What was the best console of all time

HardUp4HardWare

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So I was thinking about this thing and then another and it just popped into my head, the best console I have owned is....

The PS3 Slim.

As far as hardware and software, usability and quality, noise and reliability I have to say, for me, the PS3 Slim is the cats pajamas.

Now I know that some consoles have a special place in history and our hearts, like the DC. But I am talking about the big package.

What console, which version of the console has been the most used and beloved of your life?
Not getting into XBOX vs PSX I am just talking about your overall LOVE of a certain console and why it became superlative in your mind.
 
for me i would say the original Nintendo Entertainment System. i still have the imprint on my left thumb from the controller's D pad. PS2 would be 2nd for me.
 
I'd go with the PSX. That was the only time I switched from pc to console gaming.
 
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Hard to pick just one... but the Sega Master System holds a special place in my heart. The weird built-in hunting game was really bizarre but fun, Time Soldiers was one of my fave shooters, and the SMS had the best version of Double Dragon (imo) at the time. The SMS was also my first console and was a surprise gift from my grandfather - so that probably has a lot to do with why it's my favourite.
 
My ranking:

1. SNES... still play it to this day and still lots of fun...

2. PS2, tons of great games but hardware starting to have problems (can't play DVD movies now, for example)

3. Wii: mine's still working great and there's still a few games I've yet to play... don't like the motion controls but that's a minor issue. Virtual Arcade also helps give value here.

4. Genisis still works great

5. NES not so much... hardware is a bit finicky, some great games though

6. PS1, still works and tons of cool games. I never liked the 3D graphics though, really ugly even then...

7. Gamecube stopped reading discs, and not enough games there

8. N64 - I probably only played 3 games on it... liked the graphics more than PS1, but still wasn't into consoles at that time...

...

WiiU, PS3/4, and all XBOX consoles: never played them

I'm guessing you don't include handhelds, but DS/3DS gets my vote there...
 
It is tough, even though I said PS3 I really mean the slim version because of its solid look and feel. Kind of the last really original looking console made, after that everything is just square.
PS4 square, XB1 square, Wiiu Square. Also it is quiet and reliable. I have two, and if I get another PS3 it will be the same version. I have a 1 TB Seagate Hybrid drive loaded up with PS Plus games.
Also the PS3 did the best job of doing pretty much everything. Games, media, bluray, very configurable and I still use mine every week.

Even after all these years I find it to be the most versatile and useful console ever....and I have had them all. (almost)

As far as "special place in my heart" yeah the DC. I remember just a feeling of joy playing it for the first few times. It had a crispness that the PS2 just didn't have.
 
Hmmm... My favorite that I have right now is probably the TurboGrafx-16 with the CD attachment. Recently got an Everdrive for it so I can load up all the cart games on one card. Huge library of excellent games for it's time.

The "best" in regards to usability is probably my hacked Wii. Load up the games on an external drive, including emulators for a ton of different systems and you have a pretty awesome little console gaming machine.

I also still have a DC and an N64, both of which I like a lot.
 
It is tough, even though I said PS3 I really mean the slim version because of its solid look and feel. Kind of the last really original looking console made, after that everything is just square.
PS4 square, XB1 square, Wiiu Square. Also it is quiet and reliable. I have two, and if I get another PS3 it will be the same version. I have a 1 TB Seagate Hybrid drive loaded up with PS Plus games.
Also the PS3 did the best job of doing pretty much everything. Games, media, bluray, very configurable and I still use mine every week.

Even after all these years I find it to be the most versatile and useful console ever....and I have had them all. (almost)

As far as "special place in my heart" yeah the DC. I remember just a feeling of joy playing it for the first few times. It had a crispness that the PS2 just didn't have.

Do you have the vga adapter for the DC? It is a whole different animal with it.
 
I think all the Playstation consoles have been pretty based once the form factor shrunk. My favorite, though, was the slim PS2. It was about the size of a book and weighed just as much, and fixed all the issues that had plagued the original console. It was also the very first console I bought with my own with my own money.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Xbox 360. I waited in line overnight on launch day in the freezing cold (30F in Florida might as well be absolute zero), sleeping on a concrete sidewalk. I couldn't walk the next day, but at least the games were fun. And then I got the RLOD a mere three months later. Despite its issues I still own the most games and have the most hours played on Xbox 360.

All that said the original purple Gamecube with its digital video output is my favorite console of all time. In my opinion it still has the best aesthetic, design, functionality, controller and game library of any console released to date.
 
