Reasonings:

Atari 2600 - Made home consoles popular. Without this you've got clunky 'home arcade' machines with primitive graphics..a console, two joysticks and a TV are templates that haven't changed 30+ years later.

NES - Outside of the obvious (game sales and debut of various series that still exist today) it's the console where game development took a leap forward...your JRPG, sports game, action game were all beginning to get perfected on this system

N64 - The death knell of the sprite era and the beginning of the forever reign of 3D. N64's 3D offering was the first time you saw games not just re-skin games that couldda been mainly sprites into 3d but actually take advantage of the space (Mario 64)

PS1 - The beginning of 'adult' gaming and having limitless storage space due to cheap CD's helped another push forward in game design

PS2 - While Atari made home consoles popular, PS2's made them mainstream. The first 'adult' gaming system and technically the first to introduce both hard drives and online gaming into the console space.

Xbox360 - Seemless online/offline video gaming, mandatory storage space, basically mandatory online... probably the easiest game development pipeline ever...its the template for modern gaming in this generation and barring a crazy leap in tech (RIP VR) for many more.

Honorable Mentions:

OG Xbox - disappeared the barriers between PC game and Console game development and pushed forward online gaming in the console space.

Sega Genesis - While SNES was just refining their NES classics, Genesis was making games more adult (Mortal Kombat), and perfecting the biggest video game genre in the world, sports games.

Turbographics 16 - First enthusiast system. It felt like previous console releases focused on wowing tech geeks and rich soccer moms kids for those initial overpriced sales. It was the first time a console was marketed towards the hardcore, for better and for worse.

Poll question: Most Influential video game console of all time?

Poll result (28 votes) Atari 2600 - The Don Dadda of this shit (1 votes) Vote NES - 90's Chicago Bulls (17 votes) Vote N64 - First 3D only system...the death of sprites (2 votes) Vote PS1 - Leap to CD tech can't be underestimated. Games could grow unrestrained (4 votes) Vote PS2 - So popular we can even argue it killed off VHS (3 votes) Vote XB360 - Modern gaming defined. (1 votes) Vote

(not first first, but you know what I mean)

but if it wasn't for Nintendo, video game consoles would have been a fad that died in the early 80s.

The NES standardized the console, so it's by far the most influential in my eyes. The OG PlayStation is the only other system that comes close in terms of influence, but the OG PlayStation was just a Super Super Nintendo. Sony was just iterating on the standard already set by Nintendo.

I think you're selling the OG PS1 short though. While NES set templates (game pd design, controllers more then 4, rudimentary wireless towards the end of its run)...just saying PS1 was just a cd added on that bitch is slander!

While I give n64 the nod of heralding the 3d era because of its power the CD and solid 3d capabilities of ps1 felt like a big tech shift moreso then N64..a game like wipeout was just fzero reskinned...but holy shit the graphics, the sound, etc...it felt like a leap forward even though on paper it was just throwing some D's on a lesser n64.

Sony was the first console maker to acknowledge that people didn't stop loving video games when they turned 18 and the entire industry pivoted around that understanding.

Frankly, I think Sony iterating on the NES template is the smartest thing they ever did. They're by far the best selling home console maker and I think it's because they have no problem with putting out the platonic ideal of a console generation after generation. Everybody else, including Nintendo, is constantly trying to reinvent the wheel. Sony just be selling updated wheels.

Everybody else, including
>Nintendo, is constantly trying to reinvent the wheel. Sony
>just be selling updated wheels.

Was the NES the first home console to come with games packed in?

If so, that was innovative at the time.

I also remember thinking that since the NES had a flip top door for the cartridge that it was on something next level. Up until then how you loaded the cartridge was pretty similar across the board with Atari and the Commodore systems.

My ColecoVision came with Donkey Kong packed in (made by Nintendo).

As was said, NES standardized home consoles. Most of the OG top gaming franchises started with NES (Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, etc.)

I think if gaming were separated into a BC and AD the birth of Jesus moment took place during the Playstation era.

From a technical aspect, you had the obvious shift to rendered polygons vs hand drawn sprites. More important, I think, was the rise of the "AAA game", which is what many gamers think of when they think of gaming these days. These big budget, action-oriented, and narrative-focused games played out like Hollywood summer blockbusters and featured things like (actual and/or good) voice acting that you didn't really see before and has become the norm since.

