What is the better Old School console?

[ShadowStriker]

Before Xbox, before gamecube, before PS3 there was fire... I mean other consouls... What one do you think was the best one? i mean you got atari, sega, famicom and its grandkids what one do you truly think was the better system for its time? and why?

 

[BCampbell]

The Atari Jaguar was prettty cool...

 

[kwilson]

I have to go with NES - the sheer number of games made for it makes it stand out.

 

[BCampbell]

I liked the TurboGrafix 16 too.

 

[GhostToast]

NES cause i owned one

 

[scoops]

I remember TurboGrafix 16! Bonk's Adventure! That was my favourite game for that one.

 

[Darth_Jonas]

definitely the NES. How many of us have the Mario music memorized and can run through a stage completely from memory? Come on now, admit it...

 

[GhostToast]

our MOTHERS have the mario music memorized. its my ringtone on my phone, and every time my phone rings someone far above the age to have ever played a mario game can recognize it.

 

[Darth_Jonas]

Exactly, GT. Which goes to prove the power of the NES. Mario is the singlemost identifiable game character. Although Master Chief is already infamous.

 

[Maverick]

I'm a Sega guy. Always have been, always will be. I loved my Master System. I had Nintendo too, but for some reason I could never like it as much as I liked Sega's systems. Maybe it's because they were almost always underdogs.

 

[GhostToast]

in my opinion, master chief is pretty indistinguishable from dozens of other similarly generic "futuristic soldiers" from tons of other games

 

[the_roach]

While I definitely grew up on the NES, it wasn't until the SNES that I knew video games were special. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, and later Super Metroid convinced me of that. Then there's FFII & III (American), Chrono Trigger, Contra III, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, Donkey Kong Country, Street Fighter II, Mega Man X, F-Zero, Super Mario Kart, Yoshi's Island, and more.

 

[scoops]

Roach, you're a man after my own heart. I love 80% of the games you just listed.

 

[BCampbell]

I'm a Sega guy. Always have been, always will be. I loved my Master System. I had Nintendo too, but for some reason I could never like it as much as I liked Sega's systems.

Still play my Dreamcast regularly, and the Saturn is tucked away in the closet.

 

[GhostToast]

i was born a pc gamer, myself.

 

[spudlyff8fan]

in my opinion, master chief is pretty indistinguishable from dozens of other similarly generic "futuristic soldiers" from tons of other games

Cmon, GT. The Master Chief isn't a common mindless futuristic Duke Nukem/clone trooper (from Republic Commando)/Gordan Freeman. He has a personality that they show through him being compassionate, gung-ho and his times when they actually show him showing that he is indeed human.

As for the SNES...I think it's somewhat overrated...I mean sure, Squaresoft RPGs and Marios...but the Genesis was just as good. That isn't to say that the SNES isn't good...but I don't think it's the greatest console to date. Sega has ALWAYS had great games that could rival Nintendo's or Sony's best. Sonic 3, Shining Force, Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, the Sega Sports games are all incredible. Not to mention the Dreamcast...now THERE is a system. But anyway, all the past gen consoles (except the Lynx) have had great games.

 

[GhostToast]

so you need games to show you third-person non-controlled story elements of your character in cut-scenes to TELL you what to think, feel and figure out in a game? its not enough to experience it as yourself once in awhile from one perspective?

 

[BCampbell]

Since the original comment was that Mario is the most recognizable character, I'd like to point out that outside of hardcore gamers nobody knows who the hell Master Chief is, and as G said he looks like any other futuristic "space marine".

 

[GhostToast]

or a moto-cross participant

 

[the_roach]

I think Bungie did a decent enough job. With FPS, there's no need to connect with a character, because the whole point is to make you the character (do you find yourself physically ducking your head out of the way of incoming fire?). What's more mind-boggling are people who relate to Gordon Freeman of Half-Life. Some people think he's awesome because he's at once a physicist and an alien ass-kicker. However, there's no weight behind the idea Freeman-as-physicist -- he's just another viewpoint into a shooter world. He's the FP equivalent of characters like Crono from Chrono Trigger or the main character in DQVIII (but it works better in a FP game). Will be interesting if vgs ever develop to the point of where you can carry on dynamic conversations with AI characters.