What makes a great video game console?
It’s a bit of an existential question. It’s much easier to discuss what makes a great video game, as they can be dissected as communicative artworks. A video game console is different. It’s a hunk of plastic that plays those games. In our modern era, those devices have become more and more homogenized. An Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 have roughly the same features and even share a large library of games. What really differentiates one from the other? Is it the shape of a controller? A handful of good exclusives?
While the exercise of ranking consoles may sound silly, it does force one to meditate on those questions. To create a ranked list of the best consoles of all time, we had to look back at decades of hardware and home in on what makes some stick fondly in our memories. After a lot of soul searching and reflecting on the devices that built gaming’s history, we’ve come up with a list that reminds us what makes playing games so special. It’s not just about the games, but the sense of industry evolution that we get to play a role in as players.
10. Nintendo GameCube
While every aspect of a list like this is always going to ruffle some feathers, I imagine the GameCube’s inclusion over the Nintendo 64 or Wii might be a point of controversy. It’s one of Nintendo’s least successful systems from a sales perspective and certainly doesn’t have the same cultural cache as what came before and after it. Even so, the GameCube earns its spot for one key reason: a fantastic game library. While the Wii’s games often relied on messy motion gimmicks and a lot of N64 classics are tough to return to in 2025, GameCube’s best games still feel timeless today. Metroid Prime, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door all still feel ahead of their time today — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The GameCube generation saw Nintendo locking in on its design philosophy in a way that we wouldn’t quite see again until the Nintendo Switch. This was the company at its most innovative, whether it was birthing oddball franchises like Pikmin or having the inspired idea to attach a handle to the system. That’s not to mention that the system itself is one of console gaming’s last great pieces of aesthetic hardware design. The iconic indigo cube stands out even more today as so many modern consoles have settled for drab black or white designs. It’s an underdog system on this list, but that’s what makes it a classic.
9. Sega Dreamcast
Like the GameCube, we waffled a bit when deciding whether or not the Dreamcast should make the cut. After all, it’s the system that killed Sega’s hardware ambitions for good. But the point of this list isn’t to rank the most successful consoles of all time, but the most memorable ones. By that metric, the Dreamcast deserves some love. Sega’s final console felt entirely ahead of its time; it was even a pioneer in implementing online play in a home console.
Though Sega had trouble moving units in a losing war against the PlayStation 2, the Dreamcast’s game library is shockingly strong. Some of its greatest hits include Sonic Adventure 2, SoulCalibur, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Power Stone, Virtua Tennis and Skies of Arcadia. Today, that eclectic roster is virtually unimaginable. Consoles like the PlayStation 5 are filled with cookie-cutter action-adventure games built for mass appeal. You didn’t have the sense that Sega was trying to make every single game a huge hit in the same way on Dreamcast. Rather, it was comfortable creating a wide array of niche games that would satisfy a range of players. Perhaps spreading itself so thin was Sega’s downfall, but it’s hard not to look back on the moment fondly today.
8. NES
When creating a list like this, there’s always a balance to be struck with picking foundation systems. It’s important to honor the classics, but those systems should be able to stand on their own outside of their historical context. The Nintendo Entertainment System is one of those devices that evades that debate; it’s both important and still great today. The hardware itself still makes for a great toy, as even the act of loading a chunky cartridge into the system feels fun.
Little needs to be said about its games at this point. The NES launched most of Nintendo’s biggest franchises, from The Legend of Zelda to Kirby. I could go on praising the obvious classics (Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, etc.), but the system’s third-party support was just as crucial to its success. Developer interest in the system gave us games like Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Mega Man, and much more. While many of its greatest hits can feel a little clumsy today, the NES paved the way for what modern gaming still looks like today — and it frankly did it better than today’s consoles.
7. PlayStation 4
The stakes were high for Sony in 2013. The company had just come off a rough generation with its expensive PlayStation 3. Had its follow-up gone poorly, it could have gone the way of Sega. You can feel that urgency now when you look back at the PS4’s full lifespan. In many ways, it feels like it perfected what a home console should be. Everything from its UI to its controller felt like a culmination of decades of iteration, all leading to a system that reestablished Sony as an industry leader.
That great hardware wouldn’t have mattered much if the games it could run weren’t great. Fortunately, Sony found its voice during the PS4 era in the same way Nintendo did on the GameCube. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Marvel’s Spider-Man headline a deep library of narrative-heavy action-adventure games that so many have tried to emulate since. With an army of third-party support to fill in the gaps between those games, Sony built an exciting console generation that made the PS5 feel like a must-own system when it launched. That was a high bar, one that Sony has still yet to clear.
6. Sega Genesis
If you believe that competition breeds innovation, the Sega Genesis is a great bit of supporting evidence. In order to take on the Nintendo phenomenon, Sega would need to find a way to make the Genesis stand out. It would pull that off with an impressive 16-bit console that felt like a massive step up in tech at the time. It was able to produce faster and more colorful games that made the NES feel dated. Sega had one heck of a killer app to prove that power thanks to Sonic the Hedgehog.
