The Greatest (Console) Generation

I can't even think of a way to pick which one of these to choose... but, you don' need an answer to pose the question, I guess.

fourth though i'm sure all you gay americans will vote for the NES

Tricky, they all have their moments for me. I'm going to have to swing with the FIFTH for Saturn and Ps1.

It's probably seventh. There have never been more options, more types of games. Even hyperrealistic games are more fun than they've ever been. And more craft goes into them. The games from the 80s are beloved for their iconography and their quirks, the games from the 70s for their simplicity and novelty. The nineties and early 2000s were the awkward transition to realism, and I think now we're seeing the best of all worlds. Online play/scoretracking, downloadable content/games, the Wii, ... it's pretty incredible.

I'm sure there are great games in the 5th, 6th and 2nd generations, but I think those are the weakest overall.

I voted for 4th although 6th and 7th probably have more great games. But the SNES and Genesis were the consoles I had when I was 13.

5th may have been the worst -- the big technological leap (polygonal graphics) required many new techniques to make a fun game, and it took almost a generation for most developers to get them right. Most PS1 and Saturn games suffer from bad camera angles, stiff controls, graphical and framerate problems, and other annoyances.

I'd vote straight away for 4th gen but the TG-16 is making pause big-time.

I'd rate it:

4th, 6th, 3rd, 7th, 5th, 2nd, 1st.

I can't agree that the 7th generation is best, because games are starting to get really weird in their rules. It's like people are making games with half-baked nostalgic ideas in their head; RPGs are probably the most telling example, actually. Older RPGs sand up much better than newer ones. The PS1 was probably the last great system for RPGs, because they were ruined by things like voice acting (which is never as fast as reading), and all the menus just got WAY slower (even Ps1 games had this... SNES was the last system to just go bink, bink, bink all quick-like in the menus). And they add all this other shit just to beef up the run time of the game. I still love older games that run 50 hours, because it's 50 hours of story or whatever; nowadays, 50 hours = 15 of story and 35 of item synthesis or stupid side quests or whatever. You could probably argue that SNES was the same, but I'd disagree with you.

Actually, I'd say everything since putting games on discs has been inferior, in a way, because there's no immediacy to the game. I was actually shocked when I booted up my SNES recently for a round of All-Stars Bros 3: by the time I was sitting on the couch (about 5 seconds after booting the system), the game was waiting for me to hit start and play. The PS1 wasn't TOO bad; the white sony screen, the black playstation screen, then you were in. The PS2 is awful, though. The cubey screen forEVER, finally goes away, then you sit through three companies' intros (the beginning of the end here) before you see the attract mode video, when you hit start, and wait a few seconds more of loading.

I've been trying really hard recently to separate the "retro goggles" (you know, seeing games from your childhood in a more positive light) from the actual quality of the games for the systems, and it's difficult. I don't think it's that the 4th generation has MORE good games (although it may have, I just don't want to think about that)... it's just that the 4th gen ones were done perfectly right. It's like every generation before was lading up to it, and every generation after was living in its shadow.

1) Fourth, although I didn't have a SNES of my own at the time.
2) Third, for most of my fondest gaming memories
3) Sixth
distant 4) Fifth. PS1 seemed so high-tech at the time, and playing FFVII and Metal Gear Solid was the greatest, but I hated the N64 everytime I played it at someone's house. One of my childhood friends was an Atari nut and he had the only Jaguar I've ever seen, but it and 3DO were basically terrible (and bombs), right?

I voted third and then realized I've had just as much fun with the PS2, to be honest, and probably put in about the same amount of time on it at this point.

The 7th generation is still unproven - with the exception of LoZ:TP (which is really a 6th gen port, anyway) I haven't played or seen anything that had the pull of older titles. Potential != performance. Show me the time sinks.

Should backwards compatibility really count? because I'd say the PS2 and the 7th generation get a massive, massive boost if you consider that; conceivably at least, before the next gen is even out, we could be allowed to play anything we like from the previous consoles.

