What Are Your Top Five All-Time Game Consoles?

[CZroe]

lost?

anyways would sega of had the most technologically advanced hardware from 5th and later?

Speak English, please. Would Sega HAVE had the most technologically advanced hardware from the fifth WHAT and later WHAT? Would they if WHAT?

Sega's clock speed was higher in the 16 bit generation but it did not have the most advanced hardware by any definition. Perhaps you mean when it and the TG16 were competing against 8-bit systems? Even then it had some laughable comparisons. For example, the standard controller didn't even have any more buttons than the NES and they had to make the D-pad a floating disc due to Nintendo's trademark on the cross shaped one. Controller advancement: none.

 

[exar333]

1. NES - started 'modern gaming' as we know it
2. PS1 - first real 3D platform and experimented in so many new genres of games
3. SNES - about the best we ever saw of platformers and improved on NES in every way
4. PS2 - VERY long lifetime and an amazing library of games; brought DVD to the masses
5. Xbox - first HD system, first real network (XBL), and first to do a good job of porting great PC games while having some awesome exclusives too (Halo, etc.)

Honorable mentions: Dreamcast, Atari, and Gameboy

 

[norseamd]

Speak English, please. Would Sega HAVE had the most technologically advanced hardware from the fifth WHAT and later WHAT? Would they if WHAT? Sega's clock speed was higher in the 16 bit generation but it did not have the most advanced hardware by any definition. Perhaps you mean when it and the TG16 were competing against 8-bit systems? Even then it had some laughable comparisons. For example, the standard controller didn't even have any more buttons than the NES and they had to make the D-pad a floating disc due to Nintendo's trademark on the cross shaped one. Controller advancement: none.

from sega saturn to the sega dreamcast

 

[zerocool84]

I had a GC for under a year before getting a XBox instead. I too noticed the same thing with jaggies and colors, but PS2/XBox were concentrated on 3D and complex stuff - GC was all about simplicity and that funky ass controller. I never regretted dumping the GC.

The buttons layout was interesting but too this day, the Gamecube controller is the most comfortable controller I've ever held.

 

[Ichinisan]

I had a GC for under a year before getting a XBox instead. I too noticed the same thing with jaggies and colors, but PS2/XBox were concentrated on 3D and complex stuff - GC was all about simplicity and that funky ass controller. I never regretted dumping the GC.

Your loss. Metroid Prime was incredible and well-suited to the controller. Other kick-ass exclusives: Super Smash Bros. Melee, Zelda: Wind Waker, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Sunshine, Eternal Darkness, Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2/3, F-Zero GX, and the best-looking version of Resident Evil 4 (and the REmakes of other RE games).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdgpSBhpf8I#t=5m42s

 

[cmdrdredd]

Wasn't twilight princess also on the Wii? I thought the GC version was better because I didn't like the aiming controls on the Wii. Also they changed link from a lefty to a righty since most people held the wiimote in their right hand as well as reversed some of the directions in the dungeons.

 

[SaurusX]

Wasn't twilight princess also on the Wii? I thought the GC version was better because I didn't like the aiming controls on the Wii. Also they changed link from a lefty to a righty since most people held the wiimote in their right hand as well as reversed some of the directions in the dungeons.

I think I read they mirrored the entire game when porting it to the Wii, because of the left-right issue. I recently picked up the GC version of the game (yea craigslist!), but haven't gotten around to actually playing it yet.

 

[Ichinisan]

I think I read they mirrored the entire game when porting it to the Wii, because of the left-right issue. I recently picked up the GC version of the game (yea craigslist!), but haven't gotten around to actually playing it yet.

That's right. The whole game.

How much did it cost you on Craigslist? I wonder if they're going cheap enough that I should look for the GC version...

 

[SaurusX]

That's right. The whole game.

How much did it cost you on Craigslist? I wonder if they're going cheap enough that I should look for the GC version...

It cost me $15 through CL, but I definitely wouldn't use that to gauge a base price. A complete in box copy of the GC version normally goes for $35-$45 (or more) on the auction site.

 

[dguy6789]

I may edit later with more consoles but Dreamcast is my #1. It was the first with virtually all of the following:

It had a web browser with flash support, mouse and keyboard support, a screen on the controller(with memory card inserted), analog L/R triggers, a memory card that didn't lose the info it stored if it ran out of batteries, a rumble pack that did not need batteries, dial up and broadband internet support, DLC(often free) and a large selection of online multiplayer games in an era where other consoles did not have online games.

 

[sxr7171]

Super nes, dreamcast, ps2, Saturn, and gamecube. Ps2 and gamecube had inexcusably bad graphics (look at how colorful v8 2nd offense was and then how no other ps2 game was anywhere near as colorful, then look at all the banding in gamecube games; the gamecube had good effects, and the ps2 had a 32 bit fixed z bufer but that didn't make te graphics good looking overall) compared to the dreamcast considering that they came out a year after the dreamcast and that the latter didn't even have r and d poured into it's hardware... but the ps2 and the gamecube were of the last generation in which more than 1/3 of the games were from japan, so that means they had excellent libraries.

Overall, the gamecube had better graphics than the dreamcast, but by a small margin in my opinion. The dreamcast and ps2 were about the same though considering how drab ps2 games tended to look.

Dreamcast was unreal. I remember when everyone waited to buy the PS2 and for years a game didn't come out the topped the dreamcast's capability in graphics.

