(Note: When considering Wii and WiiWare, I am not taking into account Virtual Console or Wii's GCN backward compatibility.)

I suppose I'm asking the question from the point of view of: which one has the games you enjoyed most? and why is that system your favorite?

I... am having a tough time with this. But I vote SNES. It was a golden era in gaming history when you had the very best developers from first party AND third party, all creating high quality games on a single platform. I would argue Nintendo has not been able to recover that third-party support to the fullest degree since that era.

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NES NES NES NES NES NES NES.

Innovation plus nostalgia equals awesome. The only thing the SNES has over the NES is RPGs, and I don't care about those, so...

My nostalgia for 4-player n64 gaming sessions is still insanely strong, probably why I ranked it above Gamecube. Well, that and Ocarina of Time.

SNES wins. All is right in the world.


Edit: Gamecube is tied for second? I guess all isn't right in the world.

I actually think this would've been better (ie: easier) if we had to pick system vs. system.
Do you like NES or SNES better?
N64 or Gamecube?

@X-pert74

Someone else suggested that somewhere, haha. It makes sense though!
There weren't any "Party Babiez" on NES. Just Bible Games.

Wisdom Tree, baby!!

@Shadowlink

I can't believe some of you guys rank Gamecube last! Definitely above N64. Legit!
I don't see how one (1) game can make a system though. Come on, brother.

@Guillaume

Thank you kindly. I think nostalgia clouds the waters sometimes (ALL the time).

Jargon said:

@Guillaume

The N64 was so much more than those 2 games though. Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye, Mario Tennis and Smash Bros were each games that you could play every day for months and never get tired of. And it's not like those games are chopped liver now. Get the right group of people together and they're just as fun as they ever were.

Just like a ton of games on NES. --Are you familiar with the Retro Game Club here? Pretty much all awesome NES games.

carlosrox said:

SNES wins. All is right in the world.

Edit: Gamecube is tied for second? I guess all isn't right in the world.

Lets make it a 4-way dance! --I think I'm voting NES.

I'm probably.. NES - SNES - Gamecube - Wii - N64
Pretty much everything we like today STARTED / WAS BORN on the NES. Thats pretty important. And I own 200+ games. It would seem wrong if I picked something else (even though a lot of purchases are for "hey, I've never heard of this.." as opposed to "this is the best game ever!" I DO have a lot of really good games though, pretty much EVERY notable title to hit the NES is in my cabinet/box/bin).

Its not that I don't like those other systems. My top few games are on SNES, N64, and Gamecube.
All of my speaking outs against the N64, it was pretty awesome with the built in 4 player slots..BUT I also had an NES Satellite and a SNES Multitap, so not exactly brand new to me (and only my 1p slot works on my N64 now. Garb!).

The N64 or the Wii.

@Mr_Mustache

Did I ever say there weren't a ton of games on the NES that are just as fun today? You're talking to guy who firmly beleives that The Legend of Zelda is the best game ever made and I don't mean that merely in terms of its impact at the time. In my opinion it completely holds up.

And yes, I just beat Ninja Gaiden as part of RGC and I've beaten and loved dozens of NES games in the last few years.

That has literally nothing to do with the ratio of good games to bad games though. A group of The Legend of Zelda, Hudson Hawk, Where's Waldo, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Super Pitfall still has a terrible ratio, no matter how good Zelda is.

Now, you clearly like more NES games than I do so my point of view doesn't apply. Fine and dandy.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that a vast majority of NES games do not in fact hold up today.

The SNES however has boatloads. Regardless the poll wasn't about what the "best was" (it was the SNES, if we are defining quality software for a given time period), and I personally just loved the 64 even though most every game that wasn't made by Rare and Nintendo is unplayable by today's standards. Also the Wii is imo a great system just because there are so many goofy, totally non-mainstream type games like Rune Factory, Sin and Punishment, No More Heroes, etc.

@Jargon

What is a good ratio? Name a better Nintendo system with a better ratio.

@Oldmanwinter

Do you guys play NES anymore though? I find that playing old 8-bit games hold up MUCH better than N64 games.
And I'm not just saying that, they really do. I'd much rather play Crystal Mines than even something like NFL Blitz.

