☆The History Of "CONSOLE WARS"☆

Having observed from the sidelines over the last few months The Games Freezer team has seen the hype and frenzy of the supposed "Console Wars" reach new HIGHS and LOWS as we see Sony & Microsoft trade daily blows in almost real time via all manner of social networks and media outlets.

It has been made all the more intense due to the long wait for a next generation of consoles and the fact that the so called "fanboys" have an instant way of showing their Love for their chosen console and a Hate for the opposing console.

Now we don't agree with the use such a genuinely exciting set of events to create a warring tension between gamers, but when we look back over the years we find that this kind of War Of Words & Consoles has been going on since 1975!

So nothing new at all really except nowadays the marketing machine and hype is more in your face…..

We decided to look at the greatest match ups over the years to see who dealt the knock-out blows since 1975 up until the present day, whilst also adding in our own scoring system to decide the winner of each Round!

So without further ado……."Seconds Out……ROUND 1……FIGHT!"

Round 1

1975 - 1977 - "The Originals"

Title Contenders:

Atari 2600 vs Magnavox Odyssey (Series)

Atari 2600

Magnavox Odyssey

Year Released:
Atari 2600 (1977)
Magnavox Odyssey (1975)

System Specs:
Atari 2600 - 128 Bytes Of RAM and 4kb ROM
Magnavox Odyssey - General Instruments AY-3-8500

Game Format:
Atari 2600 - ROM Cartridge
Magnavox Odyssey - Built In Games

Gamepad / Joystick Style:

The Iconic Atari 2600 Joystick

The Different Looking Odyssey Controller

Top Selling Game:
Atari 2600 - Pacman 7million
Magnavox Odyssey - Built In Games

Price:
Atari 2600 - $199
Magnavox Odyssey - $100

Units Sold:
Atari 2600 - 30 million
Magnavox Odyssey - 330,000

Marketing:

Atari's Bold But True Claims!

Magnox's Tame Ad Campaign

Overall Games Freezer Points Decision:

This round has to go to the Atari 2600
With interchangeable cartridge ROMS and some of the most iconic games of all time the Atari 2600 lands a right hook to the iconic but limited Magnavox machines

Other Title Contenders:
Coleco Telstar

Fairchild Channel F

Round 2

1981 - 1985 - "SEGA vs Nintendo"

Title Contenders:

SEGA Master System (SMS) vs Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

SEGA Master System

Nintendo Entertainment System

Year Released:
SMS (1985)
NES (1983)

System Specs:
SMS - 8 Bit
NES - 8 Bit

Game Format:
SMS - ROM Cartridge & SEGA Card
NES - ROM Cartridge

Gamepad / Joystick Style:

One of the most recognisable gamepads in the world!

Although it wasn't the most comfortable pad, the SMS Pad thumbstick was pretty cool!

Top Selling Game:
SMS - Alex Kidd In Miracle World (Unknown)
NES - Super Mario Bros (40 Million - In Pack) / Super Mario Bros III (18 Million)

Price:
SMS - $200
NES - $299

Units Sold:
SMS - 14 million
NES - 61 million

Marketing:

Classic SEGA Ad "Do Me A Favour...."

The NES Had A ROBOT!!

Overall Games Freezer Points Decision:
The Master System was a worthy contender in the graphics stakes but the NES had the better games. Alex Kidd was good but didn't cut it versus the might of The Super Mario Bros!

Other Title Contenders:
Atari 5200

Intellivision II

ColecoVision

Round 3

1986 - 1990 - "The Main Event!"

Title Contenders:

Super Nintendo vs SEGA Megadrive

Super Nintendo / Super Famicom

SEGA Genesis / Megadrive

Year Released:
Super Nintendo (1990)
SEGA Megadrive (1988)

System Specs:
Super Nintendo - 16 Bit
SEGA Megadrive - 16 Bit

Game Format:
Super Nintendo - ROM Cartridge
SEGA Megadrive - ROM Cartridge

Gamepad / Joystick Style:

The Most Comfortable Gamepad Ever Created.

The "Batarang"

Top Selling Game:
Super Nintendo - Super Mario World (20 Million)
SEGA Megadrive - SONIC The Hedgehog (15 Million)

Price:
Super Nintendo - $210
SEGA Megadrive - $189.99

Units Sold:
Super Nintendo - 49 million
SEGA Megadrive - 41 million

Marketing:

Nintendo's Matter Of Fact Approach To The Console Wars

Legendary SEGA Advert!

