Thunderbird’s Top 10 Consoles

Welcome welcome welcome, to Thunderbird’s Top 10! For my list-making debut on Chocolate Lemon, I bring to you one of my personal favorite lists I’ve made (I have a lot of them backed up and already written from writing on other sites), the topic being consoles. For those of us who truly believe in the artistic value of video games, I think it is appropriate to describe consoles as the canvases where these artistic masterpieces are formed. Games are created with the processing power and limitations of the consoles they are being developed for in mind, and obviously without consoles there wouldn’t be any games to play, so let’s look at the best throughout gaming history. Keep in mind, I haven’t and don’t own every console under the sun, and I’m sticking to consoles that I have spent significant time on in my life. So don’t start bitching when the Dreamcast doesn’t show up, cause I never owned one. Here we go.

10. Nintendo DS

The most recent console I’ve picked up, the Nintendo DS, is one of the most genius pieces of gaming hardware that I’ve seen in a very long time. Considering that portable systems are generally about 2 or 3 generations behind the home consoles in terms of graphical and processing power, the DS is the handheld equivalent of the SNES or the N64, by a rough estimate, although I would say it’s closer to the SNES, just due to the fact that a number of SNES classics have been ported to the DS and been big hits, for example, Kirby Super Star Ultra, and Chrono Trigger DS. But in my opinion, the thing that makes the DS so great is that it is responsible for keeping portable gaming as what it should be; lighthearted, and fun.

Let’s take a mental trip back to when the DS was launched, I think it was 2005, and remember what we all thought would happen in the upcoming portable console race, between the DS and Sony’s PSP, which was advertising console-quality graphics on the go. I know that I for one, thought that the PSP would crush the DS in sales, and the DS’s gimmicky touch screen would be thought of as a flop. Just wondering, how many people out there agreed with me? Well, how wrong we were. The DS ended up being a gigantic hit, while the PSP faltered, mostly due to a lack of quality games. It was at this time that I realized that the DS is great because it showed everyone what portable gaming should be, and people responded. Portable gaming shouldn’t be about graphics and stuff like that, it should be about quick, simple fun, easy to learn controls, and simple enough gameplay that you can pick it up over the course of one family car trip. With games like Elite Beat Agents that will have you tapping and spinning your wrists with joy, to complex and deep RPG’s like Chrono Trigger, to games that will just eat up time like Pokemon, the Nintendo DS is quite possibly the savior of handhelds. Don’t believe me? Imagine if the PSP won that handheld war, and handhelds starting going towards better graphics instead of better games? How awful would that be? Well, that’s all the reasoning I need to name the Nintendo DS as one of the top 10 consoles of all time.

9. Nintendo Wii

Some people would say that this should be even higher on this list. Some people would say the Wii should be nowhere near this list, but I have to have it at number 9. First of all, I have to mention the innovation. The Wii did something that no one could have predicted, and no one but Nintendo could have accomplished. The Wii’s motion sensor controls are just phenomenal, when they work, of course, and when done right, make for some of the most fun experiences playing games that can be found today. Now, some of the major complaints people have against the Wii are that there are “no good games for the console” and that “every game just comes down to waving your arms around”. Now while there is a whole lot of evidence for those arguments, there’s just more against them.

Now while there are a number of games on the Wii that aren’t good, are far too oriented towards the casual gamer, and end up all boiling down to waving your arms around like a lunatic, there are just too many awesome games on the Wii for those arguments to hold water. Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, No More Heroes, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and then there’s the Virtual Console! So the argument that the Wii “doesn’t have any good games” ends up falling flat on its face.

Speaking of the Virtual Console, I want to talk a little about how important that is to the system. In today’s day and age, where retro gaming is really making a comeback, the virtual console is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. The ability to play games from all different generations and all different consoles all on one machine is absolutely extraordinary. From being able to play games from Sega and Neo Geo, to being able to play the original Super Mario Bros. to Paper Mario all on the same console is just astounding, and because of both its loyalty to the past, and innovation for the future, the Nintendo Wii has to make it onto my list.

