Nintendo Consoles Tierlist

[DarthGohan1]

Curious to see how you would rank every Nintendo console & handheld all time, make your tier ranking and post it here.

https://tiermaker.com/create/nintendo-consoles-and-handhelds-47951

My tier ranking... some tough decisions, but I couldn't put everything at S-tier

 

[Red Cat]

S: I put the Switch here because it's the most advanced system and the N64 because of its timeless classic games like SM64 and OoT.

A: The Wii's motion controllers were a fun gimmick and the Super Nintendo had some really good games for its time.

B: 3DS is a solid handheld with a decent collection of games. GC had some great games including Melee and the first AC game in North America, but the shape was awkward.

C: I put most of the handhelds here because they are all mostly outclassed by the 3DS. I've never owned an NES, but most of its games seem primitive without having the same nostalgia factor as SNES or N64 games.

D: I never got a Wii U, but that's because it was widely considered a flop. I don't really know much about VB, but obscure usually isn't a good thing.

 

[Dwayne Johnson]

i always felt like the wii u was underrated

 

[Bui]

It's actually surprisingly difficult to place Nintendo systems into any sort of tier system, at least to me, but after a ton of thinking here is what I was able to come up with. Every system in the first tier is special in its own way, and all of them have an incredible library, even the lesser selling ones like the Wii U. I believe each system can hold up to the others. The system in the last tier is the one big exception. The Virtual Boy just didn't work out at all, between all the playability issues (namely the headaches from playing more than a couple minutes and that dark red screen) and the lackluster library. Virtual Boy Wario Land, however, was actually pretty well done, if a little short, and I wish they had released it on the 3DS Virtual Console. However, that game is really the only redeeming factor for the system.

 

[mirukushake]

I just... really like handhelds, and N64 is up there for nostalgia reasons. Wii U and VB are in D only because I never played them.

 

[Neb]

I used to really like the Wii U, but now that most of the major games have been ported over I don't have a reason to go back to it.

 

[dragonair]

I hate the Wii.

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

I ranked them mostly on their software. The games on the DS and GCN are probably some of my favorite.

I absolutely despise the Wii U and thought the 3DS was pretty trash (with a few game exceptions, like NL). But the whole 3D feature didn’t really appeal to me, and I severely regretted buying a 3DS on day 1.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

• S Tier: consoles that defined my childhood and I still love dearly to this day. tbh I came suuuuper close to putting the gamecube in the S tier but I haven't played many games on it (I've spent like 95% of my gamecube time playing Animal Crossing and MKDD).
• A Tier: consoles that I really love but there's something slightly off about them that makes them not S tier. if they bring themes to the Switch (like the 3DS themes) it might bump up to S tier.
• B Tier: consoles that I enjoy but the limited hardware makes them slightly dated. the games I have played are fantastic though, like Link's Awakening and NSMB.
• C Tier: they're okay but not great. I put the Virtual Boy here cause, as much as I want to hate it, I don't dislike it. it's a really interesting novelty item. i would love to own one someday.
• D Tier: I was so disappointed with the Wii U as a kid because I expected it to be a portable Wii. instead it's a console with limited games and a clunky controller. it's such a hassle to deal with and it left a bad taste in my mouth. the only Wii U game I genuinely enjoyed was Super Mario 3D World.
• Untiered: I have never played any GBC games so idk where this would fall on the tier list. I assume in the same spot as the OG gameboy.

 

[Tao]

My reasoning here is mostly down to their entire available library's, a bit of subjectivity into which libraries I prefer (or A and S tier would both just be S tier as they all have backwards compatibility aside from the Switch).

The Switch has a phenomenal library with some absolutely brilliant first party releases (some of their best, IMO), a huge amount of quality third party support not really seen on their home consoles since the SNES (the Wii did have quantity I suppose...) as well as a lot of other quality games brought to us through ports, remakes and remasters. Take into consideration the NES, SNES, SNES and Megadrive games available on subscription and honestly, I don't like the Switch as a console, but its library is the best IMO.

