| spurgeonryan said:
Here’s who won each console warAbove: The Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, Sony PlayStation, and Xbox 360. Image Credit: GamesBeat
War. War never changes. Especially console wars. Ever since the Sega Genesis took on the Super Nintendo, gamers have taken sides and voted with their wallets as companies competed for the industry’s top spot. Of course, we could subjectively debate about which systems were the best for their times, but we also have sales figures that undisputedly tell us which consoles won their respective wars, at least in terms of market share. We got these worldwide sales figures straight from the manufactures whenever possible (via financial reports and press releases from Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony). We state otherwise when a number comes from a different source. Together, these give us an insight into the heated battles of console wars past. Also, we start with the Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis era for a few reasons. First off, the Nintendo Entertainment System dominated during its run, so we don’t really have a war to speak of. Before that, in the Atari/Intellivision/Colecovision days, it’s hard to find precise numbers and the console lifespans were a bit more erratic, so you can’t line up “generations” quite as neatly. Super Nintendo vs. Sega GenesisWinner: Super Nintendo (49.10 million) 
Above: The Super Nintendo competed against the Sega Genesis in an intense console war. Image Credit: Nintendo
This was actually a close race. The Sega Genesis sold about $40 million units worldwide according to former Sega executive Joe Miller, but rival Nintendo managed to do a little better with its Nintendo Entertainment System successor. The first of the modern console wars might have been the nastiest. Sega in particular was fond of going straight after Nintendo in commercials, like in the one below. However, Nintendo was able to hold its ground thanks to high-profile exclusives like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Donkey Kong Country. Sega, meanwhile, would overcrowd and confuse the market with Genesis add-ons Sega CD and 32-X. |
I think this is the only one that's kind of fuzzy, the Genesis was abruptly discontinued by Sega in 1994 as soon as they released the Saturn, Nintendo actively supported the SNES well into the N64s life! (to their benefit). One could argue that this was a tie while the Genesis was on the market.
There were also regional differences, like in most console generations, in Japan the Mega Drive was not very popular and Sega sold most consoles in the States, while the Super Famicom completely dominated the Japanese market, granting us some amazing JRPGs with superb sound tracks...
As for the add-ons, I would argue that the Sega CD had a purpose and was interesting to own back then, it was also released early enough, just avoid the FMV games... while the 32X was a stupid mistake pushed by the american management at Sega, it was unreliable and would not let you play games that could compete with the right around the corner, Saturn and PSX.
