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Prologue by
Tan
and
98PaceCar |
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With an industry that was experiencing tremendous technological growth and the video game crash of the early 80s left far behind mostly due to the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom, a consumer base fully recovered from the recession in the 80s was ready to spend as new and exciting possibilities in gaming were being developed by a seemingly endless assortment of manufacturers. While Sega and Nintendo carved up the market neatly between them early on, companies looking to expand their influence like NEC or break into this revitalized market like Neo Geo, Philips and 3DO, decided to ride the bleeding edge of new technology and multifunctional hardware in order to grab a slice of that pie for themselves. Other companies, like Atari and Commodore, tried one last time to maintain a foothold in a changing industry that was leaning away from arcades and home computers. With their noses in the wind, perhaps sensing the changes that were coming, everyone scrambled to adopt this new CD-ROM format that was making waves in the music industry. While not a new format in itself, its widespread usage, acceptance into the home, lowered costs and its obvious audio and storage potential, all made this shift possible during the 1990s. This sudden upheaval in technology fractured the market as many companies tried multiple attempts to capitalize and in turn, ended up confusing consumers when their own products overlapped and competed with each other for market share. Catching everyone off guard as an underdog cutting its teeth on a new area of home electronics, consumer product giant Sony began its domination which led to Nintendo being dethroned and Sega shoved into a distant third in the latter part of the decade. With these huge changes in hardware design, came new ideas about the games themselves. Voice acting, red book/green book audio, 3D graphics and realistic physics were just a few of the new innovations that went from "dabbled in" to "used extensively". So with the "bleep bloop" game play of the Atari 2600 and Intellivision games still on store shelves during the early 90s to the realistic driving simulators of the Gran Turismo series or realism and storytelling of Shenmue, the 1990s had the greatest range of technological diversity in any generation before or since.
The following section takes a quick snapshot of each major hardware system or technology released during the 90s. For
information about game systems sold during but released prior to 1990, please refer to the 1980s section of this site. |
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In 1990, Commodore set their attentions on the videogame console market. They followed the same concept as
other computer companies (Fujitsu with the FM Towns Marty, and before that the Amstrad GX400 and the Amiga CD32).
Their new system was called the Commodore 64GS (GS = Game System). This unit was basically just a repackaged Commodore 64
computer without a keyboard, port access (Disk drive, etc), or standard ROM chip. Cartridges were loaded through the top port, and the machine
came packaged with a joystick and a couple of games. |
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Fun Fact: The Commodore 64 personal computer (which this console basically is) sold over17 million units making it the best selling home PC of all time. |
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SNK took a gamble and created a home version of the MVS in 1990. The NEO GEO AES was released
at a high cost of $650, and came with either Baseball Stars Professional or NAM 1975 . Other game cartridges came at a cost as
high as $200 a piece. These cartridges played the exact same software as its MVS counterpart, but were quite expensive due to the
game's high ROM capacity requirements and large PCM boards. |
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Fun Fact: Neo Geo was also the first console to make use of memory cards to save game progress. |
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The
GX4000, released in the UK in 1990 by Amstrad, is definitely one of the most unique looking video game consoles ever released.
Amstrad, a popular computer manufacturer, looked to cash in on the lucrative video game console market like many of its peers had attempted
to do, some more successful than others. Sporting a very sleek design that resembles the snow speeder in Star Wars, looking underneath the hood
of this console reveals anything but space-age technology at the time of its release. |
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Fun Fact: Timing may have been the thing that killed this system. The 8-bit Amstrad GX4000 was released shortly after the newer generation 16-bit Sega MegaDrive. |
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1990 - Nintendo Super Famicom \ SNES |
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Around 1988 Nintendo was still enjoying the success of its NES /
Famicom system and didn't see any need to jump on the 16-bit bandwagon. However the NEC PC Engine / Turbografix in Japan and the
Sega Genesis in the US were beginning to dominate the videogame market.
