| Part of a series on: |
| History of video games |
|---|
The fifth-generation era (also known as the 32 bit era and occasionally, after the release of the Nintendo 64, the 64 bit era and more rarely the 3D era) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at stores. The fifth generation lasted approximately from 1993 to 2006 and was dominated by three consoles, the Sega Saturn (1994), the Sony PlayStation (1994), and the Nintendo 64 (1996). Demographics in console sales varied widely, but these three consoles, especially the PlayStation, defined the system wars of this era. The FM Towns Marty, Amiga CD32, 3DO, NEC PC-FX, Sega 32X, and Atari Jaguar were also part of this era, but their sales were poor and they failed to make a significant impact on the market, though the Amiga CD32 sold well during the seven months that it was supported. This era also saw three updated versions of Nintendo's Game Boy: Game Boy Light (Japan only), Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color.
Bit ratings for consoles largely fell by the wayside during this era, with the notable exceptions of the Nintendo 64 and the heavy usage of references to the 64-bit processing power of the Atari Jaguar in advertisements. The number of "bits" cited in console names referred to the CPU word size and had been used by hardware marketers as a "show of power" for many years. However, there was little to be gained from increasing the word size much beyond 32 or 64 bits because once this level was reached, performance depended on more varied factors, such as processor clock speed, bandwidth, and memory size.
The fifth generation also saw the rise of emulation. During this period, commonly available personal computers became powerful enough to emulate the 8 and 16-bit systems of the previous generation. Also, the development of the Internet made it possible to store and download tape and ROM images of older games, eventually leading 7th generation consoles (such as the Xbox 360, the Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DSi) to make many older games available for purchase or download.
Contents |
The 32-bit / 64-bit era is most noted for the rise of fully 3D games. While there were games prior that had used three dimensional environments, such as Virtua Racing and Star Fox, it was in this era that many game designers began to move traditionally 2D and pseudo-3D genres into 3D. Super Mario 64 on the N64, Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation, and Tomb Raider on the Saturn (later released on the PlayStation as well), are prime examples of this trend. Their 3D environments were widely marketed and they steered the industry's focus away from side-scrolling and rail-style titles, as well as opening doors to more complex games and genres. 3D became the main focus in this era as well as a slow decline of Cartridges in favor of CDs, due to the ability to produce games less expensively. The game also included more dramatic cut scenes with symphonic music – the term "interactive movie" became less associated with games that made heavy use of full-motion video and more with games with an action movie feel to them, such as Metal Gear Solid.
As Nintendo prepared to launch its newest console, they decided to make the Nintendo 64 a cartridge-based system like its predecessors. Publicly, Nintendo defended this decision on the grounds that it would give games shorter load times than a compact disc (and would decrease piracy). However, it also had the dubious benefit of allowing Nintendo to charge higher licensing fees, as cartridge production was considerably more expensive than CD production. Many third-party developers viewed this as an underhanded attempt to raise more money for Nintendo and many of them became more reluctant to release games on the N64.
Nintendo's decision to use a cartridge based system sparked a small scale war amongst gamers as to which was better. The "media war" was spurred on no less by statements from top company executives themselves; one Nintendo magazine ad placed a Space Shuttle (cartridge) next to a snail (a CD) and dared consumers to decide "which one was better". At the time, CD-ROMs did suffer from long load times (some games even featured "mini" games that players could play while the real game was loading).
Despite these and other moves by Nintendo, almost every other contemporary system used the new CD-ROM technology (the Nintendo 64 was the last major home video game console to use cartridges). Also appealing to publishers was the fact that CDs could be produced at significantly less expense and with more flexibility (it was easy to change production to meet demand), and they were able to pass the lower costs onto consumers. In particular, the fifth generation marked a turning point for optical-based storage media. As games grew more complex in content, sound, and graphics, the CD proved more than capable of providing enough space for the extra data. The cartridge format, however, was pushed beyond the limits of its storage capacity. Consequently, many game developers shifted their support away from the Nintendo 64 to the PlayStation. One of the most influential game franchises to change consoles during this era was the Final Fantasy series, beginning with Final Fantasy VII, which was originally developed for the N64 but due to storage capacity issues was developed for and released on the PlayStation; prior Final Fantasy games had all been published on Nintendo consoles – either the Nintendo Entertainment System or Super Nintendo.
