| Description: | From the original Zelda games on the NES to GoldenEye 007 on the N64 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PS2, we take a look at the consoles of choice for retro gamers across America. Released in 2001, the Game Boy Advance (GBA) was touted as the natural successor to the Game Boy and the Game Boy Colour. It's hard to believe that it was released after the Playstation 2, which we'll take a closer look at in a minute.
Selling over 80 million units in its lifetime, the Game Boy Advance was eventually succeeded by the Nintendo DS. The DS is backwards compatible with GBA titles and that may be another reason for the device's enduring popularity. It's also the only handheld video games console on the list.
You never forget the first time you completed Super Mario Bros. You never forget the first time you held the iconic Playstation 1 controllers. And you never forget when the best way to troubleshoot a game was to blow the cartridge.
Times have changed and new consoles have come and gone, but there's still something to be said about those iconic gaming systems that we were raised on. Their games have a unique charm that no amount of fancy graphics can make up for, which is why we turn to emulators and why original NES games still in their boxes go for thousands of dollars on eBay.
The infographic below shows the most popular retro consoles by state based on the number of games, controllers, and systems sold in each state from 1999 to 2019. More than 2.5 million retro games in all. What can we say about the Playstation 2 that hasn't been said elsewhere? There's a reason for the enduring popularity of the system. The quality and quantity of games, the pure strength of the system from a technical point of view and the fact that it's so sleek and aesthetically pleasing.
The Playstation 2 was introduced back in 2000 and holds the distinction of being the highest selling games console of all time, with over 155 million sales of the console and 1.5 billion sales of its 3800+ video games. It also had a 12-year lifespan, with production not stopping until January 2013, seven years after the introduction of the Playstation 3. Perhaps it's no wonder that it ended up at the top of our list. |
