Which retired Nintendo home console is the best?

• NES
• SNES
• N64
• Cube

Wii and DS are excluded because they are still living platforms that can't properly be judged yet. Gameboy and Virtual Boy are left out because they aren't home consoles and aren't fair to compare, either.

My opinion
I am torn between the NES and the SNES. Gun to head though, I'd take the SNES, especially since it has Mario All-Stars to blur the lines a bit. All the best series that started on NES got solid representation on SNES, plus some new ones like Mario Kart and Earthbound (new to US, anyway), plus lots of good RPGs, though at the time I wasn't really a fan.

N64 and GCN weren't bad systems and had some fun games, but the style of games drastically changed, which was a bit off-putting though they were still good if not as good as they once were. Mario became about collecting things moreso than platforming. Zelda became about puzzles than exploration and combat. Metroid became something else entirely. The jump to 3D meant that, although pixel art was coming a long ways and still with room to grow, we were back to basics since polygons were so new, resulting in some ugly games. 3D also introduced the problem of "the camera," which though Nintendo handles better than many others, I find, it is still a bit clumsy. And the general lack of third party support, at least compared to the golden days, was the worst part.

Anyway, short answer: I love my SNES.

Votes So Far
NES: 8
SNES: 25
N64: 14
Cube: 5

(Last updated after Post #78)

N64

in terms of having a wide variety of games i played, loved, and (in some cases) still own, gotta go with the SNES on this one.

I loved my NES to death, but the SNES edges it out with its improved hardware and killer game library.

So, to pick from your choices....
1) SNES
2) NES
3) 'Cube (didn't even own one)
4) N64 (fun, but an awkward graphic & game development era)

That would probably be my list, too, though Goldeneye and Perfect Dark being on the 64 and the lack of a good Mario game (in my eyes) on Cube make it hard to decide. N64 was an awkward era though, as you say, for both graphics and game development as everyone fumbled about to figure out how games should play out in 3D. I think we're still dealing with that legacy today, actually, as poor assumptions (again, in my eyes) about how 3D games should play out haven't been challenged enough since then.

N64

I'll keep a running tally in the first post since I unfortunately can't make an actual poll on this forum software.

It's the SNES for me, I still am impressed by the graphics and gaming library.

I would say the SNES too.

But... My love is towards the GameBoy, Mainly because it was my first "real" games console, before I got my GB I had a C64 and Spectrum that are "Micro Computers" not consoles. Plus the GB is the longest living series of consoles ever, from 1989 to 2005, 16 years of pure Handheld dominance!

EDIT: Ah I didn't see the new rules that Adam put up... Why not Handhelds too? the play games right?

They're not new rules. That was in the original post. I only edited it to add in the tally at the bottom.

I just don't think it's fair to compare handhelds and home consoles. They both play games, but you buy them for different reasons and circumstances, plus handheld hardware is always going to be a bit behind home console hardware. Perhaps that would be an interesting poll, too, but I was more interested to see who preferred later consoles to earlier consoles and vice versa. In fact, I might have simplified it even more by saying, Do you prefer Nintendo's 2D consoles or 3D consoles? Though obviously there is some slight overlap between the two, you'd know what I meant. I rocked different versions of the Gameboy for many years, but I played them when I was on the go, and played my other consoles when at home. I never had reason to compare the two.

SNES hands down It was my first Video Game System. I just recenty blew off the dust to play Super Mario World it brought back a lot of childhood memories

NES was the first one I got as a kid, but SNES was the one who got me hooked on games forever

SNES by a landslide.

Game Cube was my first and the best (for me, for now) Nintendo home console!
But generally I think that Super Nintendo was the best!

My favourite modern Nintendo console is the Wii I love the downloadable games. As for my favorite classic console it would have to be the NES.

Nintendo 64
Super Nintendo
Wii
Those are great consoles, but i can't pick ONE! It's too hard!

N64 is my favourite Nintendo console so far, it set the standard for 3D gaming IMO, Zelda worked great in 3D, Mario 64 was incredible when it was first released, and Rare platformers as well Golden Eye and Perfect Dark made it a great console, Turok I thought was way over rated and average at best, lack of RPG titles was disappointing especially considering the SNES had tons of them, but then CD's where more suited to RPG games than cartridges, also lacked arcade games of the era, such as a great 3D beat em up to go against Virtua Fighter and Tekken, but even though it was lacking in certain areas, what it did provide made it one of the best consoles of all time.

The Super Nintendo.

NES was my first and best.
For me either SNES and N64 are a close second.
Wii
Gamecube

Wow, I find it unfair to judge the different consoles, technical improvements etc especially going from 2d to 3d really shook things up. For this reason I would say the N64 was the best, for me the N64 was a revolution, reinventing classic genres and although many of these game were sequels, they were truly original games in their own right. The SNES would be number two as it had brilliant games, but they were generally just graphically superior NES titles, with the exception of original games like mario kart and street fighter (which was an arcade game anyway). The SNES did have the best 3rd party support ever though. Then I would go NES as it saw the birth of mario zelda and metroid and had absolute classics like ninja gaiden. Cube, I can't really judge, never played it, but I've gone back and loved windwaker for its art style and top animation, and ikaruga for being a total bastard of a game, but the best adrenaline rush I've had gaming in the shooter genre. As an aside, best adrenaline rush gaming for me would have been competitive team matches of return to castle wolfenstein.

The N64.
The gameplay was just too good.

Although the SNES was indeed incredible.