What is the best video game console ever made? How do you even determine a thing like that? Like a lot of these retro-inspired pieces be it video games, or cartoons, nostalgia plays a big role in the discussion. For example, the Super Nintendo might be my favorite system for a number of reasons. First of all it was the first console I could truly call my own. I remember coming home from Kindergarten and opening up my package with it inside on my birthday. Even at age five I knew this was a big deal. I played Super Mario World all day and by that point, all day was probably like 7, or 8. It also just has some of the best games ever made on the system like the aforementioned Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy VI, and so on.

Other days of the week I may cite the PS2 as my favorite. It was the first console I bought with my own money and saving up felt great. It was even better when I reached my goal only to find out the PS2 just dropped $100 so I was able to buy two games with it. Nostalgia aside, every console has its merits. So in order to break this down in the best, least biased way possible; I decided to rank these twenty-five consoles by their sales numbers. The results may surprise you. Let’s begin the console wars!

25 Sega Dreamcast (9.13 Million)

The Sega Dreamcast has one of the shortest lifespans in video game history. Not the shortest mind you, but pretty bad. Anyway, it launched on November 27, 1998, in Japan and just a year later for the West. It was discontinued worldwide on March 31, 2001, which means it was active less than three years! That’s awful, but it explains why it sold so few. It was simply released ahead of its time, but by the time the PS2 released, it didn’t have a chance.

24 Sega Saturn (9.26 Million)

Our second lowest console is also from Sega. The Sega Saturn launched on November 22, 1994, in Japan and a year later in the West. It at least had a better lifespan, as it wasn’t discontinued until 2000 at the latest point. That said, six years and just over nine million consoles is pretty laughable at least compared to the Dreamcast, which scored that many sales in about half the time. Put simply, Sega rushed this thing to market, causing its failure.

23 Sega Game Gear (10.62 Million)

Oh wow, would you look at that? It’s another Sega console. The Sega Game Gear launched on October 6, 1990, in Japan and a year later in the West. Crazily enough it was discontinued in 1997 in Japan, but not until 2001 for the West.

I guess we liked it more than Japan since we gave it another four years despite the lack of new games. That said being supported for eleven years and not even getting something comparable to a million a year is pretty embarrassing.

22 Sega Master System (13 Million)

The Sega Master System launched on October 20, 1985, in Japan and a year later in the West. The numbers are at dispute with this one suggesting somewhere in the realm of 10 and 13 million. For the purposes of this article, I’ll go with 13 million. Why? The console is still huge in Brazil. I’m not kidding. They love that thing and consoles and games still sell! It’s not like Brazil doesn’t have access to newer consoles like the PS4. Citizens just adore this thing!

21 Wii U (13.56 Million)

We’re thankfully out of the Sega hole and can now make fun of Nintendo. Oh sorry, I mean report on Nintendo. Ahem, anyway the Wii U launched on November 18, 2012, in the West and pretty much everywhere else just a bit later in 2012 for that matter. Except for Brazil. I guess they had no need because of the Sega Master System. It was just discontinued last year. It wasn’t exactly the most stellar console, but its games were amazing as few there were.

20 PlayStation Vita (15 Million)

The PlayStation Vita launched on December 17, 2011, in Japan and a year later in The West. Apparently, no one can agree on the sales numbers. It’s supposed to be between 10 and 15 million.

It’s the little system that could. 

In 2017 Glixel reported that it sold 15 million on the high end, but there are other sites that say it was less than that. I’m going to choose to believe the high end as a PS Vita defender and because Glixel is a good source. The console is set to be discontinued in 2019.

19 Nintendo Switch (19.67 Million)

Our seventh console is also of this generation. The Nintendo Switch launched globally on March 3, 2017. So needless to say it has thankfully not been discontinued and its track record, as of now, should prove it to be one of the best selling consoles of all time as it continues to break records for Nintendo and the video game industry. Making a console, portable hybrid just makes sense and it’s amazing it took this long. There’s a reason why people chant “PIOTS” or “put it on the Switch!”

18 GameCube (21.74 Million)

The GameCube launched on September 14, 2001, in Japan and two months later in the West. In ran for a good six years before eventually shutting down production in 2007 worldwide. That’s pretty easy to understand why. I mean the Wii was basically two GameCubes stuck together. That’s the joke anyway. Seriously though the Wii, released in 2006, could play GameCube games so it just made sense to stop. It, like the Wii U, was mighty in games, but not in sales.

17 Xbox (24 Million)

The original Xbox, yes the real first one, launched on November 15, 2001, in the West and everywhere else in 2002. It stayed alive all the way up until 2009 surprisingly, which was already four years into the Xbox 360’s lifecycle.

Nobody liked the Duke…

As you can see by the sales, it just barely scraped past the GameCube’s numbers. Why did this and Nintendo’s counterpart sell so poorly? I think it’s pretty obvious at this point: the PS2.

