The most revolutionary console maker the past 30 years

The answer is Nintendo, their hardware is unparalleled in terms of innovation. Now is it always good innovation, no, but they try :P

Nintendo is the only possible answer

The Switch is just a Nomad ripoff

Also, Genesis does what Nintendon't

/thread

i like recently what microsoft has tried to do with backwards compatibility with their console... its the right way to do things. but i also distrust them a lot.

nintendo isn't much better, they love to resell all their crap games to you as many times as possible. this list is hard to pick from because these corporations have always tried their best to screw you.

remember the sega 32x and sega cd, lol. Look at the freakshow pic above of the sega and its useless addons like the 32x and sega cd, what complete rip off scam.

i guess i pick nintendo because it did create the super nintendo which is a very reliable system with good games and an amazing controller. they went downhill after that though, the n64 was a sign of things to come.

Nintendo by default I guess.

Not everything Nintendo does is great (motion controls) but at least they try.

Microsoft as they are about to release the most powerful console the world has ever seen

I want to say Nintendo, but innovation is not revolution. I admire that they make changes and try, but hardly any of them work enough to make a lasting impact.

Wii motes, only people who new what to do with them were Nintendo. 3rd party games using them mostly didn't use them well.

Dual screens: Wii U and DS. Fairly often they havn't proved their worth.

3D screen: 3DS, this one I hope they continue with, I really want to get a New 3DS XL. This one is worth it imo, but Nintendo have a habit of dumping the good stuff eventually.

I think the Switch is an excuse for them to admit home consoles aren't for them and get some of their handheld third party involved.

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I can't say PS with PSVR, because it's not standard and it's yet to be proved past being interesting for tech demos.

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I don't want to say it, but it has to be MS, making online a standard and a unified social thing that goes hand in hand with the console. And all the good and bad stuff that came with it, achievements, dlc and updates. Since the Xbox 360, not being online is just weird, even if you're not playing multiplayer.

Definitely Sony....... PS1 was a power house and allowed developers to do things thought impossible (Which is why in my eyes that generation was the most exciting from a game innovation point of view)

Only thing Microsoft have done is first to use a HDD in a console...... Nintendo have had a lot of industry 'firsts' but they've not done anything to really push the industry forward for a very long time in my eyes.

Probably the Genesis thanks to it's generational backwards as well as forwards compatibility, which also came with the now standard half moon controller. or the Dreamcast thanks to it's pioneering and now standard focus on online

In general, Sega always made better hardware than Nintendo.

If you voted for anyone but Nintendo, you're doing it wrong.

MS by a light-year or two. :P

From the moment that Microsoft first entered the console market until now, they have been the most revolutionary console maker and they wrote the blueprint for modern gaming that others now copy from, but Nintendo has been a revolutionary console maker for much longer and nobody can match all of the revolutionary stuff that they have done over the past 30 years.

Overall, I would rank them: Nintendo > Microsoft > Sega > Sony

Nintendo.

Boo MS booooooo.

sony

Sega obviously, I don't see how anyone could come to any other conclusion.

Nintendo is the only company who has even made game consoles that long in this list ^ ^ - If we had to order them, It's Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft

We're talking 'innovation' not power, then fully 100% Nintendo. They brought so much to the masses where the other consoles just implement on the next generation.

Eh they all could have done better. They're all stuck in the past.

At least MS is trying to merge their console with the PC space; plus their upcoming console at least has a bit of power. No reason for me to ever get one though..... I still appreciate the direction their going in.

Sony has never done anything except make exclusive deals - the only reason anyone has a PS4. It's disrespectful to the games and the consumers.

Nintendo has lost it.... They keep insisting on creating nonsense hardware. Absolutely useless.

Sega was cool. Their consoles had cool tech for the time. Their hardware is now irrelevant.

It's a toss up between Sony and Microsoft to me. To me, "revolutionary" equates to the impact your brand has had on gaming and the industry as a whole. In short, how much of an impact do you have on your peers?

Microsoft's Live single-handily brought console gaming to a new level. And everyone followed or is in the process of following. Sony brought gaming to the masses and introduced the idea of the console being a key part of the living room (for better or worse).

