what would gaming be with out nintendo?

[mike_intellivision]

celine said:

Onyxmeth said:

I think Sega would have replaced Nintendo, but gaming would be different for sure. Sonic may have never been created.

No. Master System and Atari 7600 were marketed in USA because of the resurrection of console gaming by hand of Nes.

Master System and Atari 7600 were never really the rivals of Nes. Nes' competitors at that time were 16 bit home computer like Amiga and Atari ST and people ( retailers, investors, consumers ) indifference towards Console gaming caused by crash '83/'84.

Probably gaming without Nintendo may be more focus towards home computers ( don't forget that even in Japan, home computer gaming was quite spread at the time of Famicom release thanks to MSX).

 

It was the Atari 7800 and it was developed in 1984 -- so it actually pre-dates the crash (Atari went a whole three years between upgrades).

It was pulled because the market was dead and the focus was on computers. The Atari 8bit series and the C64/C128 series (we won't mention the non-compatable attmepted replacements) were the kings of the day. They continued their wars with the Atari ST and Amiga computers later. That would been the focus of "console gaming" had Nintendo never come along. Instead, it was just a side note to the main show of NES.

Because of Nintendo, Sega got into the act and brought over its S3000 and dubbed it the Master System. Atari tried to get back into it with the 7800 and a re-release of the 2600. Heck, you could even find a re-release of the Intellivision at Toys R Us then too.

So we owe Nintendo a lot.

Sony entered and moved things further as well -- again because of Nintendo.

Mike from Morgantown

PS -- Of course, Phillips did CDI because of Nintendo, so we can curse them for that.