Cartridge Console Wars

[burningdoom]

This is the thread to argue about the giants of old, many of which no longer exist in the console world.

Which was your favorite 2D machine of the 70s, 80s, or 90s? Who was your favorite console manufacturer of yesteryear?

Atari? Sega? Nintendo? Or were you a old-school computer-geek? Were you rocking the Game Boy on the playground as your favorite? Or maybe you were that one guy on the block that had a TurboGrafx-16 or Colecovision.

[hexen]

Looking at my collection it might be safe to assume my favorite cartridge based system is the NES, but that's actually not true. The NES is the most interesting and varied to collect for, but my favorite in terms of games and importance is the SNES. The NES was always this far off mystery to me growing up, I almost never got to play it because when I had a chance they where always not working (such a simple fix I didn't know then) or only got to play for very limited times, while the SNES is what I played most of the time because I spent an absurd amount of time at a day-care center. This day-care had both a SNES & Genesis, and believe me I also played the hell out of that Genesis, but it was the SNES that truly enthralled me. Super Mario World, the DKC games, and whatever random games they had there made me really want an SNES. My dad finally decided to get us one right around the release of the N64. He gave us a choice if we wanted an SNES or an N64, and me and my brother both chose the SNES with ease.

I ended up going more NES because of it's mystery and when I was finally old enough to start having my own money it was that glorious time when NES games where pretty cheap (how I miss those days), and though I was also filling my SNES collection at the time, it wasn't the same rate.

I also have a soft spot for the Intellivison which was my first actual console. When my brother and I wanted an SNES a few years prior to getting one and my dad didn't want to buy it he opened up his closet to show us his Intellivision he had gotten before we where born. He had a few games with it, but through him going to the flea market weekly (RIP my old, local, decades old amazing flea market...) we built up quite a collection. Even after getting Gameboys as our first newly bought system, and even the SNES, we still played the Intellivision. It's probably a big part of why I am into collecting games now as it fascinated me so.

[jlouis500]

Nintendo 64 was my favorite i was young with 3 siblings so we always could play at the same time and have so much fun playing no mercy smash brothers  mario kart ETC...

[stealthrush]

Grew up playing NES and SNES so I would say tied for those two systems. Although I did own a GB, it wasn't until years later I started playing more of its library of games.

[sin2beta]

The genesis, SNES, and NES are pretty interchangeable to me. I collect the sega genesis mainly for a focus area. Nintendo is too expensive right now and I did tend to streets of rage, comic zone, and sonic more than the Nintendo properties. However, I was a Nintendo kid. I started collecting for the NES originally back in 99 or 2000. Don't regret stopping it. Regret selling my stuff going to college a bit. But fully expect to collect those two Nintendo systems again in the future.

But ultimately, there is nothing more 90s retro gaming than sega. They helped define that era with mascot platformers, arcade hits, and general attitude.

[shepard11]

I've been gaming all my life and I still own all my systems I got as a kid. But Id say my Sega Genesis is my favorite system out of that generation of gaming. I have fond memories of getting my nes and games for many x-mas. But I always thought the Genesis games were so much more badass. My sega is always the only system where I've never sold a game out of that collection. Can't say the same for the NES or SNES.

[burningdoom]

Out of the classic systems, it's definetly the NES for me. That's the system that really made me a gamer. My older sister had an Atari 2600, but it never held my attention long. It was Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Star Soldier in particular that initially grabbed my attention, and I still love collecting for the system today. Some of the greatest gaming series that still continue to this day began on this system, and it's the system that saved the U.S. console market.

After that the SNES, followed by the Genesis. The SNES took everything great about the NES, and made it better with better graphics, better sound, a better controller, and bigger games. The Genesishas such a deep library of great 16-bit gems that are relatively unknown, and still cheap, that it's a great collector's system. Every retro collector should have those 3 systems, IMO, or at least a Retron or something similar that can play them.

[kamikazekeeg]

While more objectively, I'd probably say SNES in terms of overall quality and amount of good games, more personally, I will always love the Nintendo 64.  I love the cartridge designs, I love their boxes, I love the Nintendo 64's design (Outside of the controller), and it had some of my favorite games of all time with Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, and Banjo-Kazooie.

[98dgreen]

Snes by far

[aliensstudios]

I'll answer by saying which machine is my favorite from each of the decades you listed:
70s
I think the Intellivision was by far the most far out system to be released in that era. I know Magnavox and Atari came first but the Intellivision was so far ahead of those two.

Plus, the Intellivision had Thin Ice with Duncan Penguin, by far the most bad ass mascot of the era because well... he was the only mascot of that era!

All that aside though, the Intellivision was my Dad's favorite system as a kid. We still play World Championship Baseball to this day, and my Dad is crazy good at Space Armada too.
80s
This is actually kind of a tough one for me honestly, my brain wants me to say NES but my heart wants me to say Sega Genesis. Ergh, I'd have to go with the NES.

