10.Nintendo Wii
The Nintendo 64 and the GameCube were capable, sustainable consoles with excellent support and fantastic games, but the increased competition from Microsoft and Sony made it difficult for Nintendo to see the same victory it did in the previous years. After two attempts to repeat the success it had with the NES and Super NES, Nintendo decided to shake things up and offer gaming experiences that stray from the expected.
The Nintendo 64 and the GameCube were capable, sustainable consoles with excellent support and fantastic games, but the increased competition from Microsoft and Sony made it difficult for Nintendo to see the same victory it did in the previous years. After two attempts to repeat the success it had with the NES and Super NES, Nintendo decided to shake things up and offer gaming experiences that stray from the expected.
Enter the Nintendo Wii, a system that put much more emphasis on the user interface than it did on the high definition, surround sound experience. The way we play was the biggest change to what we play: the idea was to introduce something that anyone could pick up and understand, and with the new input, it was hoped, a new market would form and a new audience would step forward to play games.
The company gave birth to the Remote, a device that had few buttons but offered motion control as well as a pointing device, two ideas that were relatively new to the console market. But to get this to become a standard, Nintendo had to introduce it as the core device of a new system, not as an optional peripheral for its current hardware.
9.Nintendo 64
Nintendo's last cartridge-based home console, N64, may go down in history as something of a disappointment (compared to expectations) and primarily because of its media format, but it actually housed several major hardware innovations as well as some of the biggest and most beloved games of the generation.
The Big N had even bigger plans for the once-codenamed 'Ultra 64,' including revolutionary control mechanisms, cutting-edge graphical processing power and an exclusive list of handpicked third-parties (known as the “Dream Team”), and it certainly started the system off with a bang. Not only did legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto unveil the N64 controller complete with the uber-sensitive analog stick and rumble pak, but he also showed off the genre-shaping platformer Super Mario 64, considered to this day to be one of the greatest and most important videogames ever made. And yet, even with a string of hits, some of them monumental, N64 never came close to matching rival PlayStation in popularity. In fact, Sony's disc-based platform outsold Nintendo's by a margin of more than three to one.
Despite the PlayStation’s bigger install-base, third-party advantage (including Dream Team members), Nintendo and Rare still churned out N64-exclusive master works from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (one of the only games to earn a perfect 10 rating from IGN.com) to Conker's Bad Fur Day and GoldenEye 007.
8.Dreamcast
Despite its comparably short lifespan, the SEGA Dreamcast was the first system in the sixth generation of video game consoles, which included the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox. The Dreamcast first hit stores in 1998, over two years before the PS2 and three years before the GameCube and Xbox. Although the Dreamcast had sizable chronological leeway over its contemporaries, it was inevitably stifled by stiff competition and the advent of DVD technology. But before it met its untimely demise in 2001, the Dreamcast certainly left its mark on the console industry.
As its second disc-based console, SEGA sought to learn from the mistakes it made with the Saturn with the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast marked a comprehensive overhaul of SEGA's marketing and design strategy, aiming for a more diverse audience with quality software and a number of technological innovations. The Dreamcast was the first console to incorporate a built-in modem for online play, and while the networking lacked the polish and refinement of its successors, it was the first time users could seamlessly power on and play with users around the globe. Additionally, the Dreamcast also launched its own proprietary disc format, GD-ROM, which boasted an extra 500 MBs of data capacity over CDs.
As a platform, the Dreamcast brought SEGA's biggest franchises to the next generation, including Sonic the Hedgehog and Virtua Fighter, but also introduced new series like Crazy Taxi to the gaming community. Unfortunately, the Dreamcast was SEGA's last venture into console territory; but its impact, legacy, and notable franchises are still evidenced today.
