Favourite console...

[DonkeySpank]

Aaaaah it's gotta be the Atari 2600 for me, it was the first console I ever owned and it still warms the cockles o'me heart!
After that, hmm the SNES is a good 'un, and the games are great.

[Puzzle Rattrap]

Nothing beats the Super NES experienced at its peak - every month it received a classic game or three courtesy of the big Japanese softcos.

[SirClive]

I recently started collecting consoles and picked up a dreamcast on a car boot. I can't believe I had never tried one of those little square beauties. Pisses on the competition and was obviously killed off to soon.

[Hungry Horace]

It's a trade between the Mega Drive and SNES for me. Both consoles arrived at a superb era when gaming was truly finding a sense of identity, as well as the companies who were the major players, like Sega and Nintendo. Whilst direct comparison is always futile as we are in the realm of preference, to put it bluntly Sega offered some blistering action titles and coin-op licences, and the SNES some astounding RPGs and other games of depth. Thunderforce IV and Zelda...I have seen greatness!

However, also for me at the top of the pile is the 3DO. I snagged one of these for a proverbial song about 6 months after launch, and was staggered by some of the games available. The Alone in the Dark port was flawless. Immercenery was a daring and conceptual techno-FPS. The conversions of Doom and Fifa were fantastic. Return Fire was a perfect 2-player game. PO'd was an incredible FPS title, as was the dark Killing Time. Even drab, on-rails adventure D was interesting enough. The console took a lot of risks with some horrendous FMV games (Psychic Detective...oh dear) as well as some superb RPG titles. The sheer diversity puts it highly enough for me.

And an honourary mention to the Sega Mega CD. I played Thunderhawk and Night Trap a few monts ago, still enjoyable, if as ruddy-looking as my nan after a few bottles of cooking sherry.

[The last ginger]

Er... Sega Master System?

I'm afraid it's the only console I've ever owned, and therefore by default is the best (unless you count that Atari 800 that I bought at a car boot sale, only to find that the tape recorder didn't work. That left me with Dig-Dug on cartridge......)

Still, I did like that little one. It got an extended life thanks to my flat mates when I was at teacher training college. We used to have Super Kick off tournaments, that's if one of my Canadian flatmates hadn't commandeered it to play Asterix.

[Del Boy]

1) SNES
2) Megadrive
3) Atari 2600

[planetmatt]

Gamecube
2600
Megadrive

[READBOY]

Whoa what a tough one to answer.

I want to say the Atari 2600, because it was the first console I ever saw (It was playing Spave Invaders to be exact, I was 10 and someone had brought it to school and I was smitten)

I want to say the SNES, bought this with Helen (now my wife) back in 1993 when I spent most of my time at her flat in town. Every Sunday morning we played Super Mario Kart or Street Fighter II whilst getting over the night before.

Maybe its the N64, bought it just to play Super Mario 64, but ended up with Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banko Kazooie etc

Then there's the Gamecube, just great games (Resident Evil 4, Donkey Konga, F-Zero GX, Animal Crossing, Super Monkey Ball, Pikmin 2, Paper Mario 2, Metroid Prime, Viewtiful Joe)

But I think it's got to be the Dreamcast, I received this as a surprise present from my wife on our wedding day and it played host to Rez, Crazy Taxi, F355, MSR, Daytona USA, Bangai O, House of The Dead, Bass Fishing, and the mighty Shenmue.

Funny how gaming seems interwoven into my life (big events and small) from the first moment I saw that Atari.

[EnglishRob]

Well for me, I'd say without a doubt it would have to be the Neo Geo AES.

I read an article about it in Zero magazine when it was just released. The arrticle went on about the arcade quality graphics due to it basicly being arcade hardware in a console.

I would love to get a copy of that article. Was from about 1991, about the time I got my SuperNES.

I eventually managed to get a Neo Geo back in 1995. I didn't have a scart TV so I had to put up with it in black & white, still I didn't care, I had a Neo Geo and thats what was important to me at the time.

Before I got the Neo Geo, I bought a memory card for it which I used in the local arcades in Torquay. I remember playing my old favorites like League Bowling & Ninja Combat. Call me a nerd, but I just loved everything that was Neo Geo. I even had a Neo Geo t-shirt which had the Neo Geo logo on the front (I mean the one that is displayed when the console is turned on) and "BIGGER, BADDER, BETTER" on the back.

Other than that, I was quite fond of my SuperNES. I didn't want an inferior PAL console, I ended up buying the rather square american SuperNES. Luckily my TV supported 60Hz and it had a RF modulator included so I could play it in colour.

Other than that, my other favorite console would have to be the Sega Saturn that I bought - yes, in a way I went for the wrong format, but I still enjoyed the quality of the games, I thought they were much better than the PSX.

Unfortanately I don't have either anymore. My Neo Geo got left behind in my old house when I moved (thanks to my ex-in-laws, it got chucked in a skip I think) and my Saturn just stopped working.

I do enjoy catching up with all my Neo Geo favorites on Mame, and I keep looking fondly at the Saturns they have in my local Gamestation. One day I'll get another one.

Rob

[Paul-Elektro]

[quote="Darran@Retro Gamer"]
For me it has to be Sega's Saturn, it was horrifically underrated, had a stunning array of jap exclusive titles and has more shmups than I know what to do with.
[quote]

Me too, some great games on it.... Panzer Dragoon Saga, Tempest 2000, Quake, et al. And as for the 2D beat'em'Ups and shooters.... what can I say?

I collect for the machine, 170+ PAL titles so far and just got hold of a CD+ Cart so I can play imports (only got SF The Movie so far!!), but I think a Jap Saturn will be on the cards soon!

[sirclive1]

1) Sega megadrive - many happy memories playing games such as Toe jam and earl , madden 92 , pga golf etc

2) Xbox - great for emulation, especially mame , spectrum , snes , md , neo geo etc

3) Gba Sp - again great for spectrum emulation.

[Randall Flagg]

Has to be the Playstation for two reasons: Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. Two franchises that have been spanked almost to death (although Resi 4 is a top game...Rebirth!)

The gfx just looked so damn good compared to the previous 16 bit efforts. My two mates had a CD32 and a 3DO. I almost went down the 3DO route as for its time it was churning out some pretty good stuff but held on for the psx and was never disapointed.

The Dreamcast is a close second. Still don't understand why it wasn't bigger here. That console rocks.

[forestville]

the SNES was my favorite console because of the cool mode 7 graphics and most of important of all "Super Mario World"

[mel the bell]

snes
n64 for me
two consoles i played the most
the snes had tons of games and quality games at that
the n64 didnt have tons but still had quality

both had serious 2 (or more) player action
including mario kart and goldeneye......do i have to say more?

[Octogenarihexate!]

Genesis. I still have the first one I recieved as a christmas present, along with others I've bought over the years. I'm a complete action game junkie, so to this day, I've never regretted asking for it all those years ago. I mean, between its awesome port of Forgotten Worlds, to Thunder Force IV and the Sonic games, I never felt like I needed anything else. (and the lack of RPGs never bothered me either, as to this day I cannot stand console RPGs)
My favorite game of all time is even a Genesis game - Streets of Rage 1. I still play it constantly today (both with my original hardware and my modded Xbox when I'm feeling lazy), and despite the sequels' expanded features and more detailed sprites, I still find the original better.
Great, now I have to go play SoR. 'scuse me.