hey guys, i decided to make an objective list of what are the top 5 consoles of all time.
ok, i know what many of you are thinking. HoW CAn IT bE OBJkEtive iF iTs aLl you"r oPInIoN?!!?
well.. yes, a lot of it is opinion. but at the same time, i think we can acknowledge standards that allow us to reach a conclusion of what constitutes the best console (or consoles) to ever come out.
now, i think we all can agree that the most important factor in determining what are the best consoles of all time are the games. the games are really going to determine what wins out here. for me, it has to do specifically with how the games that came out for the console propelled gaming forward. when we think of games in this way, there really are only a few options to choose from.
So here is my objective list:
5.
A lot of you may not know this, but the Wii is a fucking beast.
Anybody who scoffs at this console making the top five has honestly not given the games on it a decent play through. I am talking about games like: Muramasa, Sin and Punishment, Red Steel 2, Xenoblade, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower, Punch Out, Metroid Prime 3/Other M, Deadly Creatures, No More Heroes, Rhythm Heaven, Tatsunhoko vs. Capcom, Wario Ware, etc (I can go on). There is so much variety to this console and it was a great big breath of fresh air to the 7th generation. Those of you who owned, played and enjoyed all three consoles during this time know what I am talking about. The Wii deserves a ton of credit for all the amazing software that was made for it.
One thing that I would like to mention about the Wii that a lot of people who skipped it wouldn't know is how amazing it feels to not have your hands confined to one area like a standard controller will do to you. If you played a game like Xenoblade with a wiimote and nunchuck, it feels really good to be able to stretch your arms out on different areas of the couch as opposed to making sure your hands are positioned in a certain area. It is a very small thing, but it is something I wanted to mention; it feels really nice to have that ability. You really don't know unless you have played a 100+ hour game like that. It is honestly hard to go back to a regular controller after being accustomed to it.
4.
This goes without saying, but the PlayStation is an amazing console.
The 5th generation was probably the biggest time period where gaming evolved, and the PlayStation played a part in that with the story telling that was present in a lot of its games. The CD format that was adopted by this console allowed developers to tell stories in a more cinematic way than was possible in previous generations, and even in the current generation with its main competitor, the Nintendo 64. I would argue (a lot would agree with me) that this precedent has caused kind of a sad trend that we see today in games, where developers focus more on telling a story than innovating the way games are played and presented to us. But for the time, it was an amazing push forward, and just because it has (in my opinion) got a little bit out of hand today, that doesn't mean it wasnt an innovation that was capable of making games better.
The PlayStation was an RPG machine. If you were to make a list of the top 20 RPGs of all time, surely the PlayStation would be home to 8-10 games on that list. This system had series like Tales of Destiny, Final Fantasy, Lunar, Suikoden, Parasite Eve, Persona, Star Ocean, and Xenosaga. An RPG that was a personal favorite of mine for this console was Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. I don't recognize it as one of the best on the system, but it had fantastic music, and I am a huge sucker for classical music. I was also a huge fan of Eternal Sonata on the 360 if that explains anything. Anyway, this system obviously has more to offer than RPGs, but if that is your genre, there really is no better system to get.
3.
I think we can all agree that the NES was the most important game console to ever hit the market.
There really is no denying this system a top spot. Not only did it save the VG industry in America (some of you can argue this, but the simple fact is that games would not be what they are today if Nintendo didn't infiltrate the American market at that time), but it was where the most important franchises in history were born. Zelda, Mario, Castlevania, Mega Man, and Metroid to name a few. It also gave companies like Konami and Capcom a place to develop games and make some cash to turn into the juggernauts that they ended up becoming and producing classics series like Mega Man X, Metal Gear Solid, and Street Fighter. What would the industry have been without games like that? The Nintendo is where it all started, and even if it wasn't the pinnacle or golden age of great games, it still had as many as other systems and deserves credit for giving some of these legendary developers a place to start and be successful.
2.
There is no denying it. This system is home to the greatest video game ever created.
Now I know there will be a nay sayer or two who will vehemently disagree. If that is the case, they were either too young to experience this game when it came out and be able to compare it to games that were on systems before it (SNES, Genesis, NES), or they simply just do not remember what it felt like to play it for the first time and have forgotten the experience of, "wow, this is truly innovating the way we play video games." The fact that you already know about what game I am talking about kind of says it all. In fact, maybe you're narrowing it down to two different games, but there is just one that truly singlehandedly changed the way we thought of video games, and that is Ocarina of Time.
Ocarina of TIme is the N64's claim to fame. People may disagree that the N64 deserves this high of a spot on a list that is so competitive, and I can understand that. The N64 did not have that many games, but the games that it did have were absolutely fantastic. The PlayStation crushes the N64 in quantity, but when you are talking about what are the best games between the two, the N64 is going to have more games occupying that top ten list. In fact, the N64 has a lot of potential games that could make the top 20 games of all time, period.
Think about how revolutionary this console was for a minute. Try to remember how you felt when you first played Star Fox 64, when you first saw Super Mario 64, when you first experienced Ocarina of Time and played it all the way through. At first instinct, I wouldn't put the N64 at this high of a spot because of the lack of games, but when you look at what it had, and you remember that transition from 2D to 3D, there is no denying how powerful of a force this system was in how it shaped how games were played. This system was also home to the absolutely incredible Majora's Mask, Banjo Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Paper Mario. The N64 really was a fantastic console. And while it did have a ton of shortcomings as a system, the games that came out for it are simply undeniable.
1.
Is there any question?
There isn't much to say about this system. I mean, it only has 4-5 out of the top 10 games ever made, ever. The Super Nintendo is simply a treasure. The games for it are all treasures, and I think it is the most widely recognized console among gamers to be the best ever made. I'm sorry, there really isn't much else to say.
If you guys want to discuss whether another console deserves the #1 spot, we can discuss that, but it is pretty clear that the SNES is the best ever made.
Anyways, I know many of you may think that there is a certain console is conspicuously absent, well, I understand. I didn't include it because as great as the console was, it simply is not better than the five I listed above. I know the list is occupied by four consoles made by Nintendo, but I made a list that was reserved for the best consoles ever made, and I am not going to sit there and make sure things are evenly distributed. It is all about what is the best. Nintendo platforms are home to legendary games, and that is really all there is to it.
