Timeline: Japanese contributions to video games (3/5)
- September 21, 2007 12:57 PM PST
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1985 - Nintendo introduces the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom in Japan) to the rest of the world. It will help revitalize, if not save, the US video game industry following its crash in 1983. The console comes bundled with Super Mario Bros., the most popular platform game of all time, and a multi-button directional pad in lieu of a rudimentary joystick -- something every subsequent console maker will follow until 2006. The NES is still Nintendo's most successful home console to date with over 60 million units sold worldwide.
1985 - Konami releases Yie Ar Kung-Fu which will go on to inspire the versus fighting genre with its inclusion of power meters and side-scrolling movement later made popular by Capcom's Street Fighter II. Though Sega's Heavyweight Champ or Techno's Karate Champ are often credited for the birth of the versus fighter, Yie Ar Kung-Fu is the real, modern day deal.
1986 - Sega releases Out Run designed by Yu Suzuki for the arcade market. While the game's popularity will be attributed to its moving cabinet, full audio soundtrack, and detailed graphics, its real contribution to gaming will be found in allowing players to select playable levels, a first for the medium.
1986 - Nintendo releases The Legend of Zelda, designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, and sets the standard for action-adventure games. Open-ended gameplay, upgrades, and a save system that uses an internal cartridge battery all help to classify Zelda as one of the most successful and recognizable names in gaming.
1987 - Konami releases Metal Gear for the NES, and the stealth action genre is born. Unlike traditional action games, Metal Gear revolves around patience, lurking, and avoiding detection in order to complete missions. The series will become one of Konami's most long-running and successful franchises, but not until the company releases the 3D-enabled Metal Gear Solid in 1998 for the PlayStation.
1987 - Konami ports Castlvania to the NES; gamers receive the endowment as a landmark in the action platforming genre. The Dracula-inspired title will go on to be one of Konami's biggest hits.
1987 - Square releases Final Fantasy on NES to popularize the RPG genre. It will become the most widely purchased RPG series in the world, the ultimate level up.
1988 - Konami ports Contra to the Nintendo Entertainment System; cheat codes will never be the same.
1989 - Relations between Sony and Nintendo, whom had partnered a year earlier to jointly create a CD-enabled SNES, begin to deteriorate. Long story short: rather than work out their egotistically differences, the two will later part ways and Sony will take the scrapped SNES -CD prototype and transform it into the original PlayStation. The fastidious Nintendo will have created its true archival. Without this "contribution," we may still be living in a Nintendo monopolized gaming world.
1989 - Nintendo releases the Game Boy, the first popular handheld system. It goes on to be the most widely purchased platform line in gaming history succeeded by the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance before bowing out to the plucky DS.
1989 - NEC enters the North American console market with the release of the Turbo-Grafx 16. This marks the first time that the highly competitive console market will be fought over by three companies; in this case between Nintendo, Sega, and NEC. Though NEC will only see moderate success, the Turbo-Grafx 16 will give rise to a modern-day first in gaming -- games on discs rather than cartridges.
