Which system do you think has had the most significant impact, and why?

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This is a bit of a broad topic, but a curious one; everyone always talks about their favorite systems, but not many people discuss the overall cultural impact of a console.

OK, I don't want any fanboy nonsense here - I'm not interested in what your "all-time" favorite system is, or even what your "current" favorite is. We all have our personal favorites because different things are important to each of us for many different reasons.

I'm also not asking which system has/had the best games, graphics, sound, characters, etc.

What I want your thoughts on is this: Which system, since the beginning of consumer home gaming consoles, do you think has had the greatest cultural impact? I mean, every system succeeds or fails, has its fans, and then fades into memory for most people. But some systems have effected not only gamers and the gaming industry, but pop culture as well.

Is it the good 'ol Atari 2600? NES? PS1? DISCUSS!!!

PS. I was going to put a poll on here, but then i thought better of it - I couldn't possibly list ALL consoles ever, and I know that if I left any off someone would bitch. :roll:
 
I would say Playstation 1 really brought gaming to the masses and made it a "cool" thing to do (according to all the celebs on tv who started admitting to gaming).

N64 was great for the analog pad and rumble pak.

Dreamcast really paved the way for online gaming.

I'm not too familiar with pre-nes systems so i wouldn't be able to comment on those. If i had to choose the MOST significant i would definately say psx.
 
I really agree with you about the impact of the PS1; its almost as if that system "matured" gaming to where adults could admit to it...

I grew up on Atari, Colecovision, Intellivision, NES, and Genesis; I love them all to this day for different reasons. But i would have to say that the NES was the most culturally significant in my eyes - only because it was really marketed to kids in an amazing way, and made games that were incredibly deep and hard (for the time) compared to the Atari.

Time will tell if online gaming continues to grow - that will, i think, become the DC's lost legacy. If online gaming really becomes an international sensation on a grand scale, the DC may be seen as quite the pioneer; however, if online gaming loses steam, the DC might just be seen as the first in a series of bad ideas!
 
I'd say the NES was the one that really popularized gaming first. Sure the PS1 expanded on that, but there are still people who refer to any gaming system as a Nintendo.
 
Although I never owned one since I preferred the Atari and Amiga 16-bit computers at that time, the NES was the machine that established video gaming as a stable business with a long term future proof against further crashes of the sort that wiped out the previous generation of US produced consoles.

It was the business model the made third party publishing a profit center that made all the difference. Everything since then has only refined that business model.
 
I have to give mad props to Gameboy (if I have to pick one, I'll say the GBA SP). Not only is it the first console to preach the goodness of backwards compatibility, but it also has the most diverse line-up of games that ANYONE can enjoy.

Just a few weeks ago, I was riding the train home when a middle-aged woman and 2 kids (not related to the woman) whipped out their SPs. It was crazy, but still brought a smile to my face.

Here's hoping the DS continues the legacy.
 
Nes, the video game market was dead until the NES came along. It revitalized the market and kept it going. If the Big N didnt step in, we prob would have been way behind tech wise compared to Japan
 
I don't think there's any question the NES was the most influential. Sure the Atari 2600 brought gaming into the living room first (atleast on a decent scale), the PS1 brought gaming to the more mature demographic, the N64 brought about 3D play...

But the orginal NES was the one that brought video gaming into the mainstream, it raised the bar on game development, it began the all important concept of regulated third-party development, it began the idea of mascots/enduring characters (mario, link, mega man, etc). Nintendo was the first one to have a very successful marketing strategy.. and probably most importantly the NES is what ended the video game market collapse, without the NES bringing games back into the home.. we'd probably have no video games still today.
 
Easy answer, the NES... games wouldnt be what it is today without it, especially since it rescued gaming from the mess atari brought on it

I dont see how it could be anything else
 
[quote name='zman73']Easy answer, the NES... games wouldnt be what it is today without it, especially since it rescued gaming from the mess atari brought on it

I dont see how it could be anything else[/quote]

Actually it wasn't really Atari that made the collapse happen.. if its pinnable on one group its the unregulated third-party developers who were churning out piles of utter shit just to make a quick buck. And by piles of utter shit.. imagine having 500 different versions of Catwoman coming out this year and pretty much nothing else. That doesn't do good things for the market.
 
On the PS1: The PS1 didn't bring gamming to an 'new' older audience, the PS1 just happened to come out when the NES/Genesis generation was older.

