Poll What's The Best Nintendo System Of All Time?

I can't answer this - some days I say N64 and some days I say GameCube. I feel that they're on par with each other for the experiences they introduced and genres they defined.

So yeah, both tremendously fun consoles and that's my answer.

for nostalgia, the snes, but i have three answers and i’ll list them chronologically
1. GBA SP AGS-101

• backlit screen
• great form factor
• rechargeable battery
• can play entire library of gb/gbc
• gba software library is probably my favorite
  2. DS Lite
• backwards compatibility with gba is great
• ds library is very solid, including favorite mario kart
• battery lasts forever
• great form factor, not quite as compact as the gba sp but still very easy to carry
  3. Wii U
• Virtual Console on this makes it the best way to play gba and many other classic nintendo systems
• I love the gamepad, it’s super comfortable to hold and play for a long time, could use a better battery
• pro controller is my fav of that type
• is also a hdmi wii

No great way to answer this. I feel like I have to go with the NES, just for how successfully it resurrected the video game industry and redefined console gaming. It is the foundation for everything we play today.

But it seems crazy not to acknowledge that the Switch plays a pretty hefty number of games from those earlier eras along with newer experiences. It's almost empirically the best Nintendo console. It's certainly the one I'd choose if I could only have one.

Based on software alone I would have to say the Switch but it is let down by having the shoddiest controllers ever designed for any console. I still can't figure out why Nintendo have never redesigned them to correct their flaws like they did with every other portable console.

My inner gamer says the GameCube. It had an incredible software library and great hardware. The controller is probably the most comfortable ever devised.

However I think it has to be the Wii. The focus might have changed a bit in the middle of its life but this was a console that had no less than 2 great Zelda, Metroid and Mario titles for it as well as late releases like Last Story and Xenoblade.

The controller was ingenious and I had a lot of fun post-Uni having friends around for 4-player games. The VC was 2nd to none for its retro catalog.

It's either SNES or N64 for me, both hand ground breaking titles that are still excellent and playable today. I voted for N64 purely because I knew the SNES wouldn't need any help! 😄

My third choice would be the NES, purely for being the origin of pretty much everything that has come since.

exclusive software, its SNES.
3rd party support, its SNES or Switch.
breadth and depth of software, its switch.
hardware itself, gamecube.
party situations, its n64, gamecube, or wii.

i voted SNES ✊

I enjoyed the Gamecube and the GBA the most when they were current compared to other Nintendo systems. It was the right time and I liked what Nintendo was doing as a company in those days compared to before and after. Of course, the SNES was a strong console from a wonderful period of time, though the library can be tricky to wade through to find the good stuff, especially if you're not a big RPG guy like me. A lot of what I like now on the SNES are games I didn't have back in the day, so my enjoyment of the system wasn't as high when it was current compared to the GBA, for example. I could say the same for the NES too. I have found so many games I would have liked as a kid but didn't know about back then. Due to when the system was current, action platformers that took inspiration from '80s action movies were probably at their peak during that time.

It’s like asking what your favourite chocolate bar is when you love all chocolate bars.

Wii for me. Has my favorite library of games; of which are severely underrated, mostly unknown or too weird/experimental that most people don't bother trying.

For me it's the last console to really have its own identity and feel fresh.

Second place is 3DS.

(For reference sake I started playing video games on an NES circa 1988 roughly).

SNES - and I’m telling you now, I didn’t have to think for to long.

A difficult question. The N64 blew me away with the huge leap forward in technology. Jumping firmly into 3D polygon gaming with cinematic experiences like Star Fox 64 and Golden Eye. Of course the tech is nothing by itself, but the quality was there in abundance.
I also have fond memories of the NES and it did revive the console market in the west. It was a huge contribution to the industry so I voted NES.
I think NL had a similar pole and I voted N64 for that one.

For me, the SNES. Loved the NES and all that beforehand and all that has come after, but the SNES gave me my first ever launch day console purchase, my first foray in to importing games, my first gaming magazine (Super Play), the first time I had cash to enjoy buying more than one game a month, my first ever imported console, a fair bit of kudos at school to say I was the uber geek (not as good a thing Back In The Day™, looking back) and a ridiculous amount of other things, on top of the fact that there are a frankly silly amount of good games for the machine, a lot of which still shine nowadays as the classics they are, or in various other gaming halls such as speedrunning. I do enjoy seeing all those games I grew up with being disassembled in the most beautiful ways as an adult, by the speedrunning community. So yeah. The SNES.

