What system had more games?

[Ite]

Atari 2600 or the NES?

[Room 34]

It's been a while since I've seen an exact count, but I believe the NES had more.

 

Of course, if we're talking all-time, I think it's safe to assume the PS2 has the largest library of any console, by far (not even counting PS1 games). Even the XBOX library is quite a bit larger than either the 2600 or NES had (and the GameCube comes close).

 

(I'll admit I may be wrong here... I'm not checking the numbers. I'm curious what others will have to say.)

[jbanes]

Atari 2600 or the NES?

995009[/snapback]

 

Definitely the NES. Despite Nintendo's attempts to keep the number of games down, the library ballooned out of control by the time the SNES came around. You may remember the Toys'R'Us promotion where they had an entire WALL of games for $20 or less.

 

The 2600 had a respectable list, but the newness of the console made it slow to take off in title count (remember, it was only designed for about 10 games!), then the crash of '83 brought cartrige production to a screeching halt. All in all, it got about 7 years of development. In comparison, the NES was going strong in both the Japanese and American markets for about 8 or 9 years. Note that while the NES wasn't released in the US until 1986, the massive software base for the Fanicom provided the NES with a large launch library of titles.

 

The last official title to be released for the NES was Wario's Woods in 1994. (Three years after the release of the SNES in the US!)

[sku_u]

I have over 1000 original Atari games. Are you people saying the NES had more than that?

 

The PS1 had more than both.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

I have over 1000 original Atari games.

 

Those are never 1000 *different* games. TJ will know better, but I think worldwide it should be ~600.

 

Are you people saying the NES had more than that?

 

Definitely.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Marco]

There is only one King of Consoles, and it definitely ain't NES

 

Cheers,

Marco

[spacecadet]

It's been a while since I've seen an exact count, but I believe the NES had more.

 

Of course, if we're talking all-time, I think it's safe to assume the PS2 has the largest library of any console, by far (not even counting PS1 games).  Even the XBOX library is quite a bit larger than either the 2600 or NES had (and the GameCube comes close).

995039[/snapback]

 

Are we talking worldwide or US-only? Even if we're talking US-only, there's no way in hell the Xbox has more games than the NES. Here's an incomplete list of NES games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nes_games

 

Compare that to the list of Xbox games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games

 

I'm sure both lists are missing a few titles but they're probably both missing about an equal percentage; there's just no way the Xbox even comes close to the NES game library. If you add in Famicom games, you're talking probably 1,000 more titles than even that.

 

I'm not even sure the PS2 beats the NES worldwide. The Famicom, remember, was officially produced until 2003 and had 20 years of game development.

Edited January 6, 2006 by spacecadet

[n8littlefield]

For US games, it's definately the NES over the 2600 in terms of numbers. I have the digitpress lists printed out and the NES is about 5.5 pages and the 2600 is around 4. Not the most exact count, but still...

[Marco]

Come on you people! No "US only" or "unique game code only" can rob the Atari 2600 of its title. There's not a single system in the world that comes even close to the mesmerizing plethora of games, clones, and peripherals that saw the light of day under the reign of the King.

 

Anyone who dares to leave the beaten track will find a realm of marvel and awe in collecting all Atari 2600 games. Where most of the 2600’s history in North America has now been uncovered, the other continents still continue to spew new discoveries and mysteries. Even today!

 

The 'foreign' Atari 2600 section in the DPG is the biggest in the guide, and it's safe to say that another 1000 or even 2000 titles can be added. Mexico, Canada, Bahrain, Italy, Thailand, Poland, Turkey, Uruguay, Spain, New Zealand are just a couple of places that had their own flavors of 2600 games. Those silly Japanese Famicon games and Taiwanese NES multipirates can only watch in awe and step back to take their place in the shadow of the one and only King of Consoles.

 

 

Cheers,

Marco

Edited January 6, 2006 by Marco

[Rom Hunter]

Come on you people! No "US only" or "unique game code only" can rob the Atari 2600 from its title. There's not a single system in the world that comes even close to the mesmerizing plethora of games, clones, and peripherals that saw the light of day under the reign of the King. 

 

Anyone who dares to leave the beaten track will find a realm of marvel and awe in collecting all Atari 2600 games. Where most of the 2600’s history in North America has now been uncovered, the other continents still continue to spew new discoveries and mysteries. Even today!

 

The 'foreign' Atari 2600 section in the DPG is the biggest in the guide, and it's safe to say that another 1000 or even 2000 titles can be added. Mexico, Canada, Bahrain, Italy, Thailand, Poland, Turkey, Uruguay, Spain, New Zealand are just a couple of places that had their own flavors of 2600 games. Those silly Japanese Famicon games and Taiwanese NES multipirates can only watch in awe and step back to take their place in the shadow of the one and only King of Consoles.

 

   

 

Cheers,

Marco

995163[/snapback]

Amen!

 

[Sauza12]

These are some numbers I had for US released games. The 2600 numbers include major label variations and I believe I got the number from someone off of these boards. I'm sure these numbers are not absolutley correct, but it's something to work with.

 

2600 - 912

NES - 831 (assuming that you count the Sachen games)

PS1 - 1364

PS2 - 1234

XBox - 724

Gamecube - 511

 

If you include worldwide games, I would imagine that the NES does have more games. IIRC, there are around 1500-2000 games for the Japanese Famicon, not to mention all of the European and South American unique games. Not only that, but if you want to count pirate games I wouldn't be suprised to hear that the total count for NES games is well over 3000.