Games like that became possible because of a few things: a large enough user base to support these increased budgets, a mature enough user base to demand more in-depth experiences, and the technology to make them possible. I'd say the Playstation, as the first 100+ million selling console nailing the 18-35 demo, was the console where that all came together and paved the way for modern gaming as we know it.

Specifically, I feel like Metal Gear Solid (98) was the first game to tie all the elements of what we think of as modern video games together (but you could make a case for earlier stuff like Resident Evil (96)).

Now if the Playstation and Metal Gear are the birth of Jesus for the medium, you could certainly argue that the NES represents that "In the beginning/seven days" part of the Bible, and I don't think you would be wrong. At the same time, looking at where games are currently, they're typically more in line with Metal Gear than Mario Bros.

It's like rap; after Rakim people couldn't go back to the "Yes Yes Y'all!"

I also agree at the rise of AAA gaming; it's huge and along with the more adult content went a long way to make videogames 'respectable' as an entertainment medium


>Specifically, I feel like Metal Gear Solid (98) was the first
>game to tie all the elements of what we think of as modern
>video games together (but you could make a case for earlier
>stuff like Resident Evil (96)).

Res Evil had the atmosphere on lock and it was the first time that it feels that console games were immersive enough to cause fear. But because of the lack of overall polish compared to Metal Gear I can't give it the nod* Actually id give it to Metal GearSolid and Gran Turismo..I remember reading articles about how professional drivers were practicing tracks for real life races on it...in addition to the 'realism' kinda hard to not take a system seriously when it took you five hours just to get a 'drivers license', lol.

*Funny enough though with Assassin Creed proving once again videogame movies suck its nuts how well Resident Evil easily and successfully switched mediums into movies...on the low because of it the brand recognition might be bigger then other more popular games. Im about to go have a whole mini marathon of them sons of bitches cause im off the next week in a lead off into the new one. Not cause im a huge fan but out of respect that they were able to make such a consistent group of perfectly serviceable B movies

Resident Evil 5/6 might be the only game that even somewhat resembles the chaos that those movies represent compared to the video games' measured, plodding tone (even RE4 is 50 percent quiet moments).

they stumbled into the most successful video game film franchise by leaving almost everything that defines Resident Evil on the drawing board and just made dumb action movies with zombies. it's almost more like a ScyFy channel remake of the Alien series than a Resident Evil series.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

When 5/6 hit people really were pissed that it hit the point that it was far more action than survival horror which is what grabbed people in the first place.

Luckily they've went back on what made the serious what it was in the first place. I'm really digging what I see with the new game and I'm ready to be back on board with RE.

That game really helped define the PS1 era. Honestly can't remember playing anything like that before, and certainly nothing that gave me that sense of dread the whole time playing it and achieved scaring a guy who loves horror.

MGS specifically. Metal Gear Solid is *the* template for nearly every major studio release since.

Something shifted when the Playstation was released - it was partly the product and what it was now capable of, but partly that a generation of console gamers had got to college/uni age and didn't want to put their controllers down. Everything started getting more young-adult oriented and within a couple of years the image of the gamer had shifted from relatively uncool 8-16 year olds to relatively cool 16-24 year olds.

The more "adult" games had usually been PC affairs before and PC gaming has always required a certain amount of geek to make the most of. Playstation put adult themes into the living room and nobody had to learn to fuck around with their config.sys to get the sound working.

Just for giving us the blueprint for every controller ever since. Introducing shoulder buttons and the 4 button format.

>Just for giving us the blueprint for every controller ever
>since. Introducing shoulder buttons and the 4 button format.

The two joysticks is imho as important as the shoulders and 4 buttons but I see your point.

Also, quiet as kept, Nintendo's wavebird never got the respect it deserved for breaking the wireless barrier; that shit just fucking worked 100% of the time and when I gotta use a wired controller I break out in hives

>>Just for giving us the blueprint for every controller ever
>>since. Introducing shoulder buttons and the 4 button
>format.
>
>The two joysticks is imho as important as the shoulders and 4
>buttons but I see your point.