7.PlayStation
Sony's first foray into the console market kicked off a big change in the long-time, one-on-one war of Nintendo versus SEGA. Not only did the system help open up the doors for Microsoft to enter the market in the following generation, but it also helped transition the industry to a disc-based format, introduced the Dual Shock controller and its classic form (which is still being used and mimicked to this day), and introduced a number of incredibly important and classic titles. Like the SEGA Saturn and Nintendo 64, the PlayStation was among the generation of consoles that helped bring gaming from the 2D days of old to the current 3D content that we're still playing to this day.
The library of original titles introduced on the PlayStation can read like a history lesson in videogames. The likes of Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Resident Evil, Tony Hawk and much, much more were seen here for the first time, and these franchises continue to be some of the biggest in all of gaming. Were it not for the PlayStation, a number of genres that we take for granted these days may never have come to fruition, or at least been popularized so well.
One interesting bit about the PlayStation's marketing and focus is that it was targeted to an older audience than most any system before it, helping to establish the PlayStation brand not only as something that kids played, but that their parents enjoyed as well. This shift in marketing has continued across the industry to this day.
6.Xbox 360
As the first high-definition game console ever introduced, the Xbox 360 represents a milestone in videogame hardware history. The Xbox 360 represents a first-time shift in standalone platforms to crisp, clean, high-definition graphics with advanced shading and physics effects. While these features were long-since a staple of PC gaming, they had never before been seen in the console market. Additionally, the Xbox 360 was also the first console to hit the market with an integrated wireless controller system. Although wireless controller solutions were present in previous game systems, wireless connectivity could only be achieved through external dongle attachments.
But beyond its hardware innovations, the Xbox 360 marked a huge software push in terms of creating an all encompassing media and gaming platform. The Xbox 360 launched with a completely revised Xbox Live online networking system, which enabled new and unprecedented ways of accessing video, audio, and game content, as well as connecting with friends. Xbox Live has since grown to be one of the most successful console-based online gaming networks ever created, with over 17 million members as of January, 2009. Through its extensive online-integration, which allows for practically boundless optimization, feature additions, and improvements, the Xbox 360 has drastically extended the lasting appeal and life expectancy of the average console.
5.Sega Genesis
The Genesis was known for having classics in nearly every genre with support from Electronic Arts giving it the edge in the sports category (go NHL ’94!), the bloodier Mortal Kombat, and what some consider to be the greatest controller ever created: the six button.
It isn't difficult to prove why the software lineup was so successful considering the recent release and success of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. Just tick down the list and you'll find a bundle of absolutely brilliant games. The Phantasy Star and Shining Force series combined to offer role playing options that were equal to, if not better than anything available from the competition and titles like Ecco the Dolphin and Comix Zone offered dashes of edgy action that were highly original at the time.
There were brief moments when the SEGA Genesis overtook Nintendo in terms of market share and at the time they were the only two players in town. This meant for a time, the Genesis was the most popular game console in the world and for a good reason.
4.Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
The first true battle of the consoles began in 1991 with the US release of the Super Nintendo. Boasting 16-bit graphics and a superior soundcard than its competition (the audio system was entirely standalone), Nintendo pushed its art style and name branding against SEGA's "SEGA does what Nintendon't" campaign, but in the end it was what Nintendo did – or had, rather – that put the SNES higher on our chart. Despite "hardcore-minded" competition, Nintendo pushed a pedigree of original content, starting with the debut Super Mario World and carried on through titles like Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, F-Zero, Mario Kart, and the dawn of the FX chip which brought the debut of Star Fox. Developer Rare continued to push the console in its later years with the help of Nintendo, introducing larger cart sizes with Donkey Kong Country, and a flood of third party support pushed the Super Nintendo to legendary status with games like Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Gradius III, Contra III, Mega Man X, Secret of Mana, and many, many more. When it comes to a pure concentration of AAA titles, few consoles – if any – can stand up to the Super NES.
