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Gamer Sets World Record by Hooking Up 444 Consoles to 1 TV

Ibrahim Al-Nasser keeps an Excel spreadsheet that tells him which switcher to turn on to play a particular console. His favorite? Sega Genesis, no question.

Headshot of Gael Cooper
Headshot of Gael Cooper
Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read
Ibrahim Al-Nasser stands in front of some of his gaming consoles

Ibrahim Al-Nasser stands in front of some of the gaming consoles that helped him set a world record.

Guinness Book of World Records

If you have more than one gaming console, you might think you're indulging yourself. But don't worry about it, because Ibrahim Al-Nasser from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just set a Guinness world record by hooking up 444 of his gaming consoles to a single television. They're all different from each other, and they're all playable.

Yep. Four hundred and forty-four consoles, ranging from a Magnavox Odyssey, the first gaming console, released in 1972, up to the PlayStation 5 Slim, released in late 2023. Other consoles in his massive collection include an Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, Sega Genesis and the extremely rare Super A'Can, which was released only in Taiwan and China, in 1995.

And he has a favorite.

"For me, the best gaming console of all time, number one always, forever, Sega Genesis," Al-Nasser told the Guinness Book of World Records, even bestowing a smooch on his favorite console.

Read more: Best Handheld Game Consoles of 2024

In a video, Al-Nasser displays his gaming room, which kind of looks like the electronics section at a decent Goodwill. Yet unlike your average thrift store, he manages to keep the endless cables from making the room look like a tangled mess.

"I used all the tools available in the market in order to organize the cables," he said, walking video viewers through his setup.

He keeps an Excel spreadsheet so he knows which switcher to turn on when he wants to display a certain console on the TV. The setup includes over 30 RCA switchers and more than 12 HDMI switchers.

Al-Nasser may have to expand his setup soon. Gamers are always on the lookout for the latest console. The Nintendo Switch 2, successor to the enormously popular Nintendo Switch, is expected to be announced in the next fiscal year. Sony has said that its popular PlayStation 5 is nearing the end of its life cycle, so fans are already speculating about the PlayStation 6, as well as the PlayStation 5 Pro. And a new Xbox should be coming in 2028.