Meanwhile the Game Boy and Gameboy Colour are at the bottom not because their libraries are poo poo, but because I can play them on later and better hardware. Would I rather play Game Boy Donkey Kong on the original Game Boy, or the much better GBA SP with a backlit screen so I can actually see the game? Gamecube similarly is entirely playable on the Wii which whilst that doesn't provide any hardware advantage, it means you can own one console for two libraries of games.

N64, SNES and NES have never had their games available via true backwards compatibility on future hardware...But a lot of their titles (especially first party) have been available to repurchase on future hardware. The SNES for example is possibly my favorite library of Nintendo console games, but a good chunk of the best games are available for me to play elsewhere such as the Virtual Console or Megaman/Contra/Castlevania collection. The release of the N64 on Switch subscription also takes away the exclusivity of most of the N64's best games because, at least in my opinion, the N64 only had a small amount of really good games in the first place...And most of those are on Switch now or confirmed to be on the way.

Virtual Boy will remain at the bottom because I have never and have no desire to ever play this piece of crap.

Now, if we take things like emulation into account, my Wii U will play almost anything prior to that console as long as I have the ROM for it. If we're talking solely the console specific libraries, I would be happy to be stuck with the SNES for life.

 

[Etown20]

I'm always interested in what Nintendo is doing and have owned 8 of these consoles over the years, but I think there's generally room for improvement in their third party libraries and hardware power.

 

[Neurotiker]

Wii is King

 

[DarkDesertFox]

This was kind of tough for me because one thing to consider with consoles like the Wii and Wii U was the backwards compatibility with past titles. I would put the Wii above the Gamecube since it can play Gamecube games anyways, but I ran into a corrupted memory card multiple times from using the Wii to play Gamecube games. The Wii U can also play Wii games which is great, but it ranks lower than the Wii mainly because of the Gamepad. The Gamepad was a TERRIBLE decision and I've ranted about it before on here. You're forced to use it for so many games, it's always on wasting battery, if it breaks it's expensive to buy a replacement that might even be used, so on and so forth. The Switch deserves the number 1 spot because of so many things. Being able to play it in handheld or on TV, lots of great exclusive titles, online (while still far from perfect) is better than any of the previous consoles, and it still incorporates motion controls for games really well. If we were including Homebrew though, I would straight up put the Wii U in S tier. It's like the all in one console for Wii, Wii U, Gamecube, N64, etc. when it's Homebrewed. I use it all the time to play Gamecube games on it.

 

[DarthGohan1]

View attachment 407963
I hate the Wii.

Wii below Virtual Boy? What did the Wii do to you?

Overreacting a wii bit much?

 

[dragonair]

Wii below Virtual Boy? What did the Wii do to you?

Overreacting a wii bit much?

I never tried the Virtual Boy but I appreciate the concept so I gave it an average rating. I will never appreciate the concept of the Wii. :^)

(Yes, probably a bit overdramatic but I seriously hate the Wii lmao.)

 

[Regalli]

S: The Gamecube is finally getting a reassessment of its library, which is great because its hits truly are stellar. Also, I like the lunchbox shape, fight me. The GBA’s in the same boat, though I definitely rate the SP above the original Digivice model. Fantastic games. Rounding it out, the Switch’s portable/docked setup is amazing, especially as someone who prefers to play handheld whenever possible. The Wii U tripped and fell off a cliff so the Switch could fly.

A: I’m gonna call this tier ‘my handheld bias is showing.’ DS and 3DS take top slots. The 3DS never found enough games to take full advantage of the gimmick, but honestly, it didn’t have to. Souping up the DS (which developers DID eventually figure out how to use as more than a gimmick) was plenty, and it did get a solid library in its run. One of the best things about these two is just how dang CONVENIENT an extra screen to store other information can be, even if you aren’t utilizing the console gimmicks as well as The World Ends With You. (I’m not sure even NINTENDO has ever utilized its own gimmicks as thoroughly and successfully as TWEWY. DS TWEWY is an experience that cannot be replicated.) And since I’m an RPG person, even if I was too young for it, my respects must be paid to the SNES. I don’t need to justify that one further.

A: Three consoles I am too young for but respect only marginally less than the SNES - Original flavor Gameboy, NES, N64 - and the GBC, which was my first but I caught up late enough that I don’t have as strong feelings for it as others. Still, all very solid systems with rightfully iconic libraries.

