Retro Consoles

In the beginning there was..............

The Atari 2600, released in October 1977, is the video game console credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. The first game console to use this format was the Fairchild Channel F. However, it was the Atari 2600 that made the plug-in concept popular among the game-playing public. Originally known as the Atari VCS—for Video Computer System—the machine's name was changed to "Atari 2600" (from the unit's Atari part number, CX2600) in 1982, after the release of the more advanced Atari 5200. The Atari 2600 was wildly successful, and during the 1980s, "Atari" was a synonym for this model in mainstream media. The 2600 was typically bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a cartridge game—initially Combat[1] and subsequently Pac-Man.

The Atari 7800 is a video game console released by Atari in June 1986 (a test market release occurred two years earlier). The 7800 was designed to replace the unsuccessful Atari 5200 and re-establish Atari's market supremacy against Nintendo and Sega. With this system, Atari addressed all the shortcomings of the Atari 5200: it had simple digital joysticks; it was almost fully backward-compatible with the Atari 2600; and it was affordable (originally priced at US$140).

The Lynx was a handheld game console released by Atari in 1989. The Lynx holds the distinction of being the world's first handheld electronic game with a color LCD display. The system is also notable for its forward-looking features, advanced graphics, and ambidextrous layout. The Lynx was released in 1989, the same year as Nintendo's (monochromatic) Game Boy. However, the Lynx failed to achieve the sales numbers required to attract quality third party developers, and was eventually abandoned.

Today, as with many older consoles, there is still a small group of devoted fans, creating and selling games for the system. In 2000, an emulator called Handy was released to play Lynx games on PCs.

The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released in November 1993 to rival the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a powerful next generation platform. Promoted as the "first 64-bit system", it proved to be a commercial failure and prompted Atari to leave the hardware business. Despite its commercial failure, the Jaguar has a large fan base that produces homebrew games, making this console a cult classic.

The Sega Master System or SMS for short (1986 - 2000), is an 8-bit cartridge-based video game console that was manufactured by Sega. Its original Japanese incarnation was the SG-1000 Mark III. In the European market, this console launched Sega onto a competitive level comparable to Nintendo, due to its wider availability, but failed to put a dent in the North American and Japanese markets. The Master System was released as a direct competitor to the NES/Famicom. Despite its shaky performance in the major territories, it has enjoyed over a decade of life in smaller markets, especially Brazil.

Sega Master System II, a low-cost Master System that lacked the reset button and card slot of the original. In an effort to counter Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers, the new system included Alex Kidd in Miracle World playable without any cartridges. Sega marketed the Master System II heavily; nevertheless, the unit sold poorly in North America. By 1992, the Master System's sales were virtually nonexistent in North America and eventually ceased.

The later Sega Game Gear is effectively a hand-held Master System, with a few enhancements.

The Sega Game Gear is a handheld game console which was Sega's response to Nintendo's Game Boy. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the Turbo Express.

Work began on the console in 1989 under the codename "Project Mercury", following Sega's policy at the time of codenaming their systems after planets. The system was released in Japan on October 6, 1990, in North America, Europe and Brazil in 1991, and in Australia in 1992. The launch price was $149.99. [1][2] Sega dropped support for the Game Gear in early 1997.

The Sega Mega Drive is a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988, North America in 1989, and the PAL region in 1990. It was sold under the name Sega Genesis in North America as Sega was unable to secure legal rights to the Mega Drive name in that region.

The Mega Drive was the successor to the Sega Master System and was Sega's third home console and second to be sold outside of Japan.

The Mega Drive is part of the fourth generation era of consoles, and the first of its generation to achieve notable market share in Europe and North America. It was the direct competitor of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, although the Sega Mega Drive was released two years earlier. The Sega Mega Drive began production in Japan in 1988 and ended with the last new game being released in 2002 in Brazil.

The Sega Saturn (セガサターン, Sega Satān?) is a 32-bit video game console that was first released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe.

The system was supported in North America and Europe until late 1998, and in Japan until the end of 2000.

The Dreamcast (ドリームキャスト, Dorīmukyasuto?, code-named White Belt, Black Belt, Dural, Dricas, Vortex, Katana, Shark and Guppy during development) is Sega's last video game console and the successor to the unsuccessful Sega Saturn. An attempt to recapture the console market with a next-generation system, it was designed to supersede the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Originally released six months before the PlayStation 2 (PS2), and three years before the Nintendo GameCube and the Xbox, the Dreamcast is part of the sixth generation of video game consoles, Dreamcast was widely hailed as ahead of its time, and is still held in high regard for pioneering online console gaming.[4] Nevertheless, it failed to gather enough momentum before the release of the PlayStation 2 in March 2000, and Sega decided to discontinue the Dreamcast in March 2001 and to withdraw entirely from the console hardware business. However, support continued in Japan where consoles were still sold and new games are still being made by the homebrew community.

The Neo-Geo was a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK. The system offered comparatively colorful 2D graphics and high-quality sound. A major platform for arcade games at the time, the system was also available as a costly home console. The two versions of the system were known as the AES (Advanced Entertainment System, the home version) and the MVS (Multi Video System, the arcade version).

The Neo Geo CD was released in 1994, four years after its cartridge-based equivalent, in an effort to reduce manufacturing costs. The system was originally priced at US$300 new. The unit's 1X CD-ROM drive was quite slow, making loading times very long with the system loading up to 56 Mbit of data between loads. Neo Geo CD game prices were lowered to a reasonable $50 as opposed to the usual cost for MVS game cartridges, sometimes upwards of $300. The system could be used to play Audio CDs.

The Neo Geo CD comes with a control pad instead of the joystick that is in other Neo Geo systems. This made the controls more stiff and caused some difficulty in play if one was used to the joystick.

Ultimately, the Neo Geo CD was considered poor, mainly because of the lack of marketing and the long load times.

The Neo Geo Pocket was SNK's first hand held video game system, released in Japan in late 1998. However lower than expected sales resulted in its discontinuation in 1999, and was immediately succeeded by the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The system only had a retail release within the Japan and Hong Kong market.

Though the system enjoyed only a short life, there were some significant games released on the system such as Samurai Shodown, and King of Fighters R-1. The entire Neo Geo Pocket game library included: Melan Chan's Growth Diary, Puzzle Link, Pocket Tennis, Neo Cup 98, Neo Cup 98 plus, King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Master of Syougi, Neo Cherry Master, Baseball Stars.

The Neo Geo Pocket is mostly forward compatible, meaning it can play the majority of the newer color games. There are, however, notable exceptions such as Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure and SNK vs. Capcom: Match Of The Millennium. The newer Neo Geo Pocket Color is fully backward compatible and can play all games released for the Neo Geo Pocket.

The Neo-Geo Pocket Color (or NGPC) was released on March 16, 1999 in Japan. It was a 16-bit color hand held game console designed by SNK, the makers of the Neo Geo home console and arcade machine. It came after SNK's original Neo Geo Pocket monochrome handheld, which debuted in 1998 in Japan (and was released in the United States on August 6, 1999). In 2000, following SNK's purchase by Japanese Pachinko manufacturer Aruze, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was dropped from both the United States and European markets, purportedly due to poor commercial performance.