31-Day Mage Challenge: Day Twenty-Five – “Favorite Console”
4 min read
It’s a debate as old as the dawn of Pong itself: which console is the best and which console is your favorite? With eight generations of consoles under the gaming industries belt, and the ninth on the way, there is quite a bit to choose from. But do you opt for nostalgia or capabilities, for selection of games or selection of classics, for add ons or for staying power? Who rules the console wars? Just don’t expect to see Atari or Intellivision… Oh, and by the way, handhelds count (for the sake of argument).
“What is your Favorite Video Game Console?“
The Timely Mage
Another toughy. I was really into Sega Genesis when I was a kid and then had a great time with the Nintendo 64, and after getting my first PlayStation I’ve stuck with the platform ever since. If I had to pick one then I might have to choose PlayStation 1. It has probably the most amazing and varied lineup of games (Final Fantasy VIII, Spyro, Vagrant Story, Metal Gear Solid, Twisted Metal, and the list goes on) and set the tone for all modern gaming.
The Black Humor Mage
Hear me out on this one: the Wii is my favorite console of all time. If I was a little bit older, I could see how it could be other consoles. But the Wii did something for a lot of young people out there: it brought the past to the present. I would not have been able to play classics from the NES, SNES, N64, and even the Gamecube games I missed as a kid. The Wii’s virtual console store is an amazing feature, and it really helped me appreciate past games. I’m still using my Wii to this day to play some classics, and works as a Gamecube too. The Wii itself didn’t have many great games, but there were a few gems. The Wii is a great all-in-one, a sort of glorified emulator. It’s a much cheaper and practical option than buying all those consoles too.
The Rage Mage
Speaking of wee-wees… good ol’ Virtual Boy renewed my faith in the worthlessness of humanity. I always wanted to see the world in red, but I didn’t want stupefying vertigo with it. A 3D gimmick that proved 3D gimmicks will always be just that: throw-up-in-mouth inducing. Nintendo has had about as many misses as a drunk Robin Hood, and the Virtual Boy ranks right up there as the worst. And I love to hate it. Don’t even get me started in on the Dreamcast and all two of its games…
The Green Screen Mage
The original Xbox and Gamecube both equally have my heart. They were the consoles that I really started playing video games on. I played older consoles, but those two were when I actually started getting good at video games. Playing Harvest Moon for hours and hours on the Gamecube and running through Halo repeatedly with my brother. So many good games on these consoles.
The White Out Mage
I love the N64. That and the original NES are two of my favorites but I have the fondest multiplayer memories with the N64. It made me a gamer.
The Well-Red Mage
Looking at the answers above, you can see the kind of impression and impact that Nintendo has left. Now obviously, the NES might simply be the greatest gaming system ever made for having an extremely broad library, a massive amount of classics, its exclusivity, its iconic status, its timelessness, its quality control, its accessibility for every member of the family by age range, and for defining gaming and for reviving the industry, my favorite system of all time is undoubtedly the Super Nintendo!
It was powerful enough to survive into the 3D era of gaming by pushing 32-bit graphics the furthest they could go and some of the finest games ever made are on the SNES (Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island, FFIV and VI, Chrono Trigger, Mega Man X, Super Metroid, Earthbound, Donkey Kong Country and DKC2, Mario Kart, Zelda: A Link to the Past, Street Fighter II Turbo, etc, etc, etc.). This was Nintendo not just in their prime but on the top of the world, crushing everything with pure processing cartridge power. It took the rise of Sony and Nintendo’s clumsy step into 3D to dethrone the SNES. But it had no memory cards, no burdensome online connectivity, actually comfortable and intuitive controllers, an insane library of games, its focus on multiple genres, better graphics than early 3D games… It’s all been downhill for Nintendo ever since.
Let’s just say if there was a fire in my house, and I could only take one system with me, I’d grab my SNES first. I’d know it’d work plugged in anywhere.
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Not gonna lie, didn’t read comments, only skimmed article as we’re different people.
I own PS1/PS2/PSP/N64/DS/Wii/Xbox/PC (& got GC games somewhere in my Wii cases: Mario Party 7, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem & Smash Bros Melee)
But fave is hard cos personal reasons.
My dad gave us My 1st Ever games (a GB with Tetris & Cyraid) & I only met him 2wice so it’s a nice memory!
Mum bought us a PS1 a few yrs later, & foster mum (*Sighs*) gave me an allowance so I got a N64 & she bought us my 1st PS2.
(Which, being backwards compatible, but with graphics defuzz & disc speed up, made loading times f-off) which is why, when I say PlayStation, I genuinely mean both PS1&2 at same time as Mum was with me for both & those memories are 1 of the few reasons I’m still alive.
