What was the biggest console war?

The most famous Console War was between the Super NES and Sega Genesis in The '90s (see Fourth Generation folder below), spurred on by some Competing Product Potshots on Sega's part.

tvtropes.org - Useful Notes / Console Wars - TV Tropes

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars

El Santo, The Webcomic Overlook "Gamers like to fight each other over this admittedly trivial division because a) they're too young to care about politics, or b) they're old enough to understand politics, but giving a crap severely cuts into gaming time." This page is about the event. For the show named after the event, see here. Broadly speaking, the competition between electronics companies is finding the best way to increase their video game market share. Since new consoles are usually released within a year or so of each other, the systems are in direct competition with each other for the gamer's cash. Consumers, eager to insist that they have paid for the better system, are prone to a very simple argument:

"My X is better than your Y."

More specifically, though, the console wars refer to arguments (usually online) between gamers themselves as to the superiority of the various systems and companies. The console wars for each generation usually begin a year or more before the systems in question are even released. Expect much flaming and quoting of sales figures, but don't hold your breath awaiting an explanation of why these battles are so fierce in the first place. The Computer Wars were worse the ZX Spectrum vs. Commodore 64 punch-up still rages in some quarters of the Internet, with the victor depending almost entirely on who you ask but they faded out in the early 1990s, when geeks made far less noise than today. Could you imagine if people got this worked up about toothpaste brands?

If you don't care about any of that noise, just buy the system(s) whose games intrigue you the most, and don't worry about what others think of your gaming interests. If you're looking for any upcoming gaming deals, try reading thru a dedicated webspace that covers video game discounts, gaming news blogs, or the websites of the companies who make the consoles. And if you're on a limited budget, simply do some research on what will give you the most bang for your buck such as deals, console bundles, and consider buying used games and consoles (there's no shame in buying secondhanded games). Just stay away from any console "debates" — your sanity will thank you for it. If you really want to rile people up, you can throw in the bickering between PC and console owners. You're sure to get enough noise to drown out a jet engine. The most famous Console War was between the Super NES and Sega Genesis in The '90s (see Fourth Generation folder below), spurred on by some Competing Product Potshots on Sega's part. However, internet-related debating (which is usually much more heated than what you see in a grade or high school cafeteria) didn't really take off until the Fifth Generation; where the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 (and briefly the Sega Saturn) squared off against one another. These days (the Seventh Generation onward), it's largely the PlayStation series vs. Microsoft's Xbox line; Nintendo still exists as a third major competitor, but their Take a Third Option approach following the GameCube, and the fact that they often don't get the third-party titles that Sony and Microsoft do, means they're often excluded from direct console vs. console comparisons (though this has changed somewhat with the release of the Nintendo Switch, which has seen a Renaissance of third-party publishing for a Nintendo system, as it's garnered a strong install base). There is a certain degree of reason in rooting for a particular console that isn't merely fanboyism. The greater the install base of your chosen console, the more likely it is to receive exclusives and technically superior originals rather than platform ports. Plus in the age of online multiplayer, the consoles that other people have can affect your gameplay experience - people can generally only play together if they're on the same platform, with effects from the effort needed to get together online with buddies to the general pool of people available for playing with strangers (although this factor has been diminishing since the Eighth Generation, with an increasing amount of games supporting cross-platform online play). There is also the psychological phenomenon called "post-purchase rationalization", where people who have sunk a large amount of money into a gaming machine want to feel as if their purchase was worth it (see also the Sunk Cost Fallacy). Particularly in earlier generations, consoles were expensive enough that a middle-class income couldn't support two or three consoles and a library of games for each, so a gamer had to choose a machine and stick with it. By convincing others and reading supportive viewpoints, they reduce cognitive dissonance and avoid "buyer's remorse". This is why the Phantom is obviously the best next-gen system and one belongs in your entertainment center today. It is interesting to note that even the companies who make consoles consider this rivalry to be absurd, since quite often the higher-ups at these companies are often very close friends and/or fans of each other's work . The main reason why is because many of their studies show that people who buy a console from one console company are also more inclined to buy the console from the rival company after time passes and they get the money to buy another console. Which is why as a fanboy of one of those companies, you should be more focused on attracting new people into gaming rather than keep battling out this useless war. Basically the Pepsi Challenge for video games. See also Computer Wars. For a game series that has fun with the concept and runs on drugs with it, see Neptunia. See World War Blue for a fantasy manga parody of the Nintendo vs. Sega era. South Park also did a three-parter combining the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One rival launches (along with Black Friday madness in general) with a Game of Thrones parody. Note that for each generation listed below, the start and end dates are respectively determined by the launch years of the first major competitor in its generation and the last major competitor in the following generation; using the earliest release in any region for both. Minor competitors such as the Neo Geo are generally discounted due to their low market presence. In the portable sections, smartphones are also marked as "minor"; they are a factor in the rivalry but not easily comparable to traditional handheld consoles for reasons outlined in the Seventh Gen folder.