16 Sega Genesis (30.75 Million)

The Sega Genesis did what Nintendon’t. That’s true if we’re talking about sales as in it had a weaker history than its rival, the Super Nintendo. Anyway, the console launched on October 29, 1988, in Japan and a year later in the West. It, like its predecessor the Sega Master System, was supported for a long time before ending its run in 1999. It may not have been my 16-bit console of choice, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have any good games.

15 Nintendo 64 (32.93 Million)

While the Super Nintendo may have trounced the Sega Genesis, it didn’t fall that far behind another Nintendo classic aka the Nintendo 64. If the numbers are to be believed there’s only like a 2 million unit difference. Now it launched on June 23, 1996, in Japan and a few months later in the West. It was discontinued globally in 2002, which sounds about right since the GameCube launched in 2001. Thanks to botched deals and exclusives going to Sony instead, like Final Fantasy VII, it truly was Nintendo’s first big mistake.

14 Xbox One (39.1 Million)

The Xbox One’s release still seems so recent to me, but it’s already been five years. The Xbox One launched on November 22, 2013, in the West. The sales include all revisions like the Xbox One S and the Xbox One X just as a clarification.

As you’ll see later on it is not as successful as its current counterpart, the PS4. It bungled in a lot of ways like its infrastructure that they hastily had to recalculate. Also, do you remember that it launched with a new Kinect? Talk about a bad call.

13 Super Nintendo (49.10 Million)

The Super Nintendo is one of my favorite consoles of all time if not my favorite. The sentiment is shared by many and for good reason. For such a well-regarded system I think these numbers seem low though. Anyway, the console launched in Japan on November 21, 1990 as the Super Famicom. It was renamed the Super Nintendo once it released a year later in the West. All regions would share the same name for Nintendo’s future consoles after this point. On another side note, it was discontinued in 2003 at the latest in Japan.

12 Nintendo Entertainment System (61.91 Million)

The Famicom launched on July 15, 1983, in Japan. Two years later it was renamed the Nintendo Entertainment System with quite a few revisions. The controllers were not hardwired to the console and there was no speaker in the controller as well. Here’s another crazy fact. The system was discontinued on the same day as the SNES in Japan on September 25, 2003. That’s twenty years after release! Needless to say, it was quite popular and was responsible for truly rebooting the video game industry after the crash with the Atari 2600 and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

11 Nintendo 3DS (72.89 Million)

The Nintendo 3DS launched on February 26, 2011, in Japan a month later in the West. It was almost a flop. Nintendo’s arrogance came off of the heels of two successful consoles aka the DS and the Wii. They initially sold it at $250 with a poor lineup of games.

Glasses-free 3D like it was meant to be.

Because of poor initial sales, this forced Nintendo to decrease the price to $180 that summer. Lucky owners before this time period even got some special Game Boy Advance games. Thanks to this quick strategy, it has since become successful.

10 Game Boy Advance (81.51 Million)

The Game Boy went through many revisions like the Game Boy Color, which was a minimal step up. The first true successor to the handheld giant was the Game Boy Advance, which launched on March 21, 2001, in Japan and a few months later in the West. If you remember, 2001 is also the year the GameCube released in Japan. If you also recall it sold only 21.74 million in the height of its life, but the GBA, with a similar span, sold quadruple that amount. That fact alone makes the GameCube look more disappointing than it was.

9 PlayStation Portable (82 Million)

The Game Boy Advance was successful, yes, but not as much as Sony’s first handheld aka the PlayStation Portable, or PSP. It launched on December 12, 2004, in Japan and a few months later into 2005 for the West. I know it’s regarded as a failure in the West, but it sold insanely well in Japan. One of the major reasons was the release of Monster Hunter Freedom. I cannot begin to describe the dedication to that series in Japan. Anyway, it was just discontinued in 2014.

8 PlayStation 4 (82.2 Million)

Like the Xbox One, it seems hard to believe the PS4 is five years old. It launched on November 15, 2013, in the West. This was a full week ahead of the Xbox One and sold at just $400, which was $100 cheaper. Is this why the PS4 was more successful?

This is the reverse of the last generation.

Well, those two factors were a major factor, but the Xbox One had a lot of other follies too. Here’s the big question. What will win between the Xbox Two and the PS5?

7 PlayStation 3 (83.8 Million)

It’s pretty clear that the PS4 “won” this generation of consoles, but the verdict was switched last generation with the Xbox 360 and PS3. The PS3 launched on November 11, 2006 in Japan and just a week later in the West. The year and price factored into why the system had such a slow start along with gaining must-have exclusives. Sony eventually turned things around wherein the two systems came close to each other by their ends. The PS3 was discontinued just last year.

6 Xbox 360 (84 Million)

Now as I hinted at earlier, the Xbox 360 was regarded as the winner last generation. The console launched on November 22, 2005, in the West. I usually only state either the Western release, or the Japanese one even though these consoles were made available elsewhere like Australia and Europe. Those are the two other big territories for most of these entries. That said the Xbox 360 was so successful as it was because it broke boundaries and launched in places where consoles normally didn’t tread. The console was discontinued two years ago worldwide in 2016.