In their 30+ years as a console maker, Nintendo has gained a reputation for innovation and breaking new ground; which of their systems would you consider the most groundbreaking, and why that one?

My post from a recent thread of yours:

"Definitely the NES for me. I was an arcade boy ever since I played Pac-Man in 1980 but no home games - console or computer- interested me beyond maybe an afternoon at a friend's house until I saw the NES. The hardware and the controller were just so much better than any console before it, with scrolling backgrounds and fantastic music that allowed game design to evolve to the point that home gaming became solidified as a permanent form of entertainment. Games like Super Mario Bros, Metroid and The Legend of Zelda had never been done before, anywhere; addictive, arcade-type gameplay mixed with deep worlds and level designs that became staples in the industry and later games like Mike Tyson's Punch Out and Super Mario Bros 3 just looked and played good to the point of disbelief at the time. That's before even mentioning all of the 3rd party games that helped to define the system: The Castlevanias, Mega Mans, Ninja Gaidens, sports titles... the list goes on and on. And so many still play beautifully today, with anyone able to pick up and play these classics so easily.

The NES, SNES and Switch are my 3 favorite systems of all time, and I can make a case for any of them to be number one. But the NES changed the industry more than any home console before or since, in my opinion".

NES by about three galaxies. That system basically paved the road that everything else is still driving on... including Nintendo.

I say the Switch. Because Nintendo's been struggling to support handheld and console gaming at the same time for decades. The Switch unified teams working on the same hardware and unified their handheld and console audience, which actually led to much more frequent first party software releases.

It has to be the Famicom/NES. The IPs it spawned, the controller, and the gaming culture it forged is simply legendary.

NES, for obvious reasons

The NES, N64, and Wii were all very groundbreaking in their own right, but here me out;
The Nintendo DS is the first touch screen device of mass market adoption in history. It preceded the iPhone by 3 years. And that's not even to mention how novel the idea of 2 screens was. And the DSi was the first Nintendo device with an eShop, that was groundbreaking for Nintendo at least.

Wii Shop Channel (and WiiWare) predate the DSi Shop.

GameCube has the best controller and amazing games.

NES, it's the first modern console as we know them to the point the template is still present now even if Nintendo ironically are using it, second is Gameboy as while G&W invented the portable market the GB defined it as we know it today, I'll put Switch third as it consolidates everything Nintendo has done prior into one platform.

DS gets a mention for a non gaming impact people aren't aware of, it's actually responsible for the smart phone down to even the execution of apps as a number of DS software were simple apps, DS was effectively a pseudo smart phone era that prepared people for the smartphone era. Steve Jobs picked up on this following the failed Apple and Motorola collab and felt a the touch interface would along with other tech enable a vision he had in mind starting with the iPod Touch.