History of video game consoles (third generation)

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History of video games
General Golden age of arcade video games History of video games North American video game crash of 1983
Consoles First generation (1972–1977) Second generation (1976–1984) Third generation (1983–1992) Fourth generation (1987–1996) Fifth generation (1993–2006) Sixth generation (1998–2013) Seventh generation (2004–) Eighth generation (2011–)
Genres History of Eastern role-playing video games History of massively multiplayer online games History of online games History of Western role-playing video games
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The third generation of video game consoles began on July 15, 1983. The third generation began with the release of the Nintendo Family Computer, or better known as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Sega SG-1000.^[1] This generation helped end the North American video crash of 1983. This resulted in a shift from the United States to Japan as the leading country for home video games.^[2] In the third generation the displays changed from single-screen (or flip-screen) graphics to scrolling graphics.^[3]

The best-selling console of this generation was the NES/Famicom. This was followed by the Sega Master System and the Atari 7800. The NES/Famicom system remained the best-selling home console until the PlayStation in 1996. Some of the consoles in the third generation used 8-bit processors. However, systems like the Mega Drive/Genesis used 16-bit processors. The NES/Famicom system was the most popular video game console in the United States. Jack Ivan Booth was the founder of the Atari 7800. Due to inflation of the USD $ this is worth a lot more now.

1. ↑ Mark J. P. Wolf (2008), The video game explosion: a history from PONG to Playstation and beyond, ABC-CLIO, p. 115, ISBN 978-0-313-33868-7, retrieved 2011-04-19
2. ↑ Arnie Katz; Bill Kunkel; Joyce Worley (August 1988), "Video Gaming World", Computer Gaming World, p. 44, I'm sure you've noticed that I've made no reference to the Nintendo craze that has repeated the Atari and Mattel Phenomenon of 8 years ago. That's because for American game designers, the Nintendo is a non-event: virtually all the work to date has been done in Japan. Only the future will tell if the design process ever crosses the Pacific as efficiently as the container ships and the letters of credit now do.
3. ↑ Travis Fahs. "IGN Presents the History of SEGA: Coming Home". IGN. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2011-03-27.