Top 10 Oldest Video Game Consoles In The World (Updated 2021) - Oldest.org (2023)

FAQs

What is the oldest game console in the world? ›

The Odyssey was manufactured by Magnavox and released in North America in September of 1972. It's considered the very first home video game console. Ralph Baer, a German-American engineer, created a ping-pong style game.

Nintendo Switch Was 2022's Best-Selling Game Console In The US For Unit Sales. The PS5, however, ranked No. 1 for dollar sales thanks to its higher price point. The numbers are in, and the Nintendo Switch was 2022's best-selling console of the year in the United States based on units sold, according to NPD.

The generation began in November 1976 with the release of the Fairchild Channel F. This was followed by the Atari 2600 in 1977, Magnavox Odyssey² in 1978, Intellivision in 1980 and then the Emerson Arcadia 2001, ColecoVision, Atari 5200, and Vectrex, all in 1982.

At any given time, there are usually three massive companies duking it out for players' attention: Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. In past years, we've seen huge systems from Sega, Atari, Intellivision, and others, but today, the big three absolutely dominate the console market.

The Wii U's hardware was in a weird spot (it had a relatively good GPU but an underpowered CPU), and Nintendo was way behind the competition with regards to online play. This gave developers a hard time in trying to release third-party titles for the Wii U. And so, they didn't.

What console sold the most units? ›

Sony's PlayStation 2 is the best-selling game system overall with over 155 million units worldwide.

“I'm not expecting a next-gen Nintendo console in 2023: we have 2024 in our forecasts,” Harding-Rolls said before noting that Switch hardware will still sell well this year thanks to the upcoming release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Nintendo Switch was the best-selling video game console worldwide in 2021, selling over 25 million units across the globe. One of the latest entrants to the market, the Sony PlayStation 5, sold about 12.6 million units in 2021.

The FM Towns Marty is considered the world's first 32-bit console, although it has only 16bit data bus (predating the Amiga CD32 and 3DO, which are both fully 32bit), being released on February 20, 1993 by Japanese electronic company Fujitsu.

What does 8-bit actually mean? The true definition of the descriptor “8-bit” refers to the processors that powered consoles like the NES and Atari 7800 and has nothing to do with the graphics of the games they ran.

In the history of video games, the third generation of game consoles, commonly referred to as the 8-bit era, began on July 15, 1983 with the Japanese release of two systems: Nintendo's Family Computer (commonly abbreviated to Famicom) and Sega's SG-1000.

As Sega's first 16-bit console, the Sega Genesis represented a significant leap in gaming technology. It was first released in Japan on October 29, 1988, reaching the United States in August of 1989.

Intellivision was the first 16-bit game console, a full two generations before it became the industry standard. The original Intellivision system was so popular it sold across three decades (1979 – 1990). Intellivision was the first video game console to have a built-in PAUSE feature on the controller.

Which is hotter Xbox or PS5? ›

The APU on the Xbox runs hotter, despite the lower power consumption and the lower ambient temperature during our tests, primarily because of the more relaxed fan speed profile and secondly because it uses plain thermal paste, while the PS5 uses a more exotic solution, liquid metal.

The PlayStation 5 is our top pick thanks to its great gaming library and fast operation. For families, we recommend the Nintendo Switch - OLED Model since it has user-friendly controls and a game library packed with a wide range of single-player and multiplayer games.

Why Xbox Series S Is The Quietest Console I've Ever Owned - And How It'll Stay That Way. After years of putting up with noisy fans and humming internals, the Series S' lack of sound is shocking. Microsoft did an incredible job crafting the Xbox Series S.

However, the Xbox Series X has a slight upper hand with its GPU having 12 TFLOPS of power across 52 CUs. In comparison, the PS5 has 10.3 TFLOPS of power across 36 CUs.

With dimensions of approximately 390 X 260 X 104mm, the PS5 now holds the record for largest console of all time.

The Netflix app was removed from Nintendo eShop on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS Family systems on Dec 31st, 2020 and discontinued on June 30th, 2021. Thank you for your support of these applications over the years.

Nintendo formally announced the end of its production on January 31, 2017. The ability to purchase content through the Nintendo eShop will be discontinued on March 27, 2023. Rumors spread claiming the Wii U would destruct in 2023 but the rumor was debunked.

Nintendo will close the Wii U and 3DS eShops on March 27th, 2023 - The Verge.

However, while the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are similar in terms of quality and performance, the PS5's exclusive games and gameplay-focused features make it more enticing for buyers who want an immersive experience and don't want to miss major releases.