I think I already responded to this on NintendoLife: https://www.nintendolife.com/features/talking-point-which-nintendo-console-has-the-best-first-party-games-lineup#comment7440869

Only to add to that comment.
-After some consideration and with the exception of the Virtual Boy (which I do own), all Nintendo handhelds are kind of like peers or equals in my mind. When it comes to the games, the weakness of a system is the strength of another, if that makes any sense.

EDIT: I'm realizing it's not 100% the same question, but the answer is roughly the same for both

Tough one but probably N64 for me, it didn't have the biggest library but does have a few excellent titles, such as Mario 64, Goldeneye Ocarina of Time and Quest 64

This won't be popular but the Switch is one of the weakest in the sense that there isn't that many games I've played on it that weren't on previous consoles or just play better elsewhere but it's still a great console overall

GameCube, hands down:

• Powerful hardware (Imagine Nintendo selling a console that performs on par with XSX today. Unthinkable!)
• Comfortable controller (the ABXY layout was brilliant, and the analogue sticks are unmatched)
• An entire fleet of flagship titles (2 Zeldas, 2 Metroids, a Mario, an F-Zero, a Mario Kart, and the best Smash Bros.)
• New, imaginative games and franchises (Eternal Darkness, Pikmin, Viewtiful Joe, DK Jungle Beat)
• Third party support like we've never seen (Resident Evil 0/REmake/4, Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, MGS: The Twin Snakes, Rogue Squadron 2 and 3, and multiplats that were often the best version available)

I could ramble on about the GCN's library of quality exclusives, or how it punched above its weight in performance- often edging out the Xbox- but for brevity's sake, I won't. For now.

Nintendo DS for me, but not the 3DS. Such an amazing library of games that are still fresh, fun and brilliant to play to this very day.

It still feels special just to hold a DS Lite or DSi and settle down with it... something I feel the 3DS lacked. Also, the entire 3DS line hurt my man hands for some reason... odd, when the entire DS range never did.

1. Super Nintendo
2. Switch
3. Gameboy Advance
4. Wii
5. 3DS

It's close but SNES edges out Switch, imo. That console's library is filled with all-time classics, the vast majority which still hold up well today.

The DS because as well as its own library, its backwards compatible with GBA.
The GBA also has the best of the NES + SNES as well as its own classic library.

The GBA, come on! It not only ended up with versions of Nintendo’s best SNES games, but amazing originals from the big N and the 3rd party support was wildly amazing!

SNES or Switch are solid #2’s, but no way, #1 has to be GBA.

In surprised GBA didn't get more love. I been playing since the NES Era and I'll say the GameCube and GBA days were the best for me.

This one is not hard. While all of Nintendo's systems have been special in their own way, the last time Nintendo offered the most sophisticated home console of a generation, that wasn't gimped in some way due to a short sighted decision, was the Super Nintendo. Superior color/sprite capability, superior sound technology versus contemporary consoles such as the Genesis and Turbografx.

Every system that came later was held back in some way. N64 went with limited capacity cartridges vs. CD-Rom; GameCube used Mini optical discs and had no embedded DVD player vs. what the PS2 offered; The Wii, Wii U and Switch all possessed compromised graphic hardware and processing power versus their contemporaries.

I loved all those systems, and have been loyal to Nintendo through each generation, retaining their home console as my primary gaming platform each cycle, but the last time it truly felt like they were at the top of the world, kicking ass and taking names (as a certain Regginator would put it) was coming off of the momentum of the NES and evolving into the gorgeous pixel art, lush soundtracks and expanded gaming landscapes provided by the SNES. Their other systems are still some of my all time favorites, especially N64 and Gamecube, but I wish Nintendo had allowed those systems to be the market dominating machines they were capable of being.

Switch plays all (ok most) of the Nintendo games ever made, but that's cheating. I think you have to judge consoles by the game library that originated on it. If you only count Switch games made after 2017? Then it doesn't look so hot.

I've always preferred 2D games to 3D, and the SNES was the best ever console for 2D gaming, before everything went 3D.

If we look at the library of games - in terms of quality killer apps - and considering the third-party support, the best Nintendo console are SNES, NES and Switch. In an hypothetical tier-2 list I would put GBA, Gameboy and DS. In tier-3 then 3DS, N64 and GameCube, while in tier-4 Wii and Wii U.

As I often say, Switch is the best Nintendo console since the SNES