History of video game consoles (fourth generation)
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In the history of video games, the 16-bit era was the fourth generation of video game consoles. Starting in 1987 with the Japanese launch of the PC Engine (which was in reality an 8-bit system), this era was dominated by commercial rivalry between Nintendo and Sega with their machines, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (although the SNES was not a 16-bit console as such, it used a 65c816 Ricoh 5A22 CPU) and the Sega Mega Drive — the latter known as the Sega Genesis in North America. The machines introduced in this generation retained the majority market share until 1996.
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[edit] Launch
The PC Engine, a collaboration between Hudson Soft and NEC, was launched in Japan on October 30, 1987 and was followed by the Sega Mega Drive on October 29, 1988. Both machines were launched in North America during August 1989 and the Mega Drive was launched in Europe on 30 November 1990.
As the market quickly transitioned to the newer hardware, Nintendo saw erosion of the commanding market share they'd built up with the Nintendo Entertainment System and responded with their own fourth generation machine, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on 21 November 1990. The machine reached North America in August 1991 and Europe in April 1992.
Although initially popular in Japan, the PC Engine failed to maintain its initial sales momentum or to make a strong impact in North America, where it became unavailable by 1994. As a result the market was largely divided between Sega and Nintendo, who acted as direct competitors.
[edit] Marketing
[edit] NEC
The PC Engine was quite successful in Japan, partly due to titles available on the then-new CD-ROM format. NEC released a CD add-on in 1990 and by 1992 had released a combination TurboGrafx and CD-ROM system known as the TurboDuo.
In the USA, NEC used Bonk, a head-banging caveman, as their mascot and featured him in most of the TurboGrafx advertising from 1990 to 1994. The platform was well received initially, especially in larger markets but failed to make inroads into the smaller metropolitan areas where NEC did not have as many store representatives or as focused in-store promotion.
By 1994 the TurboGrafx-16 and its CD combination system the Turbo Duo were out of manufacture in North America, though a small amount of software continued to trickle out for the platform. NEC released the 32-bit PC-FX console the same year in Japan. Plans were underway for a U.S. release of the PC-FX but an already flooded market of platforms including the more powerful 3DO and Atari Jaguar systems caused TTI, who by then had the US rights to the TurboGrafx platform, to halt its North American release plans.
In Japan, a number of more adult titles were also available for the PC Engine, such as a variety of strip mahjong games (such as the Super Real Mahjong series), which set it apart from it's competitors.
[edit] Sega
Starting in 1991, Sega built their marketing campaign in all regions around their mascot Sonic the Hedgehog, pushing him as the "cooler" alternative to Nintendo's mascot Mario and using his games as demonstrations of the technical capabilities of their machine such as its fast CPU and multi-buffered tilemap architecture (which they coined blast processing).
In the USA, their advertising was often directly adversarial, leading to commercials such as "Genesis does what Nintendon't" and the "'SEGA!' scream".
When Mortal Kombat was ported for home release on the Mega Drive/Genesis and Super NES, Nintendo decided to censor the game's gore in accordance with their long-standing policy of censorship but Sega kept the content in the game, hoping to position their console as the more "mature" product. Sega's gamble paid off, and its version of Mortal Kombat received generally higher and more favorable reviews in the gaming press. As a result of this, Nintendo reconsidered its position, and when Mortal Kombat II was ported to the console, all of the violence was intact.
[edit] Nintendo
Nintendo's market position was defined by their machine's increased color palette and sound capabilities and their popular franchises, including games such as the Mario series, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Super Metroid, and later Donkey Kong Country.
[edit] Worldwide sales standings
| Console | Units Sold | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Super Nintendo Entertainment System | 49 million[1] | February 11, 2006 |
| Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis | 29 million[2] | December 1, 2006 |
| TurboGrafx-16 | 11 million[citation needed] | N/A |
[edit] Add-ons
Nintendo, NEC and Sega also competed with hardware peripherals for their consoles. NEC was first out the door with the release of the Turbo-Grafx CD system in 1990. Retailing for $499.88(Walmart) at release the add-on CD was not a popular purchase but was in large part responsible for the platform's success in Japan. Sega made two attempts: the Sega Mega-CD (Sega CD in the US) and the Sega 32X, neither of which were very successful. The Sega CD was plagued by a high price tag ($300 at its release) and a limited library of games. The 32X faced a number of problems, primarily technical and commercial. (The peripheral would occasionally not work with some consoles. Additionally, some retailers were not able to meet the initial demand for the add on, leading to shortages.)
A unique add-on for the Sega console was Sega Channel. Sega Channel was a subscription based service hosted by local television providers. It required hardware that plugged into a cable line and the Sega.
Nintendo made an attempt with their successful Satellaview and Super Game Boy. The former was a satellite service released only on the Japanese market and the latter an adapter for the Super Nintendo that allowed Game Boy games to be displayed on a TV in color.
