The 20 Greatest Consoles of All-Time!

[@jasonkoestner4630]

Having most of these I was impressed with the jaguar and the 5200 with compsote outs for both and the hombres showing what could be done with proper coding

[@peterpereira3653]

Just watched the video was well surprised that the Atari Jaguar was in the top 20. Nice video and you even used my Xbox 360 quote. Thanks very much most appreciated.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@user642a2]

Excellent work. Thank you for your great video

[@whiterabbit1632]

13:37 - Title is same as previous one dude! oops! For me the best handheld was the Gameboy followed by DS. Console number one has to be the Neo Geo followed by the SNES.

[@f.k.b.16]

90s SEGA Genesis kid here... Not to brag but... Told you so!

[@fordxbgtfalcon]

I still have most of these consoles. Been collecting since 1982.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Good work!

[@craigvard1639]

Such surveys show not only which console is better than another or more popular than another, but also how united and determined against all odds the console's fan base is. This is the reason why we see Jaguar in this list , but do not see, for example, GBA. I personally regret that 3DO was not included in the list, but Jag and Lynx were, but I understand why. The fan base of Lynx and Jaguar is more active (judging by the number of homebrews).

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yep, absolutely spot on with this analysis. Quite a few people actually mentioned homebrew as their reason for picking some of these systems, particularly the Atari 7800 and Jaguar.

[@caiusmadison2996]

But... 3D0 is exceedingly easy to homebrew for... it really should have a much larger following still to this day than it does. I can recall owning one and how much it was considered the best thing among friends we all shared and enjoyed back in the day.

[@themadmoderator8465]

looking forward to the new megar drive mini next month. great video thx

[@KevinTwiner]

Brilliantly done enjoy your weekend Brother 🎶🐣

[@cdjxman]

I have Streets of Rage 2 on my phone at all times! It’s my quick fix!🤩👍

[@f.k.b.16]

I still jam to the music even to this day!

[@danielespeziari5545]

My favorite consoles are the ones in the top 4, so I am satisfied with the results. I was a Super Nintendo kid, but now I also love the Mega Drive. The 16-bit generation was nothing short of amazing. The top 3 is also very balanced: one for Sega, one for Nintendo, and one for Atari, which still are for me, and will forever be, the only true videogame companies.

[@williamcrowe2576]

Some consoles, like the Milton Bradley Vectrex, would've ended up honorable mentions anyway. In fact, my only memory of the Vectrex was a coin-op version at a Sir Beef restaurant in Evansville Indiana.

[@AdamWilliams-kz4pf]

Great video! I would only change out the Atari 5200 for the XEGS. Better controller and can play basically all the same games as the 5200, plus of course the games of the 8-bit line

[@TheLairdsLair]

Couldn't agree more, I love my XEGS!

[@falksi3182]

Brilliant list. The Mega Drive is a worthy winner!

[@BigBossCQCLegend]

My Top 5 Favorite VideoGame Consoles of All Time are 1. PS1 2. Nintendo Switch 3. PS2 4. Sega Genesis 5. SNES

[@joejacobsonwales]

I'm more of a home micro guy but I still enjoyed this and was happy to see the megadrive at the top!

[@TheLairdsLair]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@rikswift]

I'm surprised that the Gameboy Advance didn't get more love. Thought it would be in the top 20 especially as every other Nintendo portable made the cut. Great little machine.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yeah, I was surprised it didn't get more love too.

[@IsaacKuo]

It's because of all of us Neo Geo Pocket (Color) fans bitterly refusing to vote for Gameboy Color/Gameboy Advance. ALL THREE OF US.

[@colinmcdonald2499]

I totally concur. As my votes all ended up in the top 5 with my top being number 1. Not really surprising. I am a bit surprised by the Collecovision being left out of the top 20. But it probably got left off of everyone's top 2 votes.

[@TheLairdsLair]

You might be interested to know that it finished 24th

[@colinmcdonald2499]

@@TheLairdsLair I assumed a close to the cut. So many amazing systems over the course of 45 years or more. Some Mattel Intellevision fans are also upset. But that is how it goes. Thanks for the cool video.