 

This is why I just concentrate on US released games only. It gets to confusing when you look at everything.

[Rom Hunter]

The Atari 2600 covers more than 180 companies and 6000 label variations worldwide, so let's stop comparing it with other systems.

 

[+FujiSkunk]

The Atari 2600 covers more than 180 companies and 6000 label variations worldwide, so let's stop comparing it with other systems.

 

995246[/snapback]

 

And if you count regional releases and label variations on the NES, how many does it have?

 

Face it, as much as we want the 2600 to have more, the NES most likely has the edge.

[keilbaca]

The Atari 2600 covers more than 180 companies and 6000 label variations worldwide, so let's stop comparing it with other systems.

 

995246[/snapback]

 

And if you count regional releases and label variations on the NES, how many does it have?

 

Face it, as much as we want the 2600 to have more, the NES most likely has the edge.

995319[/snapback]

 

considering the list that he produced, I'd pull for the 2600.

[iguana]

I had always thought that PS1 had the most. But thinking about it, maybe the Game boy and all it's derivatives may

[sku_u]

I have over 1000 original Atari games.

 

Those are never 1000 *different* games. TJ will know better, but I think worldwide it should be ~600.

 

Are you people saying the NES had more than that?

 

Definitely.

995085[/snapback]

 

There are way more games out there for the 2600 than the NES. About 4X as much. The author simply asked what system had the most games. He didn't specify his criteria. The Atari 2600 has more than the NES, PS1 and PS2 combined when talking in terms of world wide and no, I'm not talking about minor label variations.

[Zonie]

Holy Shit! I had no idea there were so many PS and Xbox games. I had the 2600 pegged for top honors there. Live and learn, I guess.

[nester]

There is no way there are over 900 original 2600 games! My US count only comes to about 530, and that includes multiple versions of games released by different companies. I don't care how many different pirate versions of Enduro there are with Skull Island covers or long lost prototypes, there's simply not as many games. If you find a copy of Othello from Brazil with a spaceship on the cover and a name like "Tooth Factory" or something like that, it's still Othello.

 

This isn't a diss to Atari or anything, it's just what my research has told me. You don't have to have the most games to be the king, in which case I think it's still Playstation. I guess you could go into quality, but that's a completely different arguement

[shadow460]

When I wonder this very same thing, my thought is "Which system has more games, the 2600 or the Game Boy line?"

I never really gave it much thought that the NES had as many as the 2600. I did think, though, that the PS1 might be up there with the 2600. Maybe.

 

In my collection (this is gonna be good), here is the count:

2600: 150 plus

7800: at least 40

PlayStation 1: about 20

Game Boy: 2

NES: 0

[Rom Hunter]

The Atari 2600 covers more than 180 companies and 6000 label variations worldwide, so let's stop comparing it with other systems.

 

995246[/snapback]

 

And if you count regional releases and label variations on the NES, how many does it have?

 

Face it, as much as we want the 2600 to have more, the NES most likely has the edge.

995319[/snapback]

I agree that the Atari 2600 doesn't have the most amount of different games, but it does have the most amount of different label variations.

 

Period.

 

[Foxsolo2000]

Yes but the question still remains as to which has the most unique games. I would have to go for the NES for their library is huge! The 2600 has no more than 600 unique titles and probably at least 2500 titles in all and still counting so unless someone can come up with concrete prrof I would have to throw my weight behind the NES.

[Marco]

enough with all the NES talk on this forum already

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Marco

[spacecadet]

There are way more games out there for the 2600 than the NES.  About 4X as much.  The author simply asked what system had the most games.  He didn't specify his criteria.  The Atari 2600 has more than the NES, PS1 and PS2 combined when talking in terms of world wide and no, I'm not talking about minor label variations.

995468[/snapback]

 

You have got to be kidding. As others have said, the NES worldwide has probably somewhere around 3,000 games. The PS2 and PS1 have got to have at least 2,000 each.

 

I think some of you are underestimating the rate at which Japanese developers pump these things out. During a system's heyday, you can get more than 100 new releases *per week* on a popular system there, at the busy times of year. (That's not as true now as it used to be, but it was true when game development was cheaper in the 8 and 16 bit era... but even now, a lot of developers will just stick some 2D artwork on top of a choose-your-own-adventure type story and call it a "game".)

 

It's not like here where every game gets a certain amount of press and you can basically track each release in your head. Games literally get shoveled out developers' doors there. And the smaller games often only have runs of 5,000 or so copies - they can be profitable in small runs like that, even though they never show up on any sort of sales chart.

 

I would love to see a real list of all Japanese Famicom, PS1 and PS2 titles, but I know just from browsing store shelves there that you are talking thousands of unique Japanese games for each of these systems. (When you're looking at a double-sided shelf with 75 titles across and ten down, it's pretty obvious that you are looking at around 1,500 titles on sale at that particular point in time.)

 

The original poster didn't specify any region but in my earlier post I questioned whether someone else had meant US-only for the NES because if you called it the NES, you're pretty much by default specifying the US region. But if you do want to open it up worldwide, I would doubt the Atari 2600 is even in the top ten in terms of the number of games produced for it.

[ataridude81]

going by america only atari 2600 had more over 1000. nes in america had about 600 or 700. world wide nes win's. but playstation holds the record all-time i believe i heard about 7000 world wide i believe japan had the most.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

If you are looking for the number of unique games, ask CloneSpy. Else, ask Marco.