What are the top 4 consoles of all time?

[SpikeSlania]

I just love how the issue with my list was Xbox at number 3 for hard drives But Ouya at number 4 gets a pass!

[BogusMeatFactory]

I just love how the issue with my list was Xbox at number 3 for hard drives But Ouya at number 4 gets a pass!

Nah, I didn't have any issue with your Xbox pick, just with other folks thinking that having a hard drive somehow heralded the downfall of games being "complete" at launch.

Your ouya pick was a pretty bold choice which I commend. I mean.. You aren't wrong in your reasoning!

[sevin0seven]

I think the title of this thread should be rename: What are "you're" top 4 consoles of all time.

If we go by current all time sales it would be this list (per wiki):
1. PS2 - 155 mil
2. PS1 - 102.49 mil
3. Wii - 101.63 mil
4. PS4 - 86.1 mil

if we go by personal favorite:
1. SNES
2. PS2
3. Genesis
4. N64

if wel go by personal software/library:
1. SNES
2. NES
3. PS2
4. Genesis

..so yeah.

[pook99]

1) NES: Easy pick for my favorite system of all time, it is home to a huge amount of my all time favorite games, but it also has loads of games that I did not discover until I was an adult that I replay all the time(stuff like shatterhand, vice project doom, power blade 1 and 2 and so many more). It is the system I play more than any other system, and have done so consistently in my 34 or so years of gaming.

2) PS2: Home to the 2 best fighting games of all time (tekken tag and capcom vs snk 2) that I poured thousands of hours into while doing college and managing funcoland. It is the system that made dual analog the standard for home consoles, and probably has the most expansive and varied line-up of any system ever. Just about every genre you can think of has some amazing masterpieces on this system.

3) Xbox 360: this system holds a special place in my heart. In terms of library of great modern games, it is solid but not as good as the PS3, but the reason I love this system so much is that it is (in my opinion) responsible for the resurgence of retro games thanks to its amazing indie service. The 360 marketplace was a great platform for indie developers, the interface was very user friendly, games were inexpensive and easy to demo, and it is the system that re-ignited my passion for retro games.

Fourth system is hard for me to pick, I think its a tie between ps1 and snes for largely different reasons.

[Gunstar Green]

If I were to choose my favorites...

1.) Genesis: It's what I enjoyed playing as a kid and what I most enjoyed collecting for and still playing as an adult. The arcade action system of its time. It did a lot to define the type of games I enjoy today.
2.) NES: Not my first gaming experience, but the first I found myself completely enamored with.
3.) SNES: The main partner and rival to the Genesis. It's the most nostalgic era of gaming for me and is only beaten out by the NES because there are more NES games I like and I didn't actually own a SNES though I played plenty of it thanks to my friends. That said some of the best SNES games are some my favorite games even though I'm a Sega man at heart. Many people want to fight about which 16-bit console is better, but to me they're like peanut butter and jelly. I guess that makes the TG-16 the bread?
4.) I don't know, it could be a wide range of things from the Atari 2600 to the Dreamcast for a variety of different reasons. DOS/Windows 9x would probably be #2 on this list if it were considered a console.

Looking at them from a historic viewpoint I'd have to think about it. Most of the major consoles are important to the overall gaming scene in their own ways. Even many of the failures are important for what they may have done wrong.

[SpikeSlania]

If I picked a personal top 4, it would be all 4 6th gen consoles. I think I heard somewhere that what you're into during your teenage years becomes your preference for the rest of your life. Though I heard that about music, but I think this also fits

[Tanooki]

Strange, I don't like 90s music, just 60s-80s in general.

[marurun]

I think the title of this thread should be rename: What are "you're" top 4 consoles of all time.

You really want me to rename the thread: What are "you are" top 4 consoles of all time?

It takes all types, I guess.

I think console titles, at least in the cartridge days, tended to be less buggy than PC games. I'm not sure why, but that tended to be the case. It may be the requirements to craft such compact and tight code to fit everything into limited cartridge space, but most bugs in console titles tended to be a hair more obscure or difficult to trigger. I think modern console bugs are a consequence of larger and more complex code (duh) but also the fact that development for consoles has become a lot more like development for PCs. PCs have always had periodically troubled releases, more so than on consoles, but now consoles and console development look a lot more like the traditional PC development model. Also, computers were more egalitarian, in that you could publish your own stuff more easily. You didn't have to go through gatekeepers in the same way, but now it's easier to get onto consoles, starting around the PS1 era, but especially as of last generation. Games are also much more mainstream, now. Everyone knows how bad Assassin's Creed Unity was because the series regularly sells millions of titles. Games didn't sell like that BitD.

[Hazerd]

- SNES
- N64
- Gameboy
- PS3

[ElkinFencer10]

If I picked a personal top 4, it would be all 4 6th gen consoles. I think I heard somewhere that what you're into during your teenage years becomes your preference for the rest of your life. Though I heard that about music, but I think this also fits

It makes sense to me; I've always had a really soft spot for the Gamecube (my 6th - 10th grade years) and the Wii (10th grade - junior year of college).