Topic: Your Ranking for the 8th Generation of Home Consoles

With talk of PS4 and Project Scarlett abound I thought now might be an interesting time to reflect the current gen. So during this gen we had 4 home consoles emerge (for the sake of simplicity I am not counting handhelds, mini, retro clone systems or PCs) the Wii U, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. Some where successes while others not so much. Each had thier ground breaking games and their flops. Did you own all of them or maybe just one of them. Did you get a chance to play them all in some way? What ever the case is let's discuss which ones were our favorites and why or maybe why we didn't like them. If you want rank them form favorite to least favorite. Let's have a discussion on this it could be quite interesting.

So here's mine and it probably will be surprising.

1. Xbox One — Yep number one for me is the Xbox One mainly for the backwards compatibility. Last gen for various reasons I missed quite a few games, either never got to them or I totally missed them or some other silly reason but the Xbox One allowed me to go back and play some of these great games. I understand why PS4 couldn't do backwards compatibility and contrary to what conspiracy theorist want to say, it is impossible. But regardless the ability to play games that I missed last gen as well as newer games makes the Xbox One my favorite console this gen.

PS4 — Now the PS4 was special to me as it marked my return to the Sony brand. I had a PS One and PS 2 but Sony's greed and puzzling thinking made me skip the PS3. But with the PS4 I was glad to come back to Sony. Hands down my favorite PS system with some great exclusives, mind you I do enjoy Sony exclusives more then Xbox's. I had my PS4 since launch day and couldn't be happier with it. I even though of upgrading to a Pro but I prefer the look of the OG PS4.

Switch — Probably my favorite Nintendo console since the SNES. It's nice to see third parties give this thing support. While I do tend to play the exclusives games Mario Kart 8, Mario Odyssey, Octopath etc on the big screen I did double dip on a few third party games like Diablo III and Mutant Football League to be able to play them on the go. The hybrid console is such and awesome idea and it just keeps getting better and better. Sadly though I am not big on games like Pokemon, Smash Bros or even the odd indie game which is why the Switch ranks number 3 for me.

Wii U — What can I say about the Wii U that hasn't been said before. I wanted to like it, I even bought it on release day but the lack of third party support and Nintendo with thief gimmicks just ruined the console for me. I mean with the Switch its clear what Nintendo was trying to do with the Wii U but to me it seems that maybe Nintendo should have skipped the Wii U and just did the Switch in the first place. It wasn't all bad though I did play my share of Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World and Assassin's Creed III on it and plenty of VC games but that was about it. Once I got my PS4 the Wii U was retired to the closet. Never was I disappointed by Nintendo as I was with the Wii U.

So that my rankings and thoughts. Overall a pretty good generation. Probably one of the best in a long time.

I'll count handhelds. They were still significant players in the market (...well, OK... one of them was). It makes sense not to count retro consoles or PCs, though.

I've owned all the 8th gen systems except the PS4 Pro (I own a vanilla PS4) and every iteration of the Xbone.

I'll start with my least favorite and go down to my most favorite.

PS4
Oooooo. Controversial pick around these parts, I take it. It's not a bad console at all, and I can see why people would love it. It just... doesn't do much for me. Most of the multiplatform games play better on my PC. The exclusives... well, I really dig some of them, but, overall, I don't really jive with Sony's game design philosophy more broadly. It's also worth mentioning that until 2015 or so, its exclusives game was VERY anemic. The home screen is a cluttered nightmare, frankly, and I hate all the stupid apps and stuff that I can't delete. Reminds me of the bloatware that clogs up my phone. I still struggle to remember which button ejects the disc, and which turns it off, which is really annoying (in fairness, I'm mostly digital, so I don't have to engage with this problem too often). The console just feels very plain to me. As a jack-of-all-trades system, it does its job well, but aside from PS+ and a few exclusives, I don't have too many reasons to use it, which means I've gone more than half a year at a time ignoring the thing. The DS4 is a pretty good controller, but the battery life is abysmal and its best function is only unlockable when used as a PC controller (why give it a perfectly good gyroscope and then only use it for virtual keyboards and Gravity Rush?). I still like the PS4, but it doesn't really command my attention like the first two Playstation consoles did. Also, I have to factor Sony and their recent censorship policies into my feelings on the device, since they're started altering games that release on the system, and it is just really putting me off of them in a broader way.

