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There are a few companies that manufactured hardware/software for several generations. Looking back at a company's console history raises an interesting question. Excluding third party software and looking only at first party or first party published works what console showcased their best work in your opinion?
First up is Nintendo. The company is known for it's classics but also for a string of regularly rotating IPs too.
The sixteen bit era easily.
Okay, who's the trailer dweller who said N64?
The correct answer is SNES, but NES is an acceptable answer as well.
NES was the most innovative but SNES wins easily for game quality overall. Punch-Out's an exception being better on 8-bit and some will disagree on the Mario games but Zelda, Metroid, gun games (Battleclash series), etc. were all improvements on SNES. I did miss the old-school, single-screen arcade type games that didn't get carried over to SNES but the SNES still had original content to make up for it (F-Zero, StarFox).
Blastcorps, Wave Race 64, Mario, Pilotwings, and Sin and Punishment are still playable today.
Voted GBA myself.
Not really a fan of any of their 8/16-bit stuff besides Mario, and that was a lot better in 8-bit.
NES, no contest. The combination of arcade games like Popeye, Donkey Kong Jr, and Mario Bros. as well as the unique (for the time) home games like Super Mario Bros, Metroid, Zelda, StarTropics, and Snake Rattle 'n Roll make the NES stand out from the other Nintendo consoles. Nintendo never really did arcade-style games after the 8-bit generation.
I can think of individual games on the SNES that are better than their counterparts on the NES, but those arcade ports coupled with the wide variety of first-party games on NES make it superior in my mind.
It was a tough decision, but I'd have to give the edge to the SNES over the NES.
The SNES had great titles like Pilot Wings, Super Mario Kart, Super Metroid, Zelda: ALTTP, Starfox, Super Mario RPG, Donkey Kong Country and F-Zero.
I voted for the Super Nintendo era, because it is the most correct answer.
The N64 is fun to pick on (given the PSX implications), but let's not forget that this is also the console of Super Mario 64, Sin and Punishment, and Ocarina of Time, just to name a few. It was far from the SNES heyday, wherein the awesomeness flowed like the Ganges, but there were short bursts of brilliance nonetheless.Quote:
Originally Posted by StriderKyo
I've always viewed the Gamecube era as Nintendo's darkest hour.
Yet, the Virtual Boy was a sign that all was not right with Nintendo.Quote:
Originally Posted by squall_vb