Why didn't you go for / prefer the dominant console in each gen?

Well, what stopped you or put off from it?

Well, my story is strongly influenced by the country I lived in. In 8-bit era, Atari 2600 was nonexistent, so the natural way to go was Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum was somewhat rare. We didn't get NES until 1989/1990 and it wasn't even the original NES but its perfect hardware clone rebranded Pegasus. Some of the games were fun, but ultimately I felt it has a cheap feel to it. When there was 16-bit era all over the world, in Poland we began embracing NES, and actually 8-bit era for Poles was artificially prolonged (and I was somebody who jumped from Commodore 64 to PlayStation 1, haha), apart from Amiga computers, there was NO 16-bit era in Poland, no SNES, no Genesis, no nothing, so I can't relate to this particular period...Anyway, in gen 5 I sided with PlayStation 1, so I cannot answer my own question here either...In gen 6 I got a PC and I wouldn't have been able to afford having a console in tandem, so I skipped that gen entirely, I was still semi-interested in PlayStation games and whatnot and played some of them at my friend's or at a local console club that we had in a local community centre. After that gen I decided to jump on the 360, I guess because of the wide variety of games and some of the new exciting IPs (Mass Effect as an exclusive back then, etc.), and the fact that at that point I was redefining my life in a lot of ways and I was very open and perceptive to CHANGE. I did complete u-turn on everything that I used to love, I guess...

Anyway, some time after that I decided to revisit gen 6, but since I kind of knew what to expect from PS2, I opted for more exotic experience, and I bought GameCube and Dreamcast. I don't know about you, but I have a penchant for underdogs, flawed people, flawed beauty, imperfect but ambitious products, and this among other things drew me to those consoles. Consoles I always wanted to have but never had (especially Dreamcast).

And then we have gen 8 but I don't feel like justifying myself, because I don't really see the NEED TO.

I thought this topic would be an interesting springboard for experiences of people who were gaming since NES days, and I'd really love to hear some stories why some of you picked Nintendo 64, Saturn, Dreamcast, GameCube, OG Xbox etc.

This isn't nearly as interesting for PS3/360 era and PS4/Xbone one.

Anyway, feel free to join the convo.

Nothing stopped me.

I've gotten both a Genesis and SNES.

I've gotten both PS1 and Saturn.

I've gotten a Dreamcast, PS2, and Gamcube.

The Gamecube was the last Nintendo console I bought.

This gen and last gen got a PS3 and PS4 only.

I'm hoping the NX is awesome this time so I can start having more than one console each gen again.

Also it sucks Sega left the hardware business.

I own just about every hardware consoles from gen to gen. I'm a gamer, I want to own everything that comes my way so I won't be left out in the cold. But let's be serious, if I see something I like but can't play it on my prefer console, I'm gonna buy that console so I can play that game. That's how I am.

Dreamcast was THE console for fighting games for the first couple of years it was on the market. It was amazing but being an early bird killed it. PS2 was more powerful and had much better third party support.

As for Gamecube - Metroid Prime and its sequel literally sold the console to me. I even prefer the original gamepad controls to the Wiimote of Prime Trilogy.

I just buy whatever I want.

This kind of touches on the other thread where we were talking about playing a console at a friends house.

Atari and Colecovsion my parents bought as they were interested in it. I just played the shit out of it.

NES came and served many years.

In the Genesis days, I played a friends NEO GEO. blown the **** away! Arcade graphics for the home!!! That was a dominant console that I chose but was never able to own. Too much $$$.

Idk, I just owned Nintendo shit till the Gamecube, which was when I bought a PS2 to go along with my Gamecube and GBA, then the next gen, I had everything, but loved my Xbox 360 the most, and this gen, I have everything except Xbox One, which I imagine I will have soon enough.

I don't react well to hype and mob mentality. That is likely the reason.

The dominant console is not always the one with the best games on, or even the best versions of games, it is more often then not the console whose makers shout the loudest, and the masses mimik ad nausia.

I tend to look at the games in the pipeline for the system, and how the system works/performs, before buying. So in some cases that does NOT mean the most dominant console.

Went mostly with Sega for years and now with Xbox for years ( also at the same time had other competing systems along the way ) and for the same reason, I was a bigger fan of the dev's and their exclusive IP's for those systems.

I've been forced to face the fact over the past 35 years I just have superior taste in games than most others. lol :P

The only time I've ever skipped consoles for a whole gen was when I was a kid and didn't play many games, and couldn't afford them all, so I chose Nintendo systems over Sega. My first, and only, Sega system was Dreamcast. Not long afterwards they closed up shop. :(

I didn't go for a PS4 right away because my experience with the PS3 tells me that many of their most touted exclusives are some of the most pretentiously over-hyped and overrated games, and both Wii U and Xbox One have more immediate exclusives worth playing, whereas nearly everything interesting on the PS4 (for me at least) is still a wait into sometime 2016.

