Sega Mega Drive named best retro console

The Sega Mega Drive has been named the most popular retro games console, narrowly beating the Nintendo 64 in classic console combat.

Gaming site Playr2.com asked 1,411 British button-bashers aged 18 or over to name their favourite vintage videogame console. 61 per cent of those who replied named the Sega Mega Drive as their favourite.

Looks like Sonic the Hedgehog beats GoldenEye. The Mega Drive launched in Japan in late 1988, arriving in the US in the 1989 -- where it was known as the Sega Genesis -- and finally landing in Blighty in 1990. It survived in Europe until 1998, in which time 8 million Mega Drives were sold. 

But gamers were allowed to choose more than one console in the new survey, and the Nintendo 64 was a very close second. The N64 was a 64-bit console launched in 1996 in Japan and early 1997 in Europe. Despite being one of the last cartridge-based consoles when its rivals were switching to CDs, it's still held in high regard by 58 per cent of gamers.

The N64 is followed closely by the Atari 2600 and original PlayStation, both winning approval from more than half of those who replied.

Nintendo won the hearts of many a gamer with the Game Boy, SNES and NES, in fifth, sixth and seventh places. The Sega Game Gear and Neo-Geo are in eighth and ninth, while the SEGA Master System rounds out the top ten with just over a quarter of the vote.

Vidyer gaming is certainly coming of age, with this year marking the 30th birthday of the Commodore 64, fondly remembered by gamers of a certain age.

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Which games console had you rapt in wonder when you were knee-high to a joystick? And what games ate up way more of your formative years than could possibly be healthy? Tell us in the comments or on our Facebook page.