Greatest Gaming Consoles Ranked by Generation

PlayStation 2

The best-selling console in history, the PS2's DVD playback and massive third-party library made it a Trojan horse in living rooms worldwide. It bridged the PS1 era into the HD age and outlived two of its own successors on store shelves. No console since has matched its sheer mar

Release Year: 2000Units Sold: 155 MLaunch Price: $299Legacy Rating: 9.5/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsPlayStation 2

Nintendo Entertainment System

The NES single-handedly resurrected the American games industry after the 1983 crash, proving consoles weren't a fad. Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda set templates every platformer and adventure game still follows. Its Nintendo Seal of Quality reshaped how publishers ap

Release Year: 1985Units Sold: 62 MLaunch Price: $199Legacy Rating: 9.3/10

added by IJRNintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo Switch

By fusing home console and handheld into one hybrid device, the Switch redefined how and where people play, becoming a cultural juggernaut led by Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing. It outsold the mighty PS4 and turned Nintendo's fortunes around after the Wii U flop. Its hybr

Release Year: 2017Units Sold: 132 MLaunch Price: $299Legacy Rating: 9.4/10

added by IJRin 4 rankingsNintendo Switch

Game Boy

Ugly green screen, no backlight, and it still conquered the world thanks to Tetris and a battery life that embarrassed rivals like the Game Gear. The Game Boy proved portable gaming could be a mass-market phenomenon rather than a novelty. Its brick-like durability became the stuf

Release Year: 1989Units Sold: 118 MLaunch Price: $89Legacy Rating: 9/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsGame Boy

PlayStation (PS1)

Sony's disc-based upstart dethroned Nintendo's cartridge dominance and gave the world Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, and Gran Turismo. It made gaming cool for adults and turned CD-ROM storage into the new industry standard overnight. The 'PlayStation' brand was born here an

Release Year: 1994Units Sold: 102 MLaunch Price: $299Legacy Rating: 9/10

added by IJR

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The SNES's 16-bit power delivered Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger, and Street Fighter II, arguably the deepest single console library ever assembled. Its rivalry with the Sega Genesis fueled the console wars that defined 90s gaming culture. Mode 7 scaling tricks made it feel ye

Release Year: 1990Units Sold: 49 MLaunch Price: $199Legacy Rating: 9.2/10

added by IJRSuper Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo Wii

Motion controls turned the Wii into a phenomenon that reached grandparents and toddlers alike, with Wii Sports becoming an unlikely cultural touchstone. It outsold vastly more powerful rivals by rejecting the graphics arms race entirely. Nintendo's blue-ocean strategy here remain

Release Year: 2006Units Sold: 101 MLaunch Price: $249Legacy Rating: 8.8/10

added by IJRin 2 rankings

PlayStation 4

The PS4 corrected the PS3's missteps with a developer-friendly architecture and a killer launch price undercutting Xbox One by $100. Bloodborne, The Last of Us Part II, and God of War cemented Sony's first-party dominance this generation. It comfortably won the console war of its

Release Year: 2013Units Sold: 117 MLaunch Price: $399Legacy Rating: 9.1/10

added by IJRin 2 rankingsPlayStation 4

Nintendo DS

Dual screens, a stylus, and a library spanning Brain Age to Pokémon made the DS the best-selling handheld ever. It captured casual and hardcore audiences simultaneously, something few consoles before or since have managed. Its clamshell design became the default handheld silhouet

Release Year: 2004Units Sold: 154 MLaunch Price: $149Legacy Rating: 9/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsNintendo DS

Xbox 360

Xbox 360 turned Microsoft into a true console contender with Halo 3, Gears of War, and a pioneering online ecosystem via Xbox Live. It survived the infamous 'Red Ring of Death' hardware crisis and still came out the generation's most beloved Xbox. Achievements and party chat beca

Release Year: 2005Units Sold: 84 MLaunch Price: $299Legacy Rating: 8.8/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsXbox 360