GENESIS vs NINTENDO ADVERT

Overall Games Freezer Points Decision:

This was probably the hardest fought round with the PR machine really cranking things up a few notches!

SEGA really went hard for NINTENDO but again Nintendo come out on top as they turned out to be the classiest fighter in the round with all the great games of the era belonging to the "SNES"

Other Title Contenders:

Atari 7800

NEC Turbografx-16 / PC Engine

SNK NEO GEO

Round 4

1991 - 1993

"The Vacant Heavyweight Title"

Title Contenders:

MEGA CD

SEGA's Immense Looking SEGA CD!

AMIGA CD 32

The Cool Amiga CD32

SEGA SATURN

ATARI JAGUAR

PHILLIPS CD-I

TURBOGRAFX CD

Overall Games Freezer Points Decision:

With no clear winner from this period in time our job is made harder.....

BUT...Games Freezer has always loved the SEGA Saturn and especially Virtua Fighter 2!

So we give Round 4's Vacant Title to The SEGA's 32 Bit Beauty, The Saturn!

Round 5

1994 - 1997 "CD vs Cartridge"

Title Contenders:

Playstation vs Nintendo 64

Playstation

Nintendo 64

Year Released:
Playstation - 1994
Nintendo 64 - 1996

System Specs:
Playstation - MIPS R3000A-family R3051 33.8688 MHz
Nintendo 64 - 64-bit 93.75 MHz NEC VR4300

Game Format:
Playstation - CD-ROM
Nintendo 64 - Nintendo 64 Game Pak

Gamepad / Joystick Style:

The Original PS1 Pad

The Awesome N64 Pad

Top Selling Game:
Playstation - Gran Turismo 10 million
Nintendo 64 - Super Mario 64, 11 million Mario Kart 64 9 million

Price:
Playstation - $299
Nintendo 64 - $199

Units Sold:
Playstation - 102 Million
Nintendo 64 - 32 Million

Marketing:

Hardcore PS1 Advertising

Nintendo 64 Pre Launch Hype

Overall Games Freezer Points Decision:

We love the N64 and its such a cool machine but the PS1 gave us so much more.
It made us love the Metal Gear Solid Series
It introduced us to the wonderful world of GTA
It let us enjoy some of the greatest games of football on any home console EVER in the form of International Superstar Soccer Pro

So this round has to go to the Mighty Playstation!

Other Title Contenders:

NEO GEO CD

Megadrive 2

SEGA Genesis 3

Round 6

1998 - 2004 "PS2 vs The World!"

Title Contenders:

SONY Playstation 2 vs SEGA Dreamcast + Nintendo Game Cube + Microsoft XBOX TAG TEAM

VS.

+

Year Released:
Playstation 2 -2000

DreamCast - 1998
GameCube - 2001
X-Box - 2001

System Specs:
Playstion 2 - 32 MB of Direct RAMBUS or RDRAM 4 MB eDRAM 128-bit "Emotion Engine" clocked at 294.912 MHz (launch), 299 MHz (newer models) "Graphics Synthesizer" clocked at 147.456 MHz

DreamCast - CPU 200 MHz Hitachi SH4 RISC
GameCube - IBM Power PC "Gekko" 485MHZ
X-Box - Custom 733 MHz Intel Pentium III "Coppermine-based" processor

Game Format:
Playstation 2 - DVD CD

Dreamcast - CD
GameCube - GameCube Game Disc
X-Box - DVD CD / Download

Gamepad / Joystick Style:

Top Selling Game:
Playstation 2 - Grand Theft Auto San Andreas 17million

DreamCast - Sonic Adventure 2.5million
GameCube - Super Smash Bros Melee 7million
X-Box - Halo 2 8million

Price:
Playstation 2 - $299

Dreamcast - $199
GameCube - $199
X-Box - $299

Units Sold:
Playstation 2 - 155 Million (WOW!)

DreamCast - 10 Million
GameCube - 21 Million
X-Box - 24 Million

Marketing:

Overall Games Freezer Points Decision:

Obviously the Playstation 2 was the absolute unbeatable heavyweight console of all time.
So really, what chance did the Tag Team of DreamCast, GameCube and X-Box have aginst this giant?
Well we will tell you that each one of the 3 consoles had their own special pieces of gaming history attached to them and we have a soft spot for all of them, but the mighty PS2 always had the stamina and strength to outlast whichever opponent dared challenge it.

Round 6 Goes To Playstation 2!
Round 7