What is your least favorite and most favorite console?

[Reprise]

The PS2 is a weird one imo. It's has hundreds, thousands even, of games. I have a good selection of games for the system, including some of the best on the system (well if you believe what a lot of sites, critics and general people say). Yet, I still get more enjoyment out of my Gamecube, Saturn and Dreamcast...

[TornadoCreator]

I think if I'm honest, I dislike pretty much all Nintendo consoles. I've already explained why I consider the N64 a stain on the collective memory of gaming, but the others aren't much better.

The NES has loads of classics, but when it comes to shovelware and gaming snobbery it's the irritating to the highest order. All the serious collectors seem to be American, and all the serious collectors all seem to be in their late 20's/early 30's so they all grew up with the NES and want to collect the console of their childhood. There's more focus on NES collecting than any other console by far, even it's far superior sucessor the SNES doesn't get anywhere close to the focus. If I compare the 800 NES games to the 318 Master System games, the Average NES game is AWFUL. Hell, the Angry Video Game Nerd has made a career of highlighting the bad games for this console, out of his 104 episodes, only 28 of them are NOT about NES games, and many of his episodes cover multiple games. If there's ever a console that has far more shit than decent games yet is still remembered fondly, it's the NES

The SNES however makes me actually angry. As much as I hate the N64, it's nothing compared with the absolute rage I feel towards the twats that made the SNES, I hope they die in a fire... why? Because they're assholes. EVERY SINGLE DECENT GAME! Yes, all of them, didn't get a European release. Oh, and I don't mean little small time games either, I'm talking about some of the best rated games on the damn system. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy II & III, Earthbound, Ogre Battle, Super Mario RPG, Lufia, Breath of Fire, Ys III and EVO to name but a few... and that's just the RPGs, we lost out across the board. This console is constantly being praised for being an RPG godsend amongst gamers when, if you live in Europe, there are more RPGs avaliable for a blank peice of fucking paper. For me, the SNES is nothing more than a reminder that Japanese companies are run by xenophobic racist douches who consider the rest of us inferior and can't be arsed to release their games to the rest of the world, especially Europe. Japan get's it first, Japan is the last to have it discontinued (those bastards still had Dreamcast support right up until 2006), and they get ALL the games, where as we get the ones they can be arsed to release, when they get around to it. Oh and it's not a translation issue either because often after translating the game and releasing it in USA they'll stand around with their fingers up their arses for another YEAR OR TWO before Europe get's the game. SNES is a constant reminder of how much Europe is the video game industries little bitch and for that I hate it.

PS: I realise any Australians watching get an even worse deal, but remember, we both use PAL, if it's released in Europe the European version will work on your systems hense why the loss of an Australian release isn't as bad. American versions can't be imported, especially not in UK with it's high-voltage electric system. You'd need the American consoles and a transformer the size of a suitcase... unless you want the console to melt that is.

Next is the Gamecube, which honestly, I don't hate. I quite like the Gamecube as a console, especially with the Gameboy Player which let's me play GBA games on the big screen. It's a good console and I think I can have my peace with Nintendo here... except this marks another point of irritation for me. They ported the Dreamcast games here?! Why? The Dreamcast OUTSOLD the Gamecube (in the UK at least). Honestly, with this console, I have no real reason to like it. The Dreamcast, PS2 and Xbox all had things I liked about them... the Gamecube though just didn't.

Lastly we have the Wii... my hatred cannot be contained. Not only is this an utter betrayal to gamers with a total focus on casual gaming, the natural gaming controls have been replaced with stupid motion controls, (which have no infected the other consoles), and all my favourite genres where abandoned. Sandbox Action? No. JRPG? No. Hack-n-Slash? No. Instead it's all party games and platformers... and the platformers all use bloody stupid waggle physics. Oh but that's not all, not content with being a symbol of Nintendo's betrayal of gamers, the Wii then has to follow suit after the SNES with it's only decent games to date, and only JRPG's to come out on the console. Operation Rainfall anyone, yeah, well now you American's know how it feels, and while I'm very sympathetic, even livid that Nintendo are screwing you over (and where planning on screwing us over in Europe, they only agreed to release the games because of letter sending campaigns), I can't say this is a shock. Nintendo hates everyone who isn't Japanese. We're not worth their consideration and even if it would make them a pot load of money, they won't release the games largely because.... they can't be arsed. It's not a translation issue, because they're already being translated for UK and France, so USA and Canada should be no trouble. It would be nothing more than converting them from PAL to NTSC, sticking a "$" instead of a "£" on the price and putting it in the shop, if it was any easier it'd already be done. Or better still Nintendo could copy Sony and make the Wii region free... oh but then they wouldn't have an excuse to give Japan preferential treatment.

So yeah... I hate Nintendo. Some people will no doubt accuse me of being a Sega fanboy who grew up hating Nintendo and is simply justifying that hatred, but that's honestly not true. This is a much more recent thing. I loved my SNES. Mario All-Stars and Donkey Kong Country 2 are some of my favourite games. I even chose the SNES over the Mega Drive for certain games because they felt smoother on the SNES, like Street Fighter 2. It was much more recent that I came to dislike these consoles as I learned the history of the consoles and slowly learned how much we where let down in Europe.

