The Energon Pub

IGN has an interesting new countdown on their webpage: the top 25 video game consoles of all time. They are currently up to 16, and more of the countdown will be revealed later. Here is the link:
http://www.ign.com/top-25-consoles/

I predict the Super Nintendo will be #1.

There's barely been 25 game consoles in general, so I think a Top 25 list is a bit much. Considering Jaguar got #24, I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that every console ever made makes it on the list.

Anyway, either NES or PS2 is gonna make #1. Super NES is a great system, but the NES brought video gaming back from the grave after the '83 crash. Plus think of how many classic franchises and genre's were spawned on the NES. That plus the fact that the writers of this piece probably grew up with the NES and remember how revolutionary it was might make them nudge it to the #1 spot.

PS2 on the other hand, still has games coming out for it 9 years after it's U.S. launch. It's got the largest and most varied libraries of all the consoles. No matter what genre your into, FPS, RTS, RPG, Sandbox, Mecha, Liscened Games, Platformers, Retro, Sports, Sports Entertainent, Turn Based Strategy, Action RPG's, Action Games, Racing, etc., you'll find at least one great game on the PS2. Heck, you'll probably find two, three, ten great games in your fave genre on the PS2. Let's not forget that it has near flawless backwards compatibility with PS1 games, and can actually make those games look and run faster. Also, even though it's not such a big deal now, the PS2 helped usher in the era of DVD. The DVD playback was one of the major factors that lead to the Dreamcast's early demise in both the U.S. and Japan despite the Dreamcast having a better library, online play, and even a promotion to get a free Dreamcast. It's these factor I think will have the PS2 be either #1 or #2.

Duke of Luns wrote:There's barely been 25 game consoles in general, so I think a Top 25 list is a bit much.

I kind of thought the same thing. A few of the systems I've never heard of, and most of them I've never played. I think I played an Atari once, I know I played the Sega Master System once, and I owned an Odyssey 2 for a while (I'm thinking about buying one again, but I digress).

I think the same can be said for all gamers--I don't think all of us played every system ever made. We've owned a system and primarily stuck with it until the next generation came along. So most of us can't really comment on all 25 consoles on the list. I can't anyway.

Duke of Luns wrote:PS2 on the other hand, still has games coming out for it 9 years after it's U.S. launch. It's got the largest and most varied libraries of all the consoles.

I agree, the PS2 was solid from start to finish, it was an amazing console. And you could very well be right about the NES and the way it revolutionized the gaming industry and the franchises created during its tenure. I guess I was thinking the SNES just because not only was it solid from its release, but it evolved almost beyond what a 16 bit system could be capable of. If you compare Super Mario World, one of its first titles, to games like Earthworm Jim or Killer Instinct, you can see how much the system evolved.

It's a tough call no matter how you look at it; all three systems were great!

Two years ago, I said there wouldn't be any more games for PS2 by 2008.

What the hell, Sony.

Hell, PS2 has my vote for #1, and I'm a Nintendo Fanboy. Xbox and Gamecube both had their fair share of fantastic games, don't get me wrong, but PS2 had them both beat.

Going through that list shows me just how extensive my uncles console collection is, he's just missing out of that list, the Gamecube (best console ever in my eyes), one Atary and the PS3, I never even knew that the intely vision was a console or that $800 console was one too, they just looked like plastic boxes to me. Next time I'll check if he has games to those.

Duke of Luns wrote:Anyway, either NES or PS2 is gonna make #1.

Wow! The NES did come in at #1. Way to go man!

I was way off with my prediction; SNES came in at #4.

Man IGN puts some dumb **** on their site sometimes. This is one of those things. #1. They nearly named every console in existance. The list should of been shorted to 10. #2. The list is wrong IMO. To be Fair the top 3 should be "
#1. Playstation 2
#2. Super NES
#3. NES


The NES is not the greatest system ever. The graphics sucked on it, the sound sucked, and the system had issues with the over-complex loading system. I still remember turning it on and off, blowing in the cartridge, pushing the cartridge up and down up and down, and after 20 times the game would finally fire up! That being said it had some awesome games, so it def. Deserves to be #3. But the Super Nintendo was much better, and honestly is their any doubt that Playstation 2 is the best system ever? The console was launced in November of 2000, and is still being supported, and has like 5000+ Titles for it! Its also the hands down best selling system of all time!

