Pick only one console per generation.

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DrLitch
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Joined: July 19th, 2017, 12:57 pm

Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby DrLitch » December 25th, 2017, 1:32 am

1- Never played any 1st gen system, before my time
2- Commodore 64? Again, never played this gen, before my time, but my dad had the C64 that crossed 2 gens.
3- NES
4- SNES
5- Playstation
6- Playstation 2
7- Xbox 360
8- Playstation 4 so far...

3rd gen - easy win for NES. Placing the PC engine/Tubografx 16 in the mix, it crossed both 3rd and 4th generation. In its day, pre-SNES/Genesis I could see how one may favor it over the NES.

4th gen, both Genesis and SNES easily had 40 titles each that were excellent. Both had strengths and weaknesses and they complemented each other well. Overall though, despite the Genesis being a superior console for action games, Sega forced Nintendo to be on top form and some of their best ever games were made this generation. Then there are the RPG's on it - that alone is enough to seal the deal. SNES a no brainer for me, for another, it may easily be the Genesis. My favorite gaming generation by far. Atari Jaguar, CDi, and 3D0 had some cool content but they do not even factor slightly this gen or next gen. Turbografx16 had a lot of good gaming content and Neo Geo was the overpriced system we all wanted but ended up pumping quarters in the arcade instead. Both are worth a mention but very much secondary to the SNES/Genesis rivalry. Amiga -500 I heard was a decent pc/console but I never had it or played it. PC gaming started gaining momentum in this generation.

5th gen, N64 had some quality titles, a few of them contenders for a top 100 best game of all time list. Not as much shovelware on the N64 like the Playstation, but outside of around 15 titles, it gets difficult to find games on the N64 much above mediocre. Saturn was overlooked in the day but hindsight looks at it favorably. Lacking a killer app but plenty of good content on there. Playstation had every genre well covered and lining up the best software developers or exclusive content at the time sealed the deal for them.

6th gen - easy win for the PS2. As much as I liked the Dreamcast, and it really was the better system initially, the PS2 matured rapidly. The Xbox and Gamecube both had good content and were superior hardware wise. Game wise - variety and exclusives sealed the PS2 deal for me. PC gaming was particularly strong in this generation, Fallout 2, Unreal, Quake 3/4, Half Life 2, Baldur's Gate and numerous other Excellent RPG's. I spent most this generation gaming on my PC.

7th gen - The PS3 struggled to gain traction for much of it and was miles behind the Xbox360, but some outstanding exclusive content did wind up on the PS3. By the end of it's life cycle, the XB/PS were pretty much even. Overall though cannot deny that the XBox360 bossed this generation for much of it. The Wii does not factor for me, outside of it's novelty, it was an awful console with only a handful of games worth playing. It may have flipped the most consoles but most does not equate best.

8th gen - this generation is quite boring and middling. But it is easy to choose a best console. PS4 over Xbox One. In terms of third party content, both get most of the same games. In the realm of exclusives, Sony have done it better than Microsoft this generation. 2018 is looking very strong for Sony with a solid lineup of quality titles. Wii U? A definite improvement on the original Wii but the Switch is the desired outcome of Nintendo's experimentation. I am very impressed with the Switch but it is too soon to judge the console. Judging 2017 content alone, the Switch > PS4. In 2018 this looks like flipping in Sony's favor.

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scotland
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Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby scotland » December 25th, 2017, 9:34 am

matmico399 wrote:Really Scotland...the N64? Nothing wrong with Your opinion of course . I had fond memories of it back in its prime! It that was the only classic console I sold off. Hadn’t played it in years andGoldeneye was not nearly as fun as I remembered. Merry Christmas!


Yeah, I know...the N64. Here is the story.

I too was Wow'ed by Crash Bandicoot and other games on the Playstation at friends houses, but at the time I was PC gaming big time. I was into games like Mechwarrior that are much better on a PC with a complex joystick, mouse and keyboard. So, I experienced this console generation mostly after it was over. My N64 collection was assembled during that sweet spot when games and accessories were cheap. To this day, it remains a fun party machine.I also like cartridges over discs, and my Playstation is one of the few consoles i have had to replace. I also did not like the original PS controllers.

So, my enjoyment of the N64 is as I experienced it - already an inexpensive retro machine. I got the console with games like Turok and Beetle Adventure Racing, and just had a blast. How we experience a console matters.

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AtariToday
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Joined: January 12th, 2017, 6:51 am

Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby AtariToday » December 25th, 2017, 12:16 pm

Here are my selections if I had to pick one console per generation. Some of the choices were incredibly hard for me but I ended up selecting the ones I'd personally spent the most time with:

1st: Atari Stunt Cycle
2nd: Atari 2600
3rd: NES
4th: Sega Genesis
5th: Playstation
6th: Dreamcast
7th: Xbox 360


honorable mentions - systems that just barely missed my list:
Atari 8-bit computer. Not exactly a console but my family had an Atari 800 and we used the thing solely for gaming..Galaxian, Asteroids, Missle Command, Joust. So much fun!

Odyssey 2. As a kid the neighbors had this quirky system set up in their basement and we would play on it when their grand-kids came over. I received one as a gift a few years ago and I've fallen in love with it. Currently collecting games for this thing! Pick one up if you've missed out. It's fairly cheap to collect for and the games are fun! Pick Axe Pete and K.C. Munchkins Crazy Chase are getting lots of play recently.

Atari 7800. The library of games is fairly small but i'm working towards collecting a complete set (one of these years!) of North American released titles. Some great gems on this system include: Food Fight, Alien Brigade, Ninja Golf and lots of great arcade conversions like Joust and Asteroids. Solid fun can be found here. I picked myself up an Atari 7800 gamepad (European release) and an adapter to use a sega genesis gamepad from Edladdin. Highly recommended!

