The greatest games machine ever

The Greatest Classic Games Machine Ever

Alan seeks to answer another unanswerable question…

As a fifty-six year old gamer I have played every generation since the very beginning, and for as long as I can remember there have been disputes over which platform is best.

In the early to mid 1980s at school and then college there were Sinclair Spectrum vs. Commodore Vic 20 and then Sinclair Spectrum vs. Commodore 64 arguments. Fast forward twenty years or so and I was a moderator of a work I.T. discussion forum, where there were lively debates over which was superior; the Sony PlayStation 2 or the new Microsoft Xbox. Gaming groups on the internet are now at war over whether the Sony PlayStation 5 is the current king with its greater range of exclusive titles, or the Microsoft Xbox Series X with better backwards compatibility and fabulous Game Pass option.

This got me thinking. Last year, Pixel Addict crowned Doom as the greatest classic game ever. Could we possibly answer the natural follow-up question, “What is the greatest classic games machine?”

Well we are going to have a jolly good go. This is how it will work. Firstly, entry was restricted to just original consoles and handhelds; no modified units or computers were allowed. Otherwise, knowing my colleagues as I do, I feared that the Commodore Amiga would have trounced all opposition… (Andrew – “Quite right too, I still can’t believe that Lemmings didn’t win the greatest game crown!”).

Secondly, we had to define “classic”, so we licked a finger, stuck it in the air, and drew a line at 2003; meaning that a machine had to be twenty years old to qualify. This meant that the likes of the Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube were eligible, along with handhelds such as the Game Boy Advance SP. Any later models were excluded though, so the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and DS etc. would have to watch proceedings from the sidelines.

Then there was the small matter of how we choose. Greatest couldn’t just be a question of selecting the most powerful or recent, otherwise we might as well cut straight to an Xbox vs. PlayStation 2 face off. So we considered a range of factors, including the unit’s general popularity, the quality of its games library and whether the technology offered that elusive wow-factor for the time. That said, we all have a soft spot for those underappreciated and lesser known systems, so everything stands a chance!

In the first round each editor put forward three nominations. Using an overly complicated scoring system involving numerous Excel spreadsheets and some sticky backed plastic, we reduced that field of 24 down to eight finalists. These eight have been drawn against each other in a series of one versus one contests, to be decided by an editor’s vote. Thus, over the next three editions, eight will become four, then two and after what is sure to be a nail biting final we will triumphantly reveal our winner. And you, dear reader, have front row seats for the whole process!

Matchup one – Commodore Amiga CD32 vs. Sony PlayStation 2

We start with a genuine David vs. Goliath situation; indeed, it is hard to imagine two consoles that enjoyed more dramatically contrasting fortunes. The Amiga CD32, launched in September 1993, was Commodore’s first (and only) venture into the CD console gaming market, but with remarkably unfortunate timing it was released just as the company commenced its very public implosion. It was discontinued just seven months later, with unit sales of less than a million. It left a fairly modest games catalogue, many of which were ports of existing Amiga games. But amongst these there were some fabulous titles that showed off its potential, including Gloom, Roadkill, Guardian and Banshee, and it retains a huge amount of love and respect for its innovation, being the first 32-bit CD games console released worldwide.

At the other end of the scale we have Sony’s PlayStation 2, released in 2000 as a follow up to the enormously successful PlayStation. Boasting a stunning games library including gems such as Metal Gear Solid 3 – Snake Eater, Grand Theft Auto (both Vice City and San Andreas), SSX Tricky, Burnout 3 -Takedown, Shadow of the Colossus and Gran Turismo (3 and 4), it was also the first console that included built-in DVD compatibility. It sold a stratospheric 155 million units, comfortably making it the highest selling games console of all time.

Surely a landslide victory for Sony’s record breaker then?

Nope - I did warn you that we love an underdog, and while the PlayStation 2 did emerge victorious; it only edged a tight match by 5 votes to 3.

PlayStation 2 wins 5-3.

How did we vote?

CD32 - Andrew, Jonah, Paul

PS2 - Al, Duncan, Gareth, John, Josh

Honourable Mention – Microsoft Xbox

Even though (remarkably) it didn’t get a single nomination from the editors, the original Xbox surely deserves a special mention. Microsoft’s first entry into the console market went toe to toe with the Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube and held its own. It sold over 21 million units, thanks in no small part to games like Halo and Project Gotham Racing, and is still very popular today thanks to a huge catalogue, targeted more towards the adult gaming market.

