Every Video Game Console Ranked From WORST To BEST

Few things inspire more serious debate in the video game community than which console is the absolute best. We’ve come to blows and been hospitalized many times here in TripleJump Towers over that very topic. Therefore, in a small gesture toward bringing this fractured world one step closer to peace, we have decided to rank every video game console, definitively, from worst to best. How will we be doing that? I’m glad you asked, because it gives us another chance to photoshop the Rules Boss hat onto somebody’s head. We will be evaluating each console on a number of factors, including the size of the console’s library, its lifetime sales, its price at launch, and the number of years it was officially supported. We think those are fair ways to compare systems to each other, but of course we can’t stop there. We will also be awarding consoles bonus points for the number of games they have that hold an average of 90% or higher on Metacritic, and will give bonus points to a small number of consoles that were among the most important to the industry. Which ones were they? Well, they’re the ones you’re thinking of right now, trust us. And, of course, there are a few caveats. For starters, we are not including handhelds, though we may make a separate list for those. Stay tuned. Secondly, we are not counting revised versions of the same console as their own entries – think the NES top-loader or the PS4 Pro – but we are counting add-ons, as long as those add-ons had their own unique game libraries. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, industry records are spotty, especially in the first two console generations. We tried our best to be accurate, but in many cases, reliable data simply does not exist. Also, in that spirit, people are still buying consoles as you listen to me read this sentence, so be aware that sales figures are never final and have likely changed a bit by the time you watch this video. Let’s rank ‘em. I’m Peter and I’m Ben from TripleJump, and this is every video game console ranked from worst to best. #92: First Generation (1972) Yes, we are treating the entire first generation of video game consoles as a single entry on this list. Why? Well, I think we can all agree 92 entries makes for a long enough list, and there were more than 680 game consoles released in the 12-year period we call the first generation.That’s around five new consoles released every month, more than one per week. It was without question an era of quantity over quality, not least because nearly every system was a clone of Atari’s Pong. Maybe we could call them Pong-soles? No offense to Pong, as it remains a profoundly important piece of gaming history, but did we need almost 700 knockoffs? I’ll leave it to you to decide. Actually, I won’t; the answer is no. Aside from Pong, only two consoles in this entire generation really have much significance of their own. One of them is the Magnavox Odyssey, which used physical screen overlays, peripherals, and other physical goodies to introduce more variety to its primitive on-screen technology. And the other is the Color TV-Game 6, which still contained little more than a few minor variations on Pong, but is notable for being the debut console of a Japanese toy company called Nintendo. I wonder whatever happened to them. #91: APF Imagination Machine (1979) As the first generation wound down, console manufacturers began to realize they could…you know…do something other than rename Pong. Not every experiment was successful – far from it, in fact – but boy was it nice to see some ambition. The APF Imagination Machine might have been a bit too ambitious, however. The console’s main gimmick was that it came with a built-in APF BASIC compiler; essentially a way for consumers to write and execute their own programs, or to input the code for programs others had written. However, the Imagination Machine was not successful. It received a number of glowing writeups at the time in various magazines and journals, but consumers were not convinced. We can’t blame them; there were only 15 games officially available for the system and it had a launch price of $700 – the equivalent of more than $2,400 today, cementing it as the most expensive console on this list. The Imagination Machine was designed to compete with the Atari 2600, and the fact that you won’t hear about that system until much later in this video tells you exactly how successfully it did that. #90: Worlds of Wonder Action Max (1987) We all love movies. We all love games. But I think it’s safe to say we love those two things for very different reasons. The Action Max, sadly, didn’t get that memo. See, the problem is spelled out nicely by the verbs associated with these very different kinds of entertainment. We watch movies, and we play games. They are distinct experiences by their very nature, and the Action Max did very little to bring them together. The entire Action Max library – five whole games – consists of very passive light-gun experiences. Some targets float across the screen, you squeeze the trigger, and…well, that’s it. Nothing happens, though a score counter on the console would increase if your shot connected. Hit or miss, the footage always plays out the same way. So I guess they never miss, huh ? The Action Max wasn’t the only console to try turning video cassettes into games, but it was the worst one. So… congratulations? #89: Connor VideoSmarts (1986) The Connor VideoSmarts is another video cassette-based console, this time with a focus on edutainment. It would be misleading to say it was a better console than the Action Max, but it retailed for half the price and had a game library that was four times larger, so we’re comfortable giving it the edge. Also, there’s the fact that a console like this could have some actual educational value. The video cassettes are no more interactive here than they were for the Action Max, but that’s okay; kids can learn plenty from educational videos, with or without a controller in their hands. We think it’s far more likely some kid learned from this console than had fun with the previous one. The VideoSmarts was originally released with an interface that was essentially the Windows logo rotated 180 degrees. A later version – rebranded the ComputerSmarts – had a keyboard instead, though the video cassettes themselves still didn’t give a damn what buttons you pressed. #88: Bandai Super Vision 8000 (1979) As Atari saw the 2600 gradually work its way into every living room, toy company Bandai was hoping to replicate their success in Japan. The Super Vision 8000 even launched at almost exactly the same price as the Atari 2600: the equivalent of almost $850 today. Final sales numbers are not available, but it’s safe to say the Super Vision 8000 did not take off the way Bandai had hoped it would. It did remain on shelves for around three years, but the fact that only seven games were ever released for it goes a long way toward suggesting it literally remained on those shelves. Bandai also released a few consoles during the first generation, but the flop of their later consoles, such as this one, eventually encouraged them to stop trying. The company found more success developing games for much-more-popular systems, so maybe the failure of the Super Vision 8000 was the best thing that could have happened to them. #87: BBC Bridge Companion (1985) There are consoles, and then there are educational consoles, and then there are extraordinarily specific educational consoles. That’s where the BBC Bridge Companion fits, as it was an entire console – with changeable cartridges and everything – that taught bridge. You know. Bridge. The card game Bridge. With that in mind, it’s actually quite impressive that a full nine titles were released for the system. The fact that the console was only on the market for around a year and had such a narrow focus might cause you to suspect that the BBC – yes, that BBC – didn’t actually intend for the system to have a future, and that it was just released as some kind of one-off novelty. The Bridge Companion’s game titles, though, prove that that wasn’t the case; as a few of them were marked as being the first in a series, with no further entries ever released. Someone at the BBC obviously planned for the Bridge Companion to have at least some kind of future, and I’m sure you will all agree gaming is much poorer for the fact that it didn’t. #86: Takara Video Challenger (1987) Look, another console revolving around video cassettes. That’s sure to be good. Yes, once again, you watch videos on your television and shoot at them, should you feel so inclined. There’s not much more to say about the Video Challenger itself, though there is some interesting trivia that sets it apart. For one, the included gun didn’t just deal damage to the foes on the screen; it could take damage as well, with players needing to point their gun away from attacks to avoid them. For another, there was cross-promotion with the anime Transformers: The Headmasters, allowing viewers to fire at Decepticons in the opening credits and rack up a score. That’s a sort of fun feature, we will admit. Oh, and, also, with only seven games released for the system and none of them any good, advertisements for the Video Challenger ended up showing footage from completely different, incompatible games. Hey, if you can’t sell a console on its own merits, sell it on someone else’s, right? #85: Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy (1983) It’s difficult to find much information at all about the Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy. It was a Japanese exclusive console that spent only a few months on the market, and was met with significant consumer apathy and enjoyed little to no sales success. It never got the chance to become a Gakken Compact Vision TV Man, essentially. It is one of the rarest consoles on this list, which is probably a good thing as you should by no means be tempted to find one. The console released in the third generation, but its technology was entirely the product of the second, making it obsolete before it was even on shelves. It also had a very strange control system , built right into the console. There was a handle on the left with a Start button, and a kind of joystick on the right designed to be gripped from above. The joystick had its Fire button positioned for easy reach of your thumb…as long as you were right-handed. For lefties, the Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy was virtually unplayable. They should consider themselves lucky, really. #84: Mattel HyperScan (2006) Gaming is a rather expensive habit, which is why we’re taking cost into account on this list. As much as we’d love to buy absolutely every game and console that catches our eye, we also have to pay for food and shelter. Pff, Ridiculous. It says a lot, then, that a console that sold for only $70 – about $90 today – with games that cost a mere $20 could barely shift 10,000 units. In fact, toward the end of its life, the Mattel HyperScan was discounted to $10 and games to $2, and still nobody bought it. Not that this flimsy plastic card-reader masquerading as a game console deserved much more attention. The HyperScan struggled to even load its own software, and the interminable wait to boot up the games was actually more fun than playing any of them. Only five games were released for the system, and it was discontinued in just over one year. #83: Unisonic Champion 2711 (1978) You’ve already seen a number of consoles on this list that failed right out of the gate, so it says something when The National Video Game History Museum singles this one out as being “born dead.” The Unisonic Champion 2711 isn’t just primitive by today’s standards; it was primitive in 1978 as well. If you think we are exaggerating, well, first of all, how dare you. And secondly, we’re not. The system was only able to display playing card icons and white text. In fact, it could only display uppercase white text. And the background had to be green . Needless to say, that severely limited the kinds of games that could be developed for the system. 