@Mr_Mustache

I'm not sure what a good ratio is. I'd have to do some research which I don't have time for. Every console in history has a lot more bad games than good games, but I think a bad NES game is worse than a bad Wii game. Again, that's just my personal preference.

A Nintendo system with a better ratio? Here's 4: SNES, N64, GCN, Wii

@Mr_Mustache

I agree they hold up better than most 64 games. 19 out of 20 64 games are totally unplayable.

Still though the few gems I loved to death on the 64, namely Banjo Kazooie, Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Pilotwings 64, Bond, Perfect Dark, Wave Race, 1080 and Beetle Adventure Racing for me blow the entire catalog of NES games out of the water.

I'm not sure ratio of good games to bad games is the right way to score a console, anyway. Surely something like the NES, which ruled the console market with something like 90% of the share, was doomed by its dominance to have more crappy games than most. Does that eradicate the impact of the great games, though? The PS2, another fine system I think most of us will admit now, has a pretty bad ratio of crap games to good ones. The Wii... let's not start with that. A bad ratio in this category is just a side effect of dominance.

@kriswright

Yea, I agree it's not very important, it at all.

@Jargon

Wii has the most games of any Nintendo system. They're currently at 969 and climbing.

I had ~117 / 799 (games I've actually played, and enjoyed; I haven't played enough of Lolo, DragonWarriorII/III, Ninja Gaiden III, etc. to make a call on those, and I don't think I included games like Faxanadu because I didn't enjoy them as much as others have), so we'd be looking at at least 141 "good" Wii games to meet that ratio.

Alright, who is up to the challenge? I personally own about 80 (and to call a game good, you probably should've played it, right?), and that includes VC stuff (which doesn't count towards "Wii"). Has anyone even PLAYED 141 Wii games?

Would anyone like to drum up 56+ "good" N64 games? (I just breezed through, and very generously found 36 or so, selecting games that I haven't even played, but have HEARD people mention how they like them [Mischief Makers, Jet Force Gemini, Banjo games, Conker, 1080, etc.)

@Oldmanwinter

I think that every system has a handfull that definitely transcend time and space. I'm sure any of you guys can pick up a "Mario" game from any era and have a grand 'ole time with it.

The whole catalog? Yikes.

@Mr_Mustache

I'm just saying that as far as personal preference is concerned, I enjoyed those handful of games on the 64 more than the entire scope of the NES's catalog.

It's just personal preference. I'm sure plenty of people think that's a crazy assessment and much prefer the NES. It just comes down to what you like, really.

phew....hard battle between SNES and WII...SNES had the JRPGS...WII has a lot of different genres and some of which climbed my "all time fave" list really fast...
And trying to discard nostalgia I think I had the better experience on the Wii...even if it's mostly because of No More Heroes, Metroid Other M and Fragile.

SNES > NES > Wii = GCN = N64.

Snes had the most and the best games. Nes had the beginnings of some of my most favorite franchises of all times. Wii had the most games I've bought for a Nintendo console to date even though their quality was good but not great. GCN had a good mix of 1st party vs 3rd party games, but it could in no way win over the beast that was PS2, my favorite console of all times. Nintendo 64 had the worst 3rd party support in Nintendo history, but the best Nintendo 1st party games which were also the best of their generation.

Looks like SNES is the solid favorite around here with the Gamecube and Wii tied for 2nd. The the N64 and NES tied for 3rd.

Overall, I would probably have to agree with that. Even though I picked Gamecube as my favorite, I would have to say that the SNES would probably be my next choice. I will put in order how I would rate the Nintendo systems, but I must mention...to be fair like I said, I really never played many games on the NES. The only games I actually played and beat, hell I think they were the only games that had an ending was the orig. Super Mario Bros and SMB3. I owned games like PacMan, Marble Madness,(I guess Marble Madness had an ending, but its not the same) and I had Tetris and I am really trying to think but I believe those were the only games I owned for the NES. Someone, either my mom or my wife bought me the console for Xmas the year before the SNES was released, so it was late in the NES's life when I acquired it. Here is how I would order them:

Gamecube>SNES>Wii>N64>NES

I hate putting the Wii that far down the list, but really thinking back, I had alot of fun with my SNES, even though I know I have played more games on the Wii. Back then gaming was all so new, so that means alot. Plus, even though I like the Wii and the Mario Galaxy games are probably my all time favorites along with DKCR, I wasn't really overjoyed that the Wii was only slightly more powerful than the Gamecube and I was never a huge, OMG-like fan of motion controls. I honestly thought about the motion controls after Nintendo released the secret and I honestly thought that this will never change the way we play games...it might add more to the way we play them, but not revolutionize them, at least the way Nintendo went on about them.

