4th, and it's not close. That's not to say 5th wasn't great too though. 5th was very disruptive to the industry, with CD becoming standard, 3D graphics, Sony entering the industry and so on. It was a fascinating time. I just don't think the games were quite as good, with many early 3D games having crap game mechanics. But the SNES was just pure brilliance, with 3 DKC's, 3FF's, Zelda, Mana, SFII, SMW, MK, and on and on. And that's before even thinking of the effort Sega put in, which was substantial.

Fifth gen is the best generation in gaming. It will probably never be surpassed again.

The advent of 3D and cheaper development allowed for a multitude or varied, meaty and inovative experiences. Unfortunely, we will probably never get something like that again.
Actually... i wish we could go back to having those games cause they sure were more fun to play than much of the stuff we have today.

The 5th Gen.

The N64 and the PlayStation are my favorite consoles of all-time, with most of my favorite games of all-time coming from either of these two systems. It was basically the pinnacle of gaming, where a level of perfection and 'fun' was reached in many games that most likely will never be reached again. We also had the definitive version of the classic GameBoy with the GameBoy Color during this age and many of my favorite PC games hail from the 5h Gen (though the 6th Gen was 'PC-Gen' for me) as well.

4th Gen was excellent as well though, and probably my second favorite generation.

Except for those that also say '5th Gen'.

There's a contest here? 5th easy. It was the height of JRPGs, the height of Fighting Games, the Playstation brand was popular mainstream culture in western society. To this day, some people still use the term 'Playstation' to mean a games console, regardless of the consoles actual make.

Fifth.

PlayStation is my favourite console ever and I had a blast playing multi-player games on my friends N64s'.

I enjoyed bits and pieces of the 4th gen but I was a bit too young at the time to play during it properly. 5th gen is what made me into a gamer.

Gotta be fifth. Not only was Playstation my first ever system; it is also arguably the best. FFVIII/IX, Spyro Trilogy, Crash Trilogy, Gran Turismo, Tomb Raider and more, along with the N64 which had Ocarina Of Time, Mario Party/Mario 64, and you're almost unbeatable in my eyes.

Doubt we will ever get to that level of excellence and ingenuity again. And, were it not for the Playstation, I probably wouldn't be a gamer now.

Fifth, easily! Nintendo 64 and Playstation! I wasn't really into most of the classics on SNES, to be honest.

the 5th gen was certainly more innovative with the introduction of 3D but i felt that a vast majority of games played like crap as developers struggled early on to make their games work.  i'm probably happier playing games that are not so innovative but extreemly refined than i am playing games that are innovative, unique but the gameplay feels glichy or unresponsive.

so,..  snes is better than ps1

ultimately i think this is why i wasn't happy with the wii-mote (or move) and kinect.  the games may have been "innovative" but nearly all played like broken, glichy messes.   i apparently can't forgive a game for trying something new but then failing at it.

Decision is too tough. I personally like the pixel graphics more than the raw polygons from the 5th gen and 4th had FF 4 - 6 while 5th gen only gave me FF7 and FF9... On the other side, 5th gen had very good Street Fighter arcade ports and Xenogears. And Daytona USA.