From Cabinets to Consoles - The World of Retro Video Game Systems
From D.S. Cohen, former About.com Guide
The Atari 2600
As the godfather of video game consoles, the Atari 2600 took the industry by storm when it premiered in 1977, and dominated the market for a long 15 year run. But the success of the console left in it's wake the exodus of Atari's founder as well as their top programmers, and inevitably brought forth the crash the same market it created.
- Atari 2600 – A Profile of the Longest Running Console in History
- Top 5 Atari 2600 Controller Oddities - Paving the Way for Next-Gen Gaming
- Top 12 Weirdest Atari 2600 Games
The Commodore 64
In the 1980s the Commodore 64 ruled the home computer market and stands today as the best selling computer model in history. The C64 was also known for advancing the computer gaming world with its superior graphics and audio, which were originally designed for an advanced gaming console.
- Commodore 64 - The Computer that thought it was a Game Console
- Howard the Duck - Adventure on Volcano Island for the Commodore 64
- The World of Commodore - An Annual Convention
The Nintendo Entertainment System
With bad game flooding the market for far too long, by 1983 the U.S. had enough and the video game industry crashed, destroying numerous companies and turning the public off to even the thought of the once games; but in Japan the home console market was just taking off when the playing card company Nintendo released their first game system with interchangeable cartridges, the Nintendo Family Computer (or Famicom). Just a few years later they would repackage the Famicom for North America, calling it the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and in doing so would redefine and relaunched the near dead industry.