History of video game consoles (first generation)

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History of video games

The first generation of video game consoles lasted from 1972 until 1977. The start of the first generation began with the release of Magnavox Odyssey. The first generation ended in 1977 because of the video game crash of 1977.

Home systems

Comparison

Name Magnavox Odyssey Magnavox Odyssey Series Atari/Sears Tele-Games Pong Coleco Telstar Nintendo Color TV Game
Manufacturer Magnavox Magnavox Atari Coleco Nintendo
Console          
Launch price US$100 US$100–230 US$98.95 US$50 ¥8,300 - ¥48,000 (Roughly $100 – $594.80 USD Today)
Release date NA May 1972
EU 1973
JP 1974
NA 1975
NA 1975
NA 1976
JP 1977
JP 1977
Media Cartridge n/a Inbuilt Chip[1] Cartridge (Telstar Arcade) n/a
Accessories (retail) Light gun n/a n/a Controller styles n/a
Sales 330,000[2] 150,000[3][4] 1 million[5] 3 million[6]

Pong on a chip

Chip code/name Year Manufacturer Colors Games Consoles
AY-3-8500 1976 General Instrument No (1) Tennis, soccer, squash, practice, 2 rifle games Telstar (Telstar, Classic, Deluxe, Ranger, Alpha, Colormatic, Regent, Sportsman)
Odyssey (300,2000,3000)
Radio Shack TV Scoreboard
Unisonic Sportsman/Tournament
Philips Tele-Spiel ES2203 and ES2204
Zanussi/Seleco Play-O-Tronic
Videomaster (Strika, Strika 2,ColourScore 2, SuperScore)
APF TV Fun (Model 401)
BSS 01
AY-3-8510 1978? General Instrument Yes Tennis, hockey, squash, jai alai Telstar Colortron
AY-3-8512 1978? General Instrument Yes Tennis, hockey, squash, jai alai, skeet, target Telstar Marksman
AY-3-8600 1977 General Instrument No(2) 8 games with balls and paddles Telstar Galaxy
Odyssey 4000
Philips Tele-Spiel ES2218
AY-3-8610 1977 General Instrument No(2)[7] 8 games with balls and paddles + 2 rifle games Videomaster Sportsworld
Philco/Ford Telejogo II
AY-3-8550 1976? General Instrument No(1) The same of 8500 but with the addition of horizontal movement of player Philips Tele-Spiel ES2208
AY-3-8700 1978? General Instrument 4 games with tanks Telstar Combat!
MPS-7600-001,002,003,004 (3)(4) 1977 MOS Technology The four versions of chip usually support 4 games. Telstar Gemini(only version 004).
Telstar Arcade(all 4 versions).
Commodore TV Game 2000K/3000H (only version 001).
MM-57100/MM-57105(PAL) 1976 National Semiconductor Yes Tennis, Hockey, Squash National Adversary
Philips Odyssey 2001
Videomaster (ColourScore, VisionScore, ColourShot)
Philco/Ford Telejogo
MM-57106/MM-57186(PAL) 1977 National Semiconductor Yes Tennis, Hockey, Squash, Breakout, Flipper e Football. Philips N30
Philips Odyssey 2100
F4301 1976 Universal Research Labs N/A Two games with balls and paddles and two games of car racing Indy 500 system (Video Action 4)
Sears/Atari Speedway e Speedway IV
Interton Video 2800
MBO Tele-Ball VIII
SN76410N 1977 Texas Instruments N/A Six games of balls and paddles Tele-Match 3300R
Ricochet Super Pro (modello MT-4A)
Venture Electronics Video Sports VS-5
3659-1C/C2566 1975 Atari No Pong Atari PONG
3659-3 1975 Atari No Pong Atari PONG Doubles
Sears PONG IV
C010073-3 1976 Atari No 4 Pong games Atari/Sears Super PONG
C010073-01/C2607 1976 Atari N/A 10 Pong games Atari Super PONG Ten
C010765 1977 Atari N/A Atari Ultra PONG
Atari Ultra PONG Doubles
C011500-11/C011512-05 (4) 1977 Atari N/A 7 games (example: Pinball, Basketball and Breakout) Atari Video Pinball

References

  1. "Atari home PONG systems". Pong-Story. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  2. "Magnavox Odyssey, the first video game system". Pong-Story. 1972-06-27. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
  3. Ellis, David (2004). "Dedicated Consoles". Official Price Guide to Classic Video Games. Random House. pp. 33–36. ISBN 0-375-72038-3.
  4. Kent, Steven (2001). "Strange Bedfellows". Ultimate History of Video Games. Three Rivers Press. pp. 94–95. ISBN 0-7615-3643-4.
  5. Herman, Leonard (1997). Phoenix: the fall & rise of videogames (2nd ed.). Union, NJ: Rolenta Press. p. 20. ISBN 0-9643848-2-5. Retrieved 16 February 2012. Like Pong, Telstar could only play video tennis but it retailed at an inexpensive $50 that made it attractive to most families that were on a budget. Coleco managed to sell over a million units that year.
  6. Sheff, David; Eddy, Andy (1999), Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World, GamePress, p. 27, ISBN 978-0-9669617-0-6, Nintendo entered the home market in Japan with the dramatic unveiling of Color TV Game 6, which played six versions of light tennis. It was followed by a more powerful sequel, Color TV Game 15. A million units of each were sold. The engineering team also came up with systems that played a more complex game, called "Blockbuster," as well as a racing game. Half a million units of these were sold.
  7. "Gemini TV Game Circuits" (PDF). Pong-story.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 2012-11-17.

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