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The_Liquid_Laser said:
curl-6 said:

Again, sales aren't an apples to apples comparison because they sold under very different circumstances.

The preferences of youtubers and merchandise don't prove anything either, that's just the rose-tinted nostalgia of a specific demographic. If you grew up gaming the the 80s, NES was virtually the only game in town, there was little alternative due to the lack of competition in the console space. 

I think our fundamental disconnect is that you're talking about which was more popular in its time, whereas I'm talking now, today, in the 21st century, in retrospect. Take a bunch of gamers who grew up with neither and let them play both today; I doubt most would choose the NES.

That is probabaly true, especially outside of North America and Japan.  SNES games are more like modern games.  SNES games are easier and longer than NES games (as a whole) which makes them more like the games made today.  SNES games are 2D, so they feel a step or two away from modern games, but NES games are like an extra step and that can feel too far removed from modern games.  Also the NES doesn't use any developer tricks (things that subtly make a game easier), and this is great on an old TV, but it can make the NES feel off on an HDTV which generally has lag in it.  NES is more reflex based than any system that came later.

However, a lot of people (probably most people) who played both the NES and SNES when they were new systems prefer the NES.  There is a difference between looking forward (in real time) and looking backward having not lived through it.  There are several ways that NES games are better: 1) action is most intense on NES (less lag and "developer tricks"), 2) more first party games (3 Marios, 2 Zeldas, etc...), 3) light gun games, and 4) most importantly there is a lot more variety and originality on the NES.  One thing that makes a game good (and a console good) is originality.  On the NES, Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Tetris were totally original games (also Mega Man, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, etc...).  Everything was original.  Modern gaming is so far removed from this that it's hard to describe.  Breath of the Wild would have been another good game on the NES, but today it is game of the decade.  The NES was pure originality and today's gaming has almost none.

These are the reasons why the people who experienced the NES in it's prime consider it one of the best (or simply the very best) systems of all time.

Speaking only for myself, I got an NES in 1988 when I was 12 and absolutely loved it. Got an SNES in 1993 and loved it even more. Now, I still play SNES games but just the thought of playing certain NES games make me feel a little anxiety. I don't think I'll EVER play an NES game unless I'm just messing around for 5 minutes.

I appreciate what it did for the industry and my childhood but, like the PS1, most of the games are just too crude to be fun. I know I don't speak for everyone. I do like watching videos of the NES but mainly for the reaction of the players, and not because of the games.