Which console is better? Atari or NES?

[retrogamer64]

WHY MAKE US CHOOSE!!!

[Andromeda Stardust]

Because then it wouldn't be a poll.

[rhindlethereddragon]

I'm a huge fan of the Atari 2600 - it was my first game system, and I still play it today.

 

That said, I'm going to have to go with the NES. Why? Because the Atari 2600 was simply not designed with longevity in mind, while the NES was. You could play Super Mario Brothers in the arcade, come home, and play the exact same game on the NES.

 

Sorry, but nostalgia aside, the NES runs away with this. No disrespect to the Atari 2600, but it should have been designed for the "long haul", not nickel-and-diming the components because the "pencil pushers" said to. It's as if they said "OK, we're going to design this, but we're going to do it on the cheap - just in case it flops".

 

But then again, the Atari 2600 wouldn't be the Atari 2600 we all know without those limitations.

[atarilovesyou]

I see your point, Rhindle, but I don't think that Atari nickel and dimed the components any more than Nintendo did...my 2600s are working after 30 plus years, can't say the same for my toasters That said, I take care of my stuff pretty well. It's not like VCSs are dropping like flies. I thought maybe you were speaking of the 'long haul' of gameplay...which I agree. You can't really get more play out of some 2600 games after a while...there's not much to a game like, say, Plaque Attack. And after you've gotten pretty good at it, there's not a whole lotta reason to go back. But the same can definitely be said for SMB.

[Andromeda Stardust]

^^Cut that lockout chip and replace the 72-pin cartridge connector and your NES will be good for another twenty years.

[Rhomaios]

^^Cut that lockout chip and replace the 72-pin cartridge connector and your NES will be good for another twenty years.

 

Or just boil the connector.

[+Ripdubski]

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".

^this

[accousticguitar]

I like arcade games and the CX-40 joystick is the best controller ever so it's the VCS all the way for me!

[Andromeda Stardust]

I like arcade games and the CX-40 joystick is the best controller ever so it's the VCS all the way for me!

Oh boy, I'm gonna get a lot of flac for saying this, but here goes... 3 button Genny: best VCS controller ever made.

[icemanxp300]

I kind of read half of page 1 and seen a lot of statements about being unfair since the nes is a generation ahead.

 

Of course I prefer the nes myself.

 

My question is what the hell happened w/newer systems? Since we are talking light years ahead and they suck! I would take my nes over a wii u xbox 1 or ps4 all day long and backtracking.

 

Now whats better nes or snes. Thats a tuff one It's hard to knock down the nes library.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Yeah it's a hard question to digest, especially on an Atari forum. NES/SNES dynamic duo are definitely the kingpins of retro gaming. It would be hard to choose between them although I have to pick my first love, the NES. Many people won't touch the pre-crash era systems. I was one of them for years, LOL!

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

CV was my first love but I grew up with NES, in that later post-crash Era.. So NES for me definitely.

 

I got an Atari 2600 later on down the road, in the early 2000's

[adamchevy]

I would say the analogue nt is the best!

 

http://www.analogueinteractive.com/

[Rhomaios]

I would say the analogue nt is the best!

 

http://www.analogueinteractive.com/

Not for the $price$... :/

[bradhig]

Atari VCS. The NES toaster was the most horribly designed console ever because of the stupid 72 pin connector which fails too often and the lock out chip. I disabled the lock out chiip on my NES toaster and put in a refurbished gold coated 72 pin connector

[Nebulon]

I suppose I'm going to get my ass kicked by my Gen-X peers for saying this, but I'd have to vote for the NES on this one.

 

The Atari 2600, Intellivision, and ColecoVision were the machines of my time (with the CV being my favorite).

 

I liked the VCS, but I didn't love it. When it came out I wanted just a bit more sound and graphics power. Hence the CV being the perfect choice.

 

To me, the NES is like an amped-up CV, so I'm voting NES.

 

Now if the question was NES vs. ColecoVision, I'd have to go with the CV since the good games on that machine are ones that are burned into my brain (and just thinking about them makes me smile).

 

Having said all this, games like Yar's Revenge on the 2600 are really awesome.

 

IMHO, the perfect retro console (just the right amount of graphics and sound processing power and not an ounce more that what it needs) is the TG-16.

 

Ironically, I never owned a NES or a TG-16. regardless, they both gained my respect.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I would say the analogue nt is the best!

 

http://www.analogueinteractive.com/

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

 

Hang onto those Toasters for a few more months. Brian Parker aka BunnyBoy of Retro USB will be releasing a brand new all-digital FPGA NES compatible with NES and Famicom. It has a built in Four Score compatible with 4 player NES and 4 player Famicom games, supports both PAL 50Hz and NTSC 60Hz, outputs 1280x720p over HDMI, has 3 selectable aspect ratios with perfect integer ratios at 3x3, 4x3, or 5x3 output pixels, and a custom 2/3 scanline mode that dims every third line of HD 720p resolution. Only thing it won't do is lightgun games, because those won't work on HD displays.

