Console Wars: A History Part 1
December 9, 2013Let the games begin!
On November 15, 2013, Sony released its next generation console the PlayStation 4 (PS4) to great success. Fast forward a week to November 22, 2013 and Microsoft releases its counter in the form of the Xbox One (XBO), to equal success. With both of these powerhouse consoles officially on the market and selling like the proverbial hotcakes, it is official that the long burning flames of the console wars have been stroked for another round. Needless to say, this is going to be a very busy Christmas season for both of these juggernaut companies.
Console wars are nothing new to gamers. Since there has been more than one console on the market at a time, there has been a line drawn between gamers, each side choosing a console to back and each declaring theirs the victor before the blood had even been spilled. These wars have been fought for near three decades and show no signs of coming to an end anytime soon. The contenders might have changed over the years but the message is the same each time around; gamers divided, shouting across the battlefield, “Mine is better than yours!”
8 Bit war: NES vs. SMS
The first truly official chapter in these wars began in the late 80s with the 8-bit era, the godfathers of consoles and two huge companies in gaming history, Nintendo and Sega. The contenders in this war were the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the Sega Master System (SMS). They were the epitome of gaming technology in the 80s.
This one was completely one sided with the victor being Nintendo by a landslide. It seemed that Sega phoned in this battle. Nintendo had great 3rd party support and Sega just couldn’t hold a candle to the amazing line up of games from Nintendo. Nintendo came out swinging with games like Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt and Legend of Zelda, while the Sega retaliated with games like Fantasy Zone, Zillion and Phantasy Star. In the end, the SMS just couldn’t hold a candle to the NES, but through their loss Sega learned what it needed to do to succeed, and would be ready for their next encounter.
16 Bit war: SNES vs. Genesis
This stage of the war did, technically, include 4 consoles, those being the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Sega Genesis, Atari Jaguar and 3DO. I felt that in the grand scheme they did not pose a threat to Nintendo or Sega and that the battle was really about them in the long run.
Sega learned from their mistakes and had a very impressive lineup of games with the Genesis. Amazing titles like Sonic the Hedgehog, Earth Worm Jim and Battletoads were set to de-throne the current champions, Nintendo. But Nintendo didn’t go out without a fight and continued to release impressive games to compete. Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country and Super Metroid were Nintendo’s aces up their sleeves to retaining their title. Sega also learned how to fight dirty by releasing anti-Nintendo campaigns, the most iconic being, “Genesis does what Nintendon’t.”
In the end, who won? Well, this one isn’t as black and white, both consoles exceeded expectations, had amazing graphics for the time and both boosted an impressive lineup of games. Even their sales numbers worldwide were close. Overall, many said this battle ended in a tie. Both were formidable opponents and this round only continued to heat things up for what was to come.
32/64 Bit war: Sega Saturn vs. Nintendo 64 vs. Sony Playstation
While the war raged on with Nintendo’s Nintendo 64 (N64) and Sega’s Saturn, a new challenger threw their hat into the ring when Sony released their console, the Sony Playstation (PS1). This was the first time we saw Nintendo falter. They chose to stick with cartridge based games rather than embrace the future of CD based games, such as Sega and Sony had.
Using CD based games made making the game for the consoles a lot easier and 3rd party game makers loved that. Unfortunately for Sega, they did not receive much love from 3rd parties due to the failure of the Sega CD/32x they were still trying to overcome. Even though Nintendo refused to change its cartridge based games and lost a lot of 3rd party support, they still managed to build one of the strongest game lineups of all time. Games like Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, Ocarina of Time and Goldeneye are just a small portion of what made this system a contender and a fan favorite.
Sony’s Playstation blew away fans with its graphics and won the support of 3rd party creators with easy and cheap to make CD-based games. They started a new generation of games and what consoles would become in the future. For these reasons and more is why this rookie console was able to sneak up from behind and steal the crown away from Nintendo and Sega to become the new champion and usher in a new era of gaming.
In part 2 we will venture into the 128 Bit era, the “Current” and “Next” generation consoles. Who came out on top? Who disappeared? Who took a different road to success? What does the future hold? Check back for Part 2 of Console Wars: A History.
