A Trip To The History of Game Consoles: Part 1

Video gaming is a part of our lives for years. Anyone who is interested in technology has a computer or console nowadays. Especially game consoles started to take the place of PC by their easy to use system. But how did consoles come to these days? I'll take you on a trip of the history of old game consoles.


Brown Box

Brown Box is the first game console in history which was created by a German engineer Ralph Baer in 1967. He is known as the father of the video games. Brown Box could be connected to a TV by a vacuum tube circuit. In the first game for Brown Box, we controlled two squares chasing each other. Afterwards a rifle and 12 more game released for the console.






Odysses

After Brown Box was released by Baer and his team and presented to the TV manufacturer Magnavox, it was evolved and released again. But this time with another name, Magnavox Odysses. It was 1972 and Odysses was the first commercial game console.









Pong

Atari, which was set up by Nolan Bushnell in 1972, achieved it's first big success with Pong in 1975. There were also sounds besides the graphics and that made Pong very successful. After Pong's success, Atari had the same meaning with game console.








Atari 2600 VCS

Atari was also known as "Black Box" and you can accept it as grandfather of today's game consoles. In 1977, Atari thought that a single game for a console wasn't enough and released the Atari 2600 which had many games. Also you were able to play more games by using a cartridge. Atari is the one which introduced us the classics like Space Invaders and Missile command.






Intellivision

Intellivision was the first serious opponent of Atari which was released by a firm named Mattel in 1980. That was the beginning of Mattel-Atari competition. But Intellivision games had better graphics and audio. It made game developers take console gaming seriously.








NES

When Nintendo released the product named NES(Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1985, everybody was suspicious about it. It was known as Famicom in Japan and people liked it with the games like Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Contra, Mega Man and Metroid.








Game Boy

After the second half of the 80's, Nintendo continued its success with Game Boy. It was released in 1989 and it had 8-bit processor with a single screen color. Tetris game brought the first big success for it. Game Boy was one of the first portable game consoles.








Sega Genesis

In 1989, Sega Genesis stood as an opponent to the NES with 16-bit processor. It had a better hardware than its opponent and this way it attracted more attention. With the games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Electronic Arts' sports games which had better graphics than other games at that time, Sega Genesis was one step ahead.







Neo-Geo

When Neo-Geo was released by SNK in 1990, it had an opportunity to have a big success with its 24-bit processor which means high quality graphics. But... It was a little expensive. Neo-Geo's price was 650$ and games' price was 200$. That situation kept Neo-Geo away from having a big success.








SNES

Nintendo had lost the competition against the Sega Genesis' 16-bit processor and counterattacked with SNES(Super NES). In 1991, SNES managed to take the lead with the new versions of Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario, Metroid and Zelda.








PlayStation

Release date of Sony's PlayStation is a turning point for the history of game consoles. It was released in 1995 and it introduced us to 3D graphics with its CD-ROM and 32-bit processor. PlayStation had a big success over the world with legendary games like Resident Evil, Gran Turismo, Tekken, Crash Bandicoot and Metal Gear Solid.





Nintendo 64

Nintendo 64 was the last game console which uses cartridge. When it was released in 1996, people were agreed about that it wouldn't have a chance against PlayStation. But they were wrong. Because classic games like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time brought the success to it. Also there were not long loading times as PlayStation's. But Nintendo 64 didn't have games as much as PlayStation and that was a big disadvantage for it.