DREAMCAST
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Sega's last-ditch efforts can really be felt in the surrealist Y2K vibes of the platform clashing with the huge array of technical and hardware issues the rushed console suffered from. Nothing feels quite as transcendential as watching the swirling bios logo to the sound of a grinding disc laser. Also a big fan of the way 3D Dreamcast games tended to look - it's a really odd transitional period of 3D where the model and texture quality is getting better, but developers still haven't gotten to grips with making equally detailed animation and camera systems. Very early-2000's Windows PC kinda style that you can't get out of any other platform.

GAMECUBE
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Gamecube is ALL about games and I think it's pretty cool for that. At a point in time where PS2 and XBOX's design choices were leaning towards a more commercialized, consistent set of user interaction schemes and features, I oddly admire Nintendo for being a gaming boomer and sticking to their guns. It didn't matter that GameCube had minimal support from cross-platform developers because when a game DID land on GC, it was a treat that felt right at home with Nintendo's offerings. Pop a disc in, get the logo and jump right into the game. Miniscule load times. 4-player without a multitap. The biggest double-edged sword controller of any system ever conceived. GC had all the essentials and trimmed every other possible fat off. It's the only Nintendo platform that gets me as giddy as a pasty nintentuber.

GENESIS
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Nostalgia is a motherfucker for this one but even despite that I love the Genesis and I think everyone who follows me is probably tired of hearing me talk about it. The 6-button pad is still one of the best-feeling controllers I've ever used despite XYZ being used in almost no good games.

What I especially like about the genesis is the huge contrast between its Pre-Sonic and Post-Sonic vibes. Games past '92 really came to grips with the specific high-contrast, similarly-toned color palletes, FM guitars and chords, and a generally strong hybrid of American/Japanese flair supported by high-octane futurism (Treasure, Westone, Konami, etc). Pre-Sonic Genesis is also really neat for how depressing it feels of all things. Warbly music with muddy frequency levels and tremolo effecs, low contrast colors, very 'matter of fact' selection of styles across games. You could categorize it as ugly, but it's done in an endearing and almost sympathetic way, like watching a hatched baby animal take its first flimsy-yet-completely-sincere steps.

NINTENDO 64
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Really odd when you look at it from the angle of being a SNES successor. What a weird pivot from Nintendo being the company that makes games and hardware for everyone, to 'we made a system for 3D platformers and nothing else. Also we only have like 6 good 3D platformers.' It takes balls to throw your entire install-base and business support out the window so you can be first to the punch with visionary 3D. And for what it's worth, I do like the N64 pad and a lot of the little quirks germane to the platform's games and style. But it kinda has the same issue as the NES and Wii: The former being 'I avoid everyone who says they love this console' and the latter being 'the shovelware makes this console feel rancid and baby-toy-esque'.

On the OTHER hand, Bomberman Hero is a fucking mood and playing S&P with the opposite hand grips is an otherworldly feeling.

PSP
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Took the direction of truly bringing the console experience to handhelds while GBA & DS stuck to games tailored around player personalization tools - and yet despite that, the platform still had a ton of multimedia features that made it feel like an extension of yourself. I had hyper-compressed youtube conversions of homestar runner episodes on this thing, AND PS1 classics! And that's not even covering the shit you could do with homebrew. PSP understood how to follow the iPod self-expression trend where PS3 failed and wallowed about. Only thing that makes PSP hard to come back to is that a lot of its exclusives do have a 'b-tier version of the console game' energy. The cost of making console-scale games with a portable budget meant lots of games with gimmicky mission-based structures and copy/pasted content. You have to dig deep into the JP library to get the good stuff.

GAME BOY ADVANCE
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A monstrous jump in quality from the GB. I'm one of the few sincere proponents of the original's screen - I LIKE being able to play handhelds outside. Much in the way the Master System PSG supports the Genesis' FM, I love the nostalgic texture infused by the GBA's use of the GB soundchip. But above all else, I love the GBA as a turning point for 'handhelds as self-expression'. Cellphones were becoming an increasingly pervasive way to communicate and self-identify in a single commodified tool. That trend is definitely seen in both the kind of games released on GBA and the ways games and the hardware let you customize and accessorize. GBA is a huge turning point for games that reflect the player through personalization tools.

PS2
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Kinda like the SNES but raw? The library's so huge and diverse that everyone kinda has their own story to share about what they played, when they owned it, etc. And unlike SNES and other Nintendo platforms, I don't feel like I'm spouting a racist dogwhistle by acknowledging it in a public setting.