Interestingly, Nintendo, working along with Sony, also had plans to create a CD-ROM drive for the Super NES, similar to the Sega CD, but eventually decided not to go through with that project, opting to team with Philips in the development of the add-on instead. However, the Super NES CD-ROM project was cancelled, and Sony used the name ("PlayStation") for their own stand-alone CD-based console, overseen by former SNES sound-chip engineer, Ken Kutaragi. PlayStation went on to badly hurt CD-i sales, and Philips dropped the product line in 1998.
[edit] European importing
The 16-bit era was also the era when the act of buying imported US games became more established in Europe, and regular stores began to carry them. This was especially popular with SNES games, due to several reasons:
- Because PAL has a refresh rate of 50Hz (compared to 60Hz for NTSC) and a vertical resolution of 625 interlaced lines (576 effective), compared to 525/480 for NTSC, a game designed for the NTSC standard without any modification will run 17% slower and have black bars at the top and bottom. Developers often had a hard time converting games designed for the American and Japanese NTSC standard to the European PAL standard. Companies such as Konami, with large budgets and a healthy following in Europe, readily optimised several games (such as the International Superstar Soccer series) for this audience, while smaller developers, or those who placed less emphasis in the European market, did not.
- Few RPGs were released in Europe because they would have needed to been translated into many different languages. RPGs tend to contain much more text than other genres, so one of the biggest problems was simply fitting all of the full translations into one cartridge. The cost of creating multiple full translations was also prohibitive. Only the UK saw any number of RPG releases, and even then the number was a fraction of what was being released in the US or Japan.
Popular US games imported at this time:
- Final Fantasy IV (known at the time as Final Fantasy II)
- Final Fantasy VI (known at the time as Final Fantasy III)
- Secret of Mana
- Street Fighter II
- Chrono Trigger
- Super Mario RPG
[edit] The rise of franchises
While their seeds were sown in the 8-bit era, many of the major franchise titles came of age and solidified in the 16-bit era. Metroid, Zelda, Star Fox, F-Zero, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Seiken Densetsu (Secret of Mana), Sonic the Hedgehog, Front Mission, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and many others had either their first releases or some of their most popular titles during the 16-bit era.
- Sonic the Hedgehog: In order to compete toe-to-toe with Nintendo, Sega came with the idea of a character that would surpass Mario in many ways and the character ended being Sonic the Hedgehog. Debuting in 1991, it was the key to Sega's success and leadership in the video game market during the early years of this generation. Its sequel, released a year later, strengthened this situation. Later, two more sequels and three spin-offs were released. Because of this success, Sonic the Hedgehog became Sega's official mascot and continues to be one of the company's most important franchises, and several releases followed on subsequent Sega consoles, and later on consoles from former rivals Nintendo and Sony, as well as Microsoft ones.
- Metroid: Super Metroid, released in 1994 on a (at the time) whopping 24 megabit cartridge for the SNES, was the third game in the series, after the original was released on the NES in 1986 and the Game Boy version came out in 1991. It was Super Metroid, and the detailed graphical depiction of Samus Aran, that cemented this series' success.
- Zelda: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past courted popularity even larger than that of its predecessors on the NES. As well as generally being a well-made game, it was one of the few action-adventures to be released early in the SNES's lifecycle. Zelda II on the NES had been mostly action-based and was side-scrolling, whilst A Link to the Past drew more inspiration from the original with its top-down adventure format. Zelda's mixture of action and adventure elements continues to this day.
- Dragon Quest: Although none of the Dragon Quest franchise was published during this era outside of Japan, it remained the most popular RPG there. Two main installments came out for the SFC, as well as the remakes of the first three games originally released for FC and a dungeon crawler spin-off: Torneko's Great Adventure, which started Chun Soft's popular Fushigi no Dungeon series.
- Star Fox: Star Fox was the first SNES game to feature the Super FX chip in 1993. It is a spacecraft-flying game featuring Fox McCloud and his teammates Slippy Toad, Peppy Hare and Falco Lombardi. This marked the first quest at stopping the evil Andross from taking over the Lylat System (which would later be reprised on its sequel Star Fox 64 for Nintendo 64 in 1997). There had been a Star Fox 2 with new characters in development for Super Nintendo, but this game was cancelled in the beta stages because of the approaching release of the N64. There were three more releases; Star Fox Adventures in 2003 and Star Fox Assault in 2005, both for the Nintendo GameCube, and Star Fox Command in 2006 for the Nintendo DS.
- F-Zero: F-Zero, which was an early release in 1991, is a futuristic racing game of hover-cars at speeds up to 475 Km (with boost, up to 900) per hour. F-zero used the pioneering "Mode 7" technology which made the game appear to be 3-d. This game was an incredibly fast racing game that influenced the PlayStation racing series Wipeout. The original four racers (Captain Falcon, Dr. Stewart, Pico and Samurai Goroh) are still featured in most of the games, although the series now features over 30 different racers. This successful series was also featured in 1998 (F-Zero X for N64), 2001 (F-Zero: Maximum Velocity for Game Boy Advance), 2003 (both F-Zero GX for the GameCube and F-Zero AX, the arcade version), and 2005 (F-Zero: GP Legend for GBA, which was based on the animated series that same year.)
