Re-Re-Re-Rewind! A Complete History of Gaming Consoles From One Biased Perspective!

So fellow Gamers, here we are again, another week, another 5 consoles making a trip through time. As we near the end…Er…present? Of consoles through time, we find ourselves in more familiar territory. So, without further ado, here they are.

11th… The Sony Plastation

The PS1, how I used to loath thee. Hittin gamers tube TV’s in 1995, the Playstation was another game changer. Over 102 Million consoles were sold, during an 11 year production lifespan. The Playstation caused quite a stir, as it was a console with broader market appeal than the largely dominated by Nintendo and Sega market. By the end of the 90′s, Sony was king. They had surpassed the numbers of Nintendo, and knocked Sega out of the game. Graphically speaking, the Playstation was amazing for it’s time. Gran Turismo showcased the highest quality graphics of the decade. Sony Playstations had a memory card which allowed numerous game saves and allowed you to save replays. Many of the franchises that are huge today, made their respective debut’s on the Playstation, such as Metal Gear or Resident Evil.

12th… Nintendo Virtual Boy

Yeah… I’m not gonna say a lot… I just wanted to show a picture of this migraine and seizure inducing shit brick. 1995… Red lines on a black backdrop… That is all.

13th… Nintendo 64

Released one year after the Playstation in 1996, the N64 featured such hits as Goldeney, Perfect Dark, Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario 64. It was technically speaking, more advanced than the competition, but had one major downfall… It relied on the dying format of Game Cartridges. This didnt stop the N64 from being a success though, and it sold 33 million units over its 6 year lifespan. Priced lower than the Playstation at $199, it was primarily a younger generations console, and this allowed Sony to gain a firmer grip on a broader market.

14th… Sega Dreamcast

The console that could have and should have been so much more. Largely an underdog and underrated, the Dreamcast hit shelves in 1999. It debuted to an extremely positive position in the market, and looked to be bringing a promising revival for Sega’s market share. However, then came the news taht Sony was releasing the Playstation 2, and boom went the dynamite under Sega. Ultimately being the deathblow for the company that would never again make another console. It was discontinued in 2002, even though it saw the release of many key franchise’s. It was also the first console to include a built in modem and online gaming support. It came with neat little accessories and gimicks, such as the first console to have a VGA adapter allowing for high def gameplay. Even the memory cards could be accessed by themselves, similar to those little Gigapet thingy’s that kids loved. 11 million Dreamcast’s were sold. Sadly, I rooted hard for this console, and still regard it highly as one of the most underrated consoles of that decade, if not all time.

15th… Sony Playstation 2

The console that set the world on fire. 155 million PS2′s have been sold and numbers continue to rise, making it the greatest selling console of all time. Debuting on March 4th, 2000, upon release the PS2 almost immediately single handidly slit the throat of the Sega Dreamcast. Just to put things in perspective, there are roughly 10,500 games available for the PS2. With online gameplay support and an immense game line up, the Sony PS2 was tough competition for new comer Microsoft and the Nintendo Gamecube upon there release. The PS2 could do a lot, it had the optional hard drive add on, the optional modem add on, and could support High Definition gameplay. Also, you could play DVD’s, right out of the box. You could plug in USB accessories such as key boards, microphones and more. A DVD remote became available, the Playstation Eye Toy would prove a hit. The console was the fastest console to reach 100 million units sold, and would easily prove that Sony was here to stay in the gaming world.

And that’s it for another week. Tune in next time to NovaGamer and I’ll go through some more! Don’t change that channel!