What does Console X Excel at?

[Sylentwulf]

Hre's an interesting post (in my drunken mind anyways) What does console XXXX excel at?

For example, my opinions:

Atari - Kill the Space Invader/aliens/incoming missile

Intellivision - 2 player sports - This console was the prequel to the Genesis

Colecovision - Donkey Kong-esque Platform arcade games CAN'T get better than this

NES - This one has me stumped actually, it revitalized the game industry, had great RPGs and Platformers, but I can't pin a nail on what it excelled at

SNES - RPG's. This IS the master of the 2-D RPG. Also had some sweet fighing games IMO

Genesis - Sports. The only thing that kept this console in the race, if not the lead, was the sports games

PS1 - RPG's This is IMO THE greatest console of ALL TIME for RPG's. FF7, Leagaia, Suikoden, Wild Arms, Beyond the Beyond (*I* liked it!), and MUCH more

PS2 - I gotta say again, RPG's and Explorer? games (ala GTA3)

Xbox - Sports. - See Genesis and intellivision

Gamecube - Umm, they have like, Zelda, and SMS, which are both HORRIBLY overrated, but...um... well.... the little discs are cool.

[RetroYoungen]

Genesis: Never really liked the sports games, but had some of my fav platformers. Comix Zone, Rocket Knight Adventures, Sonic the Hedgehog, some really great scrollers graced that 16-bit bit of goodness.

Gamecube: I don't know what it excels at as a whole, but I'd say Eternal Darkness and Bloody Roar were some great games.

Neo Geo Pocket Color: Besides simply fighting games, I'd actually say a sports games, puzzle games, RPGs, and action titles. Pocket Tennis Color, Bust-a-Move, Metal Slug, Cardfighters Clash, and Biomotor Unitron are some great examples.

NES: Everything. Tetris, Super Mario Bros., Dragon Warrior, Tennis, Wrecking Crew, and so many others put this system as, overall, the greatest system I've ever played. Maybe not my favorite since I found the bliss of the NGPC, but overall the greatest ever IMO.

I'd do more, but I'm tired, bored, and I haven't finished my Pocket Tennis Color tournament yet.

[Sylentwulf]

see, now I'd say the gameboy tetris blows the NES tetris away. and wrecking crew is the same TYPE of game as mario bros IMO. I guess I'd have to say that the NES is best at platform TYPES of games, but I really think the just threw RPGS into mainstream as well.

[Raccoon Lad]

The SEGA Master System exells at Awesomeness!!!! :rocker:

[Sega Hitman]

Genesis only kept in the console race because of sports games? What about the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Streets of Rage series, the Golden Axe games, the Shining Force series, the Phantasy Star series, the Vectorman games, the Shinobi games, the Ecco games, and arcade classics like Outrun, Hang On, and After Burner? :-D

The Gamecube is extremely underrated. Besides SMS and Zelda, there's a lot of other very good games like Mario Golf, Mario Party 4, Wario, the Monkey Ball games, the Resident Evil games, and Eternal Darkness. Those might not be your cup of tea, but I find them hard to ignore. Gamecube is the next Dreamcast. People will ignore it until it's dead, and then wonder why in the world it died.

-Hitman-

[Sylentwulf]

Genesis only kept in the console race because of sports games? What about the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Streets of Rage series, the Golden Axe games, the Shining Force series, the Phantasy Star series, the Vectorman games, the Shinobi games, the ETCETCETC
-Hitman-

Sorry man. hate to rain on your parade, but the sonic series died QUICKLY after everyone realize it was just a flashy re=print o fthe same game over and over again. Shining force, Phantasy Star, Strreets of rage, vectorman all had one decent hit, and then a follow up cash-cow.