Matchup two – Sega Mega Drive vs. Super Nintendo Entertainment System

If the first contest was a little unbalanced, then the second is undoubtedly a clash of the heavyweights, featuring a rematch of the early 1990s 16-bit console battle that saw the Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis) take on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).

The SNES was the successor to the Nintendo Entertainment System and was originally released in 1990 in Japan, and a little later in Europe and North America. Games like Starfox, Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past along with a number of Super Mario and Street Fighter titles ensured enduring popularity. The little grey powerhouse clocked up sales of over 49 million units during an impressive thirteen year lifespan that, at the end, saw it competing with more powerful machines well into the 32-bit and CD era.

The Mega Drive was released in 1988 and though its total sales of almost 31 million didn’t eclipse the SNES, it did gain enormous popularity in North America and Europe. This was due in no small part to titles such as Golden Axe, Streets of Rage II and the Sonic the Hedgehog games, along with a great selection of sports and arcade titles; all advertised with an edgy, teen-focussed campaign, that for the first time marketed gaming as being cool. This saw Sega winning the North America battle against Nintendo, capturing a 65% market share by 1994. Unfortunately though, in this contest we identified as being team Mario rather than Sonic, with the SNES trouncing the Mega Drive in a resounding 7-1 victory.

SNES wins 7-1.

How did we vote?

Mega Drive - Jonah

SNES - Al, Andrew, Duncan, Gareth, John, Josh, Paul

Matchup three – Nintendo Game Boy vs. Sega Dreamcast

Our third contest sees the Nintendo Game Boy facing up to the Sega Dreamcast; two very different but equally impressive machines. The Game Boy was launched in 1989, and the lack of a colour display seemingly placed it at a disadvantage to its competition - the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx. However, the trade off was a significantly lower price and brilliant battery life. Add to that a healthy selection of Mario, Pokémon and Zelda games along with a genuine killer app - the ported version of Tetris that came packaged with the European units, and it quickly became the market leader, eventually becoming the best selling handheld ever.

The Dreamcast was far less successful in its time. Released in 1998, Sega’s final attempt at cracking the console market found itself buried following the release of Sony PlayStation 2 which ultimately outsold it 17:1. The Dreamcast was discontinued after just three years in 2001 with underwhelming sales of just nine million units, perhaps due in part to the lack of DVD compatibility. However, in that short time it built a terrific games library sprinkled with classic titles, including: Crazy Taxi, Sega Rally Challenge 2, Jet Set Radio, House of the Dead 2 and Sega Bass Fishing. Despite the disappointing sales it is still sought after and enjoyed by gamers today.

This match was a nip and tuck affair, but the humble Game Boy eventually sneaked past the Dreamcast with a tight but well deserved 5-3 win.

Game Boy wins 5-3

How did we vote?

Dreamcast - Al, John, Jonah

Game Boy - Andrew, Duncan, Gareth, Josh, Paul

Honourable Mention – Atari Lynx

If we are highlighting those that made a difference, we ought to spare a thought for the Atari Lynx. Released in 1989 (though originally released by Epyx as the Handy Game in 1987), innovation was its middle name, being the first handheld with a colour screen and also the first to feature a backlit display. It could also be used upside down to benefit left handed gamers (Ed – “Clever!”). Unfortunately this all came at a cost and significantly impacted battery life, leading it to ultimately lose the handheld battle to the Nintendo Game Boy.

Matchup four – Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP vs. Sony PlayStation

Our final contest sees the Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP do battle with the Sony PlayStation. The GBA SP was released in 2003 and was a great upgrade of the GBA, with the unit now housed in a smart folding clamshell to allow better screen protection. It was the first handheld to incorporate a rechargeable battery and also included a switchable light to illuminate the display. The games library includes a comprehensive selection of Mario and arcade classic titles along with other big hitters such as Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy VI Advance and Advance Wars; all of which helped the little pocket powerhouse sell an impressive 43.5 million units.

The Sony PlayStation took the idea of 32 bit console gaming and raised the bar so far as to completely bury the opposition. It debuted in 1994/95 (depending on the region), and amongst the thousands of games released for the machine there were a huge number of AAA titles; a few highlights include the Gran Turismo, Tekken, Ridge Racer, Resident Evil, Crash Bandicoot and Metal Gear Solid series. The original PlayStation also came with audio connectivity enabling it to double as a high-end CD player. This saw it sell over 100 million units and reign almost unchallenged until the PlayStation2 was released in 2000.

The GBA SP put up a spirited fight but in reality there could only ever be one victor here, with the PlayStation running out an easy 6-2 victor (Ed – “And spare a thought for Jonah, who finally backed a winner…!”).

