Console Generations

Which is the best Console Generation?

  • 3rd Gen - NES / Master System

    Votes: 1 3.3%

  • 4th Gen - SNES / Mega Drive / N64

    Votes: 1 3.3%

  • 5th Gen - PS1 / Saturn

    Votes: 1 3.3%

  • 6th Gen - PS2 / XBOX / Dreamcast / GameCube

    Votes: 19 63.3%

  • 7th Gen - PS3 / XBOX 360

    Votes: 5 16.7%

  • 8th Gen - PS4 / XBOX One

    Votes: 2 6.7%

  • 9th Gen - PS5 / XBOX Series X

    Votes: 1 3.3%
  • Total voters
    30
bsmaff

bsmaff

International
11 August 2003
Hertfordshire
Exeter City
There has been some talk about the current PS5 (GEN9) console generation with it probably being the worse generation some people have experienced.

Personally myself I believe this to be true with this generation not really having any exclusives apart from Spider-Man 2 and it has effectively been a generation to play PS4 games at a higher cost and slightly better graphics, with absolutely zero innovation with only Astro Boy/Bot being innovative with using the haptics controller.
A generation when VR could of been pushed only for it to be canned within 18 months with no games being developed due to lack of sales and restrictions of hardware.

So which generation do you think was the best generation?

In the poll - I have removed the Nintendo consoles from the Wii.
As Nintendo I believe are their own entity - Always innovative and unique in a gaming perspective but their consoles are underpowered and not really comparable.
 
Obviously I think nostalgia will play a big part in this as my heart says Amiga was the best thing ever.
However, my head says PS2/PS3 generations were the best as this is when games really started developing as in the original XBOX era you started having large RPG's being released and story driven games.
The PS3 generation everything then took a big jump as graphics, story telling, AI really grew.
The generations that followed PS4 and PS5 I don't really feel like games have really improved much since.
 
Really tough between the PS2 and Xbox 360 for me.

The PS2 gave me the best gaming times of my life, thanks to the Winning Eleven series (I've said it before, but I'll never forget picking up WE6FE from a local "computer fair", collecting my now-chipped PS2 from a bloke in a pub car park, getting home, applying the Fernando translation patch and playing it with my dad until he had to start his shift at work the next morning because we just couldn't believe how good it was).

But the breadth and depth of the Xbox 360 games was something else (and the Euros/World Cup games produced by Simon Humber are still absolutely brilliant football games, both in terms of the packages and the gameplay itself). So I ended up voting for that.
 
bsmaff said:
There has been some talk about the current PS5 (GEN9) console generation with it probably being the worse generation some people have experienced.

Personally myself I believe this to be true with this generation not really having any exclusives apart from Spider-Man 2 and it has effectively been a generation to play PS4 games at a higher cost and slightly better graphics, with absolutely zero innovation with only Astro Boy/Bot being innovative with using the haptics controller.
A generation when VR could of been pushed only for it to be canned within 18 months with no games being developed due to lack of sales and restrictions of hardware.

So which generation do you think was the best generation?

In the poll - I have removed the Nintendo consoles from the Wii.
As Nintendo I believe are their own entity - Always innovative and unique in a gaming perspective but their consoles are underpowered and not really comparable.
Click to expand...
A little off-topic but kind of related. There is so little innovation in gaming, drives me mad.

One example. Why is there near zero destructible environments in FPS/3rd person shooters? As just adding that element would elevate a shooter above nearly all others. As I find it so dumb when every shooter is the same thing. And it's very immersion breaking when I shoot at a box, or glass, or something wooden etc that a bullet/grenade should go through and nothing happens.

Same with football. Why do ALL football game not have enough fouls, not have teams who do time wasting, not have injuries to a realistic level, not have teams that play many varying styles. Not have teams that go 1-0 up and then park the bus and time waste galore, picking up yellows etc.

Basically I'm annoyed that games are so samey. Despite all these technological advances the games are fundamentally using none of it, they are basically same as PS2 games of same genre, with a lick of paint. I'd choose PS2 era as pinnacle.
 
I have to go with the PS2/etc generation. Just an endless supply of legendary games.
PES 3/4/5/6 is almost enough to seal it but we also have stuff like
MGS 2/3
Onimusha series
Resi 4 (first out on Gamecube)
Prince of Persia Sands of Time
Devil May Cry
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
Burnout games
SSX series
God of War
NBA Street series
Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2
Silent Hill 2
Somebody would probably add GTA series to that although those were never really my jam. I also have personal picks like Tekken 4 and Outrun 2006 and plenty others.
A golden era of gaming for sure.
 