21 titles were released, all of them either focusing on cards or arithmetic. The system sold for the positively idiotic equivalent of $600 today and was rightly laughed off the shelves in under one year. Unisonic attempted to sell it in Japan – rebranded as Casino TV Games – but it did no better there. Thank God. #82: Casio PV-1000 (1983) Casio’s first video game console was a victim of being too little, too late. It is technically part of the third generation of consoles, but its graphics and sound capabilities are far more in line with the second generation. Now, graphics and sound aren’t everything…but they are two things the system didn’t do well, and they’re not the only two. There were just 13 games released for the system — many sources claim there were 15, but two of them never made it to stores — and it was pulled from shelves after only a few weeks, never leaving Japan. It’s likely that Casio realized quickly that the PV-1000 was doomed. After all, this console released a mere three months after two others that put it to shame: Sega’s SG-1000, and Nintendo’s Famicom. Those two companies were pushing the industry forward, and the PV-1000 represented little more than an unwelcome step back. #81: LJN Video Art (1985) When gamers hear “LJN,” many words come immediately to mind…none of which we can repeat if we’d like this video to remain monetized. LJN infamously published mountains of terrible licensed games, most notably on the NES. Also, LJN made a console. And it’s exactly as good as you suspect it was. The Video Art is more of a creativity tool than a traditional game console, but that actually makes it worse. Its artistically inclined target audience was certain to be frustrated by its stiff and imprecise controller, and the tools are limited to the point that scribbling on the screen is about as complex a technique as you can demonstrate. Nine games – or, more commonly, digital coloring books – were released for the system before it was discontinued around two years later. Once again, reliable sales figures don’t exist, but feel free to ask the next thousand people you meet if they owned an LJN Video Art and draw your own conclusions from there. #80: Bandai Terebikko (1988) The Bandai Terebikko combined our two favorite kinds of consoles: it’s educational, and it uses video cassettes. Actually, on further reflection, those things are terrible. My mistake. As might be expected, no official sales figures for the Terebikko are available, but it seems to have enjoyed a decent amount of success with its target audience, as it remained on shelves for more than five years. That’s an impressive lifespan for a console with only nine games available. It also did well enough to be exported to the U.S. as the See ‘n Say Video Phone. Each of the games featured long, non-interactive videos followed by question-and-answer segments. Not very exciting stuff, but the games featured characters from Sailor Moon, Hello Kitty, and Dragon Ball Z… to even Super Mario . Kids no doubt enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with these icons, but something tells us these aren’t the times they most fondly remember. #79: VTech Socrates (1988) It’s pretty low on this list, but even we have to admit the VTech Socrates is the absolute best console of all time to be named after a Greek philosopher. Actually, we should give the Socrates its due. It was an educational console, which means it should be held, overall, to a different set of standards, but its games still looked pretty good. It also relied on a genuinely impressive early attempt at digitised speech, as a cute little robot offered guidance and instructions. What’s more, the system used a wireless keyboard, something quite advanced for 1988. The Socrates was even priced well, with a system going for today’s equivalent of $280. Only nine games were available and, as near as we can tell, the system was discontinued a year or two after release. That’s unfortunate, but the Socrates at least lasted long enough to make it to Germany, where it was rebranded “Professor Weiss-Alles.” That translates to “Professor Knows-Everything,” and that’s fantastic. #78: View-Master Interactive Vision (1988) For many of you, “View-Master” will be a familiar name. It was – and still is – a toy allowing children to view stereoscopic images, usually in the form of film embedded into cardboard discs. We’d like to say that View-Master’s experiment with a video game console is no more impressive, but the fact is…this console is genuinely quite cool. The View-Master Interactive Vision is easily the best of the video cassette-based consoles. A low bar to clear, we admit, but View-Master cracked a problem the other consoles didn’t: The company worked out how to make prerecorded footage actually feel interactive. The videos ran as normal, with the interactive “game” elements overlaid on their own layer. That’s a clever solution. Sadly however, the system saw almost no support. There were six games starring Jim Henson’s Muppet characters, one Disney game, and sod all else. The Interactive Vision left the market in under one year, but we have to admit, it did the best with the technology it had. #77: VTech V.Flash (2006) VTech tried their hand at an educational console again in the seventh generation with the V.Flash. It would be difficult to suggest that the graphics or sound capabilities were impressive for the time, as they were far more in line with the PlayStation 1 than anything actually on the market in 2006, but they were certainly serviceable, and it’s always nice to see edutainment that actually looks…well…entertaining. The price was fair, going for the equivalent of $150 today, and the games featured characters children actually liked, including Spider-Man, SpongeBob, The Incredibles, and Shrek. It was certainly a more appealing purchase than most of the other educational consoles on this list, but we know that isn’t saying much. One interesting fact is that the games used very simple copy protection, which made piracy quite easy. This would have been an issue for VTech had anybody, at all, actually cared. #76: APF-MP1000 (1978) The APF-MP1000 is the very definition of an also-ran. Released with little to nothing that set it apart from consoles already on the market, the system floundered, understandably unable to find an audience. Only 13 games were ever released for the system, and we’re being generous by counting Rocket Patrol , which was built into the console itself. And, hey, since there’s not much to say about this one, let us clear up one common misconception: Many sources online claim that the controllers were not detachable from the system. Well, they were . They were hardwired to the console, but were still detachable. So ends TripleJump’s lesson for the day. APF did attempt to salvage the MP1000 by releasing the Imagination Machine add-on, which itself was about three times the cost of the console. It allowed consumers to use the MP1000 to do their taxes and manage their personal finances. You know…things that really get gamers excited. #75: Capcom Power System Changer (1994) Capcom is one of the original classic game developers, and it’s no surprise that one point they dipped a toe into the home console market. In fact, Capcom was in a great position to do so; by 1994 the company had a number of hit franchises under its belt. What’s more, Capcom’s games were popular staples of arcades everywhere. Why not bring their own arcade hardware into the home? It was a concept that couldn’t fail… and yet it did. But why? It’s honestly difficult to say, though cost was almost certainly a factor. Perhaps surprisingly, the console itself was priced competitively; it was the games that were expensive, costing around $300 each. Considering each one was essentially an arcade game without the cabinet, that might be understandable, but it was also well out of many gamers’ price range. The Power System Changer was discontinued after only 11 games were released, having never left Japan. #74: Funtech Super A’Can (1995) The Funtech Super A’Can was exclusive to Taiwan, and the box art seems to suggest Funtech was banking on confusing people who were shopping for the much-more-popular Super Famicom . The system screams “cheap knockoff,” but, oddly, it wasn’t one. It was a 16-bit system that actually looked and played pretty darn well. Genuine effort went into building the Super A’Can and designing its games, with graphics and specs that were absolutely on par with other systems of its generation. As much as Funtech clearly tried in some areas, though, they didn’t try at all in others. The company developed its own games, without reaching out to any third parties, resulting in a total of 12 titles before they pulled the system off shelves after just over one year. #73: VM Labs Nuon (2000) In 2000, the DVD revolution was in full swing, and learning nothing from the VHS-based consoles of the past, VM Labs decided to be the first to fail at a dedicated DVD game console. In fairness to VM Labs, DVDs were far more interactive than video cassettes, but they’ve never been advanced enough to respond immediately to button presses, as most games would require. The Nuon failed, in spite of the fact that its controller looked like a Batarang. RAD. It sold an estimated 25,000 units in total, which is impressive as it only had eight games. Of course, it’s possible people bought it for the Nuon-enhanced releases of such great films as… Bedazzled, Dr. Doolittle 2, Buckaroo Banzai (okay, to be fair that one is excellent), Planet of the Apes (the crap Mark Wahlberg one), and…erm…that’s all of them, actually. Seriously, why did anybody buy this? #72: Nintendo 64DD (1999) Would you believe Nintendo made something that sold less than the Nuon? The Nintendo 64DD is one of the company’s few unequivocal flops, moving only 15,000 units. And that was in Japan, where I think it’s safe to say people love Nintendo more than they love their own mothers. Citation needed. The 64DD was Nintendo’s attempt to keep the Nintendo 64 relevant in a quickly changing landscape. The PlayStation had redefined gaming, and for the first time since the company had gotten into the video game…erm…game, Nintendo no longer seemed to be leading the pack. The 64DD was intended to soup the console up, allowing it to run more complex games, but only nine titles were ever released for it, four of which were Mario Artist paint programs…hardly the most compelling way to show off the system. When Japanese gamers rejected the 64DD, Nintendo scrapped plans to bring it to the west altogether. We’ve been grateful to them ever since. #71: Nichibutsu My Vision (1983) Japanese company Nichibutsu made everything from office equipment to yachts, and they were not averse to trying new things. The new thing they tried in 1983 was releasing the most boring game console in all of human history. The Nichibutsu My Vision is a console designed for playing electronic versions of board games…this despite the biggest draw of video games being the fact that they aren’t board games. For the insane equivalent of more than $450 today, you could own a console capable of playing a whopping six games in total, including Reversi, Mastermind, and something called Gozen Beetle. The real kicker, though, was the fact that it was actually less convenient to play this version of these games, as if you wanted to play against a friend or family member, they’d have to purchase their own console and plug it into yours. $900 for a round of Gozen Beetle? What a steal. Literally. This is theft and should be illegal. #70: Atari Jaguar CD (1995) The Atari Jaguar didn’t do exceptionally well, but compared to the Atari Jaguar CD, it was a runaway success. Released as an add-on with its own library of games, the Jaguar CD was doomed from the start. It was announced before the release of the Jaguar proper, if you can believe that, but it didn’t release until two years after the