[@neilthomas8070]

My top three consoles are the NES, SNES and Atari Lynx. I picked these because certain games just stick in your mind. I owned a few of the consoles on the list; compared to the lack of computers I owned in the computer top twenty.

[@GCSoundArtifacts]

I'm really amazed to see my comment here about the console that earned the first place! Long live the Sega Mega Drive! Quite a surprising list, indeed... Atari Jaguar being mentioned here was a great moment of redemption to this maligned console. I really don't understand why the Nintendo GameCube haven't had any chance to earn its place in the Top 20, though... It's not a complaint, but a surprise as well...

[@TheLairdsLair]

Thanks for your great input, your comments about the Mega Drive resonated more with me than any others, so I had to put them in. Streets of Rage 2 is the greatest game ever with the greatest soundtrack ever too. I am a pretty big Jaguar fan myself, but didn't really expect it to make the top 20, I was really surprised just how well it did.

[@craigvard1639]

I'm surprised about GC too. From what I see on on YT, this console have quite a dedicated funbase.

[@TheLairdsLair]

You might be interested to know that the Game Cube finished 22nd.

[@GCSoundArtifacts]

@@TheLairdsLair Wow... To me, the GameCube being very far behind its direct rival, the Dreamcast, seems to be due to the fact that the games were distributed on mini-DVDs, perhaps... And which console earned the 21st place?

[@TheLairdsLair]

I did say at the start of the video, the Vectrex, which missed out by one point.

[@NathanOakley1980]

Repton First good game I ever played.

[@NathanOakley1980]

On the BBC

[@falksi3182]

Awesome game for a very underrated system

[@cessnaace]

One could argue that the PC Engine is actually an 8-bit system, as it has an 8-bit CPU. I would argue that it's a souped-up 8-bit console, as it has a 16-bit GPU. Or maybe it's 24-bit. :)

[@PeBoVision]

I've only ever owned two dedicated gaming consoles before getting permanently hooked on computer gaming, so I can't comment on most. The first that I owned, I didn't expect to make the list and it didn't...The Odyssey2 (Phillips G7000). With the same native primitives appearing in every game (to save memory), there was a homogeneous feel to all the games, and the limited memory rarely allowed multiple lives (the entertainment hook of most games), Both of these limitations caused games to become boring quite quickly. But it was my first, and it is said that we all remember our first. It also had 3-4 brilliant board/video game hybrids - an innovation never seen on any other console (that I know of) and it's later Advanced Series (about a dozen games?) rivalled the 2600. KC Munchkin was part of that collection, as was Monkeyshines (my favourite game on the system). My second console was a Vectrex, and although I bought the Odyssey2 near it's release date, I bought the Vectrex long after it's discontinuation. The perfect collector starter system because of it's small library, it should be noted there are not many bad games in the collection (and more recently, it features the best Moon Patrol I have played - surpassing the arcade original and even having battery backed up high scores on the cart). The Vectrex even had an Asteroids clone built in. Dreadfully disappointed that this didn't make it onto the top 20 because I would have put it near the top. It amazes me that having had a warehouse of small b&w monitors fall into their laps, the developer's turned them into one of the most innovative consoles to ever hit the market. It remains the ONLY vector based system. It deserves props for that alone. Honourable mention is the NeoGeo. SDK's wunderkind's games still look good in a 21st century world, something that no other of it's contemporaries can claim. I remember walking into a store and seeing one set up for demo. My jaw hit the floor by it's graphical prowess and it's price. I remember going home and trying to figure out how I could buy one and still pay rent/electrics and buy food for the next few months. Sadly my earnings at the time put me in a much lower game-price-bracket. And by the time I was financially able to make ill-advised purchasing decisions, I was buying 3Dfx cards and Soundblaster's. I really feel the NeoGeo deserved a higher ranking, but at least it was there.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I was pretty gutted the Vectrex didn't make it, especially as it missed out by just ONE point. Like you say, it's a truly unique console, I love mine!

