Steam deck
I really want one. But I also want to save some money and get the second iteration
Get the base model. Upgrading the storage is easy, and you can get a matte screen protector to mimic the top one.
Dreamcast.
I had a retro game emulator on a burnt disc and that was the most fun I’ve ever had.
Then I dated a crack enthusiast who stole it.
I think my all time favorite is the N64. Some aspects haven’t aged all that well — the controller is obviously weird by modern standards — but it was such a huge jump from 2D gaming. It was new and exciting in ways that are almost impossible now.
And I still like how weird it was. There was tons of experimentation by developers while figuring out how this new era would work on top of the usual fun, Nintendo quirkiness in the first party games. The PS2 and Xbox ended up setting the standard for modern gaming controls, optical discs, and all the rest but the N64 lived in a weird, fun transition space between retro and modern.
PC
Ooh, that’s a tough call… I really can’t say I have a single favorite, best I can do is say a favorite per generation:
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Pong - the one that started it all. Also taught everyone about screen burn in.
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Atari 2600 - Hands down, one of the all time greats.
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NES - Hard to beat Super Mario 3, but my favorite game of this generation was Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System.
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Sega Genesis - Sorry, the SNES never grabbed me, although Super Star Wars was a great game. Best home version of Street Fighter II was on the Turbo Grafx/Duo of all things.
- I’m going to add an “unofficial” generation here. You will never see this on any official list. Call it 4.5. There was a weird period of time where everyone and their cousin was doing a CD based machine. Sega CD, Turbo CD, Pioneer LaserActive, a whole bunch of crappy “set top boxes” like the Phillips CDi and Tandy Viz. The best of the bunch, with the most games and the best games was the Sega CD.
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Playstation - Another all time great.
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As much as I love the Dreamcast, it was murdered pre-maturely by Sega. Xbox and Halo just demolished everything else. I don’t know that we ever got an official “Halo Killer” until it suicided with Halo Infinite.
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Xbox 360 - Sony handicapped itself with the overly complex cell processor. Games just weren’t as good as the 360.
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PS4 - In this case, Microsoft handicapped itself by fundamentally misunderstanding why people buy consoles. It’s to play games, not “tv, tv, tv, tv, tv, sports, tv, tv, tv.”
- Another unofficial generation, call it 8.5, where you had the PS4 Pro, Xbox One S and Xbox One X - The One X was the clear winner with more power, 4K enhancements and a 4K Blu Ray player.
- Playstation 5 - Microsoft is losing the plot with Gamepass, to the detriment of the entire industry.
That’s a hardware problem, not software, and fixable. PS3 had a similar issue:
