I'd have to go with the wood grain Atari 2600, I'm a sucker for 70's designed electronics.
It just looks so sleek. For me, it was the future of gaming.
this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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while not necessarily the prettiest console by any means but i always thought the Og xbox home menu went way harder than it needed to, now that's presentation!
Damn, wood. Or wood-looking material at least.
The Mega Drive is the best looking retro console, I mean look at it
This one looks a little naked. Needs more "High Definition Graphics" or whatever it says
Best looking and best name.
Vectrex, hands-down.
Original sony playstation. I don't know why, i just love it
I'm a fan of how ENIAC really used the space
If we're also talking old computers then it's hard to beat the Cray-1
The 2600 depicted in the article thumbnail, was absolutely a beauty in its native environment of the late 1970's:
Humm, for PCs I’d have to say iMac
For game consoles it’s a hard debate between the GameBoy Pocket or the GameBoy Micro. One is the essence of a GameBoy shrunken down to a power efficent and usable design. While the other is the smallest you can make a console while still having it usable.
I still have that GBA micro laying around somewhere. An ex GF stole my reloadable cartridge though. :(
Mine has a black face plate.
Apparently, the Micro was the last Game Boy product that Nintendo made.
Very elegant.
I would say the cutoff is Game Boy Advance SP and Micro is a poseur, because Micro can't play original Game Boy or Color games. If one is counting GBA, then the DS and DS Lite could still play those.
I would choose the Super Famicom. It just looks so sleek. I don't know why they changed it with the SNES, it looks ugly.
PC Engine. Not only does it look like a prop from the set of TNG, but it is delightfully tiny. The cartridges are little cards that you slot in the front. There is literally nothing bad about a PC Engine. (Except for maybe that it's only got one controller port)
The PC Engine/Turbagragix 16 also had a handheld (PC Engine GT/TurboExpress) that was way ahead of its time. It had the same power as the home console, was color, had a backlit display, and even had a TV tuner attachment. And it was released in 1990. The Sega Nomad basically copied these features in 1995, and Nintendo didn't have a colored, backlit handheld until 1998.
I loved mine.
+1.
Also it can be turned into a coolest spaceship, with its CDRom attachment, a very first in 1988!
Also the HuCard format for its games is unbeatable!
Speaking of spaceships...
Not the most practical PC engine model, because it lacked the extra oomph of the SuperGrafx and you couldn't attach a CD-ROM² - but just look at it
Is PS Vita a retro console? If so that.
I'd say PSP is, but Vita isn't. DS is, but 3DS isn't.
To me, no. PS2 is a retro console, but PS3 (Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., Crysis 2) is not. I mean, look at those games' graphics, they look FENOMENAL.
I've still got mine, and it still works great! I sold my PSP to get a used one about a month from launch, and I've kept it ever since. It's a great console, if only there were more games for it.
I modded mine. Once modded it can emulate most gba, gbc, psp or ps1 games (and more). The full extended library is pretty big once emulation comes into play.
I've seen people doing that, I should look into doing it sometime. I mostly use the Steam Deck for handheld emulation, but it can't hurt to have more options!
It came out in 2011/2012, I wouldn't classify that as retro
The 2600 was retro and quaint by 1990.
The Sega Saturn, especially the Japan version: 
Although I never owned this model myself, I recently picked up an 8bitdo replica (M30 bluetooth) of the Japan controller and it looks and feels great, although not strictly a direct copy of the original.
The Dreamcast is up there too imo!
I ended up getting a Japanese Model 1 years ago, but I always wanted the Model 2.
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Why does there have to be just one? So many consoles are awesomely designed and reflect their eras well. I’m partial to colecovision and the Intellivision II. The redesign of the intellivision had an entire suite of peripherals to match the new design, including a musical keyboard.
Nintendo's GameCube. It's cubical. Cubical!
the atari 2600 looks like it could take you back to the future with enough jigawatts
I got my start with atari 2600 but I think the GameCube was the best looking in both form and function. Best looking computer is an IBM Aptiva S 
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