[@PeBoVision]

@@TheLairdsLair I sold mine (with a complete library) a few months ago (I bought it as an investment, so it lived up to that intent). But every day I look over at the sideboard that used to be its home, and get a little teary-eyed. I truly did love mine. Glad to hear it made it NEAR the top.

[@colinmcdonald2499]

@@TheLairdsLairThe Vectrex, of course, deserves to be ranked top 20. It just wasn't common enough to do it/make it. I think the fact that Neo Geo had huge arcade hits that many played and a large percentage of that many knew could be played at home, somewhere on the globe, helped it inch in where the Vectrex was inched out. I was lucky to play the Vectrex once or twice in 1984 or so. I have never once touched a Neo Geo console controller in my life. It is a unicorn. So is the vectrex.

[@IsaacKuo]

If you're interested in board/video game hybrids, you should check out Chivalry (Apple ][). It was a really addictive computer game that saw a ton of play in school computer labs of the time. I'd guess that the majority of people who played it did so without ever having seen the board. But it wasn't really necessary to have the physical board to play the game.

[@Pon3TorLord]

As the SNES and Megadrive managed to top the list, I would've hoped PC Engine and Neo Neo would be higher up. I guess that's mostly because they're more obscure and less people have played them.

[@Charlesb88]

Going through this list, of the systems mentioned either I or a sibling of mine owed most of these and as a result I played most of these at the time of release. The systems me or other siblings had (I put a * next to systems I owned or at least regularLy played, the others belonged to my sister so only played them a few times): 1. Atari 2600/VCS* 2. NES* 3. Sega Genesis/MegaDrive + MasterSystem addd-on + Sega CD add-on.* 4. Super Nintendo 5. Nintendo Gameboy* 6. Sega GameGear* 7. Atari Lynx* 8. Nintendo 64 9. Sony Playstation* 10. Sega Dreamcast* 11. PS2 12. X-Box 1*

[@frankbrodie5168]

As a SNES fanboy of many years by the time the original XBox released my memories of the XBox's release are somewhat comical. I'd met my future wife by then, and adopted a disabled daughter. And we were planning and having our 2 biological kids also. So I was writing a daily diary 'blog' of sorts on a popular gaming website of the day. (a diary which lasted 2 years fwiw. By which time our 2nd daughter was born.) One day I posted.. - "Fancy buying that new console the XBox. Might be cool to upgrade from my SNES after all these years.." Couple of days later.. - "Bought an XBox and a few games.. About to try it out.." Couple of days later again.. - "Sold the XBox to my mate for £50.. He's been robbed. And so have I.."

[@jayme69]

Great video as always and happy enough with the list but "Wot No Philips CDi" ;-) #SegaDoes

[@frankbrodie5168]

My mate owned a Jaguar. We laughed at him for a solid year as I recall. Clearly, it's objectively not a bad console for the games available on it. It was however, objectively awfully marketed.

[@BigBossCQCLegend]

When the Nintendo Switch Becomes an Retro Console it will be near the Top of Everyone List and it’s Easily the Best Nintendo Console of All Time and the N64 is Good but it’s overrated in my opinion and I’m surprised the GameCube didn’t make the List and “Sega Does What Nintendon’t”

[@TheLairdsLair]

The Wii is by far my favourite Nintendo console, not a fan of the Switch at all.

[@smallmj2886]

And the console that is still connected to my TV is: the Wii.

[@seany84uk]

I think the mega drive deserves to be no1 for us uk fans but i think the usa would say the nes would be for different reasons in how they changed each others countries gaming landscapes.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Interestingly if you split the votes up between Europe/UK and US/Canada, which was really easy to do because you can see who said Genesis instead of Mega Drive, it's roughly even, so I don't think that would have changed the overall result. However, I did find that very few people from UK/Europe voted for the NES and very few people from US/Canada voted for the Master System, so that was the vote that was really split.

