Post by solidbatman on May 1, 2010 18:29:15 GMT -5
Between 1976 and 1984, the video game console heated up considerably. Systems such as the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and the ColecoVision would all go head to head in a rapidly emerging market.
1977
Nintendo Color TV Game
Nintendo had obtained the rights to sell Magnavox Odyssey's in Japan from Magnavox in 1974. Using the experience, Nintendo made it's own line of concoles called the Color TV Game. These systems were each dedicated consoles meaning they came pre programmed with games. Four different versions were released and Nintendo only sold the consoles in Japan.
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is the name we think of when we think of early video game consoles. After the Channel F was released, Atari knew that the market would be flooded with copies of the system, like what happened with Atari's Pong. Atari's newest system, called Stella at the time, was not ready for production yet and Atari wanted to get into the market before these clone products could flood the market. There was just no money to speed up the production, so Atari sold itself to Warner Communications. With the money available, Atari got the 2600 released before the market was flooded.
The 2600 had twice as much RAM than the Channel F, and the North American version produced 128 colors. (The PAL version only produced 104.) Third party developers began to pop up when the 2600 was released. Activision was one such company. They began producing games for the 2600 and many people agreed that these games were better than what Atari was turning out at the time. Even so, Atari sold millions of games and 2600's, and Atari continued to sell units into the 1990's.
1978
Magnavox Odyssey 2
The Odyssey 2 followed the 2600, and the Channel F by using the new programmable cartridges. The system was mildly successful in the US and sold very well in Europe. In Japan, the system was a flop. The graphics were a little weaker than the new powerhouse, the 2600. The Odyssey 2 did pioneer sound use turning out some of the best sounds for video games to date.
1979
Intellivison
Made by Mattel, the Intellivison was the first major threat to the Atari 2600. Mattel launched a brilliant ad campaign showing how much more powerful the Intellivision was compared to the 2600. The 2600 only allowed for 128 bytes RAM, while the Intellivion had 1456 bytes of RAM.Third party developers began flocking to the new system and even Coleco and Atari released games for the Intellivision. The system appeared to be a success, and in 1983, the Intellivision II was released. The new system was an attempt to lock out third party developers but it failed at that as third party devs figured out how to program the new system very quickly. Intellivision has the distinction of being the first system able to download games. By buying a PlayCable, one could download games through Cable TV. The Intellivision, sadly, was the first high profile victim of the Crash of 1983, which we will look at soon.
1982
Atari 5200
The 1982 version of the 5200 was the pioneering version. Featuring four controllers instead of two, the 5200 also allowed for auto switching from TV to game. In 1983, however, these two features were taken away for space considerations. The 5200 can be considered a market flop as it fared poorly against the ColecoVision and there was no backwards compatibility with 2600 games without the use of an adapter. Atari did not give the 5200 the attention needed to survive due to the over saturation of the market with the 2600 system.
Vectrex
The Vectrex was a unique system released by Western Technologies. Featuring the first 3D technology in a console, the Vectrex did not hook into a television set like other consoles did (and still do). Instead, the Vectrex came with a small vector monitor that rendered one color graphics. The system came with plastic overlays for color. Early models of the Vectrex had a distinct buzzing sound output due to the interference of the monitor. In later models, this was fixed but the system is remembered for that buzzing. One of the most interesting games for the Vectrex was a Asteroids copy called Minestorm that was built into the system. Minsestorm crashed on the 13th level for many owners but some machines would continue the game with some very odd glitches. A fix was released but due to poor marketing, it has become an extremely rare game to find.
Emerson Arcadia 2001
The Arcadia 2001 was a complete flop. Released by Emerson Radio Corporation, it was killed by it's lack of original games. Many of the release games were ports of Atari games but Atari began suing companies that were making games to which Atari had exclusive rights. This left the Arcadia with plenty of games, but no way to sell them to the public. The Arcadia was on par with graphics matching the Odyssey2 and Intellevision. It was much smaller than many systems of the time and was powered by a 12 volt battery.
ColecoVision
The Colecovision and the Intellivision came very close to unseating the Atari 2600 as the leader in the console market. However, the crash of 1983 severely hurt Coleco cutting short it's systems shelf life to a short two years. The Colecovision was not as powerful as the Atari 2600 but thanks to an expansion that allowed the Colecovision to play Atari 2600 games, it had the largest game library of any console at the time. Another expansion was a steering wheel with a gas pedal, one of the first of it's kind for a console. The Colecovision only displayed 16 colors and had 8 KB of RAM. The controllers resemble the Intellivision's controllers and were placed in a recess on the system. Nintendo allowed Coleco to make a console version of Donkey Kong which was an arcade game at the time. Donkey was the pack in game sold with the Colecovision and later, Donkey Kong Jr. was released featuring Mario as the villain, the only game in which Mario is a villain. The Colecovision gained a lot of it's popularity by porting arcade hits such as Nintendo's Donkey Kong.
