Post by Bean on Nov 12, 2016 16:32:05 GMT -5
Goodness knows there have been a lot of them over the years. I figure I'll go over some of mine and see if anyone wants to join in.
1) The Super Nintendo is the one that has the most nostalgic value for me. It was the go-to platform for platformers like Mario, Yoshi's Island, and the Donkey Kong Country & Mega Man X trilogies. It's also where I started to get into RPGs, albeit late in the console's life, thanks to games like Mario RPG and then going back to get Final Fantasy II and III as well as Breath of Fire 1 and 2 before FFVII came out. It's one that I still pull out to play 25 years later now from time to time as a result.
2 & 3) The 3DS and DS. This shouldn't be a surprise since I mentioned how much I enjoy the SNES because these two systems in many ways are like a handheld version of that console. The touch gimmick with the stylus made for some really neat games like Kirby: Canvas Curse, but it was again the place to be for platformers (Sonic Rush, Castlevania games, Mario 3D Land) and RPGs (Mario & Luigi, Final Fantasy DS remakes). The 3DS' digital library of cheaper to purchase but still awesome to play titles is what makes it my favorite handheld even though the DS was a beast.
I also didn't mention it in the SNES section, but A Link to the Past was my favorite game on it. Then the 3DS goes back to that well and creates my all-time favorite game period in A Link Between Worlds. That game has me hyped for that Breath of the Wild one. I'm just glad to see the old mixing with the new again in a positive way because that's not always the case nowadays.
4) The Playstation 1 is the only non-Nintendo console I liked more than the actual Nintendo one of its time (The N64 in this case). Obviously helped by many Japanese companies jumping ship from Nintendo to Sony helped. The Final Fantasies were great, Capcom's sprite work created a ton of classics and a couple of cult favorites, too. One of those was kind of legendary for many on here, I think. I also thought it was where Sony was at their most diverse in terms of their portfolio instead of just trying to hype up Naughty Dog stuff all the time and leave the other companies to fend for themselves. Kind of funny to look back and know that the only two series still running from the PS1 days for them are Hot Shots and Gran Turismo, but Sony and third-parties created one heck of a machine here.
5) This is probably a weird pick to round out the top five, and it may eventually be replaced by the Wii since there are quite a few games I missed on it, but I'm giving it to the Gamecube. It has one of the weirder Mario games and one of my least favorite Zelda ones, too, but it made up for it with all the mid-tier stuff and other classics. It has one of the best Smash Bros. games in Melee, favorite F-Zero in GX, one of the best Metroid games in a reinvention of the series, the birth of Animal Crossing. It also saw some companies return from their exodus to Sony as well as the introduction of Sega after their first-party days met their end to give the system some much needed life. Gamecube's one of those underrated machines because of the PS2, but I'll always view that one as the downfall of console-based RPGs as so many companies fell apart on that system. Nintendo's Gamecube didn't, yo.
Anyway, there's my top five in a longer post than I expected. If you just want to do a list, go for it. I'm curious as to your favorites though!
1) The Super Nintendo is the one that has the most nostalgic value for me. It was the go-to platform for platformers like Mario, Yoshi's Island, and the Donkey Kong Country & Mega Man X trilogies. It's also where I started to get into RPGs, albeit late in the console's life, thanks to games like Mario RPG and then going back to get Final Fantasy II and III as well as Breath of Fire 1 and 2 before FFVII came out. It's one that I still pull out to play 25 years later now from time to time as a result.
2 & 3) The 3DS and DS. This shouldn't be a surprise since I mentioned how much I enjoy the SNES because these two systems in many ways are like a handheld version of that console. The touch gimmick with the stylus made for some really neat games like Kirby: Canvas Curse, but it was again the place to be for platformers (Sonic Rush, Castlevania games, Mario 3D Land) and RPGs (Mario & Luigi, Final Fantasy DS remakes). The 3DS' digital library of cheaper to purchase but still awesome to play titles is what makes it my favorite handheld even though the DS was a beast.
I also didn't mention it in the SNES section, but A Link to the Past was my favorite game on it. Then the 3DS goes back to that well and creates my all-time favorite game period in A Link Between Worlds. That game has me hyped for that Breath of the Wild one. I'm just glad to see the old mixing with the new again in a positive way because that's not always the case nowadays.
4) The Playstation 1 is the only non-Nintendo console I liked more than the actual Nintendo one of its time (The N64 in this case). Obviously helped by many Japanese companies jumping ship from Nintendo to Sony helped. The Final Fantasies were great, Capcom's sprite work created a ton of classics and a couple of cult favorites, too. One of those was kind of legendary for many on here, I think. I also thought it was where Sony was at their most diverse in terms of their portfolio instead of just trying to hype up Naughty Dog stuff all the time and leave the other companies to fend for themselves. Kind of funny to look back and know that the only two series still running from the PS1 days for them are Hot Shots and Gran Turismo, but Sony and third-parties created one heck of a machine here.
5) This is probably a weird pick to round out the top five, and it may eventually be replaced by the Wii since there are quite a few games I missed on it, but I'm giving it to the Gamecube. It has one of the weirder Mario games and one of my least favorite Zelda ones, too, but it made up for it with all the mid-tier stuff and other classics. It has one of the best Smash Bros. games in Melee, favorite F-Zero in GX, one of the best Metroid games in a reinvention of the series, the birth of Animal Crossing. It also saw some companies return from their exodus to Sony as well as the introduction of Sega after their first-party days met their end to give the system some much needed life. Gamecube's one of those underrated machines because of the PS2, but I'll always view that one as the downfall of console-based RPGs as so many companies fell apart on that system. Nintendo's Gamecube didn't, yo.
Anyway, there's my top five in a longer post than I expected. If you just want to do a list, go for it. I'm curious as to your favorites though!