Consoles By Stephen Gatej

History of Gaming Consoles

Atari 2600

Released in 1977, the Atari 2600 was the first console to use cartridges. This allowed for many games to be played using only one console. Sega Genesis

Released in 1989, the Sega Genesis never reached the level of popularity of the NES. However, it still had a few massive franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Mortal Kombat.

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Magnavox Odyssey

Released in 1972, the Magnavox Odyssey was the first ever gaming console. While it had very basic graphics and limited performance, it paved the way for modern day consoles as we know them.

Nintendo Entertainment System

Released in 1985, the NES was the birthplace of many legendary game franchises. Some of these titles were Super Mario Bros, Metroid, and many more. Playstation 1

Sony’s original gaming console, the PS1, was released in 1995. It was massively popular at launch and allowed for simple 3D graphics, as well as some more complex games.

Gaming has become extremely popular in the past few decades. A major part of its appeal is that anyone can play them from home, as long as they own a console (or PC). But when did consoles become avaiable on the market, and when did they begin to pick up some real popularity? Find out with this timeline!

By: Stephen Gatej

Gamecube

Released in 2001, this was Nintendo’s console to compete with the PS1. Released around the same time was the original Xbox, with was Microsoft’s stake into the “console wars.” Playstation 4

In 2013, the Xbox One and Playstation 4 were released. Both served as big upgrades upon the previous consoles, and the PS4 introduced VR capabilities to console gaming. Xbox Series X

The Series X was one of two “next-gen” consoles released in 2020. The other was the Playstaion 5, and both had incredible performance uprades with features such as 8k graphics and 120+ fps.

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Xbox 360

Released in 2005, the Xbox 360 (along with the PS3) was an overall upgrade on the previous console’s graphics, controllers, and overall experience. Nintendo Switch

Released in 2017, the Nintendo Switch was a unique kind of console. It gave consumers the option of either playing at home on a big screen, or taking the console with them and playing on a smaller, built-in screen.