My vote is for the NES. In the pre-NES days I remember I was practicaly the only kid in the neighborhood with an Atari 2600. After the NES came out, it seemed as if every household that had a kid had at least 1 NES.
 
Dead easy answer - The NES. It spawned movies, television shows, comic books, action figures, cereal and more. It brought the game market back from the grave that Atari pulled it into. Nintendo is established as a household name synonymous with 'videogame' the same way that 'Kleenex' is synonymous with tissues. Even today the NES is still spawning products like the belt buckle that I saw yesterday in EB that is modeled after a NES controller (it's really awesome, but a little steep at 15 bucks but that's besides the point). Nintendo was a cornerstone in a lot of kids lives and the company really did it differently than Atari, from the way that they dealt with product distribution to the way that it was marketed to the consumer. Thousands of other companies tried to jump onto the coat tails of the NES and make money their names and brands by creating the products listed above or creating products that were not licensed for or by Nintendo. Everyone who was an entrepreneur tried some way to associate a product with Nintendo in order to make cash. I still have my Super Mario Bros. Beach towel! (no it's not for sale/trade, unless you have a prototype super mario land virtual boy cart!)

Sure PS1 was incredibly mainstream, but the NES had a huge cultural impact, you can't do that twice, the NES did it.
 
i also agree nes.

almost every game that comes out today has evolved from an earlier version tracable back to the NES. 2600 was fun and all but left no lasting impact due to the extreme basic-ness of the games.
 
As an older gamer, I've seen ALL the consoles come and go and at one point or another have pretty muched owned ever one. (In fact, I still own most!) Strange I haven't seen anyone mention Magnavox's Odyssey (not the Odyssey 2). When you're talking about impact, it really is the system that started it all. If it weren't for Ralph Baer and his vision to put a game system into the living room in the first place, we might not have ever had Atari 2600's, the NES, etc. And I may sound like an old codger, but when you guys refer to the fact that there was an NES in every home, and everyone called every game system Nintendo, there was a day when it was the same way with the Atari 2600 - everyone had one, and ALL systems were referred to as Atari by the uninitiated...I can't really say which system has had the most cultural impact, because I think there have been shifts in the impact that videogames have had in society over the past 25 years - and every generation has had a defining moment.
 
i would say NES... cuz thats were gaming i think really took off... also its the highest selling system of all time,,, ask anybody you know.. they had one.
 
Definatly the NES. Most popular mascots you see today (Mario, Link, Solid Snkae, Mega Man) all started there. And of course everyone remembers something specific about the NES era. For example the "Konami Code" or how to get the 3rd Flute in Mario 3. Or even the first day they got their NES. Stuff like that always sparks a conversation with most anyone under the age 50. Even non-gamers relate to the NES better than other systems. So I think the impact of the NES was the greatest cause generally people remember it the most.

But personally the PS1 had a greater influance on me, it's the system that made me a collector, and probably most of you.
 
I have to go with the PS1. The NES had a huge impact, but it was still a cartrige based system and more of an upgrade to the Atari systems. The PS1 was a true evolution. By putting games on CD's, it allowed for a whole new level of gaming. It paved the way for full motion video, large gaming worlds and mostly the cheaper production cost associated with cds. The Sega CD/32xCD started the trend and the 3do continued it, but the PS1 is the one that really made it affordable and mass market. From that, we have the PS2, which, i tthink it he most success console in history. (Not counting the gba family)
 
I'd have to say NES, because without it, home video gaming would have gone the way of the dodo.

As for the PS1, using CDs was different, but an inevitable evolution and not truly revolutionary, when you consider that PC gaming had used CDs long before.
 
Turbo CD was the first CD based console, not the Sega CD.

Anyway, the Odyssey does deserve some credit in theory, but I think that the idea is moe influential than the console itself. Baer is certainly responsible for this sector of the industry, but the Ody. is not exactly the most popular system of all time. It was copied numerous times. If your going to say the Ody., what about the Channel F? First console with cartridges! It may have been influential, but the impact wasn't there.

This one goes to the NES in a landslide.

Oh, and the PS1 may have brought in the mainstream, but is that really a good thing?
 
[quote name='Cornfedwb']I don't think there's any question the NES was the most influential. Sure the Atari 2600 brought gaming into the living room first (atleast on a decent scale), the PS1 brought gaming to the more mature demographic, the N64 brought about 3D play...