PlayStation wins 6-2

How did we vote?

GBA SP - Gareth, John

PlayStation - Al, Andrew, Duncan, Jonah, Josh, Paul

So in the blink of an eye we are down to a final four. Next month will see two titanic battles as the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy and SNES fight it out for a place in our grand final. Has your favourite made it through? Will it make the final? Which one will be crowned our ultimate champion? There is only one way to find out, so we’ll see you then!

AG November 2023

Featured in Pixel Addict magazine, issue 17.

Greatest Games Machine Part 2

The Greatest Classic Games Machine – Part 2

Alan seeks to answer another unanswerable question…

If you are a regular reader, you may remember a recurring feature that we ran last year when, following a series of debates, arguments and late night games of Ker-plunk, we ultimately reached agreement and proclaimed Doom to be the greatest classic game ever. If you are a new reader on the other hand, well hello there - welcome to the club! Come on in and put your feet up! Would you like a brew? Where have you been for the last 17 issues? Never mind – don’t worry about that for the moment, what is important is that you are here now! Let me bring you up to speed…

Following on from last year’s Greatest Classic Game feature; the Pixel Addict team have embarked on a new quest which kicked off in the last edition, this time aiming to crown the Greatest Classic Games Machine. The process was simple. First we each nominated our three favourite platforms. A series of voting rounds reduced that starting field to eight finalists, with that remaining eight destined to battle it out via a knockout competition, with the magazine team voting to decide each matchup. This will produce our ultimate winner and you can bask smugly in the certain knowledge that you knew which machine it was going to be all along!

How did we choose?

To reduce arguments we agreed a few rules. Firstly, for a machine to be eligible it had to be at least 20 years old. We also narrowed the field to include just games-specific consoles and handhelds. Had we thrown home and handheld computers into the mix, things could have become rather messy and the debates would still be going on! Perhaps we should make home computing the subject matter of the next Greatest Ever feature that we run? (Ed – “Now there’s an idea, Andrew – do you fancy that?!”)

Then it was a matter of being fair with our evaluation. It couldn’t be just a matter of only choosing the most popular and best-selling (although many of the best-selling machines were popular for a reason and inevitably did make our final stages) but we also considered other factors, such as the innovation, the wow factor and the quality of the games library. These criteria enabled machines with more modest sales numbers such as Sega’s Dreamcast and the Commodore Amiga CD32 make our final eight.

Last month saw the Nintendo Game Boy, Sony PlayStation, Sony PlayStation 2 and Super Nintendo Entertainment System defeat the Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP, Commodore Amiga CD32 and Sega Mega Drive respectively. This month sees our final four battle for a place in the grand final. So without further ado; ladies and gentlemen – grab your popcorn and get yourselves comfy, it’s time for our first semi-final…

Matchup one – Sony PlayStation 2 vs. Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The PS2 sits comfortably as the best selling games console of all time, and can boast a huge games library of over 4,000 titles. A list of the best selling games for the platform contains the usual suspects, with the top six including Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas, Gran Turismo 3 and 4, and Final Fantasy X.

But there were also some fabulously innovative titles too. As an example, Guitar Hero was originally launched for the PS2, introducing a whole new generation to a forgotten era of epic rock music! It was ground breaking in other ways too, being the first console to use controllers with dual analogue controls to control the game’s camera, and (although it didn’t catch on significantly) it beat the Nintendo Wii to motion controlled gaming with the release of the Eye Toy. It was backwards compatible too, meaning that all those fantastic PlayStation games could still be played.

The SNES also returned excellent sales figures, being the best selling console of the 16 bit era, and can also boast an impressive games library, with a more than impressive 1,751 official releases. It built upon the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System and went on to nurture and develop some epic franchises that have become enshrined in history and are still enormously popular today.

Mario may have started life in the arcade game Donkey Kong, and found his first console home on the NES, but it was a phenomenal run of outstanding and hugely popular SNES titles that really saw the character develop and flourish. Indeed, the list of best selling SNES games contains no less than four Mario titles in the top ten. The Street Fighter series is another that survives to this day, with the most recent instalment – Street Fighter 6, being released for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X in 2023 – pretty impressive for a game that originally debuted over 30 years ago!

It seemed that this battle was set to be a nip and tuck affair, but ultimately there was no stopping the mighty PS2 as it eased into our grand final with a comfortable win.

PS2 wins 6-2.

How did we vote?

