Favorite 8-bit consoles?

[Tanegashima]

I just realized I have quite a few 8 bit consoles! Still no NES though...
I think counting the 8 bit home computers is fair too...

My favs, in order:

1) Atari 7800: Midnight Mutants is an amazing game, it alone pushes this to the top + 2600 backwards compatibility! I don't understand, however, why the sound quality is such a step DOWN from the Atari 5200 though...damn...

2) Sega Master System: Really unique games, Alien Syndrome being my favorite along with Teddy Boy. Controllers are for shit reliability wise, I also love to be able to play 8-bit Sonic!

3) Vectrex: What a weird little system, I love it. The overlays are pretty awesome and the few games I have for it are all very unique except Minestorm which is just asteroids...but it's an awesome system Scramble and Bedlam are really awesome games...

[Mr. Ksoft]

I like the NES and the Master System. Though mostly the NES, because I actually own one and because games for it can be found locally. There are classics on both, though.

[TmEE]

I grew up with FC, and moved to SMS immediately when playing Sonic1 on it.

[Joe Redifer]

My favs are the SMS and then the NES of course. Other systems don't come anywhere close. If we are to get technical, then the TurboGrafx-16 would also be somewhere in that short list of favs.

[Nunzio]

I got a SMS with Outrun and 2 controllers for $5 today. So far based on price it is the cheapest 8 bit console I have. Now I just need to track down some hookups!

[havok666]

I got a SMS with Outrun and 2 controllers for $5 today. So far based on price it is the cheapest 8 bit console I have. Now I just need to track down some hookups!

The Genesis model 1 AC adapter and the model 1 AV cables will work with the Master System. (I'm guessing the RF switch too, haven't tried though)

The NES was is my favourite 8-bit system, only due to the fact that I grew up with it. No one I knew had a master system.

[dragonboy]

My favs are the SMS and then the NES of course. Other systems don't come anywhere close. If we are to get technical, then the TurboGrafx-16 would also be somewhere in that short list of favs.

bit count has got to be the worst benchmark ever invented. People think MIPS are meaningless; wait till those guys say hello to bit count.

a system could have 50 16-bit cpus running all at 500Ghz and run in 1080i and still be 16-bit. A system can have one 16-bit cpu running at 2khz with a resolution of 32x40 with 3 onscreen colors and still be 16-bit.


If 16-bit systems processed 16 bits at one time, and had a specific unit of time being "one time" and had graphics and sound chips that each processed 16-bits in the same time unit, and if there was a distinct perfect definition of what one processed bit is, then bit-rating would make a lot of sense.

[Tanegashima]

Well, that explains why the Atari 2600 and NES are both 8-bit then...


BUUUUT I mean its merely a term, I mean how would you get away with selling a console without such insane generalizations? I mean there is a limit (i.e. Jaguar) but what is your slogan going to be?

"Our most powerful system yet, it's sort of technically 16-bit!!!"

[j_factor]

NES and SMS are about even to me. Commodore 64 and Atari XE would both probably rank above them in terms of sheer game selection, but they're kind of a pain in the ass in comparison, and I've never really gotten into them due to their lack of accessibility. I guess Colecovision comes next, despite its crappy controls, because of its awesome library. Atari 5200 fails because its controls are too shitty for me to enjoy the system at all. Atari 7800 fails because it sucks, as does Odyssey2. Apple II also sucks. Atari 2600 goes just below Coleco, and Intellivision (sorry, I just can't consider it a 16-bit system) just below Atari. I don't consider the Turbo to be an 8-bit system really, but if I did, it would be #1.

I have never played the following systems for more than a brief period of time (or in some cases, never at all): Vectrex, Amstrad CPC, Spectrum, Timex Sinclair, BBC Micro, 8-bit DOS, Commodore PET or Vic-20, Apple III, TRS-80, Fairchild Channel-F, RDI Halcyon, Sega SG-1000 or Mark II or Card Catcher, Famicom Disk System, or anything else not named.

[Now there are no limits]

Master System. better everything. end.

[Benjamin]

NES, because I don't need the extensively watered down arcade and Genesis ports Sega released on the SMS. Dragon's Trap, Golvellius, Psycho Fox, Fantasy Zone, and some other titles are great, but they just can't compete with the NES library for me.

[Wesker]

Gotta be Master System, but I also like the NES pretty much and its great third-party library. Possibly my favorite Nintendo console ever.

[playgen]

Master System, no competition. Miracle World, Sonic, Shinobi, Fantasy Zone, Rescue Mission... so many awesome games.

I do like the Atari 800 too, some great games like Star Raiders and Caverns of Mars.

[Zebbe]

There are quite many to choose from, everything from Magnavox Odyssey to the Turbografx. I think I will go with the Entertainment System and the Master System.

[gamevet]

The Commodore F'en 64!

I would have never bought a NES, if not for Punchout, Super Mario Bros. and Metroid.

I had/have just about every arcade game from the 80's on the C64, a good portion of the games released on the NES and so many unique titles that were unlike anything found on the home consoles.