What is your least favorite and most favorite console?

[Jmustang1968]

In my opinion:

SMS<NES (I don't care if there is lots of shovelware, the good games are THAT good)
MD/Genesis=SNES>PCE (but I do really love the PCE more than the other two!)
Saturn>PS1>N64
PS2>DC>X-BOX>GCN (but, like the PCE, I love the DC more than the PS2)

Very interesting. I think I would do it:
NES>SMS
SNES>GEN/MD>PCE (I have a soft spot for the Genesis, and it is really really close, but in the end I think the SNES has a bit more quality games and that it has weathered time a bit better)
PS1>Saturn>N64 (I love the PSX library. N64 had a few incredible games and the rest were crap. It also didnt age well. Though I hate the load times on these early disc systems)
PS2>X-BOX>GCN>DC (I could never get into the DC. PS2 library is amazing as well. XBox I liked more at the time, but there is very little reason to use it as a retro console to play now. Most of its games have better versions out on current gen.)

[alienjesus]

In my opinion:

SMS<NES (I don't care if there is lots of shovelware, the good games are THAT good)
MD/Genesis=SNES>PCE (but I do really love the PCE more than the other two!)
Saturn>PS1>N64
PS2>DC>X-BOX>GCN (but, like the PCE, I love the DC more than the PS2)

Very interesting. I think I would do it:
NES>SMS
SNES>GEN/MD>PCE (I have a soft spot for the Genesis, and it is really really close, but in the end I think the SNES has a bit more quality games and that it has weathered time a bit better)
PS1>Saturn>N64 (I love the PSX library. N64 had a few incredible games and the rest were crap. It also didnt age well. Though I hate the load times on these early disc systems)
PS2>X-BOX>GCN>DC (I could never get into the DC. PS2 library is amazing as well. XBox I liked more at the time, but there is very little reason to use it as a retro console to play now. Most of its games have better versions out on current gen.)

My personal choices would be:
NES > SMS - I love my SMS, but the NES just had more good games. I love both though.
SNES = MD - I can't decide. There are franchises I love on both. Not played enough TG16 to rate it.
N64 > Saturn > PS1 - I love my saturn, but the N64 has some of my favourite games of all time, so for me it's the winner of this generation.
GC > PS2 > DC > Xbox - There are a few good games on the Dreamcast, but it's library doesn't appeal to me as much as the older Sega consoles. The Xbox controller kills any desire to play it for me.

Yeah, I'm obviously a Nintendo fan. It wasn't always this way though. I grew up with Sega and I love a lot of the sega franchises. Shinobi, Wonder Boy, Sonic, Streets of Rage, Panzer Dragoon - the list goes on. For me though, my absolute favourite games tend to be made by Nintendo, so I tend to veer towards those. It's worth noting that I'm a big portable gamer too, so the Nintendo consoles are often the home of the brands and franchises I love playing on my game boy and DS.

[Jmustang1968]

GC > PS2 > DC > Xbox - There are a few good games on the Dreamcast, but it's library doesn't appeal to me as much as the older Sega consoles. The Xbox controller kills any desire to play it for me.

Yeah, I'm obviously a Nintendo fan. It wasn't always this way though. I grew up with Sega and I love a lot of the sega franchises. Shinobi, Wonder Boy, Sonic, Streets of Rage, Panzer Dragoon - the list goes on. For me though, my absolute favourite games tend to be made by Nintendo, so I tend to veer towards those. It's worth noting that I'm a big portable gamer too, so the Nintendo consoles are often the home of the brands and franchises I love playing on my game boy and DS.

I think the first xbox controller sucked, but the S version or small one wasnt bad at all

[Breetai]

MD/Genesis=SNES>PCE (but I do really love the PCE more than the other two!)

Very interesting. I think I would do it:
SNES>GEN/MD>PCE (I have a soft spot for the Genesis, and it is really really close, but in the end I think the SNES has a bit more quality games and that it has weathered time a bit better)

Sometimes I like the SNES more, but I'm on a Sega kick right now.

[TornadoCreator]

It's more likely that they didn't want the expense of translating an RPG into all the different languages in the PAL region. Even if they did that, the limited cartridge space would likely mean you'd have to publish an English cart, a Spanish cart, a French cart etc - the prices of manufacturing would be higher than usual.

True, but normally games where published only in English for the entirety of Europe. If they had more languages they'd include French and Spanish (which was standard for North America as well for Canada and Mexico) and possibly German and Italian, but having more than one PAL language was rare pre-32 bit (in fact it didn't really start until the Dreamcast/PS2). Remember English is the European Unions official trade langauge so often thing will simply be produced in English and nothing else. Still it could have been a reason, I'll grant you that.

