The most popular video game consoles are the most powerful. Usually false. The
NES,
Game Boy,
PlayStation and
PlayStation 2 were moderately to vastly less powerful than their contemporaries, yet sold better because they were better marketed, and often less expensive. Even the
Super NES, more popular worldwide than the
Sega Genesis and sporting a better graphics chip, sound chip and memory size, had a weaker CPU.
The best example is Game Boy vs
Sega Nomad. Nomad had 14 times as much CPU power, 34 times as much RAM, 3 times the resolution, 16 times as many colors onscreen, sprites 16 times as large and twice as numerous, better sound and better games. Yet sold only a small fraction as many units as Game Boy because it was bulky, expensive, and was marketed as yet another Genesis than a whole new console, the way
Nintendo would later market
Game Boy Color and
Game Boy Advance.