[@seany84uk]

@@TheLairdsLair yes that would appear to be right. I always saw the nintendo consoles as 2nd place back in the day

[@CountScarlioni]

It was always going to be the Mega Drive wasn't it!! I can't help but feel that it was kind of unfair making hand-helds play off against their bigger non-portable siblings. It would surely be more fair to give hand held gaming its own (if rather more limited) list. Still, I'm delighted to see the Lynx get some much deserved love. I never owned one at the time, but my god I burned with jealousy for those who did! Although I don't think the top 5 contained any real surprises I think the list overall is very much dictated by retro fanbase size and nostalgia. Less so a snapshot of contemporary market influence, cost of hardware, technical capability vs era or game library size/quality. Otherwise I think results would be quite different. But all that said these videos have been a real joy to watch, and the effort put into it all was tremendous. I think it's fascinating seeing how popularity and rating of systems can change over the decades.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I did consider excluding handhelds from this poll, but then there would have been arguments over the inclusion of the Nintendo Switch, so I left it as is and will do a handheld only poll at some point in the future.

[@CountScarlioni]

@@TheLairdsLair That makes sense. I shall look forward to it!

[@1-eye-willy]

on ps1 yu have the quote for the dreaamast

[@MistahJigglah]

What does "greatest" mean? Because if were talking groundbreaking for example I'd probably say: 1: NES (Not even close, it's the epoch moment) 2: Pong (any of them) 3: Original PlayStation (N64 is getting a footnote here for architecture alone) 4: Nintendo Wii 5: Atari VCS/2600 (Sorry Channel F) 6: Whatever the first major VR system was(I don't care about VR systems enough to look into it for even 5 seconds, though I'm not so ignorant as to ignore their obvious impact.) 7: Everything else, the Switch should probably make the list, and if we're counting handhelds the Gameboy is #3. However, if its just favorites: 1. SNES 2. Sega Genesis 3. NES 4. N64 5. Switch 6. Dreamcast 7. Atari 7800 8. PlayStation (OG) 9. TurboGrafX16 10. Xbox 360 (despite many things) GameCube gets honorable mention for the controller alone If were counting handhelds the OG Gameboy #3 on list 1, the GBA is #3 on list 2. Those are very different lists, for very different reasons.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Greatest means different things to different people, I left that open as I didn't want to impose any kind of voting regime. Just to prove my point, the NES wouldn't even make my Top 20, but to an American I can see why it would be different.

[@frankbrodie5168]

To this day I keep an N64 controller on a nearby shelf, despite NEVER having owned an actual N64 console. And why did I never buy an N64? Because of that controller. Whenever I feel in need of a little cheering up, I walk over to my shelf and pick up the controller. And suddenly my whole day is brightened up as the thoughts rush through my head that my life isn't as bad as the life of the bozo who thought that the design of this controller was in any way acceptable.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I agree, it's horrendous. My brother had a N64 and I never played on it for that very reason.

[@esperago]

You really should follow this poll/video with another poll: "If you could only have one console for the rest of your life, what would it be?" Everyone's answer SHOULD match with their favourite console, right? I mean, that's why it's your favourite. But I betcha everyone's answers will be totally different... which leads to the next question: "How could the console you'd keep for the rest of your life not be your favourite console?" Which will then cause people to really dig and take a deep look at whether or not their favourite console is really their favourite or if, perhaps, just perhaps they're high on nostalgia. lol.

[@TheLairdsLair]

It would certainly be interesting, perhaps I'll pose that question in the future. If you asked me then my answer would still be the same, Sega Mega Drive, but I have no doubt for others it would probably change.

[@edgarmaestre6622]

Yessssss SEGA wins!!!

[@josephrowe2202]

The Jaguar? I own one now and I also got one for Christmas back in 94. There's literally less than 10 good/decent games for the thing and a lot of those have aged terribly or have better versions elsewhere. It's literally the worst console I've ever owned by a freaking mile...and I also own a 3DO

[@TheLairdsLair]

I completely disagree, the Jaguar has loads of good games including a lot of great system exclusives (which I have covered on my channel). A lot of people seem to agree with me too, judging by how many people voted for it here!

