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Interesting list, though I would have liked to have seen Sega Genesis in there. How would you rank them?

What's so interesting about it?

Best is obviously subjective. The article says "best 5 video game consoles ever made for their time", and then hits only the previous four generations of consoles.

I'd dig back deeper:

I'd say:
1. Atari 2600. It made home video games commonplace. For nearly ten years after its release, "Atari" was synonymous with "video games", much like "ipad" is currently synonymous with tablets computer. Even after the collapse of the industry in 1983, it continued to be a major player for a relatively long time in the industry. The brand built from this console still has considerable financial value.

2. Original NES. It took over where the 2600 left off. It revitalized the industry after the 1983 crash. Everyone on the board should be familiar with how it took off.

3. Odyssey. Every story has a beginning, and the Odyssey is the video game console's beginning. We still use most of the same concepts today. It connected to a standard TV rather than a special cabinet or vector screen. It used two controllers. It had a "light gun" pointing device. It had interchangeable games (in the form of cartridges). These same concepts can still be found in most modern consoles.

I would put Nintendo DS next, but it is usually relegated to a handheld device rather than a console. With 153.7 million sales (including the DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSiXL, etc) and growing, it has the highest sales of any device.

4. PS2. With a lifetime of 13 years in production and 153.6 million sales, it comes in a very close second to the DS in terms of availability. It was transformative in its use of graphics processing and other features.

5. Dreamcast. It offered a great deal of hardware, far beyond its time. It is still widely used in the older homebrew community because of the ease of development relative to the game-making power.

Honorable Mention: Vectrex. The arcade systems at the time relied mostly on vector graphics hardware, but the early game systems plugged in to traditional televisions. This presented the biggest visual difference between the arcade and the home console. Smooth angles and curves were so much nicer than even today's anti-aliased content. Granted, the technology is cumbersome and not really compatible with modern ideas of graphics, but still the system turned a LOT of heads and was a powerful influence on the industry at the time. The Vectrex gave arcade-quality graphics to the home user, and many people took notice.

1. Atari 2600 (the system that started it all. There would be no Mario without Donkey Kong.)

2. Original NES

3. Sega Genesis (was launched a few years before SNES which gave it a huge edge for a while)

4. Sega Master System (superior to NES in terms of technology - no thrid party games killed it)
5. ColecoVision (a very popular system at the time)



From that point forward consoles machines dominated and the coin Arcades died quick death.

I would not include the Dreamcast or PS1 in that top 5 list because at the time everyone was using their PC for gaming. Remember the 3dfx Voodoo cards (Quake, doom, duke)?

In fact, people did not return to the console machines until the PS2 and Xbox systems were released and they had comparable capabilities to PC games. In fact, I was not willing to pay money for what was basically a less powerful computer and still have to wait for the CD to load the game resources, I guess I was spoiled with the ROM cartridges

At the moment, I know many people who are no longer interested in Console gaming and returning to PC gaming, with load times, graphics, etc being some of those reasons. Hopefully that will change with the new XBOX.

I just love how the industry is starting to repeat itself.

I would not include the Dreamcast or PS1 in that top 5 list because at the time everyone was using their PC for gaming. Remember the 3dfx Voodoo cards (Quake, doom, duke)?

In fact, people did not return to the console machines until the PS2 and Xbox systems were released and they had comparable capabilities to PC games.

It depends on the region in the market. In North America, consoles were consistently selling well since the 3rd generation, which is not to say that THE PC market wasn't prosperous either. In Europe, PCs took a larger share of the market.

Most gamers I know had a console in the 5th generation (mostly PS1 over N64), so I am placing my anecdotal evidence against yours. I don't consider the PS1-Dreamcast era a "dead area" in console history, unless you count the alternative platforms that used CD based media (like Philips CD-i or 3DO) mostly for full-motion video for interaction, before 3D came into its own. That was a technological dead end.

In my opinion, the SNES was one of the best consoles of its time, bringing in a large variety of genres and styles to play with. N64 had many good games too, but its selection was underwhelming compared to SNES.

Dreamcast is also iconic to many. In retrospect, it had less to offer than the PS2, but what made it so popular was that a lot of arcade favorites were available for the system, and at a time when US arcades were hitting their twilight years.

I agree. I'm not saying the dreamcast was a dead era or that the SNES wasn't popular. I just think they didn't offer anything new. The SNES did well because it was riding on the coattails of the NES. In addition, Nintendo sat on their inferior NES for several years while the Sega Genesis thrived (much like what they are doing today lol). For that reason, I'd have pick the Genesis over the SNES because it was the first system to truly bring arcade quality graphics to the home, in fact after that system I didn't go to the arcades anymore.

At the time when the dreamcast came out your age had a lot to do with what systems you played. Previous to that, you played what the market had on the shelf and most people didn't have a PC during the late 80's.

I really liked my GameBoy Advance SP (the SP version of the GBA) - I think it's form factor was very nice.

Backlighting of the screen, flip-up "laptop-like" form with a heavy duty hinge. Compact, amazing graphics, great games.

I have large hands, so my hands were slightly cramped - I suppose the wider Nintendo DS improved on it by being wider, but I never owned a DS.

The Dreamcast was awesome, but without many games, and I think the PlayStation 2 really improved and refined the first PlayStation.

I started with the N64, so my experience doesn't go any farther back.

So, the OP's link has been removed because it is his site and frankly rocking up on someone else's site to promote your own (and act like you 'found' it) is not cool.

The thread itself can live however as you guys have a discussion going on...

So, as you were gentlemen!
*salutes*