Nintendo's jump to 16-bit was no real surprise. Oddly enough Nintendo
wanted the original Famicom to be 16-bit, but resources at the time were too expensive to make it happen, but now was the opportunity to take
Nintendo
to the next level. |
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Fun Fact: Nintendo seemed to get a lot of trouble calls with their NES because gamers had a bad habit of setting drinks on top of it. When they designed the SNES, they added rounded edges and raised areas so that you could not set a drink on it. |
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In the mid 1980s Philips and Sony partnered up to create a new
CD standard containing interactive combinations of sound, images and computer instructions. This CD standard also required specific types
of players. So in 1991 Philips created the Philips CD-i 210 as a "multimedia" system capable of playing interactive CD-i software
discs,
Audio CDs, CD+G (CD+Graphics), VCDs (Video CDs), and
Karaoke CDs. You could essentially enjoy different types of media on the same machine. |
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Fun Fact: Nintendo had initially planed to release a CD based add-on for its SuperNes console. Philips was one of the companies that they initially collaborated with to design it. |
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In 1991, Commodore once again attempted to enter the video game hardware arena by 'consolizing' yet another one of their existing line of PCs -
the
Amiga 500. This new multimedia entry was called the Commodore CDTV
(Commodore Dynamic Total Vision). This system was designed to essentially be the all-in-one unit for your home
entertainment. The housing itself is designed to fit in your standard AV cabinet (at the time). |
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Fun Fact: The CDTV was compatible with many existing Amiga peripherals including wireless trackballs and external hard\floppy drives. A MIDI IN\Out port was standard (wow!) |
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The Fujitsu Company decided to make an attempt to penetrate the console games market by taking their
popular
FM TOWNS line of computers, and adding in some special components to create a stand alone video game console. The plan was for the
software designed for the FM TOWNS computers to be modified slightly so that the games would work on both the computer and the console.
The FM Towns Marty has the distinction of being the first 32-bit video game console. |
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Fun Fact: This system was compatible with most of the Fujitsu line of computers, so it could use the 3.5" slot to play many of computer games. |
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The NEC PC Engine Due kind of started the craze by licensed manufacturers to develop systems capable of backwards compatibility. NEC
had already in its arsenal 4 different types of media format in its stable - HuCards,
CD-ROM2, Super CD and Arcade CD-ROM. The release of this line allowed the gamer to experience basically the entire library that NEC consoles had to
offer - but at a steep price (even to this very day). |
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Fun Fact: There were 5 different versions of this system released. The only release in North America was the Turbo Duo. For unknown reasons, no version at all was not released in Europe. |
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In 1991 at the Tokyo Toy show in Japan,
Sega unveiled its secret project to compete against NEC's
PC Engine CD-ROM add on. The Mega-CD like its rival was capable of utilizing the enormous storage capacity of CD
media to produce quality games. The Mega-CD however was designed with its own processor and memory that worked in conjunction with the
Mega Drive's (Genesis) processor and memory via an interface port.
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Fun Fact: As a result of their involvement in protests about videogames and violence, Sega was the first to develop video game ratings on their Sega CD titles. |
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In 1992 another multimedia gaming machine arrived silently on the market. The Tandy Video Information System (VIS). The VIS
supported CD-ROM based educational video game software and audio compact discs, and offered an optional modem for connection to online
services. Tandy sold the device with the concept "MANY OF THE BENEFITS OF MULTIMEDIA WITHOUT HAVING TO PURCHASE A COMPUTER". |
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Fun Fact: The VIS was driven by "Modular Windows". In case you're not familiar with this, Modular Windows was basically the operating system forerunner to Windows CE. |
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JVC had helped Sega by delivering the most advanced sound made by a gaming console. A wider range
of sounds not only gave the CD games more of an impact, but it was better then most audio CD players at the time. In return for their work,
Sega gave JVC the "OK" to create this console. This system could play both Sega Genesis carts and Sega CD games in
a single unit. |
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Fun Fact: Sega saw that JVC had a good concept. So they put out their own Sega Wondermega-S. It was virtually the same as JVC's RG-M1, but sold for a slightly cheaper 79,800 Yen. |
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In 1993,
Pioneer
