Is it true that the 6th generation was the best generation ever for console gaming?

I don't think so. Lots of people put it on a high pedestal. But really? Does it though?

People seem to love it but I think those people are overlooking things. Like it's really not the great.

We have the PS2 era and it's the only one they seem to like. For some reason not caring about the GameCube or Xbox. I go on YouTube and people say how Gold 6th gen was for this. But I really just think they like Grand the auto San andreas or Resident Evil 4.

This era was full of movie tie in games and tv ones too. The most ones really. Just endless garbage movie based games. More than the PS1 could ever see and the Bugs Life game was the first 3D movie based platformer game ever quote me if I'm wrong and that game came out in 1998.

People who glaze this era really overlook how disappointing famous franchises turned out back then. We where promised the world with:

-MGS2 but it was kind of disappointing

-Jak 2 and 3 which tried to rip off GTA

-Resident Evil 4 which just made it sort of a non horror game

-the worst 3D Mario platform game

-Sonic kinda had trouble this era.

-Turok Evolution wasn't a very good sequel

-Tomb Raider Fell off

-GameCube fell off

-Sega fell out of the console race in a morose manner

-Crash and Spyro got bought out fell off

-The brown and grey aesthetic came up genre tried to look realistic

But I get it, no one really cares about those franchises. As long as CoD or Madden wasn't asking for Microtransactions. At least we got sequels to our favorite games. Something a lukewarm temperature IQ Gamespotter would resent for some reason.

On the other hand, the increased performance of these machines gave leeway to amazing 3D worlds and MMO games. Varying degrees of detail which ranged from N65 graphics to NINJA GAIDEN BLACK! Cell shading took off though is quite uncommon. "Graphics don't matter" People sound kind a ignorant when they don't even consider how much tech can bring a world to life as opposed to the PS1 era which just gave you a 5 centimeters of distance, a few cubes, and photo sprite trees. And we can all agree that there where lots of JRPGs back then and successful Japanese video games like Tekken 4.

I think we can all agree though that the 16 bit era was the best. Honestly, in all serious. I've never seen so many games that have aged so well. Realistic looking games, painterly games. Games for everyone. SNES had epic music with epic games. Even if their was also lots of trashy games as well.

But what do you think?

It is true, Gen 6 was the best.

Honestly, there is some nostalgia to my opinion. Gen 6 began while I was in college, so a lot of fond split-screen memories. But it certainly wasn't perfect. This was an era with way too many licensed games, and when the annual franchise became an industry norm. I still say you can make the case Gen 6 was the best though.

For one, this was the golden age of eXtreme sports games, and that genre is the best. In the wake of Tony Hawk and NFL Blitz we had stuff like SSX, NBA Street, lets just say all of EA Big, Aggressive Inline, Amped, Dave Mira BMX, Midway's -itz games, 1080 Avalanche just to name a few. Like, there was even a good wakeboarding game... Wakeboarding.

While there were too many licensed games, the upshot was that there were some very good licenced games. LotR RotK and Third Age, James Bond Nightfire and Everything or Nothing, Spidermans, Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, quite a few good Naruto and DBZ fighters, Simpsons Hit and Run...

More generally, graphics were good enough to be genuinely pretty with the right art direction, and the systems could finally handle 4 player split screen with a decent framerate. And split screen was still expected in most multiplayer games. Severe dropoff of it occurred in Gen 7, which is a big reason I rate 6 higher.

I would say 6th gen was the best. Alot of your points are interesting to say the least.

MGS2 was/is underrated.

Sonic Adventure 2 was a very good game.

Brown and gray aesthetic I generally consider to be more of a Gen 7 thing.

But this gen right? The PS2 had full BC and was a DVD player. The introduction of Xbox and Halo. Loads of awesome games for all platforms. Namely this generation gave us:

Max Payne, GTA 3, Time Splitters 2, 007: Nightfire and other various 007 games, various Conflict games, various Mario games, various Zelda games, Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, various MGS games. etc. It was a killer generation for games.

Seventh.

@judaspete: I guess if your game has good topology than it will never look bad.

But yeah I get it, this generation is far more actually social than the online that we demanded but was forced upon. I don't really play sports games but now I see we could have stable frame rates for all of those games compared to the n64 era with Goldeneye. Better than people yelling noob at each other.

The early 2000s was such a different time compared to now.

The 7th gen is for me the best we'll ever gonna get in our gaming lifetime. You had to be there from start to finish. It was the biggest jump in generations, great consoles, great games, and maybe the best competition ever. The 7th gen is really important, it finally shaped the online functions as a main feature of consoles, which companies started since the 6th gen.

You forgot SOCOM 1-3, Halo, Forza, GTA 3-5 (including Vice City which is the best in the franchise in my opinion), God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metroid Prime, World of Warcraft, Unreal Tournament, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Golden Sun, Max Payne, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Morrowind, Animal Crossing, Final Fantasy X, Half Life 2, NFL 2K1 (plus many other first of their kind online games), Soul Caliber, Knights of the Old Republic, Tekken Tag Tournament, Deus Ex, Ico, Battlefield 1942, Counter Strike, Devil May Cry, Mercenaries, NBA Street, Gladius, Viewtiful Joe, Onimusha 1-4, Powerstone 1-2, Kingdom Hearts, Call of Duty, Fantasy Star, Panzer Dragoon, Fable, Two Worlds, Splinter Cell, Project Gotham Racing, Dragon Quest VIII, Luigi's Mansion, Guitar Hero, Ratchet and Clank, Xenosaga 1-3... I could keep going, but you probably get the point.

Whether it's my personal favorite or not doesn't matter. A lot of franchises got their start, the biggest games in the franchise released, and/or was the mainstream birthplace of online gaming. It isn't hard to understand why many people consider it the greatest gaming generation.

Can find pros and cons with every generation so find it a tough question. It's not so clear cut. A good game is a good game, and most the time is great even today. 6th generation and seventh having may games I'm more than happy to revisit again and again. However I feel older generations have a lot to offer as well. Not to mention the last two generations.

Also that note on Resident Evil 4 is woefully misleading, it's one of the most beloved and praised video games of all time. It had horror elements, it just wasn't Survival Horror.

Mega drive v snes maybe it's nostalgia talking but I loved that generation. Most people I knew had one or the other nobody owned both.

I suppose all viewpoints are speculation and relative. Who’s the resident historian major in these forums?? He may be able to analyze this question well.