[blueoceans]

OK, so home video game consoles have been out for around 30 years. Over time there have been many improvements in graphics and processor capabilities. The consoles of the current generation (Wii, PS3, XBOX360, DS, PSP, GBA) are by far the most advanced home consoles ever.

But just because they are the most powerful and most advanced consoles to date, does that necessarily make the best consoles ever? I guess you could say that the responses I'm looking for here would be somewhat fact-based, and somewhat opinionated as well.

For example, when the PSone, N64, Atari Jaguar and Sega Saturn were in the market, most chose the PSone. While the PSone was a 32 bit console, the N64 had twice the power..but high prices in cartridge development hurt the system. The Saturn simply didnt have enough marketing or 3rd party support. And even though the Jaguar was touted as a 64 bit system, at its core was a 16 bit processor.

Most would say that the PSone was the clear winner from this generation. Sony chose the CD-ROM format for its system, which proved to be successful, as CD-ROM are cheap to manufacture. On the flipside of this, Nintendo stuck with cartridges-which were expensive to make, but had a much higher durability than CD-ROMs, and the advantage Nintendo had over Sony was hardly any load times for many of their titles versus the CD-ROM which will almost always have load times.

But even with this being said, N64's visuals simply didnt match that of the PSone's,.even though the PSone was only a 32 bit processor, it was still viewed as being superior to the N64 in every way.

But, that is just one example..there are many debates for this topic, Im sure.

As for me, I like games more for their gameplay. If a game just has pretty graphics but lacks in gameplay, then whats the point?

The Atari 2600 tried very hard to compete with the NES, but simply couldnt keep up, due to its lack of processing power, which says a lot, because the NES was just an 8-bit system. The NES was a great system, but from time to time, became ever so frustrating getting an orange screen on yout TV and having to blow in your carts just to get your games to play.

I'm amazed by todays graphics of DVD-ROM/CD-ROM based games, however I miss not having load times of the cartridge-based days of yore.

With everything being considered, I feel that the best system was the Super Nintendo. The graphics werent fabulous, but you could still make out what things were.It was a 16-bit system, but then again it did the job nicely in creating environments. Many of the games released late it its life were true achievements in system capability. Games such as Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct had visuals that were created by using advanced computer modeling. The graphics on most other SNES games had this sort of alluring watercolor type of effect,.many of the SNES' RPGs held this aspect in spades. The system didnt have memory cards, and the games that required saves had a built in memory device. The system supported cartridges, which are more durable than CD's,..which as most know,..one bad scratch on a CD can render it absolutely useless. This is why you must be extra cautious when buying CD''s 2nd hand.

The SNES supported various peripherals: it had a mouse, a light gun, it also supported a 4-player tap. The SNES was also supported the Super GameBOY which allowed you to play Gameboy games on your TV. The controller wasnt too difficult to comprehend, and felt great to hold onto. Many great games came out for the system during its lifespan, and if youre a fan of RPG's, this was an excellent system to own.

[TruJade]

Let's see i Love my orignal Nintendo
Hate the PSP with a passion

DS is pretty snazzy
XBO360 is a mind trip

i still haven't decided on my PS2
the PS3 is like the PS2 taken over by Venom

the Dreamcast i never owned
but like most i loved playing Sonic

[blueoceans]

Let's see i Love my orignal Nintendo
Hate the PSP with a passion

DS is pretty snazzy
XBO360 is a mind trip

i still haven't decided on my PS2
the PS3 is like the PS2 taken over by Venom

the Dreamcast i never owned
but like most i loved playing Sonic

so, if you could pick just one,..which would it be,..and for what reasons?

[Spoon Poetic]

I agree - SNES best system EVER. I loved the N64, too, because, like SNES, it had some great games. I never got into the Playstation, I didn't like many games it had out for it when it came out - the only good games PS had were ones I just wasn't interested in when I was like, what, 8? 10? Something like that. I also think the Xbox is pretty great and has a bunch of great games, and the Gamecube is lacking in some areas but has a few good games, too. As far as these newest consoles, I've played the Wii only a little bit, and it's like, I dunno, fun with a lot of friends I guess, the silly party game type thing, or for kids, but meh. PS3 is lame, though the graphics are quite nice. And the only thing I've played on Xbox 360 is Dead Rising, which is great fun for a while but then gets old and samey, and Oblivion, which you can play just as well on your computer if it's got the specs. So I can't say about this generation. But man, I also love that NES and the Sega Genesis, but I think most of that is from nostalgia, Mario, and Sonic.

[Slade]

Blueoceans: The PS1 has better graphics than the N64? Good freakin' Goddess, no! The N64 had far better graphics in almost every game I've played, and I've played A LOT. animations were much smoother and more elegantly rendered. The real problem is that there was a lack of storage space on cartridges, and so all of the shiny new-age presentation gimmicks for the games industry (mainly FMVs) could only fit well on a CD. Therefore, the third parties jumped ship to develop on a system with mediocre graphics, but more storage space. This perpetuated itself until everyone was heralding the death of the N64.

Overall, I also agree that the SNES is the best console. It looked beautiful, was capable of alpha channels and later that wacky pseudo-3d card thing, had a wonderful sound chip, and simply some of the best games ever made. Mario All Stars and Super Mario World, Mario RPG, Super Metroid, Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana (and the third one), FFVI, and Donkey Kong Country, to name but a few.

