The changing definition of a classic console
May 25 '09 (Updated Jun 02 '09)
The Bottom Line The definition may change again in awhile, but for now, I deem any console made before the 3D revolution as one which may be considered for classic status.
When I was growing up in the early '90s, a "classic console" wasn't really a concept considered much since video games were still a relatively new phenomenon. Some of us insisted the beloved Nintendo was the first "modern" console since it was the first one my generation remembered, so perhaps the Atari 2600 had already reached classic status by then, but it wasn't something we thought about in great detail (after all, we were still kids!).
It's hard for me to believe, but nearly twenty years have passed since then, making the definition for a classic console somewhat easier to analyze (it seems age and time change almost everything!). For the main part of my definition, I consider a classic console as one which existed prior to the 3D revolution in the mid-nineties. I chose the pre-3D definition since 3D graphics *dramatically* changed the manner in which games were played. As someone with generally poor spatial perception, 3D environments were at first too challenging for me to navigate, and I really didn't play video games much at all from 1997-2005. I've since adapted and caught up with many of the games from that era and today, and even become proficient at some of them, but I still think the gulf between 2D and 3D video game technology is an important enough indicator to be used as the main separator for "classic" and "modern" console status.
Of course, many consoles existed prior to the 3D era, but not all were classics. The more subjective part of my definition is deciding what 2D consoles really deserve classic status. With that stated, let's start from the beginning to make the time progression apparent and easy to follow. Since I believe the very first example of something is always revolutionary, my first pick for classic console status goes to the Magnavox Odyssey, which appeared on the market in 1972 as the first "true" video game console. The Odyssey sold a modest 330,000 units, was not marketed particularly well, and the original model was replaced by 1975 (1), but its historical importance as the "first" can't be overlooked. There is also an interesting fact about the Odyssey: it came out before the famous arcade classic Pong, and in fact Pong is based in part on the table tennis game available on the Odyssey; a lawsuit was even filed against Atari for "stealing" the concept from Magnavox (2).
Microprocessor hardware separates the second generation of consoles from the first. Among the second generation consoles (1976-1983), the unequivocal leader by sales is the Atari 2600, and few would argue its classic console status. The 2600 has now sold over 30 million units (3), and included among its library of games are titles like Adventure, Breakout, and Pitfall. Two other consoles worth mentioning from this era are the ColecoVision and Intellivision. Though these consoles didn't generate anywhere near the sales the Atari 2600 did, they each stand out for a couple of reasons. For one, the Intellivision was the first second generation console to pose any competition to the Atari 2600; it had a clever ad campaign with George Plimpton that highlighted the system's greater technological capabilities (it was the first console to feature a 16-bit microprocessor CPU), and it eventually produced a sizable library of 125 games (4). My fiance remembers the system fondly. The ColecoVision also attains classic status solely on the successful licensing and port of Nintendo's immense arcade hit Donkey Kong. Were it not for the system's late release date (1982, one year before the video game crash; the Atari 2600 and Intellivision were released nationwide in 1977 and 1980, respectively), it's possible this console could have had even more success.
The infamous 1983 video game crash occurred a year before I was born, so I am too young to remember it from firsthand experience - but from historical accounts, it would take the North American release of the Nintendo in 1985 to rescue the market and take consoles into the third generation. Everyone familiar with video gaming knows about the Nintendo - period. As big as the Atari 2600 was for its time, Nintendo was even bigger for its time. The 30 million 2600 sales are only a half of what the Nintendo eventually sold - in excess of 60 million units (5)! The pack-in Super Mario Bros. is arguably the most well-known and accessible video game in history; I still enjoy playing it to this day, as much as I did when I was five years old - and my young second cousins, raised on the likes of the Wii, also find this game fun. That is the mark of a timeless classic. Moreover, Super Mario Bros. 3 still ranks among the greatest video games of all time - some even say the greatest.
For Nintendo, it's not just about the Mario franchise, either - the Nintendo revolutionized sports gaming with Tecmo Super Bowl, it revolutionized the action-adventure genre with The Legend of Zelda, and it revolutionized RPGs with Final Fantasy. A few other nifty games you probably remember include Kirby's Adventure, Mega Man, Metroid, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, and River City Ransom. So ridiculously well-known is the Nintendo that, for many older adults, any form of video gaming is "playing Nintendo." To conclude, the big question isn't whether the Nintendo deserves classic status, the big question is whether or not it is the greatest video game console ever.
