What is the best video game console of all time?

What great games?

Sonic 2
Mortal Kombat
I was a SNES guy but my cousin had mega drive and there were plenty good games. here's a few:

Sonic
Mortal Kombat
Streets Of Rage Series
Golden Axe
Comix Zone
Eternal Champions
Vector Man
 
OOT, Majora's Mask, Jet Force Gemini, Conker, Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, MK64, SM64, ISS - I think any or all of those would be in most/all top 10's people would put up for the console, but after them? The quality across the rest of the machine's run don't hold up, do they?

Those games were huge and all cost me many an hour, but there's no way that's enough when other consoles were getting their own unique run of games plus 3rd party exclusives.

You're forgetting many other great games: Mario 64, DK64, Rouge Squadron, Star Fox 64, F-Zero X, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Mario Party 1, 2 and 3, Diddy Kong Racing, 1080 Snowboarding, Bomberman 64, the Pokemon games, Shadows of the Empire, Turok etc. There are at least 20 games you left out that ranges from 'good' to 'excellent'.


The N64 had no proper: fighting games (K.I alone doesn't cut it); racing games

I disagree. SSB is a fighting game, even though some people in the FGC disagrees. It was not originally meant as a fighting game, but it turned out that way none the less. 2 out of the 3 most spectated games in the FGC are Smash games. What's even more impressive, is that people still play SSB64 competitively on big stages.

As for racing: have you even heard of F-Zero X? Who decided that a racing game has to be realistic? I will however admit that on an objective scale, Grand Turismo is a better racing game than F-Zero(even if I prefer the latter).

That's one of the things I like about Nintendo back then. They managed to draw people into genres they originally didn't like. Racing is boring? Let's make ridiculous courses and high speeds! Or even better: weapons to take each other out during the race! Fighting on a flat stage 1v1 is boring? Let's add dynamic combos, ledges, items, bots and 4-player!
 
I see where you're coming from, but speaking from 1st hand experience of that entire era, and all the consoles I had and what would get played by and large, there are issues to contend with regarding the N64 that the other machines simply didn't have.

OOT, Majora's Mask, Jet Force Gemini, Conker, Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, MK64, SM64, ISS - I think any or all of those would be in most/all top 10's people would put up for the console, but after them? The quality across the rest of the machine's run don't hold up, do they?

Those games were huge and all cost me many an hour, but there's no way that's enough when other consoles were getting their own unique run of games plus 3rd party exclusives.

The N64 had no proper: fighting games (K.I alone doesn't cut it); racing games (Gran Turismo and the like were picking up on other consoles) arcade ports (as a whole) and was falling short after its few truly tremendous games lost steam in the face of so much change. This was at a time when those three genres were huge selling points... and then came P.E.S. which is where the machine was truly left behind for me.

Nintendo's nonchalance was odd, given how the SNES was the absolute opposite in terms of support - it had something for everyone, probably the biggest 3rd party coup of all time (SFII) and was still choc-a-bloc with in-house brilliance that was 'merely' followed up on the N64 - brilliantly, mind, but still just continuations. If it wasn't for Rare, the console would look incredibly thin, don't you think?

The Dreamcast was also a kick in the teeth for the console as a whole.

Quantity over quality is one thing, but the N64 got to a point where its lack of support at the top end felt like a piss-take.

I just looked at top list of selling games for N64 and it was actually quite shocking how little amount of titles they had outside of the obvious ones which stick in the memory.
 
I just looked at top list of selling games for N64 and it was actually quite shocking how little amount of titles they had outside of the obvious ones which stick in the memory.
N64 had a tiny library. I still look back on it very fondly, but could you imagine xb1 or PS4 having such little choice?

Then again GameCube and wii u also have limited amount of games
 
I'm going to not read all these long analytical posts and tell you it's a toss up between the N64 and Megadrive and if you disagree you're wrong.
Someone never owned a SNES...
 
