I vote 8 bit, but that is primarily due to it being my main "childhood" console gen. 16 bit hit when I was going into college and I didn't give it much attention.

I imagine the primary game playing group of people voting in polls are much younger than I and the 16 bit gen is their childhood.

yes 16 was best

I'm not too much younger than you. I played nintendo. Loved the Genesis which I believe came out when I was around 12, and played the heck out of the playstation. I remember the dreamcast too. That was good times.

I guess to elaborate on my position, when I was a kid video games meant one of two things... the quarter sucking arcade, which was full of zaxxons, tempests, pac mans and defenders, and the Atari which was full of... well... lower quality zaxxons, tempests, pac mans and defenders. Every game was simplistic. They were all usually single board, single objective, very simple things. The equivalent of ball in the cup... you just toiled at them until you got good, then you got tired of them and moved on to the next challenge. I didn't get a computer until I was in my early teens so I never experienced any kind of "complex" game... until the original NES.

Then when the 8 bit nintendo came out it was like seeing color for the first time. The games were... gasp... complicated! They actually had plots that were more detailed than "start here, go here". Zelda blew my mind. Castlevania, Blaster Master, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Shadowgate, Ultima, Bionic Commando, and on and on and on. The NES basically laid the groundwork for nearly every video game genre and trope.

And I think that is why I don't appreciate the 16 bit generation as much as I should, because to me it feels like a continuation of what the NES started. Not so much innovating but improving. Comparatively the 16 bit gen was a definite leap up from the 8 bit gen, but the 8 bit gen to me is always the eye opener... the "Star Wars" that showed me that video games could be more than just bleeps and bloops and big squares bumping into other big squares.

It's hard to say. You had plenty of really really bad games on all consoles, however, you didn't get them en masse until the cd generation.

I would have to say my favorite gaming period is when the ps1 and n64 were out for just a little bit and the snes was on the way out. The best games ever made came out roughly around that time.

Selling my Genesis was one of the stupidest things I've ever done.  Street Fighter 2SCE, Golden Axe, Shining Force 1 and 2, Out Run, Thunder Force 3, NHL 94, NBA Jam and many more, all gone.  I figured so what?  Games just keep getting better and surely the Saturn will have games just as good.  



All I can say is this- Never once did I buy a Genesis game and need to download a day 1 patch.  None of those games needed it.

I was really tempted to vote 8 bit, as I remember playing my NES for hours with friends before finally getting bored and going outside. They were fun, not because of epic quality graphics, can't put my finger on what made them so much fun, but there you have it. BUT at the end of the day, 16bit had more games with better story lines and better graphics.

Now days I don't care about console games other than to play them with my son. And though he doesn't know it yet, this Christmas he's getting some 8 bit retro fun! Screw the Xbox 360...though I did so love playing Forza. Now if I sit down to play a game, it's a strategy game like Star Craft II or something a bit different like Kerbal Space Program. KSP is the shit! Who wouldn’t want to design their own land/air/space vehicles and fly them around on challenging missions, then add in a budget system and you really have to carefully design a craft to acomplish your goal.

P.S. Anyone ever play ChronoTrigger...I need to dig up a ROM and emulator for that one.

Maybe....


And yes, I played and beat it on the Super Nintendo.