Best Video Gaming Generation

The video game has been rising and rising since the 1980's, making it one of the biggest markets in entertainment for places such as the USA, Britain, and Japan. We've gone through 4 generations since 1985, but which ones have been the best? Whether it be in their commercial success, or the quality of games they represented.

500 gamers were asked, which generation they felt was the best, out of the 3rd generation(NES,Atari, Sega Master System), 4th generation(SNES,Genesis), 5th generation(PS,N64,Saturn), and the 6th generation(XBOX,GC,PS2). 30% of them considered the 6th generation the best generation, 29% of the gamers considered the 5th generation the best, 22% of them picked the 4th generation, and the 3rd generation came in last with 15% of the votes. 2% were undecided.

The winners of each generation based on the number of units they sold are as followed:

3rd Generation: NES, 60 million units sold.

There is really no question that the NES was the best console for the third generation of gaming. Even though it had the most uncomfortable controller ever, Nintendo bounced the video game market back from it's crash in 1983 and put console video gaming back on the radar. Nintendo not only dominated that generation with it's console, but the Gameboy as well.

4th Generation: SNES, 49 million units sold

Again with the SNES, there's really no question why and that it was the best console But in this generation, it was much much closer then in the 3rd. Sega brought classic games to us like Sonic and Mortal Kombat, which helped make the Genesis a great console,. But Nintendo was just too good with the Super Nintendo. It was a huge improvement over the NES hardware wise, and brought us incredible games like Chrono Trigger, Legend of Zelda games, and ame sin the Final Fantasy franchise. And we can't forget the huge improvement on the controller, it felt so much better, then it's predacessor, the NES'.

5th Generation: PS1, 102.5 million units shipped

Even though the Playstation literally dominated in sales over the N64, the gap between the quality of games each had wasn't very wide, even though the Playstation had a much wider selection in games. Some people forget that the Nintendo 64 was the most powerful system of the 5th generation of gaming. This was the best generation of video games in my estimation. It was a turning point in video games in that It really introduced us into 3-D gaming, and it produced many games that are considered the greatest of all time, such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy VII, Super Mario 64, and Tekken 3 . I can't pick which system was better out of the Playstation and the Nintendo 64, they were both great consoles, even though the N64 had some insanely priced games at the time. I've had more fond memories of this video gaming generation then any other. Dominating the handheld market already with the Gameboy, making the Gameboy Color was a nice touch for Nintendo. There were extremely fun games for it, including the Pokemon series, and games in The Legend of Zelda series. Notice that I didn't mention the Sega Saturn anywhere in this paragraph, and thats because, it doesn't deserve a mention.

6th Generation: PS2, 111.25 million units shipped

The Playstation 2 dominated this generation, outselling both the Microsoft XBOX and the Nintendo Gamecube, by huge margins. It was marketed just right, in both the US and Japan, which was a huge problem with the XBOX and the Gamecbue. Each of those systems were only had good success in their "home countries" being the United States for XBOX and Japan for the Gamecube. Of course each of these consoles had their strengths and weaknesses. The Gamecube had stronger 1st party games then any of the consoles, such as The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, and of course, the critically acclaimed Super Smash Bros. Melee. The XBOX gave us Halo: Combat Evolved, and had the strongest online play out of any of them by far. And The Playstation 2 boasted a huge selection of games compared to the other systems. Final Fantasy X and XII were both amazing games for the Playstation 2. Along with God of War, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. We can't forget about the Dremcast, even though many people have. It was a good console, even though the Playstation 2 came out and dominated it, forcing Sega to go back to being a 3rd party game developer. Soul Calibur is one of the greatest fighting games of all time, and Sonic was a great game. The console still had a lot of potential. The Playstaion 2 definitely won this generation, and was the best console out of the three(or four).

So which generation was the best?

Like I said in my paragraph on the 5th generation, it was the best. It's quality of gaming exceeded every one of the gaming generations, even the 6th. It also led us into the 3-D era. You look at the top games in this the 5th era, and the top games of any other generation. This generation will win. For example, Goldeneye, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Tekken 3, and of course, Final Fantasy VII are all classics in their own genres, and some consider some of these games, the best of all time. This was the best era in gaming.