A game console is a specialized electronic device designed and created for playing video games. The most common output device is a television or, less commonly, a computer monitor—hence the name “console,” as these devices are attached to an independent display device. Portable (handheld) gaming systems have their own built-in display device (they are not attached to anything).
Initially, game consoles differed from personal computers in several key ways: consoles relied on a television as the primary display device and did not support most of the standard peripherals designed for personal computers, such as keyboards or modems. Until recently, almost all consoles sold were designed to run proprietary games, distributed under the terms of non-support for other consoles.
However, as game consoles evolved, the distinction between them and personal computers gradually blurred—some consoles now allow the connection of a keyboard and hard drive. The circuitry and software for some new consoles are distributed under open licenses.
The game console market has evolved from relatively simple electronic television gaming systems to today’s powerful, feature-rich gaming systems.
Major gaming consoles
| Others | Microsoft | ||||||
| [1] | Odyssey Coleco TelStar |
Pong | Color TV | ||||
| [2] | Coleco Vision Mattel Intellivision |
Atary 2600 Atary 5200 |
|||||
| [3] | Amstrad GX 4000 | Atary 7800 | SG-1000 Master Sistem |
NES (Dendy) | |||
| [4] | NEC PC Enging FM Towns Marty |
Lynx | Mega Drive GameGear |
Super NES | Game Boy | ||
| [5] | 3DO | Jaguar | Saturn | Nintendo 64 | GB Color | P.S. | |
| [6] | N-Gage | Dreamcast | GameCube | GB Advance | PS 2 | XBox | |
| [7] | Gizmondo Zeebo |
Wii | DS | PS 3 PSP |
XBox 360 | ||
| [8] | OUYA | Wii U | 3DS Switch |
PS 4 Vita |
Xbox One | ||
| [9] | Steam Deck | Switch 2 | PS 5 | Xbox SX | |||
Handheld and portable consoles are shown in italics.
The best-selling consoles are highlighted in bold.
Nintendo consoles are divided into two categories: consoles and handheld consoles.
The number of games created for older consoles is taken from online emulator databases. The number of games created for newer consoles (6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th generations) is taken from official online video game stores.
1. The first video game systems (1972–1980)
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Magnavox Odyssey | Magnavox | 1972–1975 | 28 | 330,000 |
| Pong | Atari | 1975–1977 | 16 | 150,000 |
| Coleco Telstar | Coleco | 1976–1980 | 6 | 1,000,000 |
| Nintendo Color TV Game | Nintendo | 1977–1983 | 5 | 3,000,000 |
2. Early 8-bit systems (1976–1983)
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Fairchild Channel F | Jerry Lawson | 1976–1978 | 34 | 350,000 |
| RCA Studio II | RCA | 1977–1978 | 16 | 53,000 |
| Atari 2600 | Atari | 1977–1992 | 549 | 30,000,000 |
| Bally Astrocade | Bally Manuf. | 1978–1984 | 41 | – |
| Magnavox Odyssey 2 | Magnavox | 1978–1984 | 107 | 2,000,000 |
| Mattel Intellivision | Mattel Elect. | 1980–1990 | 132 | 3,750,000 |
| Vectrex | Milton Bradley | 1982–1984 | 23 | – |
| Arcadia 2001 | Emerson | 1982–1984 | 55 | – |
| Atari 5200 | Atari | 1982–1984 | 287 | 1,000,000 |
| ColecoVision | Coleco | 1982–1984 | 170 | 2,000,000 |
Portable consoles:
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Microvision | Milton Bradley | 1979–1981 | 12 | 300,000 |
| Game & Watch | Nintendo | 1980–1991 | 60 | 43,400,000 |
| Game Pocket Computer | Epoch Co. | 1984–1984 | 7 | – |
3. The 8-bit era of game consoles (1985–1990)
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| NES | Nintendo | 1983–2003 | 1370 | 61,910,000 |
| Dendy (NES clone) | Steepler | 1992–1998 | 1370 | 6,000,000 |
| SG-1000, SG-3000 | Sega | 1983–1985 | 80 | 400,000 |
| Sega Master System | Sega | 1985–1990 | 219 | 19,170,000 |
| Super Cassette Vision | Epoch Co. | 1984–1987 | 30 | 300,000 |
| Atari 7800 | Atari | 1986–1990 | 65 | 3,770,000 |
| Atari XEGS | Atari | 1987–1991 | 32 | 130,000 |
| Amstrad GX 4000 | Amstrad | 1990–1992 | 27 | 15,000 |
