What makes your favorite console?

[Yancakes]

Arguing the hardware capabilities of the N64 and the PSX has always seemed silly to me. They're different enough from each other that it just doesn't seem like a valid argument can ever be made. The PSX had FMVs and CD quality sound, I think maybe better textures, but the N64 could push more polygons or something. I’m not sure of any of this, I don’t really care.

What really made the N64 endearing to me over the PSX was its wackiness, its weirdness. It had an inexplicable design that made it totally unique, and despite how insane Nintendo seems to have been in designing it, it all just works together so damn well.

I like the PS1, I like the system and I love a lot of games for it. It’s practical, and the decisions made in its development were logical and made sense. The choice of CDs was logical. The pop-top and big, friendly, round power button make sense, the controller was conventional and the whole thing was easy to program for. It is a very practical system. Too practical actually; and no matter what they put under the hood, the PS1 is an ugly grey brick.

The N64 on the other hand is a piece of art. When you put it on a shelf it feels almost like it grips to it, it has great curves from the front- not dissimilar to an old Lamborghini- and a great looking shape from almost every side. It helped that it was two-tone, as the grey trip around the controller ports and grey carts and controllers just brought the whole look of it together.
The cartridges were impractical and expensive in an era when CDs were becoming the standard, but that’s OK. No one buys a hot rod because it’s practical. They felt nice enough, but when you popped them in the system they clicked in to place with a healthy ka-chunk that was just so, so satisfying.

And then there’s the controller. Nintendo seemed to feel that designing a controller for someone with three arms was a good idea, and by some fluke it worked out. It was unique, no one ever did it before and no one’s ever done it since. The thing looked like a space ship. To this day it’s one of the most recognizable controllers ever made. And more importantly, it felt great to play with.

The system wasn’t without its flaws, obviously. The limitations of cartridges made Nintendo take a hit when companies like Square stopped developing for them. Those big, long, ambitious RPGs that had been a huge selling point of the SNES migrated to CD-based systems. The cartridges also had no marking on the top or sides, meaning that you could only tell what game you were holding if you were looking at it from the very front, making storage impractical. And of course, despite the insane genius of the controller, it was not always practical when games used every button since, of course, humans do only in fact possess two hands. These are minor complaints, though, when looking at the big picture; a big picture which included, conveniently, an absolutely stellar lineup of games.

[BurningDoom]

The NES is my favorite console, for many reasons:

1. It was the console of the my childhood. We did have an Atari 2600 before it, but it never held my attention long. And I was only 6 or 7 when we got the NES, so I was pretty young anyways. So there's a lot of nostalgia behind it for me.

2. The game library. The NES has a huge and varied library of games with plenty of gems through-out it. Capcom and Konami in particular were just knocking them out of the park on the NES.

3. The Nintendo first-party games: Super Mario Bros. 1-3, Legend of Zelda 1 & 2, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, Tetris, Dr. Mario, Duck Hunt, Wild Gunman; and the best home versions of Nintendo arcade classics like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros.

4. The controller. It may seem simple by today's standards, but back then they were a godsend compared to the joysticks and keypads of the pre-NES consoles.

[Menegrothx]

I like the PS1, I like the system and I love a lot of games for it. It’s practical, and the decisions made in its development were logical and made sense. The choice of CDs was logical. The pop-top and big, friendly, round power button make sense, the controller was conventional and the whole thing was easy to program for. It is a very practical system. Too practical actually; and no matter what they put under the hood, the PS1 is an ugly grey brick.

I actually really like the way PS1 look like. And the controller was the first one to have "handles" and two rows of trigger buttons so it wasnt entirely conventional.

And then there’s the controller. Nintendo seemed to feel that designing a controller for someone with three arms was a good idea, and by some fluke it worked out. It was unique, no one ever did it before and no one’s ever done it since. The thing looked like a space ship. To this day it’s one of the most recognizable controllers ever made. And more importantly, it felt great to play with.

