The X-Box 360 takes it for me as an overall winner. It had a great and expansive library of games, and aside the red ring of death (I never got one) it just worked.
I’d almost put the N64 as a second place contender because it has so many great games, but that controller has never been good. It might be visually iconic but it’s so clunky. 3rd part controllers exist now that are more shaped for human hands and I am baffled why Nintendo didn’t do that from the start.
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XB360 had a great controller, great library, and graphics that still hold up. What more do you need?
The Wii U.
None…
Nintendo Switch OLED.
In my opinion it’s the perfect console form factor. Portable yet dockable when needed, detachable Joycons that can turn into 2 controllers for multiplayer games and a bright and vibrant OLED screen.
it’s unfortunate that it’s severely locked down by Nintendo, held back by its weak processor and Nintendo dropped the ball with Joycon drift.
3ds just beautiful, good library, affordable, still running to these days
Hey, I have one too!
Steam Deck, for sure. I can play games from any other console.
Atari 2600. It’s the only console I ever owned and played. It was C-64/128, then nothing but PCs until today.
8 bit Nintendo
I am most nostalgic about the PS1 era. But I could probably be persuaded to pick some others, it is a close call.
SNES. The console had enough power for great games while still having obvious limitations the developers acknowledged. The great SNES games still look and play good today.
The PSX/N64 generation, despite having some great games, has aged horribly because they started chasing that photorealism dragon.
I grew up with a Wii and an Atari 2600, and my favorite console is, no surprise, probably the 2600. Both because I put wayyy too much time into it, and because it’s incredibly neat from a hardware perspective (seriously, that anyone actually managed to make functioning games on it is a miracle).
The Nintendo Famicom. Because it was our first gaming console and there are lots of pirated game cartridges that works with it.
PlayStation 2. Some of the best games ever made, full compatibility with its predecessor which itself had an incredible library, AND easily hackable!
Shame about the controller, though.
Easily hackable? Might have to look into that in the future, so long as we aren’t talking hardware modifications.
Edit: looks like something I’d try in the future if I ever end up with a spare PS2 because I don’t trust myself not to brick my current PS2 somehow, despite the instructions I found being real easy to follow.
I don’t think there’s much risk of bricking the system, honestly. If you wanted, you could even get a FreeMcBoot card off eBay, and avoid having to do the setup on your own system at all. That’s the beauty of the mod - if you know someone who’s done it, they can very easily make another modded memory card for you!
Steam deck
I really want one. But I also want to save some money and get the second iteration
I waited a year before I got one, and I should have bought it day 1. I love rogue likes, and it’s perfect for them. Plus getting games on sale for massive discounts quickly reduced the overall cost of my gaming habits.
Get the base model. Upgrading the storage is easy, and you can get a matte screen protector to mimic the top one.