PS2 - Alan, Andrew, Duncan, Gareth, John, Josh

SNES - Jonah, Paul

Honourable Mention – Single Game Handhelds

While those handhelds that made the final stages of our competition were those with the ability to play a games library, let’s not forget that before the Nintendo Game Boy came an innovating generation that kick-started the handheld gaming scene. The 1970s and early 1980s saw the release of games like CGL’s Galaxy Invader, Grandstand’s Astro Wars and Munchman, Mattel Electronics’ Auto Race and the early Nintendo Game and Watch units, all offering convenient and compact video gaming on the go.

While gameplay was extremely simplistic, it was still incredibly exciting to be able to play video games on the move and at home (I can still remember playing my Galaxy Invader as a child under the bed covers at night after lights out!). The popularity of the genre demonstrated a viable market which the like of the Nintendo Game Boy, Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear subsequently went on to exploit with gusto.

Matchup two – Nintendo Game Boy vs. Sony PlayStation

Nintendo’s pocket monster was released back in 1989 and, despite being technically inferior to its opposition (the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear in particular), the simple robust design, low price point, long battery life and large games library saw it emerge as the unlikely but convincing winner of that particular battle. There were some stellar games including Tetris, Super Mario Land and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, but it was the Pokémon Red, Blue, Green and Yellow titles that really caught the imagination, selling over 46 million games combined.

The Game Boy and Game Boy Colour eventually clocked up sales of almost 120 million units, elevating it to a more than creditable fourth in the list of best selling games consoles of all time. It also inspired additional hardware including a link cable (allowing players to battle head-to-head on compatible games), the Game Boy Camera, Printer and the Handy Boy - which included two extra speakers, a magnifier and light to improve game visibility.

The PlayStation was Sony’s first entry into the console games market, and began its life as a joint venture between Sony and Nintendo, with Sony tasked with developing a CD ROM unit for the SNES. This never came to fruition as Nintendo subsequently announced a partnership with Phillips, and rather than abandon the project, Sony developed the hardware into a standalone console.

I remember clearly just how jaw-dropping the PlayStation was upon release.

Titles such as Ridge Racer, Wipeout and Battle Arena Toshinden seemed almost unreal. Somehow Sony had brought arcade quality gaming into your living room; I had never before seen such a leap forward in gaming. The technology was later squeezed into the smaller, sleeker and frankly quite beautiful PS One, released in 2000, and which is (in my humble opinion) probably the best looking games console ever made.

The PlayStation ruled the roost for the majority of its 13 year lifespan, seeing off the challenge of the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 among others, thanks to an endless flow of AAA releases amongst a staggering games library that reached almost 8,000 titles.

There was a lot of love from the team for the Game Boy but ultimately we couldn’t deny the PlayStation, which eased into the final with a relatively straightforward victory.

PlayStation wins 6-2.

How did we vote?

Game Boy - Andrew, Josh

PlayStation - Alan, Duncan, Gareth, John, Jonah, Paul

Honourable Mention – Nintendo GameCube

Nintendo’s follow up to the N64 enjoyed a mixed life, spending it playing second (or, more often, third) fiddle behind the powerhouses that were the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox. A lack of support from third party developers meant that some high profile releases didn’t reach the ‘Cube, so those players that wanted to enjoy the GTA series for example, had to look elsewhere. This saw the games library skewed a little towards younger gamers, with the list of best selling games for the console peppered with Mario and Zelda titles.

That is not to say that there isn’t a lot of fun to be had, with some excellent titles to be enjoyed. Super Mario Sunshine was a GameCube exclusive and remains one of my all-time favourite Mario games. And there were adult games too, with a number of Resident Evil releases. Also, I should give a special word for the controller, which, despite being quite compact and me having rather large hands, is one of the most comfortable I have ever used.

And so, in the blink of an eye we have whittled our contenders down to the last two. I am sure that there will be some Sony executives (past or present) feeling rather smug reading this, because next edition’s final bout will feature a straight one-on-one, naked to the waist (Ed – “steady on Grapes!”) street brawl to the death, between the PlayStation and the PS2.

Predictable? Maybe, maybe not. Knowing our team as I do, if I am honest I am somewhat surprised that we have stayed mainstream; I was half expecting an obscure left-field choice that I had never even heard of to make the final. But whichever way you cut it, there is no denying the seismic effect that Sony’s first two ventures into the gaming world have had upon the industry, and when the dust settles, only one can take the crown of being the greatest ever. Which will it be? I’ll see you next month to reveal all!

AG November 2023

Featured in Pixel Addict magazine, issue 18.