(I'll be keeping this on my main page, as it's in full color.)

Hoo hoo, now THAT’S a good question! So good, in fact, that it’s hard to pick a favorite, so I’ve picked several. In no particular order…

1. Game Boy Advance. There had been several past attempts at upscale handhelds, but the Game Boy Advance was the first device to truly bring the portable video game system into the 21st century. Its vivid color, sharp resolution, and hardware scaling frequently drew comparisons to the Super NES, but that’s an underestimation of this pocket powerhouse, which could also handle texture-mapped polygons and emulation. The first model of the Game Boy Advance was held back by an unlit screen, but Nintendo addressed this issue in a few years, ultimately perfecting the system with the tiny yet terrific Game Boy Micro (shown).

2. Sega Dreamcast. I often wonder how well this system would hold up now, but in 2000, the Dreamcast was gaming for me. There were so many colorful, creative, and endlessly entertaining titles on the system that it’s hard to believe it was only supported for two years. Well, until you remember that it was released by the notoriously fickle Sega… then it makes a lot more sense.

3. Nintendo Entertainment System. I was born at just the right age to experience both the Atari and Nintendo eras of gaming as a child, but I was most fond of the latter. Nintendo brought depth and a sense of adventure to gaming, which was largely lacking from the experience when Atari was calling the shots. The graphics and sound were also much improved from what the humble Atari 2600 could offer, and only got better over time, hitting a crescendo with Super Spy Hunter and Kirby’s Adventure.

4. Nintendo 3DS. I’ve only had this one for about a month, but it’s already impressing me more than the previous two DS systems. The near Xbox 360-quality visuals in Super Street Fighter IV are a big step up from the grungy, low-resolution polygons of ordinary DS games, and the 3D effect (while by no means a system seller) is the icing on the cake. I’m in love with Super Street Fighter IV, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

5. Sega Saturn. I’ve got a soft spot for this one, playing it almost exclusively for two straight years. While the system’s polygonal graphics has aged like fine bread after nearly twenty years (Panzer Dragoon Saga, for all its qualities, looks god awful by 2013 standards. Or 2003 standards), the Saturn offered an unparalleled arcade experience in 1997, when the Playstation was forcing big-breasted crypt crashers and other quickly forgotten trends down players’ throats. It was definitely the counterculture game console of its time; the perfect plaything for hipsters.

6. Playstation 2. I didn’t want to like this one… after all, it killed the Dreamcast without batting an eye, then subjected players to an endless assault of Grand Theft Auto games and clones. However, once the Playstation 2 got all that violent sandbox nonsense out of its system, it started serving up a lot of can’t-miss gaming experiences. Whose life could be complete without Katamari Damacy, or Gradius V, or Okami, or Urban Reign? (Aw, what do the critics know?)

I put a little more work into this one than most of my asks. Don’t get used to that!