 

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?StartRow=1&catid=7&threadid=92557

 

Pack in Controller with adjustable turbo:

Edited May 10, 2014 by stardust4ever

[high voltage]

Atari VCS. The NES toaster was the most horribly designed console ever because of the stupid 72 pin connector which fails too often and the lock out chip. I disabled the lock out chiip on my NES toaster and put in a refurbished gold coated 72 pin connector

 

NES is just dead ugly, and it's only 4th gen. Primitive games.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

NES is just dead ugly, and it's only 4th gen. Primitive games.

3rd Generation. 4th is SNES territory. See the Wikipedia article.

 

Add this minor list of corrections:

 

Coleco, Vectrex, and 5200 are not 3rd, they're 2.5

 

Just like TurboGrafx is 3.5 being hybrid 8-bit.

 

And NeoGeo, 3DO, CDi, Jag, are 4.5

 

Throw Sega's 32X add-on in the 4.5 bin as well.

 

DreamCast is 5.5

 

While we're at it, go ahead and declare the Wii 6.5 instead of 7, and Wii-U 7.5 instead of 8.

 

Nintendo still rocks though.

 

Ah, forget the numbers already. NES is still 3rd gen. VCS is 2nd. Almighty PONG is 1st.

 

FYI, higher number doesn't necessarily mean better. Those who believe so wouldn't have signed up at a site called AtariAge!

[+wood_jl]

As others have indicated, this is an apples-to-oranges comparison because the machines are a generation apart. Why stop at the NES? Is the Super Nintendo better? How about the Playstation, Playstation 4?

 

Similarly:

 

Which is better?

 

THIS:

 

 

OR THIS:

 

Which is better? Either one of the above,

 

OR THIS:

 

 

[high voltage]

3rd Generation. 4th is SNES territory. See the Wikipedia article.

 

Add this minor list of corrections:

 

Coleco, Vectrex, and 5200 are not 3rd, they're 2.5

 

Just like TurboGrafx is 3.5 being hybrid 8-bit.

 

And NeoGeo, 3DO, CDi, Jag, are 4.5

 

Throw Sega's 32X add-on in the 4.5 bin as well.

 

DreamCast is 5.5

 

While we're at it, go ahead and declare the Wii 6.5 instead of 7, and Wii-U 7.5 instead of 8.

 

Nintendo still rocks though.

 

Ah, forget the numbers already. NES is still 3rd gen. VCS is 2nd. Almighty PONG is 1st.

 

FYI, higher number doesn't necessarily mean better. Those who believe so wouldn't have signed up at a site called AtariAge!

 

 

 

I can dig up plenty more magazines from the 80s......

 

EG is right, books are right, Wikipedia is wrong, that stupid NES is NOT 3rd Gen.....unless of course, 3rd gen is Coleco, 5200, vectrex, Famicom (1983). Coleco and Famicom belong in the same gen, that'll work.

Edited May 10, 2014 by high voltage

[Andromeda Stardust]

I can dig up plenty more magazines from the 80s......

 

EG is right, books are right, Wikipedia is wrong, that stupid NES is NOT 3rd Gen.....unless of course, 3rd gen is Coleco, 5200, vectrex, Famicom (1983). Coleco and Famicom belong in the same gen, that'll work.

Famicom released in 1983. NES released in the US is the same damn system with a redesigned cartridge port. So you can't class NES and Famicom in separate generations. Any way you slice it, NES is 3rd gen.

[high voltage]

This is exactly what I'm saying, Famicom and NES are the same, both are either third gen, together with the Coleco, 5200 and Vectrex, or 4th gen together with SMS, 7800 and Turbografx.

 

my beef is with Coleco,5200 and Vectrex being bunged up with VCS, Videopac and Intellivision as second gen, it's just wrong.

 

Coleco 5200 Vectrex is THIRD gen as documented. it is documented FACT.

Wikipedia doesn't seem to understand this.

Edited May 10, 2014 by high voltage

[+wood_jl]

my beef is with Coleco,5200 and Vectrex being bunged up with VCS, Videopac and Intellivision as second gen, it's just wrong.

 

Coleco 5200 Vectrex is THIRD gen as documented. it is documented FACT.

Wikipedia doesn't seem to understand this.

 

It appears that Wikipedia uses "The Crash of 1983" as the dividing line between 2nd and 3rd generation. Although the Colecovision and 5200 were obviously later technology than the 2600, they were sold at the same time, so perhaps that's the criteria. The 2600, Intellivision, 5200, and Colecovision were all on the market at the same time, competing for your gaming dollar. They're not looking at "tech." They're looking at what was for sale, when.

[atarian63]

Atari V c s I just never really cared for nes and the era of games for it.give me some classic arcade games from the late 70s early 80s