01-27-2010, 08:40 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-27-2010, 08:45 AM by Crimson Fox.)
Yeah, this is one of those questions that can be interpreted several different ways whether by sales, popularity, library of games, or cost effectiveness.
The first great dedicated "games console" I believe was the Atari 2600. If you lived in that time period, you probably have a lot of love for the system. After playing it on an emulator though, I found it to be very, VERY primitive. The spacey beep sound effects and such are kind of cool, but the graphics are really basic and most games won't last very long. One of my favorite games on it, Adventure was a pretty cool game on there though, and probably influenced better games like The Legend of Zelda and also gave us some joke fodder (Those freaking ducks!).
In any case, it helped to really start the trend of games consoles, but I'm not sure I would call it the best. It sold about 30 million if you count all of the various versions like the 2600 Jr., but it also contributed to the video game crash of 1983 due to poor quality games like E.T. and the 2600 port of Pac-Man.
If I were to call one system the best, it would probably be the Nintendo Entertainment System. To be honest, I grew up in the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo era, and I played and loved those first. Eventually though, I got a NES around 2000-01 and loved it just as much. I'd say if it weren't for this console, modern video games would probably be WAY different. Besides introducing many of the iconic characters in video games today, it also severely upped the ante of what a game should be. Consider the difference between Super Mario Bros. and any Atari game. SMB gave us many colors, light hearted music, multiple levels, good controls, and (assuming you don't use warp zones) actually does take some time to beat. The NES also introduced the notions of a pause feature, save files (for some games anyways), and a wider range of game genres such as RPGs.
Maybe I'm being unfair though. The Atari 2600 is primitive, but it's certainly better than what came before it such as those Pong consoles everyone was making and those consoles that had Vectrix graphics.
To be honest, most consoles have something great about them and have helped to bring video games to new levels. Besides better graphics, consoles like the Dreamcast helped bring systems online, which lead to systems like the XBOX and XBOX 360 which have a major focus on online content. The Super Nintendo was one of the first systems to introduce 4 player action with it's multitap while the Playstation One made the idea of CD based games popular and effective. And of course, the Game Boy helped make portable games into a popular way to play games as well.
Bleh, I guess I didn't really answer your question. I'll stick by NES, but really, the question is kind of broad. Also, I did not include PCs or computers in my consideration since I'm assuming you're talking about dedicated game consoles.
The first great dedicated "games console" I believe was the Atari 2600. If you lived in that time period, you probably have a lot of love for the system. After playing it on an emulator though, I found it to be very, VERY primitive. The spacey beep sound effects and such are kind of cool, but the graphics are really basic and most games won't last very long. One of my favorite games on it, Adventure was a pretty cool game on there though, and probably influenced better games like The Legend of Zelda and also gave us some joke fodder (Those freaking ducks!).
In any case, it helped to really start the trend of games consoles, but I'm not sure I would call it the best. It sold about 30 million if you count all of the various versions like the 2600 Jr., but it also contributed to the video game crash of 1983 due to poor quality games like E.T. and the 2600 port of Pac-Man.
If I were to call one system the best, it would probably be the Nintendo Entertainment System. To be honest, I grew up in the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo era, and I played and loved those first. Eventually though, I got a NES around 2000-01 and loved it just as much. I'd say if it weren't for this console, modern video games would probably be WAY different. Besides introducing many of the iconic characters in video games today, it also severely upped the ante of what a game should be. Consider the difference between Super Mario Bros. and any Atari game. SMB gave us many colors, light hearted music, multiple levels, good controls, and (assuming you don't use warp zones) actually does take some time to beat. The NES also introduced the notions of a pause feature, save files (for some games anyways), and a wider range of game genres such as RPGs.
Maybe I'm being unfair though. The Atari 2600 is primitive, but it's certainly better than what came before it such as those Pong consoles everyone was making and those consoles that had Vectrix graphics.
To be honest, most consoles have something great about them and have helped to bring video games to new levels. Besides better graphics, consoles like the Dreamcast helped bring systems online, which lead to systems like the XBOX and XBOX 360 which have a major focus on online content. The Super Nintendo was one of the first systems to introduce 4 player action with it's multitap while the Playstation One made the idea of CD based games popular and effective. And of course, the Game Boy helped make portable games into a popular way to play games as well.
Bleh, I guess I didn't really answer your question. I'll stick by NES, but really, the question is kind of broad. Also, I did not include PCs or computers in my consideration since I'm assuming you're talking about dedicated game consoles.