I also didn't get a PS2 when I was in college, had a computer with me for school work so mostly just played PC games. I got an Xbox for Christmas though and that sucked me back into the console gaming world. After college got a PS2 though to play the games I couldn't play on my Xbox.

Back when in the Genesis vs SNES days I was probably a bigger Sega fan (had both still), they had the Sega CD, they had the awesome arcade games, they were the edgier gaming company while Nintendo still made quality games but they were more Disney'esque. Anyhow, the N64 wasn't ready when the Saturn was, and I made a choice between them and Sony and went with Sega. Kind of mistake on that end, those arcade games I loved didn't have much value at home, and the Saturn had horrendous 3D polygon pop-in. Still, I enjoyed a few classics on the Saturn for a couple years before selling it to get a PS1 and never looking back.

I only get one console a gen, and August 2014 I got an Xbone at an offer no one could refuse.

Nothing has stopped me, I just play what I like. Up to this point, not a single one of my preferred consoles has ever won a sales war.

A couple things sway my decisions. First, I always buy a Nintendo console, though the last two Wii and Wii U have been purchased by or for my wife. To pick something other than a Nintendo console, I always pick what feels more like a technical upgrade; last gen it was the PS3 (free online, removable HD, blu ray player), this gen it was the Xbox One (Kinect, Live vs PSN, Smart Glass, Windows integration). Price also plays a part, but come secondary to the consoles capabilities.

My other non Nintendo consoles were PS2 (only for Ace Combat 4 and Shadow of the Colossus), Panasonic 3DO, and a Genesis.

Since I started playing video games, I have always owned the dominant console of each generation, but there have only been two times when the dominant console was also my favorite.

3rd Generation: I was a young kid and my parents bought me a NES; I don't think I was even aware that other consoles existed at this time.

4th Generation: I had the SNES and the Genesis. I preferred this gen's dominant console, the SNES, because while the Genesis was also great, I preferred Nintendo's exclusive franchises like Mario and Donkey Kong Country more.

5th Generation: I had the Playstation and the N64, but I did not prefer this gen's dominant console, the Playstation. Quality over Quantity, the Playstation may have had more games, but the N64 had better games. The N64 had games that were revolutionary and amazed me during this time. Plus, the N64 was the party machine; anytime my friends and I got together to play games, most of that time was spent playing on the N64. To this day, I don't think there has ever been a console that has had better local multiplayer games than the N64.

6th Generation: I had all of the consoles this generation, but I did not prefer this gen's dominant console, the PS2; in fact, I think it was my least favorite console of this generation. I'm not a fan of JRPGs and once you eliminate that genre, I thought the PS2 had the weakest exclusive lineup for my taste. And I never bought any multiplats on PS2 since Gamecube and Xbox always had better versions of multiplats. So my PS2 library ended up being pretty small compared to my libraries for the other consoles. Overall, I think the Xbox was my favorite console this gen with the Gamecube as a close second.

7th Generation: I had all of the consoles this generation, but I did not prefer this gen's dominant console, the Wii. The Wii had a couple of great games, but I felt a lot of games were ruined by waggle controls. Plus, since I was now an adult and no longer lived close to my friends, online gaming was becoming very important to me at this time and the Wii sucked for online gaming. The Xbox 360 was easily by far my favorite console this generation; it had the greatest controller of all time, it revolutionized online gaming, it had the best OS, it had the best indie/arcade scene, it had the best marketplace, and it had the best version of most multiplats.

8th Generation: I have all of the consoles this generation, but I do not prefer this gen's dominant console, the PS4. Simply put, the Wii U has more fun games than both the PS4 and Xbox One thus far. If I had to make a list of my top 10 games of this generation thus far, 6 of the games on the list would be Wii U games, so it is my favorite console this gen thus far.

Variety is the spice of life, better have several systems to enjoy what they have to offer and if you can afford them then why the hell not ?

I buy the console that has the games that interest me the most, so far I've been with Xbox for the last 3 generations, before that I used to have Nintendo consoles

Picked ps3 over 360 in 07. X360 came without wireless, it had paid online, and batteries. All that put me off. In 09 I migrated to PC and used my ps3 for FIFA and Netflix.

Other than that, in previous gens if I only picked one console, I got the most dominant. Picked SNES and PS1, then got ps2, gc, and xbox. Now I have all 3 and a PC.

I think the only generations I didn't have the "dominant" console were the "16-bit" generation (Genesis) and the 7th generation (PS3). Was the 2600 consider the "dominant" console? That was where my video game history started (1985/86ish). I wanted an NES for christmas that year, but asked for an Atari by accident. Hey, I was 8 years old and got my TV commercials confused...

