10 Best System Sellers

As I look back on each video game console that I've owned, I often think about the memories associated with that particular piece of hardware. Be it handheld or a home console, every console that I've ever owned has some sort of attachment to it that usually ties back to a specific piece of software.

I can remember wanting a console because a specific game was either confirmed, or rumored to be coming soon. I'm certainly not the only one, as there are so many people who have their own stories of wanting a console because they knew it had a game that would make each dollar spent worth it.

These days, system sellers are in a state of flux, as first and third-party deals seem to be constantly changing because of the whims of hardware developers. Some consoles are even lucky enough to have multiple system sellers, proving just how far software can push hardware in the eyes of everyone.

10 Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)

Selling Consoles at the Speed of Sound

On Christmas morning in 1999, I watched as my brother unwrapped a Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure. I was doing pretty good myself, opening up a PlayStation 1 with Metal Gear Solid. That day, the only thing we did was play both consoles with ravenous affection.

In the decades that followed, I have constantly been impressed by what Sonic Adventure did for the Dreamcast. I never personally owned one, but so many people bought that console just for Sonic Adventure. I always wanted one for Code Veronica, but Sonic Adventure was a key part of the Dreamcast library.

I think far better Sonic games, and certainly much better 3D games, have come along since, but the Dreamcast was immensely propped up by it. Everyone who owned a Dreamcast likely had Sonic Adventure. It was almost a requirement.

9 Final Fantasy 10 (PlayStation 2)

A Legendary Adventure

I don't think it's possible to describe exactly how insane the lead-up to Final Fantasy 10 was back in the day. I remember hearing about the first trailer that was shown at the Square Millennium Event in 2000, then the even more impressive showing it had as an extra on the DVD for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Alongside Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Final Fantasy 10 was the game that convinced me to get a PlayStation 2. Everybody and their grandmother wanted to get in on FF10.

The console had already sold decently in its debut year, but Final Fantasy 10 was able to help push it over the edge. It would not have become the dominant force it was without it, eventually selling over 150 million units.

8 Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)

One of the Decade's Greatest Games

My first memory of the Nintendo 64 is going to my aunt's house, where I was absolutely obsessed with watching my uncle play Super Mario 64. I never did quite become good at Super Mario 64, and have since come to the conclusion that I have more fun watching people play it than actually participating.

It's hard to overstate just how important Super Mario 64 was to the launch of the Nintendo 64. It was one of the first games to really solve the dilemma of 3D camera movement in an explorable space, which developers had been wrestling with for years by that point.

Every 90s kid who had a Nintendo 64 also had Super Mario 64. They just went hand-in-hand, and while it's almost certain that the Mario franchise has made better 3D platformers in the decades since, Super Mario 64 was crucial to the N64 being able to compete in the console space.

7 Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox)

Microsoft Has Entered the Chat

The sixth-generation console war was certainly an interesting one, as it saw Microsoft enter the battle to compete with Nintendo and Sony. There was certainly a lot of doubt, but I remember being so excited that there was a new console. Watching TV coverage of the Xbox at the time was so joyful.

All these years later, the game that is most directly associated with the original Xbox is certainly Halo: Combat Evolved. If you were buying an Xbox at the time, chances are it was because of Halo.

Its success was steady, increasing units sold each year after release. It was enormously influential, moving multiple Xbox consoles and creating an entire generation of copycats that we affectionately called Halo Killers.

6 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch)

A Mover of Mountains

While I always thought the launch lineup for the Nintendo Switch was a bit more interesting than a lot of people give it credit for, there's absolutely no denying that one game very easily towered above the others. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the most important game in the console's library, and it stayed that way for several years.

There were a lot of rumors, as well as fears, that Zelda wouldn't make the launch date for the Switch. After all, it had been delayed on the Wii U twice, and was now confirmed as a cross-gen title.

Breath of the Wild was a crucial piece of the puzzle that allowed the Switch to sell over 155 million units. The game itself is the highest-selling game in the franchise, with over 35 million copies sold.

