Dreamcast days as they weren't trying really hard to be cool, they just were.

6. Game Boy Advance SP - the original Game Boy was the first console I ever had and I had owned almost every incarnations of the GB throughout the years. I loved the design of the original GBA but the inclusion of a backlit screen answered years of prayers and made the oceanic library of GB, GBC, and GBA games much easier to enjoy. As noise has said, almost every franchise is represented here and the depth of games in its library is seemingly endless.

7. Wii - Yes there is a lot of shovelware and lack of high quality third party games but if you look in the right places the Wii has a lot to offer. The first party offering are of couse excellent but where my love for the console really comes from is the Gamecube backwards compatability (with cheaper component cables to boot) and Virtual Console. So many aspects of VC win my approval from being able to save your spot in games, having a choice from half a dozen controllers with the right adapters, being able to easily afford otherwise expensive games, and making all of the games look and sound much cleaner.

8. Nintendo 64 - I don't understand the hate that some people have for this console. Yes the controller looks silly and the joystick sucks but this console defines the 32/64 bit generation for me. For some reason, in my town no one owned a PS1 and I didn't play one until the early 2000s so my perceptions of the generation are a bit skewed. However I don't feel like I missed out on too much as the 64 offered exactly what I was captivated by at the time: 3D playformers, racing games, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, and Zelda. Good God I loved Zelda.

9. PS1 - It took me a few years to finally discover this one and when I did it made a large impression. Immediately I was absorbed in the massive RPG library that was dirt cheap after the PS2 launch and I am still discovering all this console has to offer after years of overlooking and underestimating it. While I do love it, its lower on the list as PS2 backwards compatability made owning the console largely redundant and the PSP's PSone classics has made that my preferred platform for PS1 gaming.

10. Nintendo Gamecube - I know this list is a little Nintendo heavy but this entry is more a reflection of the strength of the sixth generation of games more than anything. This was the first console of that generation I owned and offered a lot in a lot of different genres. It had the best controller in a generation full of great controllers, great first party games, graphical performance second only to the Xbox, wonderfully small proprietary disks, and several superior ports. The Game Boy Player is easily the best console add on if you ask me.

[Breetai]

You said the Sega Mark III, but did you know that the Master System was actually released in Japan and called... The Master System? Yes, the Mark III was the first version of it, but all Japanese SMS games that came out after the black console was released had Master System written on them. The Japanese SMS also had a better sound chip than the Mark III (and the SMS in every other region). The Wii VC in Japan also calls it the Master System.

Really? I thought the Master System actually lacked the FM sound chip that was found in the Mark III.

I missed this, sorry!

The Mark III had an add-on FM sound perpetual. The Japanese Master System had it built in. The other region Master Systems (US, EU, Brazil, etc.) did not have a built in FM sound chip. I am not sure why Sega didn't include this, as I believe some of the games actually support it!!!

[darthmunky]

My top 10 are being judged by the amount of top quality exclusive games, not the console itself, here it goes:

1 - Super Nintendo
2 - Nintendo
3 - GameBoy Advance
4 - Xbox 360
5 - Playstation
6 - GameCube
7 - Dreamcast
8 - Playstation 2
9 - Xbox
10 - Playstation 3

[Nanten]

Since I don't think I can rate the top ten consoles fairly, I'll just make a top five list like some others already have:

1. SNES
2. PS2
3. NES
4. PS1
5. Dreamcast

[dgamemuster]

1. RetroN3
2. Tectoy Mega Drive 4
3. GenCore
4. FC Mobile 2
5. F-16 Go
6. FC Twin
7. GenMobile
8. Radica Genesis Plug N' Play
9. Poga TV Plug N' Play
10. V. Smile

[BurningDoom]

1. RetroN3
2. Tectoy Mega Drive 4
3. GenCore
4. FC Mobile 2
5. F-16 Go
6. FC Twin
7. GenMobile
8. Radica Genesis Plug N' Play
9. Poga TV Plug N' Play
10. V. Smile

Top 10, not 10 worst.

[BoringSupreez]

1. RetroN3
2. Tectoy Mega Drive 4
3. GenCore
4. FC Mobile 2
5. F-16 Go
6. FC Twin
7. GenMobile
8. Radica Genesis Plug N' Play
9. Poga TV Plug N' Play
10. V. Smile

Top 10, not 10 worst.

You don't seem to consider that maybe he just has horrible taste.

[pakopako]

I always thought the SMS FM games were dependent on an FM chip on the game, not the system? (e.g Phantasy Star which advertised the 4MB size)

Haha, Pakopako, I love how you put non-standard system versions as your photos. The yellowed SNES was pure gold!

Naw. There were bits o' gray still in there.

[Breetai]

I always thought the SMS FM games were dependent on an FM chip on the game, not the system? (e.g Phantasy Star which advertised the 4MB size)

I'm not an expert on the topic, but from my understanding there was definitely an FM sound chip built into the Japanese SMS. It was not in the SMS from other regions, and was also released as an add-on for the Japanese Mark III. It was definitely a chip in the system.

I do not know what was done in the cartridges, but I assume it was in the software. Maybe there was also a chip in the cartridges? I really do not know. I do know that, as I think I mentioned, that a number of games released in the US and elsewhere kept FM sound support even though it was useless. A few games, including Phantasy Star, had the FM sound removed from the cartridge in the non-Japanese carts even though it was present in the original release.

[Balasubbie]

I was going to make a list, 'til I thought it bad taste to make a list of Dreamcast/Gamecube 'til 10.