Photo: Egor Komarov

Do consoles last forever?

The average lifespan of a modern console is about six years.

za.ign.com - The 5 longest console lifespans - IGN Africa

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The average lifespan of a modern console is about six years. And while that might seem like quite a while, it's short in comparison to consoles from past generations. We at IGN Africa honour the past, so here are the five longest-lived consoles. A few important points: when we refer to the "lifespan", we mean for how long you could buy one brand new, and/or until being officially discontinued. This list doesn't apply to repair support, and pirated systems don't count. We're also not mathematicians, so these lifespans are rounded off to a year.

5: Super Nintendo Entertainment System/ Super Famicom

Fondly remembered and the console of many classics, the SNES is older than I am. First available on Japanese shelves in 1990, the SNES saw host to classics like Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, A Link to the Past, Starfox and a stable of Mario games. This system also participated in the infamous 16-bit console wars, and showed how Nintendo was able to update it's policies and compete on the market. After 13 years and leaving such an impact on the gaming world, this grey beast was retired in 2003.

Longer lifespan than: the Third Reich

4: Nintendo Gameboy

It counts as a console. Don't argue and force us to justify our statements. First hitting the shelves in 1989, this little device proved to the world that portable gaming was both possible and profitable. While technologically weaker than its competitors (Sega Gamegear, Atari Lynx, TurboExpress) the Gameboy stood it's own and had a library of unique games. Metroid 2 gave us the return of Samus and Super Mario Land warned us about the dangers of hallucinogens. There was also a niche title about collecting monsters, you might have heard about it. After three revisions and 14 years it was officially discontinued in 2003 and the name has become synonymous with handheld gaming.

Longer lifespan than: Ian Fleming's writing career

3: Atari 2600/ VCS

First arriving on the scene in 1977 and bundled with Combat, the 2600 brought gaming to a new high and helped establish the medium. The classic joystick-and-button controller are iconic and still feature prominently in modern gaming artwork. This was the system that gave us Space Invaders, Adventure, and the beginning of 3rd-party development with Pitfall. Not even E.T. and the Video-Games Crash of 1983 could kill the console, and it was only discontinued in 1992 after 15 years.

Longer lifespan than: the reign of Alexander the Great.

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2: Nintendo Entertainment System / Famicom

Hey readers, do you like gaming-consoles? Do you like side-scrolling, platforming, role-playing and racing games? If you answered 'Yes' to any of those, then you should probably give the NES a slow clap. True, those genres above had appeared on previous systems, but it was on the NES that gaming as a medium began to shine again. The 1983 system was a bold move by Nintendo and one that successfully saved home video-gaming as we know it. With the NES, home consoles were proved profitable and a whole new era of gaming began, spawning many classic series we still play today. After being discontinued in Japan in 2003 (20 years on the shelf) the system still gets homebrew titles and is a valued piece of retro-gaming history.

Longer lifespan than: Becoming a proctologist AND a gynaecologist.

1: Sega Master System

Try to wrap your heads around this: the Master System hit shelves in 1986 and it never came off them. That's right, you can buy a 28 year old console brand new.

... In Brazil.

See, the Sega systems got really popular in Brazil, so a local company called Tectoy was licensed to keep on producing them long after Sega discontinued them. It's not just the Master System - Tectoy also produces new Genesis consoles. Turns out they've really tapped a budget/ nostalgia market and both systems get de-makes of recent games like FIFA '08 or SimCity (and a 16 bit Guitar Hero). Granted, these entries are a little debatable because the consoles come pre-loaded with games and they are different from the originals. Because of this ethical cesspit, we're not including the Genesis on the list (which would have been #2 at 26 years).

And while it isn't exactly the same console we know and love, isn't it a little heartwarming to think that you could play Sonic or Phantasy Star on a brand new Sega?

Longer lifespan than: every member of the 27 Club (too soon?)

Matthew writes for IGN Africa, wants Neill Blomkamp to adapt his stories into movies and is trying to think of interesting things to say on Twitter. He is not used to speaking in the third-person.

za.ign.com - The 5 longest console lifespans - IGN Africa

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