Let's rank the Video Game Generations!

[Exhuminator]

I've thought about this challenge for a while now and I am unable to come to any tangible conclusions. I currently game from the third generation to the seventh generation, and there are so many amazing games from each of those independent eras that I find it impossible to rank one better than the other.

[KayJay]

I've thought about this challenge for a while now and I am unable to come to any tangible conclusions. I currently game from the third generation to the seventh generation, and there are so many amazing games from each of those independent eras that I find it impossible to rank one better than the other.

I don't blame ya, dude. It's really, really tough to list these.


I may say that i don't like the 5th gen as much, but I love Ocarina of Time, Mega Man Legends, & Goldeneye. I may not play the 2nd gen much, but i love Mappy, Crystal Castles, Pac-Man, and such.

It was really tough for me to even come up with a listing.

[Gamerforlife]

1. Gen 4 - 16-bit era was the golden age. 8-bit era gameplay polished and refined, with graphics closing the gap with arcades. It will NEVER be that good again. Plus, arcades were still thriving at this time and they were awesome. I was never more in love with gaming than I was at this time

2. Gen 6 - When 3D gaming matured, and also the last time gaming was good. HD gen was when it all went to shit. The rise and fall of the Dreamcast took me from a great high to a great low, it was the last console I ever felt true excitement for. But the PS2 still provided me with many great games and memories

3. Gen 5 - Bad graphics, but still good games. I didn't mind the tank controls in some games. We owe this gen a big thanks for introducing memory cards. 3D was an amazing, game changing (no pun intended) thing at the time. Today's equivalent would be the movement to virtual reality. While many will cite Mario 64, it was Tomb Raider that blew my mind with what 3d gaming was capable of. Also, FMV in PS1 games just blew my mind too (never had a Sega CD)...as did Final Fantasy 7's amazing (for their time) graphics. This was the PS1 era, no question. The Saturn and N64 didn't even matter. For a certain generation of younger gamers, the PS1 was their Nintendo

4. Gen 3 - NES era, this is when I started to get hooked into gaming. Great games, but graphically a far cry from the amazing things we saw in arcades and there was so much archaic game design and game mechanics in this gen. Still, gaming as many of us know it began to take shape in this gen. Games with stories, actual endings, a POINT to playing them. Gaming starting to mature here. Ninja Gaiden was an eye opener with its deep and cinematic story telling.

5. Gen 2 - Can't say much about it, most of the games I didn't play. And it seems like there was no point to games in this gen as they had no stories, no endings. It was just games looping and people playing for high scores...boring. Games felt "incomplete" this gen. They weren't a true means of escapism.

6. Gen 6 - I absolutely abhor everything about this generation of gaming. Fuck Microsoft and certain other companies for all the bad things they introduced to the gaming world (Pre order exclusives, on disc DLC, multiplayer bullshit, fleeting digital content getting de-listed at the drop of a hat, day 1 patches, etc.). And this gen reeks of corporate greed more than any other. Also, the move towards consoles becoming more and more like PCs has brought nothing good to console gaming.

for no. 6, i think you mean gen 7.

Darn it, let me go back and fix that

[Key-Glyph]

I can't rank them all because my areas of interest are pretty narrow, but I do want to share some thoughts.

Like Bone, I could live off 16-bit alone. However, today I was holding my little DS Lite in my hands, taking advantage of that "dongle feature" to unlock extra content in a DS game with a GBA cart, and I felt overwhelmed by the feeling that this is actually what I would consider the peak of video gaming. In context of my own personal tastes, I mean.

I have three reasons for this. For one -- and this is originally why I bought the system -- so many 16-bit games were either ported directly to the DS itself or to the GBA. Thus, with a library mixture of new stuff, old stuff, and new old stuff, I get to have most of my cake and eat it too.

For two, the DS exists in this transitional phase that directly appeals to my aesthetic sensibilities while also offering really innovative technological twists. Sprite artwork still rules the day, music is chippy... and yet the hardware is advanced enough that there's simply more to it all. It's as if you took 16-bit games and tacked modern features on, but carefully left most other aspects to the past.

And for three, I get very attached to my handhelds. I mean, I love all of my consoles, no doubt. But a handheld is so personal. Just like any other object you frequently carry with you and experience mostly by yourself (books, phones, watches, wallet photographs, whatever), it becomes a companion and oasis.

What I'm trying to say is... I've cuddled with my DS Lite. Don't judge.

[ExedExes]

What I'm trying to say is... I've cuddled with my DS Lite. Don't judge.

If you love the DS so much you really should join us here. I started the thread because I just got a DS Lite and I love that and GBA for all those reasons you have said.

Bone already said it best about the generations, so I've got nothing else to add.

[Exhuminator]

I thoroughly enjoy my PSP, admire my Vita's sexiness, have good fun with my 3DS, but nothing beats the DS Lite.*


*In the handheld realm I mean.

[strangenova]

Hard to rank the generations I think. But 16-bits are the best bits of gaming. Nes and ps1 are close contenders in the respective generations.

[Soldier Blue]

I'm having a tough time ranking these.

1. Gen 4
2. Gen 5
3. Gen 6
4. Gen 7

I will say that I really like the gen 7 library even though I ranked it the lowest. There are a lot of interesting retro compilations. Don't care about the other Gen's too much.

[Gamerforlife]

A lot of us seem to agree on the awesomeness of the 16-bit era

[Cronozilla]

A lot of us seem to agree on the awesomeness of the 16-bit era

Well you can't disagree with facts.