4. The 16-bit era of game consoles (1987–1994)
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine) | NEC, Hudson Soft | 1987–1990 | 678 | 3,920,000 |
| Mega Drive (Genesis) | Sega | 1988–1999 | 881 | 30,750,000 |
| Neo-Geo AES | SNK Corp. | 1990–1997 | 193 | 1,180,000 |
| Sega CD | Sega | 1991–1996 | 207 | 2,240,000 |
| Sega 32X | Sega | 1994–1996 | 40 | 800,000 |
| Commodore Amiga CDTV | Commodore | 1991–1995 | 63 | 54,000 |
| Super NES (SNES) | Nintendo | 1990–2003 | 1757 | 49,100,000 |
| Philips CD-i | Philips | 1991–1999 | 138 | 570,000 |
| FM Towns Marty | Fujitsu | 1993–1995 | 638 | 45,000 |
Portable consoles:
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Game Boy | Nintendo | 1989–2003 | 1042 | 118,690,000 |
| Atari Lynx | Atari | 1989–1995 | 74 | 2,000,000 |
| Sega GameGear | Sega | 1990–1997 | 365 | 10,620,000 |
5. The 32/64-bit era of game consoles (1993–1999)
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Atari Jaguar | Atari | 1993–1996 | 63 | 100,000 |
| 3DO Interactive Multiplayer | 3DO | 1993–1996 | 246 | 1,380,000 |
| Commodore Amiga CD32 | Commodore | 1993–1994 | 161 | 125,000 |
| PC-FX | NEC, Hudson | 1994–1998 | 61 | 300,000 |
| PlayStation (PSone) | Sony | 1994–2006 | 4074 | 102,490,000 |
| Sega Saturn | Sega | 1994–2000 | 1028 | 9,260,000 |
| Nintendo 64 | Nintendo | 1996–2002 | 388 | 32,930,000 |
Portable consoles:
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Sega Nomad | Sega | 1995–1999 | 881 | 1,000,000 |
| Virtual Boy | Nintendo | 1995–1996 | 22 | 770,000 |
| Game.com | Tiger Electr. | 1997–2000 | 50 | 300,000 |
| Game Boy Color | Nintendo | 1998–2003 | 375 | 118,690,000 |
| Neo Geo Pocket | SNK | 1998–2001 | 73 | 2,000,000 |
6. Sixth generation (1999–2003)
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Dreamcast | Sega | 1998–2001 | 619 | 9,130,000 |
| PlayStation 2 | Sony | 2000–2013 | 4345 | 160,000,000 |
| GameCube | Nintendo | 2001–2007 | 651 | 21,740,000 |
| Xbox | Microsoft | 2001–2006 | 989 | 24,000,000 |
Portable consoles:
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Game Boy Advance, SP | Nintendo | 2001–2010 | 1538 | 125,080,000 |
| Nokia N-Gage | Nokia | 2003–2006 | 64 | 3,000,000 |
| GP32 | Game Park | 2001–2005 | 28 | 32,000 |
7. Seventh generation of gaming systems (2004–2011)
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Xbox 360 | Microsoft | 2005–2016 | 2155 | 85,480,000 |
| Nintendo Wii | Nintendo | 2006–2013 | 1612 | 101,630,000 |
| PlayStation 3 | Sony | 2006–2017 | 362 | 87,400,000 |
Portable consoles:
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Nintendo DS (Lite, XL) | Nintendo | 2004–2013 | 3467 | 154,020,000 |
| PlayStation Portable (Slim,Go) | Sony | 2005–2014 | 1924 | 82,520,000 |
| Gizmondo | Tiger Tele. | 2005–2006 | 14 | 25,000 |
| GP2X | GamePark | 2005–2005 | 239 | 60,000 |
| Zeebo | Zeebo Inc. | 2009–2011 | 51 | 30,000 |
8. Eighth generation of gaming systems (2011–2020)
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Wii U | Nintendo | 2012–2017 | 791 | 13,560,000 |
| PlayStation 4 | Sony | 2013-2024 | – | 117,200,000 |
| Xbox One | Microsoft | 2013–2020 | 3110 | 58,500,000 |
Portable consoles:
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Nintendo 3DS | Nintendo | 2011–2020 | 1807 | 75,700,000 |
| Nintendo Switch | Nintendo | 2017 | 4066 | 152,120,000 |
| PlayStation Vita | Sony | 2011–2019 | 1732 | 16,000,000 |
| Nvidia Shield | Nvidia | 2013–2018 | – | – |
| OUYA | Ouya, Inc. | 2013–2015 | – | 200,000 |
9. Ninth Generation of Gaming Systems (2020–present)
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| PlayStation 5 | Sony | 2020 | 1090 | 75,000,000 |
| Xbox Series X | Microsoft | 2020 | 874 | 28,300,000 |
Portable consoles:
| Console name | Company name | Years of production | Number of games | Popularity. Number of sales |
| Nintendo Switch 2 | Nintendo | 2025 | 293 | 10,360,000 |
| Steam Deck | Steam | 2022 | – | 3,700,000 |
| Stadia (cloud) | 2019-2023 | 280 | – | |
| Amazon Luna (cloud) | Amazon | 2020 | 100 |
