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CARTRIDGE CONSOLES: What can I say about the NES? Obviously, it was the 900-pound gorilla of its era -- lots of great games, lots of real stinkers. Some authentic ports of old-school classics, some "modernizations" that were wincingly bad (I'm looking at YOU, NES Gyruss). Anyone who can't find five games worth playing on the NES isn't trying, though they may have to wade through some crap to find them. The Sega Master System tried to compete and failed, though it did spawn one of the first great console RPGs (Phantasy Star).

I've never been sold on either the Genesis or the SNES. Too many platformers, too many repetitive games, too much shovelware. There were gems for both systems, of course (FF2-3, Ogre Battle, Mario Kart, perhaps Tetris Attack for the SNES, Herzog Zwie, the Thunder Force series, and the Sonics for the Genny), but I've played both systems combined less than I have, say, my Jaguar or my 3DO. There were fun games to be found, but the Japanese titles (most of which never found their way here) were often far more interesting than what I see today clogging flea-market bargain bins.

The TurboGrafx (and its Japanese version, the PC-Engine) was the most underrated system ever, IMHO. Fabulous power, great games, easy compatibility with Japanese titles, ports that were often better than the SNES/Genesis versions, some of the best shoot-em-ups ever (Blazing Lazers comes to mind), and a CD-ROM attachment to come. PLUS you could play your games on the road with the Express. Other than the price tag, what wasn't to like?

And the Jaguar... well, let's just say that there are exactly four (4) games worth having for the Jag. Tempest 2000, Rayman, Defender 2000, and Aliens vs. Predator. AvP looks horribly dated today, as it has the framerate of a flip-book. However, the first three will RULE YOUR WORLD -- some of the best games ever created. (The Jaguar CD is best left as a curiosity.)

I'll cover the N64 in the next section, despite its lack of CD-ROM capabilities...

THE CD-ROM ERA: ...because its specs once included a CD-ROM unit, to be designed by Sony. When that fell through, Sony designed their own CD-ROM console, and the rest was history...

But the Sega CD and 3DO did come first. The former had zero going for it other than Working Designs RPGs, particularly the Lunar series (now available on PSX). The latter had a handful of titles that were wonderful in their day (the original Need For Speed, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Samurai Shodown, PO'ed, Out Of This World, Shanghai, Battlesport, Gex, Alone in the Dark).

The TurboCD (also sold as a standalone TurboDuo console) remains one of my favorites, even if some of its games are dated today. Great games, very easy Japan compatibility, and the best Castlevania game EVER (Dracula X: The Rondo of Blood).

And then came Sony. It took me a while to warm up to the PSX, but once a bunch of worthy imports started trickling in (and even more so when I modded my system to play imports that WEREN'T brought to the States), I wore it out to the point where I had to replace the CD-ROM drive. The game library is huge and varied, and there's really no reason not to own one. Whatever your tastes, games of that type exist therein.

The N64, on the other hand, is wonderful as long as you're between the ages of eight and sixteen. I was not. To this day, it and the Atari Lynx are the only major mass-marketed game systems I haven't bought between the 2600 and the PS2, because there's simply nothing I want to play on it that badly. (The Lynx is more of an oversight on my part, and that I can't find the carts for it cheaply.)

The Saturn was badly underrated. It had a lot of quirky games nothing like what the other systems were offering (NiGHTS, the Panzer Dragoon series, Burning Rangers, Guardian Heroes), it had Sega's flagship titles (VF2, Virtua Cop, Fighters Megamix, Daytona, Sega Rally, Virtual On), it had easy Japanese compatibility, and it had major multitaps (six-player Fire Pro Wrestling S! Ten-player Bomberman!). Plus LOTS of awesome imports like Fire Pro S, Soukyugurentai, Cotton 2, Chatting Parodius and Bubble Symphony...

The Saturn failed to kill the PSX, so Bernie Stolar pulled the plug on it in the US in favor of the Dreamcast. Again, an underrated console, for many of the same reasons -- Fire Pro D on it remains my favorite wrestling game for realism AND fun, Soul Calibur and the NFL2K series are jaw-dropping, VF3 is there, Crazy Taxi is flat-out fun... but the game library was lacking for a while and by the time it started catching up, the PS2 had arrived and the DC was dead in the water.

I picked up the PS2 this Christmas -- again, I was waiting for second-generation titles that interested me. Grand Theft Auto 3 is certainly that; I have no memory of anything that happened in the month of January, apart from missions and carjackings and blowing up ice-cream trucks with rocket launchers for the sheer malicious glee of it. This is my favorite game of the entire CD-ROM era, one of the best of all time -- it's deep and playable on so many levels, whether you're playing it with a purpose or just screwing around. My wife's been having fun with Fatal Frame (think Resident Evil with cameras), Virtua Fighter 4 is tremendous and a major upgrade to the series, Devil May Cry is flashy... the library has plenty of weak spots, but the good games (like GTA3) far outweigh the negatives.

The XBox bores me so far, as does the Gamecube. Not necessarily bad consoles, but there's nothing yet for either that excites me. Maybe next year.

So, what did I miss?