2013 saw the most gaming consoles on the market in over a decade. The year began with the demise of the Wii, while Nintendo continued its attempt at making and the Wii U relevant. The 3DS and the Vita battled it out for best handheld, with both delivering great software. The aging Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 patiently awaited the arrival of their successors, releasing some of the generation’s best games before the start of the Xbox One and PS4 era. Oh, and the Ouya tried to find itself a niche market.
But which console had the best year? The gallery below contains all 9 consoles on sale during 2013, ordered from the least to most successful during the 12-month period.
The Best Consoles of 2013
-
9. Wii
Nintendo's Wii ranking in last place on this list isn't indicative of the quality of the console, but rather that it is now on its last legs as Nintendo try to push the Wii U into relevancy. Nintendo is also distracted its efforts in the handheld market. The Wii has consequently been severely neglected.
This year inevitably saw very few new games being released on the Wii, many of which were targeted toward the young demographic. The little console that could has likely taken its last breath. Good night, little one.
-
8. Ouya
No one expected the Kickstarter-funded Ouya to go toe-to-toe with the big boys, but those who backed it did at the very least expected some good games.
Unfortunately, the Ouya severely suffered in this department, only offering one genuinely recommendable title at launch in the form of Towerfall, which will be making its way to other platforms in the new year anyway. While 2014 will see the heartbreaking That Dragon, Cancer will make its way onto the console, which might give potential buyers a reason to pick it up if the game lives up to its lofty expectations.
At the moment the console is seemingly little more than a failed experiment.
-
7. PlayStation 4
The PS4 is indeed the most powerful console on the market and has an extremely bright future ahead of it, but as it only launched a month ago with an underwhelming line-up, it ranks low on our list this year.
Out of the two next-gen consoles released this year, it had less to offer out of the starting gate, with its two major exclusives, Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack, receiving a luke-warm critical reception.
If you traded in your PS3 for a PS4, we hope you have some patience.
-
6. PlayStation Vita
The Vita has been around long enough now to start making some waves, but it is still lacking the software that owners have been craving since day one.
However, the handful of games that have made their way to the portable console this year have had a few greats among them, including Media Molecule's wonderful Tearaway, which utilises the best features of the handheld than any other game before it. Hopefully 2014 sees more software support for arguably the most impressive handheld gaming hardware on the market today.
-
5. Xbox One
While the PS4 had the more financially successful launch, the Xbox One offered a lot more to early adopters of the console.
Despite the deserved anger launched in Microsoft's direction following the PR disaster that was the Xbox One's announcement, what we've ended up with (following a whole heap of back-tracks and Xbox 180's) is a damn good console. It has a few recommendable launch titles (Dead Rising 3 is loads of fun and Killer Instinct is a hugely underrated contender for the best fighting game of the year). Also, the Kinect's voice recognition and TV integration work surprisingly well given their ambition.
More than anything, the Xbox One offers a lot of entertainment value out of the box. Not many platforms can say that with confidence.
-
4. Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 has made it into the top half of this list by virtue of the great multi-platform titles it supported.
While Microsoft didn't follow suit with Sony by giving the 360 a number of last-minute exclusives, it still had Grand Theft Auto V and BioShock Infinite to add to its library, giving 360 owners two of the best games of this generation to play before the inevitable arrival of the Xbox One.
-
3. Wii U
Ah, the Wii U. Its sales are struggling, yes, and 2013 hasn't exactly marked an influx of new software for the console, but the games it has had have been excellent, despite the unfortunately small amount of people willing to throw down cash for the system in order to play them.
Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate was a thing of beauty, Pikmin 3 lived up to the high expectations for the series and Super Mario 3D World was one of the best platformers Nintendo has ever released, which is perhaps the highest accolade you could give a game. Rayman Legends lived up to the hype and then some, with its definitive version appearing on The Big N's console thanks to its great GamePad support, and even overlooked titles such as Wii Party U and Wario Ware had great local multiplayer entertainment value.
2013 certainly wasn't the perfect year that the console needed, but it had enough quality games to warrant its position in the top three of this list.
-
2. PlayStation 3
Sony sent off the PS3 in spectacular fashion this year, and its position at number two in this list shouldn't detract from the amazing year that the console had.
The Last of Us provided the PS3 gamers a perfect parting gift, showing that Sony knows how to support a console through its entire lifecycle. Gran Turismo 6 was a great entry in the racing series, despite being released after the PS4's launch and therefore being sadly overlooked. In terms of multi-platform games, the PS3 had Grand Theft Auto V and BioShock Infinite, two other game of the year contenders that ensured owners of the PS3 had a lot of great stuff to play this year, even if they did so whilst standing in the looming shadow of the PS4.
-
1. 3DS
In 2013, The 3DS had one of the strongest years that gaming hardware has ever had. Throughout the year Nintendo released classic after classic on the handheld, and as such it's more than deserving of being crowned our best console of 2013.
Animal Crossing: A New Leaf ensured that 3DS owners would routinely pick up their console throughout the year in order to check up on their fellow townsfolk, go bug-hunting or stop by Tom Nook's shop to buy a mysterious fortune cookie. Pokemon X & Y marked a gorgeous graphical leap for the series and allowed gamers to be reunited with Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur, while offering some great online features. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds took players back to A Link to the Past's Hyrule and saw Link shifting in and out of walls in a unique feature that inspired some brain-scratching, awesome puzzles. It's a testament to the quality of the 3DS' lineup this year that when discussing it, other excellent games such as Fire Emblem: Awakening, Luigi's Mansion 2 and Shin Megami Tensei IV can find themselves being overlooked.
3DS owners barely had room to breathe this year in between all the classic games that were being released on the handheld, and because of this it is more than worthy of being named as the best console of 2013.