It's a little too early to judge the current generation isn't it? And by "a little," I mean five or six years too early! However, I do have a lot of hope for what is going on right now. I think one of the best things we are starting to see in this generation is the improved smoothness of playing games online & more thought going into game's online components. Games like Gears of War, or Crackdown, were made so much more fun by being able to play through the campaigns with friends online (especially for somebody like me, whose friends mostly don't live in the same city, state or sometimes country). The replayability added to games with a well designed multiplayer component seems to give games a longer life. I know this has been going on for a while - but it seems to be coming into its own this console generation. And while its always more fun to play a fighting game against a buddy on the couch (or in an arcade) next to you - now being able to play games like Virtua Fighter or Tekken against real human opponents at any time online adds a whole new dimension to what you can get out of those kinds of games - and a lot more challenge.

The other cool thing we seem to be starting to see this generation is a little more importance being placed on the back catalog. Things like the Virtual Console, X-box classic downloads, and the PS1 downloads over PSN, as well as backwards compatibility on most consoles (even being able to play Gamecube games on the wii) add a lot to this generation of consoles that I don't think we ever saw before (at least to this extent).

There is truly an overwhelming amount of options, and an overwhelming avalanche of new and old games vying for out time (and money). Hopefully in the coming months we'll start to see more new games that really push things forward gameplay-wise, and games that take better advantage of the increased horsepower and graphic capabilities of the current gen systems. Certainly the intense competition we're seeing right now should help keep things moving forward...

really push things forward gameplay-wise, and games that take better advantage of the increased horsepower and graphic capabilities of the current gen systems

I could give a fuck, really. I know what I like and I want more of it - this wouldn't even be a question if the point was pushing the envelope all the time!

seeing games from your childhood in a more positive light

spectrum games i have to make allowances for but megadrive/genesis games are still good on their own terms, no one makes 2D platformers anymore :(

alright except for the DS but i tried playing sonic on it and i can't see anything on those tiny screens

Imagine how boring video games would be if they only made games that Tombot would like (or that I would like, for that matter).

I am not arguing with that!

Also that would mean one new release every 4-6 months!

I wound up voting 6th, just for the Dreamcast/PS2/Gamecube combo. 4th would be a close 2nd, but all those SNES games I wouldn't really play until emulation a decade later, and my brother had the Genesis. That was the period where I was far more into my PC and wouldn't really return to consoles until the holiday breaks during university where I would play Tekken 2/MGS/Tomb Raider years later.

i voted for the PS1. three-D inside your home, now that was shocking! there hasn't been a breakthrough moment like that since (possibly the Wii has or will have that kind of paradign-changing impact)

i'm assuming that the gameboy would be included with snes/megadrive generation- it was only 4-bit but i had mine throughout the same time.

It's really cool seeing eveyone's justification for picking whichever generation! :)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

It's really a toss-up between 4th and 6th, but I probably have to give the edge to 4th for nostalgia's sake: playing all those fantastic RPGs on the SNES. Then I switched to PCs, avoiding Gen 5. Also I never picked up a PS2, which is probably why I have to notch it down a bit, though I probably played my DC and GC far more than I played games in the SNES era.

... that's probably a bad thing for my life in general.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol you guys were all in middle school at the same time

Not me, i hit high school in 1990.

rockist gamers

FIFTH GENERATION (PS1, N64, Saturn, Atari Jaguar, 3DO)

^^^^^
robbed!!!!

would people actually play those 4th-gen games today though? i doubt it.

i still play PS1 games.

virtual console sales say otherwise

tekken, tomb raider, goldeneye, your boys took a hell of a beating!

lol you guys were all in middle school at the same time

-- max, Monday, 17 December 2007 00:04 (14 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Can't be just that, otherwise 3rd generation and 5th generation would have done better.

i didn't play console games until tomb raider came out. i had graduated college.

would people actually play those 4th-gen games today though? i doubt it.

how many of them(e.g. the FF series) have been re-issued to play on GBA/DS machines?

i bought one of those FC Twins just to play those games.

I've been spending a fair amount of time in the 4th gen lately, thanks to the wii virtual console. However, it didn't get my vote.

I still play 4th gen too, it's so easy to pick up and play in a way you just can't with any system since.