- Nintendo DS
- GBA (SP)
- Switch
- Nintendo 64
- Gamecube
Are these my favorite consoles? Who even knows, but as long as Frank can choose chaos by dropping the Windows PC, Spectrum, and Analogue Pocket, I think I’m entitled to arbitrarily let Nintendo sweep my list! If it were just about pound-for-pound most high quality games enjoyed, the 360, PC, SNES, and PS4 would have to be on the list. If it were just about how much I love the hardware regardless of the software library, I would have to put the NGPC and Saturn on the list. Instead, I chose to meet in the middle somewhere, with a heavy helping of personal “tilt” from their significance in my life.
The GBA (SP specifically) and entire DS run had a huge part in reigniting my love for video games, so they are undoubtedly at the top. The DS edges out the GBA in part because of backward compatibility (I know that’s not officially allowed for consideration…sorry!) and for pulling off something pretty much unheard of in “modern” gaming: introducing not one, but two gimmicks (stylus-based touch and dual screens) that I think the majority of people would agree “worked,” and would have made many games lesser if they were not implemented.
I could go on forever about the Switch, but the main considerations here are the wonderful software ecosystem it has created (between Nintendo exclusives, ports/remakes, and indies it could easily function as my sole console) and the docking gimmick. I mainly play it docked, but the ability to slot it easily into any dock about the home, at other people’s homes, or (as I experienced recently) even in a hotel room has been a revelation and is so much easier than relying on cloud syncing between consoles (though Steam does this pretty well). My only gripes with it really are that I find it very uncomfortable to play handheld and that Nintendo has a pretty poor way of handling multiple consoles on one account (can only designate one as being able to play downloaded games offline, pretty much negating any personal usefulness for the Lite model). I would also say it’s a bit underpowered (MH Rise is night and day on PC), but I can’t point to any game that I would personally say I could not enjoy solely because of its performance on the Switch.
The N64 and GCN are my nostalgia and aesthetic choices, respectively, to round out the list. The former hit at my peak of pure optimistic childhood love of video games and probably accounts for the majority of my favorite multiplayer experiences (SSB, Mario Kart, Goldeneye). The GCN, on the other hand, should have no realistic claim to a spot on this list, at least from the perspective of number and quality of games I’ve played. However, the hardware design is perfection (and it doesn’t even come in red!).
Thus concludes my not very “Insert Credit” list…or maybe its locally iconoclastic enough to qualify as even more “Insert Credit”-y?
Oh, also I’m exercising my symbolic veto for Windows PC. To counter Tim’s and Frank’s argument, I would like to point out that I have two PCs (that I assembled) hooked up to TVs, functioning solely as gaming systems, and I still would never categorize them as consoles…perhaps a “platform” at most.