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The Home Console Wars

The First Generation: Pong, et al.

See here for more information. Duration : 1972-1976.

: 1972-1976. Major Games : Pong

: Pong Sides : Magnavox Odyssey vs early Pong consoles

: Magnavox Odyssey vs early Pong consoles Winner: The Odyssey by default. The infancy of the home video-gaming industry began with the Magnavox Odyssey. This era is most famous for the arcade game Pong and its clones (both on and off of home consoles). What is not well known is that many other games also existed, such as Computer Space, Breakout, and even some light gun games for the Odyssey. Granted, many of the games which existed in this era didn't make it to the consoles just yet, but there was indeed more than just Pong. What console games did exist were rudimentary, mostly because, until the end, the Odyssey was the only console. While revolutionary for its time, the console just used variable screen lights with one or two white squares on screen, and colored sheets to cover the screen and simulate board games. A pong clone was possible with one of the cartridges and a couple made use of the Light Gun. Towards the end, more advanced consoles started to show up, such as a failed sequel to the Odyssey (hint: it wasn't Odyssey²). However, these are mostly forgotten.

The Second Generation: Early 8-Bits

See here for more information. Duration : 1976-1985.

: Atari 2600 vs. all comers, mainly Colecovision, Intellivision, Fairchild Channel F, Magnavox Odyssey², Bally Astrocade, Vectrex, the RCA Studio II and Interton VC-4000 Winner: The Atari 2600 by a decent margin, mostly due to the 1983 crash taking out its primary competitors. This generation was actually kicked off by Fairchild's Channel F console, the earliest example of what most of us would recognise as a console. While it enjoyed initial success, it suffered from a generally unimpressive games library, poor build quality and awkwardly designed controllers, ensuring that it was blown away the following year when Atari arrived on the scene. Fairchild later released a redesigned version of the system, but in a case of spectacularly poor timing released it a few weeks after the Intellivision hit the market, and so nobody noticed. Later on RCA would release the RCA Studio II, another early example of what most would now recognise as a console, but it ended up failing due to a combination of poor design (including its controllers being two keypads that were built into the body of the system itself) and only offering black and white graphics at a time when even most Pong systems offered up color graphics, and quickly faded into obscurity. The console that virtually everyone associates with this generation is the Atari 2600. Initially developers just produced more Pong-esque games for the system, meaning that it had a slow start, but Atari really got things going when they started porting their arcade hits to the 2600. The ports weren't perfect (in fact, a lot of them were flat out awful), but it showed what the system could do. Soon, other companies such as Activision started developing for the console, and it rapidly became a smash hit. Atari released a second console, the 5200, later in the generation, but got a lot of things (most notably the controller design) wrong, meaning that it never took off. The first major competitor to Atari's dominance was the Intellivision by Mattel. Although it was somewhat more advanced than the 2600, it wasn't enough of an improvement for developers to abandon the more successful 2600. As a result, the Intellivision maintained generally solid sales, but never came close to challenging the 2600 for the market lead. A bigger challenge to the 2600's dominance came later with the Colecovision, which was technically far superior to any other system on the market and could boast near-perfect arcade conversions, an advantage exemplified when Atari shot themselves in the foot with the 2600's disastrous Pac-Man port. As this generation drew to a close Atari was getting its backside handed to it by the Colecovision, although the 2600's head start kept it well ahead in terms of the installed base. A German company known as Interton released the VC-4000 in 1978. The console largely outsold the Atari 2600 in its native Germany due to having a lower price and as good resolution, but failed to catch on in any other market and was discontinued in Germany once better consoles and computers came along. It should however be noted that it is the only console that was made in Germany. Magnavox tried their hand again by releasing the Odyssey², a console that combined gaming with some rudimentary home computer functions. Unfortunately the system wasn't significantly better than the 2600 on the gaming side, and its computing features were badly underdeveloped. As a result, the system never took off, and Magnavox left the market. Another early competitor was the Bally Astrocade, which was one of the first and most advanced systems from this generation, but it was expensive and not backed properly by Bally, meaning that it remained a niche product. Probably the weakest of the major competitors was Emerson Radio's Arcadia 2001, which boasted abilities similar to the Intellivision, but suffered an awful game library, a system architecture that was outdated and awkward to work with, and being released near the end of the generation, ensuring that it was blown into the stratosphere by the Colecovision. The oddball from this generation's console lineup was the Vectrex, which featured a built-in screen and used monochrome vector graphics rather than the traditional bitmap graphics used by the other systems. While it boasted some great titles and was the most technologically advanced system from this generation (with the possible exception of the Colecovision), consumers were generally unwilling to look past its monochrome graphics, and it launched too near the end of this generation to have had any real chance of success. However, it eventually got a steady fanbase, which continues to develop games for it even nowadays and even resulted in getting some of the games officially rereleased on [[Useful Notes/iOSGames iOS]]. However, unfortunately there weren't many people in this fanbase until a long time after the system's discontinuation. Ultimately, this war culminated in The Great Video Game Crash of 1983, where the bottom fell out of the market. Atari ended up being the only company to fully survive the crash, once a takeover by Jack Tramiel had secured them financially; Mattel liquidated their Mattel Electronics branch and switched to handling distribution in Europe and South America for other console manufacturers, and the others either went out of business or left the market. Somehow, the 2600 managed to survive the decade, outlasting the more technologically advanced consoles of its generation. Ironically enough, the Crash actually helped the video game industry post-Crash, Nintendo dropped their line of arcade-machine boards in favor of the Nintendo Entertainment System, which made its debut two years later and single-handedly revived the market.

