Top Video Game Consoles : Ranking the Rec Room Rulers

[WildcatJF]

Thanks to the TG-16 Mini I got the chance to finally engage with a large chunk of the library, and I gotta say, Hudson and NEC were cooking. It's a bit of a shame it never took off as well outside of Japan because I think we missed out on a lot of what made it special. I have a lot more exploring to do!

 

[JBear]

I was never interested in the TG-16 as a kid, but I played quite a few TG-16 games on the Wii virtual console and some of them were kind of baller? I'm sure I'd have loved the thing if I had it back in the day.

 

[Baudshaw]

A lot of these older consoles I can't really speak on, mostly because I haven't really played with them.

 

[Torzelbaum]

There are many groundbreaking consoles but some of them didn't show up on anyone's list. I'm going to cover one of them in this

Tribute to a Trailblazer: PC Engine​

The PC Engine has the distinction of being the first console* to use CD-ROMs for games via its CD-ROM² add-on. The add-on was released in 1988 in Japan and was later released in the US in 1989 as the TurboGrafx-CD.

NEC & Hudson Soft would later release a console that combined the PC Engine with the CD-ROM add-on into a single device which was known as the PC Engine Duo or TurboDuo.

(They also released other different add-ons for the PC Engine and hardware upgrades/versions of it.)

PC Engine was also able to play games on LaserDiscs since it was one of the two modules that could be added to the LaserActive player/console.

But the first "console"* that had built-in support for CD-ROMs is the CD-i which was released in 1991.

*As far as I can tell.

 

[Torzelbaum]

#16

Nintendo 64

158 points, 7 votes
Console Champion: WildcatJF (#7)

Gen: 5th
Lifespan: 1996-2002

Media:
Nintendo 64 Game Pak (ROM cartridge)
64DD magnetic disc

Lineage: Nintendo

Franchise foundation for: Mario Party, Paper Mario, Super Smash Bros., Turok​

After their success in the 3rd and 4th console generations Nintendo sought to continue that in the 5th gen. Failure to develop disc-based technology led them to continue using ROM cartridges for their next console. Challenges from more technically advanced consoles led them to collaborate with high-performance computing manufacturer Silicon Graphics to develop a 64-bit chip architecture for the next Nintendo console and our next most favorite console - the Nintendo 64. Although "the [N64] was critically acclaimed, [it] faced commercial challenges; its sales lagged behind the PlayStation, and [it] commercially failed in both Japan and Europe, despite strong performance in the United States."

There weren't a ton of N64 games that I loved, so this is mostly a vote for countless school nights spent playing Goldeneye deathmatch with friends.

The last cart-based non-portable system (until they became more practical than discs again decades later), the first to embrace analog joysticks after D-Pads became standard, and much more importantly, the lab where basically everything about 3D action games was ironed out and standardized to such a degree that the same basic approach is still ubiquitous today!

The Nintendo 64 was the first system I got when it was new. If we are talking about the graphics, the look is somehow "worse" than the predecessors which feels less awkward. But at the time, the N64 truly felt like the next level. Yes, Playstation and Sega Saturn was doing this stuff first but I was a Nintendo kid for most of my youth and Mario 64 was an amazing foot to start out on for any system. What's more, while the game library isn't quite as beloved as Nintendo was navigating this new gaming era but the stand outs are incredible like Golden Eye completely changing how FPSs could play. I also respect that it had a controller that understandably seemed daunting with its many buttons but is actually a pretty good design.

(@WildcatJF @Johnny Unusual @JBear @Purple @Baudshaw @Issun @Falselogic )

 

[JBear]

I bought an N64 based almost entirely upon screenshots in Nintendo Power of the Final Fantasy tech demo, thinking that it was going to be the next big JRPG system, like the SNES before it. Boy did I bet on the wrong horse. I would eventually get a PSX as well, but for a while there, I was forced to live with my choice, and honestly it worked out great for me, as it forced me to broaden my horizons and discover a lot more genres than I had enjoyed previously.

Also, I still sometimes forget if it was called the Nintendo 64 or the Ultra 64 in the end, and use the two names pretty interchangeably in my head.