The Genesis kept my attention for years and years. So many excellent games from launch day until it finally faded away with a dozen add-ons.
The PS1 would probably be next on my list. I killed so many hours on the Street Fighter Alpha and Tekken games.
 
Do you have the vga adapter for the DC? It is a whole different animal with it.

I do have one called the "Hanzo" it has a switch to reproduce scan lines which is kind of cool. Sadly I don't play the DC much since my Panny Plasma died.
When I get my shit together I am going to remodel my basement and have retro console shrine.
 
It would have to be either the Genesis or the original Playstation for me. Those consoles probably kept my attention for the longest period of time. The Genesis actually predated my love of PC gaming. The Playstation on the other hand, had me playing games on both platforms.
 
The NES was my favorite console of all time. Smooth scrolling and tons of sprites plus higher resolution plus ~25 colors onscreen really added something that was missing on other consoles, even if the choice of cartridge slot for the American model was retarded.

The music hardware wasn't as powerful as the C64, but it was still competent, and better than just about anything else.

But my heart goes out to my Nintendo DS. Nintendo finally got things right, with the exception of the online play. Backlit screens, touch, the full layout from the SNES meant FINALLY no compromises on controls. The higher resolution, faster ARM chip and hardware scalers made it possible for the first time to emulate most 8 and some 16-bity consoles. The emulation on the go made me fall in love with portable gaming all over again :D
 
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ps1 or ps2. honorable mention to NES/Sega Genesis
 
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For me it's the NES. So many great memories with friends , my brother , my son even to this day.
 
So I was thinking about this thing and then another and it just popped into my head, the best console I have owned is....

The PS3 Slim.

As far as hardware and software, usability and quality, noise and reliability I have to say, for me, the PS3 Slim is the cats pajamas.

Now I know that some consoles have a special place in history and our hearts, like the DC. But I am talking about the big package.

What console, which version of the console has been the most used and beloved of your life?
Not getting into XBOX vs PSX I am just talking about your overall LOVE of a certain console and why it became superlative in your mind.

For me it was my launch fat version of the PS3. I loved the big bulky look of it, and it played ALL PS1 and PS2 games, and of course the PS3 games.

Every PS3 revision since then removed the PS2 feature, but I felt like the PS3 with its addition of Blu Ray was a beautifully crafted piece of hardware by Sony that embraced powerful new technology but at the same time was a celebration of their gaming history to build-in the capability to play every game to ever come out on a Playstation console. I think it was just beautiful. 4 USB ports on the front, touch-sensitive eject and power button. The hidden memory card door.

PS3-fat.jpg
 
Nintendo 64, ps1, dreamcast, super nes, and for good mention atari 7800.
 
For me it was my launch fat version of the PS3. I loved the big bulky look of it, and it played ALL PS1 and PS2 games, and of course the PS3 games.

Every PS3 revision since then removed the PS2 feature, but I felt like the PS3 with its addition of Blu Ray was a beautifully crafted piece of hardware by Sony that embraced powerful new technology but at the same time was a celebration of their gaming history to build-in the capability to play every game to ever come out on a Playstation console. I think it was just beautiful. 4 USB ports on the front, touch-sensitive eject and power button. The hidden memory card door.

PS3-fat.jpg


I agree 100%. I never had the backward compatibility version. I did have a launch version like your pictured above and it eventually died. The slim version I feel is better looking and more reliable, but I love both.

The overarching factor that makes me think the PS3 overall is the best it the diverse functionality of the console. It does so much, so well and yet never was questioned as a pure gaming machine.
I have grown to love the PS3 over many years of service. Now with a 1TB drive in mine and LOADS of games I will probably never play it remains in use frequently.

Also, as a bluray player Sony did an amazing job. It is not only a great game machine it is a fantastic bluray player. Frankly I wouldn't use anything else. Why bother? Maybe if I was running a $12K projector, but for everything I have ever played it is great.
 
Nintendo 64, ps1, dreamcast, super nes, and for good mention atari 7800.

Atari 7800 sucked. I should know, I owned one :D

* Sound was worse than my NES, aside from two games that shipped with POKEY.

* Resolution was noticeably lower than my NES (not enough horsepower to render above 160x240)! Not so bad with the early color sprites on black background arcade games, but when you're rendering an actual detailed art background, you notice!

* MARIA (video chip) was a compromise - lots of pixel pushing power, but not enough horsepower to keep up with most sprite-heavy video games.

* Colors were slightly better, but only a handful of games took advantage of this.

* Proline Joystick sucked compared to the d-pad, which is why they replaced it in later shipments.