The N64 without question is my favorite. So many hours playing WCW/NWO Revenge, WWF No Mercy, Goldeneye and NFL Blitz. Soooo….many….hours…logged in those games!!
I think I tore my skin more than once on that jagged joystick!
Lol. My thumb always felt raw after using it too
Oops, first console I actually played was the Mega Drive. But I only started regularly playing games with the Gamecube. Mega Drive is close for the top spot, even so.
Generation 6 is special for me because it’s the generation that had the Gamecube and the Xbox, the first two consoles I played. The special out of the two was unquestionably the Gamecube, as it both had a better selection of games and just really pours the nostalgia juices — mostly Gotcha Force and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle’s fault. For hardware, however, the Gamecube is not my favourite, that prize going to the 3DS. I love the 3D and it’s double screen/touch screen features carried over and refined from the DS. But, really, my favourite console can’t not be the Gamecube.
Reuben
Thanks for sharing! I can’t really comment on the Xbox, since I owned one without any games for about a month. But I loved the GameCube for the short period of time that I had it. I think it was often too overlooked and overshadowed, but I just finished Luigi’s Mansion and liked it a lot.
Yeah, agreed about the Gamecube. Has a plethora of brilliant games – Luigi’s Mansion was one of them.
I had more titles that I identify with now from Playstation 1, so I think PSX is better.
This is tough, I’d probably say PS2 as that’s the system that originally got me into playing video games. So many classic games I enjoyed on that system. I loved PS3 as well, but was often too busy to use it, then it broke, so didn’t play games for ages. Even though I now have PS4, which is also my first foray into online gaming, I still fondly remember my PS2 and all fun times I had playing those old gams.
The PlayStation was the console I grew-up with, so it can only be that. Man, looking at that image is so pornographic…
Ha! That’s one way of putting it.
Mine is PS3. I had dabbled in online multiplayer before (mainly on PSP), but the PS3 opened up my world to social communities in a way I never expected.
Suddenly every night was a multiplayer night, with a text chatroom running on the PS3… even in the background so we could host community events for Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Uncharted 2, Little Big Planet etc. It was so social and really engaging.
And since I had a tiny bedroom at the time, I didn’t have room for anything else. So the PS3 was suddenly my media hub too. DVDs, iPlayer, MP3s, even AVIs that I’d just copied over from my old PC. I was using it constantly back then and old faithful never let me down 🙂
Even though I now consider the PS4 to be more favourable and powerful, I have so much love for the PS3 because I feel it’s something versatile : )
The PS3 has long served as my media hub, too!
N64 hands down! Great choice, White Out Mage! Now, I would say SNES like Well-Red Mage because I think that SNES is overall the better system because of its impressive lineup of games and how it impacted the industry. However, I’ll admit that although I grew up with the SNES as well, I didn’t play all the good games on it and thus had little nostalgia for all of the classics.
Thus, my personal favorite is still the N64 because of how it impacted my life and love for gaming and Nintendo. It’s where I first truly grew to love all of these Nintendo characters thanks to Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, and Super Smash Bros. It has some of my favorite games of all time including both Legend of Zelda games and SM64. There were so many other classics that I couldn’t imagine my childhood without like Banjo-Kazooie, Diddy Kong Racing, Paper Mario (when the series was still good), Mario Tennis (also back when the series mattered), and Mario Party (again, some games were just better on N64 than they are now). It also got me into brand new franchises that I had fond memories for like Harvest Moon 64, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, Rayman 2, and Ogre Battle 64. There’s so much to love about the N64, and my positive experience with the console shaped my love for Nintendo and Japanese games.
I agree with everything in this comment.
This is tough, because the Well-Red Mage is right; the Super Nintendo is pretty much the pinnacle of creation for all reasons laid out above. I have to agree that it’s the best system I’ve ever played on. It’s how I was introduced to the Final Fantasy Series through VI, and Super Mario World will spoken of in alien languages across the universe.
I’m torn between the PS and PS2, as well. PS is the system that hosted FFVII, and I think it’s safe to say that that game pretty much guaranteed the success of the console (well it was a major boost at least). Many a gamer bought a PS to be able to have that experience, but the PS2 hosted other Final Fantasies AND is backwards compatible. I still have my PS2. It’s how I’m currently playing FFIV. I’ve also left it on over 24 hours (one of the side quests in FFVIII dictates this), and it’s not remotely phased by overuse. They don’t make ’em like that anymore!
So…I don’t know! What a difficult question 😫
I love the SNES for nostalgic reasons, and I love the PS2 for its current utility and longevity. How can I choose??
Lots of love for both systems!
NES. Forever. Even if I would like to find a flea market online or similar where to buy all the consoles ever made. I would like to have a console museum at home!
The NES is the reigning champ. I’d say it’s the greatest of all time.