NES



"Now you're playing with power."

The NES
Often called the machine that resurrected a dead industry, the NES was the uncontested winner of its generation. Even though its main competitor, Sega's Master System, had better specs, the NES had a much wider game library, thanks to colossal third party support. Of course, if you lived in Europe, feel free to remember things a bit differently: it didn't get as much traction there, trailing not only the Master System, but a variety of home computers.

If you're a real collector, get an NES 101 (the top-loading model), as it plays PAL games, and has a port that makes it compatible with the Famicom Disk System! Note that it does NOT play Famicom games due to the pin difference, you'll have to get a converter (those are easy to find online). Or just, you know, emulate the shit out of this motherfucker.

For better organization, Japan-only titles are kept in a separate list.