In chronological order of when I owned them:

NES
SNES
N64
Dreamcast
GameCube
PlayStation 2

Nowadays at the age of 24, I rarely play any games anymore, and if I do it's on my laptop since I've sold my entire console collection. I used to think I would always be very into it, but apparently not. Now it takes a really significant game for it to draw my attention, and even then my computer probably can't handle it anyways, so I just end up watching a few youtube clips to "experience" the game.  

In order of Ownership,

SNES
Nintendo 64
Playstation
Playstation 2
Gamecube

Currently I only have the SNES and the Gamecube. Both playstations broke and the N64 I sold a long time ago, wish I hadn't sold it though, still have Goldeneye and Zelda: Ocarina of Time and would like to play them sometimes but I can't. I have both games emulated on my computer but it's just not the same  .

Playstation 2s are so fragile. One time my unit accidently got tipped over from a vertical position to a horizontal position and just that was enough to make the disc drive all screwy on me. The GameCube on the other hand is durable as a brick!

Check out this unbelievable video of a Gamecube getting dragged behind a car and still working afterwards!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEvlWQ5ULCg&feature=related

That's an excellent video showing just how durable Nintendo items are. In an experiment of my own, I had a SNES controller, NES controller, PS2 controller, XBOX 360 controller, and an original GameBoy. Using the same setup for each, and dropping each from the same height of roughly 50ft (my second story roof), I dropped each controller from the peak of my roof, down onto 6" thick, solid concrete. After, I tried playing each system with its respective controller. The results were as follows:

SNES Controller - Broken plastic and cracked D-Pad, worked like brand new otherwise
NES Controller - Some rattling noise when it was shaken, but otherwise worked perfect
PS2 Controller - Missing a Joystick, an R2 button, the X and Square buttons, and cracked on one side, needless to say didn't function properly!

XBOX 360 Controller - Cracked down the back side, broken joystick, and green LED light no longer working, was no longer recognized by the system

Original GameBoy - Played Zelda, Links Awakening like it had never been dropped!

Just goes to show that Nintendo knows how to make durable systems and controllers that last nearly forever. The majority of PSOnes and PSX's are on the fritz today, whereas some people still have the NES's and SNES's from when they were kids. The SNES controller I used in my little experiment I still have and use today. So 8 years later, a controller still works today that has been used and abused.

NOTE: I'll put up pictures of the controller in my next post.

Here's the Pictures

Wow, that's a crazy height. I always thought that Nintendo should do some sort of funny commercial on their consoles' durability.

lol no offense stadams, but you are such an engineer but it's cool! i'd love to run tests on my hardware and see if they survived but sadly I love my games too much to risk it...

and too bad you couldn't do multiple trials on dropping the controllers cuz I'm sure that all of the controllers have weak points and strong points (PS2 stick breaking off) but yeah that'd cost a ton

and yeah Nintendo has definitely been quality, my gamecube still runs wonderfully :)