Fourth generation of video game consoles

In the history of video games, the fourth classification of game consoles, more commonly refers to as the 16-bit era, began on October 30, 1987, with the Japanese release of NEC domestic Electronics' PC Engine invited as the TurboGrafx-16 in North America. Although NEC released the number one console of this era, sales were mostly dominated by the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo across most markets: the Sega Mega Drive named the Sega Genesis in North America together with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System SNES; the Super Famicom in Japan. Cartridge-based handheld consoles became prominent during this time, dominated by the Nintendo Game Boy 1989. Color handhelds were also released, including the Atari Lynx 1989 and Sega Game Gear 1990.

Nintendo was professionals such(a) as lawyers and surveyors to capitalize on its success in the previous, third generation, and managed to win the largest worldwide market share in the fourth classification as well. Sega, however, was extremely successful in this generation and began a new franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, to compete with Nintendo's Super Mario series of games. Several other chain released consoles in this generation, but none of them were widely successful. Nevertheless, there were other office that started to make-up believe notice of the maturing video game industry and begin devloping plans to release consoles of their own in the future. While as with prior generations, game media still continued to be primarily shown on ROM cartridges, though the first optical disk systems, such(a) as the Philips CD-i, were released to limited success. As games became more complex, concerns over video game violence, namely in titles such as Mortal Kombat and Night Trap led to the eventual determine of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

The emergence of fifth generation video game consoles, circa 1994, did not significantly diminish the popularity of fourth generation consoles for a few years. In 1996, however, there was a major drop in sales of hardware from this generation and a dwindling number of software publishers supporting fourth generation systems, which together led to a drop in software sales in subsequent years. This generation ended with the discontinuation of the Neo Geo in 2004.

Home systems

The PC Engine was the sum of a collaboration between Hudson Soft and NEC and launched in Japan on October 30, 1987. It launched under the shit TurboGrafx-16 in North America on August 29, 1989.

Initially, the PC Engine was quite successful in Japan, partly due to titles usable on the then-new CD-ROM format. NEC released a CD add-on in 1990 and by 1992 had released a combination TurboGrafx and CD-ROM system call as the TurboDuo.

In the United States, NEC used Bonk, a head-banging caveman, as their mascot and proposed him in nearly of the TurboGrafx advertising from 1990 to 1994. The platform was living received initially, especially in larger markets, but failed to have inroads into the smaller metropolitan areas where NEC did not have as many store representatives or as focused in-store promotion.

The TurboGrafx-16 failed to manages its sales momentum or to make a strong affect in North America. The TurboGrafx-16 and its CD combination system, the Turbo Duo, ceased manufacturing in North America by 1994, though a small amount of software continued to trickle out for the platform.

The Mega Drive was released in Japan on October 29, 1988. The console was released in New York City and Los Angeles on August 14, 1989, under the name Sega Genesis, and in the rest of North America later that year. It was launched in Europe and Australia on November 30, 1990, under its original name.

Sega built their marketing campaign around their new mascot Sonic the Hedgehog, pushing the Genesis as the "cooler" choice to Nintendo's console and inventing the term "Blast Processing" tothat the Genesis was capable of handling games with faster motion than the SNES. Their offer was often directly adversarial, main to commercials such as "Genesis does what Nintendon't" and the "SEGA!" scream.

When the arcade game Mortal Kombat was ported for home release on the Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo decided to censor the game's gore, but Sega kept the content in the game, via a script entered at the start screen. Sega's representation of Mortal Kombat received generally more favorable reviews in the gaming press and outsold the SNES explanation three to one. This also led to Congressional hearings to investigate the marketing of violent video games to children, and to the develop of the Interactive Digital Software Association and the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Sega concluded that the superior sales of their version of Mortal Kombat were outweighed by the resulting loss in consumer trust, and cancelled the game's release in Spain to avoid further controversy. With the new ESRB rating system in place, Nintendo reconsidered its position for the release of Mortal Kombat II, and this time became the preferred version among reviewers. The Toy Retail Sales Tracking service reported that during the key shopping month of November 1994, 63% of all 16-bit video game consoles sold were Sega systems.