 

[RT-55J]

I love the blurry, fuzzy look of this cursed pile of silicon.

 

[Falselogic]

This is on my list because of the summer in high school I spent playing nothing but Goldeneye with friends.

 

[Kirin]

I never had an N64 of my own despite being a Nintendo kid growing up because I was lured away by the siren song of Square’s defection to Sony. But my suite-mate in college had one and I got every star in Mario64 on his.

Speaking of being in college, though, I was in a computer science program at the time with access to actual SGI workstations, and danged if the Mario64 menus were not just the exact same interface they used, which was kind of a neat behind-the-scenes experience to have for a game console. I programmed graphic demos for class with the same 3D spinning buttons.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I like the thing but it's easy to see the weaknesses when half of the games felt like this.

It didn't have the best catalogue but the bangers were all time bangers and in many cases real game changers. 3D platformers had been done before but playing Crash Bandicoot and Bug, they were basically conventional platformers with 3D effects while in Mario 64 you can roam. And all the stuff you could do in GoldenEye made it so much better than the other shooter; plant barely visible bombs, trip wires, sniping, cussing someone out for choosing Oddjob. All classic stuff.

 

[Lokii]

No RPGs no sale

 

[RT-55J]

You get Quest 64 and you're gonna like it.

 

[WildcatJF]

Ogre Battle 64 is right there

The N64 was my second console following the NES, and it's one where I had full control over buying my own games with my teenage allowance/income. I remember being stunned by games like Mario 64, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Goldeneye, and it truly was a multiplayer joyfest. I realize in hindsight that this was not a smooth cycle for Nintendo, and their reliance on cartridges cost them many third party partners and technological perception in the eye of the consumer (FF7 left quite a sting on both fronts), but I still feel it's a solid enough console.

 

[Torzelbaum]

You get Quest 64 and you're gonna like it.

C'mon now, how could you forget about Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage!?

(And Paper Mario.)

 

[Baudshaw]

It's mostly because of Mario 64 and OOT for me.

 

[Torzelbaum]

#15

Atari 2600

196 points, 8 votes
Console Champion: Torzelbaum (#3)

Gen: 2nd
Lifespan: 1977-1992

Media: ROM cartridges
Lineage: Atari​

Atari got their start in the world of video games in the early 1970s. And it was quite a start since their first arcade game was Pong - "the first commercially successful video game". Atari built on the success of Pong to make other arcade games and dedicated home consoles but Nolan Bushnell, one of the founders of Atari, felt that they were too risky business-wise and wanted to try a different approach - create a programmable console with swappable games. And from that came our next entry : the Atari 2600*.

The Atari 2600 was the very first console I played games on so I have a lot of nostalgia for it. The games were simple but fun and challenging. The joystick controllers had pretty much the bare minimum that was necessary for a controller / game. The console also came with paddle controllers which allowed for different types of games and had a nice feel to them. The cartridges could be rather stubborn and finicky to get working but you could usually manage (with enough tries). Some of my favorite games from the system include Chopper Command, Combat, Warlords, River Raid, Seaquest and Video Pinball.

(Atari games also had some interesting box art.)

The just-before-my-time heavyweight.

I got a cousin's hand-me-down 2600 and I still have it. Love me some Frostbite and Yar's Revenge.

(Yars' is another one of my favorites.)

The 2600 was the first system I owned. My father brought it home from kid he was a big brother to after he was done with it and a few games. I never had a game system before and even though we were well into the NES era, but I didn't care. The novelty of having a game system itself and while in the rearview things look rougher than what Nintendo was able to do, there is a charm to this era.

As very 70s as it is, I do like the aesthetics of the wood paneling. Not that I want to see it come back but it certainly makes for a unique look for a console, even beyond the kitsch factor.

The wood grain look is something I am also nostalgically fond of. Apparently that was a suggestion from Gene Landrum, a consultant who had previously consulted on the design of the Fairchild Channel F. He "suggested a living room aesthetic with a wood grain finish."

