1980s game consoles

Sega then turned to Atari of all people to help launch it, but they declined. It was so hard to market against Nitnedo, and also due to the fact, there were rumors of a bit Nintendo console coming soon, too. They expected to sell a million units, but only sold , But the Genesis just needed time to grow. To me, the TurboGrafx was the stuff of legend. It seemed like a video game console from the future, and only something rich kids could own. It technically predates the Sega Genesis for the bit console as it was released in Japan in I think what gave this console some folklore is that no one had seen or played it.

This seems like a smart marketing campaign to build mystique, but the marketing campaign was actually seen as a failure. It was marketed as such but was technically an 8-bit CPU. The thing was, the PC engine—as it was known in Japan— was a monster hit. It was introduced earlier and still was better than 8-bit. When it debuted in Japan in , it actually outsold the Famicom.

The entire system would end up being discontinued in The thing is, if they had launched a bit earlier, they could have been what Sega became. The TurboGrafx was released two weeks after the Sega Genesis and it was too late to play catch up. Who knows what would have happened if they had launched a few months earlier.

To me, the TurboGraphx is still somewhat of a mythical console. No surprise here, but Nintendo dominates the top-selling video games of the decade. Of the top ten best-selling video games, only one is not an NES game: and it belongs to Atari you can probably guess which game it is.

The one thing to note here is regarding Tetris. It did come out in and was available on every platform imaginable, but it was the launch of the GameBoy in that put Tetris into the stratosphere when it came to sales. Skip to content. Share List. Unlike other video game consoles which connected to TVs to display raster graphics, the Vectrex included its own monitor which displayed vector graphics.

The monochrome Vectrex used overlays to give the illusion of color, and also to reduce the severity of flickering caused by the vector monitor. At the time many of the most popular arcade games used vector displays, and GCE was looking to set themselves apart from the pack by selling high-quality versions of games like Space Wars and Armor Attack.

The system even contained a built in game, the Asteroids-like Minestorm. Atari Screenshots. Atari Released November The Atari is a video game console introduced in by Atari. It was created to compete with the Mattel Intellivision, but it also competed with the Colecovision shortly after the 's release.

In some ways, it was both technologically superior and more cost efficient than any console available at that time. The Atari was in essence an Atari computer without a keyboard. This made for a powerful, proven design which Atari could quickly bring to market. The system featured many innovations like the first automatic TV switch box, allowing it to automatically switch from regular TV viewing to the game system signal when the system was activated.

The initial release of the system featured four controller ports, where all other systems of the day had only two ports. The system also featured a revolutionary new controller with an analog joystick, numeric keypad, two fire buttons on both sides of the controller and game function keys for Start, Pause, and Reset.

Coleco Gemini Screenshots. Coleco Gemini Released November In , Coleco released Expansion Module 1 for its Coleco vision video game system using off-the-shelf components. Atari sued Coleco for patent infringement, however a court ruled that since Coleco used off-the-shelf components and not the same components found inside an Atari , the Expansion Module 1 did not infringe on Atari's patents for the With this ruling, Coleco decided to make a stand-alone Atari clone and named it the Gemini.

The main difference between the Coleco Gemini and the Atari is the controller design. The Coleco Gemini controllers featured an 8-way joystick and a degree paddle on the same controller the joystick was at the top of the controller, and the paddle was at the bottom of the controller. Unfortunately, if one wanted to play the Atari game Warlords in 4 player mode, 2 sets of Atari-made paddles were required, and one set of Atari-made paddles was required for 2 player paddle games.

Mattel Intellivision II Screenshots. In order to cut costs Mattel featured 16 position removable joysticks on their 'new' system. A LED light was implemented to show owners when the system was on or off, since this was a difficulty with the Intellivision I unit. The power button functioned also as a reset switch and must be held for 5 seconds before the power will shut off, otherwise just pressing it will reset the system. If the game was not in play the screen would go dark after five minutes in order to prevent burn in.

To further reduce burn in, the Intellivision II Owner's Manual states that you should play the system using low contrast levels on your TV anyhow. Mattel Aquarius Screenshots. Radofin had designed two computer systems. Internally they were known as "Checkers", and the more sophisticated "Chess". Mattel contracted for these to become the Aquarius and Aquarius II, respectively. Production ceased four months later because of poor sales.

Paul are still in business, though they no longer have any affiliation with the Aquarius product line. The Aquarius often came bundled with the Mini-Expander peripheral, which added gamepads, an additional cartridge port for memory expansion, and the GI AY sound chip, which was the same one used on the Intellivision console. Other common peripherals were the Data recorder, 40 column thermal printer, 4K and 16K ram carts. Less common first party peripherals include a baud cartridge modem, 32k RAM cart, 4 color plotter, and Quick Disk drive.

RDI Halcyon Screenshots. Chargers, although trailers for several others were created. Nintendo NES Screenshots. Nintendo NES Released October Following a series of arcade game successes in the early s, Nintendo made plans to produce its own console hardware that had removable cartridges, a feature not included with the company's earlier Color TV Games product.

Designed by Masayuki Uemura and released in Japan on July 15, , the Nintendo Family Computer Famicom was slow to gather momentum: during its first year, many criticized the system as unreliable, prone to programming errors and rampant freezing. Following a product recall and a reissue with a new motherboard, the Famicom's popularity soared, becoming the best-selling game console in Japan by the end of Encouraged by their successes, Nintendo soon turned their attentions to the North American markets.

With a completely redesigned case and a new name, the Nintendo Entertainment System NES proved to be just as popular in America as the Famicom was in Japan, and played a major role in revitalizing interest in the video game industry. Consoles of the '70s Consoles of the '80s Consoles of the '90s Consoles of the s. Interestingly, Mattel rolled out a voice synthesis peripheral in called the Intellivoice, which made speech integral to gameplay.

Hell, William Shatner was eventhe spokesman at one point. The VIC also held the distinction of introducing many software developers to basic programming skills. This model was known for various oddities, including no sound capability and strangely giving the square root of. Sinclair eventually replaced this model with the more popular Spectrum. And did you know the CV was the first ever programmable console to be made in Japan? The graphics were a little iffy for its time following the Atari and controls were located directly on the console two knobs per player!

Not incredibly successful, but did manage to spawn two spinoff consoles. Fancy and rare.