What are the best gaming consoles?

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23

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Considered

78

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Feb 10, 2021

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

20 Options Considered

Best gaming consoles	Price	Better than ps4?	Last Updated
-- Nintendo Switch	$299.99	-	Jul 22, 2020
-- Nintendo Wii U	$299.99	-	Feb 5, 2021
-- Nintendo Wii	$64.99+	-	Feb 4, 2021
-- PlayStation 2 Slim	$53.99+	-	Oct 31, 2020
-- Playstation 4	$349	-	Oct 31, 2020

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score 8 · Answer 1

Nintendo Switch

Top Pro

You can play in your home or go portable and take your game anywhere

What's nice about Nintendo Switch is you can play it at home using your TV. But you can also turn this into a handheld device that you can take anywhere just by sliding the controllers into the Nintendo Switch. See More

Top Con

Problems with screen glare

It's difficult to play with a lot of light falling on the screen due to glare issues. For example, you probably will not be able to play outside in the sun, since the game is simply not visible. See More

John Moffat's Experience

This is one of the best purchases I've ever made!!! See More

Top Pro

Environmentally friendly

While gaming the system needs only 12 W, compared to a PS4 Pro(150 W) and a Xbox One X(~170 W) which is a clear advantage. See More

Top Con

Nintendos policy is questionable

Nintendo sued many fan projects and rivals over the last years. See More

Top Pro

There are other accessories available for you to buy and switch to and play with

They have stuff like the Joy-Con charging grip that lets you still play even while you're still charging and the Joy-Con Wheel, which looks pretty much like a driving wheel of a car for those racing games. See More

Top Con

Doesn't have a wide variety of popular games yet

If you are not into playing Zelda, there's not that much for you to do with this console right now. The game lineup is not comparable to Xbox One or PS4. The console is not backwards compatible, so you will not be able to play your old games on it either. See More

Top Pro

You can use your controller for one or two players

Depending on the game you're playing, you can actually use your left and right controllers as one unit or give the other half to another player. See More

Top Con

Poor battery life

If you're playing for example Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you can expect 3.5 hours of gaming before you have to charge the console. Many other portable consoles last longer. See More

Top Pro

It's easy to put your controllers in other control accessories

You just have to slide the left and right controllers out to remove, and slide it into the slots to attach to another accessory. See More

Top Pro

It provides you with everything you'll need to dock and play in TV mode

You'll get a Nintendo Switch Dock, Nintendo Switch AC adapter, and an HDMI cable to use on your TVs. See More

Top Pro

The left and right controllers are detachable

As the name implies, you can just remove and switch your controllers to other available accessories. See More

Top Pro

Very flexible

You can use it as a stationary console with your TV or transform it into a portable gaming device in literally seconds. You will keep all the data and can continue your game on the go. See More

Top Pro

It has great graphics and controllers and games

Top Pro

Comfortable to hold

Nitendo Switch is light and feels comfortable in hand. It doesn't cause any wrist strain. It also has a kickstand that folds out from the back of the console, so you can put it on the table. See More

Top Pro

Unique

This sounds obvious, but if you really think about it, this is a much rarer feature than it should be. Console makers were once praised for their innovation, bringing new ideas into the industry, but today, we just get two companies essentially making prebuilt PCs and competing with each other for benchmarks, and a third company taking risks and making truly unique gaming machines. See More

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score 1 · Answer 2

Nintendo Wii U

Top Pro

The amount of games

Top Con

Slow adoption rates have lead to few games being made for the platform

EagerMehen's Experience

My experience was amazing with this console! With the large game library and Miiverse, this could beat the Switch! It already beat every other console so the final exam is the Switch! See More

Top Pro

Great for streaming media

The Wii U has applications for Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube. While pretty much every device supports those services, what makes the Wii U unique is that the gamepad is a much better interface for choosing media than fumbling with the controller. A great feature for YouTube is that it allows you to search for the next video to play on the gamepad without interrupting the video on screen, making it the best platform for YouTube parties. See More

Top Con

Lowest processing power of any next-gen console

Top Pro

Fills the gap for PC gamers

If you have a PC, you already have most of the things that Playstation 4 and XBox One offer. Many games for those platforms will receive PC ports, often with better graphics, better controls, and more options. The PC, however, tends to be weak when it comes to local multiplayer, and in genres like platformers and fighting games that benefit from a standardized, gamepad-like controller. These are the exactly things the Wii U excels at - the Wii U's controls allow for interesting and flexible multiplayer games, with symmetric or asymmetric gameplay, using classic gamepad, motion controls, or some combination of the two, and Nintendo's highly regarded exclusive franchises provide a solid collection of content in these genres. See More

Top Pro

Nintendo's world class exclusives

The best feature of the Wii U and all Nintendo devices is Nintendo games. Nintendo is one of the best developers in the world, and have an unbeatable track record for incredibly fun, clever, and polished games, and as always, they're only available on Nintendo platforms. See More

Top Pro

Cheaper than competitors

Cost less than most consoles, which makes a good choice for those on a budget or not looking to break the bank. See More