5 Final Fantasy 7 (PlayStation)

The Most Hyped Game of the 1990s

There's a certain feeling to Final Fantasy 7 that no other game in the franchise has been able to replicate. It generated more hype and fervor for Final Fantasy than perhaps any other game has even come close to, and helped make the franchise a household name.

The numbers also don't lie. The original PlayStation was already well on its way to becoming a scary force in the home console space, but Final Fantasy 7 created an incredibly noticeable spike. PS1 hardware sales more than doubled with the launch of Final Fantasy 7.

Final Fantasy 7, as well as Gran Turismo, moved an enormous number of consoles. People were buying a PS1 just to play this iconic adventure, and the game would go on to become one of the most influential JRPGs of all time.

4 Pokémon Red and Blue (Game Boy)

Legitimizing Handheld Gaming

Handheld gaming was doing decently back in the early 1990s. It was almost impossible for it to seriously compete with the home consoles, but the Game Boy was something of an outlier. It absolutely decimated the competition, thanks in no small part to the launch of Pokémon Red and Blue.

I'm not sure what it was about the magic of Pokémon back in the day, but it just had this vice grip on kids of the era, myself included. Every kid was buying a Game Boy, and they were doing it for Pokémon. Hardware sales for the Game Boy felt like they were peaking, but Pokémon Red pushed the console well over 100 million units.

The Game Boy's success can be linked back largely to Pokémon, as it moved more units off the shelves than any game in the library. It also helped that the Game Boy was substantially cheaper than home consoles, coming in at less than a hundred bucks. It was the best deal in gaming.

The Day a PS3 Finally Became Worth It

Following an insane price tag of 600 bucks and a lack of genuinely appealing games, the PlayStation 3 was one of the most disappointing hardware launches of its generation. There were games on the PS2, including God of War II, that made getting a PS3 feel completely unnecessary.

At the 2005 edition of the Tokyo Game Show, however, that all changed. There was finally a game that made buying a PS3 worth the effort, as Hideo Kojima finally unveiled Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It was confirmed as a PS3 exclusive, and the lead-up to its release was honestly incredible.

By the time MGS4 was ready to release in 2008, the console had undergone a price cut of one-hundred dollars. Those two things combined helped the PS3 increase its hardware sales, nearly tripling the number of consoles sold. MGS4 would also ship over four million copies in its first year, proving that the two were a perfect match.

2 Bloodborne (PlayStation 4)

The Old Blood Sells New Consoles

The PlayStation 4 first launched in 2013, alongside the Xbox 360 and the Wii U. For the first two years, it accumulated a pretty decent library of games, but making the leap from PS3 to PS4 didn't feel like it was quite worth it yet.

That is, until FromSoftware came into the picture. I know several people, including myself, that didn't have a strong interest in Soulslike games until Bloodborne. Even today, my love of the genre is limited to a few key titles, but Bloodborne was something special.

It created this insane fandom that we know today, so much so that Bloodborne feels like it wasn't even made by the same people who made Dark Souls. PS4 hardware sales saw a noticeable increase thanks to Bloodborne, and it was a key title that convinced people to finally jump onto the next-generation train.

1 Grand Theft Auto 3 (PlayStation 2)

Moving 150 Million Systems

2001 was something truly special for the world of video games, but it was also the year that the PlayStation 2 became the console to beat. It was a year that featured the launches of Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy 10, Silent Hill 2, and perhaps most important of all, Grand Theft Auto 3.

There are certainly PS2 games that I like more, but I don't think any game defines that system more than GTA3. It was the game that everyone bought a PS2 just to play, and it was instrumental in the console becoming what it did. There's absolutely no way the PS2 has a lifetime sales number of 155 million units without it.

The PS2 was already selling well, but GTA3 was a major boost to the console. The install base nearly doubled, and GTA3 was responsible for a huge portion of that. It's hard to think of a console and game that are this attached at the hip, and despite it eventually making its way to other consoles, it was one of the most successful console exclusives ever made for quite a while.