Best second console

[The_Liquid_Laser]

curl-6 said:

The_Liquid_Laser said:

You are arguing with me by talking about something different.  My whole point is that most people prefer the NES.  You are not even talking about that.  You are trying to argue your own definition of the "gaming community".

I mean, can you actually provide any evidence that "most people" prefer the NES? 

NES may have sold more decades ago, (though even then its not a 1:1 comparison as SNES had much stronger competition) but I'm talking about today. 

Here is some evidence that "most people" prefer the NES, particularly in North America.  The NES/Famicom only had a major presence in Japan and North America.  I wouldn't expect it to be preferred in other parts of the world.  But here is evidence of the NES' popularity in North America.

1) NES literally sold more than SNES.  I know you don't want to count this, but that is kind of like saying, "You have no evidence that I shot this guy" while you are holding a smoking gun.  Sales numbers are very weighty evidence.

	NES	SNES	% change
Japan	19.4	17.2	-11%
North America	34	24	-29%
ROW	8.6	8.7	1%

The NES sold more than the SNES, but the biggest difference in sales was in North America.  That is where we should find the most people who prefer the NES, especially among those who are old enough to remember the NES when it was a current console.

2) Retro Gamers on Youtube.  I did some searches looking for the top 30 retro gaming channels (based on subscriptions) that are in North America.  Almost all of these channels cover retro gaming in general.  However some of the channels clearly favor one system based on content, and in some cases the Youtuber has just come out and said what their favorite system is.  Here are the results:

	Channel	subs (in thousands)	slant/preferred system
1	Cinnemassacre	3340	NES
2	LGR	1410	PC
3	The 8-bit guy	1180	none
4	Summoning Salt	810	NES
5	Metal Jesus Rocks	785	none
6	Gaming Historian	777	none
7	Classic Game Room (80s comics)	437	Genesis
8	Nostalgia Nerd	357	PC
9	Nintendrew	314	N64
10	Happy Console Gamer	253	Genesis
11	Game Sack	250	none
12	Pat the NES Punk	234	NES
13	Continue?	209	none
14	SNESdrunk	182	SNES
15	My Life In Gaming	178	none
16	Nintendo Complete	141	NES
17	Retro Game Mechanics Explained	138	SNES
18	Classic Gaming Quarterly	131	none
19	Kelsey Lewin	124	Gameboy
20	Adam Koralik	111	Dreamcast
21	Nintendo Collecting	108	N64
22	darbian	101	none
23	John Hancock	94	Genesis
24	John Riggs	86	NES
25	nenriki86	83	NES
26	Retrorepairs	75	none
27	RinryGameGame	75	none
28	Retroware	54	none
29	Gaming History Source	54	none
30	NES Complex	50	NES

Here is the data for just NES and SNES channels

	Channels	Subs (in thousands)
NES	7	4744
SNES	2	320

Just based on retro content on Youtube, the NES is far more popular than the SNES, at least among North American gamers.  You might also argue that the SNES had tougher competition in North America.  However if you add the SNES and Genesis together, then that brings the # of channels up to 5 and the NES is still far ahead on total subscriptions.  The NES' popularity vs the SNES is not simply because some prefer the Genesis.  People authentically love the 8-bit era completely on its own.

3) Merchandise

Here is a popular site that sells retro gaming T-shirts.
https://pixelretro.com/pages/pixelretro-quality

Under their NES category they have 90 different shirts available.  Under their SNES category they have 40 shirts available.

Here is another site that sells retro gaming themed art.
https://artovision3d.com/

The art can be bought as shadowboxes that hang on the wall or it can be desktop art.  I sorted these by "best selling" and then counted how many were NES themed and how many were SNES themed.

	Shadowbox art	Desktop art
NES	17	15
SNES	9	10

In both cases art from NES games appears more often than art from SNES games in the "best selling" category.  What people actually buy more often is the NES themed art.

Ultimately, what I wanted to show is how extremely popular the NES is in North America.  People on the internet like to crap all over the NES.  Meanwhile, I know plenty of people in real life who love it.  Part of the disconnect is that most parts of the world did not experience the NES in its prime.  Those who didn't dismiss the NES quickly, while those who did have a deep appreciation for it.  When I'm saying people love the NES, I'm not just making this up.  There is a reason why the NES sold more than the SNES.  It was and still is a very popular system for North American gamers.