For me it's a draw between the 4th and 5th generations. If I had to choose though, I think I will go with 4th slightly ahead; the combination of FFIV-VI, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Zelda ALttP, Yoshi's Island and Super Metroid is a near impossible one to beat.

My least favourite was the 6th. While I love games like SSBMelee, Tales of Symphonia, Metroid Prime, Skies of Arcadia and Shadow of Colossus, with Zelda Wind Waker as my favourite ever game; I feel the 6th gen was a disappointing one. Possibly due to lack of competition by Sony/SEGA, the GBA was IMO inferior to DS or the PSP. SEGA left the hardware business. Finally, I can't really explain it too well, but I just feel that in the 6th gen Nintendo lost their way a little bit, thankfully finding it again in the 7th gen IMO.

7th is almost as not quite as bad as 6th. I argue that the DS has the best line up of any platform. Nintendo home consoles saw a vast improvement, IMO the Wii's library destroys that of the GC. My favourite genre, JRPGs, have IMO also improved almost across the board, the exceptions being Final Fantasy and Paper Mario. Despite this, it remains low on my list as I'm very disappointed by the two HD consoles, though the PS3 is seeing a rapid improvement IMO.

I haven't played enough of gens 1-3 to feel like I can make an accurate judgement and it is too early to say much about the 8th.

Hm I voted 5th gen but it really was because it was that gen that turned me into a gamer (although I started with the 4th gen). However, I enjoyed the 6th gen greatly(MGS3, Shadow of the Colossus, Twisted Metal Black, God of War) and I'm loving the 7th gen(Dark Souls, Demons Souls, MGS4, GOW3, etc) Not trying to be modest here, but I don't have a favorite, 4th-7th gen were all fantastic.

The 5th to me definitely had the best games, but the 4th was the generation that caused the most fights. I will call it a toss-up.

Yeah sure, SNES game were better than today's ones...Stop this nostalgical crap and wake up man, come on...

Would you care to pinpoint what exactly is so wrong with that line of thought?

I was born in 1996, and had never played a game that was older than myself until 2007. And the fourth generation is my favorite by a landslide.

2nd-7th I can't decide, I grew up with all of those bar 1st gen.

my favorite is the fourth, the snes is the best console of all time.

The 6th generation for the win.
This generation is pretty much on par with the 5th.

Well I've voted second gen but feel the need to point out that the study is incredibly flawed.

Its like asking which is the best decade to have been lived in. With the start point at the 1920's

When constructing any poll you must consider how valid the question is given the likely audience.

Most of the people who will take part in this poll probably werent alive prior to 1980 and therefore shouldnt vote as their opinion is only at best partly formed.

The only people who should vote are those who have the experience of gaming through each era.

I am such a person and I vote 2nd gen. Whats more the seventh gen ranks second with the 4th/5th gen tied in close third.

All other opinions are half baked, unless of course you have been gaming solidly for over 30 years.

Doing my Top 50 games of all time helped me confirm what I already knew before: the 4th generation is the best of them all with gems like

Chrono Trigger,
Final Fantasy VI,
Final Fantasy IV,
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past,
Secret of Mana,
Super Metroid,
Super Mario World,
Yoshi's Island,
Star Fox,
Donkey Kong Country 1,2,3,
Super Punch Out!!,
Super Castlevania IV,
Killer Instinct,
Super Mario Kart,
Mega Man X and tons of other games I'm forgetting right now.