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I've been collecting cast-off video game systems from my family an am organizing a classic video game area in my garage.  I have several systems and games, but honestly, it's too much.  The vast majority of the stuff is unplayable crap.

I'm asking for help, but it's hard to even pinpoint what I'm asking.  I would like to figure out, in an ideal situation, what consoles I would have and, from that, which games have aged well enough to warrant having on-hand to play again.

I know this is hugely subjective, but even among some of my greatest games of all time, I consider them unplayable by today's standards.  As much as I loved Goldeneye (N64) or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), they just didn't stand the test of time are more important as stepping stones to better games.

I don't want to set an arbitrary limit on an amount of games from any system, but it seems like there wouldn't be a ton (maybe any) on some systems and others would have a lot.  I personally feel that certain generations of gaming are more timeless, like the 16-bit era...where the N64/PS1 era of polygonal graphics were perfected later and few games are still playable.

Here's a list of consoles, based on worldwide sales.  You'll have to use the data to guide you, but it won't be 1:1 data.  Some consoles had a few versions that played the same games and some were hugely influential but came out when people didn't know games yet.  I am only including home consoles that are played primarily on a TV and not including the current generation.

PS2
PS4
PSOne
Nintendo Wii
PS3
XBOX360
Nintendo Entertainment System
XBox One
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Sega Genesis
Atari 2600
XBox
GameCube
Nintendo Wii U
Sega Master System
TurboGrafx-16
Sega Saturn
Sega Dreamcast


So, which of these are important.....and then I guess we should talk about which games should be on hand for each?  I don't think the Dreamcast or Saturn made enough of a splash but I've never owned one.  I do have a bit of a soft spot for a single TurboGraphx game, but (especially because of emulation), it's probably not worth owning a system for.

And how to handle sports games?  There are some sports games that are classics forever in my mind (NBA Jam, Tecmo Bowl) but it's not like you need to have any versions of Madden but the current one, right?

I think you need to have an Atari for Pac-Man

Gotta be able to play Pong and Duck Hunt.

You are missing one of the best gaming systems of all time, the Amiga. The games on it were one of a kind in some cases, never seen anything like them before or after. You can purchase an emulator at the link below or you can try to find one that still works. Not sure how you would go about actually obtaining the games, that could be tricky. Some of them are in the public domain, but the best ones I don't think are. Might be a bit of work to get them to work, but well worth the effort if you're into that type of thing.

Some examples of great really unique games are The Killing Game Show and Blood Money. You might be able to find them on another platform, but the Amiga still has the best versions.

A500 mini (https://www.amazon.com/Amiga-A500-Mini-Retro-Console-Commodore/dp/B09BW8N7JZ/ref=asc_df_B09BW8N7JZ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=598954141362&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9725125846526213900&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027202&hvtargid=pla-1409801168871&psc=1)

I've never ever heard of an Amiga.  It sounds kinda of like a computer.  It ran a full keyboard and mouse with a floppy disk.

The combined versions (the one you mentioned plus something called an Amiga 1000 which was even more computer) are said to have sold about 5 million worldwide, but mostly not in the US.  I don't see anything on the wiki, but I think it probably means that it was sub-1 million units in the US.

NES/SNES
super mario bro 1/2/3
legend of zelda
contra 1/2

zelda link to the past
super metroid
super mario allstars
donkey kong country 2

Nintendo 64
super smash
mario part 2
mario 64
wwf no mercy
starfox

XBox
halo 1/2
battlefront 1/2
GTA SA
elder scrolls 3
THPS 3+


Nintendo Wii U/wii/gamecube (by default can play wii, modded wii u has full backwards compatibility)
super mario galaxy 1/2
donkey kong country
zelda skyward sword
wii sports
Wind Waker Remaster
super mario sunshine
mario party 8

emulation arcade station for everything else

Nintendo Entertainment System
Sega Genesis
Super Nintendo
PS2 (unless your PS3 is one of the launch units with PS2 backward compatibility; if it is, then PS3)
XBOX (specifically: the one I know you have)
XBOX360
PS4

Start by listing what you have for those, and I'll tell you what I think you should add.  (keep in mind that PS2/PS3 can play PS1 games)

NES: Tecmo Super Bowl, Baseball Stars
Genesis: the original John Madden Football, NHL '93
PS1: NBA Jam Tournament Edition
PS2 or Xbox: ESPN NFL 2K5

Modern iterations of Madden/NBA2K/MLB The Show are a dime a dozen and not really even worth collecting; if you want to play them, just go get the newest one at that moment.

