The 10 Best Gaming Consoles of All Time, and Why the Xbox 360 Takes the Top Spot

My pick for the best gaming console of all time is the Xbox 360, with the PlayStation 2 just behind it and the Super Nintendo rounding out the top three. I am a man of my word, so after saying I would put together my 10 favorite consoles, here is the full list, counting down from number 10.

Obviously this is subjective. Still, I tried to take gaming history into account here, not just which consoles I had the most fun with. It might seem controversial to put the PlayStation 5 as high as I do, considering I am comparing it to consoles that have been around for decades.

The Wii earns number 10 by changing who a console could be sold to

At number 10, the Wii. Hot take? I don't know. The Nintendo Wii is probably one of the strangest success stories in gaming history. On paper, it was the least powerful console of its entire generation. But Nintendo figured out something Sony and Microsoft couldn't: you didn't need to sell a console to hardcore gamers. You could sell it to everyone else.

Released in 2006, the Wii introduced motion controls so simple that even someone who had never touched a game could understand them and start playing. It worked. The Wii went on to sell 101 million units worldwide, which is crazy, making it one of Nintendo's most successful consoles ever.

The games were a huge part of that success. Wii Sports was the system's biggest game by far, selling roughly 82 million copies, although it was bundled with the console in most regions. Beyond that, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and New Super Mario Bros. Wii showed that Nintendo could still make fantastic traditional games on a system built around motion controls.

It also deserves credit for bringing gaming to people who otherwise might never have cared. Your parents were playing Wii Sports. Your grandparents were playing Wii bowling. Your friends were destroying each other in Smash. It wasn't the most powerful console of its generation, and it didn't need to be. The Wii completely changed who a console could actually be marketed to, and that is why it made the list for me.

The Nintendo DS is number nine as the quintessential handheld

Number nine is back to back Nintendo with the DS. It is another example of Nintendo looking at the conventional idea of a gaming device and basically deciding to throw that out the window. Two screens, a touchscreen, a microphone, stylus controls. Somehow it all came together to create one of the most successful handhelds ever made.

The DS sold an absolutely ridiculous 154 million units worldwide, making it Nintendo's second best selling hardware platform behind the Switch as of Nintendo's latest reported figures. Its library was stacked: Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 DS, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Animal Crossing: Wild World, New Super Mario Bros. and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. I could go on and on. On top of all that, it was completely backwards compatible with the Game Boy Advance.

What really made the DS special to me was how broad the audience was. You could play hardcore RPGs, you could play traditional Nintendo games, or you could play Brain Age and Nintendogs. It didn't matter. It wasn't just a handheld for kids, and it wasn't just a handheld for hardcore gamers. It was the quintessential handheld console.

The Sega Genesis takes number eight for giving us the console war

Number eight is the Sega Genesis. Before the PlayStation showed up and before Nintendo completely dominated the industry, there was one company that managed to genuinely challenge Nintendo's grip on the console market. That was Sega, and its weapon of choice was the Genesis. It sold approximately 30 million units worldwide, making it Sega's most successful home console and one of the defining systems of the 16 bit era.

The Genesis wasn't successful simply because it existed in the right place at the right time. Sega built an identity around it. Nintendo was family friendly; Sega was edgy. Nintendo had Mario; Sega had Sonic. That rivalry gave us some incredible games. Obviously you had the Sonic games, but you also had Streets of Rage 2, Gunstar Heroes, Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Earthworm Jim, Mortal Kombat, Road Rash and Disney's Aladdin.

Sonic the Hedgehog was the Genesis's biggest seller at roughly 15 million copies, and Sonic 2 followed with more than 7 million. But the real accomplishment of the Genesis wasn't just the sales. It proved that Nintendo could actually be challenged. For an entire generation, Sega and Nintendo went head to head, and it helped define the 16 bit era. The Genesis didn't just give us great games. It gave us the console war. And as for the commercials, "the commercials for Sega, they were unhinged."

