With a subpar laptop and a very big lack of competitive spirit .. PC gaming is oftenly not my thing! I use it for point and Click Adventures and I do enjoy some retro platformers on the medium but overall I must say I have always been more of a console and handheld girl! There is just something a bit more magical about these devices for me! They have a charm…but which ones are my favourites?! I see no way this can be taken the wrong way so here is my console top 5.
Console #5: Gamecube
The gamecube was a bit of an odd duck when it came out. It had less power than it’s rivals and it was so oddly shaped. With Luigi’s Mansion being the only “name worthy” Launch TItle Nintendo had to back it up. Sure there was a new Wave Racer and Doshin the Giant but it would take this machine a while to get some steam. Yet what we did not know was how good Eternal Darkness was, we did not know how good this machine would end up being. Yet the game-console that featured a miniature disc to play it’s game had very poor third party support. Almost all hits , with the exception of a very VERY few were all First Party titles. Super Smash Bros on the Gamecube is hailed as THE Best version of the game. The Wind Waker was amazing and many gamers have fond memories of Paper Mario and The Thousand year door. I am STILL waiting for a sequel to the amazing F-Zero GX! Mario Kart Double Dash was a bright pinnacle in the series and nowadays most of us know what a Pikmin is!
Yet no one really played the Gamecube ports of Call of Duty, Prince of Persia or Fifa. We had Super Mario Super Strikers instead! Resident Evil 4 , for a long time was a gamecube exclusive and it was amazing but if I had to think of a third party top 5.. I would struggle. So it was a very static console.. that did offer us some amazing and innovative experiences.. such like Four Swords adventures .. by linking our handhelds to our console! It had two very nice Pokémon titles as well in the form of Pokémon Colosseum and Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness.. in these days the XD is kind of unfortunate but back then we did not juste that emoji yet! It was all about that 🙂 on MSN! The worst thing about the console.. and this is a genuine pet peeve of mine was the fact that it was really hard to get controllers if you did not have the purple variant! I had to buy a black one back in the day because all the purple ones were sold out.. and I ended up with four different colours of controller.. I don’t like that clowney look! It as a console that had too many quirks but strictly based on its library it would easily be a few places higher.
Console #4: Playstation 2
The PlayStation 2 is the only PlayStation I ever liked. I prefered the N64’s soft but grey look over the edgy but more crisp graphics of the original PlayStation, I did not like Crash Bandicoot’s jumping into the depth of the platforms.. I lacked the feedback that Mario 64 gave me! Spyro I liked better.. but the collectables were a bit generic and lacked that level of satisfaction Mario’s one up sounds give you, or Donkey Kong’s soundtrack bestows upon you. I missed out on LSD-Dream Emulator and the amazing Bubsy 3D but overall I never missed the Playstation. PS2 However, I did it right for me! The controls felt more robust, I liked the graphics a lot better and it had better platforming heroes in the form of Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank. While I do not dislike Spyro these had that flavour I was looking for. It also had the nicest controller and a very solid memory card. My gamecube ones kept breaking!
Playstation 2 had Final Fantasy X.. the last Final Fantasy game that I liked (excluding a realm Reborn) ..a game I have never finished.. not because I could not but because I refused. It also had the best Dragon Quest game off all time! In the form of the 8th installment. The cursed King. I really love that one! Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist of the Roses came out on that as well and I had way too much fun with that game.. even if it’s not all that good! There was this “ease” to Playstation 2 games, that kind of felt it was an evolution in some ways of Nintendo.. say if Nintendo was a Pikachu, PlayStation 2 was it’s Raichu.. everything worked just that slight bit better over there.. I do like Pikachu over Raichu most of the time in terms of design, cuteness and how Iconic it is .but Raichu just performs better. It became my defacto game for jRPGs and more mature platformers. I would play it until years after its expiration date.
Console #3: Xbox 360
When the next generation came along however I jumped off the PlayStation bandwagon. Xbox would get Oblivion Sooner, Xbox 360 got Kameo , elements of Power.. a collectable creature adventure Hybrid that really felt like a unique title and one I have always deeply enjoyed. This is the age where I did not really see a benefit in having a very specific console ..besides Nintendo for its titles.. because PlayStation and XBox became a bit more generic to me. If preferred Halo vastly over Killzone and since Microsoft now owned Rare .. I preferred that studio over Naughty Dog so I was pretty confident about my choice.. and while I never got my amazing platformers on the system I never regretted it and to this day it is the console I own most games on. With well over 80 games.. this kind of was my STEAM. Just.. a bit more space consuming and not holding it’s value as much.