I'd go the Saturn 3D Controller over the DualShock. It took a while for people to adjust to the 2 joystick controller. The first gen DS controllers were horrible though.
>
>Also, quiet as kept, Nintendo's wavebird never got the respect
>it deserved for breaking the wireless barrier; that shit just
>fucking worked 100% of the time and when I gotta use a wired
>controller I break out in hives

Wavebird is such a great wireless controller. The RF signal works through walls. And battery life for years. I have 2 of them currently, and can only remember changing the batteries twice in the 10 plus years I've had them.

Before that it was just the old guard

Sony was able to bring their marketing, their overall
business acumen, all of that extra edginess to games

Changed the type of games that were made too


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

>Before that it was just the old guard
>
>Sony was able to bring their marketing, their overall
>business acumen, all of that extra edginess to games
>
>Changed the type of games that were made too

It sucks because it feels like Sega was on their way to making those same moves to bring us all in the modern era but Sony was just so perfect with everything across the board from launch titles (Wipeout/Tekken) to marketing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrN8jjT11gg

It was a -perfect- launch and such a crazyfeat to look back on considering how in 2016 Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft can't pull off what Sony off the bench in 1995.

Its funny how we forget before Apple Sony was the premium electronics brand with their swag; televisions, stereos, walkman's, and video game consoles...all top tier and superbly designed.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5205/5257498988_206c95d8fa_z.jpg

Considering how great some of those OG vector arcade games were (star wars was the shit) it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if it had any traction.

It's problem was that its price made it niche (along with that specialized monitor) while Atari came out the gate appealing to everyone

so when I saw Vectrex, I was instantly and forever in love. Amber overlays and all...

My answers keep switching.

I want to say NES because hey its NES and if you don't know anything about games you know Nintendo. Old people still call every single game you play a "Nintendo game".

Sony really came through and crushed it with both the PS1 and PS2. So many influential games. Changed the way we viewed games to something that was on the scale of big blockbuster movies.

I'll have an answer soon.
The hardest any poll has made me think lol.

development pipelines, game certification procedures, maybe patches, provided a platform for indie games, made hard drives mandatory (though not initially iirc). i'm sure there's more

it can't be overstated how important the NES was to video games, as it basically resurrected them from the atari fiascos. likewise, ps1/2 did a lot for pushing the envelope on what games could be. most of the other consoles were iterations and not particularly revolutionary. 360 did so much more than every other console. continuing with reg's rap metaphor, all the previous consoles are the sugar hill gangs and kurtis blows. we wouldn't be where we are now without them. but the 360 is somewhere in kanye/rakim territory in how much it's impacted the rest of the world of video games

i don't know how confident i am in this assertion. it may be NES just for the fact that it saved video games. or ps2 because of the breadth of titles available, the dual shock, and how many units it sold

1972 Magnavox Odyssey - DJ Hollywood
1977 Atari 2600 - Kurtis Blow
1980 Intellivision - Grandmaster Melle Mel
1982 ColecoVision - Grandmaster Caz
1982 Vectrex - Rammellzee
1983 NES - LL Cool J
1985 Sega Master System - MCA
1987 TurboGrafx-16 - Kool Moe Dee
1988 Sega Genesis - Ice-T

1990 SNES - Rakim
1990 Commodore - MC Chill
1990 Neo Geo - KRS-One
1991 CD-i - Candyman

1993 3DO - MC Hammer
1994 Playstation - Nas
1994 Saturn - Prince Po
1995 Atari Jaguar - Vanilla Ice
1996 Nintendo 64 - Notorious B.I.G.

1998 Dreamcast - Canibus
2000 Playstation 2 - Jay Z
2001 Gamecube - Missy Elliott
2001 XBox - Vast Aire

2005 XBox 360 - Kanye West
2006 Playstation 3 - Lupe Fiasco
2006 Wii - Lil Wayne

2012 WiiU - Jay Electronica (I'm goofin)
2013 Playstation 4 - Drake
2013 XBox One - Tory Lanez (I'm goofin)





~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

NES I'd give to Run over Cool J, because Run-DMC is the pivot for rap and the NES is the pivot for consoles.

SNES Rakim and Playstation Nas are perfect.

I'd probably move KRS to TurboGrafx, give Genesis to Big Daddy Kane, and put Ice Cube on Neo Geo.

Xbox One is J. Cole.