The fourth generation of video gaming, and notably the final generation featuring 2D-exclusive gaming, is the one I remember in the most detail from experience. Whereas Nintendo decimated whatever minor competition it had from the Sega Master System (a relatively popular system in Europe, but one I had never heard about until recently, thus negating its potential status as "classic" for me), the fourth generation of video gaming had exceptional competition between two great consoles: the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis (or Sega Mega Drive, as it is known outside North America). The first great handheld console and obvious classic - the Game Boy - also arrived in this era, but the battle between the traditional consoles just is more interesting for me to write about here. How I remember it well: were you a Nintendo kid or a Sega kid? Sometimes there was outright hostility between the two camps! The Super Nintendo ended up winning the console wars sales-wise, probably due to a more diverse library, but the Genesis sure gave it a good run for awhile. The Genesis introduced speedfreak Sonic to the world, and Sonic games had a speed and flair that just wasn't obtainable in Mario games. As much as I have a certain loyalty to Nintendo, I fully admit to loving the classic Sonic series *nearly* as much as classic Mario. My family may have owned the Super Nintendo, but a family friend would often lend us his Genesis, and I'd be lying if I didn't think it was a great system.
Of course, there's more to the 16-bit wars than Mario and Sonic, though they are the recognizable mascots for each system. Both systems had sports games from Electronic Arts, which took Tecmo's officially licensed pro sports stature and improved upon its complexity measurably: Madden football changed football gaming forever, and dominates the market to this day; the NBA Live series became the first truly fun and notable pro basketball series, and the NHL hockey series is well-loved among hockey fans. I remember when you could create players for the first time on those sports series; such an imaginative feature was never before available on sports games. Both systems also featured the hilarious, unrealistic fun of Midway's NBA Jam arcade port, which was an alternative to the more realistic NBA Live series. It's no exaggeration to say that sports games really stepped up in the fourth generation, and their popularity hasn't waned since.
RPGs also made a huge leap with the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Final Fantasy may have gotten its start on the original Nintendo, but Final Fantasy II and III (technically IV and VI) on the Super Nintendo took the genre to another level entirely. Of course, one cannot forget about Chrono Trigger, which still regularly tops many lists of "greatest RPGs ever." In fact, if I hear one more time from someone obviously younger than me that the PlayStation's Final Fantasy VII supposedly started the popularity of RPGs, I am going to protest, because it was almost impossible back in the day to find copies of Final Fantasy II, III, and Chrono Trigger at Blockbuster video that were not checked out by someone already. If that doesn't indicate popularity, I don't know what does. Meanwhile, the Sega Genesis provided decent RPG competition with the fine Phantasy Star series.
The other genre worth mentioning in this final generation of 2D gaming is the fighting game. It's an understatement of epic proportions to say that console fighting games improved on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Sega featured the blood-soaked arcade port Mortal Kombat (the Super Nintendo featured Mortal Kombat as well, but without the controversial blood included), and both consoles included the fast-action, combo fury of Street Fighter II, another arcade port which translated well to home entertainment.
1994-1995 is when the gaming world really changed immensely from a tech standpoint. 32-bit systems with unequivocal 3D graphic capability came around in popularity: the PlayStation, and the initially hot, yet ill-fated Sega Saturn. The PlayStation undoubtedly will gain classic status with me in time (the Nintendo 64, also from the fifth generation of gaming, may eventually as well). But for me, they are still just too recent, and the 3D shift is too notable. At 15 years old, the PlayStation doesn't even qualify yet for adult years in human terms - and its successor, the PlayStation 2, is even younger, yet a monumental achievement in console gaming. They'll have their day, once I can decide upon another criterion separating recent systems from classic ones.
Sources:
1) http://www.pong-story.com/odyssey.htm
2) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/932625/Pong
3) http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/10/game_consoles/source/3.htm
4) http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=17&game=9
5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
thewisefool
|
 in Music, Games |
|
Member: Khendra
Location: Joplin MO, USA
Reviews written: 61
Trusted by: 74 members
About Me:
I am the curious combination of geek and tomboy.
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.