I'm sure some people will be upset by what I've said here... and I don't mean to make anyone uncomfortable here. This is just my own irritations, so don't take anything too seriously, it's just my own issues with our hobby, don't let it effect your enjoyment of the games.

[Reprise]

I've always been a 'Sega kid', but I agree that the one thing that has stopped me diving straight into buying a SNES and jumping on the "it's the greatest console ever" bandwagon, is that if you were to look on any top 25 SNES games list, the chances are that at least 80% of them were never even released here in the UK and Europe.

I also have that bitterness in me whenever I think of the SNES, purely because nearly every single game that makes that system so damn good, wasn't even released here. It took the piss. It really did.

One day, when I have a better job and some spare cash, I'll probably buy a modded SNES (The UK model looks so much nicer than that ugly US one - I guess the only redeeming factor) and buy all the imports along with the, like, 4 good games we were lucky enough to get.

[AppleQueso]

The NES has loads of classics, but when it comes to shovelware and gaming snobbery it's the irritating to the highest order. All the serious collectors seem to be American, and all the serious collectors all seem to be in their late 20's/early 30's so they all grew up with the NES and want to collect the console of their childhood. There's more focus on NES collecting than any other console by far, even it's far superior sucessor the SNES doesn't get anywhere close to the focus. If I compare the 800 NES games to the 318 Master System games, the Average NES game is AWFUL. Hell, the Angry Video Game Nerd has made a career of highlighting the bad games for this console, out of his 104 episodes, only 28 of them are NOT about NES games, and many of his episodes cover multiple games. If there's ever a console that has far more shit than decent games yet is still remembered fondly, it's the NES

That's a silly criticism. ANY game with a large library has a huge mountain of shit to go along with its classics. That said, I think NES has so many huge collectors and fans partially because the console (in the US at least) has become something of a cultural icon.

I don't think anyone can blame you for being bitter of the SNES's treatment over in good 'ol PAL land though. That's not really the SNES's fault though, is it?

You kinda remind me though... why is every Sega fan so bitter all the time?

[BurningDoom]

The PS2 is a weird one imo. It's has hundreds, thousands even, of games. I have a good selection of games for the system, including some of the best on the system (well if you believe what a lot of sites, critics and general people say). Yet, I still get more enjoyment out of my Gamecube, Saturn and Dreamcast...

I agree. PS2 had a lot of good games. But not enough GREAT games. And a good number of the games that are great, are also available on Gamecube and XBox. But that's not to say it's bad system, by any means.

[Reprise]

Seeing as I haven't even answered the topic properly yet:

Favourite: Dreamcast
Growing up, I was a huge Sega fan. I was obsessed with the company from the moment I first discovered video games with Sonic and the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) until after the dying days of the Dreamcast. This console, to me, represented Sega at the height of their creativity and innovativeness. Sega had finally got it right, with a console that was perfect in so many ways for the time. The games were amazing, and the power of the system blew me away. Sonic was back and kicking ass, Ecco the Dolphin was brought back, and let's not forget all the new crazy games and series Sega thought up during the console's lifespan. To this day, I own around 75 odd games for the system and it still remains to this day my most played console.

Least favourite: PS2(/PS1)
Like I said above, the console is a weird one for me. Many consider it one of the greatest systems of all time, with a huge lineup of brilliant games. I, on the other hand, consider it a bit of a jack of all trades, but master of none. I know many will read my words with disgust, but of all the games I own for the system, I still play it the least out of all my consoles. Nothing about it really excites me much and it lacks the personality of my other consoles.

[Greatscot]

My favourite console : SNES takes me back a good decade ago, to when i had a n64 and gamecube but mostly played my snes because of the brilliantly thought out games and the graphics have a certain charm which i love, still pssd off because i cant play ntsc only games like the rpgs and such, but i still loved my old classics

My least Favourite console : PAL NES not ntsc because i bought one recently i love all of the games and when i came to buy them off ebay the prices for the good games were say £20-30 and i dont live near any stores that sell the old games so im stuck with ebay and car boot sales. and ive been wanting a nes for years aswell.

[TornadoCreator]

You kinda remind me though... why is every Sega fan so bitter all the time?

Because Nintendo somehow sucked the collective cock of the internet and now every reviews editior or games "expert" on the internet, when naming their top games of all time, always puts; Super Mario 64, Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, 007 GoldenEye, Super Mario World, Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Super Mario World, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Metroid, Star Fox and Mario Kart 64 all in the top of their list...

If you're lucky, less than 5 of the top 10 will be Nintendo-wank and a Sonic game might just crack the top 50. Honestly, the only games that even stand a chance of getting into the Top 10 regularly are; Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger, Half-Life 2 and Shadow Of The Colossus and it's almost impossible for the #1 to not be a Zelda or Mario game.