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Retrology
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Joined: July 17th, 2015, 2:45 am

Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby Retrology » December 25th, 2017, 4:07 pm

1st: Haven't
2nd: 2600
3rd: NES
4th: Genesis
5th: N64
6th: GameCube
7th: 360
8th: Switch

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LoganRuckman
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Joined: April 10th, 2015, 1:04 am

Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby LoganRuckman » December 25th, 2017, 4:38 pm

Just to warn you, this list is heavily biased, as I am a Nintendo fanboy.

1st- Never played one.
2nd- Atari 2600
3rd- NES
4th- SNES
5th- N64
6th- GameCube
7th- DS
8th- 3DS so far, but I feel the Switch will overtake it.

matmico399
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Joined: November 25th, 2015, 6:11 pm

Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby matmico399 » December 25th, 2017, 8:48 pm

Wow the conversations on this have been fantastic. There are several trends going on here but I notice mainly one. The Atari 2600. Was that a great system in its day or what. So many simple games that are so much fun, still to this day. The 2600 lives! How incapable Atari management managed to screw up almost every other system after that is a mystery to me. 5200 overpriced. 7800 outdated. Jauguar poor programming and bad bad games. They nailed it with the 2600 but blew it on every console since. I wonder if the Atari ox will make many look at it. I’d out t it. But a final Merry Christmas to all before the Holiday ends! ;)

Rynowned
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Joined: April 26th, 2016, 8:31 pm

Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby Rynowned » December 25th, 2017, 9:00 pm

1. Vectrex
2.Colecovision
3.Nes
4.Genesis
5.N64
6.PS2
7.Xbox 360
8.Switch

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Atarifever
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Joined: April 12th, 2015, 5:55 am

Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby Atarifever » December 25th, 2017, 9:11 pm

I don't really want one every generation anymore. Some generations, I can do without.

1) 2600 (2nd generation)
2) Neo Geo (4th)
4) Ps2 or Gamecube (6th)
5) Xbox 360 (7th)
6) PS4 (8th)

I've thought about that sometimes and thought that's as few systems as you needed in order to have "mass market" new games with no real breaks in the least amount of systems (if you bought them all in their heydays). I also think that represents a very wide assortment of game types over a long period, with everything from early arcade games, to the arcade resurgence, to 3D platformeers, to FPSes, to RPGs. Also, as a collector, with this few systems, you can still, today, build a collection with games representing every year for the past 40 years of gaming.

I wish I had the money, foresight, and then patience to buy the right systems at launch and ride them out to the bitter end. Imagine the collections you could have built up.

jon
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Joined: April 9th, 2015, 4:30 pm

Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby jon » December 25th, 2017, 9:53 pm

3) NES - Although I really didn't even know the Master System existed the marketing must of been nonexistant
4) Genesis - Obviously and Neo Geo by 50,000 miles not taking price into consideration.
5) This is the tough one, a lot of crap. I'll go with the Sega Model 2.
6) Gamecube
7) PS3 bc of College Hoops 2k8, I stopped caring after the 90's and really stopped caring around the PS2 era

ESauce
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Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:20 pm

Re: Pick only one console per generation.

Postby ESauce » December 26th, 2017, 12:32 am

2600 - I’ve never played any other system from this generation.

NES - My master system doesn’t get played often. I grew up with the NES and the list of classic games for it is overwhelming

Genesis - This is pure nostalgia. I think the SNES is objectively the better system but I grew up playing Sonic, the better version of Aladdin and Street Fighter 2 (with the Genesis 6 button) and there’s no way I could give those up.

N64 - Again, nostalgia requires that I pick this, but I also think that objectively, there’s no clear winner between the N64 and PSX. Both of them have great games and are technically superior to each other in different ways. I think the Saturn is the clear worst one of the generation unless you are big on 2d fighters and shmups. I love Nights and Panzer Dragoon but the overall library just pales in comparison to its competitors. But back the 64, I couldn’t pick the PSX and not be able to play Mario 64 and Zelda or bring out Mario Kart 64, Smash and Goldeneye at parties. And even without nostalgia, I don’t really think there are many PSX games that work as well for multiplayer as any of those games.

GameCube - This one was so so hard to choose. Giving up Halo on the Xbox hurts. Giving up God of War, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper and Metal Gear Solid 3 is even harder. And if Dreamcast falls in this generation that means no Soul Calibur 1 and no Powerstone 2. But giving up Smash Melee and Resident Evil 4 (because the PS2 port doesn’t count based on the rules) would be the worst. Since I would still have Soul Calibur 2 it’s easier to give up the Dreamcast. And since Timesplitters 2 and 3 are on the GameCube, and I love them nearly as much as Halo 1 and 2, I have an easier time giving up the Xbox. The PS2 still has a significantly larger library of classics, but nothing I would miss as much as the few on GameCube.

360 - This generation is a little recent so it’s tough for me to say for sure. Once again, I have a lot of nostalgia for the Wii. I got it on launch day and loved it. Mario Galaxy and the Zelda games are great. But it is a limited library and motion controls do bog down even its best games. As for PS3, I think it probably has the best library (I love Uncharted and the Last of Us) but I don’t like the controller so every multi platform game is a 360 game in my mind. But really once again it all comes down to nostalgia. And my wife and I used to play through the Halo and Gears of War games together back before we were married. When my first 360 broke she surprised me by replacing it.

And I couldn’t possibly pick for the current generation. I only have an Xbox but hope to get a Switch soon.


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