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Magnavox Odyssey
First game console with 340,000 units sold. The prototype known as the "Brown Box" is located at the Smithsonian. -
Pong
Coin-operated arcade game by Atari Inc. It was the first game to gain widespread popularity and launched the video game industry. It is based on table tennis. -
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First generation consoles
Magnavox Odyssey, Pong, and Maze Wars -
Maze Wars
One of the first FPS games. Had multiplayer capabilities, 3D game, and used tile-based movement. Other players were eyeballs that can be shot or harmed. Players gain points by shooting other players or lose points if they get shot. -
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Second generation consoles
Cartridges began to move to CPU-based consoles.
Fairchild Channel F, Atari 2600, Intellivision -
Atari 2600
Originally the "Atari VCS", its name changed in 1982 after the release of the Atari 5200. It came with two joysticks, two paddle controllers, and a cartridge game - first "Combat" and later "Pac-Man." It popularized game cartridges and saw most popularity in the 1980s. -
Chuck E Cheese's
Family entertainment center aimed at young children. Helped improve the image of video games. -
Space Invaders
A 2D shooting game created in Japan and later licensed in the US where players had to defeat waves of aliens with a laser and earn points. It was so successful that it caused a temporary shortage of coins in Japan. The pixilated alien has become a pop culture icon, and is often used as a symbol to represent video games as a whole. -
Intellivision
Created by Mattel Electronics. First to pose a threat to Atari's monopoly on video games. -
Pac Man
Created by Namco. It is considered one of the most famous arcade games of all time. -
Donkey Kong
Created by Nintendo. The player has to move and climb up a series of platforms while dodging obstacles in order to rescue a damsel in distress from a giant ape, known as Donkey Kong. Both the hero and the ape became two of Nintendo's most popular characters. Nintendo licensed a home console version to Coleco, and dominated the market in the 1980s and early 1990s -
Pole Position
Arcade racing game by Atari. It was the most popular coin-op arcade game of 1983. It used a steering wheel and a gear shifter for low and high gears, and featured an accelerator and brake pedal. -
Mario Brothers
Created by Nintendo. 2-player platform arcade game in full color. Mario and his brother Luigi have to defeat creatures from the sewers below New York. -
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Video Game Crash ("Atari Shock" in Japan)
Due to a large number of poor quality games being released for home consoles, the video game market experienced a crash after the release of the game E.T. by Atari. There were too many choices of home consoles and video games, and with the release of cheaper personal computers, more consumers began buying personal computers. Ended after Nintendo's release of the Nintendo Entertainment System and the game Super Mario Bros. -
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Third generation consoles
Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Atari 7800 -
Tetris
Tile-matching game created in the Soviet Union by Alexey Pajitnov, who did not officially gain royalties from the game until 1996, when he formed The Tetris Company. "Tetris" comes from the greek numerical prefix "tetra-", which means four segments. It takes use of Tetronimos. It was originally created for the Commodore 64 and the IBM PC. It sold more than 70 million copies. Players get random sets of 4 blocks and have to fill and clear rows in order to progress. -
Nintendo Entertainment System
8-bit console by Nintendo. Helped revitalize the US industry following the crash of 1984 and set the standard for future consoles. It was the first console to play and openly court third-party developers. -
Sega Master System
8-bit cartridge-based console by Sega. Released as a competitor to the NES but failed to beat Nintendo; however, it saw success in European markets. -
Atari 7800
Replaced the Atari 5200 and re-established Atari's supremacy over Nintendo and Sega. It was designed to be upgraded to a home computer. It had digital joysticks, was fully backward-compatible with the Atari 2600, and was affordable, selling at $140. -
The Legend of Zelda
Fantasy action-adventure created and published by Nintendo. Play as Link, who must rescue Princess Zelda. One of Nintendo's most popular franchises. -
Final Fantasy
Science fantasy RPGs that sold more than 100 million units. Known for innovation, visuals, full-motion videos, photo-realistic character models, and orchestrated music. -
Nintendo Game Boy
8-bit handheld game device. First successful handheld, predecessor of all other Game Boys. Sold 118.69 million units worldwide and was originally bundled with Tetris. -
Atari Lynx
World's first handheld game with a color LCD display by Atari and Epyx. Originally pitched to Nintendo and Sega but both declined. Had advanced features and graphics, as well as an ambidextrous layout. It failed to attract quality third-party developers and was eventually abandoned. -