(@RT-55J @Kirin @Johnny Unusual @Issun @JBear @Falselogic @Violentvixen )

*Also known as the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) and the Tele-Games Video Arcade (as sold by Sears).

 

[RT-55J]

Very nice little system. Very distinctive look and sound. Very interesting selection of primordial, pick-up and play games with increasingly absurd concepts as the system aged. The very odd video hardware gave the thing a much longer tail than any of its immediate peers.

I have an Atari Flashback 2 somewhere, which IIRC the only version of that device that has an ASIC recreation of the system (as opposed to the famiclone hardware of the first Atari Flashback, and the emulators in later models) --- granted, it's not like it matters that much, since I never modded it to have a cartridge slot (also I only own one (1) Atari 2600 cartridge (Space War)).

Woodgrain forever.

 

[JBear]

I forgot about River Raid. That game slapped too. Other favourites of mine not already mentioned include Centipede, Keystone Kapers, Combat, Dig Dug, Moon Patrol, and, of course, Pitfall.

A few special shout-outs:

• Frostbite will always be notable to me as the first and last time my mother was interested in a video game. I don't know what it was about that game in particular that grabbed her, but she really enjoyed it.

• Dodge 'Em has possibly my favourite artwork and also is kind of a wild ride to play. There's really nothing else quite like it, as you automatically careen around the screen right from the jump and need to wrench your car wildly between lanes to avoid a collision.

• Star Raiders was easily the most inscrutable game I had, and included this specialized controller:
  
  
  
  
  The idea was that you could swap out the flimsy label insert and thus use the pad for different games, but I'm not aware of any other games that used it, and in practice that just gave you a very easily lost set of labels, without which you'd be even more clueless.

• I never actually had Tax Avoiders (I doubt it was even available for sale in Canada), but check out this wild description:
  
  

  The object of Tax Avoiders is to help "John Q" become a millionaire within one game year by collecting income and avoiding taxes. There are two alternating game phases. In one, the player moves around the screen, collecting dollar bills and avoiding red tape; this represents maximizing income for the quarter. At the end of the quarter, the other phase has the player move around to manage his investments while another sprite oscillates between an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent, a certified public accountant (CPA), and an investment advisor. If the player is caught by the IRS agent, he is audited, and always loses the audit, which takes 50% of his income. If he encounters the CPA, he is charged a fee but gains new tax-sheltered investment options. If he encounters an investment advisor, he can maximize his tax-sheltered investment returns.

  
  Beautiful.

(Atari games also had some interesting box art.)

They did, but shout-out too to the manuals, which were sometimes a real joy. Just way more elaborate than anything you'd see today.

ETA: Oh, oh, and one of the neatest things about the Atari was how I could use its controllers interchangeably with my #1, which I always thought was impossibly neat, although rarely practical.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I had Baseball, Crystal Castles, Defender and... I don't know if I had Star Raiders but it was a space game I didn't know how to play well. It could be Star Raider or it could be I was 7.

 

[JBear]

Oh, and I had the infamous E.T. as well, and although I would hesitate to describe it as good, we didn't find it to be appreciably more confusing or difficult than most of its contemporaries.

 

[WildcatJF]

I only dabbled w an Atari 2600 once at a friend's house when I was like 8? I do look forward to sampling more of the library on the Atari 50th collection.

 

[Lokii]

I'd play a n64 before an atari sorry

 

[Torzelbaum]

Some trivia for you:
The name Atari is a reference to a check-like position in the game Go, which Nolan Bushnell has called his "favorite game of all time".

 

[Daikaiju]

(Atari games also had some interesting box art.)

Shame the Box-Art 25 was in the last forum iteration. Very relevant.
Atari 2600 was Activision's Golden Age. Along with Imagic, they really pushed the system's capabilities.

Fun Fact: My brother bought me Star Fox 64, with the Rumble Pak, well before I had the actual system.

 

[Falselogic]

It's no Magnavox Odyssey II. But it's not bad either.

 

[Kirin]

I never owned one but it was one of the first systems I played games on, with some kids of friends of my mom. I mostly remember playing Centipede. More recently my ex had one of the full wood grain models from Sears in a box, but we never got around to trying to hook it back up to something.

