Master System....best graphics around at the time, plus some great arcade conversions and original titles inc Wonderboy 3 Dragons Trap Nuff said!

I plumped for Vectrex. ColecoVision would have been my second choice.

(or PC Engine if we're being pedantic, lol)

Not an area where I have any great expertise, but from what little I do know, the SMS gets my vote.

I've spent way more time playing the NES then anything else on that list so I have to go with it.

I went for the 7800 because not only does it have some great games of its own, especially the arcade conversions, but also plays all Atari 2600 games so it's a no brainer really.

NES for me. Most arcade conversions. Bubble Bobble, Bump 'n Jump, Burgertime, Defender II, Donkey Kong Jr., Indy Heat, Joust, Millipede, Pac-Mania, Paperboy, Q*Bert and Road Runner to name a few. Add in A boy and His Blob, AD&D Dragonstrike and Hillsfar, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Batman, Flintstones, Genghis Khan, Micro Machines and Pirates. For me that is time well spent. I would list the Intellivision second and the Colecovision with Atari 2600 adaptor a close third. If I ever get an Odyssey 2 or Vectrex multi cart(s) those two would jump up the list fast.

2600 for myself.

Why? easy, the sheer amount of time spent on it and games played!.

Combat, Defender, Jungle Hunt, MS.Pacman, Joust, Moon Patrol, Spiderman, Crystal Castles, Dig Dug, Pitfall, Space shuttle, Galaxians, Battle Zone, Pole Position, Kanagroo, Yars Revenge, Smurph, Frogger, Centipede, i could be here all day.

Plus it was the system all your mates had, so you were never short of games, the carts and packaging had such superb artwork, hell if i had the time+money i'd start collecting for the 2600 just for said artwork, the comic book style adverts...

More fond memories of the 2600 than the Master System (which i'd place 2nd).

I have to go for the Atari VCS, or 2600 as the whippersnappers of the late 80s used to refer to it as. It's where I started, and sometimes I can still remember the feeling of getting the old woodgrain in 1982 with Combat, a kind of raw excitement I'd never felt before. The Colecovision was superb as well - what a pity the crash stunted its growth.

I thought the Intellivision was teh sh1t, though it was left to the Amstrad GX4000 to redefine the word "nadir" with absolute precision.

...sometimes I can still remember the feeling of getting the old woodgrain in 1982 with Combat, a kind of raw excitement I'd never felt before...

That was really well put, wasn't it!  😀

Boy, this is not an easy choice.  I'm going for the 7800 because it essentially has access to two game libraries: its own and the 2600 games.  Can't go wrong there.  My second choice is the Vectrex which, for me is in a league of its own for being the only vector graphics home system EVER!

This is sooooo tough, I still don't know how to vote.

My heart kind of says Master System; great graphics, great games, made by Sega.

I do have to admit though that for every great SMS game there is probably 3 good counterparts on NES. So by the sheer mass of great games the NES wins.

What counts more? Example: I love Phantasy Star on SMS, it is imo the best 8-bit RPG. Looks and feels almost 16-bit. But beside that the only noteworthy RPG on SMS is Ultima IV. The NES has not an RPG that is equal to PS, but it has 4 Dragon Quest games and 3 Final Fantasy games, and those are the closest competitors. See my dilemma?

The Vectrex is cool also, so charming and innovative. But not a lot of games, and only arcade style stuff.

The 2600 is cool too, but I prefer the more complex games of later games.

Never cared much for the 7800, I am now interested in it for the homebrews, but I care for none of the official games much.

Very close poll so far

The NES for me. It is rather unfair of me to vote perhaps as it is simply the console I have played more than others but there are plenty of games I really like on it.

Any console that has Street Gangs/River City Ransom is going to be ace.

I think most of them have been decent. The 2600 has some ace stuff. The MS is something I played a lot but never owned myself, lovely image quality on the thing too.

The NES for me. It is rather unfair of me to vote perhaps as it is simply the console I have played more than others but there are plenty of games I really like on it.

Any console that has Street Gangs/River City Ransom is going to be ace.

I think most of them have been decent. The 2600 has some ace stuff. The MS is something I played a lot but never owned myself, lovely image quality on the thing too.

Couple of things let the MS down in my eyes, the sound chip and sprite flicker, pity as it's a capable system with some great games (Love Master Of Darkness, Wonderboy games, Galaxy Force 2, pulled off decent version of R-Type as well).