Jaguar hit shelves and everyone realized it was a bit crap. Whatever the holdup was, it can’t have had much to do with quality control. The version that made it to market was prone to frequent malfunction, to the point that it’s notoriously difficult to get hold of a working unit today. Only 11 games were released for the system, and the total cost was equivalent to $700 today, as you needed a Jaguar to use it. The console that is, not the animal. Final sales figures are not available, but only 20,000 units were confirmed to be made, meaning, at most, only 20,000 children were profoundly upset with Santa Claus in 1995. #69 [NICE]: VTech CreatiVision (1981) The 8-bit VTech CreatiVision did not fare well in the market, likely thanks to its high cost – the equivalent of nearly $800 today – and small library of games; only 18 were released, and almost all of them were clones of better games on other systems, including two different clones of Pac-Man. But the lack of success was not for want of trying. The Japan-based VTech blasted the CreatiVision out to any country that would have it…aside from the U.S., as the console was discontinued before it made it there. As a result, you will find functionally identical CreatiVisions all around the world under very different names, such as the FunVision Computer Video Games System, the Hanimex Rameses, the Educat 2002, and – we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried – the Dick Smith Wizzard . Just think…had VTech been more successful in 1981, we’d all be lining up for the midnight release of the Dick Smith Wizzard Mini today. #68: Philips Videopac+ G7400 (1983) Does the name Philips Videopac+ G7400 ring a bell? Probably not, but the failure of this particular console – it was off the market in less than one year – actually marks the end of an era; the Videopac+ G7400 was supposed to have launched in America under a very different name: The Odyssey 3. The console flopped hard enough in Europe that those plans were cancelled, and one of the most classic names in gaming was finished. The Odyssey 3 – it really is much easier to call it that – was ambitious. It had decent enough graphical and sound capabilities for the time, and a number of high-tech add-ons were planned, including a speech synthesizer and a laserdisc player, which would have made stunning games like that year’s Dragon’s Lair a real possibility for the console. Would this system have put the Odyssey back on top? We’ll never know; its brisk failure in Europe and the Video Game Crash of 1983 stopped it dead in its tracks. That’s a shame; as this could have been an interesting one. #67: Bally Astrocade (1978) Bally is known for their pinball tables and slot machines, but they tried their hands at a console exactly once with the Astrocade. Released in 1978, this is one of the earliest consoles on this list, and with that in mind I’m sure you’ll agree it looks impressive for the time. Perhaps it was even a little too impressive, as the console carried a high price tag: more than $1,100 when adjusted for inflation. It was more expensive than the recently released Atari 2600, which had immediately established itself as the must-have console of the generation. The Astrocade did not stand apart from the competition enough to warrant its higher cost, and consumers passed it by. Only 28 games were ever made for the system, but unlike many other companies on this list, Bally gave the Astrocade five years to find an audience before pulling the plug. At least they can be certain they didn’t bury it prematurely. #66: Konami Picno (1993) Hey, remember when Konami used to make great games? Of course you do. Remember when Konami used to make great game consoles? Of course you don’t, because that never happened. In fact, few people seem to remember that they made a console at all, as there is precious little information on the internet about the Konami Picno. What we do know is that it had a tablet interface, and a revised version of the console was released a year later. Oh, and one of the people who worked on the console later made…this . It seems as though 16 games and drawing programs were released for the Picno– though we can’t even be sure about that – and it cost the equivalent of less than $300 today. The Picno is a rare and strange footnote, and it’s such an unimportant one that a number of books about console history – including the main one we used to help research this list – don’t even mention it. Which means we’ve probably talked about it more than enough already. #65: Apple Bandai Pippin (1996) Apple has had great success with many kinds of electronics. Phones, music players, computers…they’ve done fairly well for themselves. So, hey, why not a game console? Enter the Apple Bandai Pippin, a system nobody wanted to buy, play, or make games for. It cost the equivalent of nearly $1,000 today, sold 42,000 units at the absolute most, and had a grand total of 18 titles available for it. That’s not the best part, though. Would you like to know the best part? Okay. When the Pippin arrived in Europe, only two of those titles were made available. It gets even better though: One of those was a demonstration disc for different hardware , and the other was Histoires d'Urologie , a medical reference disc focusing on urinary problems. We really wish we were making this up. Even collectors shouldn’t bother tracking this system down. If you do, urine for a bad time. GOT EEM. #64: NEC SuperGrafx/ PC EngineSuperGrafx if u wanna get serious about this (1989) NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 sold nearly six million units, which was nothing to sneeze at, but the company understandably wanted a presence in even more homes. The best way to do that? Take their popular console and make it better. The worst way to do that? Well…the SuperGrafx was the worst way to do that. In fairness, NEC’s attempt at a souped-up successor to the TurboGrafx-16 was more powerful, but it was also rushed to shelves, resulting in a console that wasn’t enough of an upgrade to really justify another purchase. There’s also the fact that the TurboGrafx-16 had only been on the market for around two years at this point, meaning that those who bought it were not keen to replace it already…especially when only six games in total were made for the SuperGrafx. Interesting take on the definition of “upgrade,” NEC. The SuperGrafx sold a mere 75,000 units in Japan and France. NEC showed mercy to the rest of the world and cancelled it before its stink could spread any farther. #63: Commodore 64 Games System (1990) We can’t imagine many companies with a hit on their hands sit around wondering how to turn it into a failure, but that seems to be exactly what Commodore was up to in 1990. Their Commodore 64 home computer – introduced in 1982 – was a runaway success. We can’t blame Commodore for wanting to muscle in on the console market, but we can blame them for just about everything else. The Commodore 64 Games System was little more than a repackaged Commodore 64 computer, meaning its technology was already eight years out of date. Also, it lacked keyboard support. Thanks to this, the massive computer game library that was technically compatible with the Commodore 64 Games System couldn’t be played. Nice. That would be fine if the console had a halfway decent library of its own, but only 28 games were released for it. One of them was a Terminator 2 game that required players to press a key on the non-existent keyboard , rendering it literally unplayable. It’s a sad state of affairs when that’s what qualifies as a standout title. #62: GCE Vectrex (1982) This odd little console – manufactured by General Computer Electronics but sold by either Milton Bradley or Bandai, depending upon your region – is actually quite fascinating, mainly due to its impressive vector graphics. Critics loved it, and the Vectrex has an appreciative fanbase to this day, restoring units and creating homebrew software just to keep those sweet vectors alive. So…what’s it doing so low on this list? Well, final sales figures aren’t available, but according to Gamasutra , the Vectrex lost Milton Bradley “tens of millions of dollars.” While this fact has not been verified, the Vextrex was removed from shelves in under two years, with just 29 games in its library. That hardly sounds like it was a financial success. We’d be lying, though, if we said the Vectrex didn’t have potential. Had it been embraced by more customers, its vector-based graphic technology could have led to a much different gaming landscape today. As it stands, however, it’s going to remain cherished by those lucky enough to fall under its spell…and probably not many others. #61: Amstrad GX4000 (1990) Many of you, we’re sure, didn’t even know Amstrad made a dedicated game console. At most, 15,000 of you did, as that’s the number of units sold. It existed under the slogan, “Bring the whole arcade into your home!” – you’ve got to love that non-copyright-infringing “At Man” on the right – which were bold words, considering the system only had around 25 games, the vast majority of which would not dare show their faces in an arcade. For an 8-bit system, the games on the GX4000 looked fine, but critics at the time tended to focus instead on the fact that they weren’t any fun. Controls were stiff, games were uninspired, and major developers had no interest in supporting the system. It also didn’t help that Amstrad released this 8-bit system the same year Nintendo introduced theirs and two years after Sega introduced theirs. System designer Cliff Lawson blames the GX4000’s failure, at least partially, on not being able to compete with those two companies in terms of advertising. We therefore challenge Cliff Lawson to actually play the GX4000 and say that again with a straight face. #60: Bandai Playdia (1994) Yet another educational console – and by no means the last one on this list – the Bandai Playdia didn’t really take off, and ended up never leaving Japan. Sales figures are not available, but Bandai hoped to sell upwards of 200,000 units during the Playdia’s first year. The fact that it was quickly discontinued suggests that it did not hit that target. The system’s main competition came from Sega’s Pico – which we’ll get to – and in a desperate attempt to sell it to someone, this educational console was rebranded halfway through its life to focus instead on content that would appeal to teenagers, such as anime and pop idols-related media. The gambit might have helped a bit, but mainly it ended up confusing the console’s purpose. Parents wouldn’t buy an educational console that had abandoned educational content, and teenagers could get their…erm…idolfix elsewhere. #59: SSD COMPANY LIMITED XavixPORT (2004) Yes, the shouted parts are capitalized, because the console is yelling at you for not buying it. Sales figures are not available, but only 14 games were released for it, which suggests it was far from successful. As you might guess from one of the words that is sort of in its name, the XavixPORT was a sports-based console. It featured wireless controllers shaped like boxing gloves, tennis rackets, and baseball bats, allowing games to be played with a mixture of buttons and motion controls. Sounds like an obvious Wii knock off, right? Well, the XavixPORT released in 2004, and the Wii didn’t hit shelves until 2006. We truly doubt the XavixPORT inspired Nintendo – hell, we truly doubt Nintendo even heard of the XavixPORT – but it’s a fascinating case of parallel invention. Speaking of Nintendo, the XavixPORT was designed by a number of the engineers who worked on the NES, but we can safely assume they weren’t the most talented ones. #58: Emerson Arcadia-2001 (1982) The Emerson Arcadia-2001 existed. We can say that for a fact. It was marketed under at least 35 different names around the world. We can say that for a fact as well. Beyond that, not much is known. As IGN put it, “It was born, it died, and it was forgotten, almost in the same breath.” It received little attention when it launched in May 1982, and