First Generation:
The first generation of video game consoles lasted from 1972, with the release of the Magnavox Odyssey, until 1977, when "pong"-style console manufacturers left the market en masse due to the introduction and success of microprocessor-based consoles.
Magnavox Odyssey (US $100)
(NA May 1972)
(EU 1974)
(JP 1975)
Magnavox Odyssey 100 (US $100)
(NA 1975)
Tele-Spiel ES 2201 (US $100)
(NA 1975)
Magnavox Odyssey 200 (US $100-230)
(NA 1975)
Atari/Sears Telegames Pong (US $98.95)
(NA 1975)
Coleco Telstar
(NA 1976)
(JP 1977)
Nintendo Color TV Game
(JP 1977)
Second Generation:
In the history of computer and video games, the second generation (sometimes referred to as the early 8 bit era or to a lesser extent, the 4 bit era) began in 1976 with the release of the Fairchild Channel F and Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System.
The early portion of this generation saw the release of several consoles as various companies decided to enter the market, and an occurrence of a later portion whose releases were in direct reaction to the earlier consoles. The Atari 2600 was the dominant console for much of the second generation, with other consoles such as the Intellivision, Odyssey 2, and ColecoVision also enjoying market share.
The second generation came to an abrupt end in 1984 amid the video game crash of 1983.
Fairchild Channel F
(1976)
RCA Studio II
(1977)
Atari 2600
(1977)
Magnavox Odyssey²
(197 cool
Mattel Intellivision
(1979)
Milton Bradley Microvision
(1979)
Nintendo Game & Watch
(1980)
Atari 5200
(1982)
Vectrex
(1982)
Emerson Arcadia 2001
(1982)
ColecoVision
(1982)
Sega SG-1000
(1983)
Third Generation:
In the history of computer and video games, the third generation began in 1983 with the Japanese release of the Famicom (later known as the Nintendo Entertainment System in the rest of the world). Although the previous generation of consoles had also used 8-bit processors, it was at the end of this generation that home consoles were first labeled by their "bits". This also came into fashion as 16-bit systems like the Mega Drive/Genesis were marketed to differentiate between the generations of consoles. In the United States, this generation in gaming was primarily dominated by the NES/Famicom.
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Family Computer (Famicon) (8-bit) (¥14,800) (US $199.99) (CA $240)
(JP July 15, 1983)
(US October 18, 1985)
(CA February 1986)
(EU 1986)
(EU / AUS 1987)
PV-1000 (8-bit) (US $139.99)
(JP October 1983)
Epoch Cassette Vision (8-bit)
(JP 1984)
Supergame VG 3000 (8-bit)
(JP 1985)
Sega Master System (8-bit) (¥24,200) (US $199.99)
(JP 1985)
(NA June 1986)
(EU 1987)
Atari 7800 (US $140)
(NA June 1986)
(EU 1987)
Fourth Generation:
In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation (more commonly referred to as the 16 bit era) began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's (NEC) PC Engine (known as the TurboGrafx-16 in North America). Although NEC released the first fourth generation console, this era was dominated by the rivalry between Nintendo and Sega's consoles; the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (the Super Famicom in Japan) and the Sega Mega Drive (named the Sega Genesis in North America due to trademark issues). Nintendo was able to capitalize on its previous success in the third generation and won a dominant market share in the fourth generation as well. Sega was also successful in this generation and began a new franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, to compete with Nintendo's Mario series of games. Several other companies released consoles in this generation, but, with the exception of the Neo Geo, none of them were widely successful. Nevertheless, several other companies started to take notice of the maturing video game industry and began making plans to release consoles of their own in the future.
TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine (16-bit) (US $249.99)
(JP October 30, 1987)
(NA September 1, 1989)
(EU 1990)
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis (16-bit) (US $190.00)
(JP October 29, 198 cool
(NA September 15, 1989)
(EU November 30, 1990)
Game Boy (8-bit) (US ¥12,500)
(JP April 21, 1989)
(US August, 1989)
(EU 1990)
Atari Lynx ($189.99)
(US September 1989)
Neo Geo (16-bit) (US $649.99 (Gold version) (US $399.99 (Silver version))
(JP October 6, 1990)
(NA 1991)
(AUS 1992)
(EU 1990)
Sega Game Gear (16-bit) (¥14,500) (US $149.99) (AUD $155)
(JP October 6, 1990)
(EU 1991)
(US 1991)
(AUS 1992)
TurboExpress ($299.99)
(JP November 16, 1990)
(US 1991)
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)/Super Family Computer (Super Famicon) (16-bit) (US$199.99)
(JP November 21, 1990)
(NA August 13, 1991)
Amiga CDTV
(1991)
CD-i
(1991-199 cool
Fifth Generation:
The fifth-generation era (more commonly known as the 32 bit era and occasionally, after the release of the Nintendo 64, the 64 bit era and more rarely the 3D era) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the close of the 20th century. The fifth generation lasted approximately from 1993 to 2002 and was dominated by three consoles, the Sega Saturn (1994), the Sony PlayStation (1994), and the Nintendo 64 (1996). Demographics in console sales varied widely, but these three consoles, especially the PlayStation, defined the system wars of this era. The FM Towns Marty, Amiga CD32, 3DO, the NEC PC-FX, and Atari Jaguar were also part of this era, but their sales were poor and they failed to make a significant impact on the market. This era also saw three updated versions of Nintendo's Game Boy: Game Boy Light (Japan only), Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color.
Bit ratings for consoles largely fell by the wayside during this era, with the notable exceptions of the Nintendo 64 and the heavy usage of references to the 64-bit processing power of the Atari Jaguar in advertisements. The number of "bits" cited in console names referred to the CPU word size and had been used by hardware marketers as a "show of power" for many years. However, there was little to be gained from increasing the word size much beyond 32 or 64 bits because once this level was reached, performance depended on more varied factors, such as processor clock speed, bandwidth, and memory size.
The fifth generation also saw the rise of emulation. During this period, commonly available personal computers became powerful enough to emulate the 8 and 16-bit systems of the previous generation. Also, the development of the Internet made it possible to store and download tape and ROM images of older games, eventually leading 7th generation consoles (such as the Xbox 360, the Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DSi ) to make many older games available for purchase or download.
TurboDuo
(1992)
Mega Duck/Cougar Boy
(1993)
Amiga CD32 (US $399.99)
(UK September 1993)
3DO Interactive Multiplayer (US $700)
(NA October 1993)
Atari Jaguar (US $250)
(US November 18, 1993)
Neo Geo CD
(1994)
PC-FX
(1994)
Gamate
(1994)
Sega Saturn (US $399)
(JP November 22, 1994)
(NA May 11, 1995)
(EU July 8, 1995)
Sony PlayStation (32-bit) (US $299.99)
(JP December 3, 1994)
(NA September 9, 1995)
(EU September 29, 1995)
Sega Nomad
(1995)
Bandia Playdia
(1994-1996)
Casio Loopy
(1995)
Atari Jaguar CD
(1995)
Virtual Boy
(1995-1996)
Apple Bandai Pippin
(1995-1997)
Nintendo 64 (64-bit) ($199.99)
(JP June 23, 1996)
(NA September 29, 1996)
(PAL March 1, 1997)
Game.com
(1997)
Game Boy Lite
(1997)
Game Boy Color (8-bit)
(199 cool
Neo Geo Pocket
(199 cool
Nintendo 64 DD (Disk Drive) (JP)
(1999)
WonderSwan
(1999)
Sixth Generation:
The sixth-generation era (sometimes referred to as the 128-bit era; see "Number of bits" below) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the turn of the 21st century. Platforms of the sixth generation include Sega's Dreamcast, Sony's PlayStation 2, the Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox. This era began on November 27, 1998 with the release of the Dreamcast, and it was joined by the PlayStation 2 in March 2000. The Dreamcast was discontinued in March 2001 and that same year saw the launch of the Nintendo GameCube in September and Xbox in November.