NINTENDO DS
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A gimmicky and very distinct platform that I was obsessed with in childhood but dropped hard going into adulthood. I feel it's hard to latch onto DS because a lot of games tried too hard relative to the platform's visual quirks. Like, the 3D games always have a 'gamecube game backported to n64' vibe, and not always in a way I'd call visually pleasant. 2D games on here kinda dropped off in terms of spritework, tbh? Weird crossroad between having enough resolution to step up from GBA but not enough to make things look 'detailed'. Lots of games have a very 'compressed' feel to them, and the console is too sleek for that to feel like a complementary design choice. Just kinda feels like playing browser games on the go sometimes.

MASTER SYSTEM
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Kinda aesthetically a bridge between Atari 2600 and NES and I like that, even if the console itself has one of the saddest libraries to date.

NES
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The NES is overdone but idk it still has a cool mood to it if you can get it. It's a really interesting console where you can watch the library grow from an Atari/Arcade philosophy to flashy ludonarrative-driven experiences, all with very neat transitional points. Mainly loses points because the actual console is an ugly motherfucker and anyone who owns NES-themed merch and/or apparel needs to be dragged out onto the road and shot.

WII
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Really cool when it's evoking that same sleek 'this is the future' aura that iPods had at the time. Fucking atrocious and stinky 80% of the other times.

PS5
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First time I've held any hype or excitement towards a generation of gaming since 6th gen! Damn I wish you could buy one!

GAME GEAR
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Can never decide if I love or hate this thing. Library has a lovely little charm to it and neat graphical vibe, but the console itself is a walking red flag. Fucking enormous and tacky, to a degree that makes it impossible to like the system without sounding like an asshole. Basically the sega equivalent of being a NES geek.

NINTENDO 3DS
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Repeats the DS's issues again. The new gimmicks feel like opportunities to cash-grab into trends that don't really open up new game design opportunities in the same way the DS's 2 screens and touch did. It wants to have games way beyond the scope of its hardware, and looks weak as a result. The screen resolution alone makes everything on the platform just look horrendous - which is a shame, because these games tend to have a nice soft-poly look to them when run in HD.

GAME BOY
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reading off a cue card "I think the Game Boy is cool but it is beloved by people who are the opposite of cool"

SNES
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Love the SNES library but can't say I really get a 'vibe' from the platform, if that makes sense. You get an enormous color palette and super-detailed sprites at the expense of embarrassing raw performance; midi-esque sound that acts as a 'jack of all trades, master of none'; a controller design that remains wholly foundational but lacks an aesthetic or design quirk of its own (on top of being kinda crummy as far as button quality goes). SNES is such a huge victim of being the 'does everything' 16-bit platform, that my ability to perceive its aesthetic qualities hinges entirely on what game I'm actually playing.

WII U
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The gamepad deserved so much better. It went sorely underutilized - and I honestly don't have any interest in the games that DID use it well. Console with a full screen on the controller was a thing I really liked about Dreamcast that I wanted to see expanded into something unique and meaningful, but they oversold the gimmick and then ended up underutilizing it anyway. Wii U's vibes feel a lot more toy-like and bland now that we've gotten out of 7th gen; it had the benefit of being sleeker than Wii and more creative than PS3/360, but those qualities make it look junky now. Overall missed opportunity and just kinda painful to look at today.

NINTENDO SWITCH
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Soulless corporate bullcrap marketed to everyone; designed for no one. A pile of mistakes that have somehow managed to get excused for over half a decade cause it had good commercials and a launch window with the exact same games nintendrones have been eating up for the last 2 decades. Only redeeming quality is that it got AA and AAA devs interested in a lot of dormant IP's and genres. The existence of a weaker HD platform for families got a lot of teams invest back into $30-40 games and remasters. I don't think Mega Man 11 or Streets of Rage 4 would exist without the Switch as a haven where these kinds of games are corporately acceptable.

PC GAMING
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Why the fuck would I want to play games on the stuff I use for work

PS3
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One of the worst-feeling consoles to interact with and doesn't have enough redeeming nostalgia-esque qualities to coat over how cynical this platform feels. This and 360 started the floodgate of every horrendous corporate move in the industry up until today. Feel nothing but disgust looking at it.

ATARI 2600
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Doesn't even register in my brain as a 'game' console tbh. Has some bittersweet family memories associated with it. Don't even hate it, just feel nothing towards it.

PS4
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Even more overly-corporate than the PS3. This was the first console where it felt like companies completely ditched the idea of console aesthetics playing a part of the video game experience - a cynicism that feels a lot less apparent in the PS5. At least it's not functionally abhorrent I guess?

XBOX 360
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PS3 for upper-class white tweens