Nintendo, but that's not necessarily a good thing. I don't like my consoles to change the way i have been playing games for 30 years.

I prefer powerful systems and an old school controller in my hands, which are the reasons i stoped supporting Nintendo 3 generations ago.

I agree with this

Microsoft made modern day consoles what they are today. Nintendo made pre modern day consoles what they were back then.

Sega practically invented backwards compatibility and mid-gen iterations. Scorpio and Pro, as well as the 3DS and alike arguably are all influenced by Sega. Their design of the palm fitting elongated Game Gear as opposed to the upright rectangle of the Gameboy is now standard. Likewise the with Genesis control pad of a half moon position rather than the rectangle brick is standard controller design in all subsequent console including Nintendo. Even before the Dreamcast Sega lay the foundations for stuff like Xbox and PSN.

Probably Microsoft with the invention of Xbox Live. It's easily been the most significant development in home consoles since the Atari 2600.

Prior to Xbox Live, everything console was basically an iteration of the Atari 2600. With Xbox Live, it ushered in a completely new era of console gaming. Online on a console had been done before (with the Dreamcast and even before), but the idea of XBL as a unified network broke down the barriers of a fragmented online network. Even applications like Steam on the PC were influenced by XBL. That's how profound it was.

Though I guess one could say that Battle.net and other attempts at multiplayer lobbies could have been the begin of that revolution, but it wasn't until Xbox Live did we see a unified platform work and be integrated in every game that came out after. Revolutions are rarely the first innovation, but rather the one that does the innovation the best.

Oh I agree those were all important, but I do not think they were nearly as revolutionary as XBL has proven to be.

Navigating the 3D space was being done separately on the PC in a different, and superior way since more games today are influenced from PC games from the early 90s than Nintendo games. Saveable cartridges was just matching what was already possible on the PC. It wasn't really revolutionary. It just solved a known limitation of console gaming.

D-Pad and analog controls were definitely Nintendo's biggest contributions to the gaming world in terms of technology. They also set standards for games released on their console which basically saved gaming. But that wasn't innovative, that was just necessary.

I still think where we sit today in gaming on all platforms, XBL had the biggest impact.

@xantufrog said:

The Switch is just a Nomad ripoff

Also, Genesis does what Nintendon't

/thread

My wife would mistake that for stuff I was getting rid of and throw it away. ;)

She wouldn't believe they worked together. It just looked too convoluted. That's why I went with a 3DO instead.

@xantufrog said:

The Switch is just a Nomad ripoff

Also, Genesis does what Nintendon't

/thread

lol look at that megazhord

Nintendo certainly wasn't afraid to take chances.

@jun_aka_pekto: dodged a bullet there ;-)

Microsoft for having introduced hard drives, polished online, invested on backwards compatibility, customized their main controller, and featured a GPU architecture.

1. Nintendo

2. Sega

3. Microsoft

4. Sony

• Nintendo
• Sega
• Microsoft
• Sony

You mean going for the 3DO instead? True. But, at the time, someone was offering me his Genesis and SegaCD dirt-cheap. I figured it would have saved me some money if I chose the Sega 32X.

Being an Amiga fanatic at the time, I had a soft spot for the Genesis because it also used a Motorola 68000 CPU. It was a tough call to turn it down. In hindsight, maybe I should've taken the Sega stuff. The 3DO wasn't cheap either at $450 in 1994 dollars.

@jun_aka_pekto: I was mostly kidding - I love the Genesis. But that "tower of power" is no doubt ridiculous (albeit... perhaps "revolutionary"?)

Obviously Nintendo. MS in a solid second place for bridging PC and console gaming and giving us achievements and awesome console online.

And in 4 years, another console will overtake it. if that was an achievement, then almost every console would hold this accolade on release. But, it's not an accolade--it's normal.