B: It feels wrong to rank the Wii this low, but honestly, its library was… shaky, and I am not a fan of forced motion controls. But its highs were excellent, and even some of its weirder, softer hit titles were great. (Says the person who ranks Endless Ocean: Blue World on her shortlist of favorite games ever.) Also… and I freely acknowledge this is a controversial opinion… The Wii U wasn’t that bad, guys. It was weird, poorly named, and poorly marketed, but it was actually a good console with the bones of the idea that would become the Switch’s best feature. There’s a reason why every single noteworthy game of it’s being ported to the Switch - those games were GOOD, and worth putting on a system people actually bought. Also, its Virtual Console library is surprisingly thorough apart from the apparently-not-even-Nintendo-can-emulate-it-well Gamecube. It has STYLE SAVVY on it. What even.

C: I may own a New Nintendo 3DS as my current 3DS family model, but this one was just bad. Horrible name. Few games of note using the tech upgrade, and none of them are really killer apps. Seriously, I cannot stress this enough, HORRIBLE name. (Also in this tier of mid-gen upgrade shame: Anyone else remember the Gameboy Micro? The DSi? Gee, those sure were things that briefly existed. I bring them up here, distinctly separate from their older siblings and their SUCCESSFUL mid-gen refreshes the GBA SP and DS Lite, just to remind people they existed.) But still better than…

Sit in the Corner And Think About What You’ve Done: The issues with the Virtual Boy really should have been evident before it got to production. It’s awkwardly shaped and awkward to hold. Its attempt at 3D meant it displayed things in eye-searing red and black. It gave people headaches. About its only saving grace is that a few of its games (Wario Land, that 3D Tetris game was apparently pretty interesting and it still runs better than the CD-i’s Tetris port) had genuine potential. Unfortunately, they were displayed in, again, eye-searing red and black. This one’s a freebie, but seriously. The Wii U was a commercial failure that COULD have been successful under better circumstances. Nothing could save the 90s Nightmare VR. They could salvage the personal 3D concept 15 years down the line with better tech, but that’s the best you can do.

 

[DinosaurDumpster]

Okay um... hear me out

S: AMAZING Library of games. Each time I play Pokemon, Mario, or even jokingly We Cheer 2, I have so much fun and I can see all of the thought and effort put into each game. So many special memories of pulling the GameCube controller so hard during a Mario Party 4 minigame the Wii fell into the trashcan next to the TV stand. Even the home menus were interesting.
A: I love the 3DS, but... it has some flaws. Streetpass and Spotpass were fun back in the day, but it's such a shame that they were short-lived since the console started to die out. Sure, Nintendo Wi-Fi connection was killed off so we can't properly play Wii/DS multiplayer online anymore, but exploits exist so we can all have a good time line its 2008 all over again. (I know they're both kinda unrelated, but I still make my point).
B: I love the Wii U. It's definitely not as bad as people made it seem. Some of my favorite games came from this console, like Wind Waker HD and Splatoon. But... that's it. Never really played any other games, except Nintendo Land in 2014 at 3am for new years :/
C: I haven't really touched these too much. They consoles have fun games, but my experiences with them don't even compare to the higher tiers above them.
D: okay... listen. The Switch is SO much worse than everyone makes it seem. The massive library only has less than a handful of games I actually like. Don't get me wrong, I've crammed hundreds of hours into this thing and I have good experiences with them. But... the whole thing is just a cash grab. 20 dollars a year for crummy online (more if you have families and the expansion, i am one of those unlucky people), joy con drift, etc...
I haven't truly had fun since Splatoon 2 was still alive and amazing 3 years ago. Today it just isn't worth it. I just get bored way too easy now. It's just a matter of completing a game, then waiting for it to die off before picking up a new one a few years later.

Also, just to mention, I do love the GBA from what I've played (and watched on the playground, lol thanks GBA Vid). It just wasn't enough experience for me to rank it.

 

[Wiimfiuser]

The Switch is my outright best console atm yes, but the DS/3DS just clicks. Homebrew. The games. TWEWY. Ten Second Run. GBA compatibility. Virtual console. I can't not love the 3DS/DS.