N64 is the only console I refuse to play with the original controller. In fact the only thing holding me back at the moment is the fact that those Hori Mini control pads are so damn expensive, as soon as I get one, I cant start collecting on N64. I dont mind playing with a regular Atari 2600 controller and I dont see why the Jaguar controller gets so much hate, but I just physically couldn't bare to play N64. Seriously, I just could not play with the controller, my body told me "no". I haven't had that problem with any other controller or joystick so far, although I havent got Intellivision nor Colecovision in my collection yet. 5200 and Channel F controllers look really dreadful too, but I dont plan on getting either of those consoles).

The system wasn’t without its flaws, obviously. The limitations of cartridges made Nintendo take a hit when companies like Square stopped developing for them. Those big, long, ambitious RPGs that had been a huge selling point of the SNES migrated to CD-based systems.

It's really cool how N64 games arent really that impaired despite the fact that the cartridges had much less space than CDs. The programmers must've had to pull off some demoscene trickery to pack the games up so tight. Do the N64 versions of Resident Evil 2 or Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1-3 miss any of the content the PS1 versions had?

It may seem simple by today's standards, but back then they were a godsend compared to the joysticks and keypads of the pre-NES consoles.

I think its fun to play 2600 and Master System games with a joystick It doesnt work that well in all SMS games but I find it easier to play 2600 games with a Joystick than with the regular controller usually.

[Yancakes]

I actually really like the way PS1 look like. And the controller was the first one to have "handles" and two rows of trigger buttons so it wasnt entirely conventional.

There were PC controllers that had handles before the PS1 controller was released, though doubling up the shoulder buttons was something that no one else had done. All the same, until the dual shock was released I really didn't find anything special in the PS1 controller.

N64 is the only console I refuse to play with the original controller. In fact the only thing holding me back at the moment is the fact that those Hori Mini control pads are so damn expensive, as soon as I get one, I cant start collecting on N64. I dont mind playing with a regular Atari 2600 controller and I dont see why the Jaguar controller gets so much hate, but I just physically couldn't bare to play N64. Seriously, I just could not play with the controller, my body told me "no". I haven't had that problem with any other controller or joystick so far, although I havent got Intellivision nor Colecovision in my collection yet. 5200 and Channel F controllers look really dreadful too, but I dont plan on getting either of those consoles).

I won't lie, the controller is really polarizing. People either love it or hate it, but that's sort of the way beauty goes. I remember reading a while ago an article on beauty, and people who are overall flawless wind up getting much less talked about and get much less attention that a beautiful person with, say, a big nose or some other insignificant flaw. The N64 is the Adrien Brody of video game controllers, except it's probably a better actor. Actually, speaking of which, the N64 controller got dismantled and used as props in a bunch of movies and TV shows, mostly of the low-budget sci-fi variety. The problem was that the damn thing was so recognizable that it always wound up sticking out like a sore thumb in the shot.

It's really cool how N64 games arent really that impaired despite the fact that the cartridges had much less space than CDs. The programmers must've had to pull off some demoscene trickery to pack the games up so tight. Do the N64 versions of Resident Evil 2 or Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1-3 miss any of the content the PS1 versions had?

THPS3 was a ps2 release, so yes, that one was missing some content. Otherwise, aside from lower resolution and lower quality music, the N64 carts did a really good job keeping up with CD media. Aside from ports, too, there were a lot of incredibly ambitious games for the N64 that really showed off what you can do with such limited memory.

[StuntDouble]

I appear to be on the same page (and same age) as BurningDoom. My all time favorite has to be the NES. It actually wasn't my first console, that honor goes to the Atari 7800. Even though most of the games I played on it were from the 2600, I loved the hell out of that system. When I got an NES, I pretty much forgot the Atari existed. I loved everything about that system. The graphics were so much better, and the games actually had music! And the controller..yes it was simple, but Nintendo was able to get so much out of those 4 little buttons and dpad. It didn't hurt that the quality of the games was much higher than those I had on my 7800 as well.

It's threads like this that tempt me to sell off everything else and just get another NES with a handful of games and call it quits.

