The PS3 was the best PlayStation ever, the OG Xbox was the best Xbox ever and technically I can play retro games on the Switch in this comparison, since NSO doesn't count as backwards compatible games, right? So if I can get my good old SNES games on there and enjoy all the goodness of modern Switch games, that is mighty fine for me!

All I need is the PS5, so a no-brainer.

This, but I'll also throw in the WiiU's virtual console which I much prefer over Switch online. The dual-screen DS emulation was so good, if only it got further support...

I consider virtual consoles to fall under "backward compatibility", but I realize that's not clear in the OP. I will update it now.

Picked the consoles with a handheld option. Will be missing out on to much cozy gaming time in bed without it. PS3 is an ok TV-hook up console and Xbox is a great fire starter.

So I gave this a lot of thought overnight.

Ultimately I have to go with the option with Switch. It’s just too important to me. I need games like Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, Metroid Dread, Super Mario Odyssey, Smash Bros. Ultimate, and New Horizons in my life. Plus, it has a lot of “deluxe” versions of the best WiiU games, plus lots of interesting AA games from Japan, and hundreds of indies. For me, it’s arguably the best system ever made.

As for the other two, well, I’d rather have PS2 and Xbox 360. Still there’s a lot to like here. The original Xbox has two games in my top 10 — Halo: Combat Evolved and Half-Life 2 — and several others in my top 50, including Morrowind and Psychonauts.

And while PS3 isn’t my favorite, it does have Demon’s Souls, God of War III, and a ton of really good 7th gen multiplats.

Went with PS5, WiiU & Xbox 360. Been playing on 360 recently and it's still nice to use, the ability to install any game to the HDD instead of playing off disc is nice and though I prefer the PS3's exclusive line-up the 360 is just a better system to enjoy that generation as a whole.

Missing the whole PS4/XBO gen is rough though. If there were a PS4, Xbox 360, Gamecube option I may have gone for that.

I'd go with PS3, Switch, Xbox.

PS3 has great games (Uncharted series, The Last of Us, Resident Evil 5, God of War 3, Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite and many others).
I don't care much for any Xbox console so which one I get is not a factor for me.

Then comes the main reason for the pick! The Switch has an amazing amount of stellar new games and many, many remakes/remasters/ports of top notch games.

New games: Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, Odyssey, Metroid Dread, Smash Ultimate, Super Mario Wonder, Xenoblade 2 & 3, Hades, Celeste
Old stuff : Most Final Fantasy games, remastered Wii & Wii U games, series collections like Mega Man, Castlevania, Devil May Cry, Metroid Prime remaster, etc...

You put PS4 and GameCube together so this is quite easy for me.

The PS360 era was my favourite console generation, and of those consoles I liked the 360 most, so I was leaning towards Option 5. However, my favourite console game is Shadow of the Colossus (while all of the others are multiplat), and with the rules in the OP I wouldn't be able to play it at all on the PS5.

The best version of that game is on PS4, but I have zero interest in the GameCube and the Xbox Series is wasted on me because I have a gaming PC.

So that leaves Option 2 - with PS3 I get the vanilla remaster of Shadow of the Colossus and most of the games I loved from my favourite console generation, plus basically two generations of Nintendo games because of all the WiiU>NS ports. And my PC makes up for the lack of PS4, PS5, XO, XS type multiplats with Option 2.