even less when it was discontinued a mere 18 months later, with literally no human being noticing it was even gone. Emerson didn’t have any unique or exciting ideas to bring to the table, so they brought a fairly basic, run-of-the-mill console that stood apart from the competition in no way. Actually, that’s not entirely true. Emerson did market the Arcadia-2001 as a portable games console. And, in the sense that anything that can be lifted by two human arms is technically portable, that was true. However, the fact that you’d also have to have a portable television and portable power supply – not very common in 1982 – made this selling point strictly hypothetical. #57: Casio Loopy (1995) Here’s a fact: Girls like video games. That’s probably not mind-blowing to you, but in the 80s and 90s, the industry refused to believe that young girls enjoyed the likes of Mario and Sonic just as much as boys did. And so, they behaved as though young ladies would have to be “won over” in ways that simply had no basis in reality. Enter the Casio Loopy, also known as “My Seal Computer,” which I feel obligated to mention only because that’s hilarious. Marketed exclusively toward little girls, this bizarre console came with a thermal sticker printer. Girls could either design their own images or print premade ones during gameplay, and we’re absolutely positive none of them looked upon their brothers playing Mortal Kombat with any jealousy whatsoever. Only 10 games were made, all of which had to do with shopping, fashion, or flirting; the only three things girls ever did or ever will enjoy. I think I speak for everyone at TripleJump when I say, “If the PS5 doesn’t print stickers instead of unlocking Trophies, I’m simply not interested.” #56: ZAPiT Game Wave Family Entertainment System (2005) Just about every console has its share of quiz-show games, either officially or unofficially based on familiar formats. The ZAPiT Game Wave Family Entertainment System is the only console based entirely around the concept, however. It was essentially a barely more powerful DVD player that allowed up to six competitors, each with their own remote controls, to play against each other in trivia and puzzle games. It launched at a low price – around $130 today –and wasn’t a terrible idea for a console, but it was a pretty unnecessary one. By 2005 there was no shortage of options in the world of gaming, and any of them would have much more variety. Then again, no other console had Veggie Tales: Veg-Out! Family Tournament , so…swings and roundabouts? In total, this console sold about 70,000 units in the U.S. and Canada. Not all that impressive, but it somehow remained on store shelves, collecting dust, until 2009 – four years later. We’ll give them points for tenacity, at least. #55: Tandy Memorex Visual Information System (1992) Ideally, you want to get your system in front of as many customers as possible. You want people to see it on shelves wherever they go. You want it to appear in their advertisements. So why did Tandy sell the Memorex VIS exclusively at American electronics retailer Radio Shack? Probably because they knew it was a bit crap. In 2015, ex-Radio Shack store manager Joe Duncan shared the many, many reasons for the system’s failure. Fuzzy graphics, underwhelming “games” – the majority of which were narrated storybook slideshows – and the fact that parents could get their kids an SNES for $400 less were just a few nails in the coffin of the Memorex VIS. Duncan even said his colleagues joked that “VIS” stood for “virtually impossible to sell.” To the system’s credit, 70 titles were available. To its much larger discredit however, it sold only 11,000 units in total, making it the third-worst-selling console on this list. #54: Interton Video Computer 4000 (1978) The Interton Video Computer 4000 mainly had a presence in Germany, though versions of slightly different designs and under completely different names were released elsewhere. The funny thing about the redesigns is that the cartridges and cartridge slot were different on each, so that even though each version of the system was technically able to play games from the other versions, they wouldn’t physically be able to fit. Exactly how many VC 4000s were sold is impossible to know, thanks to its many variants, but units come up for auction often enough that it doesn’t seem to be especially rare. 40 titles were released for the system, all of which, as you can see, are primitive by today’s standards, but they were more or less in line with other offerings of the time and enjoyed a lifespan of about five years. It sold for the equivalent of around $575 which is, of course, madness in hindsight, but the VC 4000’s biggest issue is that there was just nothing to set it apart from the competition. #53: Daewoo Zemmix (1985) Its name may look like a particularly difficult set of Scrabble tiles, but the Daewoo Zemmix is actually a long-defunct console exclusive to South Korea. Well, it was technically a series of consoles that all shared the name Zemmix, but we won’t get into that as this entry is going to be hazy enough as it is. Regarding the number of games available for the Zemmix – any Zemmix – no reliable figures exist. Regarding the sales of any particular Zemmix model, no reliable figures exist. Regarding the years during which each model was manufactured…well, you get the idea. As such we were at a bit of a loss in terms of how to place this. What we do know is that Zemmix units were produced for almost exactly 10 years, which we think speaks to at least moderate success. Also, the Zemmix was compatible with games designed for the MSX computer architecture, so it had plenty of titles available at launch. Beyond that, though…yay Zemmix? #52: Epoch Cassette Vision (1981) The Epoch Cassette Vision was intended to be a more economical gaming console, costing very little when compared to other systems – the equivalent of less than $170 today – which was probably not a bad idea. That’s the only way in which the Cassette Vision stood out, though. The games were not particularly advanced for the time, and there were only 11 of them. The controls were built right into the console itself, making gaming awkward and uncomfortable. And while Epoch had its eye on expanding to other markets, a lack of consumer interest kept it from ever leaving Japan. At one point Epoch doubled down on the appeal of having a low cost and released the Cassette Vision Jr. for around a third of the price. It didn’t do much to generate interest, however, and both versions of the system were discontinued with only around 400,000 units sold in total. #51: VTech V.Smile (2004) VTech tried to kickstart an educational console craze a number of times, bless ‘em. In 2004 they launched a number of console variants under the V.Smile name, with differences including voice input and motion controls. Those are two clever ways to engage children who can’t yet read, we must admit, and the price was certainly right; with units costing the equivalent of just under $82 today. They even had a decent selection of licensed characters in the system’s 70-game library, including Batman, Bob the Builder, Blue’s Clues, and possibly some things that didn’t begin with B. Reliable sales figures are not available, but considering the fact that the company focused its attention on the V.Flash – this console’s successor – only two years later, we have to suspect they didn’t quite meet VTech’s expectations. Still, it was not a bad system and, as we’ve seen, when it comes to educational consoles, you could do much worse. #50: RCA Studio II (1977) Many failed consoles come with humorous stories, but the RCA Studio II actually comes with a pretty sad one. Joseph Weisbecker, an engineer working for RCA, spent years toying around at home with computer designs and console ideas. He was unable to convince his management at work to produce a console, until finally they released the Studio II using a CPU designed by Weisbecker himself. The problem was that by the time they agreed, the technology was already well out of date. Had RCA listened to Weisbecker sooner, the Studio II might have found an audience. Instead, the product Weisbecker fought so hard for turned out to be an embarrassment for his company. It was discontinued just after Christmas 1977, having sold only 53,000 units. There is a positive Studio II fact, however. The system featured TV Schoolhouse I, Speedway, and Tag…three games developed by Weisbecker’s daughter, Joyce. This makes her the first professional female game developer in history. #49: Tomy Pyuuta Jr. (1983) In 1982, Tomy released a basic computer system called the Pyuuta. Depending on where you grew up, you might have heard of it referred to as the Tomy Tutor, or the Grandstand Tutor, but you probably didn’t because we can’t imagine anyone ever talked about it. In 1983, Tomy scaled back that computer and released it as a video game console called the Pyuuta Jr. There was no real reason to do this aside from the fact that other companies had consoles on shelves and Tomy thought, “We’d like to have some money, too.” The library consisted – as far as we can tell – exclusively of games already released for the Pyuuta, and there were only 26 of them. The Pyuuta Jr. did nothing to introduce Tomy as a serious contender in the market, and in fact this console and its computer-system predecessor only moved a combined total of 140,000 units. #48: Zeebo (2009) Actually, since Zeebo is the name of both the manufacturer and the console we should probably call this the Zeebo Zeebo, but I’ve already said Zeebo more times in this sentence than I expected to say in my entire life. Intended to give Brazil its own foothold in the industry, the Zeebo was designed to be an inexpensive console that would allow gamers to enjoy their hobby without paying exorbitant import costs. As a result, the Zeebo relied on digital content distribution, which also went a long way toward thwarting piracy. Eventually the Zeebo expanded to other markets, such as Mexico, and found support from major developers including Namco, Capcom, and Activision. Its library of around 60 games mainly consisted of ports, but it did have a few exclusives as well. All told the Zeebo only sold 40,000 units, but considering the fact that it was specifically designed for developing markets, that’s not a figure to be ashamed of. #47: Pioneer LaserActive (1993) The LaserActive was one of a few multipurpose consoles that intended to bring reference materials and artistic experiences into the living room. Think the CD-i, for example. In terms of sheer hardware, the LaserActive wasn’t a terrible product, but its ridiculous price – almost $1,800 today – and limited library – 36 titles, few of which can even be classified as “games” – held it back from any kind of real success. It was outsold by the CD-i at a rate of around four-to-one, and that thing was a hunk of crap. Here’s the truly weird bit, though: With the purchase of additional attachments, the LaserActive was able to legally play Mega Drive and TurboGrafx-16 games. That immediately gave customers access to two quite strong libraries of around 1,500 titles. Probably should have advertised that feature just a bit more prominently, Pioneer; it was a really good one. #46: iQue Player (2003) In the year 2000, China enacted a ban on consoles as their way of fighting video game addiction. Just leave it to Nintendo to find a solution that adhered to the letter of the law and still made their games available to Chinese fans. Nintendo worked with tech entrepreneur Dr. Wei Yen to develop the iQue Player…a console that wasn’t a console. For just over the equivalent of $100 today, Chinese gamers could purchase what was essentially a plug-and-play Nintendo 64, minus the branding. Games were downloadable either at dedicated stations called iQue Depots or over the internet, the latter making iQue Player the home of Nintendo’s first true digital distribution service as we know it. Only 14 games were released for the system, but they were