@xantufrog: Oh. As far as looks? Of course, it looks ridiculous. That wouldn't stop me though. ;)

Sega, hands down. Some of their revolutionary innovations, over the past 30 years, from 1987 onwards:

• Backwards compatibility - Mega Drive's compatibility for Master System games, with Power Base Converter in 1989.
• Online service - Sega Meganet for Mega Drive in 1990, SegaNet for Saturn in 1996, and SegaNet for Dreamcast in 2000.
• Combat disc - Sega CD in 1991, and Saturn in 1994.
• Shoulder buttons - XE-1AP controller for Mega Drive in 1989.
• Analog joystick - After Burner for arcades in 1987, and Sega Mission Stick for Saturn in 1995.
• Analog thumbstick - XE-1AP controller for Mega Drive in 1989, and Saturn 3D Control Pad in 1996.
• Dual analog - After Burner for arcades in 1987, and XE-1AP controller for Mega Drive in 1989.
• Force feedback - Super Hang-On and After Burner for arcades in 1987.
• Pressure sensitivity - After Burner for arcades in 1987, Saturn 3D Control Pad in 1996, and Dreamcast controller in 1998.
• Touch controls - Sega Pico console in 1993, unreleased Game Gear successor in early 1990s, and World Club Champion Football for arcades in 2002.
• Motion controls - In the arcades, Super Hang-On in 1987 and Mazan: Flash of the Blade in 2002.
• Non-physical motion controls - In 1993, Dragon Ball Z VRVS for arcades and Sega Activator for Mega Drive.
• 3D texture-mapping - Super Scaler arcade games, from After Burner in 1987 to Last Survivor in 1988 and G-LOC in 1990. And then Sega CD in 1991.
• 3D polygons - In the arcades, Virtua Racing in 1992 and Virtua Fighter in 1993.
• 3D texture-mapped polygons - In the arcades, Daytona USA in 1993, then Virtua Cop and Virtua Fighter 2 in 1994. And then Saturn console in 1994.
• 3D cel-shading - Jet Set Radio in 2000.
• Stereoscopic 3D - SegaScope 3D Glasses for Master System in 1987.
• Virtual reality - Sega VR announced in 1991, released for arcades in 1993, with unreleased versions for Mega Drive and Saturn consoles.
• Holographic gaming - In the arcades, Time Traveler in 1991 and Holosseum in 1992.

@xantufrog said:

The Switch is just a Nomad ripoff

Also, Genesis does what Nintendon't

/thread

The VMU pioneered the Wii U too! Didn't the Saturn have expandable RAM before Nintendo did?

Agreed, the SNES controller was revolutionary. So was the N64 controller, first analog stick!

Then the Wii comes along with it's stupid motion controls.

FML if I wanted to get off the couch and jump around, I'd go to the fucking gym. I want to park my ass on the couch with a comfortable controller and unwind.

Nintendo in my opinion.

I grew up playing Sony games, but my buddies owned a Nintendo 64. I couldn't wait to go over to their house and play Smash Bros Melee or Mario Kart.

Nintendo. They still do it time and time again. Sometimes great sometimes not great. Without Nintendo we would just have two twins doing the same thing over and over again.

During the 16 bit war, there was a point when Sega had a yearn, a drive that hasn't quite been replicated by any other console maker. And I'm not talking about the Sega CD or the 32X. There was something special about the Genesis/Mega Drive. Sega had all the intention to make gamers happy. If the SNES had a hit third party game, Sega did everything they could to have a port, even if it meant making a new gamepad, like what they did for Street Fighter. And if they couldn't have a port, they tried to make a great game from the same genre. They would jump through hoops to prove that they were a company that wanted to serve their costumers. It was a sight to behold.

Then, they lost track of what made the Genesis/Mega Drive so popular, panicked and started thinking that more hardware was going to secure that first place that they had achieved by that point. Nintendo beat them by a nose with games, just games. A couple of RPG franchises more, a new platformer franchise to give Donkey Kong Country a run for its money, and maybe history would have been significantly different.

I agree. I think they returned to form with the DC - but it was way too late

Heh, I remember when I got Champions Edition on Genesis, I didn't have the six button controller at the time. So I had to use the start button to toggle between punches and kicks. You wouldn't believe how damn good I got at working that start button in. I got so used to it that the habit was hard to break.

Sorry, completely random, your post just sparked that memory lol.