8. PlayStation 2

This is the console that changed everything. Well, actually I can’t say that. That’s because gaming has gone through so many changes, that quite a few systems can be attributed with “changing everything”. But let me just explain why the PS2 changed everything, if not for the first time. Before the PlayStation 2, gaming, at least in my opinion, was going through a visually ugly time. Sure, the games on the PlayStation and N64 were spectacular, graphics were going through a transition from 2-D into this brand new Third Dimension. Now while the graphics on the original PlayStation and N64 were amazing at the time, in a lot of games, particularly on the PlayStation, the graphics were very clunky and polygonal. And for me, that is a major turn off when playing a game. For instance, I tried to play Final Fantasy VII a few months back. While I loved the style of the cutscenes, I was really put off by the in game graphics, and it got to the point where it was actually frustrating to look at the game. Maybe this is because of my age, but those graphics really frustrate me. This is not to say that those consoles aren’t amazing, because each of them are in there own different ways, and they both changed the face of gaming forever.

However, the PS2 changed all of this. True, you could say the Dreamcast had the first good 3-D graphics, but I never had a Dreamcast, and I’ve never played a Dreamcast. But to me, the PS2 was the first console to make truly beautiful games. The game that I played on the PS2 that I remember the best as just being beautiful is Final Fantasy X. That game is just, wow. Just wow. Considering that FFX is possibly the first Final Fantasy game that I’ve ever played, it’s left quite an impression on me, and part of that impression is due to the amazing graphics. But FFX is not the only beautiful game on the console. One that comes to mind is Shadow of the Colossus, which even though I’ve never played, I’ve seen videos and screenshots, and hot damn does it look good.

I won’t mention any other games, because there’s just far too many to list, and I don’t have the biggest experience with the PS2, so I don’t have a large amount of examples. But anyway, we all know how great the PS2 is, so I don’t need to say a whole lot. But in my opinion, the system’s greatest feature, and its greatest contribution to the gaming world is that it really is the system that made gaming beautiful.

7. PC

Now before I start explaining this choice, let me give a little disclaimer: I am not a PC gamer, I will probably never be a PC gamer, and I’ve never played a game on the PC. But even with all that, how could I ignore this on my list of greatest consoles? The main reason that I have for putting the PC on my list is just the longevity of the console. It’s been around forever! So I have to give the PC some credit for that. And while console gaming has really pulled ahead of PC gaming in recent years, or at least gotten good enough so that it’s a fair debate between the two, earlier in the history of gaming, around the early 90’s, PC gaming was superior in graphics and gameplay in a lot of ways. Just look at the evidence; PC’s utilized video before home consoles, they tapped into the power of the internet before consoles did, and they have consistently have had better graphics than their home console counterparts. Now, I’m not saying that that’s everything in gaming, but it’s definitely significant enough to mention.

Now I don’t have any real PC gaming experience, but the hard evidence alone is enough to get it a spot on this list. And sorry for not having as much to talk about, but like I said, I don’t have that much experience with the PC.

6. Gameboy

This console is responsible for what handheld gaming is today. Now that actually sounds really stupid because it’s so obvious, but remember how I talked about how the Nintendo DS helped preserve the nature of portable gaming? Yeah, well the Gameboy invented that. That strange little niche in gaming where it wasn’t about the graphics, it was just about the fun.

Portable gaming as we know it today was really first perfected with the green tinted, brick of a handheld, the Gameboy. Now I know what you’re thinking; weren’t there Game and Watch games that came before the Gameboy? Well technically yes, but those were so clunky when compared to the Gameboy that I can’t say that the Game and Watch games are responsible for portable gaming. The Gameboy, with its long battery life, surprising portability given its size, and slew of amazing games, such as the two Super Mario Land games, Link’s Awakening, and the start of Pokemon, is truly the grandfather of handheld consoles. Now it says a lot that Gunpei Yokoi is most remembered for creating the Gameboy, even though he also created the Game and Watch games, as well as many classic NES games and one legendary SNES game. Yokoi was a producer on the original Metroid, Kid Icarus, both Super Mario Land games, Dr. Mario, and a few Fire Emblem games, and was the General Manager on the SNES classic, Super Metroid, which many people, including Screwattack, think is the greatest SNES game of all time.

Another item in the Yokoi-made collection is one of the biggest commercial flops of all time, the Virtual Boy. Now while it says a lot that Yokoi is most remembered for the Gameboy even though he made so many great games, it is equally notable that Yokoi is pretty much forgiven for the awfulness that is the Virtual Boy because of how amazing the Gameboy is. All of these reasons are why the Gameboy is on this list.

5. Nintendo Gamecube

Yeah, this is possibly the big sleeper on my list, but the Nintendo Gamecube is just amazing. With one of the coolest controllers of all time, just look at the button layout, it seems like it wouldn’t make sense, but it actually works out very well, and a very strange choice of using mini disk, the Gamecube is strange, but for those who have had experience with it, they know that the Gamecube is one of the greatest systems ever made. Now, one of the biggest complaints about the Gamecube that come from most modern gamers was that it doesn’t have enough graphical power, and that it was too “kiddy” of a system. Now with bright and colorful games like Super Monkey Ball and Super Mario Sunshine, I can see why people would say that, but at the same time, those games are awesome, and are both testaments to why the Gamecube is so great.

