1. A History of Video
Games
By Amy Wilkins

2. Where it all started….
One of the first documented video games to be created
purely for entertainment purposes was Ping Pong (A.K.A
‘Tennis For Two’), which was released on October 18th
1958 by William Higinbotham, with the system used
being a ‘DuMont Lab Oscilloscope Type 304-A’. It was
shown the next year with enhancements, after taking the
public response into consideration.
The game and computer itself was later dismantled and
largely forgotten by the public once excitement died
down, but has since gained a legacy of being the first
‘modern video game’.

3. First Gen
First Console: Magnavox Odyssey (1972)
Distinctive Features:
- Discrete transistor-based digital game logic.
- Games were native components of consoles rather than based on external or removable media.
- Entire game playfield occupies only one screen.
- Objects on screen consist of very basic dots, lines or blocks.
- Colours of graphics are basic (mostly black and white or other dichromatic combination; later games may display three or more colours).
- Either single-channel or no audio.
- Lacked features of second generation consoles, such as microprocessor logic, ROM cartridges, flip-screen playfields, sprite-based graphics,
and multi-colour graphics.
Other notable consoles:
- Magnavox Odyssey Series (Magnavox, Phillips) – 1975-1978
- TV Tennis Electrotennis (Epoch Co.) - 1975
- Home Pong (Atari, Sears Tele-Games) - 1975
- Binatone TV Master (Binatone) – 1976
- Telstar Series (Coleco) – 1976-1978
- Colour TV-Game Series (Nintendo) – 1977 – 1980

4. Second Gen
First Console: Fairchild Channel F (1976)
Distinctive Features:
- Microprocessor-based game logic.
- AI simulation of computer-based opponents, allowing for single-player gaming.
- ROM cartridges for storing games, allowing any number of different games to be played on one console.
- Game playfields able to span multiple flip-screen areas.
- Blocky and simplistic-looking sprites, with a screen resolution of around 160 × 192 pixels.
- Basic color graphics, generally between 2-color (1-bit) and 16-color (4-bit).
- Up to three channel audio.
- Lacked features of third generation consoles, such as scrolling tile-based playfields.
Other notable consoles:
- Fairchild Channel F (Fairchild Semiconductor) – 1976
- Atari 2600 (Atari) – 1977)
- Bally Astrocade (Bally Technologies) – 1977
- Magnavox Odyssey 2 (Magnavox) – 1978
- Intellivision (Mattel) – 1980
- Emerson Arcadia 2001 (Emerson Radio Corporation) – 1982
- Colecovision (Coleco) – 1982
- Atari 5200 (Atari) – 1982
- Vectrex (General Consumer Electric / Milton Bradley) - 1982

5. Notable Games from Second Gen
• Asteroids
• Breakout
• Defender
• Donkey Kong
• Frogger
• Galaga
• Galaxian
• Mappy
• Mario Bros.
• Mr. Do!
• Pac-Man
• Pitfall!
• Q*bert
• Space Invaders
• Spy Hunter
• Tempest

6. Third Gen (8-Bit-Generation)
First Console: Nintendo Entertainment System (1983) – Previously called the
‘Famicom’
Distinctive Features:
• D-pad game controllers.
• Screen modes with resolutions up to 256×240 or 320×200.
• 25–32 colors on screen, from a palette of 53–256 colors.
• Tile-based playfields with smooth multi-directional hardware scrolling.
• Advanced hardware scrolling, including multi-directional scrolling, diagonal scrolling, and line-scrolling.
• 64–100 sprites on screen, each with 4–16 colors and 8×8 to 16×16 pixel sizes.
• Up to five channel (primarily square wave) mono PSG audio.
Other notable consoles:
• SG-1000 (Sega) – 1983
• Famicom / NES (Nintendo) – 1983
• Sega Mark III / Master System (Sega) – 1985
• Atati 7800 (Atari) – 1986

7. Notable Games from Third Gen
• Alex Kidd In Miracle
World
• Castlevania
• Dragon Ball: Dragon
Daihikyo
• Dragon Quest
• Final Fantasy
• The Legend of Zelda
• Mega Man 2
• Metal Gear
• Metroid
• Phantasy Star
• Super Mario Bros.
• Super Mario Bros. 3

8. Fourth Gen (16-Bit Generation)
First Console: NEC’s PC Engine
Notable Home Consoles:
- PC-Engine / TurboGrafx-16
(NEC / Hudson Soft) – 1987
- Mega Drive / Genesis (Sega) –
1988
- Neo Geo AES (SNK) – 1991
- Commodore CDTV – 1991
- Phillips CD-I 1991 – 1998
- Super A’Can - 1995
Notable Handheld Consoles:
- Game Boy (Nintendo) – 1989
- Atari Lynx (Atari) – 1989
- Sega Game Gear (Sega) – 1990
- TurboExpress (NEC) – 1990
- Gamate – 1991
- Watara Supervision – 1992
- Mega Duck / Cougar Boy - 1993

9. Notable Games from Fourth Gen
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Metroid II[22]
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the
Past
• Dragon Quest V and VI
• Star Fox
• Final Fantasy V
• Secret of Mana
• Street Fighter II[23]
• Phantasy Star
• Thunder Force II, III and IV
• Super Metroid

