The Video Game Critic

1. Pong
2. Intellevision
3. NES
4. SNES
5. PS1
6. PS2
7. Wii
8. Retron 5

Second generation: Atari 2600
Third Generation: NES (no contest)
Fourth generation: SNES (Sega Genesis had some phenomenal games, but the snes had everything! It took Sega's failed attemps with the 32X to be able to pull off what the snes was already capable of).
Fifth generation: PS1. Some may give the nod to the N64, but I just don't see it. Yes, they had Ocarina of Time, Mario 64, Goldeneye, Starfox 64, etc., but PS1 had every company under the sun making some of their arguably greatest achievements! Squaresoft had Final Fantasy 7-9, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, and FF Tactics; Konami had Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Suikoden, Metal Gear Solid, and Vandal Hearts; Naughty Dog came into their own with Crash Bandicoot; EA had two great Medal of Honor games; Capcom had a knockout with the Resodent Evil trilogy, Dino Crisis, and their huge list of fighting games; Namco had Ridge Racer, Tekken, and Soul Edge; Sony themselves had two stellar Twisted Metal games and the original Warhawk! Sega, you mentioned how gameplay trumps all, but I just listed a wealth of games that had gameplay in spades! Though none of the games I listed may rival Ocarina of Time, many do come close, and that list can't be denied it's place in gaming history.
Sixth generation: I prefer GameCube and Dreamcast, but I would have to give it to PS2. The astonishing volume of top-tier games, backwards compatibility, and DVD playback make this a no-brainer.
Seventh generation: tie (Wii and PS3): the Wii had some amazing games that were NOT made by Nintendo themselves! A Boy and His Blob, Mega Man 9&10, Lit, Klonoa, Madworld, No More Heroes, Kororinpa, etc.

The PS3 had an uphill battle, but I think they pulled it off, delivering some of the last generation's finest gaming moments. Demon Souls, the Uncharted trilogy, Little Big Planet, 3D Dot Game Heroes, The Last or Us, God of War III, etc.

It seemed pretty clear cut to me...

1. Pong (2 votes)
3. NES (5 votes)
4. 4 SNES vs. 3 3 Genesis
5. PS1 (5 votes)
6. PS2 (6 votes)
7. 360 (3), Wii (3), PS3 (1)
8. N/A

The only close ones were the 360 vs. Wii and SNES vs. Genesis.

It is an easy argument to make. The N64 has some major issues, no doubt, but so does the original Playstation.

Mario 64 and Ocarina are easily the most influential games of that generation, by a huge margin. Now, thrown in Goldeneye 64, which was a major innovation for console FPS, and essentially  built the genre on consoles.

The N64 is literally the Cradle of Civilization of 3D console gaming. Jut about every 3D game we have today, sans racing, RPG and fighting (the last 2 are still a 2D genre, anyways,  for the most part), can be traced back to its roots in Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, and Goldeneye.

The most famous PS1 game is FF7 - easily could be done on Super Nintendo, with no compromises to gameplay. The second most famous is Gran Turismo, a realistic car racing game, literally any studio with the time and money can make that game, no imagination to it at all. Whereas Mario 64 was a complete game changing revelation for the entire game industry. There is no comparison.

I will throw out my overall favorite at least. I have to pick the PS2 as the best overall system. Mostly because of SO many good games,amazing graphics that still hold up today,tons of good multi player games( the two control ports are big negative)and loads of quality exclusives. I'm far from a fan boy,but I'm very surprised that this isn't the most common answer. I have played every system extensively from NES to Xbox, so I think I can be fair. PS2 all the way.

I agree with you on Mario 64 and OoT, but then you have Metal Gear Solid, which single-handedly brought the stealth genre into the mainstream.

Also, how could you discount a system that had a game-changer like Bubsy 3D?;-)

2nd Generation (the real first generation, in my opinion): Atari 2600

Reason: Had the most games and the most well known games didn't rely on realism (Mattel Intellivision) and had more exclusivity than the Colecovision; however, the Intellevision has recently gotten better homebrew games such as Christmas Carol vs. the Ghosts of Christmas Presents, the two DK Arcade games, and older titles such as Stonix and Space Patrol. To be honest, the Colecovision, Atari 5200, and Vectrex were a glimpse of a sequel generation, but due to the Crash of 1983, it ended quite quickly.

