The Best Game Console Boot Animations, Ranked

Usually, people indulge in the terrible habit of arguing which game console is more powerful or has the best games, but it's time we rank our favorite consoles based on their execution of an often overlooked art: the default animation you see when you power them on.

Our list of notable boot animations, arranged from worst to best, follows below. If you don't see your favorite here, chances are it didn't have a boot sequence. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, for example, had plenty of good animations showing off the Nintendo logo, but they were game-specific, and technically not a system-level boot animation. Either that, or your favorite boot animation is so boring we forgot about it.

Sega CD

We're only listing the Sega CD, itself an addition to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, to demonstrate just how horrible a game console boot sequence can get. Sega's majestic logo, easily one of the best in gaming, barely makes up for the inexplicable image of the Earth and Moon, and the god awful music that sounds like Dr. Robotnik got drunk and fell on xylophone. It's bad tech used badly, which sums up the Sega CD nicely.

Genesis games each started with their own take of the Sega logo. You probably remember this one from Sonic, and they're all pretty great, but technically not boot up sequences.

Atari Jaguar

The leopard print jeggings of console boot sequences, and the last boot sequence Atari will design for its last home console. It starts well enough, with a roar and a swishy logo that seems sufficiently badass for 1993, but then Atari's logo pops up and also a 3D cube, with a picture of a jaguar on every side, just in case you didn't get it.

Ouya

Ouya might have had its problems, but its boot animation was on point.

Xbox

The first Xbox boot sequence epitomizes the early 2000s aesthetic of gaming as a kind of dark science. The camera gives us a brief glimpse at a mysterious, glowing green energy source supposedly powering Microsoft's first console before zooming out to the X logo, back when Xtreme logos were all the rage.

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 was an amazing console, but far from Sony's best boot sequence. The sound is memorable, but it's almost as if Sony didn't know what to do with all the power of the Emotion Engine CPU at the heart of the machine. Blocks? Weird blue mist? Flying lights? Whatever, put it all in there.

PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Sony's first attempt to compete with Nintendo's portable game machine failed miserably, but it had a damn fine boot sequence. It's also fitting that the sound effects from the boot sequence sound a lot like they came out of Lumines, the Tetris-like puzzle game that was probably the best thing about the PSP.

Xbox 360

We maintain that Xbox 360 is a dumb name, designed specifically to sound more powerful than Sony's competition at the time, the PlayStation 3, but this boot animation is a huge improvement on the first Xbox. The final musical note, which kind of sounds like blowing air into an empty glass bottle, is used in all Xbox advertisements today. It's worth mentioning that the Xbox One boot sequence is a great refinement, but it's the 360 that set the tone.

PlayStation 3

Former Sony CEO Ken Kutaragi infamously said that people will work extra hours to afford the PlayStation 3, which cost a ridiculous $600 at launch. It was a classy console for classy people, and if the price didn't make it clear, the orchestral sound of violins rising over a black screen did.

GameCube

GameCube's boot animation has Nintendo's signature cute aesthetic, but it gets extra points for variation: You could actually get three tunes to go along with the animation if you held down different buttons on the controllers.

PlayStation

The first PlayStation somehow rises above the sin of having two animations, one for the company that made it, Sony Computer Entertainment, and one for the console itself. They both have the simple, clean design of futuristic, Blade Runner-y corporations that may or may not be evil, and the tune that accompanies them is just as threatening as it is promising. It's an enticing boot animation, but also a little ominous, and for good reason. Sony was entering the games business to change it forever.

Dreamcast

The Dreamcast was Sega's last home console, and in some ways, its best. Internet ready, super powerful for the time, and a weird, wonderful catalog of games, it was ahead of its time in so many ways. Its boot sequence was no different. It was such a new, bold direction for Sega, it doesn't even feature the company's logo. Gone but not forgotten. RIP Dreamcast 1999 - 2001.

Nintendo BS-X Satellaview

Technically, the Satellaview wasn't its own, standalone console. It was a crazy addition to the Super Nintendo that allowed players in Japan to download games via satellite in 1995. However, it earns a place on this list thanks to its dreamy music, its 16-bit sunset, and Parabô and Satebô, the adorable Satellaview mascots.

Sega Master System (Japan Only)

The Japanese version of the Sega Master System boot sequence came with a cover of the Space Harrier theme music. It's a bonafide banger.

Game Boy

The simple, perfect, singular "ding" from which all of Nintendo's portable video games sprouted.