Sega Starts the 16-Bit Wars

This chapter reviews the early 1990s arcade revival in North America with motion-controlled hydraulic games by Yu Suzuki and fighting games such as Street Fighter II (1991), Mortal Kombat (1992), and Virtua Fighter (1993), followed by extensive coverage of the major game consoles of the 16-bit era including the NEC PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, Super Famicom/Super Nintendo, and the SNK Neo-Geo Advanced Entertainment System (AES). Handheld Snapshots provide summaries of the Nintendo Game Boy, Atari Lynx, and Sega Game Gear. New technologies like the SNES’s color layering and “Mode 7” scaling and rotation effects are also discussed, as well as peripheral devices such as the Turbo-Grafx and Sega CD add-ons. Key game titles for all main consoles (such as Chrono Trigger , Super Metroid , Final Fantasy III , The Legend of Zelda , The: A Link to the Past , and Donkey Kong Country ) are highlighted, as well as console tech specs, launch titles, key people (like Hayao Nakayama, Hideki Sato, Michael Katz, Yuji Naka, Yuzo Koshiro, and Tom Kalinske), marketing, advertisement, accessories, console comparisons, and head-to-head game recommendations for comparing game systems. Following the rich history, technology, and business-related events of this generation, this chapter concludes with a fourth-generation market summary, activity on comparing arcade games to 16-bit console ports, fourth-generation breakthroughs, trends, and a quiz.