important ones, including Super Mario 64, Animal Crossing, and Ocarina of Time. Impressively, though games were only released until 2006, the iQue Player servers remained online until 2018. For Westerners, the iQue Player is an interesting little footnote. For the Chinese market, though, it was a crucial part of gaming history. #45: Fairchild Channel F (1976) The Fairchild Channel F isn’t often spoken about with nostalgic reverence, but it was a genuinely important device. It was the first console to use a microprocessor, and it’s the console that introduced the concept of programmable ROM cartridges to the industry. It also had a pretty interesting take on a joystick , as their version was essentially what we’d now call a thumbstick. It had eight-direction controls and could either be pressed, pulled, or twisted for additional inputs. Pretty innovative stuff all around. Sadly, the Channel F didn’t catch on. Over the course of its seven years on the market it only moved around 250,000 units, lagging behind the more popular systems of the era. This wasn’t helped by the fact that fewer than 30 games were available for the system, and only a few of them were seen as worth owning. Ultimately, Atari and Fairchild were duking it out for the same audience, and we know who the winner ultimately was. #44: Commodore CDTV (1991) One of several home systems that aimed to provide more than video games, the Commodore CDTV went head to head with the Philips CD-i for an audience that, quite frankly, wasn’t all that big. It even sold at the same astronomical price point of $1,000, or around $1,900 today. It’s no surprise companies such as Commodore and Philips assumed an all-in-one unit would be popular. They thought people would love a singular device that let them connect to the internet, play games, read the news, and keep in touch with friends. In fact, that singular device is indeed popular today: It’s your smartphone, and not some cumbersome, beastly machine that sits in your living room reminding you of all the money you wish you could have back. The CDTV barely sold at all, moving fewer than 55,000 units before being discontinued. Commodore gave it more than a year on shelves and stocked it with a library of 155 titles, but the interest just wasn’t there. #43: Atari XEGS (1987) With the XEGS, Atari proved conclusively, once and for all, that they had no idea how initialisms work. “XEGS” evidently stands for XE Video Game System. What does that “XE” stand for? Who knows. Where did the V that starts the word “video” go? Who knows. Are we going to stay up all night worrying about it? You know. The XEGS was an interesting system in that it was sold as either a console or a computer. The less-expensive console version was marketed toward gamers, and the pricier computer version was marketed toward families who might have a wider range of uses for it. But it just wouldn’t be an Atari product without a series of terrible decisions behind it. In this case, it was the fact that the XEGS shared shelf space with two other completely different Atari consoles: the 2600 and the 5200, both of which were more popular and had larger game libraries. The XEGS was discontinued with only 130,000 units sold. #42: Epoch Super Cassette Vision (1984) Hey, remember the Epoch Cassette Vision? Probably not. We only talked about it 10 entries ago and we don’t remember it either. Well, Epoch released a successor to the system, this time called the Super Cassette Vision. They should be proud of the fact that they beat Nintendo to the “Super” title by about six years but…that’s probably all they should be proud of. They did at least triple the size of the previous console’s library, which is a wonderful thing until you do the maths and realize that still means this system only had 30 games. The really interesting thing about the Super Cassette Vision, though, is its decidedly feminine variant : The Super Lady Cassette Vision came in a pink carrying case designed to look like a makeup kit. It even came with a game called Milky Princess, presumably just so we’d have more ways to make fun of it today. Honestly, we’re just relieved that this trend died out after this console and the Loopy. Otherwise Sony would be out there marketing Lady PlayStations. Or PladyStations? #41: Atari Jaguar (1993) This is the way Atari ends; not with a bang, but a Jaguar. Despite being the undisputed king of the second generation – and arguably the first – Atari spent each subsequent generation not just trying to get back on top, but to get anywhere at all. Their final standalone attempt came in 1993 with the Jaguar, which they attempted to market as the very first 64-bit system, demonstrating either that they didn’t know how to calculate bits, or that they hoped nobody else did. Only 50 games were released, reportedly due to the hardware being buggy and difficult to develop for. This led to many developers simply not bothering. Atari also seemed to be trying to set the world record for least-comfortable controller , which made the system even less appealing. All told, the Jaguar shifted south of a quarter of a million units before its fate was sealed by the releases of the much-more-popular Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation. #40: NEC PC-FX (1994) After the moderate success of their TurboGrafx-16, electronics company NEC hoped to hold on to their place in the crowded gaming market with the 32-bit PC-FX. The fact that you’ve heard of the TurboGrafx-16 and haven’t heard of the PC-FX tells you exactly how well that went for them. The PC-FX was underpowered compared to other 32-bit consoles, as it did not have a 3D polygon-based graphics chip…a big problem in the generation of 3D polygon graphics. What really sunk the console, though, was the fact that it released while the TurboGrafx-16 was still popular in Japan. Fans were reluctant to shell out for the expensive new console – almost $900 today – when the one they already owned was treating them just fine. But hey, that’s just Japan, right? Surely the PC-FX would fare better in other markets. And it might have, except that NEC didn’t release it anywhere else. Whoops! #39: Atari 5200 (1982) Atari wanting to release a follow-up to its massively successful 2600 makes sense, but almost nothing else about the 5200 does. For starters, it’s barely an incremental upgrade; much of the system’s technology was on par with the 2600. In fact, both systems are so similar, they belong to the same console generation. Despite this, the enormous library of the 2600 was not compatible with this new system. If that were simply not possible, technologically speaking, we’d understand…but it was! Atari saved backwards compatibility for a later, upgraded version of the system. The 5200 didn’t get many of its own games because – and I swear I am not making this up – Atari kept its game development focused on the 2600, which had a larger install base. The console understandably sold about one-thirtieth of what the 2600 sold. And, trust me, that was for the best. #38: Sega 32X (1994) The 32X was one way in which Sega attempted to prolong the life of its Mega Drive/Genesis. Quite why they’d want to do that in late 1994 is beyond us, however. The Sega Saturn released the very next day in Japan, and there was never any doubt that it would soon come to the West. 40 games were released for the 32X, most of which didn’t even take advantage of the increased power of the hardware. In fact, very few 32X games stood out as must-haves. Knuckles’ Chaotix…maybe? A port of Doom missing a third of the content? A shoot-em-up starring a hummingbird ? Please, don’t all stampede at once. Ultimately the 32X moved 800,000 units, which doesn’t sound all that disappointing until you learn that many of those ended up being sold at massive discounts – as low as $20 toward the end – just to move unsold stock. Oh well. It could have been worse, we suppose. The 32X could have come packed in anthrax. #37: Amiga CD32 (1993) Unlike most other failed consoles on this list, the Amiga CD32 actually had a fairly strong launch, accounting for almost 40% of all CD-ROM sales that Christmas. Critics at the time were impressed by the hardware, and gamers, at least for the moment, seemed willing to give it a chance. So, what went wrong? Well, debt. Amiga’s parent company, Commodore, owed $10 million for a patent used by the machine, and paying it meant they couldn’t afford to pay their manufacturing facility, which understandably held the stock of CD32s hostage until…y’know…they got paid for making them. Since those systems couldn’t be sold to bring in more money, Commodore declared bankruptcy in 1994, and the Amiga CD32 was officially dead after only eight months. Strangely, the unsold stock ended up finding homes in some unexpected places, powering interactive museum exhibits, slot machine hardware, and even license tests for new drivers. Of course, when a game console ends up being used for everything aside from games, that’s hardly something to crow about. #36: Fujitsu FM Towns Marty (1993) Great Scott, it’s the FM Towns Marty! You might assume that this Japan-exclusive console is mainly notable for having the silliest-sounding name in history. And you’d be right. Seriously, good work. But it honestly was not a bad system. It was one of the earliest 32-bit systems on the market, and fully backwards compatible with computer systems under the FM Towns name, giving gamers immediate access to a library of more than 400 titles. The games on the system looked amazing for the time, with critics referring to a number of ports as “arcade perfect.” So, what happened? Sadly, not much. Its high price point – it went for the equivalent of almost $1,000 – and stiff competition from established console manufacturers kept it from becoming the phenomenon it, in all honesty, could have been. On the bright side, its failure meant that not many children had to humiliate themselves by asking for something called the FM Towns Marty. #35: Atari 7800 (1986) Atari did its best to regain some traction after the failure of its 5200, attempting to atone for the many sins of that console. It was backwards compatible with the 2600 from launch, giving consumers immediate access to hundreds of titles. It included redesigned controllers to be…well, less crap. And its graphical capability represented a notable improvement, as well. By some measures, it performed better than its predecessor. It had more games – though not by a wide margin – and stayed on shelves for around six years, as opposed to the 5200’s two years. It was even significantly less expensive than either that or the 2600. Sadly, development of the system was delayed as Atari sold its consumer division. When it finally did release, manufacturing delays meant that sales of the 7800 were limited to a measly 100,000 in the first year. Beyond that, the NES and the Sega Master System bookended the 7800’s release, and the console could not possibly compete. #34: SNK NeoGeo CD (1994) The Neo Geo AES – which we will discuss in due time – had at least one major flaw: Its cartridges were around six times the price of games for other consoles. SNK sought to rectify this with the Neo Geo CD. It was a very similar system with a very similar library, but one that used far-less-expensive CD-ROM technology. The games looked and sounded great on the Neo Geo CD, but the load times were abysmal. It would sometimes take one minute or longer for games to load new stages or areas, and this frustrated both critics and fans. SNK promised a faster-loading version was on the way, but consumer interest had already waned and the improved version was only released in Japan. All told it sold around half a million units, and is remembered nowhere near as fondly as the Neo Geo AES. #33: Sega SG-1000 (1983) Sega’s console history is often defined by the company’s rivalry with Nintendo, and while we’d love to say it’s more complicated than that, it really isn’t. Sega’s very first console, the SG-1000, was developed in direct response to the news that Nintendo was