@Fortitude

Elaborating on our little debate, I tried to compare which console had the best games in each genre. I've added some explanations below:


Adventure: N64
Action-adventure: PS1
Platformers: N64
Party games: N64
FPS: N64
Racing: PS1
Fighting: PS1
Sports: Draw
Miscellaneous: PS1
Multiplayer across genres: N64

N64 wins 6-5

_______________________________________

- I decided to split the adventure genre in two. The first one having more focus on exploration and developing your character(basically Zelda vs FF). The second is more action-based, and Playstation takes this one easily with games like MSG and Tomb Raider.
- N64 is pretty dominant when it comes to platformers, FPS and party games, so I don't think there is a lot to discuss there.
- Likewise, PS1 is pretty dominant when it comes to fighting and racing.
- Sports I feel that both consoles did about equally well. A lot of the best sports games came to both consoles anyways.
- PS1 takes the ''miscellaneous" genre(games that don't really fit into the other genres) because of its great variety and legendary GTA games. I chose to let this category count as 2 points.
- There is no doubt that N64 did much better in terms of multiplayer in general(across genres). I decided to let this genre count as 2 points. I wanted to let this genre count as 3 points, seeing as it's a very important aspect of gaming, but I get that it would come across as overly biased.

Overall, it's not much between the two when it comes to the games. N64 basically wins because of the superior multiplayer. Remove that, and it's 50/50, possibly tipping the scales slightly in PS1's favor. But multiplayer is such an important aspect, and I feel that it gets very overlooked in this thread.
 
As for PS1 v N64, that's a close one all things considered. I loved both but don't think I'd ever being interested in playing any old PS1 games now (I would certainly replay the likes of Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time and a few other N64 classics).
 
@Fortitude

Elaborating on our little debate, I tried to compare which console had the best games in each genre. I've added some explanations below:


Adventure: N64
Action-adventure: PS1
Platformers: N64
Party games: N64
FPS: N64
Racing: PS1
Fighting: PS1
Sports: Draw
Miscellaneous: PS1
Multiplayer across genres: N64

N64 wins 6-5

_______________________________________

- I decided to split the adventure genre in two. The first one having more focus on exploration and developing your character(basically Zelda vs FF). The second is more action-based, and Playstation takes this one easily with games like MSG and Tomb Raider.
- N64 is pretty dominant when it comes to platformers, FPS and party games, so I don't think there is a lot to discuss there.
- Likewise, PS1 is pretty dominant when it comes to fighting and racing.
- Sports I feel that both consoles did about equally well. A lot of the best sports games came to both consoles anyways.
- PS1 takes the ''miscellaneous" genre(games that don't really fit into the other genres) because of its great variety and legendary GTA games. I chose to let this category count as 2 points.
- There is no doubt that N64 did much better in terms of multiplayer in general(across genres). I decided to let this genre count as 2 points. I wanted to let this genre count as 3 points, seeing as it's a very important aspect of gaming, but I get that it would come across as overly biased.

Overall, it's not much between the two when it comes to the games. N64 basically wins because of the superior multiplayer. Remove that, and it's 50/50, possibly tipping the scales slightly in PS1's favor. But multiplayer is such an important aspect, and I feel that it gets very overlooked in this thread.
You forgot RPG's, of which the PS1 would win fairly handily.
 
I prefered n64 to ps1

But ps1 was the more important console

Gamers were considered spotty geeks, but ps1 games like gran turismo, metal gear, tekken, driver, tomb raider made video games properly mainstream
 
You forgot RPG's, of which the PS1 would win fairly handily.

Meh, in order to not split the "adventure" genre into too many pieces, I lumped RPG into the first one and made it a battle between FF and Zelda(which is often the case anyways in debates between N64 and PS1). I think Zelda wins that battle.

Keep in mind that I was nice and only gave N64 two points for being vastly better when it comes to multiplayer. That could easily count as 3 points, as it's arguably the most important aspect of gaming and spreads across most of the genres. No matter how you twist it, I can't see PS1 coming out on top, unless you severly underestimate the importance of multiplayer.
 
Meh, in order to not split the "adventure" genre into too many pieces, I lumped RPG into the first one and made it a battle between FF and Zelda(which is often the case anyways in debates between N64 and PS1). I think Zelda wins that battle.
This seems a pretty daft convention to suit your argument. This section, we'll degrade it to two specific franchises because the one I prefer wins(FF is better IMHO anyway), and then on other sections, such as multiplayer, "oh N64 has more options so this one is counted across genres and all games".

Keep in mind that I was nice and only gave N64 two points for being vastly better when it comes to multiplayer. That could easily count as 3 points, as it's arguably the most important aspect of gaming and spreads across most of the genres. No matter how you twist it, I can't see PS1 coming out on top, unless you severly underestimate the importance of multiplayer.
Why not just give N64 +100 points for whatever you like then? For many gamers multiplayer doesn't matter the slightest bit.
 
N64 for me.