Sega Genesis
First 16-bit console to achieve notable market share - sold 40 million units worldwide. Direct competitor of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, although it was released two years earlier. Supported over 900 games. -
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Handheld games
Nintendo Gameboy, Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear, TurboExpress. -
Sega Game Gear
Sega created the Sega Game Gear to compete with the Game Boy. It had a short battery life, lack of support, and lack of titles, which held it back. It had a full-color backlit screen with a landscape format. -
TurboExpress
Most advanced of its time. 66 2.6 in. screen, displayed 64 sprites at once, 16 per scanline, in 482 colors from a palette of 512. Played games on a credit-card sized device called HuCards. Had 8KB of RAM and could be used as a video monitor. Sold for $249.99. -
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sega's flagship franchise. Increased the popularity of the Sega Genesis and established Sonic the Hedgehog as Sega's mascot. Inspiration from Nintendo's Super Mario. -
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Advanced graphics and sound capabilities. Ran 3D graphics better, helped usher in 3D in the fifth generation. Best-selling console of the 16-bit era. -
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Fourth generation consoles
16-bit era. Rivalry between Nintendo and Sega (Super Nintendo Entertainment System vs. the Sega Genesis). Both retained majority market share until 1996. -
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Fifth generation consoles
32-bit and 64-bit. Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, and Nintendo 64. Game Boy Color was also released. Performance depended on factors such as processor clock speed, bandwidth, and memory size. PCs were now powerful enough to emulate the 8- and 16- bit systems of the previous 5+ years. The internet made it possible to store and download tape and ROM images of older games. -
Sony PlayStation
32-bit console by Sony. Playstation Network. First to sell 100 million consoles. -
Sega Saturn
32-bit. Sold 9.5 million units worldwide. Powerful machine of its time but its design made it difficult. Was the third best-selling system at the time, behind the N64 and PS1. -
Nintendo 64
64-bit processor. Sold 32.93 million units worldwide. Best known for games like Super Mario 64 and its iconic controller. -
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Sixth generation consoles
Xbox, PS2, Nintendo Gamecube, Sega Dreamcast. 128-bit. -
Sega Dreamcast
First sixth-generation console. Successor to the Sega Saturn as a comeback effort. Failed to gather momentum when the PS2 released and was discontinued in 2001. -
Sony PlayStation 2
Best-selling console in history, selling over 150 million units. -
Nintendo GameCube
Used compact discs. Discs are encrypted and unreadable by most DVD drives. sold 22 million units worldwide. Discontinued in 2007 -
Microsoft Xbox
Microsoft's first console with 24 million units sold. Allowed players to play online. Discontinued in 2008 -
Xbox 360
Created by Microsoft. Streams from PC, sold 80- million units worldwide. Xbox Live allows players to compete online and download content. -
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Seventh generation consoles
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii -
Nintendo Wii
Wii motion controller and WiiConnect24. And a Virtual Console. For a broader audience, December 2009 broke sales records for a single month in the US. The Wii led PS3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales. -
Sony PlayStation 3
First to use Blu-ray Disc. Can output HD video for games and movies (up to 1080p). Initially available in two configs: 20 GB and 60 GB. -
Nintendo Wii U
First Nintendo console to support HD graphics. GamePad controller (can play on the small screen or on TV). Sold poorly, lack of support for Game Developers and was discontinued in favor of the Nintendo Switch. -
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Eighth generation consoles (2011 - Ongoing)
Nintendo Wii U, Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One, Nintendo Switch. Rise of AMD as the major processor. -
Sony PlayStation 4
Features an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit "the most powerful AMD processor to date". Sold 91.6M units as of December 2018. -
Microsoft Xbox One
Sold 1 million units within the first 24-hours of launch. Praised for its simple design (controller and console itself) but was criticized for its lack of titles on launch. Sold poorly in Japan (In June 2015, only 1,000 units sold in Japan, while 16.4 thousand Wii U's sold in that same period). Had an AMD processor. -
Nintendo Switch
Created as a response to poor sales of the Wii U. Sought to help support 3rd-party developers by allowing game-making much easier than the Wii U. Had an Nvidia chip. Portable device, the two controllers on the sides can be taken off and used. Sold much better than the Wii U, with 32.27 million units sold worldwide as of 2018. Bestselling game: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
