The Bit Wars

We have already seen Atari rise from one of its biggest blunders. With the North American game industry shaken due to Atari's actions can they hope to survive their new competition: Nintendo and SEGA? Both companies were big names in the arcades but their leap to home consoles was to begin the struggle for domination in the decade that followed the crash if 1983.

In 1985 the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and SEGA Master System was released globally (except for the NES in Europe which came out in 1987) and began the 8-Bit era with classic gaming icons like Mario and Link replacing the indescribable shapes that Atari passed of for its characters. In 1986, Atari released their own 8-Bit console called the Atari 7800. This console was actually quite successful, with this system Atari tried to recreate what made the 2600 so popular and removed the elements which made the 5200 a commercial failure. Atari 2600 games were also compatible with this new system but Atari was fighting a losing battle with the NES largely dominating the 8-Bit consoles. The Master System was also highly successful and SEGA were to take the next big leap in the industry.

In 1989 SEGA released the Mega Drive (or Genesis in America) and this was the first 16-Bit console. This was also the year that Nintendo branched into the handheld market with the Gameboy and Atari released the Lynx, their own handheld console. A year later SEGA also entered the handheld market with the Game Gear and both the Game Gear and Gameboy made the Atari Lynx obsolete. In 1991, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and began a close battle with SEGA, who would win the 16-Bit battle? With SEGA boasting their flagship franchises first outing in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Mega Drive. Nintendo were updating many of their flagship franchises into the 16-Bit era and some of these games a critically acclaimed as some of the best games of all time! Once again Nintendo dominated the 16-Bit market but SEGA gave them tough competition.

Atari made the next big leap in 1993, but we'll come back to this as we enter the 32-bit era. SEGA planned on releasing the Neptune, this was to be SEGA's 32-Bit console. However, this plan was scrapped and instead SEGA released the SEGA CD and the SEGA 32X. These were both add ons to the Mega Drive and allowed the Mega Drive to utilise 32-Bit graphics and was released in 1994. At this time Nintendo were advertising what would become the Nintendo 64. However, to keep Nintendo fans happy they released perhaps one of their biggest disasters: The Virtual Boy. Released in 1995 it boasted 32-Bit graphics and the first use of virtual reality in gaming (but we'll come back to it's infamous legacy another time). Another Nintendo blunder occured at this time and created the Playstation which was also a 32-Bit console (although we'll come back to how Nintendo managed to create their own competition). SEGA also released the Saturn in 1995, this time an actual 32-Bit console.

As I have previously stated Atari made a big leap for the video game industry in 1993 with the release of the Atari Jaguar. This console boasted a 64-Bit game engine, but did it really have one? Yes and no, the console technically ran off of a 16-Bit engine and through a combination of other engines somehow worked out to be 64-Bits. The games for this system were not very advanced compared to the SNES or the Mega Drive as developers found the engine too confusing to utilise 64-Bit graphics. After Atari released the Jaguar CD the console flopped and Atari was financially ruined. But the Bit Wars don't end with Atari's fall as now Nintendo, SEGA and Sony were left in the race for 64-Bits. In terms of the 64-Bit battle Nintendo was the only one to follow in Atari's footsteps with the release of the Nintendo 64 in 1996.

The Bit Wars finally ended with the battle to dominate the 128-Bit market. SEGA released their final console the Dreamcast at this time (more on that another day), Sony released the Playstation 2 and Nintendo offered the Gamecube to the battle. SEGA fell in this final battle leaving only Nintendo and Sony standing as the survivors of the Bit Wars. But the two companies were to find new competition in the form of Microsoft and thus throwing us into today's console wars. We'll leave the console wars for a while as we conclude Atari's fall. Officially Atari ended after the failure of the Jaguar and is now just a name to be put on the front of various games like Rollercoaster Tycoon but the Atari of the 70s, 80s and early 90s is no more.