Nintendo Entertainment System
Shares rank 27 of 29 game consoles by recommenders
People recommend it for instant power-on and a large library of games that still work after decades. Critics point to input latency and sprite flicker.
People recommend it for instant power-on and a large library of games that still work after decades. Critics point to input latency and sprite flicker.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 56%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Turns on and plays instantly
“with the NES you could just hit the power button and start playing”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “"Fix" MacBook Neo Cursor Lag: Record 1 Pixel of the Screen Every 10 Seconds” Large library of fun games
“countless hours of fun to play NES games”
Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “Z80 – The 1970s Microprocessor Still Alive (2021)” Original units still working
“my NES from 1990 is still going strong”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Unpowered SSDs slowly lose data” Good for a retro collection
“I have a wonderful collection of retro consoles and games”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “TIL: Parental Controls Aren't for Parents”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
High input latency
“thanks to the absurd amount of latency”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “NeoGeo AES+: SNK announces reissue of retro console without emulation” Sprites flicker badly
“how people could buy the NES/Famicom and tolerate its sprites flickering”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “The Sega Master System” Not as tiny as expected
“That wasn't as tiny as I expected it to be.”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “TinyNES Review – A Super Niche NES Console” Likely inaccurate in places
“probably inaccurate all over the place”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “NES Documentation [pdf]”
Other game consoles people recommend
The four most recommended other game consoles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valve Steam Machine | 326 | 240 | 58% | 12 | 1 mo5 owners | — |
| PlayStation 5 | 121 | 181 | 40% | 12 | 3 yrs8 owners | — |
| Xbox console | 62 | 212 | 23% | 12 | 21 yrs6 owners | — |
| Xbox 360 | 41 | 19 | 68% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Nintendo Entertainment SystemThis page | 5 | 4 | 56% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“countless hours of fun to play NES games”
“That wasn't as tiny as I expected it to be.”
“with the NES you could just hit the power button and start playing”
“probably inaccurate all over the place”
“thanks to the absurd amount of latency”
“I have a wonderful collection of retro consoles and games”
“my NES from 1990 is still going strong”
“how people could buy the NES/Famicom and tolerate its sprites flickering”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.