What's the best video game console of all time?

[Ryan]

The contest on the main page got me thinking, what do you all think is the best video game system of all time?

Personally, I'd have to go with the NES, as it was the first home console that really took gaming to the next level. Sure, the Atari, Coleco, C64, Apple, etc. where great, but they just aren't as fun to play and that's the reason they all failed the minute the NES hit the market.

As for current gen systems, I'd have to say the Wii is my favorite. I'm more of a casual gamer, so the system is a no-brainer for me. I can see why fans of graphic-intensive games would prefer the PS3 and shooter fans would love the 360. I own the Wii and PS3 myself and will probably finally get a 360 next month when the price drops again (according to rumors).

My favorite portable system is the Nintendo DS, which like the Wii, really innovated gaming. The PSP is cool, and I have one of those too, but to be honest it has over a year's worth of dust on it. I played my DS a couple days ago.

[Pete Kilmer]

I had/have the Atari 2600, Colecovison, TurboGraphX, N64, Dreamcast, PS1, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360,PSP

and while N64 had the best shooter game of all time (Goldeneye) on it, I think the Dreamcast was the all around best machine I have had. Built in modem, graphics that were better than PS2 and easy to use controllers. Played a LOT of Rush 2049 and Resident Evil games on that system.

I really enjoy my 360 quite a bit as there are some terrific games on it as well and the Xbox Live feature is awesome.

[Ryan]

The best Dreamcast games are available on Wii now, like Resident Evil, House of the Dead 2 and 3 and Sega Bass Fishing (came with a fishing rod controller on Dreamcast, early motion control). They may release more on the Virtual Console.

The cool thing about Dreamcast is that the early systems can play bootleg games and homebrew without a mod chip. Also, the system can play emulators, so you can play pretty much any SNES, NES, Genesis, etc. game on it. It also had the ability to play music cds and/or mp3 cds. I've got one of those early Dreamcasts and a stack of Japanese and American games. It was also one of the few systems that could play imported games from other regions. There were a couple of arcade shooting games that never made it to the U.S.

[Jeff Williams]

It's a toss up between Atari and Playstation 2.

I say this because both were built to last. NES? Come on man, you had to blow in the games to make sure they worked. People who have an old Atari from their childhood can still hook them up and they work without a glitch.

PS2 has games still being made for it and is surviving and selling even though the next gen consoles are out to make it obsolete. There were few problems with it (No "Ring of Death" sort of problems anyway) and even though it didn't have Halo or a Hard Drive, I have 3 words that will make you at least think I'm right: GOD OF WAR.

SO yeah, I would go with those two, and if I had to choose, I'd say Atari simply because it laid the foundation for everything I believe we have in Modern Gaming.

[Jeff Williams]

and the Dreamcast is probably the most under rated game system of all time. It was truly better than its competition. I have no idea what happened there. Maybe it was too far advanced for its own good?

[Ryan]

Well, the original toaster-style, front-loading NES had the issue where you'd have to blow in the carts to get them to work. The main reason for this is that it was the first system where games were rented, traded, etc., which meant a lot of dirt getting into your system. I can actually fix a "broken" NES system for around $3-4 by replacing the 72-pin connector. There's nothing else wrong with these "broken" 20-year-old pieces of electronics other than their 72-pin connectors are dirty.

The top-loading NES they released several years after the front-loading one never had this issue. The reason the Atari didn't have this issue quite as often is because it was top loading, the games weren't rented or as dirty, and there was a 13-pin connector instead of a 72-pin, which was much sturdier. But have you played an Atari lately, with its four directions and one button? BORING...while NES games are still fun today and being bought by the millions in downloads on the Wii.

The Dreamcast died from lack of 3rd-party support and lack of big, mainstream games. It was pretty innovative. It had motion controls like the Wii (Samba de Amigos, Sega Bass Fishing), it played cds, mp3s, and would even let you run emulators to play NES, SNES, Genesis, and other older games. It was the only system to offer arcade-perfect ports of games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2, House of the Dead 2 & 3, etc. It was one of the first systems to be online, with a modem and web browser.

