Nintendo Leads the 8-Bit Revolution

This chapter reviews the arcade scene during the mid-1980s with games such as Marble Madness (1984), Gauntlet (1985), and OutRun (1986), followed by in-depth coverage of the major game consoles of the 8-bit era including Nintendo Famicom and the Nintendo Entertainment System (with a Pro File on Shigeru Miyamoto), Sega SG-1000, Mark III and Sega Master System, and the Atari 7800 ProSystem. Key game titles for all main consoles (such as Super Mario Bros. , Contra , The Legend of Zelda , Mega Man 2 , Metroid , Phantasy Star , Shinobi , and Zillion ) are highlighted, as well as console tech specs, launch titles, key people (like Gumpei Yokoi, Yu Suzuki, Minoru Arakawa, Hiroshi Yamauchi, Howard Lincoln, Jack Tramiel, and Ray Kassar), marketing, advertisement, accessories, console comparisons, and head-to-head game recommendations for comparing game systems. It fits in chronologically with the rest of the text, encapsulating the rich history, technology, and business-related events of this generation. This chapter concludes with a third-generation market summary, activity on comparing arcade games to console ports, third-generation breakthroughs, trends, and a quiz.