Friday Five – Favorite Video Game Consoles

Welcome to the Friday Five! Each week we help you get to know our writers with the help of a top 5 list! This week: Favorite Video Game Consoles!

It’s Friday once again, and Eric is busy working so I get to fill this empty space in with some words of wisdom. . .

So here’s the Friday Five, it’s about Video Game Consoles enjoy!

Chris

1. Super Nintendo Entertainment System – SNES wasn’t my first system, but damn did I put a lot of hours into it. This is the console I’m most likely to pull out and hook up and play even 20+ years later.
2. Nintendo DS – I love handhelds, the 3DS is great, but I’d have to say my pick is the original DS. The library of games on it is absurdly awesome. Pokemon, Phoenix Wright, classic RPG remasters, New Super Mario Bros, and that’s only a few I can think of off the top of my head.
3. Playstation 2 – This is such a great console, it’s lifespan alone gains it a spot on any list. Gamestop just stopped taking in trades on the console last summer! The only reason I willingly let this system go is because I purchased the PS3 version that was still 100% backwards compatible with PS2 games.
4. GameBoy Advanced – The original GameBoy was awesome, and the GameBoy color certainly improved that. But the GBA kicked it into a whole new level. I have a drawer full of GBA games and even have my SP ready just in case. Just thinking about the GBA makes me want to go play Wario Ware Inc.
5. Playstation 3 – My final pick was a hard one, I’ve owned a lot of systems over the years, but I think PS3 really changed the game. With games like Uncharted or Assassins Creed it made games more like Hollywood movies you can play, and not like those stupid movie adaptations.

Pisko!

1. Nintendo Entertainment System – The machine that started it all for me. I logged more hours on this machine in my young life than I ever did at school in the 12 years combined. Okay, maybe not, but I got really good at hand eye coordination because of this grey little box that required the spit of children to activate games.
2. SNES2 (GameBoy Advance) – The TRUE successor to the SNES where all of the ideas about 16-bit life continued on Nintendo’s little 32-bit machine that could. I bought the Fuchsia GBA when it came out and relished that USA got a color reminiscent of the N64’s Atomic Purple weirdness. Let us not forget such perfect games such as Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, and Advance Wars AND also managed to revive the long thought dead Mario RPG in the form of the Mario & Luigi series.
3. Nintendo 64 – Most likely the home console I put the most time into in my short life thus far. I believe I only ever had around 10 games for the system in it’s entire life but that was enough to both keep myself entertained and my friends with their three controllers when they came over. Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros, Starfox 64, Tony Hawk and more kept us in hours of endless entertainment and torment.
4. Playstation 2 – My teen years would be spent rediscovering the beauty of the Final Fantasy line while experiencing platforming games that pushed the envelope in ways Nintendo couldn’t dream of. Newcomers like Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and Sly Cooper defined and refined my love for the console that dared to play dvd’s out of the box with no accessories needed. The controller that had been slowly refined over the last generation needed no refining at this point. It proved to be the commanding force that seamlessly tied player to game. Perfect for FPS, adventure, and just about every game known to the generation of consoles. Also, Kingdom Hearts.
5. Xbox 360 – The first console to not only take online gaming seriously, but to get it right from the start. Better matchmaking, included voice chat, and wireless controllers out of the box made the 360 a tour de force for gamers who wanted to connect but had no way outside of a PC. This was also a shift for Microsoft who actively courted developers who had been Sony exclusive or damn near close. Locking up Lost Planet from Capcom as well as courting Final Fantasy away from a Playstation exclusive for the first time in a decade. Setting up and continuing franchises such as Gears and Halo to provide a reason to use the already great online functionality proved to be a boon to the Microsoft team who would finally turn a profit with the 360.

Special Honors: Gamecube – Though it didn’t have the game library to fit everyone or have the perfect controller (I loved it’s handled grips, myself) what the Gamecube did have was a plethora of ideas that never got utilized past the game they debuted with, but would be testbeds for what would eventually become the Wii U and DS. The GBA connectivity in Four Swords Adventures, Odama’s microphone, Pokemon Box (Precursor to Pokemon Bank), and the excellent GBA Adaptor all proved to be great ideas but failed to save the system or the games that were bundled with them (With the exception of the GBA adaptor which is both highly sought after and well regarded). The Gamecube would bear idea fruit for Nintendo to reuse in new and exciting ways for years and generations to come.

Shannon

1. Atari 2600 – My first gaming system. I can still remember playing some sort of fire truck game and it was screwed up. I could get the ladder to go up and I always just gave up.
2. Nintendo 64 – This is probably the system that actually got me into gaming. I don’t remember what I actually played on this one besides Sarge’s Heros. I think I did a lot of watching my younger brother play on the N64.
3. Playstation 3 – We have a PS4, but I haven’t touched it yet. I’ll still play stuff on the PS3 until the PS4 has games I’ll actually want.
4. Gamecube – I think I have the most hours clocked on the Gamecube next to PC. There are so many games I loved for this system, and it led to a lot of family bonding in the form of killing sprees.
5. XBox 360 – Three words. Family Halo Night.

Drootin

1. PlayStation 2 – The PS2 was the first system I bought with my own money. I loved the PS2 era Madden games especially Madden 06, Final Fantasy X is one of my all-time favorite RPGs, and there were tons of games that absorbed hours of my life. Add in the ability to play PS1 games and this system was amazing.
2. Sega Genesis – For the most part this was a 2 game system for me. NHL ’94 and Madden ’93 likely accounted for 90+% of the time that this system was on but those 2 are probably my favorite sports games of all time. But add in games like Streets of Rage, Sonic, and Gain Ground I loved the Genesis.
3. PlayStation 1 – Has my top 2 RPGs (FF Tactics and FF7), some of the best wrestling games (WWF Attitude and the original WWF Smackdown games), great sports games (Madden NFL and NHL 99), this system started my super hardcore gaming.
4. PlayStation 3 – The last generation of gaming was great and I was a PS3 guy. First Person Shooters became megapopular with COD, EAs NHL games got amazing again, The Last of Us was mind blowing, Rock Band was so much fun, and that’s just a small list of games that I spent hours upon hours on.
5. Super Nintendo Entertainment System – This was mostly 4 games for me: NBA Jam, Super Mario World, Mario Kart, and Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past (aka maybe the best game ever). Even if I only ever played A Link to the Past on SNES it would have deserved it’s place in the top 5.

Eric

1. Nintendo Entertainment System – The true classic
2. Playstation 4 – Greatness Awaits
3. Nintendo DS – 2 screens!
4. PSVita – Great console, little support
5. Playstation 2– So many great memories!

Chris talks a bunch on PodQuest each week. He's also been known to write about stuff from time to time. You can Email Chris or follow Chris on Twitter @Just_Cobb or Facebook

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