entered the foray with the release of the LaserActive. Competing directly with Panasonic (3DO) and the Philips
(CD-i),
Pioneer upped the ante in this genre by basing their system on
Laserdisc technology (the precursor to the DVD format). At the time, the LaserActive was the closest system to deliver a
product that did meet most of the multimedia demands of the consumer - movies, games, karaoke, music, edutainment - all presented in the best
audio\video quality available. |
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Fun Fact: The Pioneer LaserActive is the second highest priced (at initial release) video game console of all time right behind the RDI Halcyon. |
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Commodore, the noted home computer manufacturer of the 1980s, had endured failed attempts entering the video game console market with their
releases of the
Commodore 64 GS and the Commodore CDTV systems. Their final attempt at capitalizing in the very profitable hardware arena was the
Commodore Amiga CD32, debuting in the UK in 1993. The CD32 was marketing as being the first 32-bit CD-ROM based system (though the FM Towns
Marty, released in Japan in 1991 actually owns this true distinction) and enjoyed moderate success in the UK... |
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Fun Fact: Sales of CD32 were not enough to keep the plunging Commodore stock out of the water. Commodore entered bankruptcy on April 24th 1994. |
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The
3DO REAL Interactive Multiplayer (3DO) system is one of those consoles that is either loved or hated by those in the gaming
community. Released by Panasonic
in September of 1993, this new gaming machine was one of the first entries within the 32-bit gaming era. The developer, The 3DO Company,
was created by Trip Hawkins, co-founder of Electronic Arts. Their aim was to create the first 32-bit system that truly delivered a 3D gaming
experience. On many levels they achieved this objective and were successful in pioneering technological advances. |
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Fun Fact: The original 3DO had 2 expansion ports which were to be used for future upgrades such as memory cards, modems, digital video cartridges and the M2 system upgrade. |
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With Sega and Nintendo
battling neck and neck with their 16-bit platforms, Atari seized the opportunity to return to the console market after 7 years. A small
company calling themselves 'Flare 1' were on the verge of developing a multiprocessor console. Needing the funding to develop it
further, they approached Atari Corp. Atari was trying to develop their own console code named 'Panther' at the time. They
jumped on the offer, and development for the 'Flare 2' continued alongside the 'Panther'. |
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Fun Fact: The Atari Jaguar featured many ports. Among them was a COM I/O port capable of networking up to 26 Jaguar consoles for multiplayer play. |
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The Playdia Quick Interactive System
was one of Bandai's next attempt at entering the videogame console industry. It was released in 1994 in Japan only and marketed as a
family oriented system. Geared toward a younger audience, the
Playdia was somewhat smaller then most consoles. Its blue casing giving it a more "toy" feel. The Playdia controller used infrared
waves instead of cords and was made to be used either on or away from the machine. |
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Fun Fact: The Playdia was the first system to feature wireless controllers as a standard with its packaged console. |
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In the 1990's, SNK took a chance at bringing their arcade games to the home console market by creating the
Neo Geo AES system. The home system garnered a niche fan base despite its high price tag. In 1994, Capcom saw an opportunity to
venture into this niche home market. Gamers enjoy popular arcade titles without Capcom having to pay royalties for "lower quality" home
conversions on other systems. Not a bad idea! |
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Fun Fact: Capcom decided to give owners one last hurrah for purchasing their product. Capcom released a special conversion of their CPS-2 arcade board title Street Fighter Zero for the CPS. |
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The NEC PC-FX is a very Japanese console. As the follow up effort to the highly successful (at least in
Japan) PC Engine, NEC was looking to hit one out of the park with gamers. Unfortunately, their efforts were too little too late
and the PC-FX
ended up being little more than a footnote in the history of video gaming. The
PC-FX was originally developed in 1992 as the Iron Man, but due to the continued success of the PC Engine and the
developers disinterest in changing platforms, it was shelved until 1994 when it was released to compete with the 3DO. |
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Fun Fact: In 1995, NEC took a similar concept as the Creative Labs version of 3DO Blaster. The PC-FX Game Accelerator (PC-FX GA) would allow PC-FX games to be played on computers. |
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It was the winter of 1994, and new more powerful consoles were entering the videogame market. Gamers were
enjoying new 3D arcade games, and the 16-bit Genesis / Mega Drive seemed to be feeling its age. It was January 8th 1994 when
