The 8 Ball 02.07.12: Top 8 Consoles of All Time

Posted by David McGregor on 02.07.2012

From the original Nintendo and the Super Nintendo to the PS2 and even the iPhone, 411's David McGregor ranks his Top 8 Consoles of All-Time in the latest edition of The 8 Ball!

Hello and welcome to the debut edition of the 8 Ball – Games Edition. My name is David McGregor and I do the Instant Analysis of Friday Night Smackdown over on the wrestling section but now every week I will be counting down the top 8 items on the games section, so exactly the same as the 8 Ball columns in the other sections of 411. This week we count down the greatest consoles of all time. I've judged some on impact they made on the industry and others on basic personal preference. So, without wasting any more time let's begin.








8th Place – iPhone/iPod Touch





This may seem a controversial choice but in recent years the most influential gaming system hasn't came from Sony or Nintendo but from Apple. The genius of the product though is its astounding library of games, all available at touch of a button through the app store. The popularity of the apps is undeniable, for example Angry Birds alone has been downloaded over 500 million times across all its platforms! That is more than some of the best selling games ever such as Super Mario Bros on the NES (40 Million copies shipped) and Wii Sports (70 million).

And that is only one game on this incredibly innovative platform. There is also a multitude of other incredibly popular games such as old re-mastered favorites like Tetris or digitized board games like Monopoly or my current addiction Temple Run, all of which are downloaded thousands of times a day. The App store has completely changed handheld gaming and has taken over the Wii as the casual gamers go to gaming experience. How long it will last however is debatable but as long as there is innovative and addictive games there will be an audience.



7th Place – Sega Megadrive





Part of me wanted to put the Dreamcast here but that was more for what could have been not what it actually achieved. On the other hand the Sega Megadrive was the best selling Sega system produced and its success put Sonic the Hedgehog on the map. Released back in 1988 it was actually the first console I ever played and was just mesmerized by the simplistic addictiveness of Sonic. It is quite sad to look at what Sega were back in the late 80's compared to what they are now but that shouldn't hinder its image as the Megadrive is as addictive as ever despite any updated counterparts.

Games like Mortal Kombat found a home on the Megadrive, which lead to Sega gaining an edgier and more adult image. This image gave birth to the "Sega do what Nintedon't" campaign way back in 1991. The Megadrive was an amazing console that was a pioneer in showing its audience that gaming can be violent and bloody as well as family friendly, something recent generations have a lot to thank it for.



6th Place – Super Nintendo (SNES)





After the insane success of the Nintendo Entertainment System a lot of people wondered what was next for Nintendo, would it be able to repeat its success? Those fears were put to rest as in 1990 the SNES was released to an adoring public. The introduction of the SNES started the first true console war as Sega's Megadrive took on Nintendo with a scathing ad campaign and an equally impressive system. But the originality of Nintendo was unstoppable as the company released an iconic line up of games such as Metroid, Star Fox and Mario Kart as well as continuing the Mario and Zelda series. When you look back on it that poor Hedgehog didn't stand a chance!

Everything about the SNES was iconic and influential from the games to the controller; the four button system with the D-Pad became the established system and still is prevalent in current systems such as the Xbox 360 and the PS3. A classic console that influenced generations to come as well as being the home to some legendary games that would continue for decades.



5th Place – Atari 2600





My biggest issue with the Atari 2600 is that I wasn't there to see it debut back in 1977 and see firsthand how it revolutionized the industry. But even playing back at a time when it is considered a relic you can still see what is so captivating about this console, which basically created an industry out of its success. The games produced for the console are just as memorable, games like Pac Man and Space Invaders were so popular they have become engrained in pop culture

They also sold extremely well especially for a blossoming industry like video games were at the time. Pac Man alone sold over 7 million copies and the 2600 hardware itself sold over 30 million machines, which today isn't a massive number but that is a whole new medium of entertainment that a lot probably weren't sure of at the time.

Although it is the father of the industry it was also nearly ended it due to the crash of 1983. Atari failed to have a quality control system that was up to standard and some of the worst games ever such as E.T. released, sometimes being developed in as little as 5 weeks! Atari really were never able to live up to the success of the 2600 but what they did back in 1977 set the standards for the whole video gaming industry.


4th Place – Game Boy/Game Boy Colour






There have been a lot of very popular consoles in the relatively short history of gaming but no piece of hardware has dominated a market quite like the Game Boy. In 1989 the original Game Boy was released and was an immediate hit quickly taking over the market, a market that it never really stopped dominating as its successors have gone on to continue the original devices hold on the marketplace. With over 118 million units sold the Game Boy is the 3rd highest selling console of all time, only behind the DS and the PS2. Now to put that into perspective, the next non Nintendo handheld console on the list is the PSP with 73 million and then it is the N-Gage with 3 million, and both of those didn't even enter the market until 2003!

What made the Game Boy successful was a mixture of great games, low price and simplicity. They had some of the most addictive (Tetris), fascinating (Pokémon Red/Blue) and downright enjoyable (Super Mario Land) games of any console handheld or not. Back in 1998 I can remember asking my parents to get me a Game Boy Colour for Christmas, I wasn't the only one every one of my friends had asked for one too as there was no game bigger at that time than Pokémon Red/Blue! The Game Boy Colour was an enormous success and some of the best gaming experiences of all time were had on a Game Boy screen. All that for just $80!



