As the 1980's ended, the video game world had grown to its all-time high. With record sales and fierce competition between gaming systems, the 1980's started a new era for video games. The video gaming technology had changed and continued to change throughout the 1990's as well. And that brings us to our next stop on this Evolution of Video Gaming tour with the early 1990's.
The Neo Geo was a 24 bit technology gaming system released in 1990 by a Japanese company called SNK. SNK is an acronym for Shin Nihon Kikaku with means "New Japan Project" in Japanese. The Neo Geo was said to be technologically years ahead of all the other competitors. It featured detailed, colorful 2D graphics and high quality sound. There were two versions of the Neo Geo. The first was called the AES or Advanced Entertainment System, which was the home version. The other was the called the MVS or Multi Video System, which was the arcade version of the system. Both versions used a cartridge system for the actual games. Although, when the system was first launched in 1990, it costs nearly $650 for the gaming console and approximately $200 for the games. Because of this, the Neo Geo was kept from achieving mass popularity and was finally discontinued in 2004. This gaming system never achieved great popularity at all in the United States.
One of the reason the Neo Geo was not as successful in the United States could of been because of the release of Super Nintendo, or Super NES in 1991. After getting beaten by the Sega Genesis and it's 16 bit gaming system, Nintendo release it's own 16 bit gaming system known as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. At first, the Super Nintendo had a slow start and had a hard time competing with the Sega Genesis, but once people began to realize it's slight technological superiority over the Sega Genesis, it became a huge hit! The Super Nintendo's success also came from it's strength in existing Nintendo brands and games. Versions of Super Mario Bros., Metroid, and Zelda were all upgraded to Super Nintendo versions. By the mid 1990's and the end of the 16 bit technology era, Super NES had surpassed Sega Genesis in becoming the top selling 16 bit video gaming system in the United States.
To go in a little more depth about the Super NES, I'd like to tell you a little more about the system and controllers. It uses a cartridge based system where the games were inserted into a slot on top of the gaming system console. Two people could play most games at the same time. Some games were only one person games but most could be played by two people, therefor there are two slots for the controllers to plug in to. Each controller was made to fit into your hands. Although they are not quite as good as the controllers of today, they were good enough for that time period. Each controller consisted of a "start" and "select" button in the middle of the controller. On the left side of the controller, where your left thumb goes, there is a "d-pad" or a directional pad which is basically what it sounds like. It has four buttons each pointing in different directions and move in that direction when you push that button. To the right hand side,where you use you right thumb, are 4 more buttons. There is an "a" button, a "b" button, "x" button, and "y" button. each button would do a different task such as jump or fire a weapon depending on the game. Also, on the each side on the tops of the controllers were buttons. These buttons were the "L" and "R" buttons. "L" for left and "R" for right. These buttons also did various tasks in the game depending on the game. While holding the controller, these buttons were pushed with your index fingers on corresponding sides. That sums up the controller for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
As you can see, the 1990's was still an advancement in technology for gaming systems and in "Part 5" of the Evolution of Video Gaming, the mid 1990's and the introduction of PlayStation will be talked about.
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