[@ВадимБеляев-щ3д]

лучшая та которая популярней это и есть настоящий рейтинг

[@niklasohman5021]

I do not agree with the list here, but I can't deny the greatness of the consoles in this list. I just think it was in the wrong order. I think the first playstation should have ended up higher because it was the console revolutioning 3d games for home market, you could argue some other consoles was earlier, but those were usually expensive and didn't do it as well as the playstation. And It had some killer games like Gran turismo, Metal gear solid, UFO Enemy unkown, Resident Evil, Tekken and so on, a games library that could compete with any other consoles library in this list. Though I have to admit there was a lot of games released for the playstation that was not good. And somehowe 2d graphics (16-bit era) look better today on our HD-TV:s than the first 3D-consoles do. NES and Atari VCS ranks higher for me too for a couple of reasons. But just my opinion. :)

[@jay1177]

Can’t argue with the top 2, but I’d have put the GameCube in there instead of the og Xbox

[@alk7934]

SNES was better than genesis. It just was. Much better games. Playstation should have been number 2. LOL this is just my opinion. But never did you get the TOP quality games as you did on these two systems. Genesis just cannot compare. I was there in the day. I played both systems in the day. Unless you LOVED sports games, at least in the US, the genesis just got WHOOPED. I am glad to see N64 so high up the list tho. That thing was really a slap in the face to those who loved their NESes and SNESes.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Personally I much prefer the Mega Drive - better arcade ports, better beat 'em ups and better shoot 'em ups for a start. I was absolutely shocked the N64 finished so high, that was really unexpected to me. But like you say, it's all about personal opinion!

[@alk7934]

@@TheLairdsLair Fair point. I did like the genesis back in the day. As a kid I would have loved to have a bunch of different systems just because that is how I was. I was always fascinated by the different technology different companies would bring to the market. I think I liked the SNES so much more is because of games you could only really get there. Arcade games are good. Arcade games are fun. They exist in arcades, however. The experience could be had somewhere else. My favorite games as a kid were RPGs. Squaresoft RPGs, in my opionion (again), were the highest of quality. Great music, graphics, stories, everything. Where else could this be had? Yes, Genesis had RPGS... but come on. I don't think it's any secret that they could not compare. Even Super Mario World; no sega platformer had the depth, variation, secrets, etc. ZELDA LINK TO THE PAST!! Oh my GOD. What did Genesis have to even come CLOSE to the scope of that game. Well not until Crusader of Centi which basically had to peer over at the link to the past book and copy a line or two. Even then... 1995. I know Nostalgia plays parts. I know SNES was not too hot in the EU. But man.... If arcade ports and shooters are (were) your main thing, then I can see what you mean. Just being a kid at that time, rarely did I purchase an SNES game and go "OOOOF, what a mistake!" I have never even traded a single SNES game I have owned, I value them that much. Playstation had Xenogears and I don't even have to say more than that!!! No.1 best game system A++++.

[@tylerbrunton7696]

I was there in the day too, it absolutely did not whooped. More powerful system, out years earlier. The SNES was amazing, but in the end they were closer in penetration overall than any other console generation.

[@tylerbrunton7696]

Genesis RPGS: Shining Force series, Phantasy Star series, Beyond Oasis, and so many more. Not just Crusader of Centy.

[@falksi3182]

Wrong. If Streets of Rage series, Shinobi series, Lunar series, Phantasy Star series, Shining Force series, Road Rash series, Thunderforce etc. aren't TOP quality then you've a severe skill issue. SNES has some great games, but if you think the Genesis didn't then you simply don't know it's library. I mean, that's just amazing series, I'm not even picking out individual games like Hard Corps, Comix Zone, Atomic Runner, Golden Axe etc.

[@linalmeemow]

This is why the general public shouldn't be allowed to vote, they always get things horribly wrong!

[@TheLairdsLair]

I thought it was a pretty good to be honest, better than I expected.

[@linalmeemow]

@@TheLairdsLair Not a criticism of the video, well made and enjoyable as ever. Just some weird, weird choices!

[@peterpereira3653]

I disagree the general public are the people actually buying these consoles. They also put in many hours, playing the games for them. Rather have them vote than have video games critics, and so called experts voting instead.

[@falksi3182]

Fascist