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I'd have to go with the wood grain Atari 2600, I'm a sucker for 70's designed electronics.

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[-] Atomicbunnies@lemmy.dbzer0.com 63 points 1 week ago

I'm very partial to the IMSAI 8080!

[-] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

Incredible. This might be my new favorite.

[-] Atomicbunnies@lemmy.dbzer0.com 39 points 1 week ago

I built a replica one that a dude in Australia designed. Its really fun to mess with. I played Zork on it the day I finished it.

https://thehighnibble.com/imsai8080/

[-] marlowe221@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

That’s awesome. Very 1960s Star Trek, in a good way.

[-] Gerudo@lemm.ee 8 points 1 week ago

This scratches an itch I didn't know I had.

[-] ElcaineVolta@kbin.melroy.org 8 points 1 week ago

gorgeous, had never heard of this.

[-] B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 45 points 1 week ago

Game Boy Advance. Actually all 3 variants (GBA, SP & Micro) are beautiful consoles.

[-] DmMacniel@feddit.org 7 points 1 week ago

Oh yeah right... the Gameboy advance can legally be considered as a retro console...

Good pick!

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[-] Danitos@reddthat.com 40 points 1 week ago

A photo of Nintendos's GameCube console

Nintendo's GameCube. It's cubical. Cubical!

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[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago
[-] Fillicia@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago

This but the mark III with the FM sound adapter

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

I never understood the choice to put a flowchart on the front of this one. 😆

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[-] didnt1able@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 week ago
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[-] TheOgreChef@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Intelligang represent!

Intellevision may not have the best controller design out there, but the versatility with the different card inserts made playing games easier when I was a kid. Basically a guide in the palm of your hands for each game you owned. Losing them did blow however.

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[-] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago

The 2600 depicted in the article thumbnail, was absolutely a beauty in its native environment of the late 1970's:

[-] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

While I definitely agree the overall best design goes to the Atari 2600, this comes in close second for me:

This bad boy (or girl, rather) is the Casio Loopy. Yes, Casio, the company primarily known for making wristwatches. This console was only released in Japan, and when it launched it had a target demographic of girls and young women. The console came with a built-in sticker printer, and the games were woman-targeted games in genres like romance, fashion, and life simulation (like Animal Crossing). Only 10 games were ever made for the Loopy, by the way. Its biggest failure and reason for not selling well was being a console that had games that looked like the SNES but having to directly compete with the PS1 and N64, as well as the replaceable sticker cartridges being very expensive.

Now, I am a man, and I am clearly not a part of the target demographic of this console. The games are entirely uninteresting to me, except maybe the Animal Crossing-like game "I Want A Room In Loopy Town." But something about the curved shape of the console and its cool purple hue speak to me. The black cover for the sticker ejection port has me imagining a newer version playing an animated logo on that part if a small screen was behind it. The absurdly massive Eject button just looks like it gives the most satisfying "kerchunk" when you press it to eject a cartridge.

In third place I'd have to give a shout out to the Apple iMac G3, even though I really dislike Apple products and its neither a game console.or made for gaming in general, something about the white and bold color combo just looks really cool. The mouse was really bad though. Got a bit of that Frutiger Aero look.

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Japan had some killer PC designs in the 80's and 90's. But I'd say my favorite is a toss up between the X68000 and the Sony MSX 2

For consoles, I still think the Sega Genesis Model 1 is a masterclass in visual design.

[-] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That MSX 2 is sick.

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[-] vividspecter@lemm.ee 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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.

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[-] maxprime@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 week ago
[-] LunarLoony@lemmy.sdf.org 17 points 1 week ago

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)

NEC-PC-Engine-Console-FL

[-] JoeBidet@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week ago

+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!

[-] LunarLoony@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 week ago

Speaking of spaceships...

Pc-Engine-Shuttle

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

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[-] lordnikon@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

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 IBM Aptiva S

[-] dave@feddit.uk 16 points 1 week ago

Remember having one of these at school in the late '70s / early '80s G7000

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[-] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

How many consoles look like toilets?

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[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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.

Something about the Power Macintosh 6100, and the chin that does it for me. Plus the name, POWER Macintosh does it for me.

Also that prowler on the screen. I wonder if they had some sort of deal with Chrysler.

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[-] the16bitgamer@programming.dev 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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.

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[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 13 points 1 week ago

Six switch woody can't be beat

Original C64 is a close second

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[-] DmMacniel@feddit.org 12 points 1 week ago

Might be biased, but the Commodore 64 is just iconic and good looking (what is not to love about a breadbox?)

[-] Noerttipertti@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 week ago

Personally prefer sx-64, but breadbin is a close second.

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[-] sundrei@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 1 week ago

(I'm sad no one uses faux-marble anymore.)

[-] twocupsofsugar@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

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!

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[-] InFerNo@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week ago

The Mega Drive is the best looking retro console, I mean look at it

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[-] stargazingpenguin@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago

I've got to go with the 2600 as well. Mostly because of the wood grain!

[-] Evil_incarnate@lemm.ee 9 points 1 week ago
[-] Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 week ago

Although the wood-grain Atari 2600 was also my first thought upon reading the title, I think the Wii's minimal footprint is impressive considering that—in the case of the original model—it's also a GameCube.

Wii Mini, Wii, and Wii U

In contrast to the Wii's 2006 release, the Wii Mini is arguably not yet 'retro' with its 2012 release, but definitely looks a lot sleeker, albeit not worth the loss of GameCube functionality for its minimal size savings.

Compared to both, the Wii U is super bulky, and lacks much use beyond improved emulation capabilities now that nearly all of its exclusives have been re-released for the Switch.

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[-] HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 1 week ago

The Atari XL seriea computers cut a nice space between retro and futuristic.

They're much sleeker looking than their 400/800 predecessors, as well as the Apple II and the breadbin VIC 20/64/C16. Only the 64C and Plus/4 really look similarly minaturized and not-in-need-of-a-big-wristrest-for-comfortable-typing.

The use of metal and smoked plastic trim gives it a premium appearance. The 1200XL even hides the cartridge slot on the side to avoid anyone nistaking it for a mere console..

[-] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

PS2 slim deserves a mention, I feel.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week ago

PS2 slim is now retro

👵 ➡ 💀

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago

It's now older than the NES was when it was brought back on the Wii via Virtual Console.

[-] DmMacniel@feddit.org 11 points 1 week ago

Stop it she already turned to dust!

[-] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

I'm a fan of how ENIAC really used the space

[-] Ramenator@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

If we're also talking old computers then it's hard to beat the Cray-1

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[-] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

If we're talking strictly design, my personal favorite is a generic fat PS2, probably tied with my model 1(?) Sega Genesis (none of the things like 32x or CD, which I desperately want to get some day).

If we're talking like PC with OS, the 90s Amiga lineup because I think the Amiga Workbench 3 line and the icons they used look absolutely beautiful. Definitely would love to get my hands on a 1200, but they're expensive. So no getting into that hobby for me just yet.

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this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
396 points (100.0% liked)

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