- Final Fantasy: Despite irregular releases - only two of the three FF games produced in Japan made it to North America, and both with its original numeration shifted (which still generate some confusion to this day) - Final Fantasy continued to grow in popularity in the early 1990s. Not until Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation did it reach blockbuster status outside Japan, but for a SNES title, it was a popular series. Such was the enduring appeal of the 16-bit titles, many of them are being translated and re-released for handheld systems (years after they were translated for emulator-use by enthusiasts.)
- Seiken Densetsu: This series was introduced to Europe and North America in the form of Secret of Mana, which was actually the second in the SD series (again, SD was translated by enthusiasts.) The series lives on with Sword of Mana on the Game Boy Advance, Legend of Mana for the PlayStation, and Children of Mana for the Nintendo DS, showing how fond memories of SoM have created a lasting fanbase. There is a common misconception that Secret of Evermore for the SNES was meant to be a follow up to Secret of Mana, or a replacement for an english translation of Seiken Densetsu 3. The "Secret of" was tacked on at a point late in development to cash in on a perceived relation. Seiken Densetsu 3 was held back from a North American release due to elements of the story perceived to be "too mature".
- Street Fighter: An arcade smash hit, Street Fighter II made it to the 16-bit consoles without significant loss of quality or features. Sprites were decreased in size and the backdrops lost a bit of their flashiness, but for the most part it was a faithful recreation that sold voluminous copies. The series is still being produced today. It is worth noting that, whilst the original Street Fighter was deemed innovative and fairly popular, it was the second on the series that produced a lasting fanbase and a slew of (mostly sub-standard) imitations.
- Phantasy Star: Phantasy Star was Sega's RPG franchise that was established 1987 on the Sega Master System. It was the first console RPG to reach Europe, almost a decade before Final Fantasy VII. Three sequels were released to the Mega Drive. With its sci-fi theme, the franchise was unique from fantasy-themed Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.
- Thunder Force: Thunder Force was released on several computers in Japan in the mid-80s, but it was on the Mega Drive the series got famous for its intense and innovative gameplay, detailed graphics and great techno-rock soundtracks. Thunder Force II, III and IV were all released for the Mega Drive, but the third game never reached Europe and the fourth was called Lightening Force (sic) in the US.
- Shining Force: Starting with dungeon-crawler Shining in the Darkness in early 90s, this Sega franchise became a strategy RPG series with Shining Force a few years after. With 12 characters of different classes and races, you must be tactical to defeat the hordes of enemies coming at you. The franchise still lives with new games coming out to the PS2, though these games shifted from the Strategy RPG genre to the Action RPG.
- Ecco the Dolphin: An underwater adventure game starring a bottlenose dolphin named Ecco. Ecco searched for his pod through famously difficult underwater levels. Ecco the Dolphin had three sequels; the direct sequel Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis/Mega Drive), an edutainment game called Ecco Jr. (Genesis/Mega Drive), and, years later, Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (Dreamcast), which took place outside of the reality established in the original games.
Seeking to follow the example of the above titles, several more franchises were born during this era, many of which have not survived to the present day. While game sequels were far from uncommon during the 8-bit era and even before, it was at this time that the potential of series games was realized.
[edit] Fourth generation (16-bit era) systems
[edit] Consoles
| NEC PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 | Sega Mega Drive/Genesis | Neo Geo | Nintendo Super Famicom/SNES | Philips CD-i | |
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| Launch prices (USD) | US$249.99 | US$190.00 | US$649.99 | US$199.99 | US$700.00 |
| Release Date |  October 30, 1987 September 1, 1989 1990 |
October 29, 1988 September 15, 1989 November 30, 1990 |
1990 |
November 21, 1990 August 13, 1991 April 11, 1992 |
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| Media | Cartridge & CD-ROM (add-on) | Cartridge & CD-ROM (32X and Sega CD add-ons) | Cartridge | Cartridge | CD-i, Audio CD, CD+G, Karaoke CD, VCD, CD Bridge |
| Backwards Compatibility | None | Sega Master System (using Power Base Converter) | None | None | None |
| Logo | US Japan |
Japan & Europe US |
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US Japan & Europe |
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| Accessories (retail) |
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[edit] Add-ons
[edit] Handhelds
 Nintendo Game Boy Pocket |
 Atari Lynx |
 Sega Game Gear |
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 TurboExpress |
[edit] Video game franchises established during the 16-bit era
² The franchise actually started in the Famicom (Japanese version of the NES), but it was introduced to international markets during the 16-bit era.
[edit] References
- ^ Classic Systems—Super Nintendo Entertainment System (html). Nintendo. Retrieved on February 11, 2006.
- ^ Ken Polsson. [http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/segavid/index.htm Chronology of Sega Video Games]. Retrieved on 2006-12-1.