Not that your answer is wrong, but the mentality on my block was that the SNES, while good, was a kid's machine. When my older cousins came through, they wanted to play Madden and NBA Live, and those experiences were better and more refined on the Genesis.

Of course, the first blood on Mortal Kombat.

Then the entire marketing of the Genesis at the time was geared to an older (while not quite adult yet) audience.

Good post.

Sleepy has a fantastic point that its controller tech (shoulder buttons, the 4 button cross) has stayed with us for 20+ years.

It was the pinnacle of sprite power (unless you were neo geo rich) but its biggest contribution was just NES games but 'better' (Super Mario 3 vs Mario World, OG Metroid vs Super Metroid, etc) along with better arcade ports (MK, SF). Link to the Past was FANTASTIC, along with other gems (Mother 3, Final Fantasy) but it was built off game design leaps on the shoulders of previously established giants.

Imho Genesis was just doing their best at shaking the paradigm; I was always struck about how while SNES had clearly better graphics for those EA games the playability for sports games was in a whole other class with Genesis. We can also make an argument with the Sega CD being another major leap of tech(before the PS1!), on top of the 32X (first example of a mid generation refresh a la PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio).

Keeping the rapper allegory SNES was Big Boi to Genesis's Andre 3000. More consistent, but the highs aren't as high

>but the highs aren't as high

i'll give you that the SNES didn't push the boundaries like the Genesis, but what it lacked in innovation it made up for in excellence.

the SNES is 90s Raekwon to the Genesis' 90s Ghostface.

>i'll give you that the SNES didn't push the boundaries like
>the Genesis, but what it lacked in innovation it made up for
>in excellence.

the JRPG template was created before it, but Final Fantasy VI is *the* ultimate example of one. there hasn't (and won't) be a better example of that genre.

just like Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island are the best 2D platformers of all-time. Super Metroid is a perfect game. even Mario Kart is as balanced as party racing games will ever be.

PS2 refined PS1, but SNES took entire genres to the mountaintop and kept them there for 25 years.

The heights reached by some of the SNES games....some of them hitting the peak as you alluded to. Just incredible.

Those are the two that generated the biggest and arguably most critical exponential leaps in console gaming. I suppose the PS1 is debatable with the PS2 for some but I say it’s inarguable aside from a linear cause & effect argument.

The PS2 made game consoles as a home entertainment hub for the entire family a reality. That’s what proved the idea that the console was no longer a mere toy for kids or enthusiast adults, but for everyone in the home, turning consoles into a much more practical family purchase and helping reduce the stigma associated with gaming as it drew more and more adults into gaming as a casual affair. To that end I think the broader seismic shifts caused by the PS2 far outweigh those of the PS1.

Sega Master System - Top tier internal development team pumping out the 1980's equivalent of AAA games (even though they were inferior ports of their arcade systems)...even more so then the Big Nintendo at the time.

Genesis - First move towards adults, superior sports games but the Nintendo brand is a beast and as we talked about above, was putting out -excellent- games. On top of athe first real CD system.

Game Gear - the OG PS Vita. Gameboy came out and was the SHIT but a year later gamegear came out and gave you a console experience right in your hands and nobody gave a fuck.

Saturn - Here' there time where it was less about market bad luck then their fucking up. Sega forgot their playbook while Sony photocoppied that bitch and executed it to a tee.

The true king of their lineup?

Dreamcast - But this is where they took that fucking playbook and amped it to 10. Just a great piece of console technology along with the first online. Think about how insane it was that EA left them out to die...and they created the 2k series which was BETTER then EA's own Madden/Live? A system with similar impact/innovation would have won any previous generation before or since...the problem was that it's opponent was the PS2.

That was an amazing system that just couldn't measure up to that damn DVD player. No way it could compete. Which do I play more in these days and times, Dreamcast all day.

Game Gear - the battery life was a son of a bitch, though. My friend in the neighborhood owned one but it was always about to die so I rarely got to fuck with it.


>
>Dreamcast - But this is where they took that fucking playbook
>and amped it to 10. Just a great piece of console technology
>along with the first online. Think about how insane it was
>that EA left them out to die...and they created the 2k series
>which was BETTER then EA's own Madden/Live? A system with
>similar impact/innovation would have won any previous
>generation before or since...the problem was that it's
>opponent was the PS2.