What Sega really brought to the game was personality. In a stroke of marketing brilliance, the Genesis was advertised as a cool and edgy console compared to the family-friendly NES. It backed that up with games like Earthworm Jim and Mortal Kombat. Nintendo may have realized the vision of a well-supported home console, but Sega figured out how to turn a box into a distinct lifestyle brand. Was that a net positive for the industry? You could argue that the Genesis directly led to today’s obnoxious “console wars.” Even if that’s true, Sega’s crown jewel still feels wholly unique because of it.
5. Xbox 360
While Microsoft has made some reliable systems over the past few decades, the Xbox 360 is the only one that felt culturally transcendent. Learning from the flaws of its first system, Microsoft tightened its vision and figured out what set the Xbox apart from the PlayStation during the 360 era. That answer largely came down to online play, as games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare bridged the gap between console and PC gaming. Today, it feels like one of the last great party systems, the kind of console that was a requirement in every college dorm room.
While there are plenty of great games to shout out, the 360’s software wins were more existential ones. Its biggest impact wasn’t any singular game, but rather Xbox Live Arcade. The marketplace created an entirely new distribution platform for developers, ushering in an indie revolution on home consoles. Releases like Braid and Spelunky fundamentally changed what games we play today, opening the door for a legacy of creative, experimental games. The Xbox 360 was a true paradigm shift.
4. Atari 2600
If you didn’t grow up with an Atari 2600, it might be hard to understand why it’s still such an enduring system today. From an outside perspective, it may look like a rudimentary piece of hardware. I can promise that you’ll sing a different tune once you’re actually playing on one. As old as it may be, there is still an indescribable magic to Atari’s best system. Few gaming systems — aside from the Nintendo Wii — understand the tactile joys of play like Atari did. The physicality required to operate its joystick controllers makes simple games feel transcendent. If you don’t believe me, pick up an Atari 2600+ and try for yourself.
There’s something universal about the Atari 2600’s games. Anyone can pick a game like Pong up and know exactly what to do thanks to elegant design and intuitive controls. A game like Pitfall feels every bit as grand as Uncharted with a fraction of the graphical spectacle behind it. How many games today truly feel as timeless as Pac-Man or Asteroids? While the experimental days of gaming can make it hard to go back to early games, the Atari 2600 still feels like the one truly retro console that will live on forever.
3. Nintendo Switch
One part of me feels like it’s too early to put the Nintendo Switch on this list at all — but that’s exactly why it makes the cut. At the time of writing, the Switch is eight years old, and yet it still feels like a brand new device. That’s thanks to its ingenious hybrid design that fused the joys of home and portable gaming into one. The Switch is a trailblazing system that is already fundamentally changing what hardware looks like. Sure, its lack of power now makes it look dated next to something like the Steam Deck, but Nintendo nailed the form factor on its first try.
At this point, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the Switch has the best game library of perhaps any video game console. Its first-party exclusives are unmatched and its wealth of third-party support helped load it up with remasters, indies, and retro games. It’s the sort of all-in-one console that feels impossible to iterate on outside of incremental power upgrades. We’ll have to wait to see what the long-term impact of the Switch will be, but it’s already outlived flash-in-the-pan gimmicks like motion controls or camera tracking. Like the NES before it, the Switch is foundational.
2. PlayStation 2
With a lot of the consoles featured on this list, I find myself reflecting on a specific innovation that each brought to the table. There are several systems that feel like game-changers thanks to innovative gambles. What makes the PlayStation 2 so remarkable is that it doesn’t really have any flashy elements to speak of. Sony set out to make a tried-and-true game console here. In doing so, Sony created a blueprint that everyone still follows to this day. There’s a reason that it’s still the bestselling console of all time.
Everything about the PS2 feels perfect, even if the PS4 would refine its best qualities later. Its sleek black design is simple, but still iconic. Its controller is so well-designed that it’s still a standard-bearer. Its game library goes unbelievably deep, giving birth to Sony franchises in the same way the NES did for Nintendo. The third-party games might be even more important, as the PS2 gave us all-time greats like Silent Hill 2, Shadow of the Colossus, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Sometimes a console needs to make a name for itself by doing something new. You don’t need to do that when you have the console all the others need to differentiate themselves from, and that’s the PS2.
1. Super Nintendo
There’s one word I kept coming back to when crafting this list: timeless. The video game consoles that stick with me the most are the ones that I can fire up at any point and have a good time with. That’s true of every console on this list, but that requirement best fits the Super Nintendo. Building on everything that made the NES great, but with double the bits this time, Nintendo’s second home console still feels like the one true “desert island” system.
Like the PS2, there are no big gimmicks here; there are only incredible games that feel like they’ll never fail the test of time. I’m confident that I will be able to return to Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, or Super Mario World for the rest of my life and not get bored of them. The system’s best games still play remarkably well, outlasting the entire 3D generation that would immediately follow it. Games have gotten flashier and more complex since the SNES era, but there’s a part of me that feels like few of those technical leaps are really all that necessary. The SNES still feels like the pinnacle of what gaming can be, with limitless creativity to be found in the system’s games.