Dreamcast (128-bit) (US $199.99) (UK £119.99) (€144.99)
(JP November 27, 199 cool
(NA September 9, 1999)
(EU October 14, 1999)
Neo Geo Pocket Color (16-bit)
(1999)
PlayStation 2 (128-bit) (US $299.99) (UK £179.99) (€214.99)
(Now US $59.99, UK £64.99, €69.99)
(JP March 4, 2000)
(NA October 26, 2000)
(EU November 24, 2000)
(AUS November 30, 2000)
Game Boy Advance (32-bit)
(2001)
GP32
(2001)
Nintendo GameCube (128-bit) (US $199.99) (UK £119.99) (€144.99)
(Now US$ 29.99, UK£ 29.99, € 34.99)
(JP September 14, 2001)
(NA November 18, 2001)
(EU May 3, 2002)
(AUS May 17, 2002)
Xbox (128-bit) (US $299.99) (UK£ 179.99) (€ 214.99)
(Now US$ 49.99)
(NA November 15, 2001)
(JP February 22, 2002)
(EU March 14, 2002)
SwanCrystal
(2002)
Nokia N-Gage
(2003)
Tapwire Zodiac
(2003)
Game Boy Advance SP (32-bit)
(2003)
Nokia N-Gage QD
(2004)
Game Boy Micro
(2005)
Seventh Generation:
In the history of video games, the seventh generation primarily focuses on the consoles released since 2005 by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.
For home consoles, the seventh generation began on November 22, 2005 with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and continued with the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 on November 11, 2006, and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006. Each new console introduced a new type of breakthrough technology. For example, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 offered high-definition graphics and the Wii focused on integrating controllers with movement sensors as well as joysticks (the PlayStation 3 also employs motion sensitivity, but to a lesser degree). Most of the consoles have wireless controllers, while the Xbox 360 also has wired controllers as an alternative. The PlayStation 3 controller can be charged through the use of a USB-A/mini-b cable. The wireless Xbox 360 controller uses either a rechargeable battery pack or 2 AA batteries; the same can be said about the Wii.
For handheld consoles, the seventh generation began on November 21, 2004 with the North American introduction of the Nintendo DS as a "third pillar", alongside Nintendo's existing Game Boy Advance and GameCube consoles. The Nintendo DS features a touch screen and built-in microphone, and supports wireless IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) standards. More recently, the new DSi features many new things including two built in cameras, the ability to download games from the DSi store, and a web browser. The PlayStation Portable, released later the same year on December 12, 2004, followed a different pattern. It became the first handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage media. Sony also gave the PlayStation Portable robust multi-media capability, connectivity with the PlayStation 3 and other PSPs, and Internet connectivity. The Nintendo DS likewise has connectivity to the internet through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and Nintendo DS Browser, as well as wireless connectivity to other DS systems and Wii consoles. Despite high sales numbers for both consoles, PlayStation Portable sales have consistently lagged behind those of the Nintendo DS.
Nintendo DS / DS Lite / DSi
(NA November 21, 2004)
(JP December 2, 2004)
(AUS February 24, 2005)
(EU March 11, 2005)
PSP-1000 series / PSP-2000 series / PSP-3000 series / PSP Go
(JP December 12, 2004)
(NA March 24, 2005)
(PAL September 1, 2005)
Xbox 360 (256-bit)
(NA November 22, 2005)
(EU December 2, 2005)
(JP December 10, 2005)
PlayStation 3 (256-bit)
(JP November 11, 2006)
(NA November 17, 2006)
(PAL March 23, 2007)
Wii (256-bit) (US$249.99)
(NA November 19, 2006)
(JP December 2, 2006)
(EU December 8, 2006)
