I couldn’t say there’s such a thing as ‘too much choice’, but it can become hard work when you’re making a Top 5 list. I’ve been gaming since the early 80s, so I’ve encountered and played several generations of consoles and home computers. As a result, immediately after deciding to make this list, I wondered if I had made a huge mistake!

However, I’m going to plough on with this endeavour and see if I can keep it to just five. Also, this list will be in no particular order.

Disclaimer: Due to being upgradeable and having the largest games library on the planet, the standard Windows PC will not feature here.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
This was the console that brought arcade standard games into my living room. I got the Street Fighter II console bundle and although I knew there were a few minor differences between that and the arcade version, they weren’t noticeable enough for me to care. My fireball battles between Ryu and Sagat are the stuff of legend!

The SNES also made me notice and start to appreciate RPGs. Specifically in the form of Secret of Mana. A fantasy story I could truly immerse myself in for several hours. I spent a LOT of time in that fantastic world.

I also got to play SimCity for the first time and I became instantly hooked on city builders. I loved trying to find and maintain the balance of Residential, Commercial and Industrial zones while trying to maintain the additional balance of keeping your Sim Citizens happy while not losing all your money.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k +2
The Spectrum was annoying in one particular way and anyone who had one of these computers would tell you the same thing. It would take absolutely ages to load any game worth playing on the cassette tapes and it would make that ‘nails-on-a-chalkboard’ style electronic screech for almost the entire loading phase.

It was also one of the most advanced bits of hardware for its time. The graphics on some of the games were fantastic in that you could actually make out people and objects on the screen. Okay the colour palette hasn’t so great, but that could be forgiven for the overall graphical standard.

Target: Renegade was my first exposure to the scrolling beat’em’up genre and I played it through over and over. If you were lucky enough to be able to load up the 128k version of the game, you’d be treated to a sweet chiptune track every time you hit a new level!

Jet Set Willy II was a fiendishly difficult platformer that I just couldn’t stop going back to. Collecting various items while avoiding the fever ream type enemies was a crazy experience. I was terrible at it and I never finished the game, but I had to keep giving it one more try just in case!

Saboteur! was a great side-scrolling action game that I played through multiple times. The overall mission was to steal a disc, plant a bomb and escape via chopper before everything goes boom. All the while fighting guards and avoiding attack dogs. You could also adjust the difficulty which would put up walls and make you have to find a different route to your goal. Plus the timer would speed up, so that was fun! It really was fun.

Sony Playstation 1
The PS1 was the true demonstration of 3-D becoming a thing. Everyone was trying it with wildly varying degrees of success. One game really stood out for me precisely because it wasn’t 3-D. Suikoden was an RPG that was still leaning into the sprite based graphics and looking to hook players with substance over style. It worked. With a massive 108 characters to recruit, an incredible story and three different styles of combat, I was completely hooked. I loved it and played it repeatedly. It was an ever present save block on my memory card and I can’t wait for the release of the remaster.

Then there is Final Fantasy VIII which is my favourite game ever! The story, the characters, the graphics, the music (oh that music!) and the cutscenes. Final Fantasy VIII is an example of all of the elements of game making coming together at the right time. What starts with a young man becoming part of a mercenary group known as SEED in Balamb Garden escalates very quickly into the betrayal of a classmate, an all-powerful enemy known as The Sorceress, the introduction of a love interest, a rebel group looking to stick it to the man, finding out that you need to use a particular ability sparingly because of a very serious consequence and of course, time travel. Somehow though, it manages to stay pretty coherent throughout and gives you one of the greatest gaming masterpieces that you will ever experience.

Resident Evil is the game that started the whole Survival Horror genre. I could stop right there, but I won’t. This is a game that is both creepy and terrifying as it should be. It’s one of the great horror games ever. Your character has limited ammo, limited inventory space, limited options to save the game and has to solve puzzles while being attacked by absolutely nightmarish creatures. It’s also unintentionally hilarious at times. There is so much ham acting in the voiced dialogue and FMV sequences, you could fill several pig farms! Cue the ‘Jill Sandwich’ memes. Still an amazing game though.

Sega Mega Drive
Welcome back to the 16-bit era. This time it’s Sega’s Mega Drive. Initially starting with only a three button controller, it soon had to double that once the SNES made an appearance. I loved both consoles as they each had a different library of great games on offer. I’ve never been a fan of either Nintendo’s or Sega’s mascots, so you’ll never see Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario or Legend of Zelda titles on my favourites lists.

What you will see is Road Rash! A motorbike racing game with combat. You start in fifteenth for every race and you need to place in the top three to clear that track. You earn money to purchase better bikes and stay competitive with the other racers. You can punch, kick or hit them with a club if you’ve stolen it from other racers. You’ve also got invincible cops, traffic and randomly parked livestock to contend with. Also, the soundtrack rocked! That is all.

Following on from the beat’em’up goodness I spoke of with the Spectrum, Streets of Rage 2 was the Mega Drive offering that I couldn’t stop playing and still can’t even to this day. With easy to pick up controls, extra moves and some beefed up graphics, along with a couple of brand new characters and a mission to rescue Adam from Mr X, this was a huge upgrade from the first Streets of Rage outing.

Then there was the Sci-Fi classic known as Starflight. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find out why stars are going nova from east to west on the galactic map. Simple enough. Just train various species to operate all the areas of your ship that need operating, buy the hardware and kit out your planet roaming vehicle. Unfortunately, you have to fund it all yourself, so a lot of mining needs to be done. There’s some grind involved, but it’s still an absolute blast to play!

Atari 2600
The first console we had in our household. The games were simple, colourful and fun. As a child, it was a magical machine. As an adult, I think I appreciate it even more. The limitations of the technology at that time were such that developers had to consider every little detail that went into making games for it!

Centipede was a single screen vertical shooter just like Space Invaders except you control an Elf that shoots arrows at the titular centipede. At least that what it shows on the game’s cover art. What you actually see is a rectangular block shooting lines at a collection of segmented circles! This is what I’m referring to in terms of the 2600’s limitations. however, because effort was put into all areas of the game, the simplistic, blocky graphics didn’t make the game any less fun to play!

Then there was Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle in which you would take control of the Millennium Falcon and attempt to blow up the still under construction Death Star. All while taking down Tie Fighters, Imperial Shuttlecraft and trying to avoid the Super Laser.

Finally you have Video Pinball. Yes, it’s that simple. A pixel sized ‘ball’ which you would keep in play for as long as possible using the flippers at the bottom to direct the ball at the bumpers and other point collectors. It was colourful. It was fun. I loved it. It was everything a games console should have been at the time.

Tell me about your favourite gaming machines. What did you grow up with? What are you playing now? Let me know in the comments or on social media!