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Some truly legendary gaming consoles have come out over the years to entertain both young and old audiences alike. Initially, it was brands like Atari that acted as the catalyst. In the 1980s, the Atari 2600 captured a lot of people’s attention and helped the gaming console industry become mainstream.
Games that we do not consider to be retro to this day had become the primary source of entertainment for many families. Gaming was almost a social activity at that point. Families used to come together and enjoy games like Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, and Mario Kart 64.
Over the years, Sony and Nintendo have emerged as the two leading brands in the gaming world, with some legendary gaming consoles in their arsenal. Microsoft did come in swinging during the last decade as well, but in the end, consoles with the most popularity attained the legendary status.
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Note: The list is not in any particular order and reflects the writer's opinion.
Five gaming consoles that attained the legendary status
1) Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii is one of the most well-known consoles of all time. It is also in the league of consoles that have surpassed 100 million total sales. This number, on its own, qualifies the Wii for the title of legendary, but that's not the only reason. At that time, the Nintendo Wii was in the same league as the PS3 and Xbox 360. Both these consoles were far ahead of the Wii in terms of hardware and graphical fidelity, yet the Wii managed to outsell both the consoles.
The primary reason for this stood out to be Nintendo’s general philosophy of not competing but expanding the gaming demographic. Much of the sales for Wii can be contributed to the game Wii Sports. Wii Sports used the motion controls of Wii, and was an excellent party game. It is quite literally the best-selling first-party game of all time.
2) PS2
This list will be incomplete without Sony’s PlayStation 2. PS2 remains the best-selling console of all time to this date, with over 155 million units sold. PS2's popularity started out with its built-in DVD player. At that time, DVD players were quite expensive, and PS2 was far more affordable. But what really made the PS2 popular was its extensive library of games. The console was backwards compatible. This meant that PS1 games could be played on PS2.
With its game library, Sony set a really high bar. PlayStation 2 has an incredible library of titles like Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, God of War, Resident Evil, and many more. All in all, PS2 had a fantastic library of games that catered to different audiences. Its life cycle lasted for 13 years, and it truly deserves the title of a legendary console.
3) Nintendo Game Boy
When Nintendo first announced its Game Boy as a portable gaming console, the video gaming market changed to its core. Nintendo brought the concept of handheld gaming and everyone loved it immediately. Playing games anywhere and everywhere was a new concept at the time.
Additionally, it was really affordable. Game Boy was not that impressive of a console in terms of graphical fidelity, but Nintendo truly made their way around that limitation. Game Boy had some classic games like Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Metroid II, and even Tetris.
4) Sega Genesis
Sega Genesis was launched in the US in 1989, and to this date, many people consider it the beginning of the revolution of American gaming consoles. Prior to that, Japanese consoles had a monopoly in the gaming sector, especially Nintendo with exclusive contracts with video game developers. Sega changed the landscape of gaming by combing its Japanese and American divisions to develop some of the most notable games in American pop culture.
Sonic the Hedgehog was undoubtedly the most popular game on the platform. Sega Genesis was successful in outselling Nintendo’s SNES in the US and became the best-selling console at the time. Sega went on to hold this lead for quite some time, but Nintendo eventually caught up. Nevertheless, Sega Genesis, as the name suggests, brought a revolution for the company, which was nothing short of legendary.
5) Xbox 360
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is one of the most notable gaming consoles in history. It sold a whopping 84 million units. Xbox 360 is home to many exclusive titles that staged Microsoft’s presence in the market and rivalry with Sony. The Xbox 360 made waves when it was first launched and even managed to outsell the PS3 for several years.
The console’s popularity rose majorly because of its games. At the time, Halo, Fable, Gears of War, and many other games were considered to be the standard for console gaming. Although Sony did eventually overtake with their games like Last of Us, Uncharted, and God of War, Xbox 360 had a glorious run.
