1st Generation Game Consoles 1972-1977
At this point in time, the only places you could play video games were at arcades. You had to leave your home, and pay to play when you got there. A man named Ralph Baer changed that. He designed a machine that ran on batteries, and connected to a television set to play video games at home. It was released by Magnavox, and even though it was very odd compared to how consoles are now, it will always be remembered as the first home video game console. Soon other companies like Nintendo, Atari, and Coleco followed in its footsteps. The only important title to be released was Pong.
Magnavox Odyssey
Magnavox Odyssey
The Magnavox Odyssey was the first home video game console. It connected to the t.v. to play. It was released on May 24, 1972 by Ralph Baer. This event was a huge step forward, as it is a tradition still around today. It ran on six c-batteries, had no color graphics, and was controled with two controlers. What was interesting about the Odyssey, was that even though it came with six game cards, the games were not stored on them. The codes for the games were stored in the Odyssey itself. All the game cards would do was tell the Odyssey which codes to use to generate each game. There is a long list of games. Many acsessories were released for it such as overlays and cards. You would place the overlays over the t.v. screen and it would add color to the games, as well as to make several games work on a single game card. Later, Magnavox released seventh, eigth, ninth, and tenth game cards. The ninth and tenth ones were compatible with the Light Gun acsessory. The gun would sense if your pointing at a light and respond by showing the light disappear.
Pong
Atari home Pong
Pong is a arcade game made by Allan Alcorn in 1972 for Atari Inc. It was based on the pinball game that was on the Magnavox Odyssey. The gameplay was very simple and very popular. Two players would each control a paddle that you could move up and down with knobs. The object was to hit a ball with the paddles to try and score in their opponents goal. The speed of the ball would change depending on how it was hit with the paddle. It also had a score system. Later, in 1975, Atari released a home version of Pong called Home Pong that could hook up to a t.v. Later, they released an update to Home Pong called Super Pong, which had a selection of four games. The games were Pong, Catch, Solitaire, and Super Pong.
Coleco Telstar
Coleco Telstar
It came out in 1976 by Coleco. It was basically another Pong clone. There are several versions of the Coleco Telstar such as: Telstar Classic, Telstar Deluxe, Telstar Ranger, Telstar Alpha, Telstar Colormatic, Telstar Regent, Telstar Sportsman, Telstar Combat!, Telstar Colortron, Telstar Marksman, Telstar Galaxy, Telstar Gemini, and the Telstar Arcade. That's a lot of consoles. The Coleco Telstar sold well because it was only 50$ at it's release.
Color TV Game
Nintendo Color TV Game 15
The Color TV Game 6 was released only in Japan in 1977 by Nintendo. It had six games to play on it, which were all modified versions of Pong. The controls were two knobs on the sides of the console. Later, in 1978, Nintendo released an update called Color TV Game 15, which had 15 games to play and was also only released in Japan. This version had detachable controlers. As you may have guessed, all 15 games are based off of Pong.
Odyssey Series
Through the years 1975-1977, Magnavox released several consoles all called the Odyssey series. Each one had several games with the later being in color. Here a the list of them.
Odyssey 100
Odyssey 100
It came out in 1975. It has two games, Tennis and Hockey. It was powered by six C-batteries, but could also be powered by an AC adapter. Players had to keep track of their scores themselves. It also had an odd buzzer for sound effects.
Odyssey 200
Odyssey 200
This one also came out in 1975 and also ran on six C-batteries or an AC adapter.. It still had the games Tennis and Hockey, but had an additional game called Smash. This one had a score keeper that was just two sliding pieces of plastic on a sticker with numbers
Odyssey 300
Odyssey 300
The Odyssey 300 came out in 1976. It had the same three games from the Odyssey 200, but it also had an added difficulty level. You could set the difficulty to easy, normal, or hard. Players had to keep track of their own scores.
Odyssey 400
Odyssey 400
The Odyssey 400 also came out in 1976. This console was basically the same as the Odyssey 200, but it had an on-screen score display. It also automatically served the ball in the game when it started or when someone scored a goal.
Odyssey 500
Odyssey 500
The Odyssey 500 also came out in 1976. This console was basically the same as the Odyssey 400 except the paddles were turned into figures resembling peaple. Also, a "fourth" game was added by using the people graphics instead of paddles in the Hockey game. This was called Soccer.
Odyssey 2000
Odyssey 2000
The Odyssey 2000 came out in 1977. This was basically an updated version of the Odyssey 300. This console added a practice mode to the game Smash, which was renamed Squash. It also has a single-player practice mode for the game Squash.
Odyssey 3000
Odyssey 3000
This console also came out in 1977. This console has detachable game controlers. It had the same games as the 2000. The old style casing was dropped in favor of a new one.
Odyssey 4000
Odyssey 4000
The last in the Odyssey Series. It came out in 1977. It had eight games based of of the previous games Tennis, Hockey, and Squash. This one was also in color instead of black and white. The detachable controlers also had joysticks now.
Video Game Crash of 1977
A time where people stopped buying video games because of the overflow of Pong clones. Companies such as Fairchild and RCA left the gaming market. It ended when Atari Inc. released Space Invaders for their Atari 2600.