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Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) - This machine will always hold a special place in my heart as it’s the first Nintendo console I ever owned, in my opinion still one of the best looking and best designed machines they ever made and the controller looks and feels great and is really comfortable to use for long periods.
Some of the most classic and iconic games ever were released on the SNES such as Super Mario World and Super Metroid. Also many superb games were released by other software companies such as Rare’s Donkey Kong Country, which amazed many people at the time with it’s graphics and is still highly playable to this day. Nintendo also devised the SuperFX chip which was embedded in a couple of cartridges and offered improved graphics, this was included in Stunt Race FX (still one of my favourite racers ever) and StarFox.
I don’t own a SNES console any more but I still enjoy the games on my Anbernic RG351M handheld which runs them perfectly.
A truly classic console with an outstanding library of titles.
GameBoy Advance SP - I’ve always loved Nintendo’s handhelds and this is probably my absolute favourite, I just love the compact, pocketable clamshell design, it’s perfect for on-the-go gaming! I own the red and silver Mario SP and I absolutely love it! The SP boasted a huge library of great titles (F-Zero, Sonic Advance, Super Mario Advance, Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission to name a few) which I still enjoy today thanks to this wonderful machine!
Game & Watch - The forerunner to the original GameBoy this series of handheld single games are still massively popular with collectors today, to begin with single screen machines were released, then Nintendo developed dual-screen units and that’s when they really took off, some brilliant titles were available including Donkey Kong (the first to feature the now familiar and much used d-pad) and Zelda, other versions were made available including TableTop, Panorama and Crystal Screen.
Within the last two years to mark milestone anniversaries of Mario and Zelda, two new Game & Watches have been released, Super Mario Bros. & The Legend of Zelda (just released this month), a review of both is coming soon so stay tuned!
To prove their popularity with collectors many of the rarer machines in excellent/mint conditions go for quite high prices on eBay. If you want to know more about this series check out the two Game & Watch books/collector’s guides I reviewed in a previous post.
Nintendo Switch - I made my mind up after about 30 seconds of the promo video that I was going to get this machine and I’ve never regretted it since, this truly was a game-changer by Nintendo - a machine that could be played in a dock through a home TV but could also be taken out and played as a handheld. The joy-con controllers look and feel great and despite having one of the weakest launch line-ups of titles in gaming history it’s more than made up for it since and now boasts a library of games to rival any console and a flourishing Indie game scene too.
A handheld-only Switch Lite was later released and an improved version with an OLED screen has just been released this month as well.
An excellent and truly revolutionary machine.
Nintendo 3DS - And finally in this Top 5 countdown is the 3DS, like the Switch this was a game-changer at the time due to it’s ability to play games in 3D without the need for glasses (this could be disabled though a slider on the machine), the original 3DS was released in a variety of striking colours and offered some of the best handheld titles ever seen, many of which are still highly playable today. It offered some of the best Pokemon titles ever seen (Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, Sun/Moon, X/Y, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon) and many other really superb games.
A 3DS XL was later released offering a larger screen.
I own as part of my collection the very distinctive yellow 3DS XL Pikachu edition and it’s still one of my most played handhelds, a great little machine.
So there you go my Top 5 favourite Nintendo machines ever, as I said this is my personal choice and I do have many other Nintendo machines I love (N64, Wii, GameCube, DS) but these are my absolute favourites, what are your favourite Nintendo machines and why? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
