| Wman1996 said: Switch is ninth generation. If it were a home console only, it would be the second eighth generation console for Nintendo. Basically like the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 in the second generation and the Sega SG-1000 and Sega Master System in the third generation. Switch as a hybrid puts it in a different generation from the Wii U, and the fact that it is also a successor to the 3DS. The leap between the 3DS and Switch is staggering. Even if Switch 2 launches in 2023, it'll likely just be an early tenth generation console. |
To be honest though, the Atari 2600 and the Atari 5200 do not belong in the same generation. And, at the time of the 5200's release, it was considered a 3rd generation console. Advertising for the 5200 and Coleco's Colecovision clearly pronounced them as the first "Third Generation" systems. I'm not sure exactly at what point someone decided to retroactively downgrade them in history. But, it's probably because the North American Video Game Crash of 1983 was used to delineate the 82'-84' systems from the rise of the NES since they never directly competed with each other.
Note this 1982 article from Electronic Games Magazine, whose title reads, "Third Wave Video Gaming Comes to Market" (referencing the ColecoVision and the 5200 as the start of the 3rd Generation):
Here's a comparison of Pac-Man on 2600 compared to the 5200 and Coleco Vision:
Here's Nintendo's Donkey Kong on the 2600 compared to the ColecoVision:
Edit - Fixed this sentence: And, at the time of the 5200's release, it was not considered a 3rd generation console.
Last edited by Mandalore76 - on 03 August 2020
