Although modern games like Grand Theft Auto V and Titanfall are fantastic, we still find ourselves yearning for a time when game bits only came in single (or double) digits, when consoles looked like Steve Wozniak cobbled them together in his garage from spare transistor radio parts. We’re not talking about the NeoGeo, which brought the world Metal Slug but cost the equivalent of a kidney transplant, or the TurboGrafx-16, which… well, it existed. We mean the two dominant systems that laid the groundwork for modern video-gaming: the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis. Their battle for market dominance in the ’80s and ’90s earned its own title—the Console Wars—and split households into respective factions. On the one hand, Nintendo had the Mario Bros. and Zelda, but then, Sega had Mortal Kombat and Sonic. That speedy hedgehog alone helped Sega capture 65 percent of the market share against Nintendo.
But regardless of who won or lost the Console Wars, the real winners were the consumers. The competition forced the creation of the Mario Bros. and Sonic franchises, among others, and left the market littered with some of the greatest video games ever created. Sure, they look simple by today’s standards, but they make up for their 2D graphics and lack of cohesive narrative structures with innocent joy and addictiveness. Are we the only ones thinking that it might be fun to play some of those old games again?
NES
The NES (Nintendo Entertainment System, or “Famicom” in Japan — anyone else think we got the better end of that deal?) debuted in the United States on October 18th, 1985, revitalizing the gaming industry after the video game crash of 1983 that bankrupted Atari and saw gaming revenues fall from $3.2 billion to $100 million. It also saw millions of boys go nuts for something in a way not seen since Marilyn Monroe flashed her legs across the silver screen.
Games:
Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, Duck Hunt, Metroid, Mega Man 2, 1942, Double Dragon