I remember when I went to Seattle in 1999 (my mom's sister lives there and we visited every summer until I hit high school) and one of the museums there happened to be hosting a public video game expo. Only thing like that I've ever been to; it was entirely put on by SEGA to showcase the Dreamcast, which was about three months away. It was kiosks everywhere, and as a 12 year old I was totally amazed by everything I saw there. NFL 2K and Ready 2 Rumble in particular.

Ultimately what fucked that system up for ME was the controller, same as I've never been able to get into the XBox. As a lefty I have a more fond memory of the N64 controller than most (felt so natural for shooters) but I hated the Dreamcast controller and the original Box Duke (still dislike the asymmetric sticks and d-pad) and my dislike for that controller ultimately made me disinterested in the system overall.

Then it got hacked, stores like Toys R Us actually fucking sold the machine that cracked it IN STORES, IN THE VIDEO GAME AISLE and it was a wrap for the Dreamcast. Throw in what you said about certain companies writing it off from the very beginning and that system was pretty much dead in the water from day one, man.

I remember Sega consoles also being pretty confusing to me at the time; they went from Genesis to 32X to CD to Saturn to Dreamcast real, real quick, and back then it wasn't just hardware changes but format changes, way riskier than what Sony and Microsoft are attempting now. As a kid working on allowance savings, I remember thinking that SEGA just wasn't a good investment; if you read up on the Dreamcast, apparently even several of their executives felt the same way and wanted their board members to approve dropping console production as far back as the Saturn.
~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I used to love Shinobi on that thing, but I don't think I ever finished it because I couldn't make it through more than half the game without needing another pack of AA's

It was mentioned already but the SNES controller was a game changer. The design is still being used to a certain degree today.

Nobody mentioned the NeoGeo huh. I know it was just a expensive as fuck console out here but it was everything out in Japan. Who here hasnt had a ton of fun playing Metal Slug.

Also shout out to the Jaguar.

>It was mentioned already but the SNES controller was a game
>changer. The design is still being used to a certain degree
>today.
>
>Nobody mentioned the NeoGeo huh. I know it was just a
>expensive as fuck console out here but it was everything out
>in Japan. Who here hasnt had a ton of fun playing Metal Slug.

The price is the only reason why I didn't include it. Before PS1 came and crushed all the arcade buildings the holy grail of at home gaming was to have an 'arcade perfect' ports. Remember the 'Don't get that Genesis Mortal Kombat, the SNES is just like the arcade!'.

NeoGeo killed that talk and was just like, 'Dawg, just buy the arcade'. *Throws a Mayweather stack of bills at your face*

We REALLY sleep on their games though; Metal Slug is STILL some of the best videogame graphics out there(I was geeked when they announced it for Switch), they were the only ones to be able to take Capcom to the mat as far as fighting games go (shieet, might be able to make an argument they even slightly beat capcom in that regard), and shit like Baseball Stars is still fun.


SNK still pumps out popular fighting games, but it would be cool to see some modern cash thrown at their IP's to bring them to the current era.

because you sold hella crack.

There is a picture of me FINALLY getting my Neo Geo in the box and I have the biggest smile on my face. It was truly a dream come true. I really used to have dreams that I'd wake up in the middle of the night not able to sleep and just turn on my Neo Geo to pass the time.

... because that was the most impactful for me personally. But after reading all the other responses I think I'd agree with those saying the PS1. It's the console that really brought "GAMING" more into the mainstream and less as a niche thing for kids. I remember being blown away that my high school math teacher had the PS1 AND played Magic: The Gathering.

I think the console didn't resonate with me though because I got one waaaaay late in its cycle... i think right before the PS2 came out.

PS1

- made games more adult
- classic joystick design second to nintendo
- killed arcades
- DAT NEVER ENDING POLYGON ERA TILL WE GET HOLOGRAMS MOTHERFUCKERS

PS2 though?
- It finally fulfilled the NES's promise of being an 'entertainment system'. Which is ironic since it was the system that dealt Nintendo the mortal blow it still hasn't recovered from*

Like remember when you saw what that shit looked like when they first announced it? That shit looked like the fucking matrix. While systems like the Jaguar had some curves, the PS2 was the definition of sexy...remember how that bitch looked like next to your 90 pound 24 inch $600 dollar Sony Trinitron WEGA TV? Can't tell me nothing (c) Kanye

Being able to play DVD's on top of the even more realistic adult content made it the first system where you were a bad parent if you brought it for your kids. It's where Grand Theft Auto 3 changed the face of gaming; where you had dedicated servers to shoot strangers in the head in Socom.

