The 16-bit era, no doubt. The 90s were a time when the console makers themselves were sniping at each other in their ads. Sega was especially aggressive about this, but Nintendo and even Sony got in on it. After the 90s, the console makers kinda dropped all of that and PR-wise have basically been at the "friendly business rivalry" stage of their relationship for a long time. The 16-bit era was also the closest horse race between two consoles ever, at least in the U.S.
"Console wars" stuff these days is just angry gamers with axes to grind arguing over whose plastic electronic toy made by a soulless multinational corporation is the best, and acting like anything less than glowing praise towards their platform of choice is a personal affront towards them. You know. Normal adult behavior. Totally not childish at all.
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