Also the wii u was actually good deal with it dude

 

[skarmoury]

I'm too lazy to make a tier list LOL and I don't own half of the consoles there so I can't make the best opnion haha. But anyway, most of my opinion is formed on utility of the consoles over the games, since I also couldn't afford a lot of games haha.

I would definitely rate DS an S-tier because I think dual-screen with one side being a touch screen was revolutionary for 10-year-old me. The Pokemon Ranger series was definitely one of the best games in Pokemon for me, and it ulitized the touch screen mechanics a lot that made it fun. Cooking Mama was also very fun with touch screen. It just made me more absorbed in the game, if that makes sense.

3DS is a slight step-down for me but still A-tier because I have Touch Screen bias. I feel the 3D aspect of the console was kinda wasted, and I got the console only to play selected games and not because I wanted to see things in 3D. It was cool for a while, but 90% of my time spent on my 3DS was with the 3D function turned off.

I'm really neutral to the other handheld consoles (Switch, Gameboy) because they genuinely feel the same as playing on a PSP. Same goes for the games with a controller (like Gamecube), I don't have a gamecube, but I did play Xbox and PS2 and I definitely wouldn't buy these controller consoles solely because of.... the console. I don't know who came up first with the idea of a controller, but it's definitely been a rehashed idea over the decades.

Wii and WiiU I feel are underrated. Their consoles are definitely gimicky and if I wasn't so stuck in my DS/3DS era I would've definitely asked to buy maybe a Wii haha. Idk what majority of the Wii/WiiU games are, but I remember in high school during school fairs there would be at least one Just Dance booth and everyone would flock towards that booth. I remember waiting an hour in line with my friends so we could get on the Wii and play Just Dance together. You wouldn't believe how much everyone paid just to get on the Wii and dance stupidly. It was so much fun.

I don't know much about the Virtual Boy to give an opinion, but I rarely hear about it so I'm assuming it's bad LOL.

 

[Miss Misty]

S: The Gamecube and the N64 were basically my childhood. The GCN edged out the N64 for me because I liked the GCN's controller better and it had a way better library of games. But honestly they were both awesome consoles. 10/10

A: The original Wii was pretty fun and interesting. It was fun getting to play video games with people I otherwise wouldn't have like my grandparents and aunts and uncles. The Switch is okay, but like others have said I knocked points off for the joycons being cheap and for the paid online (I realize it's industry standard, but like the rest of the industry provides dedicated servers rather than p2p, and Nintendo had dedicated servers before they started charging so ??? ) I didn't wanna knock it too hard though, since it does have a pretty decent library and they're doing a lot of neat things with their in-house properties like Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, AC, etc... with the Switch. GBA is A-tier because of the short-lived GBA SP. The backlight was honestly game-changing (pun not intended) - finally I could play video games under the covers at night like God intended. The GBA also had a really robust selection of games across a lot of genres.

B: SNES is here because while the games were good, I never actually owned one and only played the games on Virtual Consoles and such, so I can't really speak to it in terms of how it actually handled playing the games. Like others, I kinda lumped the gameboys together because like I mostly ended up playing them on the GBA anyway. I never owned a DS, and it took me a long time to get a 3DS because it was expensive for a long time. I ended up not even really liking a lot of the 3DS titles and I feel like they oversold the 3D feature.

C: The NES was ground-breaking, but a lot of the NES games aged poorer than their SNES counterparts. (Like Zelda 1 and Metroid are great, but LttP and Super Metroid are iconic) As for the Virtual Boy, yeah it sucked, but it was cool they were at least trying to get VR gaming off the ground like 20 years before the Oculus came around.

D: It feels like a meme to have it this low esp since I never played it, but a while ago out of curiosity, I looked at the Metacritic list of best Wii U games. Almost all of the highest-rated games were cross-compatible with contemporary consoles of the Wii U. It just kinda got shafted in terms of the normal Nintendo-exclusives bump that their other consoles got. Like, if you got a Wii U at release, you could play good games on it, but there were very few games that would make you go out and buy a Wii U.