May 10, 2024
History of Gaming Consoles
From Atari to Nintendo to Playstation
- AZ TRT S05 EP18 (233) 5-5-2024
What We Learned This Week:
- Odyssey by Magnavox, first home gaming system
- Atari created both Home Pong & then Atari 2600
- Nintendo Game Systems - NES, Wii, Switch + Super Mario Bros & Legend of Zelda games
- Sega Genesis & Sonic game, Sony Playstation, Microsoft Xbox
Guest: Ben B
Notes:
Main Consoles – Name, Distributer, release Year & some sales #’s
1st Gen
Odyssey from Magnavox 1972
Homepong from Atari 1975
Atari 2600 1977
2nd Gen
Intellivision 1980
Colecovision 1980
Atari 5200
*Crash of 1983
3rd Gen
Famicon – Nintendo in Japan 1983
NES Nintendo 1985 61 mil
Sega master System 1986
Atari 7800
4th Gen
Gameboy Nintendo 1989 115 mil
Sega Genesis 1989 35 mil
Atari Lynx
Super famicon 1990
Super Nintendo 1991
5th Gen
Sony Playstation - 1994 100 mil
PS 2 2000 158 mil
6th Gen
Nintendo 64 1996
Sega Dreamcast
Microsoft Xbox 2001
Gameboy Advance 2001
Ganecube 2001
7th Gen
Playstation Portable PSP 2004
Nintendo DS
Nintendo Wii 2006 100 mil +
Xbox 360 2005 80 mil
PS 3 2006 80 mil
8th Gen
RDS 2011
PS 4 2013
Xbox 2013
9th Gen
Nintendo Switch 2017
Microsoft Xbox X & S 2020
Sony Playstation 5 2020
Failures –
Comodore CDTV 25k
Atari Jaguar 100k
Nintendo Virtual Boy 1995 770k
Sega Saturn 1999 9 mil ?
Wii U 2012 13 mil
More Info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_2600
Sources:
The Game Console 2.0: A Photographic History from Atari to Xbox by Evan Amos
https://www.amazon.com/Game-Console-2-0-Photographic-History/
https://nostarch.com/game-console-20
Revised and updated since the first edition’s celebrated 2018 release, The Game Console 2.0 is an even bigger archival collection of vividly detailed photos of more than 100 video-game consoles. This ultimate archive of gaming history spans five decades and nine distinct generations, chronologically covering everything from market leaders to outright failures, and tracing the gaming industry’s rise, fall, and monumental resurgence.
The book’s 2nd edition features more classic game consoles and computers, a section on retro gaming in the modern era, and dozens of new entries — including super-rare finds, such the Unisonic Champion 2711, and the latest ninth-generation consoles. You’ll find coverage of legendary systems like the Magnavox Odyssey, Atari 2600, NES, and the Commodore 64; systems from the ‘90s and 2000s; modern consoles like the Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5; and consoles you never knew existed.
Get a unique peek at the hardware powering the world’s most iconic video-game systems with The Game Console 2.0 — the perfect gift for geeks of all stripes and every gamer’s must-have coffee-table book.
Author Bio
Evan Amos is a video game photographer and historian, whose contributions to the public domain comprise the ultimate visual reference for every generation of consoles. His work has appeared in hundreds of articles, YouTube videos, and popular media outlets like Kotaku. He is also the creator and curator of the Vanamo Online Game Museum, home to the most accessible, widely used digital preservation archive in the video game realm.
Toys That Built America
https://www.history.com/shows/the-toys-that-built-america
How Super Mario Helped Nintendo Conquer the Video Game World
Originally a second banana character in 'Donkey Kong' in 1981, Mario went on to conquer the video game world.
https://www.history.com/news/super-mario-history-nintendo-donkey-kong-facts
excerpt:
"Donkey Kong" was a huge success, but the company did not take their hands off the joystick and celebrate their win. They quickly developed and released a sequel named "Donkey Kong Jr.," which featured the son of Donkey Kong attempting to rescue his father from the evil clutches of the character formerly known as Jumpman, but now named Mario. Despite Mario being the “bad guy” (for the first and only time in his career), the game was another huge success for Nintendo.
In 1983, Mario finally got a chance to be the star, when he and his brother Luigi (now billed as plumbers from New York) were tasked with defeating numerous creatures attempting to rise from the sewers of their beloved city in the successful arcade game "Mario Bros."
On July 15, 1983, Nintendo (and Mario) leaped out of the arcade and into millions of living rooms for the first time, with the release of the home console Family Computer (Famicom for short) in Japan. Sales soared domestically, and after a year of market testing in select U.S. locations, the Nintendo Entertainment System—renamed and redesigned for the American market—was released nationwide in September of 1986. The system launched with 17 available games, including a new game featuring everyone’s favorite plumber: "Super Mario Bros."
By 1988, Nintendo had a stranglehold on the American console market, and thanks to the automatic inclusion of "Super Mario Bros" with later versions of the NES, the connection between character and company was reinforced.
More:
5 of the Most Influential Early Video Games
'Pong,' 'Space Invaders' and 'Pac-Man' helped spawn a juggernaut industry.
https://www.history.com/news/top-early-home-video-games-pong-pacman
excerpt:
“Pong” may not have been the first home video game, but it was the first major video game hit—one that launched the Atari home console dynasty and, arguably, an entire industry. Atari founder and “Pong” creator Nolan Bushnell and his partner Ted Dabney had had a surprise juggernaut in 1972 with the arcade version of the game, which had improved on the basic “Table Tennis” concept by adding sound, scoring and spin. Magnavox sued for copyright infringement; Atari settled by paying an exclusive licensing fee. They then adapted it for home play.
First sold exclusively in Sears as a limited edition Sears-branded console, Atari’s home “Pong” became one of the retail giant’s best-selling items of the 1975 holiday season. Atari soon released its own branded version of “Pong,” helping to popularize its 2600 gaming console (launched in 1977), which became the most popular home game machine of its era, selling some 30 million units before being discontinued in 1992. Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for $28 million and went on to found more than 20 companies, including Chuck E. Cheese.
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