Top Pro

Free online multiplayer

The online multiplayer is free, which is great for those not looking to have any type of monthly or yearly fee attached to their gaming console in order to get online gaming. See More

Top Pro

Extra screen on the gamepad

The gamepad's extra screen allows for some cool unique features. It allows you to play games off screen, allowing you to keep playing if someone else wants to use the TV. See More

Top Pro

Multiplayer games

Nintendo has some of the best hot-seat multiplayer games outside of the world of first-person shooters. With New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D Land, Nintendo Land, and the upcoming Super Smash Bros. U, Mario Kart 8, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Nintendo already has some of the best hot-seat multiplayer options of the next gen consoles. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 3

Nintendo Wii

Top Con

Discontinued

The console was discontinued in 2017 Worldwide. See More

Top Pro

Homebrew channel

EagerMehen's Experience

Ew. This console is garbage with all of its features in it. The wiimote is so hard to hold and the trailer is so edited and the worst thing about it is the wii MINI. It's huge, probably bigger than the actual console which is dumb. See More

Top Con

In most games the motion controls feel extremely forced

Top Pro

The first Nintendo console to introduce the modern features we take for granted on the Wii U and Nintendo Switch

These include Nintendo store, the Mii, friend codes, integrated internet, integrated Netflix, etc. See More

Top Con

Nintendo Store and friend codes no longer work

However, you can get around some of these issues using downloads on the internet and an SD card. (Ex: Importing friend tokens). See More

Top Pro

Completly backward compatable with GameCube

This includes the Game link controller. See More

See All

score 2 · Answer 4

PlayStation 2 Slim

Top Con

Difficult to find good condition games anymore

Any games found for the PS2 are pretty much guaranteed to not be in the original packaging. You would be lucky to find a like new condition game. See More

Top Pro

Many classic games were made for it

Original Battlefront 2, Kingdom Hearts, etc. See More

Top Con

Discontinued

See All

score 3 · Answer 5

Playstation 4

Top Con

Pay for online multiplayer

On top of having to pay for the system and games you also have to pay for online multiplayer, not once but monthly. See More

Top Pro

Controllers have headphone jack, touchpad & speakers

Top Con

Not cross-platform-friendly

Sony doesn't support cross-platform gaming. See More

Top Pro

Some classic PS3 games can be played on PS4 through Playstation Now

Top Con

Vita's remote play still needs work to be useful

Top Pro

Great controllers

Top Con

Online multiplayer requires a monthly subscription

Top Pro

Cross-play support allows seamlessly continuing a game between Vita and PS4

See All

score 2 · Answer 6

Nintendo entertainment system/Family computer

Top Con

Discontinued

Top Pro

A classic

It's one of the first home consoles and had many classics are available. See More

score 2 · Answer 7

Super Nintendo entertainment system

Top Con

Discontinued

The console was discontinued in 2003 Worldwide See More

Top Pro

The peak of 2D gaming

EagerMehen's Experience

the snes has barely any graphics, same with the nes. both consoles have hard ways to put games in the console and get it out. See More

See All

score 2 · Answer 8

Nintendo 3DS

Top Pro

Nintendo exclusives

Has tons of awesome exclusives you can't get on any other system. See More

Top Con

Lacks games of certain genres

Especially in racing and shooting games. See More

Top Pro

Highly portable

The 3DS is small and wireless so you can take it on plane rides or with you to school. See More

Top Con

Virtual console is weak

The virtual console could be so much better than it is. It's very lacking in games compared to a console like the Wii's virtual console. See More

Top Pro

The design is so good

It looks better than the switch in appearance, not hardware. See More

Top Pro

Download Play

Download Play enables wireless connections for local multi-player games, which works great when playing with friends. See More

Top Pro

Free online multiplayer

Online multiplayer is free, there is no cost to play online at any time. See More

Top Pro

Cheap cost

Cost less than most systems of this generation, though this is a portable and is comparatively priced when taking that into account. In the long run, this is also a less expensive system as the games are cheaper over other consoles as well. See More

See All

score 1 · Answer 9

NVIDIA SHIELD Console

Top Con

Only capapable of low end gaming

Even the demos of the games shown at the unveiling shows that any type of console quality game is going to be too taxing for the system, all running at only 30fps. Adding to that, the majority of console ports for the system are years old which shows that it is pretty obvious how limiting the system will be. See More

score 4 · Answer 10

Xbox One

Top Pro

Stream games to PC

Top Con

Pay for online multiplayer

On top of having to pay for the console and games you have to pay for online multiplayer, not once but monthly. See More

slantkid's Experience

I like it because I have it too and it works great. See More

Specs

Better than ps4?:Yes

Top Pro

An external hard-drive can easily be connected to increase storage space

Top Con

Online multiplayer requires a subscription

Playing against others over the internet requires a subscription of $2.50/month. See More

