Brief history of video games
Video game consoles have been a part of home entertainment for nearly
three decades. The first systems for the home were big, ugly machines
with built in games. It wasn’t until Atari released a cartridge based
system, did they really become popular and take off. It was a golden age
of video games with Atari raking in the cash almost as fast as people
could spend it. They could do no wrong and the systems were literally a
license to print money. Soon though, the publishers and developers got
greedy and lazy and started releasing games that were not very good and
some competition from Coleco game real games a new option. Along with
the new competition, there was also some new rivalry with home PC’s that
were becoming more affordable. Eventually the bottom dropped out of the
market and the industry plunged into chaos and obscurity. It wasn’t long
after this freefall and the industry being labeled as dead that Nintendo
decided to defy logic and release a home video game console in America.
They made a nice looking machine that could play games that were fun and
looked great. There was even a mascot in a little plumber named Mario.
These NES systems were the best home consoles released to date and were
wildly popular.
Another Japanese company decided to get into the US market at about the same time and introduced their Master System to the country. It was not quite as popular as the NES even though it was more powerful and offered more options and customization. Nintendo could do no wrong and it wasn’t until the late eighties that Sega introduced their next generation console-Genesis. It was much more powerful and people were mesmerized by its graphics. It was like playing arcade games at home. It was hugely popular and helped Sega gain a big share of the worldwide market. Nintendo finally had some real competition. Many people point to this time as the best time in video game competition. There was two world class companies fighting for your dollar and there was a rabid fan base on both sides. It was Mario versus Sonic and the lines had been drawn. Nintendo would soon release their Super Nintendo System to huge fanfare and expectations. A few classics emerged from these systems and some franchises that exist even today.