But the orginal NES was the one that brought video gaming into the mainstream, it raised the bar on game development, it began the all important concept of regulated third-party development, it began the idea of mascots/enduring characters (mario, link, mega man, etc). Nintendo was the first one to have a very successful marketing strategy.. and probably most importantly the NES is what ended the video game market collapse, without the NES bringing games back into the home.. we'd probably have no video games still today.[/quote]

Couldn't have said it better,
 
I have to agree with daikaiju and to an extent, int80h. The majority of us here (and gamers in general) have grown up with and are nostalgic the NES and its spinoff merchandise - cereals, TV shows, etc and that colors our perceptions about it.

It really depends how old you are on what system had the most significant impact to culture. I wouldn't be surprised if the generation that grew up with PSX and beyond would argue that was the most significant.

That being said, I go with the Atari, because it made home gaming a reality and laid the basis for other systems.
 
Atari 2600 would be my answer. That system brought the arcade games to homes.

I disagree with some people who said NES kept video games from extinction. There was a slow period before NES for sure but I think you really can't kill video games. Its here to stay just like Rock-N-Roll.
 
[quote name='Xevious']Atari 2600 would be my answer. That system brought the arcade games to homes.

I disagree with some people who said NES kept video games from extinction. There was a slow period before NES for sure but I think you really can't kill video games. Its here to stay just like Rock-N-Roll.[/quote]

THere was a period of nearly three years in which consoles had come to a dead halt. Coleco was gone, Mattel had liquidated their entire Intellivision operation, and Atari existed solely because of the computers and being sold off to the Tramiel family. I can recall the shock when I went into a small store in my then town that handled a lot of things ignored by the big chains and saw the NES for the first time.

I was aware of its existence in Japan but never expected to see it marketed here. It had been mentioned a few times in magazines as a curiosity since the prevailing belief was that consoles were a passing fancy in the US and computers were where all the gaming action was to be found. The renewed console industry under the Nintendo publshing model was many time larger than the computer game market within the NES generation and the gap has widened with every generation since. Without that publishing model nobody in their right mind would ever try to create a new console platform.
 
Okay, to play devil's advocate here...perhaps the NES was the most influential in a populist sense...giving rebirth to a stagnant medium...but I would argue that the Sega Dreamcast is a darkhorse. It was the first console to offer truly viable online gaming, it was the first console to truly integrate voice recognition AND voice communication no standard in most current online games. It gave rebirth to a genre of it's own...the Dreamcast is THE console to own for 2D fighters.

The Dreamcast innovated game design taking it in directions other consoles could only mimic, whether it was Seaman, Shenmue, Samba, or Chu Chu Rocket...the DC pushed the current generation of consoles in directions they might not have gone in...

Of course, there's always the NES...and the Microvision...I wish I still had my Microvision I could play Blockout or Star Trek...or maybe it was Blip! I loved my Blip! Or maybe it was Comp IV...or my Mattell Electronics Auto Racing...

Okay, Hell, I don't know...
 
Nintendo 64.

Wow.

Mario 64
Zelda: Ocarina of Time

More 9/10 and above games than two of any other systems combined, and has the only 10/10 game I know of.
 
Allthough not as popular as other systems The Turbographix system (NEC) opened the eyes of console developers everywhere. It paved the way for Sony which capitalized with the PS1. It without a doubt made the biggest impact on system and game developers worldwide. It was the grandaddy of all the current big 3 systems. This system not initially, but ultimately caused the demise of the cartridge based systems. IMO
 
Definitely the NES.
Some arguments can be made for the Atari 2600 and to a lesser extent the PS1, but neither of them stack up to what Nintendo did.
 
I would have to say the NES because that is where video gaming for the masses truly started. It was acceptable to have one in your home. And to the masses, gaming is synonmous with Nintendo, as Jive3d put it, as "Kleenex is synonymous with tisues or Macdonalds with fast food. I tis the forfather for how gaming is devoloped, produced, published, basically the whole business started from the Nes, though there was already the Atari 2600 prior. Many of todays widely known developers started on the NES. To sum it up nicely, basically what everyone else said. You can also say basically Nintendo wasn't the first in the gaiming console business or started it for that matter, but they were the first ones to do it right.


