Dreamcast.

I had a retro game emulator on a burnt disc and that was the most fun I’ve ever had.

Then I dated a crack enthusiast who stole it.

iPad. It is not a console but I have most my playtime on older iPad models. (iPad 1, iPad 2, iPad Air 1st gen)

Nintendo DS had the most insanely stacked library, way too many incredible games.

It’s a shame how many of them are unlikely to ever see a rerelease on modern hardware. Or how many of them wouldn’t be the same experience even if they tried.

Probably Nintendo game cube. But from what I now a Wii U that’s modded can natively play Wii and GameCube games and emulate the earlier Nintendo games.

I like couch party games and between the Wii U and n64 there is no shortage of them.

SEGA Genesis. Altered Beast is still a favorite game.

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PC

Ooh, that’s a tough call… I really can’t say I have a single favorite, best I can do is say a favorite per generation:

1. Pong - the one that started it all. Also taught everyone about screen burn in.

2. Atari 2600 - Hands down, one of the all time greats.

3. NES - Hard to beat Super Mario 3, but my favorite game of this generation was Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System.

4. Sega Genesis - Sorry, the SNES never grabbed me, although Super Star Wars was a great game. Best home version of Street Fighter II was on the Turbo Grafx/Duo of all things.

• I’m going to add an “unofficial” generation here. You will never see this on any official list. Call it 4.5. There was a weird period of time where everyone and their cousin was doing a CD based machine. Sega CD, Turbo CD, Pioneer LaserActive, a whole bunch of crappy “set top boxes” like the Phillips CDi and Tandy Viz. The best of the bunch, with the most games and the best games was the Sega CD.

5. Playstation - Another all time great.

6. As much as I love the Dreamcast, it was murdered pre-maturely by Sega. Xbox and Halo just demolished everything else. I don’t know that we ever got an official “Halo Killer” until it suicided with Halo Infinite.

7. Xbox 360 - Sony handicapped itself with the overly complex cell processor. Games just weren’t as good as the 360.

8. PS4 - In this case, Microsoft handicapped itself by fundamentally misunderstanding why people buy consoles. It’s to play games, not “tv, tv, tv, tv, tv, sports, tv, tv, tv.”

• Another unofficial generation, call it 8.5, where you had the PS4 Pro, Xbox One S and Xbox One X - The One X was the clear winner with more power, 4K enhancements and a 4K Blu Ray player.

9. Playstation 5 - Microsoft is losing the plot with Gamepass, to the detriment of the entire industry.

It’s a 3-way tie I think. Since the Steam Deck can emulate almost anything, that’s a winner. But for legacy consoles, the 3DS and PSP have probably eaten up most of my game time. Between those two, the 3DS has a massive catalogue of games unique to its dual-screen touch interface, so…I guess the 3DS?

Probably the PS3. Got it at a time in my life when I didn’t have much direction, and then stumbled into Demon’s Souls while I thought I was waiting for Skyrim to come out. I still play my second PS3 after playing my first one to death.

I’ve had most of them, the big exceptions being the SNES and anything Sega. I think the one I’ve used the most, have had the most games for, and hands down my favorite, is the PS4.

PS3 and N64 are a close second and third.

As a kid we had the coleco.

Then I was in college and poor. Then working. And working. And working. I honestly never (re)gained the ability to fight with my thumbs, but I’m a force of nature on a bog-standard Dell keyboard and mouse.

Tough call.

Probably the PS2, for access to the entire PSX and PS2 library. But I’m afraid that it would feel dated if I actually went back it - I haven’t played one in years, and it was my childhood console gen, so it’s possible it’s the nostalgia speaking.

Definitely the Okama Gamesphere.

8 bit Nintendo