Could be my age, but it felt like when I saw PS1's around the people were still by definition 'gamers'. EVERYONE had a PS2.

*If Dreamcast is the first entry into the Underrated System hall of Fame Gamecube gets in the year after.

Unlike every year since Nintendo did almost EVERYTHING right here; graphics that were top in class, adult games like Eternal Darkness, fantastic controllers and system from an industrial design standpoint(built in 4 player my nigga!), classics that still get played like Smash..but alas...once you've had a couple of 6 star crime sprees and fucked a few hookers kinda hard to go back.

It was so much cheaper than DVD players on the market with so many more features, it put a lot of video games (or potential for video games) in people's hands just because they wanted a DVD player in their home and it was the most cost effective option.


It sold an incalculable number of units in part because a good percentage of its sales had little to do with video games. It had to do with DVDs and looking good in your entertainment center. Madden and GTA and Ratchet would just slink in behind that for a lot of houses.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I'll be 42 this year so I was around for all of them and if I don't taint my memory with emotion (since each console was a very specific age for me) what I remember is that only gamers had any of the consoles prior to the PS2. The NES seemed like everyone had it but really a lot of kids got it way later when the SNES was out.

I can understand NES though because it made video games at home the norm...

But the Nintendo 64 pretty much showed folks how to do gaming in 3 dimensions correctly...

First Person Shooters...Platformers...Action/Adventure in a 3D space wasn't right until Goldeneye, Mario 64, and Ocarina of Time showed up...

Rumble Pak...man listen...and it was before Dual Shock...

Folks forget that PS1 was basically the Nintendo CD...LOL

and you're right on Mario 3D and goddamn Goldeneye.

Specifically Goldeneye...there was an idea that you couldn't get true FPS feel in the console space so nobody bothered out side of shitty PC ports..until Goldeneye crushed the building so hard niggas were trying to recreate it on PC almost a decade later, LOL.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye:_Source


You could make the argument that Goldeneye was the granddaddy of all true console FPS's. Add Mario's work in defining open world gaming and without the N64 all we are left with are sports games and bad japanese RPG's.


>I can understand NES though because it made video games at
>home the norm...
>
>But the Nintendo 64 pretty much showed folks how to do gaming
>in 3 dimensions correctly...
>
>First Person Shooters...Platformers...Action/Adventure in a 3D
>space wasn't right until Goldeneye, Mario 64, and Ocarina of
>Time showed up...
>
>Rumble Pak...man listen...and it was before Dual Shock...
>
>Folks forget that PS1 was basically the Nintendo CD...LOL

>I can understand NES though because it made video games at
>home the norm...
>
>But the Nintendo 64 pretty much showed folks how to do gaming
>in 3 dimensions correctly...
>
>First Person Shooters...Platformers...Action/Adventure in a 3D
>space wasn't right until Goldeneye, Mario 64, and Ocarina of
>Time showed up...
>
>Rumble Pak...man listen...and it was before Dual Shock...
>
>Folks forget that PS1 was basically the Nintendo CD...LOL
>
>

Hell, wasn't ps1 basically a limited Sega Saturn with more money/support behind it?

N64 is a pimp ass console. But typical Nintendo...getting stuck holding carts in a disc world.

Ps2 was a collosal jump for Sony. And the PS3 might be the best thang they done made. I'm bias tho cuz PS3 is the one console where I did a hard drive update. I have hella games on that thing.

They literally saved the home console industry after the crash. No NES, then chances are great that we wouldn't be talking about game playing outside of an arcade nowadays....or at least it would've been a grip of time before interest would've come back towards implementing home consoles.

I even gotta give the title to the NES over the PS1. Yes, the PS1 was a game changer in its own right with aiming at an older crowd but one of the main reasons it was able to do that is because the NES had primed the older crowd to become gamers when they were younger. By the time the PS1 came out, NES consumers had grown up and were used to the idea of playing games. I doubt the PS1 would've had as much impact if it had came out years earlier and had tried to appeal to the adults who didn't grow up with or had limited exposure to video games.