The original PlayStation is number seven for changing the industry's direction

Number seven is the original PlayStation. It is one of those consoles where you look at its library and realize just how much the industry changed because of it. Sony entered the console market in 1994 with absolutely zero history in the industry, and somehow managed to become one of the biggest names in gaming almost overnight. The PlayStation sold more than 102 million units worldwide, making it the first console to break the 100 million mark.

The games were ridiculous: Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 2, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Tekken 3, Gran Turismo and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. I could go on all day. The PlayStation basically became the home of some of the biggest franchises in gaming. Its best selling game was Gran Turismo, which moved almost 11 million units, followed by Final Fantasy VII at 10 million.

But I think perhaps the most important thing about the PlayStation was the shift it represented. Gaming was becoming more mature. CDs were replacing cartridges, 3D graphics were becoming the standard, and developers were starting to make games that felt less like arcade experiences and more like massive cinematic adventures. The PlayStation didn't simply succeed; it changed the direction of the entire gaming industry.

The NES sits at number six as the console that saved the industry

At number six, and dear to my heart, is the NES, the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is really hard to overstate how important it was. When Nintendo released the console in North America in 1985, the industry was coming off the crash of 1983. Remember Atari? Remember E.T., buried out in the landfill? Retailers were skeptical, consumers were skeptical, and the entire industry looked like it might be on its last legs. Then Nintendo showed up with this little gray box.

The NES ultimately sold almost 62 million units worldwide. More importantly, it helped establish many of the conventions that would define console gaming for decades. Look at the games: The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man 2, Castlevania III, Contra, Final Fantasy, DuckTales, Kirby's Adventure and, of course, the game that basically became synonymous with the console, Super Mario Bros. That game alone sold more than 40 million copies, making it the NES's best selling title by a massive margin.

The NES also gave us the D pad controller, established Nintendo as a gaming powerhouse, and helped convince consumers that buying a console wasn't just some passing fad. Without the NES, I don't think the gaming industry we know today probably exists; it would look very different. It wasn't just one of the best consoles ever made. It was one of the consoles that actually saved the industry.

The PlayStation 5 lands at number five, and I know that is a hot take

Number five is probably a hot take: the PlayStation 5. Putting the PS5 this high might seem controversial considering I am comparing it to consoles that have been around for decades. I get it. But I've got a compelling argument here. As of June 30, 2026, Sony reported the PlayStation 5 has sold more than 95 million units worldwide. That is an insane number for a console that isn't even done yet.

The PS5 has obviously benefited from cross generation releases, but its library has produced some really good games: Demon's Souls, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Returnal, God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Astro Bot, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Gran Turismo 7, Elden Ring and Days Gone. Spider-Man 2 is currently the best selling game specifically associated with the PS5, with Sony reporting 11 million copies sold by May 2024.

It also deserves credit for making the SSD basically mandatory for modern console gaming. Loading times became dramatically shorter, games became bigger and more detailed, and developers had substantially more hardware to work with. We're still not done with the PS5 generation, so while its ultimate legacy is being written, 95 million consoles sold and counting is already enough to make it one of the biggest gaming platforms ever.

I know Sony definitely hasn't been doing itself favors with its reputation lately. I really do, and I'm sure we're going to see the consequences of that in the near future. But I love this console.

The Nintendo 64 is number four because its games outweigh its sales

Number four is the Nintendo 64. It might not have sold nearly as many consoles as some of the others here, but if we're talking about the impact of its best games, I think it is almost impossible to leave it out. The N64 sold 33 million units worldwide, which is considerably less than the PlayStation.

But look at the library: Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros., Banjo-Kazooie, Paper Mario and Star Fox 64. It is a ridiculous lineup. Super Mario 64 alone completely changed how 3D platformers worked, while Zelda basically established a blueprint for 3D action adventure games that developers are still borrowing today. The N64's best selling game was Super Mario 64, with 12 million copies sold.

