Your preferred game console from each generation

[Hush]

List the console and the reasons why you liked it the best:

First gen - missed it, too young

Second gen - Atari 2600 - It was the console that my parents owned so didn't really have a choice here. Remember loving it though and glad I got to experience it prior to getting the NES a few years later.

Third gen - NES - Is there really any question here?

Fourth gen - SNES - Still at a time when I could only afford one new console at a time, I skipped the Genesis and waited for the SNES. IMO this is the greatest console Nintendo ever produced. So many good games and the 16-bit graphics still look great today.

Fifth gen - PlayStation - Tough call between the PS1 and N64. Giving the edge to the PlayStation though because of the Dualshock, CD-ROM (FMV), more "mature"/obscure titles.

Sixth gen - Xbox - At one time I would have said PS2 but looking back I have to give a nod to the OG Xbox. The built in hard drive, controller (S), custom soundtracks, Xbox Live, better looking multiplats, and later, modding all made it great.

Seventh gen - Tie Xbox 360/PS3 - Both are great and there are compelling reasons to own either one. PS3 has blu-ray, free online play, the iconic Dualshock 3 and great exclusives. The Xbox 360 had the edge for (most) multiplatform titles, a fantastic controller, Xbox Live, faster and more user friendly updates, and its own lineup of great exclusives. You couldn't go wrong either way here. The Wii was novel but motion controls ended up being a gimmick.

Eighth gen - Too early to say but as it stands currently (and if I had to choose only one) it would be the Xbox One because of the live TV/media integration and my personal preference for the controller.

[Sigma]

First gen - My uncle bought me a "TV game" in the 1970s. I think it was made by Philips, but I'm not 100% sure. It's been up in the loft for years. It had a handful of games that were basically variations of Pong, as well as a light gun.

Second gen - Atari 2600. I never owned one, but 2 of my good friends did so I played on it a lot. I loved it. It was the first time I got that "arcade in your own home" feel, even though obviously it wasn't up to par with arcade games in terms of graphics and sound.

Third gen - NES. So fucking good.

Fourth gen - SNES. In this gen, a bunch of my friends had either a SNES or MegaDrive and we'd swap games and consoles regularly, so I played a bunch of games on both. I really liked both systems, but Nintendo's games had the edge for me. I have fond memories of this era, getting high/drunk and playing "winner stays on" on Street Fighter II Turbo with friends.

Fifth gen - Playstation. I totally agree with Hush on this one.

Sixth gen - Dreamcast. To be fair, I think a big part of my love for it was that you could easily pirate the games without having to mod it. I wasn't playing many video games at this stage of my life though.

Seventh gen - Xbox 360. This is when I started getting back into gaming again. A lot of the friends I grew up with had one, so now I was playing games online with the same people I used to play SNES and PS1 games with years earlier. This is the first gen where I owned all of the consoles and handhelds.

Eighth gen - I only own an Xbox One, have only played on a PS4 a couple of times and have never touched a Wii-U, so I'll have to say Xbox One.

I still own the Philips TV game, PS1, Dreamcast, 2 Xbox 360s, a Wii and an Xbox One. 2 other systems I loved that don't really fit into the above categories are the Nintendo Games & Watch handhelds and the ZX Spectrum home computer.

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

3rd: NES
4th: SNES
5th: N64
6th: game cube
7th: wii
8th: wii U

i just realized i'm kind of a ballrider

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

What were the options throughout each gen? 1st & 2nd i have no idea.

3rd: NES,mega drive, ?
4th: SNES, genesis, ?
5th: PS, N64, sega CD
6th: PS2, game cube, xbox, dreamcast (although dreamcast came out a couple years early no?)
7th: PS3, wii, xbox 360
8th: PS4, wii U, xbone

have only played on a PS4 a couple of times and have never touched a Wii-U

PS has the best fighting game imo (street fighter) and wii U has the best competitive shooter (splatoon). i wonder how long is it sustainable to have 3 systems competing? seems pretty stable. maybe we have reached equilibrium.

[Hush]

What were the options throughout each gen? 1st & 2nd i have no idea.

3rd: NES,mega drive, ?
4th: SNES, genesis, ?
5th: PS, N64, sega CD
6th: PS2, game cube, xbox, dreamcast (although dreamcast came out a couple years early no?)
7th: PS3, wii, xbox 360
8th: PS4, wii U, xbone

have only played on a PS4 a couple of times and have never touched a Wii-U

PS has the best fighting game imo (street fighter) and wii U has the best competitive shooter (splatoon). i wonder how long is it sustainable to have 3 systems competing? seems pretty stable. maybe we have reached equilibrium.

Sega's 3rd gen console was the Master System/Mark III. The Mega Drive was what the Genesis was known as outside the U.S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console

[Tommy Bunz]

NES
SNES - Certainly one of the best consoles ever, have recently gotten my old games out again and am replaying Super Metroid and A Link to the Past.
PS1 - The depth of console exclusives in almost every genre gives Sony the edge here, and frankly, in every generation ever since.
PS2/Gamecube (tie) - I spent way more time playing PS2 than the other systems, but I feel the urge to go back and play Gamecube games the most. Possibly the greatest gen for first party Nintendo games, which is surprising since it has one of the weaker Marios.
PS3 - No contest here. I didn't have a 360 but I have a One and there is only a couple of backwards compatible 360 exclusives i have even the slightest interest in playing.
Current gen is too early to call. I have more ps4/xbone games that I've bought and not played than ones I have, and a lot of those I still haven't even finished.

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

What were the options throughout each gen? 1st & 2nd i have no idea.

3rd: NES,mega drive, ?
4th: SNES, genesis, ?
5th: PS, N64, sega CD
6th: PS2, game cube, xbox, dreamcast (although dreamcast came out a couple years early no?)
7th: PS3, wii, xbox 360
8th: PS4, wii U, xbone

have only played on a PS4 a couple of times and have never touched a Wii-U

PS has the best fighting game imo (street fighter) and wii U has the best competitive shooter (splatoon). i wonder how long is it sustainable to have 3 systems competing? seems pretty stable. maybe we have reached equilibrium.

Sega's 3rd gen console was the Master System/Mark III. The Mega Drive was what the Genesis was known as outside the U.S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console

i got into games in the SNES era, only my folks wouldn't buy me one so i was fuckin w/ a used NES until 1999. (the struggle is real)

[Hush]

^^^

I sold my NES console and games at a family yard sale in '91 to fund my SNES purchase. Probably a regrettable decision looking back, but at the time when my mom took me to Kmart to pick up the SNES bundle w/ Super Mario World and a copy of Link to the Past I was all

[Philaflava]

NES
Genesis
PS1
PS2
PS3
PS4

[zappy]

3.NES
4.genesis
5.N64
6.gamecube
7.nintendo DS
8. 3DS

not sure if handhelds are allowed, but ds/3ds are really all the console i feel like i need at this point. most games i play on steam unless i'm on the metro or whatever and then handheld++.

also gonna throw out a vote for best system of all time: gamecube.

best mario kart, really good zeldas, baten kaitos is one of my favorite games ever. lotta love for the gamecube.