The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it one of the first consoles with backward compatibility. It shipped with a different joystick than the 2600-standard CX40 and included Pole Position II as the pack-in game. The European model has a gamepad instead of a joystick. Most of the early releases for the system are ports of 1981–1983 arcade video games. The final wave of 7800 cartridges are closer in style to what was available on other late 1980s consoles, such as Scrapyard Dog and Midnight Mutants.
The Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. It is in the fifth generation of video game consoles, and it competed with fourth generation consoles released the same year, including the 16-bit Genesis, the 16-bit Super NES, and the 32-bit 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. Jaguar has a Motorola 68000 CPU and two custom 32-bit coprocessors named Tom and Jerry. Atari marketed it as the world's first 64-bit game system, emphasizing its blitter's 64-bit bus; however, none of its three processors have a 64-bit instruction set, as do later 64-bit consoles such as PlayStation 2 or Nintendo 64. The Jaguar launched with Cybermorph as the pack-in game, which received mixed reviews. The system's library ultimately comprises only 50 licensed games.
The Atari Lynx is a 16-bit fourth-generation hand-held game console released by Atari Corporation in September 1989 in North America and 1990 in Europe and Japan. It was the first handheld game console with a color liquid-crystal display. Powered by a 4 MHz 65C02 8-bit CPU and a custom 16-bit blitter, the Lynx was more advanced than Nintendo's monochrome Game Boy, released two months earlier. It also competed with Sega's Game Gear and NEC's TurboExpress, released the following year.
The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. It distinguished itself from competitors with more realistic sports and strategic games. By 1981, Mattel Electronics had close to 20% of the domestic video game market, selling more than 3.75 million consoles and 20 million cartridges through 1983. At its peak Mattel Electronics had about 1800 employees in several countries, including 110 videogame developers. In 1984, Mattel sold its video game assets to a former Mattel Electronics executive and investors, eventually becoming INTV Corporation. Game development ran from 1978 to 1990, when the Intellivision was discontinued.
The Neo Geo, stylized as NEO•GEO and also written as NEOGEO, is a ROM cartridge-based video gaming system released on April 26, 1990, by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. Designed as both an arcade system board and home video game console, the Neo Geo was marketed as the first 24-bit system; its CPU is actually a 16/32-bit 68000 with an 8-bit Z80 coprocessor, while its GPU chipset has a 24-bit graphics data bus. It was a very powerful system when released, more powerful than any video game console at the time, and many arcade systems such as rival Capcom's CPS, which did not surpass it until the CP System II in 1993. Neo Geo hardware production lasted seven years; it was succeeded by Hyper Neo Geo 64.
The Playdia is a fifth-generation home video game console released exclusively in Japan in 1994 at the initial price of ¥24,800. It was intended for a young audience and, like many consoles of the era, was marketed more as a multimedia home entertainment system than as a dedicated gaming console, with anime quiz software and edutainment making up most of the game library. The Playdia uses a single infrared joypad with simple controls. Bandai, the Playdia's manufacturer, was the only software publisher to support this console.
3DO is a video gaming hardware format developed by The 3DO Company and conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins. The specifications were originally designed by Dave Needle and RJ Mical of New Technology Group, and were licensed by third parties; most hardware were packaged as home video game consoles under the name Interactive Multiplayer, and Panasonic produced the first models in 1993 with further renditions released afterwards by manufacturers GoldStar, Sanyo, Creative Labs, and Samsung Electronics.
Jeff Minter is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games for the ZX80. Minter's games are shoot 'em ups which contain titular or in-game references demonstrating his fondness of ruminants. Many of his programs also feature something of a psychedelic element, as in some of the earliest "light synthesizer" programs including Trip-a-Tron.
A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few games fixed into the electronic circuits of the system, most consoles since support the use of swappable game media, either through game cartridges, optical discs, or through digital distribution to internal storage.
Panasonic M2, earlier known as 3DO M2, is a multimedia terminal and cancelled video game console. It was initially developed by The 3DO Company as a peripheral chip for the 3DO hardware before turning into a standalone successor system. In January 1996, the technology was acquired by Matsushita (Panasonic) who continued development as their own game console before cancelling it altogether in 1997. The M2 technology was then incorporated into commercial-oriented devices including a Konami arcade board and in interactive kiosks.
Homebrew, when applied to video games, refers to software produced by hobbyists for proprietary video game consoles which are not intended to be user-programmable. The official documentation is often only available to licensed developers, and these systems may use storage formats that make distribution difficult, such as ROM cartridges or encrypted CD-ROMs. Many consoles have hardware restrictions to prevent unauthorized development.
VM Labs was a semiconductor and platform company, founded in 1995 in Los Altos, Silicon Valley, California.
Tempest 3000 is a tube shooter video game developed by Llamasoft for the Nuon. It was published by Hasbro Interactive in North America on December 13, 2000, and Europe in March 2001. It is a follow-up to Tempest 2000, an updated remake of Dave Theurer's arcade game Tempest (1981). The player controls a claw-shaped blaster, shooting at enemies and obstacles, scoring points, and surviving multiple levels. The game modifies and builds upon the gameplay from Tempest 2000, introducing new enemies and mechanics.
The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) is a series of integrated graphics processors introduced in 2004 by Intel, replacing the earlier Intel Extreme Graphics series and being succeeded by the Intel HD and Iris Graphics series.
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 30 November 2000. It is the successor to the PlayStation, as well as the second installment in the PlayStation brand of consoles. As a sixth-generation console, it competed with Nintendo's GameCube, Sega's Dreamcast, and Microsoft's Xbox. It is the best-selling video game console of all time, having sold over 155.0 million units worldwide, nearly triple the combined sales of its competing consoles.
The Xbox is a home video game console manufactured by Microsoft that is the first installment in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was released as Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia, Europe and Japan in 2002. It is classified as a sixth-generation console, competing with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast and Nintendo's GameCube. It was also the first major console produced by an American company since the release of the Atari Jaguar in 1993.
Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox network and Xbox Game Pass. The brand is produced by Microsoft Gaming, a division of Microsoft.
The PlayStation 2 technical specifications describe the various components of the PlayStation 2 (PS2) video game console.
Freefall 3050 A.D. is an action video game developed by Total ArKade Software and published in 2000 by VM Labs for the Nuon. It was one of only eight games officially released for the Nuon. The title was ported to Microsoft Windows in January 2019, and a cancelled port for the Xbox was unofficially released as open source in August 2019.
Iron Soldier 3 is a 2000 mech simulation video game developed by Eclipse Software Design for the PlayStation and Nuon. It was published by Vatical Entertainment and VM Labs in North America, and by Telegames in Europe. It is the third and final entry in the Iron Soldier series. Set in a future where industrialization has covered much of the Earth, the player takes part in an elite defense force piloting a robot to protect the United Republic against terrorist activities by PENTA. The player is tasked with various objectives while fighting enemies in multiple missions.