I got the red ring of death but I neatly got it replaced so while maybe not as durable I really liked it better in almost every department. I like a white Console over a black one.. I like the flat surface so I can put more stuff on it.. over the weird rounded one of the PS3. I like the controller better and I certain as heck preferred Xbox live over Playstation online. I still feel the difference between a PS3and a Xbox 360 is almost neglectable but Xbox had more exclusive features I liked. Fable, Alan Wake, Halo, Gears of War. Back in the day I also emulated a lot of SNES because and the Xbox 360 Wired USB was by then the best you can get. I could combine both my gaming passions with this device! Plus it was very fun to annoy my friends in Soul Calibur by playing Yoda! Darth Vader wasn’t nearly as broken and not nearly as fun! I never liked Kingdom Hearts..which to me is the stand out reason to buy a PS3. So since I did not feel that compulsion the 360 became my mass gaming device! .. it did help that it had actual video games unlike the Nintendo Wii…which is mostly a pile of shovelware with a few impressive tech demo’s.
Console #2: Nintendo Switch
Number 1 and number 2 are miles apart in terms of favouritism from the rest. I genuinely think the Switch is one of the best consoles of all times, and the handheld to full on console format this device follows makes it unsurpassable. During the N64 era I considered.. should I get a playstation.. There are some cool license games on there. During the next generation I owned all the consoles save for the Dreamcast.. but PS2, Gamecube and the OG Xbox I all played. I always felt a call to the other consoles.. but not this generation. I have no pull yet towards the PS5 and the Series X..The Switch is all I need. It has the games I like more.. by factor a lot, it can be used as a handheld AND a console and it is more fun to play couch co-op. I do not care about the prettiest graphics, I do not care about the competitive online scene. I am here for the most complete and adorable singleplayer The Switch is a unique thing, with unique games and there is no real substitute. Spider-Man Miles Morales is just a very much shorter.. not even a full game.. version of that Other Spiderman game I own. I have A Call of Duty and I don’t like the 2000 extra mechanics they added in later on. Mario Odyssey though is a completely different game from Galaxy and I can play it in a different way. Pokémon might not be that different from previous generations yet the only real other way I get to play that is by playing clone games.
I like the menus on Switch , they are super easy.. I love that I can get Pink Joycons for it (even though I don’t have them because I just moved and they are super expensive) I love that I see it played everywhere around me and it’s not a “I am the biggest COD player” kind of culture. It’s .. “hey do you want to visit my island” .. “Hi do you want to trade this Pokémon”.. There is no T-bagging there not that drive to over-achieve. Sure I occasionally play Super Mario 35..but it’s more a “how long can I last” kind of thing rather than.. let’s humiliate my opponents. There is no flexing like “prestige” or golden Pokéballs if you win a lot in Pokémon online. Mario Party might kill friendships… which can be hilarious but it all feels so much less as measuring your online cyber fallus.. than I get from the other two. It does it’s own little thing and because of it is such a sexy little beast.
My favourite Console: SNES
Little video game consoles have actually shaped me as a person, but I do think the SNES had an amazing impact on me as an individual. Arguably the NES did as well but I was a much more passive participant in that one. I just got games for the NES from my parents and played them and sure Ducktales had a big impact and I fell in love with Mario 3, Megaman 2 made me me a better gamer and all that.. but it all was stuff that was handed to me. On the SNES I chose my games. I actively influenced what I wanted to play. I was much more busy with solving problems in Goof Troop, or finding a way to pass that Moose chase level in Micky Mania then I had ever been with beating Rocksteady in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2.. the Arcade Game. Getting my SNES is the point where I start to remember my entire life.. my conscious memories.. it is also in the time I started to slowly lose friends and be bullied. So in a way this console became my safe haven.. my escape from my bad reality!
The games on the system are amazing. Genesis Does what Nintendon’t .. oh Bitcharizard please. The music on SNES was so more Vibrant.. the first Sonic game.. isn’t all that good meanwhile SNES had Super Mario World.. which was amazing. Star Fox showed us what was possible on a console and showed us we could move beyond 2d. Link to the Past is still one of the best Zelda games ever. Maybe it even IS the best Zelda game ever.. it’s a close one for me between that one and Ocarina. When we get Retro Games these days.. they are almost all modeled after what they would have been on SNES. I still love the heck out of that classic controller and holds the best RPGs that ever released. Final Fantasy VI (Or III) Chrono Trigger, Lufia II and Tales of Phantasia. It had some pretty sweet Sailor Moon games (though not available here) and other anime games. It had the Donkey Kong Games which to this day are some of my favourite games of all times.. and it let me feel pride for the first time in a long time. I might not be able to run properly.. I might suck a sports.. but I was the first in class to kill K.Rool! I just want a different direction. On the SNES I became a geek and laid the foundation for the weird amalgamation I am today and that makes it my favourite console! SNES Is part of my soul!.. The european version.. not the american version!
And those are my favourite game consoles! I would have liked to bring you a review of a game instead but my laptop crashed and I lost all my progress in Deponia as I had to restore my laptop to factory defaults being unable to complete it! So this had to make due instead! If you want to help me get a pc instead of a Laptop .. this is my newest Kofi Project so if you want to convince me of the power of such a thing.. please consider some Kofi support! Or just be a pal and leave your favourite console in the comments below!
Pinkie's Paradise 