As for the rest of the top 10, I'd def put the original Playstation in there, The Xbox 360 and Sega Genesis. Beyond that I don't know. I like to think the Playstation 3 is the best system of all time, but to be fair, its my opinion, and sales numbers don't lie. Its hard to deny Microsoft's success with the X-box 360, and even inspite of the RROD problem, they've taken full ownership of it, which I gotta give them some respect for that, as sony kind had an "Well buy another console" attitude with the PS2's DRE error. Really with the 360 its too soon to say. Not till the 3rd Gen Xbox will we really know but at this point Its fair to say the PS3 isn't catching up

Shadowman wrote:Two years ago, I said there wouldn't be any more games for PS2 by 2008.

What the hell, Sony.

Hell, PS2 has my vote for #1, and I'm a Nintendo Fanboy. Xbox and Gamecube both had their fair share of fantastic games, don't get me wrong, but PS2 had them both beat.

Sony's been struggling so much with the PS3, that they've been sticking with what works I guess. Sony would never admit it, But I honestly do believe the reason B/C was removed from the PS3 is because why give a system away for free when you can charge $99 to $130 for it and it still has a market?

Galvatron628 wrote:Man IGN puts some dumb **** on their site sometimes. This is one of those things. #1. They nearly named every console in existance. The list should of been shorted to 10. #2. The list is wrong IMO. To be Fair the top 3 should be "
#1. Playstation 2
#2. Super NES
#3. NES


The NES is not the greatest system ever. The graphics sucked on it, the sound sucked, and the system had issues with the over-complex loading system. I still remember turning it on and off, blowing in the cartridge, pushing the cartridge up and down up and down, and after 20 times the game would finally fire up! That being said it had some awesome games, so it def. Deserves to be #3. But the Super Nintendo was much better, and honestly is their any doubt that Playstation 2 is the best system ever? The console was launced in November of 2000, and is still being supported, and has like 5000+ Titles for it! Its also the hands down best selling system of all time!

As for the rest of the top 10, I'd def put the original Playstation in there, The Xbox 360 and Sega Genesis. Beyond that I don't know. I like to think the Playstation 3 is the best system of all time, but to be fair, its my opinion, and sales numbers don't lie. Its hard to deny Microsoft's success with the X-box 360, and even inspite of the RROD problem, they've taken full ownership of it, which I gotta give them some respect for that, as sony kind had an "Well buy another console" attitude with the PS2's DRE error. Really with the 360 its too soon to say. Not till the 3rd Gen Xbox will we really know but at this point Its fair to say the PS3 isn't catching up

Graphics =\= gameplay. Graphics don't make a game system. I'll play an old NES over the most high-tech gaming system out there any day. Meat of the game is content and gameplay. I'm fine as long as I can see what's happening.

Not to mention you knock the NES for it's cartridge error but fail to make note of the rampant Disc Read Error the first gen PS2's suffered from. That in itself would knock the console down to around #4 or #5 for me.

TheMuffin wrote:Not to mention you knock the NES for it's cartridge error but fail to make note of the rampant Disc Read Error the first gen PS2's suffered from. That in itself would knock the console down to around #4 or #5 for me.

Aw, I hated hated hated that message whenever I played on my cousin's PS2.

Say what you want about the NES but facts are facts. The PS2 is about to enter its 10 year in its system life, and has 5000 titles and has sold over 5 million units. Its the best selling system ever. Its not an opinion that its the best system ever, its a fact! If we're talking graphics than its either the 360 or the PS3, well hell neither its the PC. But numbers don't lie for the PS2.