Random personal trivia: for a while I shared an office with Warren Robinett, author of Adventure and progenitor of the video game easter egg when he hid his name in that game because Atari by policy didn’t credit staff programmers at the time. Ironically, he’s one of the most humble and soft-spoken people I know.

 

[Torzelbaum]

It's no Magnavox Odyssey II.

Thanks for the reminder.

Honorable Mention #4:
Magnavox Odyssey²

This is Falselogic's #1 pick and shares the unusual distinction of being the only #1 pick that didn't appear on anyone else's lists.

The Odyssey 2 is a 2nd gen console that was part of a line of consoles created by American electronics brand Magnavox (among others). It used ROM cartridges and was around from 1978 to 1984. Maybe @Falselogic could tell us more about why it's their favorite.

I'll tell you one thing for sure - it also had some really nice box art:

Shame the Box-Art 25 was in the last forum iteration.

The soul still burns slumbers here on TT 3.0...

And here's a sampling of the Atari 2600 game box art that I mentioned:
BASIC Programming
Dodge 'Em
Joust
Kung-Fu Master (Kung Fu on the NES)
Megamania
Missile Command
Phoenix
Slot Racers
Yars' Revenge

 

[WildcatJF]

I have thoughts of redoing that contest, haha.

 

[Falselogic]

Maybe @Falselogic could tell us more about why it's their favorite.

Mostly because it was my first. My parents most have played it quite a bit too. Because the story they tell is that one of the early words I learned to say as a baby was 'Turkey' which came from the Magnovox game P.T. Barnum's acrobots. A breakout-alike. The system had a voice synthesizer that some games used.

Their Pacman clones K.C. Munchkin! and K.C.'s Krazy Chase were also pretty good games as I remember. The first one beating Atari's Pacman to the home market and created a lawsuit that helped shape copyright law around video games.

 

[Torzelbaum]

#14

Master System

199 points, 8 votes
Console Co-Champions: Jbear & Yimothy (#1)

Gen: 3rd

Lifespan: 1984-1994
(Or possibly until the end of time in Brazil.)

Media:
ROM cartridges
Sega Card / Sega My Card

Lineage: Sega
Franchise foundation for: Phantasy Star​

Sega has already appeared on the list with their last console but our next entry is their first ... in a sense. The first console that Sega actually released was the SG-1000, which they released in 1983 but only in a few countries and not some of the biggest markets (US, UK, Europe). The SG-1000 received a couple of upgrades. The second upgrade, the Sega Mark III, was remodeled into the Master System and released world-wide (more or less). The Master System had a light gun accessory and also the unique accessory of 3-D glasses (but they only worked with specific games).

Sega would later release a less expensive version/model of the Master System, the Master System II, in 1990.

I never owned a Master System or knew anyone who did own one but I played demo versions and always really wanted one of them. The black and red design justs seemed so neat and stylish to me. (But I do now find it interesting that the console included that "circuit design" connection explanation diagram on it.)

My first and still my favourite, and one of the few I've bothered to keep. Phantasy Star is the killer app, but there's lots to like, including the on-board cartless games.

I had one as a kid.

I was an NES girl growing up, but knew someone who had an SMS instead, so I had plenty of time to sample both. Smaller library, but a much more vibrant palette, and it had freaking Phantasy Star on it, which really had an impact on me. Plus the Wonder Boys. Also thanks to Brazil it's effective lifespan is absurd.

The handling and distribution of Sega consoles in Brazil is done by Brazilian toy and electronics manufacturer Tectoy. To this day Tectoy still produces emulator-based versions of Sega consoles, including the Master System.

(@JBear @Yimothy @Purple @RT-55J @Johnny Unusual @Aurelia @Issun)

ETA: Oh, oh, and one of the neatest things about the Atari was how I could use its controllers interchangeably with my #1, which I always thought was impossibly neat, although rarely practical.

The Atari joystick port / connector actually managed to become a "de facto standard" in the 1980s and was used on multiple non-Atari consoles and computers (including the Master System).