3rd Generation: NES/Famicom

Reason: This is a no brainier due to Nintendo's highly controlling business practices, which prevented competitors from getting pieces of the industry pie as third party titles (from mainly Japanese third party companies) were essentially considered part of Nintendo; however, due to the popularity of computer gaming in North America and Europe, Nintendo's policies didn't really affect Western companies that much (especially in Europe). That little history lesson aside, this is my personal all-time favorite console due to the vast abundance of platformer and action games; even though the Video Game Critic loathes it, I think Metal Storm is the definitive game as it best resembled the console itself as a unique, well-designed, difficult, and just plain fun action-platformer. The console was no slouch in the other genres as well with games like Gun*Nac (Shmup), Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (Sports), Dr. Mario (Puzzle), River City Ransom (Beat em Up), The Magic of Sheharezade (RPG), and Crystalis (Action-RPG). The other two, try as they might, had nowhere near as much interest, which is definitely attributed to what I stated earlier.

4th Generation: Super NES/Super Famicom

Reason: Even though I prefer the NES slightly over it (the Super NES clock-speed issues did affect the enjoyability somewhat), this console brought the best in what the previous offered for nearly every genre; it's just a shame some of the greatest third party gems weren't released in North America and Europe such as the Kunio-Kun (River City Ransom) series, Terranigma (Action-RPG that was released in only Japan and Europe), Macross: Scramble Valkyrie (my favorite shmup on the console), Ganbare Goemon sequels, Battle Pinball, and much more games. Even the competition was fiercer than the previous generation with the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and PC-Engine/Turbo Graphx-16 getting some really strong input. Definitely one of the more unique generations.

5th Generation: Sony PlayStation

Reason: Even though Sega and Nintendo brought much more 1st party uniqueness compared to the newcomer Sony, third party companies went more overboard for this console. Essentially every genre was covered due to the massive success of the console's entire run. I'm actually somewhat reluctant to call it the best console of it's generation as the Sega Saturn had better representation of 2D fighters (which was still a massively popular genre) and nearly identical third party support (which stayed in Japan for the mist part), while the Nintendo 64 had way better 1st party titles such as Mario 64, Sin & Punishment, Star Fox 64, F-Zero X, Paper Mario, and the widely considered Zelda series. In addition the Nintendo 64 had some great third party gems such as the two Ganbare Goemon games and AKI pro wrestling games. That said, the PS1 did have the Crash Bandicoot trilogy (which was a perfect fill-in for the oddly absent Sonic the Hedgehog), Raiden DX (A nice combination of the original two games that stayed in Japan), Alundra (2D action-RPG similar to Zelda), as well as many other gems. Also, this was the first major success of the home console market in Europe as it rivaled what computer gaming offered at a cheaper price.

6th Generation: Sony PlayStation 2

Reason: While not my personal favorite console of that generation (the Game Boy Advance takes that spot), it was essentially the same reason the previous console was successful; cheap and covered every genre, in addition to being a follow-up the the hugely successful predecessor and having the ability to play games from that console. Again, I feel Sony's 1st party efforts lack a certain charm compared to Sega (which died off too quickly) and Nintendo's more unique offerings, but was made up with some nice 3rd party gems. Subjectively, I feel the Game Boy Advance is the best console due to the unique offerings from Nintendo, such as Wario Ware, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Rhythm Tengoku, and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, as well as a good selection of third party titles and full on backwards compatibility with the older Game Boy and Game Boy Color software.

7th Generation: Xbox 360 & Nintendo DS (Tie)

Reason: It had the most games and had a huge backlog of downloadable games. It's my personal favorite home console of the three due to the exclusivity of Cave, 5p, Moss, and Qute's shmups, as well as exclusive Xbox Live Arcade titles such as Strania, Super Meat Boy, Xbox Live Indies, and much more. On the hand, Nintendo still has the best 1st party support compared to either Microsoft and Sony's offerings; if it weren't for the shmup genre and Xbox Live Arcade exclusives, the Wii and PS3 would rule over this console. Not so debatable would be the Nintendo DS dominance in the portable market despite Sony's PSP being a good success both sales and library-wise; the DS was a combination of Nintendo's ever dominate 1st party lineup and 3rd party support not seen on a Nintendo platform since the Super NES.

8th Generation: Nintendo 3DS (so far)

Reason: With a better than solid lineup and backwards compatibility to Nintendo DS software, this console, along with the Vita and Wii U, are the only bright spots of this somewhat uninspired generation.

I would type more, but this post a getting a little too long.

PS2 is definitely the best. No contest for me. NES is probably second place. Third place is a three-way tie between Genesis, SNES, and PSX.

Atari 2600
Atari 7800
Atari Jaguar
PS1
Xbox
Xbox 360
Xbox 1

Now they have all been beaten by the best UK console in years featuring a new exclusive game pac man.  Yeah the Gamestick... ok... I know I am joking. 

You notice there are no nintendo products there.  The Snes was good butt at was about. The N64 had its moments.  The cube had a lot of very good games. 

Neo geo ... played it in the arcades.  A good machine.