Nintendo 64

Super Mario 64 and GoldenEye 007 practically invented modern 3D platforming and console FPS design on this machine's analog stick. Its cartridge-based holdout against CD media cost it third-party support but preserved near-instant load times. Ocarina of Time is still cited as one

Release Year: 1996Units Sold: 33 MLaunch Price: $199Legacy Rating: 8.5/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsNintendo 64

Sega Genesis

'Genesis does what Nintendon't' wasn't just marketing bravado — Sonic the Hedgehog and a killer sports lineup made this the console that legitimately challenged Nintendo's throne. It won the American market for a stretch during the fierce early-90s console wars. Its blast-process

Release Year: 1988Units Sold: 30 MLaunch Price: $189Legacy Rating: 8.3/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsSega Genesis

PlayStation 3

A rocky, expensive launch with the notoriously hard-to-program Cell processor nearly sank the PS3, but it clawed back with Uncharted, The Last of Us, and free online play. Blu-ray backing helped it win a format war on the side. It finished its generation stronger than it started,

Release Year: 2006Units Sold: 87 MLaunch Price: $499Legacy Rating: 8.2/10

added by IJRin 2 rankingsPlayStation 3

Xbox One

A fumbled reveal centered on always-online DRM and a Kinect bundle handed Microsoft an early generational loss to the PS4. Halo 5 and Forza kept loyalists engaged, but it never fully recovered the momentum of the 360 era. Its pivot to Game Pass late in life planted seeds for Micr

Release Year: 2013Units Sold: 51 MLaunch Price: $499Legacy Rating: 7.5/10

added by IJRin 2 rankingsXbox One

PlayStation 5

Near-instant SSD loading and a striking design made the PS5 an instant hit, though chip shortages caused years of scalper-driven scarcity. Demon's Souls remade and Spider-Man 2 showcased its horsepower while the DualSense controller's haptics impressed critics. It's still writing

Release Year: 2020Units Sold: 65 MLaunch Price: $499Legacy Rating: 8.7/10

added by IJRin 3 rankings

Game Boy Advance

A genuine 32-bit leap in a handheld, the GBA hosted stellar ports of SNES classics alongside originals like Metroid Fusion and Fire Emblem. It bridged the Game Boy dynasty into the DS era without missing a beat commercially. Backward compatibility with Game Boy carts kept the leg

Release Year: 2001Units Sold: 81 MLaunch Price: $99Legacy Rating: 8.6/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsGame Boy Advance

Atari 2600

The machine that made 'video game console' a household concept, the 2600 turned Pong-era arcade hits into living-room staples via swappable cartridges. Its explosive early success was followed by the infamous E.T. glut that helped trigger the 1983 crash. Still, it laid the entire

Release Year: 1977Units Sold: 30 MLaunch Price: $199Legacy Rating: 8/10

added by IJRin 2 rankingsAtari 2600

Sega Dreamcast

Beloved but doomed, the Dreamcast was first to market with online play and gave the world Soulcalibur, Jet Set Radio, and Crazy Taxi years ahead of their time. Sega's discontinuation in 2001 ended its console hardware business entirely, turning the Dreamcast into gaming's great c

Release Year: 1999Units Sold: 9 MLaunch Price: $199Legacy Rating: 7.8/10

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Xbox (original)

Microsoft's brash entry into console gaming introduced Halo: Combat Evolved and a built-in hard drive that reshaped expectations for storage and online play. Xbox Live launched here, laying groundwork for the entire modern online console ecosystem. It was bulky and underpowered n

Release Year: 2001Units Sold: 24 MLaunch Price: $299Legacy Rating: 7.5/10

added by IJR

PlayStation Portable

Sony's answer to the DS packed near-PS2 graphics into a sleek handheld, with God of War: Chains of Olympus and Monster Hunter building a devoted following, especially in Japan. Its UMD media format and multimedia ambitions were ahead of their time but hampered by high costs. It n

Release Year: 2004Units Sold: 80 MLaunch Price: $249Legacy Rating: 7.9/10

added by IJRPlayStation Portable