I kept my NES, and still have it. I threw out my 7800 :D

I know, I know, everyone likes to march out Alien Brigade on a platter, but the fact is that this was one of the few game types that was able to make the most of the limits/strengths of MARIA. In the vast majority of games, it was at a disadvantage.
 
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Atari 7800 sucked. I should know, I owned one :D

Sound was worse than my NES, aside from two games that shipped with POKEY.
Resolution was noticeably lower than my NES (not enough horsepower to render above 160x240)!
MARIA was a compromise - lots of pixel pushing power, but not enough horsepower to keep up with most sprite-heavy video games.
Colors were slightly better, but only a handful of games took advantage of this.

Proline Joystick sucked compared to the d-pad, which is why they replaced it in later shipments.

I kept my NES, and still have it. I threw out my 7800 :D

I know, I know, everyone likes to march out Alien Brigade on a platter, but the fact is that this was one of the few game types that was able to make the most of the limitations of
MARIA. In the vast majority of games, it was at a disadvantage.

Wasn't the Amiga hitting its stride right when the 7800 came out?
In its time the Amiga was, as I recall, pretty awesome. NEver owned one though I remember being jealous of people who did.
 
Wasn't the Amiga hitting its stride right when the 7800 came out?
In its time the Amiga was, as I recall, pretty awesome. NEver owned one though I remember being jealous of people who did.

No, the Amiga was released in 1985, and although it was competitive to the IBM PC in terms of features, performance and price, it didn't sell well because it was vastly more expensive than the Commodore 64/ZX Spectrum, which were both hitting their stride at the time. It takes sub-$1000 price tag to entice large numbers of gamers!

And at the high-end the Amiga had to compete with the IBM PC and the Macintosh, both of which were better aimed at productivity. Not having DOS compatibility meant they had to build the software base from the ground-up. The lack of a killer app meant people were not going to pay a premium for an Amiga.

The Atari 7800 was launched in summer 1986 to beat the NES to market (fall 1986). It was obviously outgunned, so Jack Tramiel figured he could get some money out of idiots like me (he was right). Outside of the launch games, there was never anything enticing released for the 7800, so I quickly forgot about it.

Anyway, I didn't find the Amiga to be all that impressive. The cost-reduced Amiga 500 wasn't released until 1987, and THAT finally sold well. But that meant the games market didn't really take off until around 1989, about which time you could pick up a Sega Genesis with exactly the same specs. I know my Genesis had a lot better game library than the Amiga, and a lot better controller!

And even the lowly Genesis had enough hardware to make a functional 3D polygonal flight simulator WITHOUT a DSP support chip. I wasted so many hours playing this!

F-22 Interceptor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically, by the time the Amiga came into prominence , the games were nothing special, and easily ported. But in 1985, it was a pretty sick system :D
 
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True, at the time the 7800 launched I was a kid and just remember spending hours playing pole position and pac man.

I should check it out but I remember the 7800 came out way before the nes. I lived in Alaska at the time of the 7800 and didn't get a nes until I lived in California which was 87. Any who the nes was vastly superior to the 7800 in every way but I just remember nothing but good times on the 7800.
 
True, at the time the 7800 launched I was a kid and just remember spending hours playing pole position and pac man.

I should check it out but I remember the 7800 came out way before the nes. I lived in Alaska at the time of the 7800 and didn't get a nes until I lived in California which was 87. Any who the nes was vastly superior to the 7800 in every way but I just remember nothing but good times on the 7800.

Oh, so did I. I think I had three games made for the 7800 (and the 2600 library I had)

Galaga - port was surprisingly ugly compared to arcade. Still played due to novelty of playing it forever without quarters
Food Fight - decent port.
Pole Position 2 - not a bad racing game, but there's only so many times you can play a racing game.

After I got the NES plus Ikari Warriors the following summer, the 7800 games available just seemed lacking. A few months later Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda plus Metroid, and I was a converted Nintendo customer forever :D

The third-party original games were pretty good by 1987 as well. Castlevania was simply amazing, Mega Man was pretty good as well, although extremely difficult.
 
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For me? Sega Genesis with Power Base Converter so I could still play my SMS games. :) Spent many hours playing Shining in the Darkness and Shining Force.
 
PS2 fat. edit: Via the glorious, thick and expensive S-vidyaaar cable!

All of the awesome of the PS1, with the awesome of the PS2, plus the expandable hdd, linux support (which wasn't taken away!), good reliability and it still works today. After three PS3 launch editions YLODing, the PS2 is and will be the last console I ever own. It still sits pride of place in mint condition.
Not to mention it was really quick when it came out, unlike these current 'necks gen' con-soles.
 
