Whoever had the best video game console in the neighborhood back when I was a kid, was the house that everyone hung out at. In my hometown, that was Jason. All the kids would ride their bikes over to Jason’s house to play the latest Mario and Simpson’s video game on his new Nintendo. Those were the days where you would have to blow into the game cartridges before you put them into the unit so they would be free of dust and dirt and work properly.
Technology has come a long way since then, but that first Nintendo console still makes the top 20 for the best-selling video game consoles of all time on this list from vr.space. It has sold almost 62 million units since its release in 1983. Some other notable mentions here include the Sega Genesis from 1988 that sold 30.75 million units. I remember when I got to play on the Sega Genesis at my babysitter’s house and I would play Sonic the Hedgehog and Donkey Kong until she would tell me I had to put the games down and go play outside.
The GameCube was also another popular console when I was in high school. Released in 2001 by Nintendo, the purple cube sold 21.74 million consoles. That same year Microsoft released the Xbox which sold even more units than the GameCube, 24 million all together. The Nintendo Wii was released in 2006 and did remarkably better, selling over 101 units.
I remember being at the kid’s house I would babysit and we would have Wii battles on rainy days and I would not go easy on these 8-year-old kids in Wii tennis. Had to teach them how to lose gracefully!
Take a look at this ultimate list of consoles and see what memories pop up for you.
Next read: What was the first game controller?