Now before I move on, let me just say that the Gamecube has one of the greatest lineups of games that I’ve ever seen. In my opinion, the discussion of great gamecube games starts and ends with Super Smash Bros. Melee. Sorry Metroid Prime, I never liked you. Sorry Twilight Princess, I never played you, as I’ve never played Resident Evil 4. It doesn’t top Melee, it really is the greatest game on the console. But enough about that, there are a number of really great games besides Melee on the Gamecube, such as the aforementioned Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Wave Race: Blue Storm, SSX Tricky, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and a bunch of other games. Now, I have not played a number of the supposed best games on the system, like Resident Evil 4, Ikaruga, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, but even just the games that I have played, along with the great controller, the surprising portability of the console (It’s easily the most portable home console made in recent history), and just the overall awesomeness of everything involved in it, makes the Gamecube one of the greatest consoles of all time.

4. Xbox 360

Yeah, bring on the hate, but when you really examine it, the 360 is one hell of a console. Whether it’s in the games actually released for the console, or the games on the Xbox Live Arcade, the main strength of the Xbox 360 is definitely in the games. There are just so many amazing games. I don’t even think I should start listing great 360 games, just in fear that I’ll miss one or two and get yelled at, but here it goes. And keep in mind that these are just games that I’ve played. The 360 is awesome mainly because of its kick-ass lineup of games that include Bioshock, All-Pro Football 2k8, Eternal Sonata, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dead Rising, Street Fighter 4, The Orange Box, Prototype, and tons of other great games. And that’s just games that are released for the console, once you start talking about the XBLA, games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Braid, and Castle Crashers (which I hear a lot about, but sorry, I haven’t actually played it yet) come into the argument, and make an even stronger case for the Xbox 360 to be on this list.

Now, while I believe that the strongest part of the 360 is in the games, most people would disagree with me and talk about the online play. Now while I don’t have Xbox Live anymore, my subscription ran out, and I don’t have a spare $50, I did for a brief period, and I can say that Microsoft definitely knows how to make quality online gaming. Great online games like the two aforementioned Call of Duty games, Team Fortress 2, and All-Pro Football 2k8 show how great the Xbox Live system is.

So the last thing I want to talk about is the controller for the Xbox 360 itself. A very solid controller, with 4 face buttons, 2 shoulder triggers, 2 shoulder buttons, 2 analog sticks, and one of the worst d-pads in history. But one of the main things people mention when talking about the 360’s controller is that the 2 analog sticks are not centered, i.e. the left one is higher up on the controller than the other. Now some people say that this makes it uncomfortable, but I don’t really see it as that big of an issue. Overall, the 360 has a solid enough controller, not one that really stands out, but nothing on it that takes away anything from the console, a console that is truly deserving of being called one of the greatest of all time.

One more thing that I do want to say is that I don’t really care for many, if any of the 360 exclusive titles. Hey, if I had a PS3, it would probably be on the list in this spot, but my main console is the Xbox 360, and all of the memories I have with the games I mentioned above were playing them on the 360. The online is great, the controller is solid, and there are great games on the console. Sure, the same games are on other consoles, but I haven’t played them on said consoles, so yeah, the 360 is on my list.

3. NES

Remember back when I was talking about the PlayStation 2, and I said that at many different times in gaming one console, or one game “changed everything”? Well, this is another instance of that. The NES truly changed gaming forever, maybe more so than any other console. Do I really have to say much? It’s the freakin’ NES! This was the console that Mario, Zelda, Mega Man, Metroid, Castlevania, and countless other franchises were all started on. This is arguably the most important console of all time. But then again, I’m not counting down the most important consoles, I’m counting down the best. But once again, I’m almost at a loss for words for two reasons. One, I don’t own this console, and I never have. I was born when the NES was pretty much dead, in 1992, and two, the system is so iconic, and so much has already been said about it that I don’t really know where to begin. Well, let me at least try.

By now everyone knows about the video game crash of 1983. Due to some incredibly bad games such as E.T on the Atari 2600, the market eventually became saturated and people stopped buying games. That’s the incredibly short version, but I don’t want to just ramble about what everyone already knows. Now where the NES fits into the video game crash is that without the NES, we might not have gotten out of that crash for a very long time. You can all thank the NES for what gaming is today.