However, I think that the original Sonic games can closely tie those, especially Sonic 2, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

According to one of my good acquaintances, the PSP is great for everything but playing PSP games. (He modded it to do a whole lot more that it's capable of.)

[blueoceans]

Blueoceans: The PS1 has better graphics than the N64? Good freakin' Goddess, no! The N64 had far better graphics in almost every game I've played, and I've played A LOT. animations were much smoother and more elegantly rendered. The real problem is that there was a lack of storage space on cartridges, and so all of the shiny new-age presentation gimmicks for the games industry (mainly FMVs) could only fit well on a CD. Therefore, the third parties jumped ship to develop on a system with mediocre graphics, but more storage space. This perpetuated itself until everyone was heralding the death of the N64.

Ok. This is very much an opinioned thread, but it also incorporates some facts to a certain extent.

Psone vs. N64 ( i own both for the record)

lets see here...slade is saying basically that the psone doesnt hold a candle to the graphic capabilites of the n64. if you are referencing simply the sheer power of one processor versus the other, i can see where you are coming from on that.

i was coming from a standpoint regarding how talented the programmers are. The SNES (as we mutually agree in accord) has some very nice graphics, a lot of that has to do with some of the industry's best software developers being at the healm of each game's development. These are the guys about 15 years ago, that were bringing home some nice numbers on paychecks issued by companies like Konami, Capcom and Squaresoft.

The point Im making is that a great game is all about the talent the programmers have, even though the n64 touted more power, the psone had some awesome titles that heavily challenged, if not defeated similiar titles that the n64 carried.

you can take one of the most beautiful in-game movie sequences for psone,..lets say, the opening battle video for Final Fantasy VIII, and compare that footage to the footage for N64's Zelda's Ocarina of time. to me, it simply doesnt compare.

I havent played every single title for n64, but if there is some unique game youve played on n64 that really impressed you into thinking that the n64 crushed any strengths the psone has, send any recommendations my way by posting any relating links in this thread.

the n64, while being a great system and being twice as powerful as the psone had this sort of known character to sport blocky visuals on many of its games. add in the fact that many games had awkward camera control accompanied with those same blocky visuals, and it becomes clear why many titles geared for success fell short of that coming.

[Gobbler]

The point Im making is that a great game is all about the talent the programmers have

Mind if I step in here for a second? Cause frankly, this is not true. A great game is all about the lead designer, his subordinate designers and their ability to direct the talented programmers. The programmers themselves very often know almost jack about the stuff that makes a unique game truly unique, even though they're of course assigned to their project for a reason and try their best. Still, working too close to the code and the mechanics behind the graphics robs you of the ability to see things as a whole. That's where the designers step in.

I couldn't care less which console had the better graphics. Graphics alone are worth jack when the gameplay is as uncomfortable as it can get - and vice versa. Combining these two and making Mario jump smoothly through the levels in a comfortable manner - now that's the thing that lets you enjoy a game. From my experience, the contract partners of Nintendo always seemed to do a better job, but to be honest, my experience with gaming consoles reaches from little to none, so don't mind me any further.

This post has been edited by Gobbler: 16 March 2007 - 06:25 PM

[blueoceans]

well (*cough*,,..*wheeze*)...yeah..if you want to get THAT technical into the subject.

[SimeSublime]

you can take one of the most beautiful in-game movie sequences for psone,..lets say, the opening battle video for Final Fantasy VIII, and compare that footage to the footage for N64's Zelda's Ocarina of time. to me, it simply doesnt compare.

This reminds me of an old argument that we had going when I was younger. Well, I wasn't really involved as my friend and I completely agreed, but he was arguing (and I through proxy) with some friends of his. This was back around 1997 or so. Final Fantasy 7 and Ocarina of Time had both just come out on PSX and N64 respectivly, and both were heavily praised for their graphics (well, they were praised for other things as well, but for the sake of this post I'm just talking about graphics). Naturally, the quesiton then arose 'which game had the better graphics'. FF7 had some lovely movies. The CD of the PSX allowed extra storage space for rendered cutscenes. OoT, on a cartridge, had no CGI rendered cutscenes. All movies were done with the ingame graphics. These graphics, for the time, were the best ingame graphics available. From the extensive and diverse world of Hyrule to the simplicity of the characters facial exp​ressions (hell, to my memory, OoT was the first game to even incorporate facial expresions in game). The ingame graphics of FF7 were, to say the least, rather lacking in comparison.
So, which game had the better graphics? It was uncontested that OoT had superior in-game graphics, whilst FF7 had the better cutscenes. I held the ingame grapics were more important. Others (such as you appear to) believed that the cutscenes, as part of the game, declared the state of the grapics. To me the cutscenes were like the desert of the main meal. They're nice and definatly part of the meal, but the main course is what is ultimatly judged.

[floppydisk]

Oh god. Why are we arguing about this again? I know the internet is host to stuff like this, but really, it all comes down to personal preference.

[sesame_street_hustler]

it all comes down to personal preference.

True dat.

[Slade]

Yeah, Sime beat me to it. The PS1 had more room for pre-created movies. If you want an accurate comparison, imagine the entire opening FF7 movie using the sprites that you see in game. Kinda humbling, huh?

[mickbali123]

Hi../
Xbox 360 is the leading gaming console which can give the hd resolution on the LCD during gaming it also have the hard disk for
storing multimedia in it and it can be also use to access the internet and playing games online and also have the best price to performance ratio in the market..

[bongo300]

PS1 has the most original games out of all the consoles

[cryotek]

That would be SNES for me.. I still used it..