It also gave us four player multiplayer straight out of the box, which resulted in countless hours of GoldenEye, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Party destroying friendships everywhere. Was it Nintendo's best selling console? No, it wasn't even close. But when you consider how many of its games became genre defining classics, I think the N64's legacy is much bigger than the 33 million units sold number suggests.

The Super Nintendo is number three, home of my favorite game ever

Number three is the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. If the NES established Nintendo as a gaming powerhouse, the Super Nintendo showed everyone what Nintendo could do when it was firing on all cylinders. It sold over 49 million units worldwide, and its library is one of the strongest collections of games ever assembled on a console.

We're talking about Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which is my favorite game of all time, Super Metroid, Super Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, EarthBound and Street Fighter II. That is not even scratching the surface. Super Mario World was the Super Nintendo's best selling game at 20 million copies, Super Mario All-Stars passed 10 million, and games like Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario Kart became enormous successes in their own right.

The thing I loved about the Super Nintendo is how many different genres it absolutely nailed. Platformers, awesome. RPGs, incredible. Fighting games, awesome. Racing games, incredible. Action adventure, awesome and incredible. Then you have games like Super Metroid and Chrono Trigger that people are still talking about decades later. The Super Nintendo may have sold fewer consoles than the NES, but its library is arguably more impressive. A ridiculous number of modern games would not exist, at least not in the same form, without it.

The PlayStation 2 is number two as the best selling home console ever

Number two is the PlayStation 2. I don't think it needs an introduction. It was a monster. The PS2 sold more than 160 million units worldwide according to Sony's current historical sales data, making it the best selling dedicated home console of all time. What is crazy is that it wasn't just a success because people wanted to play games. It was a DVD player too. You could buy one machine that played games, played DVDs and had backward compatibility with your PS1 games, and it eventually supported an absolutely enormous library.

That library included Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy X, Resident Evil 4 and Gran Turismo 3. This might be one of the most ridiculous libraries any console has ever had. The best seller was San Andreas at 17 million copies, followed by Gran Turismo 3 at 15 million and Vice City at 14 million.

Because the PS2 lived for so long, developers had years to figure out how to squeeze every ounce of performance out of it. By the time it was done, we were getting games that looked absolutely nothing like the ones that launched on it. It wasn't simply successful; it was the definition of a dominant console generation. I still remember, back when I was selling a lot online, on eBay I think, buying around 60 refurbished PS2s and the day they showed up in the back of a UPS truck. Wild memories.

The Xbox 360 is my number one for defining the modern console

Number one is the Xbox 360, a console that, in my opinion, represents one of the most important periods in modern gaming. Microsoft's second console sold approximately 84 million units worldwide, according to the company's last publicly announced figure, which puts it comfortably among the most successful consoles ever made. But that is not why it gets the top spot.

It is because of what the 360 did for gaming. Xbox Live became a massive part of the console experience. Achievements became a standard feature. Digital game distribution exploded. Online multiplayer became something practically everybody expected. Then there was the library: Halo 3, Gears of War, Mass Effect, BioShock, Oblivion, Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty 4, Black Ops and Minecraft. You could basically buy an Xbox 360 and spend an entire decade playing nothing but classics.

Technically, the best selling Xbox 360 game was Kinect Adventures, which reached more than 20 million copies because it was bundled with the Kinect hardware. But the games that defined the system were Halo, Gears, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Skyrim, GTA and Red Dead Redemption. The Xbox 360 had one of the strongest third party ecosystems of its generation.

It wasn't perfect. The Red Ring of Death was a disaster, the system had plenty of hardware problems, and Microsoft made some questionable decisions throughout its lifespan. But despite all that, the Xbox 360 helped define what a modern console could be, with an incredible library, a massive online community and features we now take for granted. "For an entire generation, this was the place to play."

Where do you think I got it right, and where did I get it wrong?