Top Pro

Amazing reddit community

Active community can be found on the subreddit /r/xboxone. See More

Top Con

Kinect's voice control still needs some work

Top Pro

Beam streaming app

Top Con

Weaker graphics

Many games designed for multiple platforms, for example PS4 or PC (as well as X1), have to be upscaled when deployed to X1 due to lack of raw graphical power. See More

Top Pro

Kinect is optional

Xbox One can be bought without a Kinect See More

Top Con

Very few games with proper Kinect support

Top Pro

Kinect allows controlling the console using voice commands

See All

score 1 · Answer 11

Nintendo GameCube

Top Con

Discontinued

Top Pro

Compact design

Top Con

Games can be expensive

Especially now. This is because of the unusual disk size and console/game popularity. See More

Top Pro

Many add on features available

You add on a device to play GBA and GBC games on your TV. See More

Top Con

Not backward compatible with Nintendo 64

To play those games you have to buy extremely expensive promo disks. (Ex: The $200+ Zelda Promo disk just for Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask) See More

See All

score 1 · Answer 12

Xbox 360 Slim

Top Con

Discontinued

Top Pro

Xbox LIVE connectivity allows for fun online multiplayer gaming experiences

Top Pro

The Xbox 360 has a huge game library

Top Pro

Quiet operation for a gaming console

See All

Answer 13

Gameboy Advance

Top Con

Discontinued

Top Pro

Portable magic

score 1 · Answer 14

Atari 2600

Top Con

Discontinued

Top Pro

Games

Has a large library of enjoyable games from Atari, Activison, and Imagic. See More

Answer 15

PC Engine (TurboGrafx 16 in the US)

Top Pro

Great shoot 'em up Arcade ports

It had the best Shoot 'em up ports of 4th gen consoles. See More

Answer 16

Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in the USA)

Top Con

It's really outdated

Sega Genesis was discontinued in 1997. See More

Answer 17

Nintendo 64

Top Con

Discontinued

Top Pro

One of the first steps into 3d gaming

Answer 18

Gameboy and Gameboy Colour

Top Con

Discontinued

Answer 19

Philips CD-i

Top Con

It's just horrible in all ways

score 1 · Answer 20

Ouya Android Video Console System

Top Con

Controller-lag

The controllers can take upwards of 3 seconds for their input to be sent to the console at times. See More

EagerMehen's Experience

THE CONTROLLER BREAKS 50K TIMES See More

ReveredKuiXing's Experience

The BEST console See More

See All

20 Options Considered

My Recommendation for Nintendo Switch

My Recommendation for Nintendo Switch

You can play in your home or go portable and take your game anywhere

Problems with screen glare

Environmentally friendly

Nintendos policy is questionable

There are other accessories available for you to buy and switch to and play with

Doesn't have a wide variety of popular games yet

You can use your controller for one or two players

Poor battery life

It's easy to put your controllers in other control accessories

It provides you with everything you'll need to dock and play in TV mode

The left and right controllers are detachable

Very flexible

It has great graphics and controllers and games

Comfortable to hold

Unique

My Recommendation for Nintendo Wii U

My Recommendation for Nintendo Wii U

The amount of games

Slow adoption rates have lead to few games being made for the platform

Great for streaming media

Lowest processing power of any next-gen console

Fills the gap for PC gamers

Nintendo's world class exclusives

Cheaper than competitors

Free online multiplayer

Extra screen on the gamepad

Multiplayer games

My Recommendation for Nintendo Wii

My Recommendation for Nintendo Wii

Discontinued

Homebrew channel

In most games the motion controls feel extremely forced

The first Nintendo console to introduce the modern features we take for granted on the Wii U and Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Store and friend codes no longer work

Completly backward compatable with GameCube

My Recommendation for PlayStation 2 Slim

My Recommendation for PlayStation 2 Slim

Difficult to find good condition games anymore

Many classic games were made for it

Discontinued

My Recommendation for Playstation 4

My Recommendation for Playstation 4

Pay for online multiplayer

Controllers have headphone jack, touchpad & speakers

Not cross-platform-friendly

Some classic PS3 games can be played on PS4 through Playstation Now

Vita's remote play still needs work to be useful

Great controllers

Online multiplayer requires a monthly subscription

Cross-play support allows seamlessly continuing a game between Vita and PS4

My Recommendation for Nintendo entertainment system/Family computer

My Recommendation for Nintendo entertainment system/Family computer

Discontinued

A classic

My Recommendation for Super Nintendo entertainment system

My Recommendation for Super Nintendo entertainment system

Discontinued

The peak of 2D gaming

My Recommendation for Nintendo 3DS

My Recommendation for Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo exclusives

Lacks games of certain genres

Highly portable

Virtual console is weak

The design is so good

Download Play

Free online multiplayer

Cheap cost

My Recommendation for NVIDIA SHIELD Console

My Recommendation for NVIDIA SHIELD Console

Only capapable of low end gaming

My Recommendation for Xbox One

My Recommendation for Xbox One

Stream games to PC

Pay for online multiplayer

An external hard-drive can easily be connected to increase storage space

Online multiplayer requires a subscription