Perfect blend of genuinely brilliant games, groundbreaking graphics and playability.

I still also rate Goldeneye as the best game of all time.
 
Never had the Amiga CD. Amiga 1200 was the successor to the Amiga 600.

4595175_f520.jpg

I spent many hours playing Sensible Soccer as I'm sure you did too
 
N64 for me.

Perfect blend of genuinely brilliant games, groundbreaking graphics and playability.

I still also rate Goldeneye as the best game of all time.

At the time it was right up there

But it aged real badly, whereas great n64 games like the two zeldas and mario 64 are still great to play today
 
This seems a pretty daft convention to suit your argument. This section, we'll degrade it to two specific franchises because the one I prefer wins(FF is better IMHO anyway), and then on other sections, such as multiplayer, "oh N64 has more options so this one is counted across genres and all games".

Why not just give N64 +100 points for whatever you like then? For many gamers multiplayer doesn't matter the slightest bit.

Ok, so if I don't add extra points for multiplayer and miscellaneous(which is incredibly silly) and add the RPG genre to give PS1 an extra point, the score becomes 5-5. This was supposed to be the category that PS1 had to win, seeing as N64 is a much better machine.

N64 wins for me. The better machine, the better multiplayer, and at worst it wins half the game genres. PS1's huge game library(which most players wont see 95% of) and sweet controller is not enough to beat that, imo.
 
Culturally, most definitely.

But N64 was more revolutionary when it comes to the games and game mechanics, in my opinion.
Disagree. Both were important with different genres.

The Ps1 was a far more important console than the N64 in every way. It mainstreamed video games to the masses to an unprecedented level.
 
Ok, so if I don't add extra points for multiplayer and miscellaneous(which is incredibly silly) and add the RPG genre to give PS1 an extra point, the score becomes 5-5. This was supposed to be the category that PS1 had to win, seeing as N64 is a much better machine.

N64 wins for me. The better machine, the better multiplayer, and at worst it wins half the game genres. PS1's huge game library(which most players wont see 95% of) and sweet controller is not enough to beat that, imo.
You made a thread asking a question and are drilling lengthy paragraphs with weird tangents towards anyone who doesn't agree with your answer. Pretty weird, man.

You should have called this thread "the N64 is the best console ever and try disagree with me so I can wreck yo' head bro".
 
You're forgetting many other great games: Mario 64, DK64, Rouge Squadron, Star Fox 64, F-Zero X, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Mario Party 1, 2 and 3, Diddy Kong Racing, 1080 Snowboarding, Bomberman 64, the Pokemon games, Shadows of the Empire, Turok etc. There are at least 20 games you left out that ranges from 'good' to 'excellent'.
I didn't forget those games, they're just the more subjective bunch that split a lot more people than the ones I listed. F-Zero X was a letdown compared to the SNES version, too - it's the nadir of the series with the GC version restoring it to former glory.

I really wouldn't call them great games when compared to what had or was coming out on other machines back then, too. Wipeout completely cleaned up in head-to-head comparison with F-Zero, for example... SNES 4-player Bomberman is far better than the 64's version and so and so forth.

Generally, you ask an N64 owner for their top 5, you're gonna get: OoT, MM, MK64, Goldeneye and <another>

I disagree. SSB is a fighting game, even though some people in the FGC disagrees. It was not originally meant as a fighting game, but it turned out that way none the less. 2 out of the 3 most spectated games in the FGC are Smash games. What's even more impressive, is that people still play SSB64 competitively on big stages.

As for racing: have you even heard of F-Zero X? Who decided that a racing game has to be realistic? I will however admit that on an objective scale, Grand Turismo is a better racing game than F-Zero(even if I prefer the latter).

That's one of the things I like about Nintendo back then. They managed to draw people into genres they originally didn't like. Racing is boring? Let's make ridiculous courses and high speeds! Or even better: weapons to take each other out during the race! Fighting on a flat stage 1v1 is boring? Let's add dynamic combos, ledges, items, bots and 4-player!
SSB was never going to woo any fighting gamer to the N64; in fact, it's a game that was used to ridicule the machine for its lack of a serious fighter when other machines had Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Street Fighter and so on being ported over and having people purchase in their droves.. same as the SNES did with SFII, MK and KI.

The thing about your last paragraph is that, well, it's not really true for the era; Racing games were huge back then and Gran Turismo was one of the reasons the PS blew up like it did. The aforementioned F-Zero wasn't a new concept, as Nintendo had made a better version of the same thing years before, and Wipeout on PS became the next poster boy of that niche genre within racers.

