Have you ever stopped to wonder how amazing it is nowadays that you can boot up your console (be it Playstation, Xbox, Switch, etc.), navigate the main menu and enjoy countless hours of gaming right at the comfort of your own home? This wouldn’t be possible without the innovations of the first generation of console gaming. It's why this post is dedicated to the first gaming consoles ever created.
The stories of the granddaddies of your favorite game devices are as interesting as the consoles themselves. With the console wars back then much tamer than the ’90s, to say the least (mainly because pretty much the only game you could play was a variation of pong).
Here we have the first six gaming consoles ever invented, counting down to the oldest gaming console that you can thank for your Friday night game session with your squad.
#5 TV Tennis Electrotennis
Released on September 12, 1975, and more commonly known as the shortened “Electrotennis”. This gaming console holds the title of the first video game console ever sold in Japan.
One crazy innovative thing about it is that it connected WIRELESSLY to that era's television using UHF antennas (precursor to wireless gaming as well?). The Electrotennis was Manufactured by Epoch Co. in cooperation with Magnavox and together they sold 5,000 units in its release year.
#4 Color TV-Game
The Grandfather of Nintendo consoles and one of the reasons we were all jumping around in living rooms with the Wii. This powerhouse was created with Mitsubishi Electronics as its manufacturer on June 1, 1977.
Spawning five different versions, Game 6, Game 15, Game Racing 112, Game Block, and Computer TV-Game. Each filling their own niches and improvements over the previous versions which started Nintendo’s trend of constant innovation.
The Color TV-Game console series was the holder of the highest sales figure of the first generation despite only being sold in Japan. The cheap price point may be what drove consumers to pick this over its competitors. Due to this, Nintendo was confident in its ability to produce consoles efficiently and shortly released the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES.
#3 Coleco Telstar
This “Pong” clone was considered one of the more premium consoles of this generation due to being powered by the AY-3-8500 Chip of General Instruments.
Coleco constantly built improvements into its console in the span of two years with an impressive 13 other versions.
This nifty console sold almost one million units between 1976-1978. However, due to the large catalog of versions as well as the public's desire for a different kind of game to pong, Coleco was nearly bankrupt by 1980.
#2 Atari Home Pong
Atari burst onto the scene with its own version of a Pong console in 1975, being the creators of Pong itself, it made sense to capitalize on the growing market of home consoles.
Sadly, Atari was rejected multiple times by retailers saying it wouldn't interest customers (boy were they wrong!) and was too expensive to be sold. both circumstances proved to be a difficult hurdle for Atari to overcome.
Thankfully, Sears came to their rescue touting 150,000 units from the get-go for the 1975 Christmas season under a partnership between the two future giants.
#1 Magnavox Odyssey
Touted as the first real home video console widely sold to consumers in 1972 was dubbed “The New Electronic Game of the Future”.
The Odyssey brought so much advancement that we still see in consoles today such as the long-standing staple of game cartridges being inserted to choose which particular game being played and detachable controllers for play at a distance.
This innovative marvel sold a whopping 350,000 units to the surprise and delight of many.
BONUS INBOUND!
#0 “The Brown Box”
The precursor to everyone’s home entertainment console system is this, the primordial soup of gaming so to speak. Engineer Ralph Baer conceptualized “interactive television” in 1951 but didn’t move forward with the idea until 15 years later. He created a team that focused on being able to control programmed dots on the screen using multiple external controllers (multiplayer!). This prototype was sold to Magnavox and the rest was history!
There you have it! The origins of your favorite consoles started with a single line moving across a small television screen.
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