What is the best console in 2023? ›

In totality, Sony's PS5 has now sold more than 20 million units worldwide. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Xbox Series X/S is reaching more than 14 million in sales, worldwide.

In 2022, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II published by Activision Blizzard was the top-selling video game in the United States based on dollar sales. Elden Ring was in second place, followed by the sports game Madden NFL 23.

PS5 Best-Selling Console in the US in November, Modern Warfare II Tops Software Charts - Sales. The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console in the US in November 2022 in terms of units sold and dollar sales, according to figures from The NPD Group.

The PS6 doesn't look likely to launch until at least 2028, according to official documents and speculation that has been made around them.

The Nintendo 4DS has the design of a regular Nintendo 3DS but with a wider screen that measures 3 1/2 in., close to the length of what the Nintendo 3DS's screen was. It has a left control stick and a right control stick that can be used with not only Nintendo 4DS games, but also Nintendo 3DS and 2DS games.

Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis told GamesIndustry.Biz that they are forecasting new Nintendo hardware in 2024, and a quick survey around our office finds Team Nintendo Life in broad agreement: "A late 2023 announcement and Spring 2024 release" is the consensus around these parts.

The Xbox Series X has a more powerful GPU, capable of 12 teraflops of computing power compared to 10.3 teraflops on PS5. The Xbox Series X also has a slightly faster CPU at 3.8GHz than the PS5's 3.5GHz CPU. Other than that, though, the systems are a close match when it comes to power.

Is the ps4 better than the ps3? ›

Sony's PlayStation 4 has significantly more CPU and graphics horsepower than the PlayStation 3, more RAM, a bigger hard drive, built-in game DVR, newer motion-sensing camera, and a better controller with touchpad.

Advantages of PC gaming. PCs have different advantages, including the ability to customize your PC, create hotkeys, sharper and more lifelike visuals, superior accuracy with peripherals, and greater ability to modify games.

The Switch just leaped over both the Game Boy and PlayStation 4 to become the third best-selling console of all time. The console has sold 122.55 million units overall as of the end of 2022, Nintendo announced in its earnings report, so it's is now behind only the DS and PlayStation 2 in lifetime sales.

The Playstation 2 sold 155 million units during its run from 2000 to 2012. The Switch has sold between 100 and 110 million units as of February 2022 and there's probably 3 to 5 years left in its lifespan, so it's possible it may dethrone Playstation 2 as the best selling game system ever.

Microsoft does not go into detail on its mental arithmetic here, but does note elswhere in its comments that PlayStation currently has a console install base of 150 million, compared to Xbox's install base of 63.7 million.

The Nintendo 64 (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Australia.

It is a known fact that PlayStation is older than Xbox. Since its inception in 1994, Sony PlayStation has gained immense success over the past two decades. The latter was established by Microsoft in 2000 and has steadily lured a large population of new users over the years.

Microsoft Corporation created Xbox, a video game console system. Released in 2001, Xbox was Microsoft's first entry into the world of console electronic gaming, which placed it in direct competition with Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube.

The “Brown Box” was licensed to Magnavox, which released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. It preceded Atari by a few months, which is often mistakenly thought of as the first games console.

September 9, 1999

Sega's $199 Dreamcast console arrived in U.S. stores and is the first console game machine to sport a 128-bit architecture.

How much did a Nintendo 64 cost in 1996? ›

The Nintendo 64, released in the United States in September at a $199.99 retail price, was offered for as much as $600 by Dec. 23.

However, while the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are similar in terms of quality and performance, the PS5's exclusive games and gameplay-focused features make it more enticing for buyers who want an immersive experience and don't want to miss major releases.

The report also mentioned that in the last 12 months the Xbox Series X/S has outsold the PS5 by a total of 17,029 units. This is surprising because, typically, Sony's PlayStation consoles have outsold Microsoft's Xbox consoles by a significant margin.

Though the PS4 Pro has the advantage of larger storage size, the Xbox Series S has it in speed. As the Xbox Series S utilises an SSD, the boot-up time of the console, read/write speeds and game loading times are all faster than you would get with the HDD found in the PS4 Pro.

When the NES launched in 1985 it was priced at $149.99 and came complete with Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, a light gun accessory for Duck Hunt and an extra controller.

The very first console release to support stereoscopic 3D was 3-D WorldRunner, released on the Famicom in Japan in 1987 and later for the NES in North America and Europe.

In 2021, it was reported that the age distribution of U.S. gamers were 20% under the 18 years old, 38% were in between 18 and 34 years old, 14% were in between 35 and 44 years old, 12% were in between 45 and 54 years old, 9% were in between 55 and 64 years old, and 7% were 65 years old or over.