Since 1976

>They literally saved the home console industry after the
>crash. No NES, then chances are great that we wouldn't be
>talking about game playing outside of an arcade nowadays....or
>at least it would've been a grip of time before interest
>would've come back towards implementing home consoles.
>
>I even gotta give the title to the NES over the PS1. Yes, the
>PS1 was a game changer in its own right with aiming at an
>older crowd but one of the main reasons it was able to do that
>is because the NES had primed the older crowd to become gamers
>when they were younger. By the time the PS1 came out, NES
>consumers had grown up and were used to the idea of playing
>games. I doubt the PS1 would've had as much impact if it had
>came out years earlier and had tried to appeal to the adults
>who didn't grow up with or had limited exposure to video
>games.
>
>
>Since 1976

I love this thread. It has haunted me since I saw it. I just couldn't decide which console I wanted to vouch for.

I turn 40 later this year and that pretty clearly influences me. So, I was just about too young to really get all up into Atari 2600. My folks knew I had luv for games tho so they got me the 5200 instead of the 2600 when the could. I had Pac Man, QBert, Pacman, and I think Galaga.

Later on, I got a 'Intendo along with a color TV in my room (13") and it was curtains. My first six games over the first year or so were: Mario/Duck Hunt, Tag Team Wrestling, Mike Tyson's Punch Out (I went straight broke to get it). Then I got Double Dribble and Pro Wrestling that Christmas and I felt like I had a COLLECTION!

And you know a brother lived up on the scene renting games. Damn...renting games. It's been a long ass time since I did that.

It might be greedy to say, but NES might've saved video games period.

I try to think about the world if that lame ass cartridge glitch had ruined it all, NES died off, and there was no big money put down on home consoles.

Would gamers be off in caves? Would they paying like crazy to play games in arcades? Would there be Neo Geo-style memory cards for everyone to 'float' around their cities with their saved progress? Or would video games just kinda be over with?

I just can't call it. But if NES hadn't been a big money thing, then there almost certainly would be no Sony or Microsoft consoles. Maybe PC gaming would be the thing and everyone would be playing on their PC rigs?

ya mom loves blast processing

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

They both didn't sell the numbers that reflected their edge in advanced technology for their time. But they set the template for the next generation of consoles.

...just sayin.

I never had Turbo Grafix nor did any of my boys so I have no idea about its technology.

>ya mom loves blast processing
>
>www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Sega is the bridge between Nintendo and PlayStation, yes?

I had a sega cd and I thought it was great. Lunar, eternal champions. Even that wack ass Scottie Pippen joint got played like crazy. Then they had the sega classic 4-pack. I was set.

The sega channel? Shiiiid. They were constantly laying down the road but Sony and Microsoft always seemed to be there to out-money them after the Genesis.

I remember how crazy it was to see Dreamcast stuff in a corner a year later when ps2 was getting ready to drop. Piracy was killer too. Having those games be smaller than a cd was a CRITICAL error. Err body had burners by then. It was a wrap once it was clear that they had no real country code/blockage. And without online being fully formed, there was no way to patch out the pirates like they try to do now.

>The sega channel? Shiiiid. They were constantly laying down
>the road but Sony and Microsoft always seemed to be there to
>out-money them after the Genesis.

Like I said above all Sony did was update Genesis's marketing and take that to the bank with the PS1; they made themselves look like the older demographic, sports friendly system with an edge and built a fucking Empire. When PS3 got arrogant, 360 took that same playbook.

Sega was often there first, they just couldn't capitalize. And that's the shame. They deserved better then this! (c)

the only reason I say "SNES" is because Playstation been eatin' for 20 years based on its controller design (actually, so have a number of consoles)

but it's probably NES

Grow up, nerds

Answer the question

Nobody asked what console YOU liked

It's a question about the INDUSTRY

Jesus Christ

I was a Sega guy to the CORE but they DO NOT deserve
to be on this list AT ALL

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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

The new format opened up avenues that weren't available before and then Kojima taking that potential and molding it to create MGS which really opened developers and gamers eyes to the possibilities.