The Subjective Scientific reTROview Console Tier List - 2024 Edition: Trash Tier

This is the trash tier. Just because your favorite appears here doesn't mean the console is trash. It just means that in my experience, it's trash. If your console doesn't appear at all, by the way, that means that there's not a single game that I know of that I can confidently say that it's an 8.0 or higher. Without further ado, here are your proud denizens of the trash can!

Sega Master System (1 point):

Good Game:

Phantasy Star

This is the only Master System game I've ever played! It's pretty good.

Sega Saturn (1 point):

Good Games:

Nights into Dreams

Put that thing in the trash? It's beautiful! How dare I? This baby is just the right mix of expensive and hard to emulate to ensure that I never get the chance to experience the library. FPGA development is coming along, though. Maybe some day?

PSP (7 points):

Good Games:

Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2

Jeanne D'Arc

Excellent Games:

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core

The PSP is a great little piece of hardware. I have two of them. Almost more than I have good games on this list. I actually use the PSP to play mostly ports and collections, and I don't consider any of those games to be PSP games.

PC Engine/Turbografx-16 (10 points):

Perfect/Iconic Games:

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

I really need to get into this console! Rondo rules, but I know there's more out there. I'll poke around on my Pocket before too long. I'm feeling a shooter bug, and the only solution is to dive into the PC Engine, if the rumors are true.

Xbox (11 points):

Good Game:

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Excellent Games:

Halo

Halo 2

This is an Xbox. It had a few great Halo games on it. There's probably more, too, but I am not certain.

Wii (15 points):

Good Games:

Donkey Kong County Returns

Mario Kart Wii

Punch-Out!!

Tiger Woods Golf

Wii Play

Excellent Games:

Wii Sports

Xenoblade Chronicles

This thing gave us a great month after Christmas when we received it. Wii Play and Wii Sports were very fun. I've probably touched one again less than 10 times since, particularly since I played Punch-Out!!, Xenoblade, and Donkey Kong Country Returns on other systems.

Wii U (16 points):

Good Games:

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Excellent Games:

Super Mario Maker

New Super Mario Bros. U

Mario Kart 8

I have several more Wii U games to try, but there's actually several fantastic games on this console! Still probably not worth owning, especially since Mario Maker and Smash have been supplanted by their sequels and Kart has been ported to Switch.

And with that, my arbitrary cutoff for the trash tier has been reached. It hurts too much to put the next console in the trash tier, so I just won't. Come back soon for the I'm Pretty Sure I Should Own This tier!

- TRO

The Subjective Scientific reTROview Console Tier List - 2024 Edition

 

It has been a shocking 5 years since I first launched the Subjective Scientific reTROview Console Tier List in 2019 to little fanfare. Given that I have played a few video games since that time, I wanted to revisit my list and see what has changed. I have been playing a decent mix of modern and retro stuff since 2019, so there should be quite a bit of churn here as a few consoles go up the list, and a few go down. There is even a new console that did not exist back in 2019 that will make an appearance (the PS5). 

I will stick with mostly the same rules as last time:

• The game must be something I would still be interested in playing in theory. So Madden '05 was massively important for me back in 2007, but I would never pick it up now. Thus, it does not exist on the tier list.
• The game will appear on whichever console it first appeared on, unless it appeared on several in a short time span, in which case I will place it on whichever console I experienced it on. As a rough rule of thumb, if the game was still in its lifespan and receiving current updates on a console, it's fair game to include there. Example: Slay the Spire original appeared on PC, but came to PS4 soon after, which is where I experienced it. Thus, for the purposes of this list, it is a PS4 game. However, when I experience Secret of Mana on my Switch for the first time, I still count it as an SNES game.
• I must have had enough experience with the game to give it a fair ranking. I'm only one guy, and my time and money are limited. Getting 392 games together that I have real opinions about is a feat in and of itself. I'm also cheap, and so I don't invest in expensive games, which hurts the prospects of consoles like Saturn, TurboGrafx-16, and Dreamcast. So if your favorite game doesn't appear, or your favorite console gets put into the trash tier, it's entirely my fault!
• I use console loosely - the operational definition used here is closer to "gaming platform". Arcade, PC, and mobile are not consoles, but they make an appearance on the list, as do handheld systems. 
• I'm dropping the "I must rank the console if I own it" rule from last time. I had consoles with 0 points on the list because of that, which was silly. 

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did making it!

- TRO