There are so many fun games I've played on the NES; Super Mario Bros., Mike Tyson's Punchout!!, Blaster Master, Mega Man, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Kirby's Adventure, R.B.I. Baseball, Tecmo Super Bowl, StarTropics, Tetris... Damn, just too many to count. Once again, this was a system my Dad turned me on to as a youngster. He had two NES systems and a collection of games which my Mom donated in the mid nineties unfortunately. In 2005 or so, he got bit by the gaming bug and re-bought the NES and Intellivision off eBay for insanely cheap and got all of his old games back too (I'm glad he did this back then as opposed to now because the prices would be like 10 times what he paid)
I enjoyed the NES a lot even though I had been exposed to the N64, GameCube and Game Boy systems by then and still have a soft spot for the system to this day. Even though I didn't get to experience this system firsthand (I'm 23) I am glad I got to play the NES.
90s
Hands down has to be the Super Nintendo

By the time I played the SNES, we already had an N64, but I'd be hard pressed to say I liked the N64 even one tenth as much as the SNES. I still remember a trip to my Grandma's when I was maybe 7 years old, all the kids would go to the basement to play video games and that was where I first experienced the SNES, playing games like Super Mario World, Rock 'n' Roll Racing and my all time favorite video game of all time: Donkey Kong Country.

This should be a fun thread. Can't wait to see what others post.

[ferraroso]

I think the Atari 2600 is a great machine and many of its games can still be enjoyed today.
After it, my favorite cartridge-based consoles are both from Sega. I got my first Master System in the late 80's and it is still my favorite video game system ever.
The Mega Drive is easily my favorite of the 4th generation and, although I had never even seen a PC-Engine when I was a kid, after moving to Japan, I can say that it has grown in both my heart and my shelf (at the same time as it is constantly emptying my wallet, haha) year after year, putting the SNES in a distant 3rd place.
And concerning the last major cartridge-based system, the N64... Well, let's just say that I can count on the fingers of one hand all the games that a like on that machine...

[sin2beta]

Out of the classic systems, it's definetly the NES for me. That's the system that really made me a gamer. My older sister had an Atari 2600, but it never held my attention long. It was Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Star Soldier in particular that initially grabbed my attention, and I still love collecting for the system today. Some of the greatest gaming series that still continue to this day began on this system, and it's the system that saved the U.S. console market.

After that the SNES, followed by the Genesis. The SNES took everything great about the NES, and made it better with better graphics, better sound, a better controller, and bigger games. The Genesishas such a deep library of great 16-bit gems that are relatively unknown, and still cheap, that it's a great collector's system. Every retro collector should have those 3 systems, IMO, or at least a Retron or something similar that can play them.

I agree very much that the super Nintendo took what was great about the NES and made it better. I have always thought super Nintendo was the most appropriate name for a console.

[Warmsignal]

I was definitely a Nintendo dork, by default. Being the younger of two children, it's what my brother had so it's what I had. Why did he have a Nintendo? Because my uncle had a Nintendo. I wasn't much of a console warrior back in the day, at least not until a little later. Actually, I always had a soft spot for Sega. Even then I knew I underappreciated the Genesis. But when you're a kid, you can only get so many games, and you tend to follow the lead of the older sibling. Any favoritism was just the result of being a kid, never playing most things that were out there, and just saying whatever you have is better than what you're friend has.

But yeah, favorites, if I really had one it was probably Nintendo.

[turf]

It's Nintendo or GTFO!  We don't need any of you Sega fans chanting for the underdog.  This isn't Rudy.  No one cares about your little, blue mascot.  Sonic sucks.  The Genesis had some good games; but when it stands next to the SNES, the Genesis is paled in comparison. 

The only game that I can think of that Genesis does better is Castlevania Bloodlines is better than Super Castlevania IV (in my opinion). 


How's that for controversy? 

[glazball]

NES dork checking in also.  I still love the NES, but as we know a lot of the games have not aged gracefully.  Though I started gaming on the Odyssey^2 around 5 or 6, it was the NES that ruled my childhood.  Along came the Genesis and it blew me away.  As a freshman in high school, I sold my NES and 32 games for a newly-launched Genesis with 2 games (3 including Altered Beast pack-in) and was in heaven.  I must have played through Phantasy Star II at least 3 times.  I have love for both Nintendo and Sega.

I'd say that Nintendo did (and still does up to Wii U, no matter what sales numbers say) make the best consoles.  However, even though I loved Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, Super Punch-Out! and other big SNES titles, when the system was current I felt like were just getting the same games with better graphics.  You hear all the time how Super Metroid is the best Metroid, LttP is the best Zelda, etc etc.  But having played them all on NES, all I could think of at the time was "but I already played this! It's just a prettier skin on the bones of the same games!"  In hindsight though, it was and still is an incredible system.

As a side note, a few years ago some friends and I compiled our list of the top (US) consoles of all time.  To my own surprise, we picked SNES as #1.  Personally I'd have a Genesis on my deserted island, but there's no denying that all things considered (console, controller, accessories, overall game library quality), the SNES is amazing.  So here we go:

The Top 10 US Game Consoles of All-Time (excluding current gen):
10. Vectrex
9. TurboGrafx-16
8. Dreamcast
7. PS2
6. PS3
5. N64
4. Atari 2600
3. NES
2. Genesis
1. SNES

Honorable mentions: Colecovision, Intellivision, PS1 and Gamecube.  Looking over the list again, if we want to stick to *cartridge* consoles only, we can remove PS2 and 3 and place Colecovision and Intellivision at the bottom.  If I were to rank *my* personal favorites, the top 3 would probably be Atari 5200, TG-16, and Genesis.