Welcome to another collaboration here on CCG/GUG where us, the writers, get together and tell you our opinions on a certain subject. This week is about the greatest video game system ever. This is based solely off of our opinions and the only rule was we only included consoles, no handhelds allowed. Sorry Game Boy!
Steve Schoen
My favorite video game console is, by far and away, the original NES. This console is synonymous with my childhood in so many ways. It’s really and truly what made me a gamer. Nintendo is responsible for introducing me to so many of the series that I play today: The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Super Mario Bros., and Gauntlet. We’d had an Atari 2600 before the Nintendo, but it was like any of my other toys, not commanding a greater portion of my time than any other. However, when the Nintendo came along, I was hooked for life. The NES started out in my parents’ room, then migrated into our living room, and then finally found its way into my bedroom (yes, I had a TV in my room when I was 7). From then on, the Nintendo stayed in my room, wherever we lived. Even when my parents split up, my dad let me keep the Nintendo, even though it was technically his, because he knew how much I loved it. Thanks, dad.
Cooper Daniel Barham
While I hold the SNES in a particularly special nook of my heart, since it had been the origin of all my gaming wonder, my favorite console is the Playstation 2. Now, logic would suggest I choose the Playstation 1 because I actually had more ‘favorite’ game series come out of that system such as Ape Escape, Digimon World, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Final Fantasy IX (personal favorite of the series) and others. However, being that the PS2 wielded the mighty blade of backwards compatibility, it was able to harness all of the aforementioned gems while adding powerhouses like Kingdom Hearts, Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, and Final Fantasy X & XII (I’m wondering if anybody has started shaking their head at my priorities yet). However, the nail that put all of my indecision at rest was the fact that, on general principle, even the ‘bad’ PS2 games were often times worthwhile. I’m looking at Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, the Samurai Warriors series, and even Champions of Norrath/Champions: Return to Arms. If you’ve never heard of the Champion’s games, don’t worry, there is literally nothing special about them. Below average graphics, gameplay, balancing, soundtrack, and storyline, all of which can only be enjoyed if multiple players are involved, and even then you’ll never experience such a cesspool of greed and deception in all your life.
Huh, I had more to say about that last point than I’d expected. Anyways, Playstation 2. *Cue streamers*.
Shawn Bain
I would have to say that the best system ever would have to be the Nintendo 64. There hasn’t been another system to hold as many classics for me as that amazing system. The N64 had… The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time & Majora’s Mask, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Castlevania (64), Goldeneye, Ogre Battle 64, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, and it was the first system to host a Super Smash Bros game. These games aren’t all necessarily my favorites, but they all hold a special place in my heart. I definitely spent the most game-playing hours on this console if you exclude MMOs. (Beating Ocarina of Time all the way through 8 times takes awhile.)
Add to the classic-factor that all of the games that I played for the N64 had great quality as well. I can’t think of any games that I played that had any serious flaws. Many of the games I have played on some of the newer consoles have given me trouble in places that made the game hard to play. If you were to put me on an island with one console, and all of the games of my choice, the Nintendo 64 would be it.
Thomas Martin
The PS2 is best system ever. It had something for everyone. Some of the greatest RPGs of all time were made for the system, including Final Fantasy X, Dragon Quest VIII, Kingdom Hearts, and Disgaea. Sony also had amazing exclusive platformers like Ratchet and Clank or Jak and Daxter.
Sandbox gamers had the unforgettable Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (the series’ peak, in my opinion) and the lesser, but still enjoyable, True Crime: Streets of LA. Star Wars Battlefront 2 was the among the first console games where I played online multiplayer. Another set of honorable mentions are the best wrestling games of all time, Here Comes the Pain and Fire Pro Wrestling.
The system itself had very few bells and whistles. Unlike consoles today, it got you straight to what you wanted most out of a gaming console: actual gaming. This was the last Sony console in which you could come home from the store with a new game, pop it in the system, and immediately start playing. No installs, updates, patches, or other downloading required. Best of all, no companies trying to sell you on all this DLC.
I still have my PS2 plugged into my television sitting next to my PS3 and Wii U because I still get a lot of gameplay out of it nearly a decade and a half later. In fact, I still buy about 3-4 PS2 games per year from online retailers. One generation of gaming was not enough to uncover all the gems hiding in its expansive game library.
Jeremy Johnson
I started my gaming journey off with the first Playstation at the young age of 4 years old. I often looked forward to trips to my uncle’s house so I can play his SEGA Genesis. But as great as those classic consoles are, since we wouldn’t have the great consoles we have today without them, my opinion of the best console of all time is not a classic console. The best console of all time, for me, is Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
With the original Xbox we saw some of the first home console online multiplayer with Halo 2 taking the lead. But when we saw the release of the Xbox 360, online multiplayer really took off with Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3. Over the year’s Microsoft continuously tweaked Xbox Live and made it perfect. The operating system was wonderfully designed, and the party system was flawless in my experiences. I’ve made many fond memories playing my Xbox 360 for the past 5 year on and offline and I have no intentions of ever letting my Xbox 360 go.
