The primary purpose of a gaming console is to play games, so naturally when there's a topic on "what's your favourite console" we generally pick our answer based foremost on its software library.

But if we put software to one side for the moment and focus on just the hardware itself, what Nintendo system do you like the most in this respect, even if it's games library isn't necessarily your favourite?

100% The Switch.
- You dont need to actually shut down the system. It acts like a phone where you can instantly play a game (which you didnt close) and skipping the loading times to boot it up.
- Able to play on TV and handheld is easily done.
- The loading times to access the settings or the eshop is the fastest I have seen from a Nintendo console.

The main negative of the Switch is the Joycons. They need to make the buttons bigger and not allowing the analog stick to drift. And it is sooo expensive.

SNES

It's a tie between the Gameboy Advance and the Wii. They are both little hardware tanks. I've put them through so much gaming but they still run like a dream.

Easy for me, the Switch. Taking the exact same docked game, granted some visual downgrades and sometimes frame rate dips, on the go is almost priceless for me. No cloud gaming, no data plans, just you and the cartridge/digital game for the most part. It also doesn't hurt that it has NFC, Touch, Motion Control, VR Capability as well. It's literally every Nintendo console's/handheld's DNA all wrapped up in a single device. Just for the record, If we were talking software, it'd be the SNES

The Switch, without question. No Nintendo hardware has ever been more versatile, more adaptable, or had more potential. It is easily recognizable, lightweight, portable, and just downright beautiful. The sound it makes, the joy of watching the handheld display instantly transition to the tv display, and the beautiful cases it fits so nicely into create such a pleasing experience.

If I had to pick a runner up I'd probably go with the WiiU. I just loved the tablet design, the compact and roundness of the WiiU itself, and the fact that it doubled as a Wii.

From a hardware standpoint alone, there is only one option.

Switch is a home console you can take on the go or play on your TV. It has touch controls and motion controls. The online sucks, but it always sucked. It can literally do from a gameplay perspective, everything their other consoles can do. You can even make a virtual boy out of cardboard for fk sake!

/thread

Super Nintendo. It took everything that was great about the NES but took it into the 16-bit era and brought with it some of my favorite games of all time.
And even whilst competition was heating up with the Playstation, the SNES with it's pre-rendered graphics brought us some amazing looking games for the era like Donkey Kong Country, StarFox, Killer Instinct, Yoshi's Island and more.

The controller is probably the most iconic controller in the industry, chances are... Whatever other console/emulation box/classic console/ripoff... It has the option for a SNES styled controller.

It's the Switch, easy. The concept is too good, even though the durability of the Joycons and the dock design are not great. It works flawless and as advertised in the first 2016 trailer.

Yes, yes, and yes. If only they had gone a little further with the controller and ended up with something more like the GCN controller. Wow. That would've been the cherry on top. The N64 "trident" controller was so wicked cool at the time though.