Console Wars

I'm working on completing a game right now, but it's taking longer than expected.

So I'm introducing a series of thoughts on video games I'd like to call CONSOLE WARS.

16-bit Advertising Wars: Nintendo vs. Sega

I've always known that there have been console wars in the worlds of video games. That was something that, as a kid, I didn't worry about even though I saw the commercials and bought the merchandise. I'm aware of the marketing and advertising slung my way twenty years ago by the companies that wanted my parent's money. It was on television, in my breakfast cereal, and in the cartoons I watched. I found myself on team Nintendo, and when the SNES came out I knew that I had to play it.

Things didn't heat up until both Sega and Nintendo both had competing 16-bit systems. Nintendo owned the market share during the 8-bit era, and as they introduced their next generation console, the Super Nintendo, they made it clear that all your favorite characters from the NES would be found in a new 16-bit home. That continuity would ensure that most video game players would have to upgrade to the newer, better system. Because Nintendo controlled the video game market for so long, they had a recognizable brand name, with recognizable characters, and lots of customers in Japan and in North America. Sega did not. Anyone remember Alex Kidd? Nope. It wasn't until Sonic the Hedgehog, two years after the Genesis launched, that Sega finally had a flagship mascot of their own that they could market. By that time, Nintendo had a full house: Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, and they were developing more. This opened up the 1990's for serious competition between the two companies.

At the same time both Nintendo and Sega were fighting an equally vicious portable console war. They were both grasping for ways to make more money and to outdo the other. The Gameboy made it possible to have a video game experience that you could take anywhere. All the familiar faces were there, Mario, Metroid, Zelda, and the mega hit Tetris. Sega upped the ante with Gamegear, a portable console that addressed the Gameboy's only flaw: the lack of a backlit color screen. Never mind that the Gamegear was more expensive and ate AA batteries up like candy. The advertising blitz by Sega made the Gameboy look dull and lifeless. When you're #2, you have to work twice as hard to win, and that's what Sega did with their advertising.

It seemed like the majority of Sega ads and commercials were negative towards Nintendo products, or geared to players that had no video game affiliation. It also seemed like they made more commercials. While most of Nintendo's ads ignored Sega completely, they ran a few negative ads in Sega's direction.

Sega made some technological leaps with their CD-ROM system and 32X adaptor to extend the life of their Genesis system. They also created Sega Channel which offered unlimited game play for a monthly fee through  cable providers, something that in 1994 was way ahead of its time. While these innovations should have put Sega ahead, they found themselves at the wrong end of hardware capability. The CD system suffered from slow speeds due to the limitation of CD-ROM technology at the time, and Sega Channel suffered from electromagnetic "noise" inherent in older RG-59 coaxial cabling, which made downloading games difficult to do. Nintendo had wanted to create a CD-Rom device for the SNES, but that fell through, they did have an interesting satellite gaming device that was only available in Japan, but bringing that to the US would be prohibitively expensive. Nintendo would find out that their tried and true cartridge technology would eventually backfire on them later (I'll discuss this at a later time).

When technological comparisons were used up, Sega took a different approach to attack Nintendo. Boasting a cheaper alternative to the more expensive Nintendo 16-bit system. They did this multiple times.

But Nintendo beat Sega in the console wars for various reasons. They rode into the 16-bit generation with everything on their side. They had the fan base, the market share, the games. They managed to score big hits with Mario Kart, StarFox and Donkey Kong Country. They obliterated the portable game market with a cheaper, and technologically inferior Gameboy system, which lasted from 1989 until 2001 and beyond because of the insanely popular Pokemon franchise. But at the same time it was Sega's determination for competition with Nintendo and made them a profitable in North America. Many things contributed to this rivalry that could not have been foreseen by either company.

The rise of fighting games was unique to the 16-bit era. Arcade adaptations of fighting games began to flood into console market. Street Fighter II was a huge hit in the arcades and was ported to the SNES first, eventually selling over six million copies. Mortal Kombat was ported to both systems, but because the Genesis version kept the blood and gore of the arcade original, it sold far more copies than the toned down, non-bloody SNES version. The controversy surrounding violent fighting games probably added more fuel to the fire, giving consumers more of a reason to buy the Genesis version.

By the end of the 16-bit wars Sega had caught up with Nintendo in many ways: they had recognizable characters, edgy commercials, portable consoles, and products that competed with Nintendo at every turn. Their sales numbers didn't reach the height of the SNES, but they had many titles that sold over a million copies, and that would have been impossible a few years earlier. Both Sega and Nintendo left the 1990's and the 16-bit console wars with a better understanding of what consumers wanted and did not want, and in a way it made for better video games.

In the end they both wanted to prove how crazy they were... and you were crazy NOT to play their games.

Epilogue: 

I'm wondering why there was a divided Nintendo and Sega crowd growing up. I think the majority of friends I had owned a Nintendo, but there were a few kids I knew that didn't. What made me think that they were insane? It was all the stuff that I was led to believe by the folks at Nintendo. I think I was led to believe that everything produced by Sega was crap. What about the Sega made it so different? It was black for one. The controller had three buttons. It looked like it could swallow your soul.

That's the effects of advertising. I now think that Sega had some pretty awesome games, and that the Sega Master System actually looks better than the NES.

Blasphemy!

But I can play Sonic on my Wii now. We won the war right? My side won. Only... Sega didn't die, they just changed directions. That kind of makes me sad. Console wars have changed, and new sides have been drawn. I wonder if there's still bad blood between Sega and Nintendo? Who knows. This is a topic that still incites incredible emotions on the interwebs and forum sites. Some old rivalries never go away.