It might be because I was in school and had a bunch of free time, but PS1 days/games were amazing. The jump from cartridge to DVD in the PS1 and those graphics were fantastic. Getting home from school, playing Syphon Filter, FF7, Vagrant Stoy, Xenogears!!!!, GT1/2, MGS, Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider 2, FIFA98 which had World Cup qualifiers. I was so invested in those games. Not to mention PES, the first PES I played (well, is it a PES game? International Superstar Soccer with Valderrama cover).

It also helped that I lived in a country where you could easily get the console modded and buy $2 games. So it was an experience to leave school with friends and go home with 2-3 games for a fun Friday night. Those were fun times. Damn, I want to put all the games that I hammered in those years, but the list would be too long
 
Ps2 era for me! Long is the list of games we enjoyed and have stories to tell. Back then I was at high school so I had plenty of time and energy to enjoy playing. I remember playing Gran Turismo 2 for hours and learning the secrests of racing which forced me to buy first wheel I owned, it was by Logitech :D even today I am sim racing becouse of that drug back then :D
endless hours of PES and master league seasons, creating my club and bring them to european glory :) good times!
 
Pagi84 said:
One example. Why is there near zero destructible environments in FPS/3rd person shooters? As just adding that element would elevate a shooter above nearly all others. As I find it so dumb when every shooter is the same thing. And it's very immersion breaking when I shoot at a box, or glass, or something wooden etc that a bullet/grenade should go through and nothing happens.
Click to expand...
Stuff like this is simply incredibly expensive to develop. There were shooters with destruction mechanics, but it turned out that those video game companies just burned money with these releases.
 
Bing Bing Wahoo said:
Stuff like this is simply incredibly expensive to develop. There were shooters with destruction mechanics, but it turned out that those video game companies just burned money with these releases.
Click to expand...
I hear you, but if you spend the time and money to create destructive environments, there by making your shooter very unique. In theory would you not then sell loads more games, make say million extra and then fund the extra development costs?
 
Pagi84 said:
A little off-topic but kind of related. There is so little innovation in gaming, drives me mad.

One example. Why is there near zero destructible environments in FPS/3rd person shooters? As just adding that element would elevate a shooter above nearly all others. As I find it so dumb when every shooter is the same thing. And it's very immersion breaking when I shoot at a box, or glass, or something wooden etc that a bullet/grenade should go through and nothing happens.

Same with football. Why do ALL football game not have enough fouls, not have teams who do time wasting, not have injuries to a realistic level, not have teams that play many varying styles. Not have teams that go 1-0 up and then park the bus and time waste galore, picking up yellows etc.

Basically I'm annoyed that games are so samey. Despite all these technological advances the games are fundamentally using none of it, they are basically same as PS2 games of same genre, with a lick of paint. I'd choose PS2 era as pinnacle.
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AI will take care of this… I have no doubt.

video games will be evolving super fast as soon as AI takes over and no hand crafting is needed.

There is always the other side of a coin… but… video games will be like super real.
 
PRO_TOO said:
AI will take care of this… I have no doubt.

video games will be evolving super fast as soon as AI takes over and no hand crafting is needed.

There is always the other side of a coin… but… video games will be like super real.
Click to expand...

The problem is AI has actually gotten worse - Games had much better AI 10-15 years ago than they ever have now.
Games are so simplistic now to support the masses
 
For me it is between SNES and PS2. The SNES basically determined my taste of games: Zelda A Link to the past, Final Fantasy 3, Theme Park, Secret of Mana, International Superstar Soccer Deluxe and NHL 95 were my most played games. I spent hours with friends in them.

And.then of course the PS2 era with it's massive amount of amazing RPGs and of course an era of sports and racing games that are unmatched: both PES and FIFA had interesting titles, Gran Turismo 4, Toca race Driver, Richard Burns, Need for Speed Underground and more. EA trying the EA Big franchise for Fun Arcade games. What a console.
 
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Voted for PlayStation2 generation as the best. However, I will say, before this PlayStation5 generation, every other generation made me excited to some extent.

The jump from NES to SNES was definitely noticeable. Most games back then ran smooth as well. The jump to 3D generation was obviously game changing. Ps2 gen was definitely the best as gameplay reached peak at that time and before the online microtransaction cancer became a thing. Ps3 and x360 generation was great for the graphical leap, finally some CGI like graphics. Ps4 gen finally gave photorealistic graphics for many games.

