Game Chronicle Chapter 1: The Rise of Nintendo

Nowadays, game has become more and more extraordinary and complicated, with its vivid and fantastic graphic presentation, and the birth of Kinect seems to indicate that the time of 4D has already come, the curtain of new era is opened. Looking back the history of game development, is a big picture: TV game, handheld game, arcade game, PC game and online game. The development is a step-by-step, and organized evolution. As a matter of fact, in the mid-term of the development, TV game once fell out from mainstream to the second line, yet PC game was like the sun in broad daylight at the same time. Some authorities even predicted that TV game and its console will be finally replaced by PC game and computer. However, the prediction never happened, TV game eventually turned the table, it’s now irreplaceable.

The history is interesting, and it can proves, that everything happens now is destined. Let’s look back the history again, to see how it started, how it changed, and how it became the thing today we know.

Nintendo Era: Total Dominated

1983 was the first year of game era, because in that very year, game company Nintendo launched its very first 8-bit home video game console in Japan, Family Computer (commonly shortened "Famicom"), known outside Japan as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), alongside ports of its most popular arcade titles. Technically, the origin of video games lies in early cathode ray tube-based missile defense systems in the late 1940s. These programs were later adapted into other simple games during the 1950s. By the late 1950s and through the 1960s, more computer games were developed (mostly on mainframe computers), gradually increasing in sophistication and complexity, and The first commercially viable video game was Computer Space in 1971, which laid the foundation for a new entertainment industry in the late 1970s within the United States, Japan, and Europe. However, Family Computer’s appearance made a clear defination and led the direction for the upcoming game industry. Following this period, video games diverged into different platforms: arcade, mainframe, console, personal computer and later handheld games. Nintendo had played a role as the leader and godfather to the industry. It totally ruled the market, because in video game console area, no one was capable of taking its place.

In 1985, the NES launched in North America, and was accompanied by Super Mario Bros., currently the one of the best-selling video games of all time. The player takes on the role of the main protagonist of the series, Mario (and in a two-player game, a second player acts as Luigi). The objective is to race through the Mushroom Kingdom, survive the main antagonist Bowser's forces and save Princess Toadstool. The playing world has coins scattered around it for Mario to collect, and special bricks marked with a question mark, which when hit from below by Mario, may contain more coins or a special item.

Super Mario Bros. further popularized the side scrolling genre of video games and led to many sequels in the series that built upon the same basic premise. Altogether, the game has sold 40.24 million copies, making it the best-selling video game in the Mario series and the second best-selling game in the world. Almost all of the game's aspects have been praised at one time or another, from its large cast of characters to a diverse set of levels. One of the most-praised aspects of the game is the precise controls. More and more game players are curious about how high and far Mario or Luigi jumps, and how fast he can run. The game has been listed as the fourth best Nintendo Entertainment System video game, describing it as the game that started the modern era of video games as well as "Shigeru Miyamoto's masterpiece". Because of its historic importance and commercial success, the image of Mario has become the trade mark and the mascot of Nintendo, just like SEGA’s Sonic.

After Super Mario Bros., Nintendo was not content with the achievement, released a series of games which have now become eternal classics for game players. In 1986, Nintendo released two games, The Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest, that possess historical significance. The Legend of Zelda helped establish the action-adventure genre, combining elements from different genres to create a compelling hybrid, including exploration, transport puzzles, adventure-style inventory puzzles, an action component, a monetary system, and simplified RPG-style level building without the experience points. The game was also an early example of open world, nonlinear gameplay, and introduced innovations like battery backup saving. Dragon Quest was one of the earliest console role-playing games. With its anime-style graphics by Akira Toriyama (of Dragon Ball fame), Dragon Quest set itself apart from computer role-playing games. It spawned the Dragon Quest franchise and served as the blueprint for the emerging console RPG genre, inspiring the likes of Sega's Phantasy Star and Squaresoft's Final Fantasy, which spawned its own successful Final Fantasy franchise and introduced the side-view turn-based battle system, with the player characters on the right and the enemies on the left, imitated by numerous later RPGs.

Nintendo did not just create the history of video game, but also set a standard for the development of handheld game console. Just like launching Family Computer in 1983, 1989 is also an important year to Nintendo or even the whole industry, because on April 21 this year, the company released the first influential game console, which had ruled the market for almost a decade. Despite many other, technologically superior handheld consoles introduced during its lifetime,the Game Boy was a tremendous success. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined have sold 118.69 million units worldwide. Upon its release in the United States, it sold its entire shipment of one million units within weeks. Although PSP and Nintendo DS has become the most popular trade mark of handheld game consoles, no one would ignore the success of Game Boy or disapprove its influence.

As a successful game company and a cultural icon, Nintendo totally dominated the whole 1980s era, was the true king of the game industry. In the last year of 1980s, 1989 was also the year that Nintendo announced a sequel to Family Computer, to be called the Super Family Computer, which opened the curtain of 16-bit video game era, Nintendo would face against its one of the biggest arch enemy, SEGA, the history was about to changed in 1990s.