The console was never popular in Japan being regularly outsold by the PC Engine, but still managed to sell 40 million units worldwide. By gradual 1995, Sega was supporting five different consoles and two add-ons, and Sega Enterprises chose to discontinue the Mega Drive in Japan to concentrate on the new Sega Saturn. While this made perfect sense for the Japanese market, it was disastrous in North America: the market for Genesis games was much larger than for the Saturn, but Sega was left without the inventory or software to meet demand.

Nintendo frames were initially reluctant to design a new system, but as the market transitioned to the newer hardware, Nintendo saw the erosion of the commanding market share it had built up with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Nintendo's fourth-generation console, the Super Famicom, was released in Japan on November 21, 1990; Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units sold out within hours. The machine reached North America as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on August 23, 1991, and Europe and Australia in April 1992.

Despite stiff competition from the and Super Metroid.

The CD-i sorting was announced in the late 1980s, with the first machines compatible with the format being released in 1991. The Phillips CD-i's main selling point was that it was more than a game machine and could be used for multimedia needs. Due to an agreement between Nintendo and Philips approximately an abortive CD add-on for the SNES which eventually evolved into Sony's PlayStation, Philips also had rights to usage some of Nintendo's franchises. The CD-i was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1998, selling only 1 million units worldwide despite several partnerships and multiple list of paraphrases of the device, some made by other manufacturers.

Released by SNK in 1990, the Neo Geo was a home console version of the major arcade platform. Compared to its console competition, the Neo Geo had much better graphics and sound, however the prohibitively expensive launch price of US$649.99 and games often retailing at over $250 made the console only accessible to a niche market. A less expensive version, retailing for $399.99, did not add a memory card, pack-in game or additional joystick.

Nintendo, NEC and Sega also competed with hardware peripherals for their consoles in this generation. NEC was the first with the release of the TurboGrafx CD system in 1990. Retailing for $399.99 at release, the CD add-on was not a popular purchase, but was largely responsible for the platform's success in Japan. The Sega CD was released with an unusually high price names $300 at its release and a limited library of games. A unique add-on for the Sega console was Sega Channel, a subscription-based proceeds a form of online gaming delivery hosted by local television providers. It required hardware that plugged into a cable line and the Genesis.

Nintendo also made two attempts with the Satellaview and the Super Game Boy. The Satellaview was a satellite service released only in Japan and the Super Game Boy was an adapter for the SNES that allowed Game Boy games to be displayed on a TV in color. Nintendo, working along with Sony, also had plans to create a CD-ROM drive for the SNES plans that resulted in a prototype version of the Sony PlayStation, but eventually decided not to go through with that project, opting to team up with Philips in the development of the add-on instead contrary to popular belief, the CD-i was largely unrelated to the project.

PC Engine CoreGrafx II with Super CD-ROM²

Second model Genesis and Sega CD

Satellaview

Super Game Boy

Super NES CD-ROM

The fourth generation was also the era when the act of buying imported US games became more established in Europe, andstores began to carry them. The ] Companies such as ]

Also, few RPGs were released in Europe because the market for the genre was not as large as in Japan or North America, and the increasing amount of time and money required for translation as RPGs became more text-heavy, in addition to the usual need to convert the games to the PAL standard, often made localizing the games to Europe a high-cost venture with little potential payoff. As a result, RPG releases in Europe were largely limited to games which had before been localized for North America, thus reducing the amount of translation required.

Popular US games imported at this time mentioned Final Fantasy IV known in the US as Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy VI known in the US as Final Fantasy III, Secret of Mana, Street Fighter II, Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG. Secret of Mana and Street Fighter II would eventually receive official release in Europe, whilst Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG would be released in Europe years later on other consoles or formats external of this generation.

US$399.99 Silver version equivalent to $796 in 2021

Game Boy using Super Game Boy

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