Also remember to get goldeneye for whichever console that was on, that game was great.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time was also a banger

Dave specifically mentioned those two as games he felt did not hold up, which is why I excluded N64 from my list of recommended systems:

is this purely also a console list? there are a few PC games that deserve on this list.

You ever hear of the Commodore 64? Basically it was it's big brother. Yes, technically it was a home computer, but it was best known for it's gaming and music capabilities just like the other Commodore computers.

I don't really know how many units sold in the US from all versions. A quick bing search showed the Amiga 500 was the best selling model and estimates are it sold over 6 million units worldwide although you are probably correct that more than half were sold in Europe. This is still a decent amount of units for 1987. It doesn't compare to the more recent consoles, but back in the day that was pretty good especially considering it was more expensive than pure consoles. The Commodore 64 which I'm sure you've heard of sold around 15 million units for example.

But I wasn't suggesting the Amiga for it's popularity, I was suggesting it for it's uniqueness and quality of the system and it's games. Basically it was the best gaming machine available in the late 80's till at least the early 21st century and the PS2. Nothing else came close. If you were a serious gamer in the late 80's or in the 90's you would have known about it or you should have. Some of the best games that I've ever played were on the Amiga. Anything ported to the Amiga typically was better on the Amiga than other systems.

Stuff like the Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC etc. are largely computers that were much more popular in Europe, where cheap microcomputers took hold in the post-videogame crash era (unlike Japan and the US, where the Famicom/NES took hold).  That's not to say that they didn't exist in the US, but they didn't have very much market penetration compared to video game consoles like the NES/Genesis/SNES.

If the intent is to catalog some of the best innovations in home gaming, you would want to include systems like the Vectrex, Atari Lynx, TurboGrafx CD, and Neo-Geo.  But it doesn't seem like that's what Dave is really shooting for.

These are all valid discussions, but ultimately Dan is right.  I will be the first to admit that there were hugely influential and popular games for their times, but they are unlikely to be played for any reason other than "remember this" and it would only last for 5 minutes.

Goldeneye is pretty much unplayable.  The industry has settled on a dual-stick control scheme for console shooters.  Goldeneye has a single stick and weird strafing buttons.  It's like trying to play with your feet.  But on top of that, it was the very infancy of polygon graphics, so it also doesn't look good (not that it matters too much). 

If you're talking about console shooters, I don't think we figured it out until Halo 1.  From there, everything evolved from that.  I played the original Halo in its entirety on XBOX not long ago and it was still fun, though flawed.

And while it's debatable, I find the same to be true with Ocarina of Time.  There is a weird Z-lock-on system that just hasn't aged well.  I might be wrong about this, though, as I haven't REALLY given it my all to play that game again.  I do think that sprawling epics like that don't age great, also, because you generally have to put a lot of time in to get through the start of the story before the game gets good.

If you play Super Mario 64 for thirty minutes, it will be fun for thirty minutes.  You'd have to do a bit of busy legwork to even get the story started in Ocarina in 30 minutes.

I was thinking that these would be consoles that use controllers and connect to a TV.  There may be some wiggle room, but, in-general, couch play.  Nothing that requires a surface or monitor setup.

I was going through some NES lists and I see that River City Ransom is on most top 10 lists, and sometimes as high as #1.

...it's a beat-em-up with some RPG elements, but I've never played it.  Does anyone have experience with these games?

For example, I'm playing Octopath Traveler 2 on PC, i use a controller and it would translate incredibly well to a console. It's also a very very good game.

^ I'm not really sure how that's relevant, since it isn't a classic game.  But it's also on consoles.  It's on Switch and two versions of Playstation.

I was also thinking about PS1 -- Final Fantasy VII is supposed be...like...the RPG to end all RPGS.  I've never played it, so I should probably have that.  But I'm not sure that people are going to want to spend 100 hours on an old console.  I'm not sure how that would hold up.  But I would say that it's probably a good one to have.

River City Ransom is a great game that I had as a kid.  It's one of the best-aging games on the entire console; a great choice.

How many games do you have now?  I can give you an idea of what to look for.

Well, AS YOU KNOW, I have all the games, if we're talking about emulation.

