History of video game consoles (fourth generation) Facts for Kids

green - NTSC, blue - PAL, or switching to PAL, orange - SECAM, olive - no information

The fourth generation of video game consoles began on October 30, 1987. The fourth generation (also called the 16-bit generation) began with the release of Nippon Electric Company's (NEC) PC Engine. Although NEC released the first fourth-generation console, this generation was dominated by Nintendo and Sega. Nintendo became the largest worldwide market share in the fourth generation. Sega was also successful in this generation. It began a new franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog. This was done so Sega could compete with Nintendo's Mario series of games. Many other companies released consoles in this generation. However, none of them were successful, except for Neo Geo from SNK.

The first handheld game console released in the fourth generation was the Game Boy, on April 21, 1989. The Game Boy became the most popular handheld game console. The Game Boy's screen had no color. However, many of its leading competitors did. Three major franchises were introduced for the Game Boy. These include: Tetris, Pokemon and Kirby. Many of the popular games in this generation originally started in the 8-bit generations. These titles include Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Star Fox, Kirby, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Seiken Densetsu (Secret of Mana), Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Mega Man X.

The next generation would be the one that changed everything.

Home video game consoles
List of handheld consoles
- Other
Popular games
Images for kids
See also

Home video game consoles

Comparison

Name	PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16	Mega Drive/Genesis	Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System	Neo Geo AES
Manufacturer	NEC/Hudson Soft	Sega	Nintendo	SNK
Console
Launch prices (USD)	US$199.99	US$189.99	US$199.99	US$649.99 (Gold version) US$399.99 (Silver version)
Release date	^JP October 30, 1987 ^NA September 1, 1989 ^EU 1990	^JP October 29, 1988 ^NA September 15, 1989 ^EU November 30, 1990	^JP November 21, 1990 ^NA August 23, 1991 ^EU April 11, 1992	^JP July 1, 1991 ^NA 1991
Media	HuCard (card-shaped cartridge) CD-ROM (Turbo CD add-on)	Cartridge CD-ROM (Mega-CD add-on) Data card (Power Base Converter add-on)	Cartridge Magnetic disc (Japan only)	Cartridge Data card (Europe/Japan)
Best-selling games	Bonk's Adventure	Sonic the Hedgehog (15 million)	Super Mario World, 20 million (as of June 25, 2007)	Samurai Shodown
Backward compatibility	No	Sega Master System (using Power Base Converter)	Game Boy (using Super Game Boy)	No
Accessories (retail)	TurboGrafx-CD TurboTap TurboStick Super System Card TurboBooster TurboBooster Plus	Sega Mega-CD Sega 32X Mouse Menacer Power Base Converter Sega Activator Multitap	Super Scope Multitap Super Game Boy SNES Mouse Super Advantage	Neo Geo Controller Pro Neo Geo Memory Card
CPU	HuC6280A (modified 65SC02) 1.79 or 7.16 MHz	Motorola 68000 7.67 MHz (7.61 MHz PAL) Zilog Z80 3.58 MHz	Nintendo-custom 5A22 (based on 65C816) 3.58 MHz (3.55 MHz PAL)	Motorola 68000 12 MHz Zilog Z80 4 MHz
Memory	8 KiB work RAM 64 KiB video RAM	64 KiB main RAM 64 KiB video RAM 8 KiB audio RAM	128 KiB main RAM 64 KiB video RAM 64 KiB audio RAM	64 KiB main RAM 74 KiB video RAM 2 KiB audio RAM

Other

Commodore CDTV
Released in 1991
Philips CD-i
1991-1998
Super A'Can
Released in 1995

Worldwide sales

Console	Units sold
Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System	49.10 million
Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis	40 million
PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16	10 million
CD-i	570,000

List of handheld consoles

Console	Game Boy	Atari Lynx	Sega Game Gear	TurboExpress
Manufacturer	Nintendo	Atari	Sega	NEC
Image
Launch price	¥12,500 US$89.95	US$189.99	¥14,500 US$149.99 A$155	US$299.99
Release date	April 21, 1989 August 1989 1990	September 1989 1990	October 6, 1990 April 26, 1991 April 26, 1991 1992	November 16, 1990 1991
Units sold	118.69 million (as of December 31, 2009), including Game Boy Color units	5 million (as of July 30, 2007)	15 million (as of July 30, 2007)	1.5 million
Media	Cartridge	Cartridge	Cartridge	Datacard
Best-selling games	Tetris, 35 million (pack-in / separately). Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green, approximately 20.08 million combined (in Japan and the US) (details).	Unknown	Sonic the Hedgehog 2	Bonk's Adventure
Backward compatibility	No(Original Cartridges compatible with later models)	No	Sega Master System (using Cartridge Adapter)	No