The PS2 came out a little over a year after the Dreamcast and killed the system. They put out their press releases a year before the PS2 actually hit shelves, and I remember gamers on all the message boards drooling over the PS2 and deciding to wait and buy it instead of a Dreamcast. I think if both systems had launched at the same time, more people would have tried both and decided the Dreamcast was better. Instead, hardcore gamer nerds decided to wait to decide what to purchase until the PS2 came out, killing Dreamcast sales. The actually launch of the Dreamcast was fairly successful...they did around $100 million in sales of consoles and games the first week.

[Lamont Cranston]

The Commodore 64.

“Wait a second,” you say, “the C64 is a computer, not a video game console. Are you drunk Lamont?” Yes, but that has nothing to do with my position. Granted the C64 could technically be used to type up school papers, print up banners with Print Shop, and keep track of your comic book collection with Dbase, but I’m guessing that in most cases it was used primarily to play video games. And not just any video games, but the best titles available on the home market in every single game category. Just off the top of my head:

Side-scrollers (Castle Wolfenstein, Jumpman, Lode Runner, Impossible Mission)

Arcade (Karate Champ, Zaxxon, Centipede)

Strategy (Master of Magic, Archon, Pirates!, Defender of the Crown)

Adventure (King’s Quest, Zork, basically everything Infocom did)

Sports (Epxy’s Summer Games, California Games, Hardball, Racing Destruction Kit)

RPG’s (Bard’s Tale, Phantasie, Ultima, The SSI Gold Box series)

That’s a murder’s row of titles and it handled things like text-based adventures and RPG’s that traditional consoles have historically struggled to play well. It had all of the advantages of a console (uniform hardware and operating system) but with the added advantage of a keyboard and recordable storage (in the form of giant floppy disks). It was much more affordable than other computers of the era (particularly the Acers, IBM’s, and Apples). I’m guessing if you polled game developers in the 30-45 age range as to what system influenced them the most, the C64 would be mentioned as often as the 2600 or NES.

[Ryan]

Yah, the C64 was pretty sweet. My dad bought one at launch when they cost an arm and a leg in the early eighties. He still has the thing in a closet somewhere, even though it doesn't work, because he can't throw anything away that he dropped that much cash on.(launch price was around $600 in 1982, which is around $2-3k when you adjust for inflation). At that price, it was definitely sold as a computer and not a video game system. My dad bought it because of Print Shop, where you could make banners and cards and such, and he for word processing and home finance uses. The truth is, however, it was only really ever used for games. There were something like 10,000 games/applications put out for the system, and thank to bootleggers, they were all available free from friends. We had thousands of them on floppy disks.

The C64 is also the system I taught myself to program in, as it could run BASIC natively. It was a great system that I have a soft spot in my heart for. It kind of stopped getting used in my house after we got an NES in 1987, however.

[Ian Whitfield]

I like the super NES the best it was ahead of its time. I still wish I didnt sell mine

[Ryan]

Super NES innovated 4-player gaming. You could get the 4-player adapter and play 4-player Mario Kart or sport games. Spent a lot of hours playing Mario Kart battles with friends.

[Michael Costello]

load runner for the apple 2e or commodore64, Resident evil on the dreamcast, Tekken on the PS2, goldeneye and Mario cart on the N64. Every system had THE game so its hard to choose. I would say PS2 just because of its longevity and playability even today (when there is clearly better out there). Most systems were dead the moment the next one arrived.

[Andy!]

Gaming as a whole kind of peaked for me with the Dreamcast.

It had the best fighting and arcade games (especially Street Fighter III)

And It had style (Jet Grind Radio, Space Channel 5) and innovation (Seaman, 1st console live voice chat, 1st console MMO) that the industry has yet to repeat with as much vigor as Sega had in its Dreamcast days.

[hjd]

I would say that the Super Nintendo/ SNES. is the best. the games are simple ( no complicated buttons ) and auwsome all at the same time. And ther were over 600 games made for it.