3rd Place – PlayStation 2





Nintendo may have coined the entertainment system name over a decade before but the PlayStation 2 was the very definition of the term. The most popular console of all time lured in millions of people with added on DVD/CD player as well as a back catalogue of some of the best games of all time. Sony struck gold with the PS2 as over 150 million people bought the console, a number which continues to rise as more and more people buy it nearly 12 years after its debut.

Like most successes in gaming, Sony realized that console exclusivity was a license to print money as some of the biggest franchises in gaming made the PS2 their home. From Final Fantasy to Grand Theft Auto every major franchise that Nintendo didn't own was on the PS2. No one could really compete with the juggernaut that was the PS2, not even its successor. The PS3 hasn't really been able to capture the magic that its predecessor did back in the early 2000's.

To use a wrestling analogy, if Atari was to gaming what Bruno Sammartino was to WWE and the NES was Hogan then the PlayStation 2 was Steve Austin, broke all the box office records and ushered in a new era that pushed every boundary much further than any of its successors have been able to reach. A truly revolutionary console that made the gaming industry truly mainstream and built a legacy of sheer dominance that will not likely be replicated.



2nd Place – Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)





The foundation of the Nintendo Company, to put it bluntly without the success of the NES there would be no Nintendo to speak of. We would be living a life without the famous Italian plumber and his brother and hundreds of other home grown Nintendo characters. It is a scary thought to think of a life without Nintendo, or possibly even without a gaming industry, but that's exactly what would have happened had the original NES failed.

Back in 1985 it really was possible (likely even) that the NES would flop as it debuted in the middle of a massive video game crash started in '83 in America due to the flawed Atari quality control system. The console was an incredible success in Japan and was tested in the US in '85 before full national release in 1986 to great nationwide success.

Nintendo were originally teaming up with Atari to release the machine but Atari declined ironically creating the system that overtook their company in every way possible. Nintendo also learnt from Atari's mistakes and implemented a strict licensing program so that the games released on the NES were up to a certain quality and were not available on any other console. Even back in 1985 brand exclusivity was the reason for a consoles domination of the market; clearly the path to success hasn't changed much. These exclusive games such as Dragon Warrior were flourishing on the system but it was Nintendo's home grown games which were the flagship franchises for the company, and still are. The original Zelda premiered on the NES as well as the most famous video game character of all time in Mario in which his debut sold over 40 million copies!

The NES was a truly groundbreaking console that made Nintendo the company it is today. Huge franchises such as Super Mario Bros and Legend of Zelda that started out on the NES are still continuing to this day and are as popular as ever. Without the NES the whole gaming industry in the west would be completely different, possibly even nonexistent.


1st Place – Nintendo 64 (N64)





The NES may have been the foundation of Nintendo, and the SNES may have been the cement that kept it up but the Nintendo 64 was the company performing at a creative peak never seen before with amazing game after amazing game on a console that is under appreciated for its impact on gaming. In 1996 the N64 was released with only 2 games available, one of which was Pilotwings 64 and the other being one of the greatest games of all time. It is very ambitious to release a console with only 2 games but Mario 64 was such a well rounded and absorbing game that there was no need for the other game. Nintendo had officially come out swinging.

Financially, the N64 was far from the victor of the 5th generation of video gaming. The original PlayStation sold over 100 million units back in the late 90's dwarfing Nintendo's success. The N64 done well but the PS1 was cheaper and used compact discs instead of the more expensive and smaller capacity cartridges. This specific aspect also lead to many 3rd party developers siding with Sony and the PlayStation meaning that a lot of Nintendo's game catalogue at the time was either produced in house or by 2nd party developers. The departure of most outhouse developers was the final nail in the coffin for the N64 and the console was discontinued in 2003 after only 7 years of production, this may seem long compared to some but the PS1 was still producing games until 2006 12 years after it was released.

However, during its lifespan the N64 produced some of the finest games from every genre of gaming imaginable. The N64 was the home of some of the most influential games every produced, from the sublime Mario 64 that completely revolutionized the platform genre to Goldeneye 007 which is still considered one of the best first person shooters over 15 years after it was released. Zelda's outing on the N64 lead to what is looked upon by many as the greatest game of all time, in the remarkable Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. The SNES may have been the birth place of Mario Kart but Mario Kart 64 cemented the franchises legacy as one of the most enjoyable racing games of all time. Those alone wipe every Lara Croft and Crash Bandicoot off the map, the cartridge may have had a limit capacity but I challenge you to find a bigger and more open game than Ocarina of Time in the late 90's. It truly was a creative peak for Nintendo.

I may be personally biased but no console before or since has been able to have me in such awe. Games such as WWF No Mercy and Banjo Kazooie are part of my childhood like anything else; I and my friends were obsessed with creating wrestlers back in 1999 on Wrestlemania 2000 and no collection of games since have been able to fill me with as much excitement. Everything about the Nintendo 64 is memorable; from the crazy controller to the engulfing games produced. The N64 for me will always be Nintendo at its creative best and due to that it is the greatest console of all time.



That's me for this week but leave any suggestions for future lists in the comment section. Until next week this has been The 8 Ball.