The 32-bit / 64-bit era was a paramount staging ground of the continuing "console wars" between the large game hardware manufacturers. "Console wars" were a phenomenon in which people would attempt to evaluate the upcoming hardware of a system and purchase the system for that reason alone, speculating that the best games must be made for that hardware. Since the length of time systems spent in development had been steadily growing since the 8-bit era, consumers were left with a lengthy period of time in which to speculate about the strengths and weaknesses of the consoles to be released in the next generation.
Many events transpired to mislead gamers during this era, causing much confusion over which console was superior to the others. Adding to the uncertainty was the fact that there were more competing consoles in this era than at any other time since the North American video game crash of 1983, with video game magazines frequently performing side-by-side hardware-specification comparisons of the systems using dubious statistics. Also, console makers routinely boasted theoretical maximum limits of each system's 3D polygon rendering without accounting for real world in-game performance.
The FM Towns Marty was the world's first 32 bit console (contrary to claims from the Amiga CD32 and 3DO), being released in 1991 by Japanese electronic company Fujitsu. Never released outside of Japan, it was largely marketed as a console version of the FM Towns home computer, being compatible with games developed for the FM Towns. It failed to make an impact in the marketplace due to its expense relative to other consoles and inability to compete with home computers.[1]
Despite massive third party support and an unprecedented amount of hype for a first-time entrant into the industry, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer's $700 price tag hindered its success.[2]
The Amiga CD32 was sold in Europe, Australia and Canada, but never in the US due to Commodore's bankruptcy.[3] A large stock of NTSC CD-32s remained at the factory in the Philippines, which were later sold off by creditors and continued to appear on the second hand market for many years.
The Sega 32X, an add-on console for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Mega-CD, was released almost simultaneously with the Sega Saturn. The Sega Neptune was also announced as a standalone version of the 32X, but ultimately canceled. Sega failed to deliver a steady flow of games for the 32X platform. More importantly, with the Saturn and PlayStation already on the horizon, most gamers preferred to save up their money rather than spend it on a console that was doomed to become obsolete in just a few months.[4]
The Sega Saturn was released as Sega's entry into the 32-bit console market. It was moderately successful, selling 17 million units worldwide. However, it was not the commercial success that the Master System and Mega Drive had been and lagged in third place (behind the (by then) less expensive PlayStation and N64 consoles) until it was discontinued.
The Atari Jaguar was released in 1993 as the world's first 64-bit system. However, sales at launch were well below the incumbent fourth generation consoles, and a small games library rooted in a shortage of third party support made it impossible for the Jaguar to catch up. The system's 64-bit nature was also questioned by many. The 32-bit Atari Panther was set to be released in 1991, but was canceled due to unexpectedly rapid progress in developing the Jaguar.[5]
The Atari Jaguar CD, an add-on console for the Jaguar, was released in 1995. Due to the extremely low installed base of the Jaguar itself and Atari's dire financial situation, the Jaguar CD was only produced in very limited quantities, and so had no chance to make any impact in the market.
The Sony PlayStation was the most successful console of this generation, with attention given by 1st and 3rd party developers enabling it to achieve market dominance, becoming the first console to ship 100 million units worldwide.
Because of many delays to the release of the Nintendo 64, in 1995 Nintendo released the Virtual Boy, a supposedly portable system capable of displaying true 3D graphics, albeit in monochromatic red and black. Because of its graphical capabilities, the system could cause headaches and eye strain, and was not functionally portable, though it was marketed as such. It was discontinued within a year, with less than 25 games ever released for it.
The Nintendo 64 was announced as "Ultra 64" and two arcade games (Killer Instinct and Cruis'n USA) were released claiming to use the hardware. A TV ad for the Super NES port of Killer Instinct showed a gamer using a chainsaw to open the arcade cabinet so he could take out the console inside. This caused many gamers to refrain from buying the 3DO, Saturn, or PlayStation because they thought the commercial showed what was in the Nintendo 64's hardware, and it appeared to be superior to any of the competing systems. The arcade system was in fact completely different from that used for those games (albeit of comparable capability), disappointing those who had expected the images from the ads.
NEC, creator of the TurboGrafx-16, TurboDuo, Coregrafx, and SuperGrafx, also entered the market with the PC-FX in 1994. The system had a 32-bit processor, 16-bit stereo sound, a 16,777,000 color palette and featured the highest quality full motion video of any console on the market at the time. The PC-FX broke away from traditional console design by being a tower system that allowed for numerous expansion points including a connection for NEC's PC-9800 series of computers. Despite the impressive specs it was marketed as the ultimate side-scrolling console and could not match the sales of the 3D systems currently on the market.
