THE RETRIEVER WEEKLY FOCUS October 17, 2000 PAGE 19 Gaming Console.s.of the Past, Present and Future from CONSOLES, page 16 opposed to Atari' s 16 colors. Better yet, the in 1982, which p4cked the power of the game quality was controlled. Nintendo pro­ . Atari 400/800 computer systems, but grammed the NES only to play authorized offered the same, tired game titles. This cartridges and sold liscenses to software system didn't catch on because one of its developers. Nintendo then produced the rival company, Coleco, was releasing the games themselves, allowing for a little most popular game in the arcades, Donkey quality control. Many people bought the Kong. Coleco also had an Atari 2600 com­ NES just to play the pack-in game Super patible interface before Atari itself did for Mario Brothers. Other excellent games for the 5200.The year also saw Milton . the NES are Castlevania and The Legend of Bradley's Microvision, and Intellivision II Zelda series. and Intellivoice. This was indeed a boom­ Sega, after three years of struggling to ing year for the home video game market compete with the NES, decid~d to go with with Mattei's Aquarius and Coleco's the 16-bit technology and released the Sega Gemenii also released for sales. Genesis in 1989. Sega also knew the Atari planned to strike back with the importance of game quality and third party Atari 7800 ProSystem, which featured an control from the industry crash in '84 and all-new graphics chip, a better color pallat­ recruited 30 outside developers within one te and a computer keyboard add-on that year of the system's release to write games. turned the 7800 into a full-blown eight-bit The Sega Genesis quickly became the computet system. This system was also dominant system. Nintendo released the Americans Garners Cheated reverse compatible, meaning it could play 16-bit Turbografx-16 four months before all the 2600 without any external peripher­ the Sega hit the market, but it only had four als. Atari underwent new ownership in third party supporters. Sega, not wanting to on Role-Playing Games 1984 and the new owners shelved the 7800 loose its gam~ library already created, for two years after completion to focus on came out with the Power Base Converter computers. In 1986 the system was that allowed the Genesis to play Sega from GAMES, page 16 released, but to run third in the race of gam­ Master System games. The SMS was nal company as in the case of Squaresoft, ing consoles which the Nintendo released in 1986 and was drowned on the schedule. Over the years, this has led to but sometimes not. Entertainment System was winning. market by the NES. increasingly complex puzzles and lengthy Working Designs is a company whose Now we need to pause for 1984. Lots of Then in 1991 Sega really hit upon storylines, with some games taking months sole business consists of bringing games to systems were on the market for home video something. It sold 7.5 .million systems with of sleepless nights for even an experienced this country from Japan which have been gaming, and third party companies were the game Sonic the Hedgehog. This game gamer to complete. And as in the animation produced by other companies; it doesn't producing tons of games, many that just just hit the market right; everyone wanted world, nobody does deep and complicated create any games of its own. Originally on didn't have .quality play. The home gaming to play it because it was just so damn fun. like Japan. Almost every single noteworthy the aging Sega Saturn, and now on the industry collapsed, and fmgers pointed at In 1991 it was the pack-in game for the RPG game has had its origin in Japan, and Sony Playstation, games put out by the home computer making its way to thou­ Sega Genesis. -In comparison, Sega had then been brought over to the United States Working Designs are some of the best qual­ sands of homes in America. Computers sold 1.6 million Genesis systems in 1990. afterwards.· ity RPGs available today, and some of t4e cost about $300, and new games were The game was just that popular. In 1992 The largest and most popular company only games that can really compete with around $100, so lots of parents saw how Sega sold 16 million software titles. The for this type of game is Squaresoft. offerings from Squaresoft. While many they could save money and have something Super NES, which made its debut in 1991, Squaresoft is best known for its Final · fans have criticized Working Designs for their kids could learn with, but ·the comput­ was not what did in this long-standing sys­ Fantasy series, which is now at game num­ its tendency to not be completely faithful to er was not the only factor. Every company tem. The advent·of the 32-bit Playstation in ber eight. The careful observer will note the original in its translations (in the game seemed to want to join the video game 1995 and the 64-bit Nintendo in 1996 were that after the release of numbers two and Albert Odyssey, Pike's faithful knights dis­ bandwagon, even Quaker Oats had a video the next evolutionary steps in home