The genesis REALLY didn;t have much beyond sports games, not that there is anything wrong with that, it held it's own, if not leading the 16-bit race, but the titles you mentioned really weren;t ground-breaking-leaders, plain and simple. Totally my type of game, and I STILL think it's just barely haging on,.,,

The gamecube is kinda the same. Resident evil was great, but resident evil 0 and nemesis, etc... were VERY subpar, and are $20 or less titles now. Mario Golf JUST came out, and mario party 4 was just pathetic IMO.

[jonjandran]

Genesis only kept in the console race because of sports games? What about the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Streets of Rage series, the Golden Axe games, the Shining Force series, the Phantasy Star series, the Vectorman games, the Shinobi games, the ETCETCETC
-Hitman-

Sorry man. hate to rain on your parade, but the sonic series died QUICKLY after everyone realize it was just a flashy re=print o fthe same game over and over again. Shining force, Phantasy Star, Strreets of rage, vectorman all had one decent hit, and then a follow up cash-cow.

The genesis REALLY didn;t have much beyond sports games, not that there is anything wrong with that, it held it's own, if not leading the 16-bit race, but the titles you mentioned really weren;t ground-breaking-leaders, plain and simple. Totally my type of game, and I STILL think it's just barely haging on,.,,

The gamecube is kinda the same. Resident evil was great, but resident evil 0 and nemesis, etc... were VERY subpar, and are $20 or less titles now. Mario Golf JUST came out, and mario party 4 was just pathetic IMO.

The only reason my friends and I had a Genesis was for the Sports Games. They were faster and controlled better than the snes. Plus the players looked better.They were short and fat on th Snes. LOL

So I totally agree that Sports games are what kept the Genesis alive.

[The Manimal]

I think that early on, sports games were better on the Genesis, but in the mid-late 90s, the SNES titles were better. The games finally weren't as slow, plus the graphic detailing was 10X better.



Sonic 1 is still the best. Sonic 2 is cool but Tails (as cool as I thought he was) sucks to use, and I really think Sonic 3 wasn't very good...unless you have Knuckles added on. Knuckles is cool.

Streets of Rage is cool, though I like Final Fight better.

Phantasy Star IV just rules though.

[jaydubnb]

TG16/PCE = the machine for shmuping! If you wanan commits grand acts of genocide vs aliens, this is a good little machine. Lords of Thunder, Gates of Thunder, Super Star Soldier, Download II, R-Type, Sylphia, Star Parodier...great games.

[petewhitley]

I think that early on, sports games were better on the Genesis, but in the mid-late 90s, the SNES titles were better. The games finally weren't as slow, plus the graphic detailing was 10X better.

Totally.

[ubersaurus]

I rather liked the Sonic games, even if they all played similarly, it doesn't stop people from going through other game retreads.

The Genesis had some sweet platformers, some sweet shootemups, pretty good fighting game ports, the best old-style Castlevania (if you ask me, and since I'm always right...), and Gunstar Heroes. Let us not forget that the Genesis, despite its inferior tech, managed to keep a lead on the SNES (up until the saturn came out and sega pretty muched stopped pushing the genesis). That is what I remember. As much as I love Gradius III, or Yoshi's Island, or Star Fox, the genesis cannot be overlooked as a serious competitor to that whole era, due to the fact it did so many game types well.

For the short answer though, its safe to say most people remember its quality sports games, which, sadly, aged crappily. But hey, like I said, its got other stuff.

[Dire 51]

I only have the Genesis for the other games it did. You won't find a single Genesis sports game in my collection, I can tell you that.

[hezeuschrist]

The Gamecube excels at having the absolute hands down best exclusive software. It just doesn't get any better than this. Metroid, Zelda, F-Zero, Eternal Darkness, Monkey Ball, Resident Evil, Ikaruga (kinda), Sunshine... all absolutely great games in nearly every respect, with more on the way.

PS2 has a handful of good titles (just lost GTA) and Xbox has 3 now as far as I'm concerned.

