The Ultimate Guide to Classic Game Consoles. Kevin Baker

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      Another trend that started and died with this generation of video game consoles was the numeric pad on the controller, made popular by ColecoVision and the Intellivision. This style never really took off as most of the games at the time simply did not require that amount of buttons on a controller. Interestingly enough Atari would try and bring the numeric keypad back years later with their Atari Jaguar console.

      One thing that gets overlooked in this generation is the importance of the pack-in-game. When the ColecoVision was released and it came with Donkey Kong this was probably the first time that a console had been released with a must own game. The fact that Donkey Kong was a pack-in-game made the system sell better than it probably would have with another game. The pack-in-game would go onto be important for a few more generations with games like Sonic The Hedgehog being used to sell the Sega Mega Drive and Super Mario Bros used to sell the Nintendo Entertainment System. Well you could argue that this strategy started here with Donkey Kong and the ColecoVision.

      As well as numerous game consoles hitting store shelves, many great gaming franchises were also created during this era, some of which are still around to this day. Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Mario Bros all stared life during this console generation and that is just to name but a few.

      The second generation of video game consoles is a very interesting one. This is the era in gaming that many people still to this day have a soft spot for.

      17 – The Great Video Game Crash Of 1983

      There have been many generations of consoles, but sometime during the second generation, a worldwide event happened that brought the entire market to a halt. It was the Great Video Game Crash of 1983.

      Back then, the Atari 2600 was still a bestseller, and most people thought of gaming as something you would normally do in an arcade. Pac-Man Fever was the top game in town and people saw video games as the future of entertainment. But then, everything started to go wrong. There were dozens of gaming companies going out of business, and new games got canceled en masse. For almost two years, it was as if a major recession had hit the country, except that it was mostly focused on the video game industry.

      Everything started with Atari, and some of the decisions that they made which led to multiple outcomes, bringing in a crash like the gaming industry had not seen before. First, an argument started out between the company and game developers because of Atari's practice to not give any kind of credit or royalties for their work, which led to many going off and finding work elsewhere, or forming their own companies. The most well known became Activision. Atari went to court and tried to prevent these new companies from making cartridges, a case they eventually lost. The company's business plan was also part of the problem, where they sold consoles at a very cheap price and hoped to recoup the costs with game sales, but with new companies in the market, game sales could not bring in enough profits for this strategy to last for long. Then, Atari suffered a lot of failed launches in the early 80s, like a redesigned version of Pac-Man and a poor implementation of E.T.

      Atari's sales in the video game crash of 1983 plummeted by 97%.

      It all culminated during the 1982 Holidays when Atari suffered a big loss in profits, followed by a scandal where Atari's President sold his shares of the company less than an hour before making that announcement. With half a billion in losses by the end of 1983, it seemed as if Atari was on the way out, and the large number of new companies trying to take their place only led to confusion in the market, people having no way to find the good names from the bad ones. These overnight brands started going out of business as games were left unsold on shelves.

      The US video games market went from $3 billion in 1982 to $100 million in 1985. Ironically, it was Nintendo's iron grip on a new type of cartridge that helped revive the industry. Since no one could copy their system, it allowed the company to ensure games for their Famicom console were of higher quality, and would not suffer from what happened to Atari. In 1985, they rebranded that console into the NES and used the weakened US console market to gain an almost complete monopoly. Their brand new console reached US shores, and the greatest crash in video game history was over.

      18 – Gakken Compact Vision

      Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy – Contributor: Jobhas

      Developer: Gakken

      Release Date: 1983

      Origin: Japan

      Initial Price: 8,800 yen

      CPU: MC6801 micro-controller (built into each cartridge)

      Games Released: 6

      You may think that Gakken is just some random company that wanted to get in on the video game craze, but they actually had made a few arcade and handheld games in Japan before they released this home console.

      When the console was released in 1983 it was sold at a very low and competitive price. It was a very under-powered system however and the Nintendo Famicom was released a very short time after the Gakken Compact Vision made it to the store shelves. So it never really had much of a chance when you think about it.

      While its full name is actually the Gakken Compact Vision. Many gamers simply refer to this as the Gakken TV Boy.

      Gakken Compact Vision - 1983 (Japan Only)

      Now this is one of the most amazing, bizarre, crazy, ugly, awesome consoles I have ever seen. It is hard to say whether this console is a major eye sore or if they were really onto something and it is a beautiful piece of gaming art.

      The Gakken Compact Vision’s claim to fame is its controller. First of all, this is a 1 player only video game console. And secondly, the controller is a throttle. Yes that is right, I said 'throttle'. On the right hand side you have a grey throttle control stick that is built into the system. On the left of the throttle is the action button. On the left hand side of the console there is a handle. So the idea was that you would hold the throttle with your right hand and and then hold the handle with your left hand to stop the console moving all over the place. If you were a lefty then playing this must have been a major pain.

      Above the throttle, near the top of the console, is the cartridge slot where you would put the games and between the throttle and the handle you also had a pause and power button. Overall this is a very unique looking console. It will make you say “is this really a games console” over and over again.

      As far as the games go we know for sure that there were at least six games released for the console, as the back of the box showcases six games. They have the look of very early Atari 2600 games.

      The Gakken Compact Vision is a very strange console and it is also a really tough one to track down. And if you do track one down be prepared to pay a hefty sum for it.

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