With the latest edition of the ZBOX Gamer Edition becoming available on-site, we here at Zavvi couldn’t stop debating over which retro consoles were king. We’ve managed to compile a list of our favourites from gaming history, check it out below and take a trip down memory lane – back to to the old school.
Magnavox Odyssey 1972
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The Magnavox Odyssey was the first home video game console which could be connected to a TV set. This console was originally mistakenly believed to be analog but this was due to misunderstanding its hardware design. Some of its basic playable games included: Cat and Mouse, Shooting Gallery and Table Tennis.
Pong 1975
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Pong the game was one of the first games to reach mainstream popularity and is largely credited with paving the way for the modern videogame. The home console for Pong was released by Atari in 1975 and allowed you to play this game at home, as opposed to in an arcade.
Atari 2600 VCS 1977
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The Atari 2600 became the most popular game console of the second generation for video game consoles. It helped to popularize ROM cartridges containing game code, and the use of microprocessor based hardware. Games playable on this console included: Combat, Pitfall! and Breakout.
Intellivision 1980
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Mattel’s Intellivision console was innovative in many ways, it was the first 16-bit game console, featured downloadable games (though admittedly these disappeared once you turned the machine off) and featured real-time human and robot voices during gameplay thanks to the IntelliVoice module. 125 games were released during this console’s lifetime, including B-17 Bomber, Donkey Kong Jr. and Q*bert. Shortly after this time came the video game crash of 1983, when the video game business suffered heavily due to a sudden flood of consoles, low quality video games, the hype of such games and a rise in computer gaming.
Nintendo Entertainment System 1985
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The NES helped to revitalize the video game industry after the crash of 1983 and is certainly one of the consoles which is most fondly looked back on. Its games featured friendly faces that you’ll probably even recognise today, from Final Fantasy, Kirby’s Adventure, Super Mario Bros., Metal Gear, Metroid and more. The NES supported high-resolution sprites, larger colour palettes and tiled backgrounds, allowing games to be longer and have more detailed graphics.
Did you play any of these consoles? Which was your favourite? Let us know with on Twitter, or even send us photos of your retro gaming collection on Instagram.
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