[Epicenter]

The Sonic series didn't 'die' as you say due to the games being similar. Sonic 1 and Sonic 3/Knuckles are apples and oranges. There are over 2x as many levels, 8x superior graphics, 3 playable characters, new enemies, newer, better music and sound effects, 3D special stages, game save options, new abilities/moves, etc. It's far more than a rehash of the same game. And the Sonic series maintained its popularity right up to the end of the Genesis' lifespan; as did the Mario series up to the end of the SNES'.

If a game is not similar to its previous version, what's the point calling it a sequel? That's the reason I hate Ecco: Defender of the Future, it's nothing like its 16-bit counterparts and was made by a completely different team.

Also, if anything seems like a meager rehash year after year, it's sports games. They can just tack the year # at the end of the title and it's a new game, albeit the graphics are usually better. But the gameplay generally stays 98% the game, whereas most games greatly enhance their gameplay in sequels. Sports games exhibit the "sequel" prowess of a Famicom prototype; slap the year on the end of it and you've got a new game, a la "Super 1998 Mario 14". ;)

[Griking]

Also, if anything seems like a meager rehash year after year, it's sports games. They can just tack the year # at the end of the title and it's a new game, albeit the graphics are usually better. But the gameplay generally stays 98% the game, whereas most games greatly enhance their gameplay in sequels. Sports games exhibit the "sequel" prowess of a Famicom prototype; slap the year on the end of it and you've got a new game, a la "Super 1998 Mario 14". ;)


I've never understood how people can buy the same game year after year after year. Yeah the rosters may change and the graphics get a little better each time but when it's all said and done you can't change the gameplay very much at all before it's not football or baseball anymore. And don't get me wrong, I love sports. I still play myself regularly throught most of the year at age 34. I also watch baseball and football regularly on television so I'm not just someone who's just not into sports.

[YoshiM]

NES: Platformers by and large.

SMS: Hmmm, honestly can't answer this one.

Genesis: Arcade ports. While it did get a ton of sports games the biggest thing Sega really tooted their horn about were the arcade ports.

TG-16: Like jaydubnb said, SHMUPs.

SNES: This is a toss up for me between platformers and RPGs. I really didn't play any RPGs back in the day on this machine but it seems to be hailed as the RPG king.

Xbox: FPS's. There are a ton of FPS games on the Xbox.

[Darth Sensei]

This thread seems to have focussed on SNES vs Genesis. I'll give my 2 cents.

When these systems were battling there was one major difference. SNES was for kids, and Genesis for teens and adults. Nobody wanted to play the SNES version of Mortal Kombat because it was sensored. Also, Nintendo wielded more control over content than Sega.

Nintendo has always had the image of being for kids and family oriented.

I had buddies who wouldn't admit they had a SNES because of that stereotype. Sega used this to their advantage in all those screaming SEGA commercials.

So, what set SEGA apart was attitude, not just sports games or Sonic.

[Atari7800]

The Gamecube excels at having the absolute hands down best exclusive software. It just doesn't get any better than this. Metroid, Zelda, F-Zero, Eternal Darkness, Monkey Ball, Resident Evil, Ikaruga (kinda), Sunshine... all absolutely great games in nearly every respect, with more on the way.

PeeEssTwo has a handful of good titles (just lost GTA) and Xbox has 3 now as far as I'm concerned.

PS2...

[Atari7800]

ok... when I say P S 2 (but no spaces) it says PS2... what the hell? :hmm:

[Gamereviewgod]

X-Box: Sound. As anyone who has a decent 5.1 system will attest, there is nothing like playing Halo, completely surrounded by Coevanent. Oh, and the first person mode in ESPN football this year is scary when you hear it in 5.1..

[Kroogah]

PS2 excels at having the best imports money can buy. For those of you wondering what Beatmania IIDX, Guitar Freaks, Drummania, and Pop'n Music are like, I give you this link:

http://www.bemanistyle.com/media/tatsujin.htm

The 100 Sec. Kitchen Battle video qualifies as 1/2 the reason to mod a PS2. ^_^

(edit: yes, that's davebrit2 in the GF/DM videos)