Video Game Systems – Then and Now
Atari, SEGA, Nintendo, and Sony Play Station, are just a few of the many video game systems that have been popular over the last few decades. Baby boomers have watched the progression of video game systems while raising their children, and now while watching their grandchildren.
The first home video game system was available in 1972. It was called Odyssey by Magnavox. The main games featured were a tennis game and a light gun game. There were no new systems available until 1976, when Fairchild Camera and Instruments released their system simply called the Video Entertainment System. This was the first system to have cartridges; the player swapped out a cartridge to change the game. In 1977, Atari starting placing coin operated arcade games inside restaurants. These arcade games were such a success, that Atari decided to create their own home video game system, which used cartridges, called the Atari 2600. Some of the games available for the Atari 2600, were Space Invaders, Battlezone, and the still popular Pac-Man. As the world enters the 1980s, a company called Nintendo created a game called Donkey Kong, which was also played on the Atari 2600. The game was based on a plumber who was trying to save his girlfriend from a crazed ape, named Donkey Kong. The plumber was later named, Mario.
Things remained fairly quiet in the video game industry until around 1985, when Nintendo created the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Around the same time, SEGA created a SEGA Master System to compete with the NES.

