First handheld game console: Milton Bradley Microvision

First handheld game console: Milton Bradley Microvision

The Milton Bradley Microvision was the first handheld game console, first released in November 1979. It was the direct inspiration for the Nintendo Game Boy.

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Burger Time: Underrated 1982 arcade game

Burger Time: Underrated 1982 arcade game

42 years ago this week, on August 25, 1982, the arcade game Burger Time was released in Japan. Published by Data East, Bally Midway imported it to North America later that year. It was popular in 1983, and I think it’s one of the most underrated arcade games of the 1980s.

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Sega Genesis: The Un-Nintendo

Sega Genesis: The Un-Nintendo

It was 35 years ago this week, on August 14, 1989, that Sega released is its 4th generation game console, the Sega Genesis, to the North American market. It initially cost $189. In other parts of the world, you know this console as the Mega Drive. In the United States, it was Sega’s most successful console and it created a blueprint for competing with Nintendo.

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Reattach Activision Atari 2600 cartridge labels

Reattach Activision Atari 2600 cartridge labels

The labels on Activision cartridges for the Atari 2600 didn’t age nearly as well as the games did. And the average hobbyist won’t be able to make the labels new again, there are some things a hobbyist can do to reattach detached labels and even clean them up a bit. In this blog post, I will provide an inexpensive way to deal with detached and dirty Activision labels. Replacing the label with a repro isn’t your only option.

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Should Atari own all of classic retro?

Should Atari own all of classic retro?

Into the Vertical Blank asked a good question this week: In the wake of Atari’s purchase of the Intellivision-associated intellectual property, should Atari control essentially all of the pre-Nintendo classic video game market? Of course, one company controlling such a large part of our history could be problematic. But I can also think of a precedent by looking back at my father’s generation.

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Nintendo in a small town, 1987

Nintendo in a small town, 1987

I was in middle school in 1986 when my friends started getting new video game consoles. It’s possible that one or two of them got them right away in the fall. Since it’s been nearly 40 years, the timelines are a little fuzzy. But I do remember visiting a friend over winter break and he had his new Nintendo NES set up. He was always the first to get everything new, but he was especially excited about this.

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Third generation video game consoles

Third generation video game consoles

The third generation of video game consoles was less numerous than the second, with Nintendo and Sega asserting their dominance. But there was more to this generation than Nintendo, Sega, and Atari. After the game console market came back from the dead, several other companies wanted in.

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Emerson Arcadia 2001: Peak 1982 video game console

Emerson Arcadia 2001: Peak 1982 video game console

It wasn’t the only console released in 1982. It certainly wasn’t the best console released in 1982 either. But the Emerson Arcadia 2001 wrapped the state of the home video game console industry up into a tight package of a game console and accompanying cartridge library better than any rival on the market. And if you’ve never heard of it, that has something to do with why.

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Second-generation video game consoles

Second-generation video game consoles

The second generation of video game consoles dates from approximately 1977 to 1983, or from the Fairchild Channel F to approximately the ColecoVision, although the years of release can vary slightly from country to country. In this blog post, we will explore what makes a game console second generation, along with who won, who lost, and why.

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Coleco’s “deliberately bad” Donkey Kong for Atari

Coleco’s “deliberately bad” Donkey Kong for Atari

If you grew up playing Atari, you probably heard the story. Coleco made a deliberately bad Donkey Kong port for the Atari 2600 so they could sell more Coleco Vision consoles. In this blog post, we’ll explore the two sides of the argument that Coleco tanked its Donkey Kong port to hurt Atari.

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