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First Coin-operated Amusement Machine
The first coin-operated amusement-type machine was made by SEGA in 1951. -
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First Generation Consoles Emerge
The Magnavox Odyssey was first, followed by Pong, Gran Track 10, Maze Wars, Coloco Telstar, and APF TV Fun. -
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Second Generation Consoles Emerge
Early 8-bit home consoles emerge, including the Fairchild Channel F, the Atari 2600, the Magnavox Odyssey, Space Invaders, Intellivision, Asteroids, Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Galaga, Tron, Q*bert, and Pole Position. -
Chuck E Cheese's Opens
The first family entertainment restaurant that focused on the entertainment of young children. Included video game machines, amusement stalls, and animatronic entertainment. -
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Third Generation Consoles Emerge
Third Generation Consoles Emerge onto the gaming market. -
Video Game Crash of 1984 and the Emergence of the Personal Computer
The delay in the release of Atari 7800s and the release of the personal computer, such as the Commodore 64. The crash lasted two years. The market was revitalized by the success of NES with their release of Super Mario Bros. -
Tetris is Released
Tetris debuts. -
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Emerges
The NES emerges, and is released in Asia as a family computer. -
The Legend of Zelda Releases
A high fantasy action-adventure video game series created in Japan and published by Nintendo.
As of December 2011, The Legend of Zelda franchise has sold 67.93 million copies since the release of the first game, -
Atari 7800 Releases
Designed to replace the unsuccessful Atari 5200, and re-establish Atari's market supremacy against Nintendo and Sega.
With this system, Atari addressed all the shortcomings of the Atari 5200: it had simple digital joysticks; it was almost fully backward-compatible with the Atari 2600; and it was affordable (it was originally priced at $140. -
Sega Master System Introduced
8-bit cartidge-based video game console that was manufactured by Sega. -
Final Fantasy Releases
The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games (RPGs), but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise. -
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Handhelds are Introduced
Nintendo's Game Boy, the Atari Lynx, the Sega Game Gear, and TurboExpress released during this time period, chronologically. -
Sonic the HedgeHog Releases
A platform video game developed by Sega.
Commercially successful, increasing the popularity of Sega's 16-bit console and establishing Sonic the Hedgehog as the company's mascot character.
Its success led to the development of subsequent games in Sega's flagship Sonic the Hedgehog series, as well as the creation of a media franchise of spin-off products featuring the character. -
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Fourth Generation Consoles Emerge
The fourth generation consoles emerge, including the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Mega Drive (named the Sega Genesis in North America due to trademark issues). -
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Fifth Generation Consoles Emerge
The fifth generation consoles emerge, including The market was dominated by three consoles, the Sega Saturn (1994), the Sony PlayStation (1994) and the Nintendo 64 (1996). -
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Sixth Generation Consoles Emerge (128-bit era)
The sixth generation consoles emerged, including the Sega Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and the Microsoft Xbox. -
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Seventh Generation Consoles Emerge
Started on November 21, 2004 with Nintendo DS.
Home consoles came on November 22, 2005 with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and a year later with Sony's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006 and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006.