Nintendo Origins: "Pokemon" Revolutionizes the Handheld Market

Though these days we're enjoying a highly varied games market, it wasn't always like this, especially in the handheld department. There was a time where handheld gaming was exclusively for casual gaming; most hand held games could be beaten in under an hour. Handheld consoles didn't have any deep, complex properties; in fact, most handheld games were either puzzle games, mini game packages, or watered down versions of games you could play on a home console. This was due to the fact that, unlike home consoles, handheld consoles had shorter operation times, due to battery consumption. This all changed with a little game called Pokemon.

Nintendo Origins: "Star Fox" Humiliates the Competition

The Fourth Generation of Video Game Consoles was witness to what can arguably be called the greatest Console War ever seen: Nintendo versus Sega. When Sega released its biggest video game console ever, the Genesis, they promoted it with a simple, but arrogant campaign: "Sega does what Nintendon't." The shots were fired, and Nintendo did not take it sitting down. The war was on between the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Not to be outdone, several other companies, most notably Atari and Panasonic, joined the war with their own consoles. Each company tried to outdo the competition by having consoles with superior graphical capabilities. During this time, Nintendo released its then newest property, which in turn would be the deciding factor for Nintendo's victory in the War: Star Fox. 

Nintendo Origins- "Super Mario Bros." Saves the Console Market

The Video Game Crash of 1983 was caused by more than just E.T. for the Atari; it was the end result of an unregulated market that was too over saturated with mediocre products, copy cats, and an overabundance of companies that cared very little about the quality of their products, which in turn led, again, to the mediocre or downright awful products being sold. Atari allowed any game company to make video games for their system, the 2600, and that policy is what eventually led to the Crash. Nintendo, who had just released their latest system, the Famicom, was determined not to allow that to happen to them; so when they released the Famicom in America, they were forced to take up some pretty Draconian measures. But, they also had to 'wow' an audience that had grown cynical about video games. They needed a game that could blow people's minds away. Enter Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo Origins- "Donkey Kong" Hits the Arcades

The year was 1981, and the video game was enjoying its greatest era: the Golden Age of the Arcade. During this time, arcade games were HUGE; arcades were big money makers, and people would line up to spend a quarter on any game they could get their hands on. Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Centipede, these were just some of the games that were taking the world by storm. However, one game would come to revolutionize gaming, not just inventing a new genre, but also reinventing how game presentation works. That game was Donkey Kong.