Topic: Your Favorite Console Generation

I admit I don't pay much attention to 'hardcore gamers' as a group. I just remember Wii being insanely loved in the early days amongst 'average' gamers-- average meaning many 10s of millions of people who bought Wii plus their families. This almost certainly depends on age, but a lot of people I know still absolutely love Wii to this day.

Regardless, I do agree the Wii didn't have the staying power of e.g. the Switch generation. Wii is an interesting one for me because it is absolutely in my top 3 favorite gaming devices but also I have no real urge to ever go back to it because I prefer modern controllers and control schemes. Although for the few games I play on Switch with motion controls, I am hoping Switch 2 makes some motion control improvements.

I watched that video you linked; interesting discussion. Although I was a little disappointed it was 90% about shooters, a genre I essentially don't play.

@Princess_Lilly what made that era the peak of mankind and gaming for you?

The NES for me. That's when video games went from one-screen arcade games where you could see every level in the entire game in just a few minutes (before it loops with increased difficulty), to games likes Super Mario Bros. that you could play for hours, to The Legend of Zelda that you could play for weeks or months.

Strategy guides, secret cheat codes. The domination of the platformer, the quintessential 2D gaming genre.

It all started here.

@snichelsticks I think it was some sort of crossroads. An apex that had to fall back down. On one hand, gaming was finally profitable enough for enthusiasts to make big, fantastic games, on the other hand, the corporate grip wasn't so firm on the entertainment. So bigger companies could get creative without the suits analyzing whether building another level or making a new enemy will turn in the profit. It was spontanous to some extent, but with the resources. Now you know that everything that was added in a game is a result of countless meetings precisely calculating whether another week of work will get properly monetized

The world was in this weird position, too. The new generations were thinking more and more about making the world a better place and just being themselves, while the govermnents and their owners, thecorporations, weren't as good at manipulating literally everything and pitting groups of people against each other as they are now.

@Princess_Lilly that's fair. personally i think the best period to be alive was 1990 to 2001. at least being American or Japanese. the economy was booming, people were happy, technology was advancing but not all consuming, it was great! people were more sociable and kind. not that the world was by any means perfect (the Balkans say hi) but it was nice for the US.

just considering gaming i'd say 1992 to 2010 or so was the absolute peak. the industry was just so much more fun. especially Nintendo, they were INSANE throughout that entire time frame.

The SNES for me, but mostly due to nostalgia. Playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Batman Returns, Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind and Donkey Kong Country was like magic to me. I especially enjoy my memories of playing Super Mario All-Starts with my dad.

But I have to admit that without the nostalgia part it would be the Switch era, I feel like Nintendo hit the sweet spot between performance, quality of games and just the portability of the Switch.

I think, when talking about which generations are best, people give Switch points for having all the older games too.

But that's not fair.

Personally, if I could only choose one or the other, I would rather have 20th century games than 21st century games. No doubt it's because it's what I grew up with. But it's in my DNA.

Kind of like how everyone's favourite music is what they listened to in high school and college. How everyone's favourite SNL cast was the one on when they were in high school. No one who loved the Wu-Tang Clan loves Migos, and vice versa.

On SNL's 50th Anniversary special tonight, Paul Simon did a duet with Sabrina Carpenter.

Paul: "I sang this song on SNL with George Harrison in 1976."
Sabrina: "I was not born then."
**audience laughs**
Sabrina: "...and neither were my parents."
**audience laughs harder**

Video games have full orchestral scores now. I prefer the bleeps and bloops.

Switch definitely gets some points for improved versions of the Wii U games almost no one bought on Wii U; Wii U was sort of a lost half-generation which largely got subsumed into Switch with respect to many of the main games. But I wouldn't really give it points for the NSO games — we just expect some of the classics to be available just like they were on Wii and other devices. It's more that it would have lost points by not having it.

Personally I played snes as a young child and Switch is my favorite console. One or two of my all-time favorite games are on snes but a ton of them are on Switch. That said, recency bias is just as strong as nostalgia bias. I adore a lot of modern music too, though I admit that my favorite music genres were fairly set in stone by my late teens. Same with game genres tbh - I may like modern platformers more than some of the classics but childhood still addicted me to platformers.

I mean... so did final fantasy 6 in 1994.

@snichelsticks I'm really glad that someone understands. It's a pretty warm feeling knowing that someone lived through that time and appreciats it for what it was, thank you.

yeah the US got hit hard in the last 15 years. It's crazy to think that sometime in the past, the phrase "The American Dream" was not an irony. The western Europe, too.

Although the worst thing is this lack of hope. Like, everyone quietly gave up into "it is what it is"

It's usually the one you grew up with. Nostalgia typically outweighs most other considerations.