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.
The golden age of Nintendo can be divided into two parts: the NES era (1985-1990) and the SNES era (1991-1996). During the NES era, Nintendo was the undisputed king of video games: you either had an NES or you had nothing. During the SNES era, however, Sega proved itself a worthy challenger thanks to its Sega Genesis system. But the reason why Sega had managed to make a dent in Nintendo's otherwise unbroken grip on the console market was Sonic the Hedgehog.
However, Sega's promotion for their Genesis was on bragging how much stronger it was to the NES. The Genesis was 16 bits whereas the NES was 8 Bits. The Genesis could process more information than the Nintendo Entertainment System, and this was shown off with Sonic: the game was fast paced, colorful, and had a more varied sound system. The backgrounds were far more dynamic, more detailed, and the stages were far more complex than anything the NES could handle, particularly with their use of loops. To put it into pictures, here's what Sonic looked like:
The golden age of Nintendo can be divided into two parts: the NES era (1985-1990) and the SNES era (1991-1996). During the NES era, Nintendo was the undisputed king of video games: you either had an NES or you had nothing. During the SNES era, however, Sega proved itself a worthy challenger thanks to its Sega Genesis system. But the reason why Sega had managed to make a dent in Nintendo's otherwise unbroken grip on the console market was Sonic the Hedgehog.
However, Sega's promotion for their Genesis was on bragging how much stronger it was to the NES. The Genesis was 16 bits whereas the NES was 8 Bits. The Genesis could process more information than the Nintendo Entertainment System, and this was shown off with Sonic: the game was fast paced, colorful, and had a more varied sound system. The backgrounds were far more dynamic, more detailed, and the stages were far more complex than anything the NES could handle, particularly with their use of loops. To put it into pictures, here's what Sonic looked like:
And here's what a typical NES game looked like:
Ninja Gaiden, picture taken from http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/ninja-gaiden/screenshots/gameShotId,206484/
The Genesis was the stronger machine, and for that reason, Sega centered its entire ad campaign on that fact. Hence the angle for one of the most famous slogans in gaming history: "Genesis does what Nintendon't." The full version of that slogan emphasizes that the Genesis had 16 bit graphics, hence the commerciales saying "Genesis does 16 bit sports action" while then saying "you won't find this on Nintendo!" The shots were fired.
Not to be outdone, Nintendo then released its own latest console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The name itself shows precisely what image Nintendo wanted to convey regarding its latest console: like the NES, but BETTER! Like the Genesis, the SNES did 16 bit graphics, leveling the playing field between the two systems. But how could Nintendo take the lead?
The answer: the FX chip. To put it in layman's terms, the FX chip could allow the SNES to pull some limited 3D graphics. But of course, the SNES didn't immediately start making games that took full advantage of this technology, in fact, many early SNES titles played too similarly to NES games, the difference being prettier graphics. One of the biggest critiques against Super Mario World was just how little its gameplay diverged from Super Mario Bros. 3, its immediate predecessor. For a time, it looked like the difference between the SNES and the NES was simply prettier graphics, and it seemed like Sega could well dethrone Nintendo as King of the Consoles.
That all changed in 1993 with a little game called Star Fox. Nintendo's latest intellectual property, Star Fox was the first game on the console to take full advantage of the FX chip. It was a 3D game that used polygons instead of pixels. The game was, at the time of release, a spectacular sight, because consoles weren't known for pulling 3D graphics; that was the realm of PC gaming and arcade games. THIS is what the SNES could pull:
In the year 1993, these were top notch, state of the art graphics.
Star Fox proved that the SNES was the superior machine on the market. To try and compete, Sega released an add-on for the Genesis, called the Sega CD, which actually improved the graphical and sound capabilities of the Sega Genesis, while also using CD ROM games, which had more memory storage capabilities than the cartridge system the SNES and Genesis used. But, as I've written before on this blog, this turned out to be Sega's big blunder, as the Sega CD was useless without a Genesis, and it sold for a whopping 299 dollars. The console war was all but over at this point.
Sega's big mistake, which was repeated by several other companies like Panasonic and Atari, was to emphasize the fact that their console was superior to all existing competition. Unlike the 3DO and the Jaguar, however, Sega actually showed off what its system could do with its games. Sega promised faster gameplay, better graphics, and better sound than the NES, and they delivered with the Genesis. Problem was, the SNES was simply the more powerful machine, and Nintendo proved it with Star Fox. The Genesis couldn't even dream of pulling the 3D graphics Star Fox was pulling, not without a super expensive add-on.
But the lesson Nintendo gave to the world, which sadly fell on deaf ears for companies like Panasonic and Atari, was that you have to make games that actually USE the console's full capabilities; otherwise, you're just wasting technology. Atari bragged that their Jaguar system was superior because it was 64 Bits at a time when the biggest consoles in the market were 16 Bit. But this all meant nothing to gamers, because the Jaguar didn't have any games that actually took advantage of that 64 Bit technology and still felt fun to play. THIS is what Atari called "64 Bit action":
Cybermorph, 1993, for the 64 Bit Atari Jaguar
It's the games that sell consoles, not the other way around. A console's technology is worthless if its games do not make use of it. This is the lesson Star Fox sent to the world of gaming: if you have the technology, make the games that use it, and make sure those games REALLY show it off. This is a lesson that got lost on several of Nintendo's competitors at the time, but that still applies, and gets applied, to this day, where game companies take extra care to make sure their launch titles can "wow" the world enough to sell their machines.
Nintendo, however, was not above making their own mistakes. Following Star Fox, Nintendo would make a few blunders that eventually led to Sony entering the console market, dethroning Nintendo from its spot as the Number 1 console maker. The Golden Age was over on the home console market.
The handheld console market, on the other hand...Stay tuned next week, when we discuss how Nintendo not only revolutionized the handheld gaming market, they also monopolized it.
No comments:
Post a Comment