Wii? lol

NES (Revived the video game industry)
Gameboy (Made portable gaming a reality)
Atari 2600 (The father of the video game industry)
Odyssey (The grandfather of the video game industry.)
Dreamcast (First console with online gaming)
PS1 (Helped make Gaming more accepted in the mainsream)
PS2 (Became the most popular console ever.)
Xbox (It made western devs focus more on the consoles opposed to the PC. It also improved online gaming.While not a great console per say , it was important for these two reasons alone.)


Wii...are you serious?

I think people are misreading Important as "best" as in personal opinions (not that rol's post would not be considered opinion) But as far as I'm concerned I'm in agreeance with the list. I mean SNES has arguabl the greatest games library of any console ever, but what did it do that the NES didn't? Push more colors?

I'd still say the NES was THE system that was imperative to our industry. It introduced so many things that became staples for over 2 decades. I agree with the DS placement as well. Wii..maybe a bit premature..though it is definitely on this list, and for me as of now it is 3. But as we see more and more companies making record rev and shrinking if any profits, it is becoming clear that Wii is the gens NES and when all is said and done may well deserve the number 1 spot.

PS2. End of story, discussion over, close thread. It simply has NO competition.

But I've actually seen old people and girls play the Wii in the mall!  I never saw old people and girls play a PS2 in a mall!

I would give NES top spot.

If Nintendo hadnt given rebirth to the video game market none of the other players would exist now.

Do you seriously think the video game industry would be that different if the PS2 didn't exist? The increase in user base from the PS1 was purely incremental, and the only other major thing that it brought to the table was DVD playback. It was a great console and everything, but didn't exactly change the face of gaming as we know it. Saying that it's the most important console ever is pretty simplistic.

My top 3 would have been:
NES
PS1
DS

Why? Well NES brought gaming back from the dead.

PS1 brought it to the mainstream, with games like Final Fantasy 7, Gran Turismo, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot and Tekken earning places in pop culture forever.

DS because it brought forth the notion that games don't have to be conventional to be fun or "core" games, as well as being the catalyst to touch screens being used in everything.

N64 probably would have been 4th with rumble and analog sticks, as well as the first player controlled camera in a 3D environment AND lock on system.

Also, I cannot believe people are saying PS2. Aside from making DVD's main stream, what has the PS2 done? I'm fairly certain the best games on the PS2 are not as important to gaming as we know it today as the First Zelda, Mario, Final fantasy 7, Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. To me it's the best console of all time, but it's not as important to gaming as those 4 I've listed up there.

1.NES

2.GB

3.Wii - Will be #1 only if it reaches 150M sales - #3 given because it mainstreamed motion sensing, IR control and because it reached different populations (women, older non gamers, people that hate pressing more than 1 button (there are MANY)).

4. DS - every kid in school must have one... even girls. 2 screens greatness. Touchscreen FTW...

5. PS2 - DVD in the living room... might as well get a PS2 (full win decision) (don't forget probably 1/4 are as the 360.... resold to owners of broken ones...).
The PS2 in itself has nothing great or inovative...

6. Atari 2600

7. SNES/GEN - 16bit made graphics look nice, you could actually say an in game screen was beautifull (FFVI cathedral).6 button pads.
Isometric 3D, FX Chip (SNES) and VR games (GEN) -> beginning of console 3D.

8. PS1 mainstreamed 3D and the jump to Disk medium (mainstreamed, not the first)

9. N64 Controler with Analog stick and trigger (triggers are also in NGCx2 and the Wii). Rumble pack.
N64 rewrite drive (didn't impact anything though)

ps1 > wii

ps 2 > wii