Sega fans feel like they're in a room with a load of lunatics. Sonic get's treated like an average platformer, yet Mario is the best game ever? People rave about Final Fight or Double Dragon, but no one seems to remember Golden Axe or Streets Of Rage. People love Contra but Gunstar Heroes... nah. People love the classic NES platformers like Duck Tails and Mega Man but no-one notices Ristar and Rocket Knight Adventure... Even fan favourites like Shenmue and Panzer Dragoon are largely forgotten.

Basically, to a Sega fan there are 3 groups of gamers. The new Hardcore who play Halo, Call Of Duty and nothing else, call you "gay" on XBLA, tea-bag you and tell you how hard they raped your mother when they shoot you after hacking their games (and yes, they do hack, google NGU if you don't believe me there's a whole forum devoted to it)... oh and they're all 12 as well. The second group are casual gamers who play nothing but brain training and wii sports resort, occationally they'll pick up a more involved game like Kingdom Hearts... and we'll feel bad for them. Lastly there's the retro-gamers who seem to enjoy the same types of games as us, but for some reason when they played Nintendo games played diamond encrusted golden games not the stuff we got, so while they like one or two games for the "Genesis" (because 9 out of 10 people online are American and they get confused when you say Mega Drive), they seem firmly set on their love affair for a console manufacturer who quite frankly doesn't care about us (Operation Rainfall people).

Basically we don't belong anywhere, and while no-one else seems to agree with us and we've been forced to admit the faults with our favourite franchises (after all, try saying Sonics the greatest franchise of all time and see how much mockery you get), no-one else seems to have been taught this lesson. Halo fans, Zelda fans, Mario fans, CoD fans, WoW fans, PC FPS fans, they're all so bigheaded. So assured that their favourite games are undeniably great, yet we get accused of being fanboys all the time (I was called a fanboy earlier in this very thread... and I was explaining why the Dreamcast WASN'T the best console ever).

In short Sega fans are the only fans forced to have a sense of perspective, to admit their favourite games aren't perfect for fear of mockery, where as everyone else hypocritically acts like a fanboy and expects us to swallow it. Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time isn't amazing. Super Mario 64 is even worse, it's a BAD game. GoldenEye is pretty damn terrible and Alien Trilogy on the Saturn years earlier puts it to shame. God forbid I say this though... the Nintendo fanboys may get hurt. This is why we're bitter.

[TornadoCreator]

Least favourite: PS2(/PS1)
Like I said above, the console is a weird one for me. Many consider it one of the greatest systems of all time, with a huge lineup of brilliant games. I, on the other hand, consider it a bit of a jack of all trades, but master of none. I know many will read my words with disgust, but of all the games I own for the system, I still play it the least out of all my consoles. Nothing about it really excites me much and it lacks the personality of my other consoles.

Really? You play your N64 and Gamecube more than your PS2?

I agree the PS2 did lack an identity for most people, but this is more because of the way gaming went. People became unfamilar with genre catergorisation and it gave rise to the "Action Adventure" catch all.

The PS2 did the best 'Beat-Em Ups'. You know, games where you beat up loads of people using simple combo strings, not quite a fighting game, but more combat than a platfomer, like Streets Of Rage and Final Fight... they didn't stop making these when gaming went 3D, they just call them "Action Adventure" like EVERY OTHER GAME. In 3D they used to be called 'Hack n Slash' or more fittingly 'Brawler' (which I prefer as 'Hack n Slash' was the name used for games like 'Diablo' or 'Titan Quest' on PC) but for some reason no-one uses those names anymore. Games like 'Devil May Cry', 'God Of War', 'Onimusha', 'Dynasty Warriors 4', 'Ninja Gaiden Sigma', 'Shinobi', 'X-Men 3', 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine', 'Ghost Rider' and many more and then there's Action Platformers which again got branded "Action Adventure" like everything else, like 'Shadow Of The Colossus', 'Prince Of Persia', 'Tomb Raider Legend' and 'Spiderman: Web Of Shadows' and lastly there's open-world games of Sandbox games as they've become known as. 'Just Cause', 'Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction' and the most famous franchise for Sandbox games, 'GTA: Vice City', 'GTA: San Andreas' and 'GTA: Liberty City Stories'

This is the PS2's "personality" as I see it as the 3D Action games platform, but it's also a great Traditional 3D Platformer console with the 'Jak & Daxter' and 'Ratchet & Clank' series as well as the cross platform stuff like 'Rayman 3' and 'Psychonauts'. It's just that the PS3 never pushed a specific genre.

Dreamcast was the Arcade and Fighting game machine.
Gamecube was for local multiplayer, Resident Evil and Nintendo FPF.
Xbox was for First Person Shooters.... well Halo
PS2 was... for everything else

[The Last Horseman]

Tornado, I thought we had a connection. Now you do this.

I understand some of the complaints, but the NES complaints are just like any other console with good games-there is also a lot of crap. With the NES, it just seems more noticeable. And I don't believe you dug enough on the Wii. I get the SNES dislike since your in Europe, but meh. It just seems like you come off directly hostile towards people in your writing, I doubt you mean to though.

Sorry. Oh, and CD-i sucks.