Console Menus!

[PurpleHello98]

Consoles are all about the games, but these past few generations they also have expanded operating systems/system menus! What are your favourites/any ones that particularly stand out to you?

I'd say one of the most memorable has got to be the Wii menu, with its channels, but my favourite that I've experienced so far is the Wii U menu. Whilst the Gamepad displays the icons for your various software titles, the TV displays other people's Miis with Miiverse posts about the games they've been playing, grouped by game. It adds a sense of interconnectedness to the Wii U that other consoles really don't have. Plus, as opposed to  newer console's boring, silent, flat OSes, the Wii U menu has really nice ambient music and a beautiful Frutiger Aero-inspired style to it that, combined, give a soothing vibe. I saw a post on Reddit where someone described the Wii U menu as exuding Nintendo charm" and I really agree!

What do y'all think?

[grubbyfox]

I gotta give it to PS2 for being the most haunted, lmao. That sound of like, the crashing waves or something? When you're in the menu. Just so creepy but in a good way. I mean, the menu ui itself is kinda meh? (But the save slots icons are amazing!!). But yeah, big props to PS2 for the ambience.

PS3 has a pretty cool intro, sounds like an orchestra tuning their instruments. I thought that was kinda fun. But other than that, nothing special about PS3 I would say. I barely remember the menu UI, but I think it was pretty similar to the PSP? I forget 

[renyoi]

generally speaking the 3ds menu isn't particularly inspired to me, but i do have a fondness for the various themes you can have for it + the custom animations on the top screen whenever you hover over a title! the magician's quest cats are a favorite of mine currently i recently loaded up a dreamcast theme on my 3ds and it's pretty wild to hear dreamcast music coming from my 3ds and see dreamcast wallpapers/styling; it really makes me think about the ui elements from both systems more actively.

[CableCat]

That sound of like, the crashing waves or something? When you're in the menu. Just so creepy but in a good way. I mean, the menu ui itself is kinda meh? (But the save slots icons are amazing!!)

Oh my goodness yes!! I grew up with that game menu! It was edging on creepy but was tolerable. The way the motion of the little dots is and the coloring of everything and the sounds just makes it feel like some un-grounded void that you warp into.

I'd say one of the most memorable has got to be the Wii menu, with its channels

When the Wii came out, it was such a huge contrast to the void-like consle menu I was used to. The Wii menu was cool with its "channels" because it had a futuristic television theme. The rounded-off tiles for the channels with their bubblly and glassy look were reminiscent of old televisions with the rounded glass over the screen.

I remember when my parents first started out with a CRT TV, and it wasn't long before we were upgrading to the flat-screened HD TV. As I was growing up, there was a level of sadness I had that we had to get rid of the glass-front TV. A favorite passtime for my dad and I was that he would watch the news, and I was allowed to shoot my nerf gun darts at the peoples' faces (they'd stick to the glass). I couldn't do that with the new TV, and we had to be way more careful. It just took away some of the fun.

But when we got the Wii, it was game-changing. It was so cool to have an HD TV, and have the motion response with the remote, but the design with the remotes and the "channels" and the CRT TV-reminiscent design elements made it familiar. But then the sleekness and the white menu made it so futuristic. Like putting an astronaut suit on a CRT TV. It was so cool.

[3lsie]

The one that springs to mind for me is the PS Vita. I never had one when they were current, but I got one a couple of years ago, and man, the menu layout just made me instantly nostalgic. I think it's a similar frutiger aero kind of feeling to what you're describing with the Wii U, and I love the round bubble icons. The whole thing kind of reminds me of Windows Vista in a way.

[orchid]

i didn't have one as a kid, but i love the look of the DSi menu. it's a cool mix between the DS and the 3DS that feels really cozy. Dreamcast is another good one, the atmosphere of that system is just incredible. peak Y2K-era dnb-fuelled futuristic goodness. oh and PS2 as well. PS2 is peak surival horror and the menu gives that vibe so well.