It's worth noting that Nintendo didn't make many RPGs though, most of the aforementioned games were by Square or Enix - both of whom were keeping this shit up for way longer than the SNES games. The first Dragon Quest main series game in europe was Dragon Quest 1 & 2 for GBC, the 2nd was Dragon Quest 8. Square never gave us brave fencer musashi, einhander, parasite eve and a whole bunch of others even in the PS1 days after FFVII had cemented them as a big name and sold a whole ton.

Oh I know. I have a pirated .iso of Chrono Cross right now because it's the only way I can get the damn thing. You'd think in an age of the PSN and the success of the genre that we'd finally get these games. We've only just had Chrono Trigger on the DS over here too, surely they'd want to capitalise on that and release the sequel, but no 12 years later and nothing. I'd happily buy it the second they bring it out here, but I'm not buying an NA PSOne and a transformer the size of a damn suitcase to desperately try and make it work... some things are beyond reasonable I think, though I'm sure there are many who disagree. It's also why I think region-free should be standard. It's not hurt the PS3, if anything it's a nice selling point.

[TornadoCreator]

...(paraphrase)... "I hate Nintendo"...

Holy shit dude... Wow... I think extreme, but I do at least get your points about PAL regions being screwed over.

For the record, I have a soft spot for Sega. I wanted an SMS for Christmas back in the day, but got an NES. I was happy of course, but I always did enjoy playing on my friends' SMS consoles. I think the SMS was at least more popular here in Canada than in the USA. The NES was still way bigger, though. I also went Genesis/MD over the SNES. I DID know that it was called the Mega Drive outside of North America! Probably because my copy of Castle of Illusion said "Mega Drive" on the cart for some unexplained reason.

In my opinion:

SMS<NES (I don't care if there is lots of shovelware, the good games are THAT good)
MD/Genesis=SNES>PCE (but I do really love the PCE more than the other two!)
Saturn>PS1>N64
PS2>DC>X-BOX>GCN (but, like the PCE, I love the DC more than the PS2)


Have you been to Sega-16.com yet? You might also enjoy Segagagadomain.com. Racketboy is a cool site, for sure. I'm glad you're here. There is a pretty good age range here. Plenty of us are in our 30s or older. Personally, my first five systems were: Atari 2600-NES-Genesis-Sega CD-Saturn. I definitely like Sega!

As much as I'm a Sega fan I'm always wary of going on sites that are explicitly pro-Sega. I'd like to keep perspective... plus it makes life easier when I feel like going on a rant about why Sonic sucks in 3D and why everyone in Sega needs to die in a freak yahting accident... I mean really freak, like not even at sea. Just walking down the road and a yaht falls out of the sky.

I'm like a little ball of condensed rant, but catch me on a good day and I'll write a 20,000 word essay on why I love Final Fantasy VIII or how the Gameboy Advance SP is the best handheld device ever made etc.

As for the NES, I've not really got a problem with it as such, it just feels like it's a glutton, taking everyones time and money with it's massive 800 game library most of which is painfully awful, but there are some incredible gems. Duck Tails is one of my favourites, and the music really is so memorable, I'm not sure how they managed that. The thing with the NES is I never actually owned one myself, they where just too expensive over here. Master System games where £25, but NES games where £60-70 each (compared to PC games on the Amstrad or Commodore 64 which where £5-10 on average, and sometimes less). My good Nintendo memories start with the SNES but I get so angry about that console...

[AppleQueso]

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.

Sonic and Mario? Mario came first
Streets of Rage and Final Fight? Final Fight came first
Phantasy Star and Final Fantasy? Final Fantasy came first
etc etc

It's not that hard to understand. Many of Sega's franchises were born because either Nintendo had a chokehold on third parties or because Sega wanted to emulate some of Nintendo's successes. I love your belief that anyone who disagrees with you is a lunatic though.

I also probably see more praise for Rocket Knight Adventures and Ristar than I do Ducktales. Mega Man is a massive franchise, comparing its popularity to a few one-shot platformers is hardly fair.

This forum is chock full of huge Sega fans. None of them have as much of a victim complex as you do in this post. I don't know where you're going where people are relentlessly mocking poor Sega fans considering Dreamcast is like a retro gaming staple.

[Reprise]

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

Honestly, it was a close call. N64 would be just behind the PS2 for my least favourite console, but even still, I do love all my consoles, otherwise I wouldn't own them.

I nearly said N64, but I still have some amazing multi-player experiences on that console. I know you're not a fan of the console, and maybe I do kind of view it through rose-tinted glasses whilst playing or remembering the console, but sod it, I do love it. I love Goldeneye (yeah, sue me ), I love Perfect Dark (even with its immensely poor 1 frame per hour hour framerate during 4 player games), I love Super Mario 64, and I love the Zeldas - especially Majora's Mask. I love Conker's Bad Fur Day and its sense of humour, despite what you say about it being childish lol, and well, I love a lot of the other games I own for it.