Sega CEO Hayao Nakayama directed his company to produce a 32-bit cartridge-based console to be in stores by Christmas 1994. The project
was dubbed Jupiter. |
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Fun Fact: The lack of developer support, device incompatibilities and defects, and the sheer abandonment of support for 32X owners was enough to damage Sega's reputation. |
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Through the 1990s SNK was ruling the arcades. Their cartridge based
Neo Geo AES made their arcade hits playable at home, but the high price tag kept it out of the hands of many gamers. With other consoles switching
game formats, SNK saw an opportunity to also use the large storage capacity of
CD to make their hit games cheaper to manufacture. Of course this would make games more affordable to the general gaming public. In 1994,
SNK
released the Neo Geo CD in Japan (and shortly after in the U.S). |
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Fun Fact: SNK's first Neo Geo CD design was a front loading model. Only 25,000 units were distributed throughout Japan and Europe. It is a hot rarity that is still sought after. |
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In development for 2 to 3 years by Sega of Japan, The project known merely as GigaDrive (A word play for a more powerful Megadrive)
began with a goal of being the most powerful 2D console to date with 3D capability based on their arcade Model 1 hardware. Initially the goal was to
surpass another CD-based console called the 3DO. In November of 1993, technical specs for 32-bit CD-based console by Sony had surfaced.
Not being pleased with the projects 3D capability (compared to Sony's),
Sega of Japan's engineers scrambled to improve on the design. |
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Fun Fact: The peripheral slot could be used with Sega NetLink, a 28.8 modem built in a cart that could be used to access the web, check email, and even play someone online. |
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1994 - Sony Playstation |
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Japanese electronics company Sony's involvement in the videogame industry began as a manufacturer of a custom sound chip used in Nintendo's
SNES
console. Rival companies NEC and Sega had taken the leap to CD based gaming and Nintendo had no intentions of being left behind.
They immediately partnered up with Sony to develop their CD based system.
Sony went on to develop two units. One was a 16-bit add-on for the Super Famicom / SNES that sat underneath the system and allowed CD based
gaming (SNES CD). |
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Fun Fact: Nintendo was not willing to relinquish control over software licensing and dropped Sony from their CD project and approached Philips to develop the add-on. |
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In 1995,
Apple Computer Inc. joined the foray by finishing the development of a system based on a scaled down version of their System 7 OS.
Named the Pippin, Apple followed the 3DO Company's
lead by licensing this technology to an outside manufacturer -
Bandai Digital Entertainment. The
Bandai Pippin ATMARK
was released in Japan in 1995 and was marketed as the first modern hybrid console merging the power of a computer with the ease of a gaming
station - as well as integrated network capabilities (hence the connotation in the name). |
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Fun Fact: Pippin @WORLD made a silent disappearance from shelves. Less than 12,000 units were available in the U.S. and it is believed that as few as 5,000 units were actually sold. |
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Casio of Japan had crashed and burned in console gaming with the Casio PV-1000. However in October
of 1995, they decided to attack the market from a different angle. The marketing strategy focused on girls. Lousy marketing executives from
other companies have tried to interest females in the past by selling their consoles in more feminine shades of color (Master System,
Zemmix,
Twin Famicom,
Lady Cassette Vision and a few others had girly pink colored versions of their consoles. |
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Fun Fact: The Loopy was the last attempt by Casio to enter into the video game console arena. All of their previous attempts had failed and they wisely bowed out and stuck to their power alley. |
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The Satellaview was not really a console, but was an interesting add-on for the Super Famicom. It
was licensed by Nintendo and was released in Japan in 1995. It cost 14,000 yen (about $150) and a subscription fee had to be paid
monthly to use the service. The unit sat under the Super Famicom
and was the only device to utilize the port found underneath the console. It connected to a satellite channel called St. GIGA and
allowed subscribers to download games, demos, news, interviews, and whatever else Nintendo felt like offering. |
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Fun Fact: The Satellaview broadcasted from 23rd April 1995 to June 30th 2000. The first game on the system was a graphical update of Zelda no Densetsu (aka. The Legend of Zelda). |
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In 1995 Atari finally wised up and created a CD-ROM add on to tap the 700+ megabit CD format. The
Jaguar CD retailed for $150, and came equipped with a double speed CD-ROM capable of running Jaguar games, Audio CDs and
