Best Video Game System Of All time?

[Justin]

What do you think is the best video game system of all time? Based on any and all criteria. Choose only one.

[nosweargamer]

You forgot to add one:

😁

[HDN]

You're also missing these

And who could forget

[socrates63]

@Justin curious why you lumped together all generations of PlayStation and Xbox while Sega and Nintendo consoles have individual entries

I chose Atari 2600 based on its historical importance to the video gaming industry and its genre defining games. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by socrates63

[HDN]

I chose SNES because of it's amazing library, controller design and nostalgia. It was very close between this and the 3DS as well as the GBA.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

The Atari 5200 remains my all-time favorite for personal reasons but for this one I had to give props to Sega Dreamcast.  That console did a lot for modern gaming and opened the door for online gaming on a game console.  Sega also learned from their previous mistakes including launching with their mascot in a new game from day one.  Dreamcast had a lot to have to prove thanks to Sega's previous jumping the gun move with Saturn...and it did just that. Dreamcast had a lot to offer then and it still has a lot to give now. 

The controllers are absolutely comfortable to use with a thumbstick design not used on any other controller.  It should never wear out under normal use as nothing is really moving.  And the VMUs give added detail and can be game machines by themselves.  

I love my 5200 very, very much.  It is where my gaming adventures started when I was 7 or 8 but I also know now of what negative impact it had on the industry which I did not see then.  Dreamcast on the other hand generated a lot of positive impacts on the industry from being the center plot of a South Park episode, creating game genres that continued well into later consoles, and had one of the most memorable start ups ever created.  You know you have something when you can't fulfill all pre orders even before pulling the plug.  Dreamcast left an impression and was pretty much a culture all its own.

Edited August 18, 2020 by kamakazi20012

[Justin]

11 hours ago, socrates63 said:

@Justin curious why you lumped together all generations of PlayStation and Xbox while Sega and Nintendo consoles have individual entries

Polls only allow 30 slots for choices, so I had to be efficient with listing pertinent systems. I didn't forget any.

[Justin]

11 hours ago, HDN said:

I chose SNES because of it's amazing library, controller design and nostalgia. It was very close between this and the 3DS as well as the GBA.

I'm close to choosing that too. 2600 and NES were both profoundly influential. I'm a big Turbo Duo fan. But SNES really hit it out of the park for an entire generation with that library. Good choice 

[HDN]

15 minutes ago, Justin said:

I'm close to choosing that too. 2600 and NES were both profoundly influential. I'm a big Turbo Duo fan. But SNES really hit it out of the park for an entire generation with that library. Good choice 

If you put the RCA Studio II on the list, I bet it would win by a landslide.

[Rocker67]

My first thought was the 2600 with its historical footprint and wide variety of games, but I ended up voting for the Commodore 64. It brought computer gaming to the next level with the sound chips and color graphics it could pull off. I know the Atari line of 8 bit computers were also big at the time and helped get more computers into homes, but it almost seemed to me at the time that the C64 was the first big gaming computer. I had one growing up, and it seemed all my friends also either had a C64, or when they came out, either the newer 64C or the 128. The Commodore also had great online services when modem prices started getting more reasonable and I was a member on Quantum Link for years, and I think that service ended up become AOL or one of the other big PC on-line service providers if I heard right. So I think the C64 had a huge impact on what we play and do on computers now.

[HDN]

On 8/18/2020 at 12:36 PM, HDN said:

If you put the RCA Studio II on the list, I bet it would win by a landslide.

I forgot about how long I’ve been fixated I’ve been on this system for! I’m glad I can play it now.

Someday I’ll get one.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Not surprising...it seems 5 systems have tied for best console (or consoles) of all time.  And each were the best for their era.  It's not hard to declare the 2600 a winner here as it was the first successful cartridge based home console with lots of titles that are just too good to forget about. 

The NES rekindled that spark back into video games bringing lots of new ideas and concepts to the table that simply worked well.  Granted Nintendo had ill practices toward third-party developers but it did help to avoid another flood of titles that could have caused another crash.  Unlike the 2600 I lost a lot of teenage years to the NES always trying to beat the latest popular title.  Tons of memorable games here from Mario to Mega Man to Samus to the Vic Viper...all of them kept us in some form glued to the TV set with controllers that could not be pried from our hands.

The Sega Genesis and SNES both deserve the title as well in the 16-bit era as both had exclusives to offer.  This is one time where two competitive companies actually benefited from each other.  It's also the first time Sega finally got a mascot...Sonic.  Other Sega games included the Streets of Rage series, Phantasy Star series, and lots of arcade-style games that were simply fun to pick up and play.  The SNES on the other hand had lots of games that took advantage of its graphical power.  Memorable games include Super Mario World, F-Zero, Gradius III, and, yes, even SimCity.  SimCity on this console added lots of extras including season changes, music, and 999 different maps to choose from.  For those that enjoyed this simulation it was hard to put down.  My personal favorite?  F-Zero.  Both systems I believe were equally matched then and that remains the same today.

The OG Playstation and PlayStation 2 consoles I can understand owning best console of all-time.  PlayStation just simply took off practically overnight.  And once games like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy 7, and Gran Turismo made it to the plate owning a PlayStation was a no brainer.  Then the PS2 came out, killed off the Dreamcast, and expanded on franchises the original PlayStation was known for.  I also believe the PS2 was the first console to be the center of attention that spawned a lot crimes from people stealing and even killing for one.  It was bad no matter how you looked at it.

In my eyes all of them should share the best console of all-time spot because each made a huge difference in their era of video games and they all are remembered for something.

[nosweargamer]

9 minutes ago, intellicolecovisonary said:

Gee, an Atari system declared the best system on a forum called atari.io, that certainly is unexpected....

Actually there is a five-way tie. At this moment there is one Atari system, one Sega system, one Sony system and two Nintendo systems tied for the best. So in a sense an Atari Forum decided that Nintendo made the best systems 😆

That's a lot of diversity!

[nosweargamer]

3 hours ago, intellicolecovisonary said:

At the moment is the key phrase here. If it stays tied or a non Atari system wins, then we can all truely say "that's a lot of diversity!". I may be wrong now but I don't think that's gonna happen.

 Would I be surprised if a year from now, the 2600 wins outright...not at all. But right now, I'd say they fact that only 3 out of 13 voters voted for an Atari system/computer, shows that the current active membership, while small, is open minded to brands beyond Atari. Just my two cents.

2 hours ago, intellicolecovisonary said:

There is something to love about and within each and every Video game system, so for me it is almost impossible to choose one as the best overall, but after deeply contemplating my navel, I had to choose the Colecovision. Athough I am currently going through a honeymoon phase with my Atari 7800, which I totally ingored in it's time, the one system that I always held on to for almost 40 years was the Colecovision with the Super Action controllers, the Rollerball and driving module.

It's interesting to me how a system like the 7800 is ranked. You could argue that if you're going to vote for the 2600, you should vote the 7800, since it plays 2600 games too right out of the box. You could also make a similar case for the Colecovision or Intellivision, since adapters where created to play 2600 games. Of course, most people will just vote for a system based on it's own library alone, which is understandable too.

[RickR]

There is no wrong answer. 

 

[HDN]

34 minutes ago, RickR said:

There is no wrong answer. 

 

Yes there is

[RickR]

That's why that thing isn't on the poll.