1977
Nintendo Color TV Game
Nintendo had obtained the rights to sell Magnavox Odyssey's in Japan from Magnavox in 1974. Using the experience, Nintendo made it's own line of concoles called the Color TV Game. These systems were each dedicated consoles meaning they came pre programmed with games. Four different versions were released and Nintendo only sold the consoles in Japan.
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is the name we think of when we think of early video game consoles. After the Channel F was released, Atari knew that the market would be flooded with copies of the system, like what happened with Atari's Pong. Atari's newest system, called Stella at the time, was not ready for production yet and Atari wanted to get into the market before these clone products could flood the market. There was just no money to speed up the production, so Atari sold itself to Warner Communications. With the money available, Atari got the 2600 released before the market was flooded.
The 2600 had twice as much RAM than the Channel F, and the North American version produced 128 colors. (The PAL version only produced 104.) Third party developers began to pop up when the 2600 was released. Activision was one such company. They began producing games for the 2600 and many people agreed that these games were better than what Atari was turning out at the time. Even so, Atari sold millions of games and 2600's, and Atari continued to sell units into the 1990's.
1978
Magnavox Odyssey 2
The Odyssey 2 followed the 2600, and the Channel F by using the new programmable cartridges. The system was mildly successful in the US and sold very well in Europe. In Japan, the system was a flop. The graphics were a little weaker than the new powerhouse, the 2600. The Odyssey 2 did pioneer sound use turning out some of the best sounds for video games to date.
1979
Intellivison
Made by Mattel, the Intellivison was the first major threat to the Atari 2600. Mattel launched a brilliant ad campaign showing how much more powerful the Intellivision was compared to the 2600. The 2600 only allowed for 128 bytes RAM, while the Intellivion had 1456 bytes of RAM.Third party developers began flocking to the new system and even Coleco and Atari released games for the Intellivision. The system appeared to be a success, and in 1983, the Intellivision II was released. The new system was an attempt to lock out third party developers but it failed at that as third party devs figured out how to program the new system very quickly. Intellivision has the distinction of being the first system able to download games. By buying a PlayCable, one could download games through Cable TV. The Intellivision, sadly, was the first high profile victim of the Crash of 1983, which we will look at soon.
1982
Atari 5200
The 1982 version of the 5200 was the pioneering version. Featuring four controllers instead of two, the 5200 also allowed for auto switching from TV to game. In 1983, however, these two features were taken away for space considerations. The 5200 can be considered a market flop as it fared poorly against the ColecoVision and there was no backwards compatibility with 2600 games without the use of an adapter. Atari did not give the 5200 the attention needed to survive due to the over saturation of the market with the 2600 system.
Vectrex
The Vectrex was a unique system released by Western Technologies. Featuring the first 3D technology in a console, the Vectrex did not hook into a television set like other consoles did (and still do). Instead, the Vectrex came with a small vector monitor that rendered one color graphics. The system came with plastic overlays for color. Early models of the Vectrex had a distinct buzzing sound output due to the interference of the monitor. In later models, this was fixed but the system is remembered for that buzzing. One of the most interesting games for the Vectrex was a Asteroids copy called Minestorm that was built into the system. Minsestorm crashed on the 13th level for many owners but some machines would continue the game with some very odd glitches. A fix was released but due to poor marketing, it has become an extremely rare game to find.
Emerson Arcadia 2001
The Arcadia 2001 was a complete flop. Released by Emerson Radio Corporation, it was killed by it's lack of original games. Many of the release games were ports of Atari games but Atari began suing companies that were making games to which Atari had exclusive rights. This left the Arcadia with plenty of games, but no way to sell them to the public. The Arcadia was on par with graphics matching the Odyssey2 and Intellevision. It was much smaller than many systems of the time and was powered by a 12 volt battery.
ColecoVision
The Colecovision and the Intellivision came very close to unseating the Atari 2600 as the leader in the console market. However, the crash of 1983 severely hurt Coleco cutting short it's systems shelf life to a short two years. The Colecovision was not as powerful as the Atari 2600 but thanks to an expansion that allowed the Colecovision to play Atari 2600 games, it had the largest game library of any console at the time. Another expansion was a steering wheel with a gas pedal, one of the first of it's kind for a console. The Colecovision only displayed 16 colors and had 8 KB of RAM. The controllers resemble the Intellivision's controllers and were placed in a recess on the system. Nintendo allowed Coleco to make a console version of Donkey Kong which was an arcade game at the time. Donkey was the pack in game sold with the Colecovision and later, Donkey Kong Jr. was released featuring Mario as the villain, the only game in which Mario is a villain. The Colecovision gained a lot of it's popularity by porting arcade hits such as Nintendo's Donkey Kong.