Second to this is the PS2 which redefined gaming as a thing that can have many uses and be acceptable for families to have. It brought to people that gaming was not only for the "Nerd" steriotype that has been plagueing gamers in general. It brought gaming in general truly into the mainstream and the limelight. Now you see it with all types of people, be it the average Joe, to families, to celebrites, etc. This system brought gaming to a large demographic for its functionality as not only a gaming systme but somehting that had more to offer like a DVD player and backwards compatibilty. I know at this moment it might not seem popular to put PS2 on but I believe that in afew years we will look back on it and say what an influential system. IMO it is doing to this generation o fconsols/gamers what the NES did in the 80's.



To round it, if i had to pick a third it would the Game Boy for it also revolutionized gaming. When a person sees someone playing a portable system, they first say what are you playing, gameboy or nintendo. It is the system that practically invented portable gaming you can say. It brought on the first sight of backwards compatability.


Asd johnnyoski said, Some arguments can be made for the Atari 2600 and to a lesser extent the PS1, but neither of them stack up to what Nintendo did. It is the number 1 selling system ever through its various incarnations.
 
[quote name='AlbinoNinja']N64. The system practically invented 3D platformers, 3D Action RPGs, Rumble Pak, Analog Stick, and was the first 4 player system[/quote]

You might have a good argument for the rumble pack, but none of the others was anything new when the N64 employed them.

And NES is clearly the most influential system, and it also happens to be the best system ever made.
 
NES by far. Back in the day, the word "Nintendo" was synonymous with "video games." However, I think that title has now passed on to "Playstation."
 
Definitely PSX. Not only did it make gaming mainstream, instead of just for kids and teens, but it also ushered in the 3-d wave, the fruits of which we are now living through; many of the games on psx we are still playing, in some form, today.
 
PS
-introduced a cheaper, more effective medium
-showed mature games
-real 3d console games
 
[quote name='rebenns']Definitely PSX. Not only did it make gaming mainstream, instead of just for kids and teens, but it also ushered in the 3-d wave, the fruits of which we are now living through; many of the games on psx we are still playing, in some form, today.[/quote]

"Ushered " - I think "rushed" would be a better term for that.
 
I have to say the Nintendo for popularizing video games here and then there's also Sony for bringing it to the mainstream with the PS for good and bad.
I don't know about you but I still like my 2D games and resent Sony for almost completely laying them in a coffin. If it weren't for games on the GB, GBA, GBA-SP and stuff like SOTN on the PS 2D gaming WOULD be dead.
For online gaming, like widespread, Sega started to open that up. They first started with a device like the X-Band with direct connect to players. This device you attached to your Saturn and was a modem and it was called "Netplay". Then after that Sega really opened the online more over here by INCLUDING a 56K modem in with a console, the Dreamcast. Also, but this is my opinion and less impact I guess, DC had a pretty solid game library. Consider I LIKED most of the DC's titles but craved an RPG but XBox has made me feel it worse than the DC. XBox is like a lesser Dreamcast.
Anyway, my thoughts there.

Oh and a signifigant console to independent developers WOULD'VE been the Indrema. BEAUTIFUL idea and it would be to homebrew developers what the cheap CD-R was to music artists.
 
Atari hands down has had the most cultural impact and when mainstream public was forgetting gaming. NES bought it all back. then again the world was forgetting gaming something not accpeted for adults, playstation changed all that. but Atari is and will be the best not because it is first but because it changed a generation it created something new that we have never seen. the end.
 
The majority of the people on this board say NES but I agree with graystone that maybe Atari (2600) deserves credit for the greatest impact of bringing the first Successful home gaming system mainstream to people's homes. Sure NES took all of the success that Atari originated and made it bigger for themself and so the evolution spawned all of the later systems that you finally have now.
Perhaps it is arguable between Atari(2600) and Nintendo(NES, superNES, N64). But I give the slight edge on "greatest impact" to Atari 2600. You had to live during the time to realize it. I know its graphics suck now, but its "IMPACT" on USA homes was the greatest for inventing home gaming.
Now I am not biased for any console, I am just looking at history as it played out. Actually my favorite system for gaming in the 80s-90s ended up being commodoreAMIGA (home personal computer) which had superior graphics and sound to any console and was 10 years ahead of its time the whole time(1986-1994). Plus I usually had more games on disc than others had on console as cartridges. 8)
 
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