10. Fifth Gen
(32-Bit / 64-Bit / 3D Generation)
• First Console: 3DO Interactive Multiplayer
Notable Home Consoles:
- Atari Jaguar (Atari) – 1993
- Sega Saturn (Sega) – 1994
- PlayStation (Sony) – 1994
- Nintendo 64 (Nintendo) –
1996
- FM Towns Marty – 1993
- Pioneer Laseractive – 1993
- Amiga CD32 – 1993
- Nat Geo CD – 1994
- PC-FX – 1994
- Apple Bandai Pippin - 1995
Notable Handheld
Consoles:
- Sega Nomad – 1995
- Virtual Boy – 1995
- Game Boy Pocket – 1996
- Game.com – 1997
- Game Boy Light – 1998
- Game Boy Colour – 1998
- Neo Geo Pocket – 1998
- Neo Geo Pocket Colour – 1999
- Wonderswan – 1999
- Wonderswan Colous - 2000

11. Notable Games from Fifth Gen
• Crash Bandicoot
• Dragon Warrior VII
• Final Fantasy VII
• Gran Turismo
• GoldenEye 007
• Star Fox 64
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of
Time
• Metal Gear Solid
• The Need for Speed
• Nights into Dreams...
• PaRappa the Rapper
• Nintendo's Pokémon titles for the
Game Boy
• Super Mario 64
• Resident Evil
• Silent Hill
• Spyro the Dragon
• Tomb Raider

12. Sixth Gen
(128-Bit Era)
First Console: Sega Dreamcast
Notable Home Consoles:
- Dreamcast (Sega) – 1998
- PlayStation 2 (Sony) – 2000
- GameCube (Nintendo) – 2001
- Xbox (Microsoft) – 2001
- Nuon – 2000
- Atari Flashback – 2004
- V.Smile – 2004
- XaviX - 2004
Notable Handheld Consoles:
- Game Boy Advance (Nintendo) – 2001
- Advance SP (Nintendo) – 2003
- Game Boy Micro (Nintendo) – 2001
- N-Gage (Nokia) – 2003
- N-Gage QD – 2004
- Tapwave Zodiac (Tapwave) – 2003
- Sega VMU – 1998
- Neo Geo Pocket Colour – 1999
- Pokemon Mini – 2001
- GP32 - 2001

13. Notable Games from Sixth Gen
• Jet Set Radio
• Final Fantasy X
• Forza Motorsport
• God Of War
• GTA V, Vice City, and GTA: San
Andreas
• Half-Life 2
• Halo: Combat Evolved
• Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Metal Gear Solid 2
• Metroid Prime
• NFL 2K1
• Phantasy Star Online
• Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire
• Resident Evil 4
• Rez
• Shadow of the Colossus
• Shenmue
• Sonic Adventure
• SoulCalibur
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old
Republic
• Super Mario Sunshine
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Tekken Tag Tournament
• Virtua Fighter 4

14. Seventh Gen
First Console: Xbox 360
Notable Home Consoles:
- Xbox 360 (Microsoft) – 2005
- PlayStation 3 (Sony) – 2006
- Wii (Nintendo) – 2006
Notable Handheld Consoles:
- DS (Nintendo) – 2004
- DS Lite (Nintendo) – 2006
- Dsi (Nintendo) – 2008
- Dsi XL (Nintendo) – 2009
- PSP (Sony) – 2004
- PSP Go (Sony) - 2009

15. Notable Games from Seventh Gen
• Assassin’s Creed II
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Bayonetta
• Bioshock
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Dark Souls
• Donkey Kong Country Returns
• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Gears of War
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Guitar Hero
• Rock Band
• Halo 3
• The Last of Us
• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• LittleBigPlanet
• Mario Kart Wii
• Mass Effect 2
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the
Patriots
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii
• Portal
• Portal 2
• Red Dead Redemption
• Street Fighter IV
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Uncharted 2: mong Thieves
• Wii Sports

16. Eighth Gen
First Console: Wii U
Notable Home Consoles:
- Wii U (Nintendo) - 2012
- PlayStation 4 (Sony) – 2013
- PlayStation 4 Slim (Sony) – 2016
- PlayStation 4 Pro (Sony) – 2016
- Xbox One (Microsoft) – 2013
- Xbox One S (Microsoft) – 2016
- Xbox One X (Microsoft) – 2017
Notable Handheld Consoles:
- 3DS (Nintendo) – 2011
- 3DS XL (Nintendo) – 2012
- 2DS (Nintendo) – 2013
- New 3DS (Nintendo) – 2014
- New 3DS XL (Nintendo) – 2014
- 2DS XL (Nintendo) – 2017
- PlayStation Vita 1000 (Sony) – 2011
- Playstation Vita 2000 (Sony) - 2013

17. Notable Games from Eighth Gen
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Uncharted 4
- Overwatch
- Bloodbourne
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Destiny
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
- The Last Guardian
- God Of War
- Fallout 4
- Assassin’s Creed Origins
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Persona 5
- Super Mario 3D World
- Pikmin 3
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- Lego City: Undercover