It seems silly to list console generations I wasn't part of, so I'll start from my first system.
1) Sega Genesis.
Unlike almost every other person on this forum, I grew up with blast processing, Sonic the Hedgehog. It was slick, it was fast, and it helps its own against two generations of Nintendo competitors.
2) The Nintendo 64.
As much a fan as I am, this one goes up by default. The 64 was the first system where I really had a say in what games I could own (my father owned a Sega Saturn, but played nothing but fighting and racing games). I played the likes of Donkey Kong 64, Super Smash Brothers, and Pokemon Stadium (never actually owned a Mario or Zelda title for the system) and they were all a blast, but I never owned a ton of games. Heck, I don't think I ever broke double digits.
3) Nintendo Gamecube.
This was the second and last generation where Nintendo dominated my gaming life. Although my family owned an Xbox, the Gamecube was where all my allowances went. I must have owned twenty games, ranging from Metroid Prime to Custom Robo. The system itself was slick and felt like a graphical mile ahead of what I'd grown accustomed to on the Nintendo 64.
4) Xbox 360.
And here's where Nintendo lost me. It doesn't hurt that the Xbox 360 came out a solid year before either of its competitors, but it also didn't help that Nintendo released what thirteen year old me saw as a terrible departure from a proper gaming machine. The Xbox 360 was the first system to benefit from me having an income (minimum wage teenager. Yay) so I owned upwards of thirty games. The graphics were intense, the controller solid, and the hard drive massive. Although I've never been a big online gaming kind of guy, it doesn't hurt that the Xbox 360 brought online gaming into the mainstream.
5) PS4 by default (but mostly PC)
I didn't own a console from the current generation up until a month ago. from 2011 onward, I was a PC gamer. The number of games I bought on the cheapside more than made up for the initial start up costs, the online play was free, and the sales were many. My Steam library dwarfs all my other collections by a vast margin, and the freedom to bring my overpriced gaming laptop (Army. Hooah) with me allows for a level of freedom consoles don't usually offer.
That said, I'm now a PS4 guy, too. Purchased mostly for the exclusives, it's become my secondary gaming outlet. I enjoy the games I own for the system and will be adding at least one more to the collection before the end of the month (Gravity Rush 2).
#PCMasterRace
NES
