The Dreamcast and Wii are what comes to my mind.

The DC was ahead of its time and has a kick ass library. It also had a sweet gimmick with the VMUs. If SEGA had supported the fuckin' thing, it could have been even better. Perhaps even gotten further iterations. And if the VMUs came with it, they possibly could have figured out a console/handheld hybrid like the WiiU and Switch before Nintendo.

The Wii is really just for its gimmick and Miis and the music. The motion controls were super well done, especially after Wii Motion Plus. Even tho the only games these days I would go back and play are all the Wii Sports games and maybe uh... Forgot the name, but the samurai FPS game. Just the first one tho. The second one kinda sucked.

The SNES will always be my favorite console. It's got some stinkers in the library, but the best games of the console still frequently rank among the best games ever made

Gamecube probably holds the most special place in my heart. More for the games that released for it than for the console itself.

Playstation 1

Over 4000 games, many of which are weirdly experimental because "how to make 3D games" wasn't codified yet, and CDs gave developers about 200 times more space than they had on the biggest cartridges from the previous gen - not to mention the lower cost of production.

Also, most of the soundtracks are absolute bangers.

Edit: another point - growing up poor, I still got to experience a lot of the PS1's library because of the abundance of demo discs.

Playstation 2

N64 for me partially nostalgia but I still love the cartridges even though i know they are sub optimal and the controller and the games in general are still top tier to me.

I have to give it to the Nintendo DS. Absolutely incredible library, much of it too unique to play anywhere else.

My first console was a sega mega drive. My favourite was the PlayStation 2

The OG Xbox was so good.

Modding it was surprisingly easy, all you needed was a memory card (or a DIY adapter for plugging in a USB drive into a controller port) and a copy of Splinter Cell.

Not only would this allow you to rip games and play them directly from your hard drive, but it also opened up the world of emulators and homebrew apps & games. Shoutout to the xbins IRC channel.

XBMC was amazing, it allowed me to watch all my legally obtained media without having to burn DVDs. Crazy to think that would eventually lead to Plex, which I still use to this day.

I also played around with Damn Small Linux on the Xbox, which is what got me interested in Linux in the first place.

Now that I think about it, tinkering around with that console ultimately led to my love of homelabbing and Linux - I now run 9 servers in my utility room, and only use Linux on all my machines.

Thanks Microslop!

I haven't played many, more of PC gamer. But, of the Atari 2600, Radio Shack TV Scoreboard, Atari 5200, Sega Genesis, GameCube, and Wii, I'll pick the Sega Genesis. Yes, I was around for the launch of all of these, including the original Pong, which was the first video game I played. I'm fucking old.

PS2. Due to it's game library.

Probably either the NES or the SNES. The NES felt the most "magical" at the time. Before the NES, consoles had games that were general clunky and not particularly fun and controllers that were all over the place. There was a good reason that the NES revived the console industry. The SNES just happens to be the home of many of my favorite games of all time. If we're going newer, then I suppose the PS1 or PS3 (before Sony ruined it) would be my choices.

Definitely a tie between xbox360 and PS2.

Definitly not biased because they're the 2 consoles I played the most growing up. No. There's a totally reasonable explanation. And would you look at the time! Gotta blast!

Dreamcast.

For me it's the N64. I know it's a slightly dubious pick, but there's something alluring about those early 3D graphics. No one knew what they were doing yet and it produced some of the most lovable jank.

ps2.

I loved the ps3 don't take me wrong, but the ps2 just had that nostolgia and legacy aspects of it. The splash screen, the menu design, the simplicity. It was so nice.

N64. Such a solid lineup of games.

I wasted many hours on my PS2. So much ratchet and clank.

Poor N64 and its fucked up joystick get no love

The SNES. Hands down.

The Steam Deck, if it counts. I can play most of the consoles pictured here on it.

If not, gotta go with SNES.

I couldn’t possibly choose. To this day I still get a lot of mileage out of the SNES, Genesis, PS1, PS2, GBA, and Nintendo DS libraries.

September 1997, my dad gets us a second hand Sega Megadrive from who knows where, with Sonic and a couple other games. My mind is blown. All these gorgeous, rapidly-moving images... some time later we get a stack of games at the flea market : Sonic 2, Coolspot, Rocket Knight Adventures (gorgeous platformers), Hellfire (a horizontal scrolling space shmup), D&D, an F1 game (maybe Senna?), Last Battle (impossible to beat), Streets of Rage 1&2, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat... I have most of these installed on my computer with Romstation today

SNES or PS1

The original Xbox was my absolute favorite. Still old enough to have the classic memory cards and weird console ports, but new enough that its all actually just reskinned pc hardware. The UI was simple but easy and had this fantastic early 2k style. I didn't even care that it was disgustingly green.