During the 16-bit era, a neighborhood buddy had an SNES, and we would swap consoles from to time. After the PS1 (little brother had an N64) and PS2, I've stuck with Sony consoles. I had a Wii as well as Ps3, but I hated that thing.

The PS3/Wii combo was the only time I've ever personally owned two consoles in a generation. I have hobbies that take precedent over gaming, except during winter. Like @raugutcon said, variety is the spice of life...why use all of your leisure time gaming?

@SecretPolice Do you end every post with " :P "?

I generally go from gen to gen and pick which console suits me best... and I definitely don't go on popularity/hype or sales figures.

In gen 6 for example, I started out with PS2 but soon grew bored of it and bought an Xbox, which I absolutely loved. No it didn't have all the games that PS2 had, but I liked the hardware and the few exclusives it did have (ie. Halo, Project Gotham Racing & KOTOR mainly), I fell in love with. And from then on I've always had a thing for Xbox. I also had a Gamecube that gen (my first Ninty console!), which I enjoyed way more than PS2.

Gen 7 I of course started out with 360, but RRoD put a stop to that and I ended up with PS3 for most of the gen. Then this gen I started out with PS4 (had it pre-ordered for 6 months & got at launch), but like PS2, soon grew bored of it... I just didn't click with it for some reason. So I bought an Xbone, which I'm now very happy with... I like the games that are on the horizon, and love the controller.

Next gen, who knows.

Sorry, not a hipster.

Same here

This gen: Not a playstation person. I mean the PS when it has games that appeal to me are far and between. Seriously the PlayStation brand is for those who like Japanese games for the most part and I'm not a big fan of what they consider fun games.

Because I already have a gaming pc.

I go where the good games are at.

I game on PC, the dominant platform. I imagine that's why the title reads "why didn't you go for the dominant console" instead of "...dominant platform". Still, feel compelled to provide my unwanted opinion...

I never played on a console before the 16bit gen. Always PC.

After that I just tried to own every console that I can own. I gave most of them away to people that could not afford to have a console. I just played mostly on one console.

I like the mainstream more but on the other hand, IF the console is better then it is better and then I'll use it more then the others.

@360ru13r: Sony has one Japanese studio. Most of its first party studios and 2nd party partners are Western developers. PlayStation is for people that like ALL types of games. Xbox is for people who ONLY care about Western games. You are painting PlayStation as the niche platform when Xbox is one with no diversity.

@StrongBlackVine: To be honest all the consoles feel like Niche platforms. Sony for me feels like a console that where either your getting those cinematic games that feel like blockbuster movies or the Japanese game that people love. The Xbox is the system where you get either shooters, or a really solid racer. Nintendo sells it's fans with nostalgia and occasionally bringing back and re imaging of a game from their beloved yet hidden treasure trove of games. And the PC is still the RPG/ indie game machine. Yes I know all 4 pieces of hardware I mention will get there fair share of AAA games and indie games but it's like picking your favor flavor of ice cream. Nintendo = Vanilla, Playstation = Strawberry, Xbox = Chocolate, and PC = Flavor of the Month.

I buy them all, although next gen will be different.

Gen 2 - ColecoVision > Atari 2600. - ColecoVision games have aged better than 2600 games.

Gen 3 - Sega Master System > NES - SMS was more dominant than NES here in Europe. And I still prefer SMS games over NES games to this day.

Gen 4 - Sega Mega Drive > SNES - SMD was more dominant than SNES here in Europe. But I like both consoles just as much.

Gen 8 - Wii U > PS4 - Wii U has quality exclusives you wouldn't find on PC. Same can't be said for PS4.

Pong console in the 70s

Sega Master system because everyone had the NES. Was never into following the herd

Genesis, then Saturn.

PS1 then 2 PS2's because the second crapped out so quick on me went with Xbox

360 then PS3. For a while had a Wii

Got an X1 then a PS4 also have a gaming PC. I just like games. I do prefer what I see coming from Xbox over PS but its all subjective. I don't really get into the FF, Persona, Disgaea or whatever its called type games.

I certainly always mean too, so loyal follower, if you see a post where I don't, please let me know ASAP so I can edit it. :P

I'm kinda a switch but when it comes to consoles I am kinda a dom so that won't work.

I've had a variety of systems through the years but I picked them simply because of the games I wanted to play on them. I had an NES and SNES simply because I loved Mario back then. I moved on to other consoles mostly because of the games. I even bought a Dreamcast on 9/9/99 for some reason..I'm all about getting a console that has the games I want to play. I have been with Sony's consoles since the beginning because of the games. I even bought a 360 simply to play Shadow Complex and Mass Effect 1. Once Mass Effect game to PS3, I had no reason to play an xbox. I have not and do not plan on buying an x1 because none of the games there interest me.

To me, consoles have never been anything but a diversion. I really couldn't care less which one has slightly better performance over the other.