Wesley Wood
This is a tough decision for me. I really, truly love the N64. It holds a special place for as the console that sucked me into gaming. Mario Kart 64 was my first game on it after all. However, I am going to make a decision based off of game selection and what system I can just sit down and play a game from and almost forget it is a retro console. For me that is the GameCube. While this system was my teenage years, I had forgotten how many great games were on it and I can still go back and play it now. Heck, most of the time I need to remind myself that this system is actually retro. Yes, the N64 has so many great games but that generation’s limitations holds it back from becoming the best. The GameCube has an awesome controller, no online (which sucked when it was current but now that it is retro, that is completely ok), and so many great games. Click here for my top 10 GameCube list.
Here is every great game (my opinion) on the GameCube in alphabetical order. Approximately 80 games.
Animal Crossing
Battalion Wars
Beyond Good&Evil
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg
Crazy Taxi (Yes I know it is a port from the Dreamcast)
Enter The Matrix (People hate it but to me it is underrated)
Eternal Darkness
F-Zero GX
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life
Hitman 2 Silent Assassin
James Bond 007 Nightfire
Killer7
Kirby Air Ride
Legend of Zelda Wind Waker and Twilight Princess and Four Swords Adventure
Lego Star Wars
Luigi’s Mansion
Mario Golf Toadstool Tour
Mario Kart Double Dash
Mario Power Tennis
Mario Party 4, 5, 6, and 7
Mario Superstar Baseball
Megaman Anniversary Collection
Megaman X Collection
Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes
Metroid Prime 1 and 2
P.N.03
Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door
Pikmin 1 and 2
Pokemon XD
Prince of Persia Trilogy
Resident Evil 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and Code: Veronica X
Skies of Arcadia Legends (Dreamcast port)
Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 (Dreamcast ports)
Sonic Gems Collection
Sonic Heroes
Sonic Mega Collection
Soul Caliber II
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Spider-Man 2
SSX (All 3 of them)
Star Fox Adventures and Assault
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II and III
Star Wars The Clone Wars
Super Mario Strikers
Super Mario Sunshine
Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2
Super Smash Bros Melee
The Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction
Timesplitters 2
Tom Clancy Splinter Cell Trilogy
True Crime Streets of LA
Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2
Wave Race Blue Storm
XG3
For me, it’s the NES first, mostly because it was the console of my childhood and videogames for me as a kid were wonders of amazement and that feeling just can’t be matched the older you get. If I try to take that emotion out of it, maybe I say the ps2 was the best, or possibly the snes. I can’t believe some people are mentioning the 360. They must be about 10 years old. No way a console with a failure rate above 50 percent should ever get a vote.
I would have to say either the PS2 or Xbox. Don’t get me wrong, the PS3 has some great games, the Ratchet & Clank Future trilogy being probably my favorite storyline in video game history, but it can’t compete with the PS2 or Xbox. The PS2 had some great titles, as it had a little bit of everything, as did the Xbox. The Xbox also was the first console I played to have an internal hard drive (I know the 3DO did but that thing was just bad) and the first to allow you to provide a custom soundtrack for games that utilized this feature. Plus, the Xbox didn’t block a song for use from Everyone rated games for lyrical content (which is actually an issue because the way the PS3 and 360 blocks songs in the NCAA Football franchise is flawed because it doesn’t let me use “Rawkfist” by Thousand Foot Krutch, and, as most of you know, they are a Christian band). The only things the original Xbox lacked were my favorite franchise of all time (Ratchet & Clank) (which alongside with the Jak & Daxter and Sly Cooper franchises makes up for the internal hard drive and custom soundtracks) and the ability to watch DVD’s without a special add-on (which, by the way, newer Xbox models have a glitch where it recognizes NFL 2K3 and NBA Live 2003 as movies and won’t let you play them without a DVD Playback Kit, which is the name of the aforementioned add-on, but when you buy it and plug it in, it won’t let you play them anyway). Also, both consoles come from the console generation that I believe was the peak of the Madden NFL and NBA Live franchises, which is a big deal for me, as a fan of both franchises. In fact, Madden was so much better on the PS2 and Xbox then the PS3 and 360 (where it really started going downhill), that I have played Madden NFL 09 on the Xbox (which for anyone who likes video game trivia, was the last game for the Xbox) more the Madden 13. In conclusion, I may have grown up with the PS1, but I got the most playing time out of my PS2 and Xbox. By the way, my PS2 and Xbox are still working after over 10 years, with the PS2 working for about 11 or 12. In comparison, my PS3 and 360 each broke after five. Granted, the first PS2 and Xbox we had broke after less than 3 years, but that’s because my brother thought it was a good idea to use a disc cleaner that clearly stated on the disc to “not use in Xbox or other video game consoles”, since it was made for CD drives, not DVD drives.
Correction: *better on the PS2 and Xbox THAN the PS3 and 360
Mine probably has to be the PS3 because that’s when I first started playing multiplayer on the consoles and meeting a lot of my friends from various games like Call of Duty over the years. Most of the memories that were made were on the ps3 for me.
Mine was the GameCube, it was my first system and I still have all my gcn games. I really want to trade in my old Wii and get a GameCube because of one special thing: that nostalgic opening as you turned on the system. I <3 U GCN!
Xbox 360 is in my opinion the best game console due to the sheer number of excellent games available. Countless nights I can remember playing Forza Horizon and Call of Duty with my friends and having a blast. Keep in mind, I have had all these consoles (I have sold most), and still consider Xbox 360 the best: Gamecube, Original Xbox, PS2 (I have played on my dad’s PS1), Gameboy, DS, 3DS, Wii, Wii U, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Playstation 3, PSP, PS Vita, NES, SNES, and N64. Xbox 360 for the win!