Instruments Of Change: 10 Pioneering Video Game Consoles

Without the tools to create, where would we be? Listening to the sound of one hand clapping, probably. In this column we’ll be looking at people who invent their own tools—be they musical, artistic, photographic—any sort of bespoke equipment from innovative builders of all disciplines and ages in a celebration of the fine art of invention. This week: Video game consoles

Video game consoles. There’s been quite a few of them over the years and everyone has a personal fave that they’ll defend until they’re spitting pixels and their fingers cramp up into claws. He loves the Sega Genesis, she loves the Xbox 360—and never the twain shall agree. Nothing in human history has caused so many flame wars as people arguing over which console’s the best. Politics and religion may come close, but few things in life are this divisive. Friendships have been ruined, relationships torn apart. So, with that in mind, here’s our pick of the most innovative consoles in the history of the universe. So far. Amen.

Magnavox Odyssey

This clunky little number is what started it all off. It may look like the bottom of a 1970s vacuum cleaner, but don’t let that fool you. Released in August 1972 and designed by Ralph Baer, it beat out all pretenders to the throne to become grandaddy of them all. Without this, you wouldn’t be wasting your life staring at a screen, moving lots of fictional characters around. You’d be wasting it some other way.

Atari 2600

Ah, the Atari 2600. It had that little joystick with the red button and ever-so-stylish 70s wood panelling on the console itself. It popularized cartridge-based gaming with its amazing selection of games. Designers still imitate those cool retro covers that everyone remembers so fondly. And if you were a child in 1980 and didn’t get one for Christmas, you cried bitter, salty tears till New Year.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

Does this really need explaining? It made entire families gamers back in the mid-80s and when the industry was in a terminal condition, lying there barely breathing, the NES came along and gave it a shot in the arm. It also launched an entire 8-bit aesthetic that’s been ripped off by everyone from from artists to advertisers to fashion designers and put Nintendo at the forefront of gaming for all eternity. Or for awhile, anyway. Oh yeah, nearly forgot, there were a few OK games on there, too.

Game Boy

Mashing up the NES and their Game & Watch series, the Nintendo bods came up with this 8-bit handheld device, to be played under the desks of school kids the world over in double science for the rest of the early 90s. It turned the Tetris theme song into an earworm of the ages, and is now used as a musical instrument. See Sulumi for more info on that.

NeoGeo

While you were happily playing your SNES or Sega Genesis, that one rich kid who always gets everything first, even the shit that hasn’t been invented yet, had a NeoGeo. He’d boast about how it was like having an arcade in his living room, with the superior graphics and sound, along with that 6-buttoned joystick controller thing. But he never—not once—invited you over to play it. Bastard.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

While the NeoGeo could boast about its fancy graphics and sound, the SNES was the console that found a place in your heart and stayed there. The system and its selection of incredible games—Super Mario World, Mario Kart, Star Fox, F-Zero, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Contra III, Mario Paint—won the console war and Nintendo rose triumphantly, kicking SEGA in the motherboard.

SEGA Dreamcast

It may’ve burned for only a short time, but it burned brightly. It pipped Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft to the post to release a 6th generation video game console. It not only boasted some great fighter titles like Soulcalibur, it also had some really bizarre games too, and was the first time a console had a built-in modem so you could do battle online.

PlayStation 2

One of the most popular consoles ever made, reflected in it’s reigning legacy as the best-selling console in the history of space-time. It was also home to Grand Theft Auto III which popularized the mindless killing genre of gaming. With its sleek black look, it allowed you to play DVDs on it too, marking a step towards a complete home entertainment unit. Which we’re still waiting on.

Nintendo Wii

While Microsoft and Sony were all about graphics and sound, Nintendo put that on the back burner and concentrated on the interface. And what they came up with made people smash their TV sets—mainly because they forgot to secure the strap round their wrist. Still, motion sensor and gesture-controlled gaming gave us all a glance into a future we wanted to be a part of. Also responsible for getting your 90-year-old grandma into virtual tennis.

Xbox 360

It not only ushered in HD gaming—so all those imaginary worlds could be crystal clear and make your eyes hurt even more—but also had wireless controllers and the revolutionary Xbox Live, which took online gaming out of the clammy hands of PC gamers and gave it to the console community. Now they too could run around online screaming abuse at strangers on the other side of the world all in the name of entertainment.