The history of portable gaming consoles. Part 1 (Before 2000) Bashny.Net

The first attempts h4>

Microvision h5> What do you think of when you hear the term "portable game console"? Most likely - on PlayStation Portable. Of course, until we get it, but the beginning was still not even by Nintendo. One of the first in the 1970s became the Milton-Bradley Company with its portable console Microvision, in which (O Gods!) Even had the opportunity to change the game. The resolution of the LCD display is only 16x16 pixels, which at the moment seems unreal - as you can play when you have only some 256 points on the display?

very unusual and it seems that the control buttons are located on the console, and on the cartridge. Number buttons - from two to twelve, is dependent on the game. Console consisted only of the body, the chip for the screen and the buttons and wheel.

The range of games was extremely small - three years sales of the console came out only some 13 pieces.

Total has sold 8 million copies of Microvision.



Compare sizes with PSP.



One of the games released in the first year of sales - Star Trek: Phaser Strike.

Palmtex Home-Computer Software Super Micro Cartridge System h5> In 1984 goes Palmtex Home-Computer Software Super Micro Cartridge System. Chances are you about her not even heard - because this portable gaming system in terms of sales was a failure.

Nintendo h4> And now, after this became a leader company Nintendo, in 1989, releasing a Game Boy. But the road to this series of games began with the Game & Watch. The Soviet Union had a Game & Watch, wolves and hares, it was called Electronics. Read more about the history of the company advise you to read here: History Nintendo headed by Hiroshi Yamauchi .



In a series of Game & Watch games first appeared D-Pad, now seemingly obligatory element joystick almost any gaming console.



Talisman series of games - Mr. Game & Watch.



Native Soviet version. Managed to get to the end of the movie?



Then, in 1989, Nintendo released the first Game Boy. After this mass was released versions, including color in 1996. Display resolution - 160 × 144, a lot of games and low power consumption, as well as the release of the other versions made ruler of the most popular of these consoles. Surely you, dear readers, they themselves were or still are a happy owner of Game Boy.

Besides games, there were other bonuses. Among them - the external battery, the ability to combine multiple game boy to play together, play games on the Game Boy on the TV and even sonar to find fish under the water.



And the printer ...



Just a dream child of the 90s.



In this video, the robot stops destroying everything around, because it starts with a guy chopped Tetris.

The first color console h4>

Atari Lynx h5> In 1989, Atari released the first color game console Lynx. Trying to capture the market of portable game consoles provalilas.Ne Despite great advantages in the chart above the Game Boy, the then general monochrome console left behind.

One of the nails in its coffin - is too high power consumption. Six batteries enough for four hours of the game, while in the Game Boy had only four batteries, and could play much longer.

More nails - is slow play, as well as their release after a long delay. And the body, by the way, was a little less than completely filled with air - the fault of this study, according to which the console with a large body can be sold at a higher price.

Their good:
- Color display
- The possibility of playing together up to 17 people
- The ability to rotate the screen 180 degrees, which was a bonus for lefties.

Here's a funny movie - it starred Tobey Maguire, known Spiderman.





In 1991, Atari released an updated console, making it a little more attractive. And minor updating the chipset and display. In any case, by the mid-1990s, the stores this console was very difficult to find.

NEC Turboexpress h5> One of the first color handheld game console was Turboexpress from NEC in 1990. It was a portable version of which appeared a couple of years before consoles TurboGrafx-16.

It was the first portable game console with 16-bit graphics. Resolution 2, 6 inch screen - 400x270 pixels. Very good.





A TV tuner, an optional, made from real Turboexpress portable TV.

Sega Game Gear h5> In the early 1990s, Sega's on the warpath, and introduced the world to their version of the portable console. It was the Sega Game Gear, hardware is made on the basis of eight-game console Sega Master System. This simplifies porting games from home consoles to portable. In addition, there was a number of advantages over the Game Boy:
- 3 color screen, 2 inches
- Support for expansion modules (even TV tuner)
- Lens, magnifying the display to 5 inches

But these snacks accompanied by one overlapping almost everything minus: too high egergozatraty. Set of batteries lasts four hours of play. So if you wanted to take it camping or to the clinic - was needed to bag batteries.



Console with lens Super Wide Gear.



Oh, the advertising of the 1990s! In corruption and despair of being clearly visible to Nintendo Game Boy, which is then returned to the seller, because you see a colored console someone brought. Awesome flight of fancy.



This video is fun, but he was still raving.

Game Boy Color h5> the first color portable console Nintendo released only in 1998. It was the Game Boy Color, assignee of the classic version. For this console was released about seven hundred games, among which there are even games in the genre of Survival Horror.

The console is equipped with an 8-bit processor Z80, running at 8 MHz, 32 kilobytes of RAM and 17 kilobytes of video memory. Display diagonal of 60 mm instead of a 169h144 pixels. There were several versions of the body in various colors, including transparent. To work needs two penlight batteries.

Best selling games were Pokemon Gold and Silver.



The video - gameplay Resident Evil: Gaiden.





This is a promotional video in 1998. You also saw the guy behind the wheel barrow series of clinic?



In the next part we will talk about the Nokia N-Gage, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.

This is interesting:
History Nintendo headed by Hiroshi Yamauchi
History of video game consoles in the advertisement. Part 1: from the Magnavox Odyssey to Super Nintendo
History of video game consoles in the advertisement. Part 2
History of video game consoles in the advertisement. Part 3
Alternative arcade at GDC: gallery madcap controllers home production
motion control games

Source: habrahabr.ru/post/220103/