CD+Gs. Games could run full motion video at 24 frames per second. The Jaguar CD also featured a built in Virtual Light Machine
(color and visual effects that react to the music and sounds). |
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Fun Fact: In 1996 however Atari Corp entered a reverse merger with a company called JTS. All Jaguar products became liquidated and the Jaguar became a fond memory. |
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1995 - Nintendo Virtual Boy |
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The chief challenger to the Atari 2600, the Intellivision sported new disc controllers (either loved or hated by gamers) and superior graphical and auditorial capabilities. With few attractive arcade or movie licenses available to them due to Atari's aggressive nature in this field, Mattel had to rely upon lesser known titles but did produce an innovative add-on - the Atari 2600 Adaptor. The library of compatible games now more tripled for this system and the Intellivision would continue to sell into the 1990s. |
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Fun Fact: After possibly copying their controller design of the Super Vision 8000, Mattel approached Bandai to be the exclusive distributor of the Intellivision in Japan. |
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In 1995, Funtech Entertainment Corporation released the first
original gaming system in Taiwan - the Super A'Can. Produced and sold exclusively in its native country, the console and controllers feel very
fragile, constructed of thin plastics that belies its strong, dark grey outwardly appearance and extremely high price tag. This system is often
mistaken as a Super Nintendo Entertainment System clone due to both the physical design and the processor powering this unit. A closer
inspection of this rare oddity reveals a different picture. |
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Fun Fact: Very few of these systems were sold, and it has been reported that Funtech Entertainment Corporation lost $6 million USD in this venture. |
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Nintendo stretched the life of their 16-bit console for as long as they could. Their initial attempts at
entering the market with a 32-bit CD add-on (see Playstation) never saw the light of day. After the releases of Sony and
Sega's 32-bit systems, Nintendo began spreading the word of their new console in development. The leap to a 64-bit console became
known as
Project Reality. The system was a joint venture by Nintendo and
Silicon Graphics. Nintendo would later change the name to
Ultra 64. |
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Fun Fact: The N64 console was developed in a wide assortment of colors. Even a special edition Pikachu (ph33r the Pikachu!) unit was created. |
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Around March 12th, 1997 rumors began to surface about what began as a 64-bit upgrade for the Sega Saturn. Eventually news began to leak about
Sega's development of a totally new console. By June 1997, Sega had two different design specs under consideration to become the new
console. One design was code-named Black Belt and the other Dural. Black Belt
was being designed by Sega of America. The console would sport an
IBM/Motorola PowerPC 603e CPU with 3Dfx Voodoo graphics chipset. |
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Fun Fact: As a result of the programming difficulties of the Sega Saturn, Sega of America also approached big time Windows developer Microsoft to create their operating system. |
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Two years after the release of 3DO, the company began working on it's successor codenamed Bull Dog
(model FZ-DR21 - the external drive unit for the development kit). At first, M2 began as 64-bit add-on for 3DO
systems. The concept was initially developed by the same people responsible for the first 3DO system (called Opera).Later around
1995, 3DO sold the technology to Matsushita and left the hardware market. The Japanese electronic giant worked on the base of
the system to produce a better technology called M2. |
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Fun Fact: Many people think the name M2 comes from Matsushita. The add-on originally went under the name Mark 2 Accelerator. At some point, it was simply shortened to M2 |
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Nintendo chose to remain with a console format, but wanted to do something to compete with the CD-ROM storage capacity being used by rival game
systems. Their solution was the Nintendo 64DD. The Nintendo 64 Disk Drive was the first writable bulk data storage device for a video
game console. Using a 64-megabyte writable magnetic disk media, it would allow game developers freedom to store unprecedented amounts of gaming data
on a console machine. |
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Fun Fact: The 64DD plugged into the Extension Port found underneath the Nintendo 64. The unit was essentially the next generation equivalent of the Famicom Disk System. |
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Copyright 2008-2011 The Video Game Console Library. This website and the information contained within it is protected by
copyright. Reproduction of part or all of the |
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The
History of the Video Game Console
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