Third Generation of Video Game Consoles (Dixie Forever)

In the history of computer and video games, the third generation (sometimes referred to as the 8-bit era) began on July 15, 1983, with the Japanese release of both the Family Computer (referred to in Japan in the abbreviated form "Famicom", and later known as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, in the rest of the world) and SG-1000. This generation marked the end of the North American video game crash, a shift in the dominance of home video games from the United States to Japan, and the transition from block-based graphics to smooth hardware scrolling tile and sprite based graphics, which was a pivotal leap in game design.

Some features that distinguished third generation consoles from most second generation consoles include:


 * D-pad game controllers.
 * Screen modes with resolutions up to 256×240 or 320×200.
 * 25–32 colors on screen, from a palette of 53–256 colors.
 * Tile-based playfields with smooth multi-directional hardware scrolling.
 * Advanced hardware scrolling, including multi-directional scrolling, diagonal scrolling, and line-scrolling.
 * 64–100 sprites on screen, each with 4–16 colors and 8×8 to 16×16 pixel sizes.
 * Up to five channel (primarily square wave) mono PSG audio.

The best-selling console of this generation was the NES/Famicom, followed by the Master System and then the Atari 7800. Although the previous generation of consoles had also used 8-bit processors, it was at the end of this generation that home consoles were first labeled by their "bits". This also came into fashion as 16-bit systems like the Mega Drive/Genesis were marketed to differentiate between the generations of consoles. In Japan and North America, this generation of gaming was primarily dominated by the Famicom/NES, while the Master System dominated the European and Brazilian markets. The end of the 3rd generation of video games comes as 8-bit consoles become obsolete in graphics and processing power compared to 16-bit consoles.

Dominant Systems by Continent

 * North America: NES, Atari 7800, Master System
 * Europe: Master System, NES, Atari 7800
 * Asia: NES, Master System, Atari 7800
 * Australia/New Zealand: NES, Master System, Atari 7800
 * Africa: Atari 7800, Master System, NES
 * South America: NES, Atari 7800, Master System

Comparison
Atari 7800 NES Sega Master System

Exclusivity Lawsuit
In 1988 both Sega and Atari entered into a lawsuit with Nintendo regarding their exclusivity agreements with their software partners, which the plaintiffs argued was an unfair limitation of trade and caused undue harm to their own business. The court settled in their favor and ordered Nintendo to stop all exclusivity agreements for existing games as of June 1989, and for all future games, they could only have a 90 day to 180 day exclusivity agreement, but all software makers could not not be required to sign any exclusivity to release on the NES. This was a blow to Nintendo, which sought to lock up all the software on their system and make the competition much less attractive. But this was a huge boon to both Atari and Sega, as software makers began releasing ports of their popular NES games to other systems, allowing consumers to have a true comparison of the power of the systems.

Not too long after, the Megaman series, Castlevania, Gradius, Ghosts N Goblins, Rygar, Star Trek, and Star Wars were re-released on the Atari 7800 and Sega Master System by year's end as Christmas releases, making huge sales for both systems and forcing Nintendo to create even better system exclusives to compete with the others.