PS Vita
While I've played some of my all-time favorite games on it (all the Danganronpas; the last Zero Escape; all the Corpse Party games; Gravity Rush; Castlevania: Rondo of Blood; etc.), I can't deny that the library has utterly suffered from a lack of support from the big players over the years. Now that all of its exclusives have been ported onto more successful platforms, it feels... kind of redundant. I still love mine, but there's no reason to buy one these days, and I primarily use it a portable PS1 (which is nothing to sneeze at, I might add). Hardware-wise, the back touchscreen is totally obnoxious, and the proprietary memory cards are just awful. Also hate that there's only one set of shoulder buttons. The screen is beautiful, though, and I really dig the D-Pad. The UI is also a favorite of mine, being very customizable and easy to engage with. Lots of love/hate here, but the highs are a lot higher than the lows are low.

Wii U
The biggest problem with this console is how much reliance it placed on the GamePad. Like, you can't get it to work without one, which is a major issue. Also, while the GamePad is very cool and is utilized extremely well in a few games, it seemed like Nintendo either ignored it entirely (DKC: Tropical Freeze) or ruined games by making gameplay highly reliant on looking at it constantly (Kirby and the Rainbow Curse; Star Fox Zero). It also suffered by missing out on some big Nintendo franchises, and also because of a lot of its more niche releases getting censored (Tokyo Mirage Sessions was so butchered that entire storylines and character motivations were changed). With that said, it's high on my list for a reason. The GamePad, when it did work well, was pretty awesome, and could bring new life to familiar experiences. The system is backwards compatible with the Wii and has a decent VC, making it the single best all-in-one Nintendo system I can think of. It did have a number of awesome exclusives, including the fantastic new I.P. Splatoon. The biggest problem with buying one today would be that, like the Vita, most of its best exclusives have been ported elsewhere, although Nintendo at least spared a few of the really good ones, like Pikmin 3, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Super Mario 3D World.

Switch
Still relatively young, but it got off to one hell of a start and has been ticking away since. Third party support, while still lagging behind the PS4/Xbone, is the healthiest Nintendo has seen since the days of the SNES. I love the wide range of controllers that are compatible with this console (I often use the DS4 to play my docked Switch games instead of buying an expensive Pro controller). While underpowered as a home console, the hybrid design is brilliant and makes games feel so much more accessible as opposed to PS4/PC. I do like the joycons, although the lack of a D-Pad and the drifting issues the sticks develop are really obnoxious. I LOVE the clean and lightning-fast UI. While it's lacking in a lot of the multimedia functions that the PS4 has, I dig the fact that it's wholly designed to facilitate the playing of video games, and it does this very well (PS4's rest mode works well enough, but it feels positively sluggish when compared to how quickly the Switch can rest and reopen for you to continue playing your games). The machine is quickly developing a large stable of must-play exclusives, and games I'd have usually ignored on my other systems will see play here, so much do I enjoy engaging with the hardware. The system is a bit uncomfortable in handheld mode, though, so grips are needed to full enjoy the system, imo, which is extra money to spend. In general, I feel like this system has a larger reliance on extra accessories than I would like. But it's a small price to pay to have your dream console.

3DS
With that said, the 3DS is still my favorite device this gen, and my favorite portable system overall. While early models had some growing pains (really annoying that the original 3DS's border on its bottom screen would scratch the top 3D screen), I feel like the New 3DS/New 3DS XL are basically perfect. I have no complaints. The face-tracking 3D works incredibly well without glasses, and even though mine often throw off the tracking, I can still disable this function and have the older 3D effect back. The analog nub works well enough as a second stick for use as a camera. It has full compatibility with thousands of amazing games on DS and 3DS as well as a decent VC that encompasses a variety of systems. ESPECIALLY the Game Boy/Game Boy Color. It has some of my all-time favorite Nintendo and Atlus games. The 3D effect works really well in a number of games and adds a visual dynamic that is missing from games on every other system. This sits alongside the PS1 as one of my all-time favorite gaming devices.

@Ralizah You completely missed the thread topic as I stated Home Consoles not handheld. This is just about the four home consoles. If you want you can make a handheld one but yeah....

@Tasuki You should also disregard the Switch, then, as it's also not a home console by the traditional definition (you can play it away from the TV, and the Switch Lite, a dedicated handheld version of the device, plays the same exact games; it's as much a home console as the PSP was).

Well I can see this thread is just going to cause problems now on what a home console is and what. Was trying to make something fun but guess that was a bad idea. I don't want to get into debates on what a home console is and what isn't so yeah I will just end this now.

Apologies for trying to do something fun.