The sales showed it as well, with the first true console war ending in an important Nintendo victory on both the hardware and software front. The Super NES's library was the start, or continuation in some cases, of franchises that are still alive and well today both on a first party and third party front – proof of its legacy. The Super NES controller laid groundwork for the now-mainstream four-button face of both the PlayStation and Xbox controllers, and the experimental first steps into 3D gaming (both real and faked via the FX chip and Mode 7 technology respectively) laid the groundwork for the industry’s future.
3.PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is the best-selling videogame console ever with more than 130 million units sold by the end of 2008. That alone says a lot regarding its place in history and its reception amongst the general population. The PS2 was not only a major highlight in Sony's history (for both its games business and the company as a whole), but it also helped launch the DVD format into the VHS-killer that it became.
But company financials and movie formats aside, it's really the games and wide accessibility that made the PS2 what it was, and even now, nearly a decade after its release, it still is. The fact that the system is supported to this day and that we're still seeing games released for it on a weekly basis is a strong testament to its staying power.
Looking at the system's library (which is nearing 2,000 titles at the time of this writing), there are a number of games that were not only breakout releases, but have defined what we're playing today. Grand Theft Auto III and Guitar Hero are two that paved the way for some of this generation's most popular genres, and when you're talking about software as an art form, you needn't look any further than titles like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.
It may be long in the tooth, but without the PlayStation 2, gaming today, and even home entertainment in general, may be a lot different were it not for Sony's über-popular console.
2.Atari 2600
This is it -- the console that our entire industry is built upon. Though it also nearly took videogames to the brink in the system’s latter years, the Atari 2600 was a certifiable phenomenon in its ascendancy as the herald of a new entertainment medium.
Shepherded to market in 1977 by visionary Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, and his head engineer Allan Alcorn, the Atari 2600 was the second home videogame console to use removable, programmable cartridges instead of being a dedicated machine like Atari's own Pong (The Fairchild F beat Atari to the punch by a year). The system was not an immediate success, though. It wasn't until 1979 when the videogame craze truly exploded did the 2600 begin its meteoric path. Atari was quick to license popular arcade games for the machine like Space Invaders, Missile Command, and Pac-Man, which also helped it become the dominant console in American living rooms. By 1982, the 2600 was a $2 billion business for Atari.
But the good times were not to last and the skyrocket trajectory of the Atari 2600 was partially to blame. With videogames white-hot, everybody wanted in. And Atari did not have any solid quality-control mechanisms in place. No game epitomizes this lack quite like E.T., a licensed title that was forced to market after a five-week development cycle. Atari took a bath on E.T. and consumers started to sour on the breath of subpar games clogging shelves. Thus began the great video game crash of 1983 which laid waste to the entire industry.
It is this incredible story, a console that is responsible for the incredible games we're playing now yet almost drove a stake through the heart of the industry.
1.Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Prior to 1985 in the US, Nintendo was a strong name in the arcade with Donkey Kong and it was cleaning up in the toy aisle with its Game & Watch handhelds. But the home console industry was buried under the figurative dust after the industry collapsed on itself, and "videogame" was considered a bad word. Nintendo set to change all that with the Nintendo Entertainment System.
The company was already seeing insane success with the Famicom in Japan with its release in 1983, and after two years, it was time to bring that success to a new territory. After a failed attempt to partner with Atari to bring the system to the US, the company decided to do the job itself. The Famicom hardware was given a sleeker, more Western-friendly appearance, and the NES was born. The initial release in 1985 was only a test in specific US markets, but it was shipped across the country after the Holiday season in 1986.
Nintendo instituted a strict licensing program to ensure that the industry crash – with its glut of games of questionable quality -- would not happen with the NES. No unlicensed games would be tolerated on the NES platform. All games would have to be approved by Nintendo and third parties could only create a certain number of games a year for the NES, while the same games could not be made for competing consoles for two years.
The strategy worked. Nintendo's quality first-party efforts as well as the incredibly powerful third-party support resurged and revived the home videogame industry. If Nintendo didn't step up to the plate, the industry as a whole may have turned out entirely different.
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