Nintendo Game Console History

The Nintendo game console history is one of the proudest of all the console manufacturers. They have consistently produced innovative games and consoles over the years. They are partly responsible for the success of the modern gaming industry.

Their first console, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), was released in 1983. It was an 8-bit, grey console that came with two controllers. These controllers look basic by today's standards but you can still see this simple, effective design in the controllers of the latest next generation games consoles. It was a very popular games system, this was in part due to one game - Super Mario Bros.

The next system they brought out was the Super NES or SNES as we called it as kids. It hit the shelves in 1990 and was a massive improvement on it's predecessor. This was a 16-bit console, it just looked like an updated design of the NES. The controllers were similar too but more colourful and with shoulder buttons. This machine was also very successful and again there was one stand out game - Street Fighter II. A whole generation of children spent hours perfecting the fireball move and trying to master the illusive dragon punch.

Next up came the Nintendo 64 or N64, a truly powerful 64-bit machine. This time the console design was radically different to the NES and SNES and the controller was a revolutionary new shape. This allowed you to hold the controller differently depending on whether you were using the analog stick or the digital d-pad. There were numerous strong games available on this console but for my money there were 2 true standouts.

The Legend Of Zelda was an amazing 3-D adventure game with great puzzles, challenging battles and a first class story line. I still, to this day, feel that this is one of the best games I have ever played. The other outstanding title was Goldeneye, a quality James Bond shooter. The single player mode was great, remember the first time you zoomed in on your unsuspecting target with the sniper rifle? We also had hours of fun with the four way multiply option. This was sadly the last Nintendo console to use game cartridges instead of disks.

In 2001 they released the Nintendo GameCube. A more evolved, disk based version of the N64. This console still had the 4 way multiply options and the trademark innovative Nintendo games but it was not quite as successful as some of the previous Nintendo consoles. This is in part to do with the strong competition on offer from the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox.

The latest offering from Nintendo is the strangely titled Wii. The major feature to this new console is the controller design. This time Nintendo have produced two wireless controllers, one for each hand, that allow the player to interact with games through their physical movements. This is achieved with a combination of motion sensors and infra-red. The graphics of the Wii are not as strong as the other next generation consoles. However the innovative control system, that is great for kids and multiply games, has already become quite popular.

For more information on Nintendo game console history visit our Comparing Game Consoles page.

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