SSB takes a lot of its 'wackyness' from Capcom's series: Marvel Super Hero's, X-Men vs. StreetFighter, Marvel vs. Capcom etc. as well as the Darkstalkers series, which were ported to the Sega Saturn, so again, nothing particularly new or unique, just something that featured Nintendo's characters.

Without Rare, and Goldeneye in particular, the N64 would have been half the machine that it was, and that's with Nintendo's in-house brilliance included. I don't think that's a good measure for a machine's 7yr run, personally.

I just looked at top list of selling games for N64 and it was actually quite shocking how little amount of titles they had outside of the obvious ones which stick in the memory.
Yes, it is sparse. Just speaks volumes for how good those few games were that the machine is looked upon so fondly in hindsight!
 
You made a thread asking a question and are drilling lengthy paragraphs with weird tangents towards anyone who doesn't agree with your answer. Pretty weird, man.

You should have called this thread "the N64 is the best console ever and try disagree with me so I can wreck yo' head bro".

What good is a thread if everyone just writes the name of the console they like best and leave it at that? There's a reply button for a reason.

I will never say that someone's opinion is wrong. But I will counter their argument when they claim that the N64 had few good games and little variation.
 
I was a SNES guy but my cousin had mega drive and there were plenty good games. here's a few:

Sonic
Mortal Kombat
Streets Of Rage Series
Golden Axe
Comix Zone
Eternal Champions
Vector Man

My sister has a compilation game with all of those on it.. Mortal Kombat tbf was also available on the SNES, but the last 4 games weren't anything to write home about in hindsight. Vectorman is decent though but not an all time great game imo.

Sonic 2 is one of my favourite games of all time, still holds its own even today graphically and the multiplayer is addictive as feck.
 
@Fortitude

1. Just because a game in a game series was better in the previous generation, it doesn't mean that the game needs to be bad. There are different levels on a spectrum.

2. You severly underestimate the influence and importance of SSB. It's by many considered the best or second game on the console. Also, look at how it has changed the Fighting Game Community. The community has been turned completely upside down, and it all started with SSB64(and fully kicked in with Melee).

3. There's nothing wrong with having games that stand out more than others. Just because you have 3-4 legendary games, it doesn't mean you can't have an addtional 10-20 great games. OOT, MM, SSB64, MK64 and Goldeneye being on most people's top 5 list shouldn't count as bad point by any metric. Also, for what it's worth, neither Goldeneye nor MK64 makes my top 5 list.
 
@Fortitude

1. Just because a game in a game series was better in the previous generation, it doesn't mean that the game needs to be bad. There are different levels on a spectrum.

2. You severly underestimate the influence and importance of SSB. It's by many considered the best or second game on the console. Also, look at how it has changed the Fighting Game Community. The community has been turned completely upside down, and it all started with SSB64(and fully kicked in with Melee).

3. There's nothing wrong with having games that stand out more than others. Just because you have 3-4 legendary games, it doesn't mean you can't have an addtional 10-20 great games. OOT, MM, SSB64, MK64 and Goldeneye being on most people's top 5 list shouldn't count as bad point by any metric. Also, for what it's worth, neither Goldeneye nor MK64 makes my top 5 list.
1. It doesn't mean it's good, either, or carries merit just for being a continuation. Notice the same criticism isn't levelled at Zelda, Mario Kart, SMB and so forth as their ports to the 3d realm were outstanding.

2. SSB is SSB. It doesn't even register for fans of the 'serious' fighting games. It's a niche with a die-hard following. It got added to the Evo roster at a later date and wasn't there at inception because it wasn't considered to be worth a place. SSB has little to no influence in the FGC as a whole.

3. As I said, the list gets very hazy and subjective quickly once the first few games are out of the way. The N64 doesn't have anything close to the strength in depth of other consoles because it had barely any 3rd party support and Nintendo and Rare couldn't fight the battle by themselves, which is where the N64 ended up falling off a cliff towards the end of its cycle whereas other consoles kept going even past the end of their production cycle.
 
I spent many hours playing Sensible Soccer as I'm sure you did too

I did. The career mode on Sensible World of Soccer was immense. My Amiga was plugged in to the living room TV, so I didn't get to play it much, but I used to get up at 4am on weekdays and play SWOS for a few hours before school. I can't think of a video game I have obsessed over as much as SWOS.