When I was a lad (sounds like one of those sort of things granpa or Nan would say!) I scrimped and saved all my pocket money, because I wanted one of the latest things to come into the home. That was the Atari 2600 VCS games system, I thought it was the bee's knees to be able to plug a thing into the TV and play games, the joysticks were crappy, and so were the paddles, but I didn't care. The games were very expensive, but I somehow saved for them as they were ones I wanted to play. Indeed the VCS was my introduction to the world of consoles, it was regarded as the first most successful console around, and spawned quite a few more.The newest consoles however make my trusty Atari look like a comparison between a soapbox racer and a formula F1 Ferrari!
As I have said ATARI were the mainstream producers of the games console, in the early eighties, indeed people would by an Atari just so they could play the game Space Invaders, which was created by Taito, but licensed by Atari. This game became the basis for thousands of clones.
But even though this market leader in consoles had cornered the market, they still wanted more. They tried to ban 3rd party software for the console especially titles from Activision but failed. Then a company called Mystique started to release pornographic games for the console, including the infamous Custer's Revenge that outraged women's groups and native Indians, Atari's image was tarnished, and it started to spell the end of consoles in 1983, that and the growing interest in home PC's.
So the market was stagnant for consoles until 1985 when a Japanese company released their Nintendo Entertainment System, coupled with a little robot called ROB (Robot Operated Buddy), and a light gun for shooting games. But it also game with a certain game featuring an Italian Plumber called Mario, and his brother Luigi. That game was Super Mario Brothers it was a game that would eventually be listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest selling game of all time. It put Nintendo on the map, and got people interested in consoles again, indeed that one game was probably the game that started the console wars.
With no other games to touch it at the time Mario ensured Nintendo would become one of the main players in the Console Wars. But in the late eighties and early 90's that was set to change, with the arrival of the SEGA Mega Drive, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Unfortunately, despite all the hype and the fact their system was released 2 years before the new Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), the little hedgehog couldn't beat off the Italian plumbers, and soon the SEGA faded into history. That and the fact that Nintendo had released in 1989, a handheld console that guaranteed they would forever be at the top of the charts when it came to hand-held consoles - The GameBoy!
Nintendo were to stay at the top of the tree for nearly 10 years, until a rival Japanese company produced a far more superior product that was based on a 32-bit system rather then the 16-bit of the SNES. That company was Sony, the product the Sony Playstation, the Eagle had landed!
More to follow next time...
2 comments:
I remember being jelious of my cousin because he had a ColecoVision that had a Smurf game.
LOL, I bet you took the micky because it never took off!
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