For PS1 selling point: DVD/*New* high tech disc based console.  PS didn't have any game franchise, simply it did what Nintendon't.

PS2: DVD

PS3: Don't know really or rather that I wasn't going to include PS3 but did anyways without thought.

Defintely Wii Sports. It's the game that brought motion gaming into the mainstream. Everyone HAD to own it. So there it is, Wii Sports.

i think it's Final Fantasy VII or Super Mario Bros. 3 or Halo Combat Evolved.

I'd rather not count pack-ins because you can't tell if someone wants the system more than the game. FF VII changed the ps from a house to a home for jrpg fans. Super Mario Bros. 3 changed Nintendo, from a good console maker, into an immortal legend. Halo deserves credit for bringing western pc developers to consoles and single handedly making XBOX a viable platform.


My favorite out of these is Halo Combat Evolved. The best system seller of all time.

My personal top 5 games that almost single-handedly sold their respective consoles...

#1 Wii Sports - Wii
#2 Halo - Xbox
#3 Tetris - Game Boy
#4 Super Mario 64 - N64
#5 Sonic The Hedgehog 1&2 - Sega Genesis

Honorable mentions: DKC - SNES and FFVII - PS1

Super Mario Bros. 1 on NES. Hands down. Yes, it was a pack in, but it was also a phenomenon in a way that few games have ever been, and that game alone sold millions of NES consoles. It was the highest selling video game of all time until Wii Sports came along.

Agreed, 100%. Nothing comes close to these three IMO.

According the Cerny, having a mascot character who sells the console has never been Sonys primary goal like MS and Nintendo. Their goal is to make various hit titles that all sell well and being known for large amounts of quality games.

2015 reporting in and they say, "TitanFall." lol

Nah, but seriously, Halo. Without Halo I don't think there would be an Xbox. Certainly not the first, an not the other two. Or it would be in a different way. I have never seen a single game be the focus of why people bought a console. It was to play Halo (even though many people's moms still call it Nintendo.)

Recently it was Wii for movement/new ways to interact. PS3 for Blu-ray. People bought PS1/PS2 to play everything, not just one specific game. Even Sonic on the DreamCast - people bought it for what it could do, not just a single game.

Even PacMan on the Atari 2600 didn't have the draw that was Halo.

The PS3's system seller was Blu-ray.  Sure it had games, but for many the primary reason was it was the least expensive Blu-ray player on the market for a long time.

It's between the first SMB and Wii Sports. I'd lean towards Wii Sports simply because it sold more Wii's than SMB sold NES's.