The controller is everything we’ve all come to think of as a classic controller. A d-pad, 2 buttons, and a start and select button. That’s it. And it’s oddly comfortable. So with a great controller, great history, and an amazing line up of games, the NES comes in at the number 3 spot on this list.

2. SNES

Oh god, this system is just spectacular. The games, the controller, the graphics, the sound,  just everything. Now, can you name a system that made more of its technology than the SNES? I’d be hard pressed to think of any. The sound department is where this argument has the most evidence. Sure, gamers had seen 16-bit graphics on the Sega Genesis, but the Genesis wasn’t nearly as advanced in terms of sound as the Super Nintendo, so imagine what people’s reactions were when they first heard the amazing sounds of the SNES. Look at the amazing soundtracks in games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, A Link to the Past, F-Zero, and Earthbound. Don’t even get me started on Earthbound. I give the SNES so much credit for having Earthbound, it deserves a mention of its own. The game is so perfect in nearly every way, and just because of how it is designed, Earthbound wouldn’t have worked on any other console. But I don’t want to end up just ranting about Earthbound, so let’s move on.

But by far the greatest thing about the Super Nintendo are the games. Oh man, the games, the games, the games. Of course I have to say Earthbound, because it might very well be my favorite game of all time, but it doesn’t end there, no, not even close. Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, Super Castlevania IV, Mega Man X, All of those Street Fighter 2 games, Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and many more. Oh, and you readers might notice that I left out Super Metroid, which is constantly thought of as the greatest SNES game of all time. Yeah, well I really hate Metroid. I tried that game and hated it, so yeah. But even the gigantic disappointment of Super Metroid is made up for by the amazingness of Earthbound. That’s the last I will say about Earthbound, I promise. So yeah, to end my reasoning for the SNES at this spot, I’ll just say that when it comes down to the most important part of gaming, the games themselves, how can the SNES not be at the number 2 spot?

1. N64

That’s right, the Nintendo 64 is the single greatest console of all time. And why? It really seems like it shouldn’t. The sound was good, but not as good as the PlayStation or the Dreamcast, at least not a whole lot better. I feel that the graphics are better than the PlayStation, but not many people will agree with me, and the Dreamcast definitely had better visuals than the N64. But the sole reason that the Nintendo 64 is at the number 1 spot on my list is because when it comes down to what is the most important part of gaming, the games themselves, the N64 had the greatest line-up of games in history.

First of all, before you keep reading, in order to understand why I can make that claim, you have to understand that I have strange tastes in games. I won’t get into it now, but there are just certain games I hate and certain games that I love that I have trouble finding people who love or hate those same games. For example, I hate the entire Metroid series, but 2 of my, say top 5 favorite games of all time are both on the N64, Paper Mario, and Harvest Moon 64. In my opinion Harvest Moon 64 is pretty much a perfect game, and Paper Mario would have been if it had had some replay value, and let you run around after you beat it. But the N64 doesn’t just have those two games, oh no, the system also has 2 of the greatest Zelda games in existence in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask (the latter of which I haven’t actually played, but I hear good things about it), Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, both of which are other games that I absolutely hate, but I felt like I had to mention, Mario Kart 64, the best version of the game by far, Mario Party 2, the original Super Smash Bros., Star Fox 64, the list goes on and on. Oh yeah, and Goldeneye; I almost forgot that one. Seriously though, how can you argue with the amount of near-perfect, or completely perfect games that have graced the N64? That alone should convince you.

However, in case the number of awesome games doesn’t convince you, maybe having one of the greatest controllers of all time will. Now while this might sound crazy due to how strange the design of the controller is, but one of the best things about the N64’s controller is it’s versatility. For some reason, I can find very few things that this controller isn’t well suited for. While it does have a worse d-pad than the 360, (it’s just so freakin’ large and heavy for no apparent reason!), there are very few games where that is an issue. The only ones that I can think of where the d-pad is heavily used are Pokemon Stadium and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Also, while I think that the controller isn’t suited towards first person shooters at all, many PC gamers will disagree with me, saying that the analog stick controls similarly to a mouse. By the way, if any PC gamers find this not to be true, I heard this maybe once or twice, so don’t get really mad if I’m vastly incorrect.

But anyway, I should start wrapping up my point. Bottom line, the N64 has it all. Solid sound, incredibly smooth graphics, a great controller, and the greatest line-up of games of all time, and I feel that all those things make for a pretty good argument as to why the Nintendo 64 is the greatest video game console of all time.