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1989-1996: Game boy to n64
The third console on the list is the classic Game Boy, released in 1989.
The original Game Boy is the first in its line of four, and it was Nintendo's second handheld console. The Game Boy had a monochromatic screen; it only used four shades of gray. Its games ran at 60 FPS!
The Game Boy lacked a backlight when it was first released, so many third party additions were made to fix that.
The Game Boy lacked a backlight when it was first released, so many third party additions were made to fix that.
Up next are the Super Famicom and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (usually referred to as the Super NES or SNES).
These two 16-bit consoles made their debut in 1990 in Japan and 1991 in the US, respectively.
These two 16-bit consoles made their debut in 1990 in Japan and 1991 in the US, respectively.
The Super Famicom was released to compete with the NEC PC Engine and the SEGA Mega Drive (SEGA Genesis). It quickly gained popularity; the original stock of 300,000 consoles sold out within hours. The Super Famicom was so popular that it attracted the attention of the Yakuza (a group of Japanese robbers)! Therefore, the Super Famicom consoles had to be shipped out at night to avoid theft.
Upon release, the Super NES only came bundled with a single game: Super Mario World. British video game company Rare later began a collaboration with Nintendo, and together they released a trilogy of Donkey Kong Country games.
The NES Zapper was re-released around this time, under the new name "Super Scope". Like the original Zapper, it functions as a light gun, but the Super Scope was larger and more functional. The Super Scope also makes an appearance in the popular Super Smash Bros series!
Upon release, the Super NES only came bundled with a single game: Super Mario World. British video game company Rare later began a collaboration with Nintendo, and together they released a trilogy of Donkey Kong Country games.
The NES Zapper was re-released around this time, under the new name "Super Scope". Like the original Zapper, it functions as a light gun, but the Super Scope was larger and more functional. The Super Scope also makes an appearance in the popular Super Smash Bros series!
The Nintendo 64 (so aptly named because of its 64-bit CPU) is up next. This is one of Nintendo's most popular consoles, and it was released in 1996.
Before release, the Nintendo 64 had the code name "Project Reality". Sony worked with Nintendo on making it, and they wanted to use a optical disk drive instead of cartridges. However, Nintendo stuck with the idea of cartridges and abandoned Sony. After Sony was removed, they took the information that they received and used it to make their original Playstation console. The Nintendo 64 was launched with only two games: Pilotwings 64 and Super Mario 64.
It was originally priced at $250, but it was lowered to $199.99 to compete with the Playstation and the SEGA Saturn.
It was originally priced at $250, but it was lowered to $199.99 to compete with the Playstation and the SEGA Saturn.