PS2 fat. edit: Via the glorious, thick and expensive S-vidyaaar cable!

All of the awesome of the PS1, with the awesome of the PS2, plus the expandable hdd, linux support (which wasn't taken away!), good reliability and it still works today. After three PS3 launch editions YLODing, the PS2 is and will be the last console I ever own. It still sits pride of place in mint condition.
Not to mention it was really quick when it came out, unlike these current 'necks gen' con-soles.

That is my favorite version of the PS2 also. Funny thing happened recently. I went to Ebay looking for a PS2 that was in decent shape. I had bought one from Craigslist a week prior but it was completely trash... smelled like cigarette smoke when turning it on, scratched up, and just smelled like shit. I take REALLY good care of my tech, and I always try to keep everything in mint condition especially my consoles. So I found a guy on Ebay selling a fat PS2 for $50 free shipping. When I got the thing I was floored. My jaw hit the floor. The first thing that struck me was how much effort the person put into the packaging. Box inside box, wrapped twice, bubble wrapped... they put a LOT of effort into wrapping up everything really well. I took the console out and I shit you not it looks brand fucking new. I looked inside the vent with a flashlight there is not a speck of dust, not a scratch anywhere and the guy even included a brand new original ps2 controller as well as a original black ps2 memory card. And yes, the black tampering sticker was still in-tact so it's definitely not rebuilt.

To this moment I still can't believe how lucky I am or yet how this person was able to get a hold of a PS2 in this condition. It literally looked like it was never touched once or let-alone turned on even once. PS2s brand new on ebay go for hundreds of dollars and I was super lucky.
 
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That is my favorite version of the PS2 also. Funny thing happened recently. I went to Ebay looking for a PS2 that was in decent shape. I had bought one from Craigslist a week prior but it was completely trash... smelled like cigarette smoke when turning it on, scratched up, and just smelled like shit. I take REALLY good care of my tech, and I always try to keep everything in mint condition especially my consoles. So I found a guy on Ebay selling a fat PS2 for $50 free shipping. When I got the thing I was floored. My jaw hit the floor. The first thing that struck me was how much effort the person put into the packaging. Box inside box, wrapped twice, bubble wrapped... they put a LOT of effort into wrapping up everything really well. I took the console out and I shit you not it looks brand fucking new. I looked inside the vent with a flashlight there is not a speck of dust, not a scratch anywhere and the guy even included a brand new original ps2 controller as well as a original black ps2 memory card. And yes, the black tampering sticker was still in-tact so it's definitely not rebuilt.

To this moment I still can't believe how lucky I am or yet how this person was able to get a hold of a PS2 in this condition. It literally looked like it was never touched once or let-alone turned on even once. PS2s brand new on ebay go for hundreds of dollars and I was super lucky.

Holy shit! What a score. I've been thinking of grabbing an in-box PS2 for collector reasons, but they made so many, it's probably not worth it.
Mine looks practically brand new outside (no blemishes) but has dust from use... maybe he was super loaded and had it in a filtered enclosure with all the rest of his media servers, amp racks etc...? Or just a true enthusiast. I find how something is boxed, says a lot about someone.

Good story though and I'm a little jealous!
 
Wasn't the Amiga hitting its stride right when the 7800 came out?
In its time the Amiga was, as I recall, pretty awesome. NEver owned one though I remember being jealous of people who did.
I came here to say Amiga, it was easily the best "console".

I recommended it for a simple gaming setup many times and was always commended by those who had no clue what they were missing.
It was hands down the best gaming setup in its day.
We even networked some games!
Stunt Car Racer was incredible for its time, although framerate on the early Amigas wasnt as hot.
 
My favorite console during its time was probably the Dreamcast and the original Xbox. But as far as overall package I lean towards the Xbox 360. The controller was amazing, being able to turn the console on and off with a wireless controller was just awesome for me. My only real complain about the Xbox 360 that is not the RROD is that I wished it would've had a HD-DVD drive internally.
 
Sega Genesis (With Sega CD addon), SNES, NES, SMS (I prefer the SMS, but in overall games and fun, I have to go NES first), Saturn, Dreamcast, N64, Xbox (modded), 360, PS3. I own several PS2's and a lot of games, but I've only played a couple games. Gamecube, Wii, Wii U are fine but bottom of the list for me. Atari was fun as shit, but definitely not my favorite.
 
