Which console is better? Atari or NES?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Okay peeps, it's time for fanboys, whether generation X or Y, to show their true colors:

 

What is the best 8-bit game console ever made? Atari VCS or NES?

 

Yes, I know I'm asking this on an Atari forum. Feel free to cast your vote and explain why you voted.

[Austin]

[jaybird3rd]

You're asking three separate questions here: "Which console is better?", "Best game console ever?", and "What is your favorite 8-bit game console?" The first two are impossible to answer definitively: the VCS got lots of games that the NES didn't get (and vice versa), so one could reasonably choose either console depending on what games one likes, and of the games that appeared on both, some may prefer one version over the other for reasons of their own. Which console is "better" or "the best" depends on what you mean: "better" in what respect, and "the best" at doing what?

 

As for my "favorite" of the two, that's easy: the VCS. I like the NES, and it's gotten lots of play time from me over the years, but when I make a list of the games on both systems that I keep coming back to, I find that more of them are on the VCS. Of the hundreds of games on the NES, fewer than a dozen are among my "regulars".

[Cynicaster]

Yeah. My fave is the VCS, but I'm hard-pressed to come up with an argument as to why it's "better".

 

I hate to admit it, but I think Nintendo's dick-hole licensing tactics helped to stymie shovelware epidemic v2.0, which reaped benefits in the overall NES ownership experience. On the other hand, the free-for-all wasteland of VCS software development is a bit of a stain on its legacy.

[+Gemintronic]

It's not really a fair question. The VCS and NES weren't even in the same console generation. Unlike the generic DRM blobs that comprise this generation each console had valuable and distinct traits.

[sega_SHARK]

I think most of the "hate" you see towards the NES isn't because people don't like the system. People are just calling bullshit because the NES wasn't handed down by angels and set upon a golden throne so that it could "save" gaming.

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

The NES for me. I started playing the system when I was five during the late 80's and was (still is) a big Super Mario Bros. fan!

 

 

Anthony...

[Pixelboy]

NES for me. As much as I would like to say the ColecoVision was the best, my best gaming memories are those of playing Mega Man, Metroid and many other such NES classics.

[genesisguy]

NES for me too. It was my first console.

[+Gemintronic]

What is the best 8-bit game console ever made?

 

Actually, this question has an answer: PC Engine SuperGrafx

CPU: 8-bit HuC6280A, a modified 65SC02 running at 1.79, or 7.16 MHz (switchable by software).

 

[rivercityrandom]

Can I vote for the Vectrex?

[VectorGamer]

I grew up in the arcades so my favorite console is the ColecoVision. Even though the NES is technically superior to the VCS, my vote is for the VCS. The VCS had more arcade ports that I grew up with when compared to the NES.

 

I bought an NES when it came out, but at the time I was 15 and video games weren't as exciting to me like when I was 10 or 12.

[+Defender_2600]

 

Actually, this question has an answer: PC Engine SuperGrafx

CPU: 8-bit HuC6280A, a modified 65SC02 running at 1.79, or 7.16 MHz (switchable by software).

 

 

GPU: A multiple graphics processor setup. One 16-bit HuC6260 Video Color Encoder (VCE), two 16-bit HuC6270A Video Display Controllers (VDCs), and one HuC6202 Video Priority Controller.

 

This is problematic.

[Bill Loguidice]

It's not really a fair question and needs all kinds of qualifiers. Taken objectively, the NES is clearly the better console, but that doesn't mean someone can't like the Atari 2600 more. The NES has more advanced games, and more games, as well as more accessories, but as was stated, it was also one generation beyond.

It was mentioned elsewhere that the greatest console of all time was the PS2. Again, just taking various factors into consideration, including the number and breadth of games, that's hard to argue with, but then taken another way - especially if you factor in backwards compatibility - it's hard to argue against saying an early first generation PS3 is the greatest console of all time because it can play PS3, PS2, and PS1 games all in hardware, giving it access to an immense library of every type of game imaginable.

To summarize, unless you qualify the hell out of it, there is no one answer.

[Ransom]

My favorite 8-bit console of all time (strictly defined -- not including home computers or all-in-ones) would probably be the light sixer VCS.

