In terms of the best mass appeal console design, I’d give it to PlayStation the entire way. Everyone of their systems hit the mark beautifully imo

XBox is usually quite presentable. Wasn’t really a fan of the launch 360 but the redesigns were good. Series X and S and the One X are top contenders.

Sony is hit and miss. PS3 was nice in its time as was PS1. The PS3 Super Slim however was not. PS4 was okayish but the PS5 is hideous. What were they thinking really. This thing is so appalling it actively makes me not want one. Definitely the worst looking main console out there.

Nintendo usually flat in this regard. None are ugly, none are exceptional. Still though most gravitate to a positive side. Except the SNES, the PAL SNES/Super Famicom I mean. Though it’s still not ugly it would maybe be a weird look for something that came out today, but relative to its time this was a looker.

Of the other ones, Atari 2600 was quite nice, as was SEGA Dreamcast of course, this latter one is one of the main contenders actually.

Picking a winner isn’t really easy, for me it’s down to Series X, SNES (PAL) or Dreamcast. Maybe I’d actually say Dreamcast.

I have to go with Atari 2600 - it looked a lot like little brother of some analog synthesizer from that period (like Minimoog or Prophet-5)

I like small and simple designs (preferably in black)

- Sega Genesis, system 2

- PS2 slim

- GameCube (Jet Black)

- Xbox One X

I quite enjoyed the Gamecube. Unlike most consoles, just looking at it, made me want to play games. (though not necessarily on the Gamecube)

OG Xbox is nice too with its beastly size.

Phat PS3 is my pick for Sony.

I do like how the PS5 looks... vertically... because it is horrible if you want to play it horizontally imo I can't really rate it that highly.

I'm a fan of minimalism so the Xbox Series S is a great simple looking tiny device.

Best looking for each company I'd probably say

PlayStation - PS4 (OG)
Xbox - Xbox Series S
Nintendo - Wii v2 (the horizontal one, the grey vertical stand on the original Wii detracts from it's aesthetic to me)

Handheld: Vita with Switch a close second. Switch loses points for it's detachable controllers, which while very important functionally make it look aesthetically worse as a handheld device. Switch Lite doesn't have this problem but also doesn't look as good imo.

Best - PS2 Slim. Simple yet elegant. Matte black and super thin makes it looks so sleek. Always wanted one of those but never got around to buying one.
Runner up - PS3 Slim. Again matte black with some subtle curves. Looks unique and not gaudy like a lot of console designs.. yet, not a boring box.
Both consoles looks great vertically or flat.

Honorable mention - SNES, PSOne, Gameboy.

Interesting, I think the PS2 is the ugliest Sony console lol

This looks ridiculous.