But in terms of actual physical NES cartridges, I have the NES classic which has:
Balloon Fight™
BUBBLE BOBBLE
Castlevania™
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest™
Donkey Kong™
Donkey Kong Jr.™
DOUBLE DRAGON II: THE REVENGE
Dr. Mario™
Excitebike™
FINAL FANTASY®
Galaga™
GHOSTS'N GOBLINS®
GRADIUS™
Kid Icarus™
Kirby's Adventure™
Mario Bros.™
MEGA MAN 2™
Metroid™
MEGA MAN™
NINJA GAIDEN
PAC-MAN™
Punch-Out!!™ Featuring Mr. Dream
StarTropics™
SUPER C™
Super Mario Bros.™
Super Mario Bros.™ 2
Super Mario Bros.™ 3
TECMO BOWL
The Legend of Zelda™
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link™

And then I have individual cartridges from the original, which a lot are duplicates of the above, plus:
Jackal (one of my favorites of all time)
Pinball Quest
10-yard Fight
Cobra Triangle
Bases Loaded
Championship Bowling
Pac Man
John Elway's Quarterback
Tetris
Battletoads
Arkanoid

...there are some others, too.

There is a PS1 classic that has mixed reviews.

Apparently, it's easily crackable to make it better, but the controllers don't have an analog stick and it's the worse PAL version of many of the games.  But for reference, here are the 20 classic games included.
Battle Arena Toshinden
Cool Boarders 2
Destruction Derby
Final Fantasy VII
Grand Theft Auto
Intelligent Qube
Jumping Flash
Metal Gear Solid
Mr Driller
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
Rayman
Resident Evil Director’s Cut
Revelations: Persona
Ridge Racer Type 4
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Syphon Filter
Tekken 3
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
Twisted Metal
Wild Arms



Off the top of my head, I think that Tomb Raider, Gran Turismo, and Crash Bandicoot are missing, in terms of big names.  ...maybe Spyro the Dragon?

The NES Classic is emulation.  If we're talking about curating a collection, it doesn't really make sense to include emulation, as you don't really need any of these consoles for that.  Furthermore, all of these systems have flash carts or optical drive emulation available, which allows you to load the console's entire game library on a microSD card and play it with the original console on a TV.  If that's the route you want to go, this discussion is going to be pretty short.  But if you want to use physical cartridges/discs on real hardware, then that's a different story.

I think some kind of combination is fine for me.  I prefer to play on original hardware or original controllers.  Emulation is fine, too.  But the NES classic emulation is pretty professionally done, IMO.  There are save states and things like that, that are user friendly.  Also, it's all tested and works.  Emulation downloaded from the Internet is a mixed bag of quality and stability.

I also already own the NES classic and SNES classic, so it's not something I added.  I just happen to have them.

So, I played a good amount of the classics lately and the emulator that I have is really friggin' amazing, in terms of the quality of the ports for everything SNES and down.  Unless there's some special peripheral you need, the experience is great.  So, I'm not really worried about what I need to have on a cartridge vs. not.  I don't really care.  It's more about not drowning in 20,000 choices and setting favorites in the menus and stuff like that.

I am also particularly interested in these mods.

I played NBA Live '95 and it was really fun.  I played Tecmo Super Bowl III and I thought it was similarly great.
There are updated roster for the original Tecmo Bowl as recently as 2012.  I'd love a 2023 roster/logo update for Tecmo Super Bowl III.  I wonder if such a thing exists and I'm unsure how I'd load that data, even if I got the file.

There is a wrestling series I love on N64 -- WCW vs. nWo World Tour, WCQ/nWo Revenge, and WWF No Mercy.....the 3rd one is the best in terms of features, but their reach exceeded their grasp.  They were running out of hardware power and that last game was chuggy.  I see that there are great hi-res emulators that use the engine, but also that include a bunch of new and classic wrestlers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI8kUsIVDFg

I wonder if these are feasible to run on a console.

I don't see the game "Leisure Suit Larry" on anybody's list, I guess I'm just old.

The relevant entries in the Leisure Suit Larry series are all PC games, which are outside the scope of Dave's collection.

I played those Leisure Suit Larry games.  Those adventure games, along with Space Quest, Police Quest, King's Quest, along with the Lucasfilm stuff: Indiana Jones, Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, Sam and Max -- they're all great and important.  But they're early PC titles and really require keyboard and mouse to be done correctly.