I came here to say Amiga, it was easily the best "console".

I recommended it for a simple gaming setup many times and was always commended by those who had no clue what they were missing.
It was hands down the best gaming setup in its day.
We even networked some games!
Stunt Car Racer was incredible for its time, although framerate on the early Amigas wasnt as hot.

Amiga was a "console" the same way an i7 5960x with Quad Titan X's and 128 GB of RAM is a console.

As far as the best console, the NES. Without it, well, let's just say video games wouldn't be nearly as popular as they are today.
 
Every console I've ever owned was special in some way to me. Impossible to pick an absolute favorite. However, here are a couple that stand out in my mind:

TurboGrafx 16
SNES
GameCube
Bally Astrocade
N64
PS1
Xbox (original)
GBA
Atari Lynx

I've always been more of a PC/Computer gamer, but I've owned most major consoles at one point or another. If we include computers, the PC, C64 and Amiga would be the top.
 
Amiga was a "console" the same way an i7 5960x with Quad Titan X's and 128 GB of RAM is a console.

As far as the best console, the NES. Without it, well, let's just say video games wouldn't be nearly as popular as they are today.
Nothing like the same.
The basic A500 or A600 were superb, no expensive upgrades needed.
You didnt need to know how to use it as a computer, just click an icon or insert the disk for the game.
This is why it was so successful for those that hadnt used a computer.
It was basically the best console.
 
I agree. You could compare one of the bigger Amigas to a PC, but those weren't generally geared toward gaming. More for 3D rendering types of things. The 500/600/1200 were basically like the C64. The "every-man's" home computer for that era, which includes being geared toward the entertainment side of things, while still being useful for other things. I don't know that I would call them consoles, but they're definitely close in regards to easy access to games. I still play some of my favorite Amiga games from time to time. (emulated now) I do have my disks, but I don't know if they're still functional.
 
I had a friend that had an Atari ST and an Amiga, and I recall both of those being pretty badass gaming machines that worked a lot more like consoles than the typical IBM PC's of the time. Very straightforward.

I've owned and enjoyed most of the consoles I've owned prior to the PS4 and Xbox One. I think those are the first two to really let me down in all facets.
Prior to that, the dog of the bunch was the Atari Jaguar. I bought into the hype from Diehard Gamefan magazine...who I of course later learned were shills for the machine.
That machine was such a hunk of garbage, even if it did have a couple passable games like Doom and Tempest.
If the 32X counts, it would also be an ungodly mess. However I still have a lot of love for the Sega CD. Games like Lunar 1 and 2, Silpheed, Eternal Champions 2, Sonic CD, Shining Force CD, Dark Wizard, etc. were so great.
 
Nothing like the same.
The basic A500 or A600 were superb, no expensive upgrades needed.
You didnt need to know how to use it as a computer, just click an icon or insert the disk for the game.
This is why it was so successful for those that hadnt used a computer.
It was basically the best console.

Except that it was still $700, so it was far beyond the price of your average game console. And if you wanted to use it as a computer, you still needed to buy a monitor.

The Genesis has virtually the same specifications (besides the computer part). It was $189 at launch, and included Altered Beast.

Same number of colors. Same resolution. Same processor. Slightly less hardware display planes, but that didn't really matter.
 
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Same number of colors. Same resolution. Same processor. Slightly less hardware display planes, but that didn't really matter.

The price eventually hit $300 for the A500 around 1990. It was also still pretty powerful for the time.

On the resolution, color depth, etc. no. The Genesis and Amiga were not even close to the same.

Amiga
4096 color palette (depending on mode, 2,4,8,16,32,64,4096 simultaneous, most games were 32, but some used half-brights, and a couple even used HAM for 4096 if I remember correctly)
320x200 up to 640x400 (NTSC without additional graphics hardware)
Hardware sprites, blitter objects, vectors, etc.

Genesis
512 color palette (64 simultaneous)
320x224 resolution (if I remember correctly)
No hardware graphic features. It was all done with software on the 68000.

My Genesis numbers might be slightly off, I'll need to refresh my memory. For the Amiga games that actually used the Fat Agnes chip features, they were quite a bit more advanced than most consoles of the time. (The SNES came along though eventually, and was a pretty good rival, and surpassed the 500 in some ways...)

Also, while I agree that having an RGB monitor was the best way to display on the Amiga, they had a composite adapter which I used when playing on the TV.

Sorry, donned my Old-Computer-Nerdery-Hat TM. Purchased at the Old-Computer-Nerdery-Haberdashery. :D
 
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