developing its Famicom. Both companies were well known in the arcade space, and Sega did not want to be left behind. The SG-1000 was released the very same day as the Famicom, in the hopes of stealing a bit of Nintendo’s thunder. It didn’t work. As Chris Kohler put it for Wired , “Few have heard of it, even fewer have played it, and the games weren't that great anyway.” The system wasn’t a complete bust however; it sold two million units. Considering the fact that the Famicom sold sixty-two million units, though, it’s fair to say Sega realized they’d have to step up their game if they were going to be able to compete. And, hey, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to come up with some kind of memorable mascot, right? Maybe someone who could go toe-to-toe with Mario? Just a thought… #32: Philips CD-i (1991) Are you surprised to see the CD-i so high on this list? Trust me, I am, too. I will make clear, though, that it’s not because the legendary awfulness of this console has been exaggerated…it’s just that so many others managed to be worse. In the CD-i’s defense, it was not primarily designed as a console. It was intended to be more of an interactive tool for education and commercial purposes, and that at least somewhat makes up for the fact that it ended up being home to some of the worst video games of all time. The CD-I actually fared well by many of our criteria. It was supported by Philips for an astounding seven years – long after it was a proven commercial failure – and it had just under 200 games in its library. We won’t claim that it was a good console – in fact, let me be absolutely clear: It was not a good game console – but it had a richer life than most critics would have you believe. Still, don’t buy one. It really is the pits. #31: Magnavox Odyssey 2 (1978) The Odyssey, released in 1972, is commonly referred to as the very first home video game console. As ever, it comes down to how one personally defines “video game console,” but without question it was the earliest one to make any kind of impact with a wide audience. The Odyssey 2, therefore, had quite a lot to live up to. Surprisingly, it succeeded. Whereas the original Odyssey was considered a rousing success when it moved 350,000 units – remember, this was before there was technically even an industry – the Odyssey 2 sold two million. It represented a big step forward, both in terms of popularity and in terms of technology. The games of course look extremely simple to a modern eye, but they were novel and refreshing to the public in 1978. While Atari ultimately won the generation – its 2600 outsold this system by 15 to one – the Odyssey 2 at least kept Magnavox in the game for a few more years. #30: NEC TurboGrafx-CD / PC Engine CD (1988) Just one year after launching its TurboGrafx-16, NEC was already releasing add-ons to bring the console up to the level of performance it probably should have had at launch. As we’ve seen already, console manufacturers do often release these upgrades with their own dedicated libraries to extend the lives of their systems, but when those upgrades are released while the system is still…you know…new, it makes the base console look like it was rushed out the door. Such, of course, is true of the TurboGrafx-CD – sometimes referred to as the TurboGrafx-CD-ROM-ROM by hyphen aficionados – which was released in multiple versions for maximum confusion. It had its own library of almost 150 games which, all told, is not too bad. It also, however, launched at the positively insulting equivalent of $870 today. It obviously also required the TurboGrafx-16, meaning the cost to entry for the TurboGrafx-CD was the equivalent of around $1,300. The TurboGrafx-CD sold about a million units, meaning around one in six people who owned the TurboGrafx-16 sprung for it. All I can say is, I hope they’re happy. #29: 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (1993) Often referred to as a console for simplicity’s sake, “3DO” actually refers to technology and specifications that were licensed to a number of manufacturers, including Panasonic, Sanyo, and GoldStar. The idea was that The 3DO Company would collect royalties on each console and game produced, which made for a nice arrangement. The 3DO Company would not need to work out how to produce their product, and interested manufacturers would not need to develop them from scratch. It allowed everyone to focus on what they were already good at. In practice, the 3DO was plagued by the same problems faced by other multimedia systems of the era. It was expensive – the equivalent of more than $1,200 today – had a high failure rate, and had a library that leaned heavily on low-quality FMV games. The 3DO sold around two million units in total. It could have been worse, but many of those were sold in Japan, where the system had an unexpected second life as a home to pornographic titles that better-established consoles wouldn’t touch. 3DOh my. #28: SNK NeoGeo AES (1990) Just to be clear, SNK Neo Geo AES, you are allowed to use more than three letters per word. Anyway, this console was actually born as an innovative arcade system. Rather than requiring the costly and difficult work of swapping out a cabinet’s system board for another game – or replacing the cabinet entirely –Neo Geo arcade units allowed owners to simply insert different cartridges. This obviously lent itself pretty well to a home console version, but SNK didn’t think there’d be any interest. Instead, they created “rental units” in Japan, so that interested parties could borrow the system for a low cost. Demand for the rental units was higher than SNK anticipated…and with that, the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System was born. SNK understood from the very start that the Neo Geo would be a premium console. In fact, it would be the most powerful console available, as it was basically a plug-and-play arcade system. As such, they only shifted around 750,000, but that’s okay. The Neo Geo was designed for a niche audience, and that audience loved it. Well done, SNK. #27: Mattel Intellivision (1980) A classic console in every sense of the word, the Intellivison immediately established Mattel as a console manufacturer with a bright future ahead. In fact, let me just take a quick look at my notes here to see what they did next and…the HyperScan!? Oh, Jesus… Okay, well, future horrors aside, the Intellivision was the first console to really threaten Atari’s stranglehold on the industry. As a forerunner to the classic “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” commercials, Mattel ran ads featuring sportswriter George Plimpton comparing the Intellivision head to head with Atari’s aging 2600. The ads did a great job of showing off how much better the Intellivision’s games looked and played…albeit through some carefully selected examples. Ultimately the Intellivision sold three million units, around one tenth of the 2600’s sales, so it never quite seized the ball from Atari. #26: Ouya (2013) Can you believe it took us this long to get to the Ouya? Birthed from an extraordinarily successful Kickstarter – it raked in $8.5 million, almost nine times its goal–the Ouya at first seemed like it could represent an upset to the industry. Essentially an independent console, it was positioned to eat into the market domination of the big names: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. It promised a platform that was easy to develop for (in fact, every unit doubled as a dev kit), sold for a very low $99, and every game was required to offer at least some of itself to play for free. All lofty ideas, but the reality didn’t pan out. The system sold less than one million units, and game sales were abysmal. The best-selling game on the system, Towerfall, only sold 7,000 copies. The Ouya shop was flooded with shovelware and careless mobile ports, and the requirement that games be free to play caused many developers to focus on other consoles where, you know, they’d get paid. The Ouya storefront remained active until June of 2019, but I think you’ll all agree that the console died a long time ago. #25: Nintendo Satellaview (1995) Though it never left Japan, the Satellaview is an important part of gaming history, as it represents perhaps the earliest serious attempt at downloadable and streaming game distribution. It was clearly a bold idea and one that, by all accounts, was executed pretty well. During the lifespan of its Super Famicom, Nintendo entered into a partnership with Wowow, a Japanese satellite broadcasting station. The idea was that gamers could “tune in” to participate in live gaming events from their own homes. This gave Nintendo access to high-tech data transmissions that it wouldn’t have had otherwise, and brought Wowow new subscribers. It was a smart partnership, and Nintendo shifted two million units, which is pretty impressive considering it was catering to a very particular kind of audience. Of course, the fact that Nintendo held some of gaming’s most popular IPs didn’t hurt at all, and subscribers got to enjoy an impressive 114 gaming events based around Fire Emblem, F-Zero, Super Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and much more. #24: ColecoVision (1982) Upon its launch in 1982, the ColecoVision was poised to make a significant impact on the industry. Atari was struggling to recreate the success of its 2600, and heavy hitters such as Sega and Nintendo were a few years away from asserting dominance. The ColecoVision – priced low and with a pretty solid port of Donkey Kong as its pack-in game –sold one million units in just a few months, and reviews were positive. Their timing, on the other hand, could not have been worse. The Video Game Crash of 1983 was just around the corner, and it hit the ColecoVision hard. Sales slowed to a crawl. In its three-ish years on shelves, the console eventually hit two million units sold, but it wasn’t profitable enough to sustain. Coleco withdrew entirely from the console market in 1985. While it lasted, though, the ColecoVision was an impressive early console. Just how much of an impact it could have made on gaming history, we’ll never know. But we at least think it deserved to die with a little more dignity. #23: Sega CD/Mega-CD (1991) The Mega-CD has a bit of a confused reputation. While few people will argue that it was a success, it actually was not the resounding failure history has made it out to be. In fact, it launched to enthusiasm from both critics and gamers, who saw a lot of potential in the unit. It wasn’t until the system’s library swelled with underwhelming FMV games that sentiment really turned negative. Developers did support the unit quite well, releasing more than 200 games during its short life, including Sonic CD, Snatcher, and a great port of Final Fight. Much of the confusion about the system stems from this article by Blake Snow for the now-defunct GamePro Magazine, calling it the seventh worst-selling console of all time. That’s far from the case; on this list alone it outsold at least 42 others. Weirdly, Snow actually inflates the sales of the Mega-CD significantly, saying it sold six million units…a figure, so far as we can tell, that came to him in a dream. Had that figure been correct, it would have outsold even more. In reality, it sold just over 2.2 million, so… not really sure what they were talking about to be honest. #22: Microsoft Xbox One (2013) The Xbox One has the sad distinction of being the lowest-ranked living console on this list. By a decent margin, as well. Much of that is down to the fact that in the runup to release, Microsoft seemed to advertise the console exclusively by assuring gamers that it would be full of the things they already hated. The Kinect would be mandatory, and it would always be switched on. The system would require a persistent internet connection. There would be aggressive DRM. When fans questioned the wisdom of these decisions, Creative Director Adam Orth responded with an ill-considered “deal with it” tweet . Orth left the company in the fallout