The 1980s – 1990s was really the golden age for gaming due to its popularity and earnings. During these years computer games were a mainstream appearance in the consumer market, and many of the companies which emerged are still producing games today. These years experienced the rise of consoles in home gaming. But still no Modern Warfare 2, pah!
Nineteen Eighty
Pac man, an arcade game created in Japan by Namco, became immensely popular from the day of its release. Part of Its success was due to the limitations of other games at the time. Apart from space invaders, other games were essentially variations of Pong. However Pac man was an entirely new concept to gaming, creating a new genre which appealed to both genders. The gameplay consists of the player eating pac-dots around a maze whilst being chased by 4 ghosts (Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde) If all the pac-dots are eaten then the player is taken to the next stage, however if the player is caught by a ghost then a life is lost, once all lives are depleted then its game over!
Pac-Man was actually inspired by a pizza with a slice missing
Nineteen Eighty Three
This year experienced the North American video game crash leading to the end of the second generation of consoles. This crash almost destroyed the industry and lead to the bankruptcy of many companies. There were many reasons for this, the main factor however was a saturated market full of low quality games, companies weren’t producing any new material
Nineteen Eight Five
The industry would eventually be brought back to life with the release of the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) released in 1985, becoming extremely popular in 1987. It was sold across the globe in America, Europe, Australia and most of Asia. Over the second generation consoles, the NES was a huge leap for home console gaming with innovative games on a reliable system, with many of the consoles still working today! Before this the only games available were variations of Pong, the NES had great titles such as Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda and Metroid. The NES dominated the Japanese and North American market, until the release of the fourth generation consoles.
Nineteen Nighty
In this decade gaming would be taken even further, the transition from 2d rasta graphics to fully 3d playable games meant that new genres would emerge such as first person shooters, real time strategy and MMOs. Home consoles also started to become more common and developers invested more into their products producing higher budget, better quality games.
Nineteen Nighty Four
Ken Kutaragi, also known as ‘the Father of PlayStation’ created the console where I was retailed in Japan in 1994 and in Europe and North America in 1995.The console was originally in development back in 1986 with Nintendo and Sony working together to produce a CD-ROM for the Super Famicom/SNES console. However Nintendo later announced that they would end this partnership and work solo but using the same technology. The PS1 was a fifth generation machine competing against the likes of the sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64. It did exceedingly well and was the first to sell over the 1 million mark. The demise of game cartridges is thought to have come from the success of the PS1, while it was not the first system to use disk format, it was however the first successful system to do so. The PlayStations control pad is iconic and has changed little over time
The original game pad for the system is on the left, this would later be replaced with the Dual analogue and then the dual shock with feedback in the form of a rumble motor in the handles. This was similar to that of the Nintendo 64s rumble pack which required batteries, however Sony’s version used power from the console to provide in game feedback. The PlayStation had a huge game selection with over 2400 titles, and was the creator to some huge franchises such as Medal of Honor, Final Fantasy, Tekken and Grand Turismo.
Nineteen Nighty Six
In this year Nintedo would release their sequel to the NES, the Nintendo 64. This console still used game cartridges over CD-ROM. despite the added cost to manufacture, limited memory space and difficulty developing on this format, Nintendo still thought that the cartridges advantages (Fast load times, durability and difficulty in duplicating) outweighed the benefits of the CD.
Most third party game developers had switched to the PlayStation, which meant while games were released constantly on the PS1, game releases on the N64 were infrequent. While some third parties did continue developing for the N64, they put most of their time into the PS. An an example of this is Kaonmi, with over 50 releases on the PS and just 13 for the N64. The biggest titles for the console were either released by Nintendo themselves or second parties for Nintendo. The system did have some big titles exclusively for the console, such as Mario, the legend of Zelda and Golden eye. The games also appealed to a more mature audience.
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