I had a pretty good gaming PC those days, but when I took home the dreamcast and loaded it up I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

 

[CZroe]

I may edit later with more consoles but Dreamcast is my #1. It was the first with virtually all of the following:

It had a web browser with flash support, mouse and keyboard support, a screen on the controller(with memory card inserted), analog L/R triggers, a memory card that didn't lose the info it stored if it ran out of batteries, a rumble pack that did not need batteries, dial up and broadband internet support, DLC(often free) and a large selection of online multiplayer games in an era where other consoles did not have online games.

N64 Controller Pak's were EEPROM though some junk 3rd party ones were battery-backed SRAM.

SNES and Genesis has Mouse and keyboard, thought they were never used together (X-Band modem had a keyboard accessory but no mouse support).

Dreamcast's NeoGeo Pocket Color cable allowed a color controller screen before GameCube + Gameboy Advance did. Sega was the first to support that on GameCube too.

Analog triggers were a great advancement but it still needed six action buttons for many arcade fighters.

PSone Dual Shock did not need batteries for force feedback. You could mod an N64 Rumble Pak or buy 3rd party ones that didn't need it (force was weak though).

Broadband support was almost nonexistent. I know because I tried my damnedest to get a broadband Adapter the entire time it was supposedly available. Dial up optimized for low latency worked great for one-on-one games though, as X-Band proved with Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and Sega Saturn.

 

[sxr7171]

Even worse, Sega CD 32X games lol. Like $800 in hardware and 3 power bricks to run ... what 3 games?

That was a VERY exciting time to be a gamer. I've not had the same sense of "ZOMG NEXT GEN THIS IS THE FUTURE" vibe as I did seeing the Turbo Grafx and Sega CD addons with games with cut scenes and seeing ads and review pics with that sleek black deck with a shiny silver disc and fake laser graphic, etc. There was something more foreign and alien and exotic about it back then.

PS1 was close but the whole CD wave of the future thing was old news by then.

Combine with waiting weeks for the next EGM hoping for more SNES CD rumors and specs and everything else... yeah 90s was an EPIC time for video game evolution.

Now days it's more of the same only higher resolution and we know what to expect, it's all so vanilla and predictable now with all this safe established branding and stable technology curve. Case in point PS1... PS2... PS3... PS4... any bets on what the "next PlayStation" will be called? Bah. There's just so little magic and excitement anymore.

Turbo Graphics. PlayStation. Genesis. 3DO. Jaguar. Saturn. 3DFx Voodoo. Riva TNT. etc. Not PlayStation 15 and Geforce 940509484 and all these sequel names. It was just... different.

I suppose it's like how I imagine it was more exciting to be alive during the rapid advancements and discoveries of the 40s and 50s when nuclear power was going to solve everything and we'd have moon rockets and flying cars and xray vision and ray guns and wrist watch communicators... nothing that exciting these days, we know what's possible and what isn't now and everything is so predictable, incremental, and boring.

It was awesome for sure. But it was a time of many players trying to take and the grow the market. Many business failures came from all of it. Now there are only 3 players and they play it safe. Xbox itself would have been a failure if not for the ultra deep pockets of MS.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Your loss. Metroid Prime was incredible and well-suited to the controller. Other kick-ass exclusives: Super Smash Bros. Melee, Zelda: Wind Waker, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Sunshine, Eternal Darkness, Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2/3, F-Zero GX, and the best-looking version of Resident Evil 4 (and the REmakes of other RE games).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdgpSBhpf8I#t=5m42s

My loss? Not really...after having been a Nintendo fanboi all my life, I realized there's life outside of the Nintendo exclusive franchises that you mentioned. I also had a GC Color, Virtua Boy (yes, I bought one) and had a Wii beyond the NES/N64/Gameboy I originally mentioned.

 

[zerocool84]

Playing Phantasy Star Online for the first time on Dreamcast was awesome. Had so much fun with that game.

 

[Ichinisan]

I may edit later with more consoles but Dreamcast is my #1. It was the first with virtually all of the following:

It had a web browser with flash support,

That's. OK. I wouldn't really miss that feature if it wasn't there.

mouse

Nope. I have the first-party mouse accessory for SNES, Genesis (Megadrive), and 3DO. I know there was a first-party Playstation mouse too.

and keyboard support,

I dunno. The XBAND modem for Genesis and SNES had a keyboard (probably doesn't count since it's a third-party accessory). I'm pretty sure the N64 online service in Japan (Randnet) would have had it. Probably even the banking system for Famicom (NES).

...but Dreamcast had Typing of the Dead! :awe:

a screen on the controller(with memory card inserted),

Definitely. Sounds like you know about the Pocketstation. For those that don't know, it's a Playstation memory card with a screen and buttons, but that's no use when it's inserted in the system instead of the controller.

Controller i/o was an N64 innovation. I'm glad it carried-over to practically every major system since (excluding PS2/3).

analog L/R triggers,

This was great. I realized I wanted something like that the first time I played Star Fox 64 and I wanted to tilt my Arwing just a little.

a memory card that didn't lose the info it stored if it ran out of batteries,

Is this a reference to N64? I think only the unlicensed third-party Memory Paks (all third-party Memory Paks were unlicensed) used a battery. Nintendo's was an EEPROM chip, IIRC. Referring to the internal storage in some (mostly first-party) N64 games, some games used volatile SRAM with a battery, but most (including Super Mario 64) use non-volatile EEPROM. Still others (like Super Smash Bros.) use another type of non-volatile EEPROM that is sometimes referred to as "FlashRAM."

a rumble pack that did not need batteries,

Yup. Very cool. Still giving props to Nintendo for controller i/o.

dial up and broadband internet support,

This kicked ass.

DLC(often free) and a large selection of online multiplayer games in an era where other consoles did not have online games.

Yup. I wish the system caught on. RIP, Dreamcast.