158 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
158 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
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This is a history of Home Video Game systems since the first
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PROGRAMMABLE home system was made available to the public in the United
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States. This does not include the 72 different companies that produced
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the Pong type games. They are listed in the order of their release.
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Magnavox Odyssey
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Used colored plastic overlays that covered your TV screen to
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produce a color effect for the black & white games.
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Fairchild Channel F
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Sorry I have never seen one of these animals. Only know that
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they existed.
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Bally Home Arcade
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Graphics comparable to the Atari 2600, and actually a little
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better. Sold for the most part through Montgomery Wards stores.
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Used a controller that was the grip of a handgun with a trigger
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for a firebutton and a small joystick 'knob' on the top of the
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gun handle.
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Atari 2600
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One of the most popular home video games of all time. Literally
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hundreds of cartridges produced for this thing. Graphics were
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lousy. Sound was not much better, but this was the first video
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game system that was heavily marketed and VERY successful for the
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Atari Corp.. The mass quantity of games available for this system
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led to the decline of home video games. Programmers found
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themselves searching for ideas and often producing games even when
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the ideas were terrible. People began to get fed up with paying
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$20 - $30 for a game that looked like it took about 1/2 hour to
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program.
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Magnavox Odyssey 2
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This system was the only one to come with a typewriter style
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keyboard. Graphics were slightly better than the Atari 2600, but
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there were not nearly as many games available. This machine died
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out for the most part while the Atari 2600 market was still very
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strong.
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Arcadia 2001
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Again, only vaguely remember this system.
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Mattel Intellivision
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The top rival for the Atari 2600. Was released soon after the
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2600. The graphics were much better than the Atari 2600. The
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mainstay of this system was it's reputation for it's sports games.
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Animation of it's 'human' (just slightly more detailed than stick
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figures) characters was very realistic. It had less than half the
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amount of cartridges as the 2600, but also had much less third
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party support - most games were programmed by Mattel itself. This
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was also the only system that did not use the standard type of
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controller - the joystick. Intellivision used a 16 position disc
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for directional movement as well as a keypad much like that of a
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telephone.
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Colecovision
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Released just before the 'Great Video Game Depression' this
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machine did not have much time to catch on. Graphics were better
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than any system released to date. Controllers used were a
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combination of Intellivisions' keypad and the standard joystick in
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place of the disc. The systems themselves were not very reliable
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and often needed service. Possible reason for this is that Coleco
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had to hurry it's entry to the video game market as Atari was
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starting to decline and they did not fully test the machine. Many
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of the games were ported directly from arcade games.
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Atari 5200
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Atari's answer to Colecovision. Graphics were much better than
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the Atari 2600, and Atari probably saw the 2600 starting to loose
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ground. The controllers were much like the Colecovision
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controllers - keypad and joystick. Only a few games were made for
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this system becuase had already lost faith in the video game
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systems and the quality of it's software.
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Vectrex
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One of the most unique systems produced. This system came with
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it's own monitor and had no color even though the technology was
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available. It used what is called vector graphics (hence the
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name - Vectrex) which is a type of graphics that has no curves.
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Just intersecting lines. The controllers were strangely similar
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those of a system that had not yet been produced - Nintendo. It
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seemed this machine was relying on parental fears of TV damage
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from the systems such as Atari 2600 and Intellivision that used
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the TV for it's output. This system never caught on. There were
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probably less than a dozen games made for it.
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Intellivision II
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This system added nothing to the original Intellivision other than
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a more compact design and an adapter to allow the user to play
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Atari 2600 games. Seemed as though Mattel had given in to the
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old saying - "If you can't beat them - join them".
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Atari 7800
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Atari's 'third wind'. Have to hand it to this company though. At
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least they did not give up. This system had graphics close to
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the original Nintendo, but the Atari name was associated with the
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Atari 2600 and all of it's problems and never really caught on.
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This system would also play most of the Atari 2600 video games.
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Intellivision III
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After Mattel had given up on the system a third party bought the
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rights to it and produced this machine. It was exactly the same
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as the original Intellivision. The company (InTV) also produced a
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handful of new games for the system including revised versions of
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many of the sports games that allowed one player operation (the
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original games were mostly two player only games which was a big
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complaint from Intellivision I owners). This system probably lived
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about as long as the Vectrex did. Nintendo was released shorty
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after it and proceeded to scratch it from existence.
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That's it. I don't think I really need to go into the systems that
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are still available such as Nintendo's and Sega's systems. Just go to
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your local Toy's R Us and see for yourself.
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Some of these systems were very popular. You might even say that
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the Atari 2600's popularity was comparable to that of the Nintendo
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system today. Video games were a very new thing inthe late 70's and
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early 80's. People could not get enough of them. They bought up
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every single cartridge produced. It seemed programmers were just
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releasing garbage so that they could get in on it and eventually turned
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people away from the systems all together. A few systems tried to
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revive the industry such as Colecovision, Vectrex, and Intellivision II
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with it's computer and piano keyboard add ons, but the consumers would
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not hear it. They had been 'screwed' one too many times with terrible
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quality games for thier systems at $20 - $30 each that that all efforts
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to save the industry failed.
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People had been away from video game systems for about 5 years or
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so and Nintendo felt it was time to 'test the water' and released the
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Nintendo Entertainment System. It was and still is a HUGE success. The
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funny thing is that the same thing seems to be happening all over again.
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Everyone and their brother is trying to make a few bucks on the NES and
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the quality of the games is really starting to slip. Stayed tuned.
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We'll all just have to wait and see what happens.
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