On top of all that, it was an era where basically everything could get greenlit. Shrek sequel game? Do it. Bounty hunter in a batshit crazy world using bigs as bullets? Knock yourself out. Love letter to golden eye, even if we can't get the rights? You bet! What if I wanna watch softcore porn with the bros but justify it by saying we're gaming? That's fucking weird, but have at it. Literally anything could get a game.

I played the absolute crap out of my Genesis more than anything else, i was obsessed with SF:2 CE and the six button controller was a game changer. But for every other genre the SNES has more of my favorite games compared to any system I have. There’s just a charm and feeling of care put into some its games that is just leaps and bounds above everything. Hard to describe.

For pure slickness of the hardware and user experience—the Gamecube, NeoGeo Pocket Color and Dreamcast mesmerized me upon purchase from that alone. Of course they all have some bangers. Also the joystick on the NGPC is amazing.

3DS, no contest. Even factoring in PCs, Steam Deck is a bit behind.

I'm past the phase of daily playing it, but still don't usually leave home without it, and I feel I'm only halfway through games I might be interested in after almost a decade. I just found Professor Layton this year.

SNES (Super Famicom?) is the one I think of when I think "console".

N64 gave me the best Xmas ever playing Goldeneye with my 2 brothers. 4 controller ports! No more fighting eachother with "winner stops on" rules.

Xbox 360 takes it overall i think. Shipped with a headset and Xbox Live started mass adoption with internet speeds actually making it playable and not a complete laggy mess. There was a sense of, not community, but shared wonder and optimism that I've not encountered since.

PS2 or PS1. I played the PS2 more than the PS1 but the PS1 is more nostalgic for some reason. I don't think the games were better per say but I have fonder memories on SO2 than eg. Til the End of Time. Really wish they'd remake Tales of the Abyss tho

Dreamcast, that system was awesome back in the day.

This is a surprisingly hard question.

I’d have to say either snes or n64.

I probably played n64 more. There were so many good games on it.

Mario 64 Banjo Kazoie Golden eye Perfect dark Shadows of the empire Ocarina of time Pod racing Star Fox Mario party Bondsman hero

I just wrote up, so I know I’m forgetting some stuff, help me out

The Wii.

It is such an underpowered console, with only a handful of must have titles if that.

But man those titles hold up. Even my little gen alphers love it and get into it. Its mostly just a wii sports machine but its still going strong even in this era of mobile and AAA gaming.

I have a bunch of old consoles but the Wii is the only one that gets regular play without needing convincing.

Honestly, taking off my nostalgia goggles here, I'm gonna say the Switch. Handheld and TV usage in one device was amazing. It's got its problems, yeah, and Nintendo is not really an admirable company, but it was nice.

With my nostalgia goggles on, PS2, no question. Because it was a PS2 AND a PS1. Never played PS3, barely played 360. By that time I was basically a full PC gamer. My original one broke (don't remember how), so I got the slim one. it's crazy durable, I think because it has a lot less moving parts. I tried to do some hot swap disk stuff with it, so I had to use clamps to hold it shut lol, but it still worked. Never could get the disk swap to work.

If we include handhelds, then I think it's the Gameboy Advance SP. Rechargeable and backlit was a crazy innovation. (Yes yes, I know in Japan there was a version of a Gameboy that was backlit.)

The OG Gameboy pocket I had was shit. It was my first gaming thing ever though. So hard to see. Gameboy color was fine. Just not really as amazing as Advance. GBA loses to SP though. As for DS, I don't know, I never had a beef with it, but I feel like the jump from color to advance wasn't quite as big to me as advance to DS. Plus, the DS was sort of the beginning of Nintendo's weird gimmick era. I'd call the Wii U the end. So many motion controls...

I had a PS4, but didn't play too much on it. Basically just Ratchet, God of War 2018 and Ragnarok, and Death Stranding. It didn't feel any better than a computer to me. At least the Switch is unique in that it can be portable.

Nintendo DS

That era was so good that Nintendo didn't even know what they had until they screwed it up and lost to modern smartphones.

