For me is a coin toss between PS1 and 360. The silver goes to the PS2. Currently owner of a Xbox series x and a switch. The switch was meh and I like the X fine enough mostly because I can play old games at 60 fps.
I'd say PS2. The sheer amount of unforgettable classics and the fact that it was the best selling console of all time.
The Wii U was an amazing concept that got abandoned too early. My Wii U which I love still collects dust for this reason.
Nintendo Land nailed the asymmetric couch play concept, and nothing else really carried it further. It was a console with a ton of promise.
Game Boy Advance is probably one of the best handhelds. I totally agree on the PS1 - not quite sure if the Xbox 360 hits that threshold for me, though.
I only owned the base model GBA lol. I wish I had gotten a GBA SP and a PS Vita back when they were easily available.
It terms of quality at the time, SNES easy. The jump from 8 to 16 bit was good graphically but the games produced on the SNES were fucking fantastic at the time. If the NES brought the gaming industry back from the brink, SNES ensured it would stay.
In terms of objective quality even now, it would be the ps2 without question. Some models of PS2 can play PS1 games so you get a double library. It not only had some great exclusives but also tons of third-party stuff. It was probably the first console gen that really opened up who can develop games for the system. The PS2 was the console that made video games widely accepted as an art form. Metal Gear 2 and 3, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, etc etc.
I think PS3 and Xbox 360 have some good exclusives but I don't think there's anything that was so good you couldn't just wait a few years to get it used and cheap.
Personally, Super Nintendo, though that opinion is probably more a product of my age than anything else. Metroid, Zelda, and Mario all really found their footing there (Mario less so, SMB3 was INCREDIBLE). And Donkey Kong Country. And Mario Kart. It feels like it really set up Nintendo's business model where they could entirely carry a console with first party software.
