History of video game consoles (first generation) facts for kids
The first generation of video game consoles lasted from 1972 until 1977. The start of the first generation began with the release of Magnavox Odyssey. The first generation ended in 1977 because of the video game crash of 1977.
Home systems
Comparison
| Name | Magnavox Odyssey | Magnavox Odyssey Series | Atari/Sears Tele-Games Pong | Coleco Telstar | Nintendo Color TV Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Magnavox | Magnavox | Atari | Coleco | Nintendo |
| Console |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Launch price | US$100 | US$100–230 | US$98.95 | US$50 | ¥8,300 - ¥48,000 (Roughly $100 – $594.80 USD Today) |
| Release date |
|
|
|
|
|
| Media | Cartridge | n/a | Inbuilt Chip | Cartridge (Telstar Arcade) | n/a |
| Accessories (retail) | Light gun | n/a | n/a | Controller styles | n/a |
| Sales | 330,000 | 150,000 | 1 million | 3 million |
Pong on a chip
| Chip code/name | Year | Manufacturer | Colors | Games | Consoles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AY-3-8500 | 1976 | General Instrument | No (1) | Tennis, soccer, squash, practice, 2 rifle games | Telstar (Telstar, Classic, Deluxe, Ranger, Alpha, Colormatic, Regent, Sportsman) Odyssey (300,2000,3000) Radio Shack TV Scoreboard Unisonic Sportsman/Tournament Philips Tele-Spiel ES2203 and ES2204 Zanussi/Seleco Play-O-Tronic Videomaster (Strika, Strika 2,ColourScore 2, SuperScore) APF TV Fun (Model 401) BSS 01 |
| AY-3-8510 | 1978? | General Instrument | Yes | Tennis, hockey, squash, jai alai | Telstar Colortron |
| AY-3-8512 | 1978? | General Instrument | Yes | Tennis, hockey, squash, jai alai, skeet, target | Telstar Marksman |
| AY-3-8600 | 1977 | General Instrument | No(2) | 8 games with balls and paddles | Telstar Galaxy Odyssey 4000 Philips Tele-Spiel ES2218 |
| AY-3-8610 | 1977 | General Instrument | No(2) | 8 games with balls and paddles + 2 rifle games | Videomaster Sportsworld Philco/Ford Telejogo II |
| AY-3-8550 | 1976? | General Instrument | No(1) | The same of 8500 but with the addition of horizontal movement of player | Philips Tele-Spiel ES2208 |
| AY-3-8700 | 1978? | General Instrument | 4 games with tanks | Telstar Combat! |
|
| MPS-7600-001,002,003,004 (3)(4) | 1977 | MOS Technology | The four versions of chip usually support 4 games. | Telstar Gemini(only version 004). Telstar Arcade(all 4 versions). Commodore TV Game 2000K/3000H (only version 001). |
|
| MM-57100/MM-57105(PAL) | 1976 | National Semiconductor | Yes | Tennis, Hockey, Squash | National Adversary Philips Odyssey 2001 Videomaster (ColourScore, VisionScore, ColourShot) Philco/Ford Telejogo |
| MM-57106/MM-57186(PAL) | 1977 | National Semiconductor | Yes | Tennis, Hockey, Squash, Breakout, Flipper e Football. | Philips N30 Philips Odyssey 2100 |
| F4301 | 1976 | Universal Research Labs | N/A | Two games with balls and paddles and two games of car racing | Indy 500 system (Video Action 4) Sears/Atari Speedway e Speedway IV Interton Video 2800 MBO Tele-Ball VIII |
| SN76410N | 1977 | Texas Instruments | N/A | Six games of balls and paddles | Tele-Match 3300R Ricochet Super Pro (modello MT-4A) Venture Electronics Video Sports VS-5 |
| 3659-1C/C2566 | 1975 | Atari | No | Pong | Atari PONG |
| 3659-3 | 1975 | Atari | No | Pong | Atari PONG Doubles Sears PONG IV |
| C010073-3 | 1976 | Atari | No | 4 Pong games | Atari/Sears Super PONG |
| C010073-01/C2607 | 1976 | Atari | N/A | 10 Pong games | Atari Super PONG Ten |
| C010765 | 1977 | Atari | N/A | Atari Ultra PONG Atari Ultra PONG Doubles |
|
| C011500-11/C011512-05 (4) | 1977 | Atari | N/A | 7 games (example: Pinball, Basketball and Breakout) | Atari Video Pinball |
by Michael Miller
Images for kids
-
The "Brown Box" prototype is the forerunner of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first commercial home video game console.
-
First cartridge of Magnavox Odyssey
-
Many consoles in the first generation were clones of or styled similarly to the arcade version of Pong (above).
See also
In Spanish: Videoconsolas de primera generación para niños
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
History of video game consoles (first generation) Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.