Anyways, Motion controls was more about making gaming accessible to everyone than it was about changing the way we play games. I am one of the few, probably along with Guillaume that really likes the Wii's VC and other downloading services. I personnally thought it was cool I could download games that I loved all those years ago, cause I did end up selling all my older systems. I wanted to keep them, but just didnt have the room for them all and I didnt want them cluttering up the closet, ect....plus I needed the money.

snes>nes>wii>cube>n64

@Mr_Mustache

At one point, I think I owned around 40 N64 games. All of which I thought were "good." The one exception being Yoshi's Story, which I hated. (and I still do) I'm not sure if they all hold up today, but they were fun back in the late '90s, early 2000's. Let's see if I can remember them all:

1.) Super Mario 64
2. ) WaveRace 64
3.) Killer Instinct Gold
4.) Mario Kart 64
5.) Starfox 64
6.) Mortal Kombat Trilogy
7.) Extreme-G
8.) Extreme-G 2
9.) Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
10.) Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
11.) Turok: Rage Wars
12.) Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion
13.) Goldeneye: 007
14.) San Francisco RUSH
15.) RUSH 2: Rush America
16.) Cruisin' USA
17.) Gex: Enter the Gecko
18.) Quake
19.) DOOM 64
20.) Banjo-Kazooie
21.) Castlevania
22.) 1080° Snowboarding
23.) Beetle Adventure Racing!
24.) WipEout 64
25.) Hybrid Heaven
26.) F-Zero X
27.) Paper Mario
28.) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
29.) The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
30.) Mischief Makers
31.) Perfect Dark
32.) Pokémon Stadium
33.) Pokémon Stadium 2
34.) Resident Evil 2
35.) Ridge Racer 64
36.) Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
37.) Super Smash Brothers
38.) Mace: The Dark Age
39.) 007: The World Is Not Enough
40.) Yoshi's Story
41.) Mission: Impossible

Alright, I had to resort to Wikipedia to help me remember them all. And look at that! A little over 40, just like I thought. Right on the nose, actually. Heh. Considering I didn't name a bunch of other games that would be worthy, I think coming up with another 20 or so wouldn't be too difficult. Let's see:

42.) WWF: Wrestlemania 2000
43.) Winback
44.) Mario Golf
45.) Mario Tennis
46.) Mario Party (1,2, & 3)
47.) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
48.) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
49.) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
50.) The New Tetris
51.) Rayman 2
52.) Star Wars Episode 1: Racer
53.) Star Wars Episode 1: Battle for Naboo
54.) Spider-Man
55.) Space Station Silicon Valley
56.) Shadowman
57.) RUSH 2049
58.) Quake II
59.) Pilotwings 64
60.) Mortal Kombat 4

Boom. 60. What do I win? I didn't even all of RARE's games, like Jet Force Gemini or Blast Corps or even Diddy Kong Racing. N64's library wasn't too shabby, in the end.

@Mr_Mustache

I don't think I ranked the GC last (I don't think I *had* a ranking )

If I did though...I'd probaly rank the NES last. Not many games I go back to play on that. The other 3 are harder to choose between. They all have their classics.

But it's not just about one mere game on the N64 (although OoT does contribute heavily to the choice). It was marathon long 4-player sessions of Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64 and Smash Bros. It was epic 3D platformers such as Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie. Unique gems like Lylat Wars, Jet Force Gemini, and Majora's Mask. It was a console where I enjoyed every minute of the experience. And I'd still be playing it now had my controllers held up.

Whilst I did enjoy playing many games on the other consoles, none of them quite compared to the fond memories I have of my N64.