The Best Games For Every Major Console

We’ve been on a major retro gaming kick over the last couple of years. From the earliest of days at Sony to the troubled days at Nintendo to questioning what’s going on with Prototype (of all things), we love looking back at gaming history.

To offer an easy reference point for our verdicts on some of the most important consoles of all time, we’ve decided to put this simple resource page together that lists all the consoles and their games that we’ve ranked first. All you need to do is select the console name and find out more of the best games on those respective platforms you ought to check out.

Prepare for a lot of words on a lot of video game history.

 

The Bestest Games

3DS

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: February 26, 2011
Units Sold: 76 million
Best Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

The first of many Zelda games to top our best lists, A Link Between Worlds is still massively engaging and captivating even today, though you could still somehow say it’s underrated.

 

Dreamcast

Manufacturer: Sega
Console Release Date: September 9, 1999
Units Sold: 9.13 million
Best Game: Soulcalibur

You don’t get many fighting games of this caliber anymore, or consoles this weird. Love live the Dreamcast.

 

DS

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: November 21, 2004
Units Sold: 154.02 million
Best Game: Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

One of the more forgotten Mario games in the plumber’s vast, vast library of games, Bowser’s Inside Story still delights as the decades continue to march on. Relentlessly.

 

Game Boy

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: April 21, 1989
Units Sold: 118.69 million (inc. GBC)
Best Game: The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Wake up and realise just how good this weird little Zelda game has been all along. Try not to focus on the dream fish stuff too much, though.

 

Game Boy Advance

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: March 21, 2001
Units Sold: 81.51 million
Best Game: Metroid Fusion

Metroid Fusion felt like a step above everything else on the Game Boy Advance, and is arguably the greatest Metroid game ever released.

 

GameCube

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: September 14, 2001
Units Sold: 21.74 million
Best Game: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Wake(r) up and realise just how good this game was all along. It’s not a hard cel.

 

Game Gear

Manufacturer: Sega
Console Release Date: October 6, 1990
Units Sold: 10.62 million
Best Game: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Wake(r) up and realise just how good this game was all along. It’s not a hard cel.

Oh yeah, we even covered the cursed Game Gear. While the screen was always just way too small, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 still offered tonnes of fun.

 

Genesis (Mega Drive)

Manufacturer: Sega
Console Release Date: October 29, 1988
Units Sold: 30.75 million
Best Game: Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Knuckle down and tuck into high-speed platforming action that’s barely aged a day.

 

NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: July 15, 1983
Units Sold: 61.91 million
Best Game: Super Mario Bros 3

The best game of most years? We think so, and while many Mario games since have it beaten graphically, Super Mario Bros 3 still feels satisfying to play today.

 

Nintendo 64

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: June 23, 1996
Units Sold: 32.93 million
Best Game: Super Mario 64

Please stop angrily blowing into your ocarinas. We said what we said.

 

PlayStation

Manufacturer: Sony
Console Release Date: December 3, 1994
Units Sold: 102.49 million
Best Game: Final Fantasy VII

Forget the triangular biceps that are probably even sharper than Cloud’s sword. FFVII is eternal.

 

PlayStation 2

Manufacturer: Sony
Console Release Date: March 4th, 2000
Units Sold: 158.70 million
Best Game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

San Andreas: the game so good that a remaster so bad couldn’t take away from just how good it is, or just how wild its cheats get. Also, bring back the ability to make our main characters very fat.

 

PlayStation 3

Manufacturer: Sony
Console Release Date: November 11, 2006
Units Sold: 87.4 million
Best Game: Grand Theft Auto V

It may have been ported about nine times since, but GTA just beat out the likes of The Last of Us to loot top spot.

 

PlayStation 4

Manufacturer: Sony
Console Release Date: November 15, 2013
Units Sold: 117.2 million (still in production)
Best Game: God of War

Kratos’ renaissance gets the nod for our list. Boy, what a surprise.

 

PlayStation Portable

Manufacturer: Sony
Console Release Date: December 12, 2004
Units Sold: 80 million
Best Game: Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

We will never stop roaring about this game. But we will also accept Peace Walker from the Metal Gear Solid franchise.

 

PlayStation Vita

Manufacturer: Sony
Console Release Date: December 17, 2011
Units Sold: 10.21 million (estimate)
Best Game: Persona 4: Golden

We like…gold. Quite a lot, actually. While it’s been ported a fair bit since, Persona 4 Golden still feel likes the quintessential Vita game.

 

Saturn

Manufacturer: Sega
Console Release Date: November 22, 1994
Units Sold: 9.26 million
Best Game: Panzer Dragoon Saga

It only makes sense for one of the most underrated consoles to get one of the most underrated games to match, even if it doesn’t feel great to play today.

 

SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: November 21, 1990
Units Sold: 49.10 million
Best Game: Super Metroid

Super Metroid improved the limitations of the original game thanks to the more powerful SNES to create one of the most influential, irrepressible games of all time.

 

Steam Deck

Manufacturer: Valve
Console Release Date: February 25, 2022
Units Sold: Undisclosed (still in production)
Best Game: Yakuza 0

Karaoke on the go is a very, very good reason to buy a Steam Deck.

 

Wii

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: November 19, 2006
Units Sold: 101.63 million
Best Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2

You could probably see this one coming from space. It still deserves a port, Nintendo.

 

Wii U

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Console Release Date: November 18, 2012
Units Sold: 13.56 million
Best Game: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

What better way for a pretty big failure of a console to sign off than with one of the best games ever made across any console?

 

Xbox

Manufacturer: Microsoft
Console Release Date: November 15, 2001
Units Sold: 24 million (estimated)
Best Game: Halo 2

Few games encapsulated the era of gaming quite like Halo 2 did back in the day and, you know what, it still holds up today. Get two Duke controllers and get blasting.

 

Xbox 360

Manufacturer: Microsoft
Console Release Date: November 22, 2005
Units Sold: 84 million (estimated)
Best Game: Halo 3

John “Halo” Chief’s final mainline entry takes top spot on our Xbox 360 list.

 

Xbox One

Manufacturer: Microsoft
Console Release Date: November 22, 2013
Units Sold: 51 million (estimated)
Best Game: Elden Ring

Elden Ring rings in the top spot for our Xbox One countdown.

Watch this space for more “console bests” coming soon.

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