and Microsoft backpedaled on much of what had been said, but the damage was done. As of now, the Xbox One has sold about half of what the Xbox 360 sold. It also has half as many games, and of those a very small percentage are exclusives. With both Sony and Nintendo doing great with their latest consoles, Microsoft will have to work damned hard to win back the audience it has lost. Stranger things have certainly happened, though. #21: Sega Pico (1993) Probably the most obscure of Sega’s consoles, the Pico was their dip into the educational gaming market, and it was a decently successful one. You’re seeing footage from the later upgrade – the Advanced Pico Beena – as that one allowed games to played through a television. And, yes, okay, as they do have two different libraries they technically should be two different entries, but this list is long enough and you’re already typing angry comments about the fact that the Sega Pico placed higher than the Xbox One, so let’s just move along. The Pico sold 3.4 million units, impressive for a strictly educational console. It’s even more impressive when you consider the fact that the Beena was almost entirely Japan-only. The original Pico and 20 games came west, but that’s it. The Advanced Pico Beena however, never left Japan. The Pico line was discontinued when Sega retired from the console market. Few may miss it, but for an educational console, parents really couldn’t do much better than this. #20: NEC TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine (1987) Computer company NEC and game developer Hudson Soft pooled their talents to develop the world’s first 16-bit console: the TurboGrafx-16. The system struggled overall in America and had its European launch scaled back substantially, but it actually made some fair inroads in Japan, where it outsold the Famicom at launch. Granted, the Famicom had been on the market for two years by that point and when the Super Famicom came out it roundly kicked the tar out of this thing but, still, credit where it’s due. For its time it was a decently impressive system, and it sold for a reasonable cost: around $450 today. In the long run, though, consumers weren’t completely sold on the system’s value. Additionally, the TurboGrafx-16 had a number of add-ons available – such as the aforementioned TurboGrafx-CD – with several variations of each, confusing customers even further about what they needed and why they should buy it. Even adding a second player required a peripheral. The system sold 5.8 million units in total and is certainly remembered fondly by some, but overall the TurboGrafx-16 represented more of an experiment than a revolution. #19: Nintendo Family Computer Disk System (1986) Released only in Japan and utilizing higher-capacity disks than the Famicom’s standard cartridges, the Disk System was more than just an expansion; it allowed for Nintendo and other developers to let their creativity run wild in an industry that had just received a new rush of inspiration. This led to DiskSystem exclusives such as Kid Icarus, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda, each of which pushed the medium forward in its own way and cemented Nintendo as the leader in game design. Of course, if you lived outside of Japan, you know that you were able to play these games without a Disk System. That’s because Nintendo learned from this new hardware how to significantly increase the capacity of their standard cartridges, ultimately rendering the Disk System moot. If you’ve ever wondered why early NES games looked like this, and later games looked like this , now you know. Though it ultimately made itself obsolete, the Disk System sold 4.4 million units in Japan and had a library of over 200 games. It may never have left its homeland, but the rest of the world reaped its benefits all the same. #18: Sega Mark III/Master System (1985) Known as the Sega Mark III in Japan, this console is recognized in the rest of the world as “the one before the Mega Drive.” The Master System is not held in especially high regard today, for two big reasons. The first is that it’s been eclipsed by Sega’s later, better-received consoles. The second is that it paled in comparison to its rival, the NES. Technically speaking, the Master System’s hardware was more advanced than that of the NES, but its relatively limited library – around 300 games compared to almost 1,800 on the NES – and slightly higher price tag didn’t convert many Nintendo fans. The Master System fared better in Europe than in the rest of the world, but it wouldn’t be until their next console that Sega became a force to be reckoned with. Interestingly, the Master System was still in production in Brazil as late as 2015, making it the longest continuously produced console in history. Fascinating stuff, but we have to wonder why they didn’t keep producing a more beloved console. Such as, say… #17: Sega Saturn (1994) The Sega Saturn is one of the rare failed consoles that makes us wistful for what could have b een. Ultimately, it was a victim of timing. Sega launched the system soon after a glut of unnecessary and underwhelming add-ons for its Mega Drive. It was also, however, Sony’s fault for murdering it live on stage at E3 1995 . Immediately after Sega announced that the Saturn had been secretly launched in U.S. stores that very day for $399, Sony’s spokesman stepped to the podium, said “$299,” and sat down again to raucous applause. The PlayStation almost immediately outsold the Saturn two-to-one, and the gap only grew from there, ultimately reaching ten-to-one. In spite of a number of well-reviewed games, the Saturn failed to gain traction and just barely sold more than 9 million units. The Saturn could not compete with the attention Sony was getting, and Sega moved on to its next project. The lesson here, of course, being: If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it. …because Saturn. Rings. Listen, we’ve done 75 entries already, okay? I’m tired. #16: Atari 2600 (1977) When the pop-culture hivemind thinks of “classic game consoles,” it nearly always settles on the NES and the Atari 2600, which speaks to the profound impact both of those systems had not just on the gaming industry, but on the world. The success of Pong made Atari a household name, but with the Atari 2600, the company launched gaming into an exciting new era. Yes, the games look ancient now, but releases such as Adventure, Pitfall, and Haunted House set the groundwork for entire genres. For gamers who were used to knocking a square back and forth across a black screen, seeing nearly any Atari 2600 game in action was downright revelatory. The 2600 single-handedly turned the video game console into a living-room staple. It was the first console in history to sell 30 million units, and to this day that’s a feat that only 12 other consoles have ever managed to achieve. #15: Nintendo Wii U (2012) Pity the poor Wii U. It had the unenviable task of having to follow up the Wii, the most popular console from gaming’s most iconic brand. In a way it was destined to fail, and that’s exactly what it did. Or did it? The narrative put forth by the gaming media and even by Nintendo certainly suggests so, but the console actually sold upwards of 13 million units. To put it in perspective, that makes it the 16th most-successful console on this list. It also had an impressive library of almost 800 games. So why is it spoken of in such dismissive tones? Well, in the gaming industry, failure is relative. With the Wii U barely scratching the sales of its mighty predecessor and coming in well behind Sony’s and Microsoft’s systems, the Wii U made Nintendo look like it was losing its magic touch. If the company wanted to remain one of the big three, keeping a console alive that the rest of the industry had already written off wasn’t going to work. Fortunately, they did a bit better with their next one. #14: Sega Dreamcast (1998) Sega’s last hurrah in the console market definitely allowed the company to go out on a high note. The Dreamcast launched to a wave of excitement, had a low price point – around $313 today – and had a library of 620 games, 15 of which hold averages of 90% or higher on Metacritic. Sega clearly went all out on this last-ditch effort to stay competitive, and, for a while, it worked. The console shifted more than 9 million units in a very short time. Sega launched the system in late 1999 in western regions, but its competitors refused to allow it to gain any momentum. Sony announced its PlayStation 2, coming out the very next year. Nintendo announced what would ultimately become the GameCube. Microsoft said they’d be debuting a console soon as well. Sega’s thunder was well and truly stolen several times over. In January 2001, Sega made its own announcement: The company would withdraw from the console market entirely and focus on developing games.I must say, though, it was fun while it lasted. #13: Nintendo 64 (1996) It’s pretty high on this list – and rightly so – but the Nintendo 64 was the first indication that Nintendo’s status as industry leader was far from guaranteed. After the unbeatable triple punch of the NES, SNES, and Game Boy, the Nintendo 64 struggled for attention. It handily beat out the Sega Saturn, saleswise, but sold only a third of the units Sony’s PlayStation sold. Perhaps ironically, one of the reasons Nintendo lost ground to Sony is also one of the Nintendo 64’s strengths: It was cartridge-based. These were more reliable than the discs favored by Sony and Sega, and they virtually eliminated loading times, but they were also significantly more expensive to manufacture, turning developers towards other systems. What games the Nintendo 64 did get, though, were of pretty high quality, with some of the best-loved games of all time in its library. Super Mario 64, Super Smash Bros., GoldenEye 007, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Banjo Kazooie…the list goes on. It’s not Nintendo’s most celebrated console, but it’s far from forgettable. #12: Nintendo GameCube (2001) After the relative stumble of the Nintendo 64, the GameCube continued to divide opinions. Time Magazine referred to it as “an unmitigated disaster,” while others praised its strong exclusives and varied library of more than 650 games. Of those games, 26 hold a Metacritic average of 90% or higher. It moved just under 22 million units, but many of those were at a discount due to surplus stock. It was handily outsold by the PlayStation 2, which was probably to be expected, but it was also outsold by the Xbox. Not by much, mind you – the Xbox sold around two million more – but the fact Nintendo fell behind a newcomer represented a genuine industry upset. Having said all of that, it’s possible with hindsight to appreciate just how much great stuff the GameCube had to offer. The Wind Waker is still one of the most beautiful games ever made. Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi’s Mansion were unexpected diversions from the norm. Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Eternal Darkness, and the positively smashing Resident Evil remake are just a few highlights of the generation’s bronze medalist. #11: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive (1988) Ask anyone who’s been gaming for decades, and they will tell you that the Mega Drive – or Genesis, if they lack proper gun control and healthcare – is one of the most classic consoles in history. If you’d like to hear our thoughts on 64 of the 900+ games in the Mega Drive library, you can check out our Mega Drive Mini video , but here, in overview, we’ll just say that there’s something inherently warm and comfortable about the games on this system. Their simplicity is almost elegant, their color palettes immediately recognizable, and that sound chip produced some truly sublime, unforgettable soundtracks. Sega invested a lot of money into marketing this system, knowing full well that this was their chance to truly challenge Nintendo. Whether or not they succeeded is up to each of us individually. Only joking; they did not succeed and were outsold around two-to-one. Still, the fact that they were able to go toe-to-toe with the big guy at all speaks volumes about the quality of the Mega Drive. And now, it’s time for the 10 - according to our calculations - greatest home consoles ever produced. #10: Nintendo Switch (2017) Nintendo needed a strong showing after the public embarrassment of the Wii U, and – against all odds – that’s exactly what they had. Nintendo took its reputation as the unrivaled king of the handheld market and translated that directly into a home console that would function as both. Gamers were won over almost immediately; only two years after release, the Switch is already within striking distance of the lifetime numbers of the Xbox One. The system already has 2,000 games available and, yes, many of them are ports, but the sheer fact that huge releases such as Skyrim and The Witcher 3 are now portable absolutely justifies their rerelease. The Switch is the most recent console on this list, making its high showing even more remarkable. Another year or two down the line, its placement will almost certainly increase. Great job, Nintendo. We honestly weren’t sure you still had it in you. #9: Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom (1983) It is difficult to express just how important a console the NES was. It didn’t quite save a collapsing industry; it single-handedly rebuilt an industry that had already collapsed. We’re simplifying, of course, but we sort of have to. Entire books have been written about the NES and its impact, so all we can really say here is that if you are playing video games today, you owe the NES enormous gratitude. And if you’re not playing video games today, sweet Jesus have you spent a long time watching a video that isn’t relevant to your interests at all. The NES was a genuine sensation the world over, and it introduced many of gaming’s all-time best franchises. It had a fair price and a library of more than 1,700 games. It was also the very first console to surpass 50 million units sold, and it remains the seventh-best-selling console in history. The NES has been outdone in almost every category since, but it’s never been outdone in terms of sheer importance. #8: Microsoft Xbox (2001) We give Microsoft a lot of guff on this channel, but that’s only because they tend to make decisions that are objectively terrible. Even we must admit, though, with their console debut they did one hell of a lot of things right. The Xbox was unquestionably a gamble, but with Sega’s departure from the console space, there was once again room for a third option, and Microsoft came out all guns blazing. For starters, the fact that the company was so huge meant it could afford to take a significant loss on every console sold, keeping the cost low. Then there was the impressive Xbox Live which, for the first time in industry history, made online gaming streamlined and easily accessible to foul-mouthed 11-year-olds the world over. But, really, we all know that the Xbox owes its success to one launch title – Halo: Combat Evolved. The console never really made a dent in Japan, but it sold well enough elsewhere, moving more than 24 million units in total. It was a solid and genuinely impressive debut. #7: Nintendo Wii (2006) For a good few years, everybody had a Wii. We don’t just mean gamers, either; the system was designed to appeal to a wide audience. Everyone from Little Timmy right up to Nana Bettie loved that console, and its decidedly simple, intuitive control scheme made them feel equally comfortable with it. Of course, this success made it a haven for shovelware, and it’s often remembered as being home to some truly abysmal games. That’s a shame, because its library also contained gems such as Super Mario Galaxy, the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and almost certainly the best-ever version of Resident Evil 4. It also introduced the Virtual Console, allowing players access to hundreds of classic titles from consoles past. It wasn’t the most powerful system on the market, but it was the most imaginative, and this daring approach gave Nintendo their best-selling system ever, with more than 101 million units shifted. #6: Sony PlayStation 4 (2013) You’ve got to hand it to Sony; their lowest-ranked console still hit the top ten, and as this list was being prepared, sales surpassed the Wii to make it the third-best-selling console of all time. The PlayStation 4 has admittedly slowed down a bit in the past year or so, as developers and gamers turn their eyes towards the upcoming PlayStation 5, but there is no denying just how great a run it’s had. This is perhaps most easily illustrated by its positively stellar run of exclusives. God of War, Persona 5, Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, Spider-Man, Bloodborne…if those were the only six games on the PlayStation 4, it would still be a system worth owning. So why isn’t it higher on the list? Honestly, it’s down to the fact that it was edged out by other consoles in a few different categories. For example, the system only has around 2,300 games. Yes, the fact that we’re using “only” in that statement says a lot about just how stiff the competition is here at the top. #5: Super Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Famicom (1990) Nintendo had a runaway success with the NES, and the SNES represented no kind of sophomore slump. Everything that great console did, the SNES did a little bit better. The graphics were prettier and more colorful, the sound was richer, and the games…well, the games are some of the best in history. The SNES’s library was almost exactly the size of the NES’s – it had only nine fewer games – but these were almost uniformly bigger, better, and more fun. The SNES sold just a hair under 50 million units, making it the eighth-best-selling console ever. It remained popular well into subsequent generations, and in fact was only officially discontinued in 2003. For the second generation running, Nintendo had the most popular console on the market. The NES was proven to not be a fluke, and Nintendo was proven to be a fount of innovative game ideas. The company’s star has both risen and fallen since, but the SNES is – and will likely always remain – an industry highlight. #4: Sony PlayStation (1994) Entering a market dominated by two beloved and well-established names, the PlayStation killed Sega outright and positioned itself as a more mature alternative to Nintendo. The PlayStation became the first console in history to move 100 million units, something only three other consoles have done to this day. It’s also the second-best-selling console in history, though the PlayStation 4 may well have taken that title away by the time you watch this video. Silent Hill, Spyro the Dragon, Ape Escape, Crash Bandicoot, and many other beloved names made their debuts on Sony’s little grey box, with other franchises such as Castlevania and Mega Man essentially jumping ship to join the action. In all, there were just under 8,000 games officially released for the system – far and away the largest library on this list – and 68 of them hold Metacritic averages of 90% or higher – also the largest amount on this list. #3: Sony PlayStation 3 (2006) We can all acknowledge that Sony did the PlayStation 3 a disservice by slapping a ridiculously high price tag onto it. It launched for $499, which equates to around $640 today. Without question, that encouraged a number of consumers to pick up less-expensive consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo. The price eventually came down, but the PlayStation 3 ended up being Sony’s worst-selling console to date. To put that in perspective, though, it sold 80 million units. Sony’s worst-selling console was still only outsold by five others…three of which were also Sony consoles. That kind of failure only reinforces how much they’ve succeeded. The PlayStation 3 is home to some of the greatest games ever made: The Last of Us, the first three Uncharted games, Ni No Kuni, Little Big Planet, Valkyria Chronicles, and Dark Souls.The PlayStation 3 has squeezed into our top three, which is something to be very proud of, but we can’t help but wonder how it would have fared if it had only had a stronger launch. #2: Microsoft Xbox 360 (2005) There, see? We put the Xbox 360 at number two. Happy now? You should be, because it’s exactly the kind of recognition this console deserves. Its strong emphasis on online functionality – vastly improved from the original Xbox – set the standard for the industry. As many times as console manufacturers tried to create all-in-one media units, the Xbox 360 was the first one to actually make good on that promise, offering movies, TV shows, and games for download. It wasn’t perfect; the Red Ring of Death is famous enough that you didn’t even need to own a 360 to know how serious it was, and Microsoft spent the console’s final years trying to cram the barely functional Kinect down everybody’s throat, but the Xbox 360 was unquestionably an enormous success. It moved almost 84 million units (the fifth highest on this list), has 54 games with a 90% or higher average on Metacritic (the second highest on this list), and was supported for a full 11 years. It was a truly great console, and without question Microsoft’s best. What more could anyone want? Well, funny you should ask… #1: Sony PlayStation 2 (2000) Sometimes we know exactly what will occupy the top spot before we even begin making the list, but, really, what else could it have been? The PlayStation 2 was a sensation. It moved a positively insane 155 million units, making it the best-selling console ever and putting it 53 million units ahead of the second-best selling. To put that 53 million in perspective, only seven consoles on this list managed to sell that many in their entire lives. The PlayStation 2 sold for a fair price and was supported for a remarkable 13 years. It proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sony was not a temporary disruption, but the new name in the industry. Its library consists of nearly 4,500 games, which is a few thousand less than the PlayStation 1, but the level of quality was overall much higher, with highlights including Silent Hill 2, Persona 3 and 4, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 3, KatamariDamacy, Psychonauts, Kingdom Hearts, and…honestly, the odds are good we haven’t even mentioned your favorite PlayStation 2 games, because there are just so many truly great ones. The PlayStation 2 was nothing short of a miracle, and it’s one the industry has yet to repeat. And that’s every console ranked from worst to best, aside from the ones we excluded, decided not to cover, or forgot about. Which consoles ranked lower than you expected? Where would you have placed the Pyuuta Jr.? Do you have a compelling argument for why something other than the PlayStation 2 should have been at the top? If so, type it in all caps in the comments. Also, if you have suggestions for other “Every X Ranked From Worst to Best” videos, let us know. As long as things exist, we will be right here to rank them. If you enjoy the content we produce on TripleJump, please like the video and share it with your friends. You can also follow us on Twitter, and, if you’d like to support the channel even more, check out our rewards on Patreon. I’m Peter and I’m Ben from TripleJump, and thanks for watching.

Channel: TripleJump

Views: 1,699,002

Rating: 4.6819897 out of 5

Keywords: best selling consoles, best selling consoles of all time, best games console, best games console ever, best games console 2019, every games console ranked, ranking every video game console, every video game console ranked from worst to best, home console ranked, ranking video game companies, ranking video games, every console ranked, consoles ranked, triplejump, triplejump ranked, video game ranked list, video game rankings, retro consoles ranked, retro console review

Id: pI-JPlKROUk

Length: 105min 43sec (6343 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 01 2020