Most "'X0s" Console

[BassGuitari]

What consoles do you think most define or encapsulate the decades they inhabited? No right or wrong answers or criteria--just a fun thought experiment! ?

 

Mine:

 

Most "'70s" Console: Odyssey 300 This one is tough--there were sooo many video game machines produced in the 1970s that are arguably stylistically emblematic of the decade. The simulated wood angles, smoked plastic, and 8-track inflection of the Channel F; the programmable microcomputer fascination of the Bally and Odyssey 2; the austere post-Nixon weariness of the TV Scoreboard; the disco psychedelia of Ultra Pong; the Pink Floydian color, variety, and sophistication of the Video Computer System; the walnut and brushed aluminum luxury of the TV Fun. When I think of the '70s, I think we all think of woodgrain, but I also think of all the colors that home electronics used to come in. The decade saw the emergence of the first microprocessor-based programmable video game systems, as well as what we now call personal computers, but if you ask anyone what video game first comes to mind when you talk about the '70s, the answer is always going to be Pong. On those metrics, I chose the good old Odyssey 300, which IMO is one of the definitive video game units of the era. It played the Pong-esque games that defined video games in the '70s, and did so in an irresistibly funky yellow case, its control panels adorned with black muscle car striping. It only displayed in black and white, but most(?) American households feeling the pinch of the recession still had black and white televisions anyway. With its console-mounted control dials and limited ball-and-paddle fare, Odyssey 300 is emblematic of the home video games people played before cartridge-programmable systems established themselves near the end of the decade.

 

Most "'80s" Console: Nintendo Entertainment System The Atari 2600 certainly became an enduring pop culture icon in the first few years of the decade, going hand-in-hand with Rubik's Cubes, New Wave music, and DeLoreans. But in a lot of ways it was a holdover from the '70s, with its woodgrain veneer (although this was abandoned early in the decade), various manual switches, and simple, compartmentalized style of games. Design was going sleeker--Intellivision II and Atari 5200 were prominent steps in that direction. But we still desired innovative, more expansive gameplay experiences in addition to the arcade standards and variations thereof--hence the mid-'80s migration to computer platforms and their myriad adventures, RPGs, simulations, and superior arcade titles. Then the NES came along and checked both of those boxes on the way to becoming a cultural phenomenon as synonymous with the 1980s as acid-washed jeans, The Breakfast Club, and Rick Astley, which put it well on its way to becoming one of the all-time definitive video game systems.

 

Most "'90s" Console: Nintendo 64 Remember in the mid/late '90s when everything from consumer electronics to automobiles to furniture suddenly had to be really rounded and/or have as few angular lines as possible? The Nintendo 64 didn't start that, but it certainly fits it. The N64 even got on board with the uniquely '90s see-through fad at the back end of the decade. Even the bold primary colors of the buttons on its unusual "trident" controller seem to be a very '90s thing, having also appeared on Super Famicom, Euro SNES, JP Saturn, and even Bandai Pippin controllers. Although CDs were the exciting wave of the future in the first half of the decade (for me, anyway), it was still cartridge-based systems like the Genesis, Jaguar, and Nintendo's own NES and SNES that defined console gaming until the PlayStation took hold (or Saturn, if you insist); the N64 represented the format's curvy, millennial swansong. And on those weighty cartridges are some of the most memorable moments in gaming, several of them made possible in those pre-modem days by the N64's four onboard controller ports (a feature not really seen, at that point, since the first iteration of the Atari 5200). I can still taste the Mountain Dew and 3D Doritos, and hear Savage Garden and OMC playing on the sound system in the visions of Blockbuster Video that are conjured whenever I fire up Goldeneye between episodes of The X-Files and South Park.

 

(Actually, I honestly have a little more personal affinity for the PlayStation; overall, I think it has a better library, better controllers, its gray/pastel aesthetic is as '90s as a Seinfeld-Frasier-Friends mashup, it arrived when buzz about next-gen hardware and multimedia/CD-ROM was at fever pitch, and I have the same kind of nostalgia for it as I do the N64. But the N64 couldn't have been a product of any other decade. ? And on that criteria alone, the Virtual Boy really deserves a nomination, doesn't it?)

 

Most "'00s" and "'10s" Consoles: Well, I dropped out of consoles after the PlayStation 2/GameCube/Xbox generation, so I can't honestly comment on these (of those three, give me the PS2), but I'd be very interested to read any thoughts on which ones most personify the cultural climates of the last two decades. ?

[Tanooki]

I guess if you're speaking from aesthetics, color choices, molding sure those fit.

 

With that I think in the 00s, probably the PS2 and the Gamecube fit the mold best.  On one end you have the more muted smooth, textures, flat looks like it belongs in a stereo rack system and does since it doubled and tripled as a DVD movie (being the now cheap hot thing) player and CD audio too.  Yet also on the more continued trend of colors, miniaturization, and more throw back inkling of the time the Gamecube fit that well with the purple, black, silver styles and being small fit into most spaces being showy but not garish either.

 

Then in the 10s, I'd have to throw it to MS and Sony to a lesser extent.  You have your bland, polished smooth plastic design, both fitting the cool in trend of the modern 'media center' which is what that MS box was, basically a DRM'd PC (like xbox too) but more media center and hip to online with the paid to play online services.  They don't stand out, they're just there, and work to get all your needs from games, streaming, physical movies too, internet clickbait with social services tied to it to share.  And this then rolls into the other half of the 10s with the same culprits getting even more sterile and close given both boxes basically are the more or less same spec out of date PCs in a console box to sell locked down games yet really offering nothing inside or out than more power.  ...and then Nintendo with the PiiU in the weeds with their polished plastic turd tablet in one few wanted and less kept, and Switch honesty isn't worth mentioning considering it's not even a real console but a hybrid tablet controller handheld device that does its own thing.

[Hwlngmad]

In my opinion, here are my choices.  They are:

 

1970s - 2600

1980s - NES

1990s - PS1 or Sega Genesis

2000s - PS2 or Xbox 360

2010s - PS4

2020s - TBD, but right now the Switch is the hottest thing going console wise.

 

Again, just my opinion, but I think they are pretty reasonable picks all things considering.

[mbd30]

1970s - The original Pong is probably most associated with the 1970s. There was even a That 70s Show episode about Pong.

 

1980s - NES, seems like a no brainer here.

 

1990s - Sega Genesis, especially the marketing which screams 90s 'tude.

 

2000s - PS2 dominated that decade.

 

[MrMaddog]

What about half decades which is how long a console generation lasts?

 

Like how Atari was popular in the early 80's while the NES was in the late 80's, but they felt more like different time periods (tech wise) within the same decade...

 

(I already know the definition of a "generation" is very loosey goosey)

 

 

 

[pablum]

70s: Atari 2600. I am biased as it was the only console I had from the era, but I know tons were made at the time.

 

80s: NES. That machine dominated that decade and has left a rippling effect ever since.

 

90s: Sega Genesis. While a product of the late 80s, as already noted it was pushed with the most extreme 90s marketing I've ever seen.

 

00s: PS2. The console that killed Sega's hardware ambitions (sadly).

 

10s: Uh... I guess PS4. Nothing really stands out anymore to me.