However, Ps5 gen completely disappointed me. On PC side, ray tracing at first made me excited. But I just can't digest the regression in image quality in motion with the current denoising era. With RT on, there is ghosting everywhere, DLSS TAA and FSR all has smearing and ghosting problems as well. Games look significantly blurrier and smeary in motion compared to early ps4 era games while the jump in photorealism isn't really that big. The price to performance of the hardwares also disappointed me. Even the highest end gpu can't maintain decent framerate with RT and the ones that are affordable on 3rd world countries can't do acceptable RT at all. The games and the political agendas of the games aren't helping either. Overall, it feels like the least exciting generation for me personally.
 
I never get the topic of "games are too political nowadays". They always have been. Command and Conquer was always about Dictatorship and Fascist governments, Deus Ex was a critique of where we are developing regarding the state infiltrating homes and basically the topic of "Big Brother" etc.

I personally don't care which gender a character has or what the topic of a game is as long as the gameplay is fun. But I do roll my eyes when I see posts like: "The star wars outlaws character is ugly, political agenda" I couldn't care less how she looks if the game is fun to play (I do enjoy it by the way classic 7/10 game).

For me all the "political agenda" topic is just people listening to internet bubbles while in reality games have always done that. Hell final fantasy 7 is basically the topic of corporations and climate change.

I just play the games and enjoy them without listening to any outrage cultures. It is more fun that way instead of getting myself involved in any of those topics.
 
Jay-Jay 10 said:
Zelda A Link to the past, Final Fantasy 3, Theme Park, Secret of Mana, International Superstar Soccer Deluxe and NHL 95
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Swap FF3 to Donkey Kong Country and this was my list of games!
Zelda and Secret of Mana, despite looking so simple, felt so magical.
Even today it's hard to find games that would give the same feeling..
Also - ISS sessions with my dad are one of the best memories from my childhood.

I had to vote for PS2 even though I never owned one. I was a PC player till PS3, but I was always jealous of my friends who had PS2. Controller was so comfy and playing on big telly with friends around was awesome.
Even tho most of the games could also be played on PC it was always frustrating experience with games crashing, controllers on PC being shite and inability to play with friends on the couch.

PS3 was also very good. There was many games that tried something innovative.
Heavenly Sword with arrows being controlled by controller movement, or even Lair, where you were controlling dragons same way.
Still waiting for Lair remake, coz even tho the game flopped, the idea was amazing.

Now, like somebody mentioned above - developers don't even try to come up with anything new. They just copy same patterns. The only thing that's changing are graphics. And even this don't change much. Since Ghost of Tsushima, that came out on PS4, no other game made me go "Wow...".

Add to it that games are being dumbed down, with hand holding everywhere, HUD looking like a Xmas Tree, quest markers, X-ray vision, clues... If you stumble upon a puzzle - you can't stop for 10 seconds to think, coz your character will tell you what to do.

And before anyone says it's nostalgia - it's not. Thanks to Xbox backwards compatibility - I have been playing a lot of old games lately and easy difficulty in them is harder than hard in today's games.

This generation (of games) has no creativity and very little passion left in it. That's why when a game like Kingdom Come Deliverance comes out - it's suddenly praised as masterpiece. Truth is - if it came out 10-15 years ago - it would be just one of many.
 
Also regarding consoles I think the N64 needs a mention. It was having less games than the PS1 but a lot of innovation and classics. Next to the obvious ones like Ocarina of Time and Goldeneye there were for example the N64 ISS series which had great graphics for that time and I liked the gameplay. I remember renaming all players on ISS 98 and playing multiple World Cups. The wrestling games were the best of it's generation and in general there were so many classics I loved like Turok 2. I remember buying Body Harvest on a school trip and being hooked to that game for weeks.

And seeing the influence it had on gaming in general with the Analogue controls and Rumble function I do think it is a very important console of it's time.
 
I voted for PS2… lots of good memories! 👌

But I’ll also never forget the Dreamcast, with its Soulcalibur or Shenmue… 😻
Just have a look at this list: https://www.metacritic.com/browse/game/dreamcast/

I’ll never forget the days during the summer, when I went to the local vhs rental store with a friend like every day. They had a dreamcast promo stand, and we were playing Virtua Tennis for hours. 😂
Till the day I finally went over to the electronic store and bought myself a Dreamcast console. Playing at home was also fun but those days at the VHS store are vividly in mind till today. 😍
 
Dreamcast was a real wow moment for me when i got that, loved PS2, but gaming for me have been the most fun between 2014 and now, could be the fact that i dont play the newest games, but the games i want and the amounts of games is pretty massive.
Yes i loved Tomb raider on the PS1, but imagine if i had the choice back then to play The witcher 3/RDR2 instead?
Each gen has a good spot in my heart though
 
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