As for the Gamecube, I play a hell of a lot of the Resident Evils, Eternal Darkness, Tales of Symphonia, Pikmin, Twilight Princess, F Zero GX, Metroid Prime, Viewtiful Joe, Super Monkey Ball and loads of multi-format games that I just prefer on the Gamecube, as the controller kicks the PS2's ass (oh yeah, another thing I forgot to mention, screw you Sony fan boys, the Playstation controllers suck ass! ).

But like I said, I love all my consoles anyways. I'm only comparing them on the basis of how much I play them and how much enjoyment I seem to get from them. The PS2 just happens to be the lowest for the reasons I've already stated. That and the fact that besides Shadow of the Colossus, none of the games have quite blown me away in the same way many of the games I own on other consoles.

[TornadoCreator]

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

Honestly, it was a close call. N64 would be just behind the PS2 for my least favourite console, but even still, I do love all my consoles, otherwise I wouldn't own them.

I nearly said N64, but I still have some amazing multi-player experiences on that console. I know you're not a fan of the console, and maybe I do kind of view it through rose-tinted glasses whilst playing or remembering the console, but sod it, I do love it. I love Goldeneye (yeah, sue me ), I love Perfect Dark (even with its immensely poor 1 frame per hour hour framerate during 4 player games), I love Super Mario 64, and I love the Zeldas - especially Majora's Mask. I love Conker's Bad Fur Day and its sense of humour, despite what you say about it being childish lol, and well, I love a lot of the other games I own for it.

Hey, good for you. I remember enjoying Mario Kart 64 and GoldenEye back in the day, and while I've no love for the system now... if you're having fun with it at least someone is. I must say, I've not played Majora's Mask so perhaps that's a great gem that could change my mind but I doubt it.

As for the Gamecube, I play a hell of a lot of the Resident Evils, Eternal Darkness, Tales of Symphonia, Pikmin, Twilight Princess, F Zero GX, Metroid Prime, Viewtiful Joe, Super Monkey Ball and loads of multi-format games that I just prefer on the Gamecube, as the controller kicks the PS2's ass (oh yeah, another thing I forgot to mention, screw you Sony fan boys, the Playstation controllers suck ass! ).

But like I said, I love all my consoles anyways. I'm only comparing them on the basis of how much I play them and how much enjoyment I seem to get from them. The PS2 just happens to be the lowest for the reasons I've already stated. That and the fact that besides Shadow of the Colossus, none of the games have quite blown me away in the same way many of the games I own on other consoles.

Wow, you don't like the PS2 controller. I have to disagree with you here, the PS2 controller is the best controller for modern gaming. It's the perfect size, perfect weight, the D-Pad is responsive and well made (unlike the Xbox 360) and it's generally reliable and responsive. I'll even admit, I use a PS2 controller to gamecube adapter when I play my Gamecube, I have gamecube controllers and they're hardly the worst, but the sholder-buttons are horrible. I agree there are some greats on the Gamecube though, especially if you're a survival horror fan or like games with a lot of speed ie. F-Zero GX, Super Monkey Ball.

So, if you dislike the Playstation controller so much, what's your favourite controller. Mine would be the Sega Saturn controller, followed by the 6 Button Mega Drive controller as it's very similar but the Saturn controller has a little more grip to it, and then the PS2 controller. I used to love the Dreamcast controller and still think it's very well made, but I have large hands and find that my trigger fingers now cramp with extended play, one good thing though is the original Xbox controller is nicely sized for me and for Racing games it's extremely comfortable.

[Reprise]

Again, like I said about the console itself and its games, the controller is just a jack of all trades, master of none. The D-pad is, ok, I guess... I hate the placement of the analogue sticks, I hate the feel of the sticks, and I hate the fact that clicking down on them makes and extra button and I hate that some games actually use that! The shape of the controller doesn't really suit my hands either to be honest. Finally, I prefer analogue triggers to shoulder buttons, like the ones on the 3D Saturn controller, Dreamcast controller and Gamecube controller.

The Gamecube controller is flawed, for sure (the D-pade certainly is horrendous and unusable imo), but I find it one of the most comfortable controllers around and love the feel of the analogue stick, the shoulder buttons and the button placement.

My favourite is the Saturn controller (model 2). Megadrive 6 button is also cool, but unfortunately I only own 3 button ones. I also have no issues with the Dreamcast pad (wow am I in the minority there though) and the Gamecube as I said.