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10. Intellivision

Up from the depths of Pong rose a phoenix, her wings were blazing 16 button controllers and a metallic disc at the bottom. Unused, those wings, coiled wires and all, could be gracefully tucked into its body as a svelte 12 inch by 24 inch box. The interchangeable heads were wedge shaped cartridges, with faces blazing in monochrome glory, reading titles that conveyed a sophistication and an elegance never seen before in a pixilated perfection that had me and my father mesmerized for hours at a time. The first generation games were incredible classics like Burger Time, Frogger, and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (released in coloured series WAY before Pokemon, the best of which was blue). Slide the game specific plastic sheet that came with each game into the controller and the twelve numbered buttons are now perfectly labeled, taking away the need to memorize what each button does. Do you really need 17 total buttons to play all of these early games? With games like Tank Armada and B52 BOOOOOOOOMBER allowing several views, guns, controls, and gauges to follow you'll wish you had 17 more.

9. Gamecube

Gamecube was a big deal for Nintendo even though it was the 4th installment in the Nintendo series for home platform system. It was a massive leap from the N64 in graphics, but most importantly in the quality of games that were released for it. Mario Kart Double Dash would prove to be arguably the best racing game ever released, utilizing the quick screen movement and sheer depth of the Gamecube graphic technology. Metroid Prime brought the Metroid series to a place it had never been before with it's 3d shooter style. While it was initially uncertain whether Metroid would make this leap, it was later certain when one realized that plot and substance need not be sacrificed in a 3rd shooter. Gamecube was a system that was equally great in graphics, games, and multiplayer action. It's hard to think of system more conducive to multi-player action than the Gamecube. Mario Golf was another multi-player game for the system that was addicting to the point of obsession (I.E. playing the game ever night until 5 in the morning knowing you have to wake up in 3 hours for a class). Play Mario Party for an hour and you would be playing it for months. Inherent in the system were 4 controller ports and disk save inputs making the password and cartridge saving methods obsolete. Simply put, Gamecube was yet another success for the Nintendo dynasty that combined the 2 most essential aspects of gaming together as they always consistently have. These 2 most essential aspects are simplicity and great games.

8. Playstation 2

Playstation 2 was a strong successor to one of the greatest systems of all time in Playstation 1. Little did anyone know though that Playstation 2 would outsell Playstation 1 and become the best selling video game console to date, even out-selling the original Nintendo. Released in 2000, this system incorporated games that were widely popular beyond the video game market, into popular culture itself. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas became one of the most popular titles of all time for any video game system. Having a place for people to let out their criminal intent proved to be a successful event for the Playstation 2. Playstation 2 also had a vast amount of titles to go beyond their most successful titles ranging from all the games you could play in a video game market. Whether you wanted to play the best racing games, sports games, adventure games, or arcade games, Playstation succeeded in all different styles flawlessly. On the PS2 you can find Guitar Hero, FIFA Soccer, every SIM game you can imagine, all in the slim tightly packed hardware format that you could put into a laptop bag and bring anywhere you wanted. Add on the first successful system to connect to the internet to play people from different countries or just your friends and dolby digital audio with 3d graphics, and you have the salient coming-of-age video game system. It has everything for anyone who ever wanted to escape the real world into the fluid fictions of the video game world.

7. Xbox

It's a testament to how great the Xbox is, that someone who hates Mircrosoft as much as I do has put its first gaming console onto our top 10 best gaming systems of all time list. The predessor to the much heralded Xbox 360, the original Xbox seemed to have it all: with built-in support for high-speed networking, an 8GB hard drive, DVD playback capabilities, and display support for HDTVs, the Xbox did much more than just play games. But nonetheless, it was the games that made the Xbox great, and the two games that stand out above all others are, of course, Halo 1 and 2. One needs no other reason to buy an Xbox than Halo: Combat Evolved. Arguablly the greatest first person shooter game ever made, the game was almost universally loved by critics and gamers alike, and propelled Microsoft to the forefront of the gaming console war. Add to this, games such as Madden NFL 08, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Fable, and against all expectations, the Xbox competed on equal footing with the Playstation 2 and Gamecube. Not only that, but in many ways, the Xbox was even superior to the Playstation and Gamecube (unlike the Playstation 1 and Gamcube the Xbox was actually able to play DVDs). Despite being yet another way of Microsoft invading the living rooms of the world, the Xbox has stood the test of time as a truly great gaming system.

6. Gameboy

Gameboy was the first handheld game system for the home video game market, and it was also the best. The games that could be played on this black and white machine were incredible. "Links Awakening" was a beast of a video game, encompassing the largeness of what the Zelda series was known for. Metroid 2 not only epitomized all the greatness of the former Metroid, but also added in a ton of new weapons, enemies and areas itself that took place on the massive SR388. This was the biggest surprise with the Gameboy system, that something this small could have adventure games as large as they did. Along with the success of the adventure games for the system, there was also the more simple puzzle games like Tetris which was perhaps the most played Tetris for any system. The convenience and portability of being able to play Tetris anywhere at anytime proved to be the best thing to happen to the Russian creation. Beyond the actual superlatives of the video games themselves, were the utter ease of the controls which included a simple direction pad, a select and start button, and an A and B button. This simplicity matched the size convenience of the machine that never skimped on the quality of games. Hand held systems were made afterwards in hopes of matching the power of the first handheld game system of Gameboy. These systems would never compare to the Gameboy, even with better graphics and more incandescent colors than the Gameboy. The power of this portable handheld system then lied in the quality of games and the simplicity of the engineering, both which the Gameboy perfectly embodied.

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