Best console of the 20th century

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Hynad said:

scottslater said:

Not remotely the same thing.

The NES wasn’t the only console being developed during the crash period and released around that time. Those other consoles would still have released had Nintendo made the NES or not.

This is half true.  For example, the Atari 7800 was developed around that time, but then they didn't release it for a while.  They held it back until it was obvious that the NES was successful.  That's because the North American console market was DEAD.  Not in a slump.  DEAD.

Part of why the NES is so important historically is not only the games, but also what Nintendo was doing on the retail side and marketing side.  It took so much effort with retailers and with marketing to revive console gaming that no other console maker was willing to do it.  If the NES had not revived console gaming, then it would have stayed DEAD.  PC gaming would have still been around, yes, but without the NES console gaming would have been considered a fad like the pet rock.