Galvatron628 wrote:Say what you want about the NES but facts are facts. The PS2 is about to enter its 10 year in its system life, and has 5000 titles and has sold over 5 million units. Its the best selling system ever.

It's sold over 145 million units. If it only sold 5 million, it would be among the worst selling consoles ever.

Galvatron628 wrote:Its not an opinion that its the best system ever, its a fact!

Yes, actually, it IS opinion. It's fact that it's best selling, but it's only opinion as to whether or not it's best ever.

Galvatron628 wrote:If we're talking graphics than its either the 360 or the PS3, well hell neither its the PC.

Not necessarily. PC game graphics aren't that much greater than PS3 or 360, but actually getting a PC to run that is a different story.

You make good points Shadowman, and yes I shoulda looked up the facts before I posted. your right, 5 million is pathetic. Here's my point with the PS2: Its all about the POV. For IGN's list the POV is on popularity and system sales. From that POV it is the best system of all time.

To be fair in my opinion, the PS2 was over-rated and both the Xbox and GCN were better and more powerful systems. In fact during that system war thats exactly what I had. I didn't get my first PS2 until I married my wife in '07. That PS2 got the DRE in may and was replaced by our new sexy, sleek, and sliver PS2 Slim.

I'm not sure where people are pulling the whole "graphics don't make the system" think from out of my posts, because obviously the PS2 was the weakest system of its generation, yet in 2009 its the last one standing. Microsoft gave up on the Xbox in 2005 with the Xbox 360 launch, and Nintendo dropped the Cube in 2006 with the launch of the Wii. Yet the PS2 still lives.

Granted it is def. on its way out. First party support has been limited to PSP ports and 3rd party support is limited to Wii Ports, or vice versa (Ps2 versions being ported to the Wii). But to still be alive 3 years after its successor was released is pretty impressive.

Oh and Shadowman the PC is still the king IMO in the graphics department. "technically" graphics are the same amongst the 360, PS3, and PC, however a bad ass PC with a Raid 0 and two ATI 4870 X2's in crossfire and either a Phenom 2 X4 or a Core i7 Extreme edition can run resolutions 4 times better than a PS3 or 36 can.

And before anyone corrects my post about Intel, I will say I am an AMD/ATI guy and I don't keep up with the expensive overpriced crap that Intel or Nvidia releases.

The way AMD's stocks are going..... You might want to.

Remember AMD owns ATI, which makes the GPU's for both the Wii and the Xbox 360... If AMD tanks so do those 2 consoles and that's not happening anytime soon.

Honestly theres nothing wrong with Intel... its just their pricing that annoys me. Why would I want to pay $1500 for an Intel Core i7 Quad Extreme when I can get an AMD Phenom II X4 for like $250? Nvidia is kind of the same way these days. I used to be an AMD/Nvidia guy, but after the AMD/ATI merger, and seeing the quality of Nvidia cards go down, while the price goes up. I currently am using a AMD motherboard with the AMD690 chipset, and i got an Athlon 5000+ X2, 4GB of DDR2 800, and an ATI Radeon HD4830 video card. Its not the best gaming computer ever, but it can play most of the games out there.

I can't access the site at work. Does anyone mind telling me where Colecovision is at? For me, this is the best. (That's opinion, not fact, but if fact ever equalled fun, then I gotta give it up to Coleco). I must have logged more hours on that than any other system ever. I love those old single-screen games!

PS2 is my favourite "current" (I say current, but can't really define what that means... still getting games produced for it, I guess?) system. The Xbox 360 is what I play now, but I found more playable games for PS2 including my most recent favourite, Resident Evil 4. The XBox 360 blows it away graphically, though. I have Marvel Ultimate Alliance for both systems, and I just couldn't get over how much better textured the characters were on the 360 (plus you can be Venom, ha-cha-cha). Still, PS2 has RE 4, MGS 2, and MGS 3, to name a few acronyms.

Galvatron628 wrote:But to still be alive 3 years after its successor was released is pretty impressive.

Has it been that long already? Holy crap!