Which is the best home game console out of every generation?

3rd - NES
4th - SNES
5th - N64
6th - PS2
7th - Wii
8th -  I haven't tried these yet

1st - Telstar Odyssey, for being first to the mainstream and for giving Atari some ideas before there was an Atari.
2nd - 2600.  No question.
3rd - NES (Sorry, everyone else who tried.)
4th - Sega (My heart's with Nintendo, but Sega had the hardware)
5th - PS1 (N64 had better hardware, but this made Sony a serious player)
6th - Xbox (without which Microsoft would have left things to the PC world)
7th - Wii (Nintendo struck back emphasizing new input devices, even if they never truly dominated the market with it)
8th - PS4 (but it's still pretty early to make that call)

If I actually had to call the 8th, I'd bet on the Steam Machine, which is Valve's way of telling the console manufacturers that it costs almost nothing to turn PCs into consoles.  Why not just build a dedicated PC out of generic parts and run Valve's DRM scheme on it? 

The Atari 2600
PS2
PS3

3rd - NES (the obvious choice)
4th - SNES (Genesis put up a good fight, but the SNES has easily stood the test of time better)
5th - PS1 (the N64 was the main console of my childhood, so it wins for nostalgia purposes.  Objectively, however, PS1 was definitely better with a wider variety of games.)
6th - PS2 (by a long shot too.  Gamecube is #2.  Didn't care for Xbox much)
7th - PS3 (if you asked me this in 2008, I would have said Xbox 360.  However, PS3 staged a major comeback in the 2010s.)
8th - I would bet on the PS4 for now, but you never know.

That said, if handhelds count, then I'd replace PS3 with Nintendo DS.  An amazing platform and easily one of the big three for me along with PS2 and SNES.

Don't forget the Atari and Nintendo generations.

The poll is somewhat flawed, but I'd title it "Best video game console generation". That said:

3rd: NES. Most games, variety of add-ons, and most importantly the best mix of challenge.
4th: SNES. The better graphics, sound, and fun games outpace Sega's. Turbografx-16 and NEO-GEO were sort of the "upscale" systems and had some good games, but were a bit too under the radar for much to notice.
5th: Playstation (1). By far the greatest variety of games, sound almost as good as the N64, and the system that made disc-based games here to stay (even if Sega CD had some marginal success).
6th: Playstation 2. Why change a winning formula where you can now play DVDs?
7th: Wii. Some of the fun of the NES/SNES era returns with a new type of gaming, along with great online access. PS3/XBOX360 put a good fight though, and easily the most competitive generation among three main players.
8th: Too early to call, but I'd say a tie between PS4/XBOX One. Nintendo is in trouble though with their delays and lack of innovation compared to their competitors.

I also like vintage gaming, so for the first two generations:

1st: Odyssey. Having a separate add-on that attaches to a controller/TV screen was a novel idea that people seem to forget.
2nd: Atari 2600. It had a long lifespan with its cartridges compatible with the 7800, a large library of games, and was the first super popular video game console. Intellivision and Colecovision had some technical improvements, but not a great improvement/support in its software.

Atari 2600. It had a long lifespan with its cartridges compatible with the 7800, a large library of games, and was the first super popular video game console. Intellivision and Colecovision had some technical improvements, but not a great improvement/support in its software.

I can't believe The Atari 2600 lasted quite a long time, it had a good shelf life for people who were game fanatics in the 80's.