After the dust settled in the fifth generation console wars, several companies saw their outlooks change drastically. Atari, which was already on shaky ground after setbacks to Nintendo in the previous generation, ended up being purchased by JT Storage and stopped making game hardware. Sega's loss of consumer confidence (coupled with its previous console failures) in North America set the company up for a similar fate in the next round of console wars.
The Sega Saturn, although the most technically advanced console of the generation, suffered from poor marketing and comparatively limited third-party support. Sega's decision to use dual processors was roundly criticized, and some believe the second CPU was added as a "panic" response to the PlayStation's specifications. Regardless of their reasons for including it, only Sega's first-party developers were ever able to use the second CPU effectively. The Saturn was far more difficult than the PlayStation to program for.
Sega was also hurt by a surprise four-month-early US launch of their console. Third party developers, who had been planning for the originally scheduled launch, could not provide launch titles and were angered by the move. Retailers were caught unprepared, resulting in distribution problems. Some retailers, such as KB Toys, were so furious that they refused to stock the Saturn thereafter.[6] Also, the fact that the Sega Saturn was US$100 more costly than the PlayStation and N64 pushed many potential buyers into purchasing the cheaper consoles.
Due to numerous delays, the Nintendo 64 was released one year later than its competitors. By the time it was finally launched in 1996, Sony had already established its dominance and the Sega Saturn was starting to struggle. Its use of cartridge media rather than compact discs alienated some developers and publishers due to the space limits and the relatively high cost involved, US$3.50 for an N64 cartridge versus US$0.35 for a PS disc. In addition, the initially high suggested retail price of the console may have driven potential customers away, and many early adopters of the system who had paid the initial cost were angered by Nintendo's decision to reduce the cost of the system within a few months of its release. However, the Nintendo 64 was popular in the Americas, selling 20.63 million units there (more than half of its worldwide sales of 32.93 million units), and is home to highly successful games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, and Super Smash Bros.. However, while the Nintendo 64 sold far more units than the Sega Saturn, it failed to surpass the PlayStation, which dominated the market.
| Name | Amiga CD32 | 3DO Interactive Multiplayer | Atari Jaguar | Sega Saturn | PlayStation | Nintendo 64 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Commodore | Panasonic, Sanyo and GoldStar | Atari | Sega | Sony | Nintendo |
| Console | ||||||
| Launch prices (USD) | US$399.99 | US$700[2] | US$250[7] | US$399[2] | US$299.99 | US$249.99 |
| Release date |
WW September 1, 1993
|
|
WW November 18, 1993
|
|
|
|
| Best-selling game | Zool, unknown amount of units. | Return Fire, unknown amount of units. | Tempest 2000, unknown amount of units. | Virtua Fighter 2, 1.7 million in Japan[8] | Gran Turismo, 10.85 million shipped (as of April 30, 2008)[9][10] | Super Mario 64, 11.62 million (as of May 21, 2003)[11][12] |
| Media | CD-ROM (cassette, floppy disk, hard drive (software), data card via add-ons) | CD-ROM | Cartridge (CD via add-on) | CD-ROM, cartridge (limited, Japan only) | CD-ROM | Cartridge, (proprietary magnetic disk via Japan-only add-on) |
| Accessories (retail) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| System sales (worldwide) |
100,000 |
2 million |
250,000 |
9.5 million |
102 million |
32.93 million |
| Console | Units sold |
|---|---|
| PlayStation | 102.49 million shipped (as of March 31, 2007)[15] |
| Nintendo 64 | 32.93 million (as of March 31, 2005)[16] |
| Sega Saturn | 9.5 million (as of May 4, 2007)[2] |
| 3DO | 2 million (as of May 4, 2007)[2] |
| Virtual Boy | 770,000 (as of May 4, 2007)[7] |
| Atari Jaguar | 500,000 (as of May 15, 2007)[17] |
| Apple Bandai Pippin | 42,000 (as of May 4, 2007)[7] |
In 1996–97, when the PlayStation, N64, and Saturn were the only major 5th generation consoles still on the market, Sony managed a 51% market share of the worldwide market, followed by Nintendo with 40% with a percentage of them from the 16-bit SNES, while Sega lagged with 9%. Production of the Sega Saturn was prematurely discontinued outside of Japan in 1998, with its demise being accelerated by rumors that work on its successor was underway, which hurt sales in late 1997. The N64 was produced until 2001 when it was succeeded by the Nintendo GameCube; however, PlayStation production had not ceased as it was redesigned as the PSOne, further extending the life of the console around the release of the follow-up PlayStation 2. The PlayStation was discontinued in 2006, shortly after the Xbox 360 was released.
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||