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This led to...

The Third Generation: 8-Bits

See here for more information. Duration : 1983-1991.

: 1983-1991. Major Games : Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Contra, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest III, Mega Man 2, Ninja Gaiden : Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Contra, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest III, Mega Man 2, Ninja Gaiden Sides : Nintendo Entertainment System (NES, aka Famicom) vs. SG-1000 and Sega Master System vs. Atari 7800, plus the MSX in Japan vs. RDI Halcyon vs. LJN Video Art : Nintendo Entertainment System (NES, aka Famicom) vs. SG-1000 and Sega Master System vs. Atari 7800, plus the MSX in Japan vs. RDI Halcyon vs. LJN Video Art Winner: NES by a wide margin. Probably the most lopsided console "war" in history. Nintendo took full advantage of being the company who restarted the American market, and locked all the major developers into exclusivity deals. This was later ruled illegal and Nintendo forced to stop the practice, but by that point the industry was moving onto the following generation. As it was, though, Nintendo's two main competitors launched too late to have any real chance of dethroning the juggernaut they had become, and even if the Big N had been better-behaved, it would likely have made very little difference as to the outcome of this war. Sega's first console, the SG-1000, debuted in Japan the same day as the Famicom, but less than 100 games were released for the SG-1000 Mark I and Mark II. Sega upgraded and redesigned the SG-1000 Mark III, and branded it the Master System internationally. The Master System managed to cultivate a following of die-hard gamers who eschewed Nintendo, and was quite successful in smaller markets (most notably Brazil and some European countries), but the NES utterly dominated the most important markets of the time (the U.S., Japan and Germany). One of the reasons Nintendo was able to sow their exclusive deals was the fact that Sega saw third-party developers as unwanted competition to their own first-party titles, and did not institute a third-party licensing program like the one Nintendo had until it was too late to salvage their place in the generation. Atari attempted a comeback with their 7800 a souped-up, backward-compatible version of the 2600; while the 7800 secured a decent third-place finish in this war, the damage Atari's reputation had taken ensured it never had much chance of challenging Nintendo or Sega, though one small consolation was that the 7800 at least outsold the Master System in North America. Atari also continued to sell a more compact version of the 2600 as a budget console, and released the XEGS (a version of the Atari 65XE computer repackaged as a game console) in a failed attempt to revive interest in its 8-bit computer game lineup. The oddball of this generation probably goes to the RDI Halcyon. It was made by RDI Video Systems, which is the company that was famous for making Dragon's Lair. It was a system that was able to synthesize speech and perform voice recognition. It is also considered to be the only console ever made that is more powerful than the PCs that were released at that time. Unfortunately its enormous price tag of $2,500 (which is around $5000 in today's money) caused it to probably be the lowest selling console of all time. Probably, because no one is really sure if the system actually managed to make it to market. Only around a dozen copies were manufactured and given out to investors and collectors, with RDI itself going bankrupt. It also had a very limited game library of only 2 games, none of which (ironically) was Dragon's Lair. The real loser of this generation has to go to the LJN Video Art. Each cartridge was full of pictures that could be colored and the whole game feels like a painting program. Unfortunately it ran at the high price of 80$ and with coloring books that offered the exact same experience for $2 it was quickly forgotten.