My "desert island" 8-bit console would be the 7800 because of the great homebrew games it plays in addition to playing all the VCS games.

 

There's some good stuff on the NES-era consoles, and I enjoyed those games a lot at the time. But these days I get bored easily and don't have the patience for a long, drawn-out game. So the pre-crash era programmable consoles get my vote every time.

[godslabrat]

 

It's not really a fair question and needs all kinds of qualifiers. Taken objectively, the NES is clearly the better console, but that doesn't mean someone can't like the Atari 2600 more. The NES has more advanced games, and more games, as well as more accessories, but as was stated, it was also one generation beyond.

It was mentioned elsewhere that the greatest console of all time was the PS2. Again, just taking various factors into consideration, including the number and breadth of games, that's hard to argue with, but then taken another way - especially if you factor in backwards compatibility - it's hard to argue against saying an early first generation PS3 is the greatest console of all time because it can play PS3, PS2, and PS1 games all in hardware, giving it access to an immense library of every type of game imaginable.

To summarize, unless you qualify the hell out of it, there is no one answer.

 

 

Everything Bill just said... plus I want to add that "8 Bit" means very little and we all know it. The Intellivision is 16-bit, but it's more than fair to compare it with the NES and 2600. Plus you have to decide if 8-bit computers are up for inclusion... and why include them or why NOT include them?

[+Defender_2600]

"In 2009, the Nintendo Entertainment System was named the single greatest video game console in history by IGN, out of a field of 25.^[11] "

 

"The Atari 2600 was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York in 2007. In 2009, the Atari 2600 was named the second greatest video game console of all time by IGN, who cited its remarkable role as the console behind both the first video game boom and the video game crash of 1983, and called it "the console that our entire industry is built upon."^{[36] "}

 

 

Atari VCS is my favorite.

[Rex Dart]

While the question could use some serious clarification, it's pretty clear that the NES can basically do anything that the VCS can, and more. It's a generation ahead, for crap's sake.

 

That said, there ARE things that each does that the other doesn't, and both have a place in my collection/library.

 

For the most part, I prefer the styles of games more often found on the NES.

Edited March 10, 2014 by Rex Dart

[Reaperman]

Easy. Of those two options, NES for me. I can't say that I even *like* vcs.

 

I never really played one 'back in the day' and if I did, I'd probably think better of it--but I don't. I started my gaming experience on an A8 back in the early-mid 80's, and that system gave me better versions of almost all of the 2600 games, as well as games of much greater complexity. 'Crappy system for the poor' is a crude way to word my opinion of the VCS, but it's actually one I go with often. Likely not a popular opinion here, but even though A8's are just a little newer, they are such a huge jump in gaming that I've found it very tough to go that one step backwards.

 

NES, on the other hand, is something I view as a great console. The games in its library did get very large and complex. Genres previously limited to computers had a great showing on the console, and I really liked that. I'd expect that the 'NES generation' would have similar trouble going back to something that seems almost unnecessarily primitive.

Edited March 10, 2014 by Reaperman

[jmetal88]

Neither is 'better' than the other. Just depends on what type of games you like to play.

[RevEng]

From 1977 to 1983, the VCS was better.

 

(add my voice to the "qualifiers" chorus. "better" is meaningless without establishing context.)

[high voltage]

game.com beats both in choice and quality

[+Gemintronic]

game.com beats both in choice and quality

 

WRONG. Game King trumps them all!

 

[Keatah]

I think bloatware on consoles started with NES. Developers could become wasteful and still have passable games for the masses. On the VCS every byte counted, and even then bytes were multi-purpose, being split into 4-bit words.

 

I have more appreciation for the VCS now than I ever did before. And I don't like the paper-cutout look of graphics. Not to mention disconnected soundtracks. Soundtracks that just loop in the background. Ughhh...

[RevEng]

'Crappy system for the poor' is a crude way to word my opinion of the VCS, but it's actually one I go with often.

That's a bit misguided. Adjusted for inflation at launch the VCS cost nearly twice as much as the NES did at its launch.

 

Sure the VCS became the goto for poor families when technology moved on, but the exact same thing happened with the NES.

Edited March 11, 2014 by RevEng