The history of the game console begins in the early 1980s. The first game consoles have little in common with the consoles that are on the market today. Colecovision, Atari and several other systems first came on the market. They provided limited graphics, but the first game, Pong, set the stage for the games that would follow.

Atari dominated the market for years, but game console history took the next step with the release of the Sega Master System and the Nintendo Entertainment System. The NES was the more popular of the two consoles. Nintendo’s system provided classic games such as Zelda, Super Mario Brothers, Contra, and Final Fantasy. Sega’s Master System gave birth to the first console role playing game to hit the market, the original Phantasy Star.

The history of the game console goes from 8 bits to 16 bits within a few years. The Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment system competed for several years. This time also saw a brief 24 bit system called the Neo Geo. The high price tag of the Neo Geo put it out of the price range of many gamers.

Video game console history took a step forward when the idea of the cartridge was abandoned. Sony’s PlayStation burst onto the scene. Sony’s PlayStation would set the stage for many of the consoles that followed it. The Xbox, PlayStation 2, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 build upon this model. Nintendo decided to take a different track and remain with cartridges longer. Eventually it decided to expand its market into additional venues with the Wii.