How would you rank the 3D eras of gaming?

[NightmareFarm]

IMO: 

7th gen > 9th gen > 8th gen > 6th gen > 5th gen

I have 7th gen at the top almost exclusively because the quantity of great games that came out during it. This era was the peak of hack n slash which is my favourite genre. The UI also looks pretty cool and at the time it felt revolutionary and fresh whereas the succeeding gens just felt like the same thing but with slight tweaks. 

9th gen next. Whilst it isn't neccessary revolutionary, the enhancements such as haptics, 3D audio and 60fps greatly enrich the gaming experience.

8th gen next. The only improvement is just slightly better graphics and power. They ruined the UI by making it all bland and unintuitive, the fan is really loud and console crashes and freezes a lot. The game selection is also quite mediocre. There are way too many souls games and interactive movie games.

6th and 5th are lower because online was still primitive and rare in gaming. There is no proper online infrastructure, SD resolution, lack of wireless controllers, no virutal store or digital game downloads, etc. I am nostalgic for it and various great games came out during this timeframe but objectively speaking, they have aged quite a lot in the past decade or two and I don't want to let my nostalgia bias cloud my judgement. 

Edited August 6, 2022 by NightmareFarm

[Kane99]

If we're going by graphics, then I'd say newer is better. But if you're referring to the best generations in terms of games. I'd probably say:

6th gen, 5th gen, 7th gen, then 8th gen. 

I havent had time with the 9th gen of consoles yet. 

I selected things the way I did based on nostalgia and for the love of the games I enjoyed. 6th gen was with the PS2 era, and that's where I really went into gaming growing up. 

 

[Scorpion]

I’d rank them as follows: 1) PS1/N64 era for innovation, 2) PS2/Xbox for refinement, 3) current gen for realism and immersion.