What about Final Fantasy VI? Its without a doubt one of the best RPGs of the time. and of course there was Super Metroid and Zelda: ALTTP and a bunch of Mario games that were excellent.
Nowhere near close to one of the best of anything save an example of how not to make a game. The amount of praise it gets for the very few things it does right is crazy. I can't wait for Dragon Quest VI to come out here so the few willing members of the US audience can finally play the sixth installment of a major Japanese RPG series that actually deserves whatever attention it gets.
The NES had no competition save the Master System. Atari had already crashed. I give the NES credit for reviving the industry, but that does NOT mean its games are fun to play in the year 2008. Game design has improved to the point where the flaws in NES titles should be obvious to even the most basic Halo jock. Historical significance doesn't make Ghostbusters, Skate or Die, Final Fantasy II, Castlevania II, or the multitude of other horrific NES games better. It's not some happiness drug that gets injected when you finish blowing into that cart for the 30th time in the hopes the thing will FINALLY start. You tell me why I keep hearing about it and I'll tell you why it's overrated. (That was rhetorical, by the way.) Yes, it has--on the strength of hype, not its gaming library. Why do I need to credit the NES games when they're irrelevant to the point? Super Mario World changed the Mario formula and provided the basic format the series has used for the last decade. SMB1 is irrelevant to that statement. The original Metroid was a clumsy, frustrating POS. I don't consider games that actively try to undermine the player through poor mechanics to be fun. Metroid Zero Mission is what the original Metroid should have been. "People who actually owned" one includes me. I bought the thing a year after its launch. Nice attempt to claim that I have no actual experience with the console, though.
SNES games aren't any more fun to play in 2008 than NES, sorry to inform you on that one. In fact, I think I've played entirely maybe 2 total games on PC emulator for SNES as in comparrison to countless titles from the NES. Hell, even my mother was ecstatic when I installed the NES emulator on her laptop so she could play games that she loved. I think it is pretty pointless to judge a game by how "fun" it is to play decades later anyhow. Ghostbusters sold copies because of the liscense, and are you honestly going to sit here and talk down about that when movie-liscenced games even made today are just as horrific? It had nothing to do with the NES console and everything to do with cashing in on the franchise. Rhetorical or not, the only reason you hear about it is because the system died while it was still able to compete. Maybe had Sega not had so many utter failures pre-dreamcast they would have kept it going, but it is what it is. The fact remains that the Dreamcast just didn't sell enough consoles for it to even be considered "over-rated". As I mentioned it barely edged out the Sega Saturn. The reason nobody talks about the Saturn? That was one ****ty console, even for it's time. My friend owned one from launch day and it was terrible. Actually on the strength of Nintendo putting together a quality product that offers things that the 360 and the PS3 don't. One of those is a more affordable price, then their unique control scheme and of coarse it being Nintendo means they are guranteed not to flop on a console. The gamecube was their closest "flop", yet it still sold 2x as much as the Dreamcast and only "died" because of the Wii. I can say the same exact thing about the original Mario Bros "changing the forumla" for platformers. Regardless, I don't know if we played the same games or not but Super Mario World was ANYTHING but "changing the forumla" of the Mario Bros. It was the same **** with enhanced backgrounds and a few more gimicks. Yeah that's so drastically different.....way to reinvent the franchise there Nintendo That's your opinion. Countless other gamers have it listed as a classic, and once again it is one of the top NES games of all time. Well I apologize for the assumption, but anyone who says that most of the good games on the system were PS1 ports, and then listed Jet Set Radio as "the best", really just makes me laugh. Sure, Jet Set Radio won some awards for it's time, but it didn't even sell 1M copies.
I'd go with the SNES or the N64. I loved both systems and played them by far more than any other. Never really got in the PS1 (because I was too busy with N64). I dont have a next-gen system so I cant comment on those, but the versatility of the PS3 (blu-ray) makes me think it'd be high on my list.
NO way, Final Fantasy VI is one of the best if not the best RPG of all time. It gets praise because it deserves it
Sure they are. Everything I listed in previous posts are more fun than NES games. There's nothing on the NES I want to replay, save the Dragon Quest games--and those have SNES remakes I can load up instead. The system failed because it wasn't competitive. By definition, that's how products in a marketplace fail: they aren't as good as the others. An assortment of cult hits does not a successful console make. N64 anyone? Oh, please. Do you actually think that because the basic gameplay still consists of stomping on things and jumping from ledge to ledge that no series-changing features were introduced? So I guess Nintendo has NEVER used the concept of, for example, revisitable stages with multiple objectives in any Mario game again. No, I never got more than one star per level in Mario 64. I never replayed a single stage in Mario Galaxy. Certainly never backtracked in Mario Sunshine. ... When did I say it wasn't? As if sales figures factor in whatsoever with the evaluation of a game's quality. Jet Set Radio is the best game on the Dreamcast, and it heads up an anemic software library.
It gets praise because a bunch of people can't let go of their childhood nostalgia. I would play 7th Saga before Final Fantasy VI. Now, that said, Square's golden age occurred on the SNES: Final Fantasy IV, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Bahamut Lagoon, Live-a-Live, Seiken Densetsu 3... I can keep going. But FF6 is definitely off that list.
I know PC doesnt technically count as a console, but imo it's the best system to play video games on.