[RCBH928]

I am not really sure why the N64 controller gets so much hate. When I was a kid that was a huge attraction to me, it made me drool(kids like different looking stuff). It also made sense back then when analogue was first introduced. 1 handle for D-Pad, another for analogue, make your choice.

As an adult I can understand that its not all that convenient, but I played mario 64 and Zelda very happily.

I do not agree that PSX looks ugly, I loved it. The truly ugly consoles are the PS2 which I still can't believe it was released in this form(fat) , and 2nd is the white Xbox. 3rd must be the fat ps3 , looked like a small oven.

At some point the PSX was my favorite console. I remember drooling over the joystick that did not have letters for buttons but geometrical shapes! It had a CD , 3D graphics, and adult oriented games which was huge back then because as far as i remember , console adventure games were the cartoony FInal Fantasy and maybe The Zombies Ate My Neighbours . Even splatter house looks cartoony if you ask me, then we jump to stuff like Resident Evil.
When I first saw the PSX I really got that futuristic feeling, the future was now.

I think it died with me because all these things were soon turned out to be the norm , and 2D adventures/platformers died in almost 2 years I guess after being the main attraction in the generation before it.

I am not sure if this is childish or not , but I still love about the PSX the black CDs . It felt so special and futuristic, like the CD has the powers of 3D all on its own, it still does to me :p
Wonder why they dropped it

[pvt_awol]

It's really cool how N64 games arent really that impaired despite the fact that the cartridges had much less space than CDs. The programmers must've had to pull off some demoscene trickery to pack the games up so tight. Do the N64 versions of Resident Evil 2 or Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1-3 miss any of the content the PS1 versions had?

THPS3 was a ps2 release, so yes, that one was missing some content. Otherwise, aside from lower resolution and lower quality music, the N64 carts did a really good job keeping up with CD media. Aside from ports, too, there were a lot of incredibly ambitious games for the N64 that really showed off what you can do with such limited memory.

Not looking to thread jack, but FWIW, Resident Evil 2 on the N64 actually had higher resolution than the PS1 version, extra options, and an extra play mode. The only thing missing from the N64 version was the sound sampling wasn't as high as the CD based game, and the FMV's weren't in the same high resolution as the gameplay. Otherwise, people still argue over which version is better. Heck, the N64 version even still had both disc based campaigns on the cart. As a huge fan of the series, I just thought I'd point that out.

Also, I love the N64 controller. I'd say that it went hand in hand at making Golden Eye the game that it was. Just saying.

[Menegrothx]

I do not agree that PSX looks ugly, I loved it. The truly ugly consoles are the PS2 which I still can't believe it was released in this form(fat) , and 2nd is the white Xbox. 3rd must be the fat ps3 , looked like a small oven.

Amen to that

When I first saw the PSX I really got that futuristic feeling, the future was now.

That's exactly how I feel about the PS1. It was my first console and I just really love it. The time perioid between 1995 and 2001 is my favorite. It indeed felt like we were moving towards something great, the future. There were alot of futuristic eurodance and techno songs being played on TV (back when music channels showed actual music videos and not reality TV) with music videos like this and this. Oh and Freestyler. That video, as tacky as it is, looks like the future a lot more than any music video you'll see today. Just look at those clothes! Oh and who could forget Future is now

Anyways, PS1 and the Dreamcast (and to lesser extent the Saturn, Amiga CD32 and 3DO, but not N64 nor PS2) represent this "space age" of consoles to me.

I could go on for hours, but
hearing this song and seeing/playing demos of games like Tekken 2/3, Oddworld: Abes Oddysee, Kula World and Wipeout back in 97-99=mind blowing

Oh and classics like Half Life, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2, Deus Ex and System Shock 2 were coming out on the PC during that time too! A lot of really innovative games were coming out both on PS1 and the PC

[BlackDS]

The Nintendo 64, simply because thats what I grew up with and thats what got me into gaming.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

PC is my most played and most loved platform, but as far as consoles are concerned it would have to be the Genesis. I just love everything about the system. The sound, the graphics, the cases. It all just does it for me, even though I don't really play my consoles that much anymore.