gam­ three for the Super Nintendo, the version tract the castle guards by telling them "Yo game division. All of these games were ing, and the Sega Genesis became a relic skipped up to seven on the Sony Mama" jokes), Working Designs almost mainly promotional advertisements for like the Atari and NES. Playstation. This is the most well-known always adds quality to any game it releases kids to get their parents to buy the products, Before the Playstation and Nintendo 64, example of what is regarded as a large and also reserves two or three pages in the none contained quality or content. the 3DO Interactive Mulitplayer system problem among RPG fans. What the United back of its manuals to document the . Then; in 1985, Nintendo released the was introduced in 1993. It is a 32-bit CD­ States knows as numbers two and three changes. The games usually improve Nintendo Entertainment System. I can hear ROM based system that possessed 16-bit, were actually four and six in Japan, respec­ playability (allowing garners to accomplish · the Mario Brothers theme song right now 44 kilohertz CD-quality sound. The origi­ tively. Squaresoft chose not to bring over certain things with fewer or more intuitive . . . Nintendo saved the industry, putting nal retail price was $700. By 1995 systems some of the in-between titles for reasons button presses), or add special effects such faith back into home video companies and could be purchased for under $300, but the that have never been clear, nor good as cut-scene movies. providing a product that was leaps and Sony Playstation did it in. enough for fans of the series. A game While the translations of Working bounds ahead of what was on the market. Now U.S. garners are anxiously await­ known as Seiken Dentetsu in Japan has Designs can be hilariously irreverent, they The INTV System III by Intellivision also ing the release of the Play station 2 and the even more strange twists; in the United make all attempts to not censor or edit the debuted, but didn't stand a chance against X-box, Microsoft's first venture into home States, the first game was known as Final original game, which has been a problem the NES. Nintendo ruled the home gaming . gaming systems. I skipped the discussion Fantasy 1, the second game as Secret of with many game companies (including industry, with the death of many smaller on Playstation and Nintendo 64 because Mana, the third game never released, and Squaresoft). Japan has a far greater toler­ companies and their systems because of the many of us have these systems right now the fourth known as Legend of Mana. ance for violence and more mature themes crash., more importantly, because Nintendo and know what they can do and will see Neither being able to read JaQanese nor in its entertainment industry, and the US was just so much better than anything their departure as relics of history eventual­ wishing to sperid lots of money on the versions of games are often "cut down" for released so far. Nintendo was invented by ly. Indepth history of home video gaming Japanese versions of the fear of offending the so-called sensibiiities Masayuki Uemura and is the renamed twin· can easily be found all over the Internet; Nintendo/Playstation, the series' biggest of parents and activist groups. Arguments system of the Famicom "Family there is so much information about the sys­ fans felt deprived and hopeless. about the effect of such content aside, Computer" which was already a hit in tems and the industry from the early '80s As is often the case, the fans came up many garners are yet again feeling deprived Japan. Uemura wanted to keep the system on up that I could have written a book with their own solution. Programs were in comparison to their Japanese counter­ at an affordable price, so he chose to uti:. about the subject. If you get the urge to written that emulated gaming systems like parts. This issue is not specific to the gam­ lized the eight-bit 6502 microprocessor, reminisce or want to see all the no-go proj­ the Super Nintendo on home PCs. Similar ing world, and it will likely remain unre­ instead of the 16-bit chips available. The ects Atari had planned,Jook to the Web for to what happens in the Anime world, dedi­ solved for quite some time. system featured a 52-color display, as tons more on home console gaming. cated fans with some knowledge of As technology grows, the RPG will Japanese spent many unpaid hours translat­ continue to really push its limits. Several ing these "lost" games for the benefit of all. RPGs have now moved onto the Internet, While not - strictly speaking - legal, this with dozens of players from different coun­ allowed garners to finally get what they tries interacting in ways that no computer­ wanted and also let the game companies generated characters can. With a genre this know how they felt. Now, many games complicated and advanced, few people both new and old are being brought over to know what to expect next, and I'm not one the United States, sometimes by the origi- of them. But I can't wait to find out.