Since were back to opinion vs opinion, it's pretty pointless. Theres nothing on the SNES I have any interests in replaying, and I was a huge SNES junkie just like the rest of my friends back in the day. I would be happy to do another run through of Punch Out, Zelda, Link, hell even Mario3. To each his own I guess. Actually you're wrong. It was very competitive and Im shocked that you are unaware of this being that you were a DC owner. From Wiki on it's demise. You point out a change that really makes little difference to the overall game play, splendid. It allows for more replayability sure, but did you expect there to be no changes at all 5 years after SMB? Obviously there were differences, you can see many just by glancing at the 2 games. There is a good reason that the games are so similar though. SMB was immensely popular, they had no logical reason to change the formula. This is why I find it absurd to see someone talking down on SMB while hailing SMW as a godsend. The best game on the dreamcast varies from person to person, but it is painfully obvious that you are in the minority on that game due to it not selling well at all. The best game on the Dreamcast was Resident Evil Code Veronica. Shenmue and Soul Caliber as well. The best DC game I rented was Crazy Taxi. Just like JSR, Crazy Taxi was fun for a limited time. At least it sold well though, all of those games sold in the millions.
I didn't really like the Gamecube either. Only borrowed it for the SW games and to see how MGS 1 looks like with slightly better graphics and control.
It gets praise because it is one of the best RPGs of all time. It has nothing with "childhood nostalgia". It is plain and simple. You are plain and wrong.
FF6 is indeed plain and simple. Its only outstanding feature its its mediocrity. FF4 remains the best Final Fantasy game, and the Final Fantasy series as a whole remains second fiddle to Dragon Quest.
If you like simple game play, you are correct. FF6 is and always will be known as amazing. FF4 was fun, still suffered from the bad guy out of nowhere that Square likes to pull on its games.
BEST video ever i'm 34 and still get that way! rockon thanks for sharing! Whiles not a system I will be the *** and say PONG the start of all gaming! (well in a mass market sense)
Atari ruled the roost during the early eightie's and suffocated itself by letting every Tom, Dick, and Harry make games for their console. There was no quality control. As much as I loved my wood grain console, it killed gaming. The greatest system of all time has to be the NES. It alone resurrected the gaming industry. Nintendo beat out the Master System and went toe to toe with the 16-bit Sega Genesis for years before releasing it's own 16-bit console. I know the NES had a great number of crap titles but did it ever make up for it with the good ones. I think Nintendo would have continued to dominate the console wars if it had not blown that deal with Sony or supported mass censorship of it's titles. Sony stuck it to the big N with the PSX which should have been a CD add-on for the SNES. (Hence the purpose of that slot on the bottom that was never used) Nintendo didn't want anyone to have a cut of software sales. The NES was indeed my favorite console. AHH the memories!!
That's less the fault of Square and more the fault of Hironobu Sakaguchi, nor is it really a serious flaw in FF4's story. If anything it makes for a better final dungeon and final boss fight than FF6.
Great thread. I didn't realize the Dreamcast had such a following. My dad gave me one of these. I played the Sonic game and never really got into it. When I heard Sega stopped making games for it I gave it to one of my nephews. Maybe I should have kept it. I have good things to say about every console I've ever owned. Even Sega CD. It had a pretty cool RPG game if I remember right. Luna something or other. No love for the Panasonic 3DO? Wing Commander and Wing Commander III were awesome games. It also had a few other great games. Gotta give props to the WII. The games for the WII are pretty good, but I love the Virtual Console. I know there are emulators that do the same thing for free, but it just doesn't feel the same. I just played the **** out of some Skykid. And the fact that I can play Sega, Master System, Neo Geo, N64, NES, SNES games on it really makes it an awesome machine. Games on PS3 look amazing. Of course, mine just broke and still isn't fixed yet so I'm still a little salted about that. Xbox 360 has some phenomenal exclusive titles, but I don't like the way they nickle and dime you with the online stuff. I love all the systems. They all have their strong points and each one reminds me of a different stage in my life. If I had to pick an all time favorite, I'd have to say NES. Some of the best thought out games of all time. And you just can't find a good side scrolling platform game anymore.
Bro I am the biggest proponent of the Dreamcast and Sega that you'll find. Any chance I get to geek out and talk about the Dreamcast I can't resist it.
N64 is probably my favorite. Just on the strength of Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye. If I hadn't have been wasting so much time playing those games I would have probably got either my Phd or would be in the NFL.
My favorite system, and hands-down the best system there is, was, and ever will be is the NES. Anybody who was alive (and able to remember) the mid-1980's knows this is fact. Those of you who were born after 1980 have no idea of how things were before the NES. You have no clue how INSANELY HUGE the NES was, and cannot possibly understand the impact and importance of the NES. IMO, there is no argument that the NES is the best system of all time. If you have a different favorite, that's your prerogative. I take the position of "forgive them, for they know not what they say" when I hear people saying anything other than the NES is the BEST system of all time.
I admit I missed the NES fever but I've played the system before many times and never fell in love with it. However I guess I should say that I've never liked any Nintendo system a lot since my SNES and N64 are still at a friend's house who I haven't seen since high school or it could be that I'm a bit of a Sega fanboy.
I can understand the NES being the favorite, but there are plenty of arguments that can be made as to why the NES is not the best.
I believe the opposite. There is no other system in history that accomplished what the NES did. It resurrected the entire industry, and it changed the entire globe's perception of home comsoles single-handedly. That alone is why you can't argue the fact that the NES is the greatest console of all time.
I can argue that it isn't the best console: 1. Terrible controllers 2. Cartridges 3. Limited game size/memory 4. Not very good graphics 5. Hardware reliability (this kind of goes with the cartridges) 6. Limited functionality (only plays games)