The Wii or the Wii U. One of a kind experiences along with the golden era of the internet.

Probably GBA or PS2. I was a teenager and started working part time jobs, so I had money to buy the games I wanted. I was also getting a bit older, so my parents were relaxing my restrictions a bit. I couldn't play RPGs as a kid since apparently anything having to do with demons or magic would turn me into a cultist.

Special mention for the N64 as well. I have countless memories of playing 4-player games with friends, primarily Goldeneye (though Perfect Dark was better and I will die on that hill).

PS3 was the last revolutionary console imo. It's my favorite as well. It was focused on gaming but I could watch porn on it too! Plus it had blue ray!

Mega Drive. Home of Sonic, Streets of Rage, Toe Jam & Earl and many other great games

My PC.

But if it has to be a console console, N64. Easy.

Not a console but the psp, it was so hackable and customizable and one of the first handhelds that did 3d and emulation well.

As a console, probably the n64, mostly cause the game changing factor compared to its predecessors and sick ass titles. Nintendo sucks balls now and I dont buy any of their shit but it was cool back then.

I honestly don't know how I could pick one favourite. I have super fond memories of the Sega Genesis, SNES, N64, Gamecube, PS1, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, I really could not say which one is a favourite.

Ranked:

1. SNES for sure. I fucking loved Super Mario World. It's probably why I love video games tbh
2. PS2, the first thing I ever bought with my own money was a video game for the PS2 we got for Christmas. It was the Medal of Honor trilogy
3. PS1. Vandal Hearts permanently changed my preference of video games
4. PS3. Skyrim.
5. Xbox One. I know, I know, I can hear the boos from here. It got me through some tough shit and I loved that system. I used it for years before microslop permanently bricked it with a bad firmware update
6. PS5. I was one of the elite gamers to get a hold of one before they launched (/s). I was a QA tester for Call of Duty, and used the same system for my entire time at that job. I became an expert with that dev kit.
7. N64. It was a lot of fun, but it just never held the appeal over the ones above
8. Xbox 360. I liked playing it, but I never got much time with it
9. Xbox series S. It's a streaming box. When I worked on CoD I was getting game pass for free. Without it, it quickly became obsolete with my arr setup
10. All of the others
11. PS4. My retail experience was fine. Working with it on CoD fucking sucked and is the reason I hate the system.

360 for me. All my friends had one and spent soooo much time playing halo 3 and GoW online. Good times

PC

This picture has a criminal lack of DS and 3DS..

SNES or GameCube. Both were fantastic systems with tons of great games.

Without factoring in nostalgia I think I'll have to go with the Switch. Its library including rerelease of older systems' titles is hard to match. I played so many cool games on it that I still think about a lot years later.

Xenoblade 1, 2, 3, X
Dragon Quest XI
Shin Megami Tensei V
Monster Hunter Rise
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
Smash Ultimate
Breath of the Wilds
Mario Odyssey
Mario Kart 8
New Horizons

and countless others. Then there's the whole handheld/console hybrid aspect of it. For years I would exclusively play it handheld because I didn't even have a TV. Crazy good system, just a shame it marked the beginning of Nintendo leaning heavy into their anti-consumer and profit maximization BS. Not planning on getting a Switch 2 for a long time.

I’ll always have a 360 laying around ready to be played, so probably that if I had to choose. Every other console has come and gone, and now I don’t have time for games anymore, though I do have a pc and a ps5 (ps5 is mostly for BD/DVD these days), but I still have my 360 plugged in and off, just needs to be turned on and hdmi connected.

The original Xbox is so good it has earned a permanent spot hooked up to my TV. The PS3 has that honor too, but the Xbox is my favorite.

Sega, just because of the "Sega Scream"

https://segaretro.org/Sega_Scream

Looking at it just purely because of the console capabilities itself, the Wii was the best console.

Most of what the Wii did, no other system console or PC replicates well even to this day. They did this while undercutting other consoles on price, still putting out solid entries to their core IPs, and broadening gaming to new gamers.

All of the other consoles I would want to put at number 1 really are only great because of the library of games they had. Most of those libraries would have been better off if they were not forced to be on proprietary hardware.

The ones that don't connect to the goddamn internet. I also still use my ipod. Tracking sucks.

Real hard to beat the Sega in my book. Not only was it an amazing console on its own, but you could attach other consoles to it. Slap that 32x on top. Slide the Sega CD on the side. Who could beat that? Plus the Sega Channel? I mean come on.