Color TV Game	Type: Dedicated Console Generation: First/Second Generation Description: The Color TV Game series is a series of home dedicated consoles created by Nintendo. There were five different home consoles in the series developed and released only in Japan. The series debuted in 1977 with the Color TV Game 6. It contained 6 variations of "Light Tennis" (or Pong). In 1978, Nintendo released the Color TV Game 15. With the two controllers now on cables (making for much more comfortable play) and 15 slightly different versions of Light Tennis. The Color TV Game Block Fever was released in 1979; the 1-player console ran a ported version of Block Fever one of Nintendo's arcade games based on Breakout.
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)	Type: Video game console Generation: Third Generation (8-bit era) Units sold: 61.91 million Media: ROM cartridge Best-selling game: Super Mario Bros. (40.23 million) Description: The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in 1985. In most of Asia, including Japan (where it was first launched in 1983), the Philippines, China, Vietnam and Singapore, it was released as the Family Computer A.K.A Famicom. In Southern Asia (such as India), it was known as the Tata Famicom. The best-selling gaming console of its time, the NES helped revitalize the US video game industry following the video game crash of 1983, and set the standard for subsequent consoles in everything from game design to controller layout.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)	Type: Video game console Generation: Fourth Generation (16-bit era) Units sold: 49.10 million Media: ROM cartridge Best-selling game: Super Mario World (20 million) Description: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System A.K.A SNES is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia (Oceania), and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the Super Family Computer (Super Famicom). The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The console introduced advanced graphics and sound capabilities compared with other consoles at the time. The SNES was a global success, becoming the best-selling console of the 16-bit era despite its relatively late start and the fierce competition it faced in North America from Sega's Genesis console.
Nintendo 64	Type: Video game console Generation: Fifth Generation (32-bit era) Units sold: 32.93 million Media: ROM cartridge Best-selling game: Super Mario 64 (11 million) Description: The Nintendo 64 (N64) is Nintendo's third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released on June 23, 1996 in Japan and September 29, 1996 in North America. It is Nintendo's last home console to use cartridges to store games (Nintendo switched to a MiniDVD-based format for the Nintendo GameCube, then to standard DVD-sized discs for the Wii). Of the consoles in the fifth generation, the Nintendo 64 was the most technologically-advanced in many aspects; however, the hardware had limitations, such as limited space?a cartridge had only a fraction of the capacity of the CD format used in competing consoles. Another technical drawback was its limited texture cache, which could only hold textures of small dimensions and reduced color depth, which had to be stretched to cover larger in-game surfaces. This resulted in blurry visuals for much of the N64's game library.
Nintendo GameCube	Type: Video game console Generation: Sixth Generation Units sold: 21.74 million Media: Nintendo GameCube Game Disc Best-selling game: Super Smash Bros. Melee (7.09 million) Description: The Nintendo GameCube (GCN), is Nintendo's fourth home video game console and is part of the sixth generation console era. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and predecessor to Nintendo's Wii. The Nintendo GameCube is the first Nintendo console to use optical discs as its primary storage medium. The GameCube uses miniDVD-based discs instead of full-size DVDs. As a result, it does not have the DVD-Video playback functionality of the Xbox and PlayStation 2 nor the audio CD playback ability of previous consoles that used full size optical discs. The GameCube also introduced a connectivity option and was the first Nintendo console to officially support online play.
Nintendo Wii	Type: Video game console Generation: Seventh Generation Units sold: 44.96 million Media: 12 CM Wii Optical Disc (backward compatibility: 8 CM Nintendo GameCube Game Disc) Best-selling game: Wii Sports (30.87 million) Description: The Wii is a home video game console by Nintendo. It is Nintendo's fifth home console, the direct successor to the Nintendo GameCube, and able to play all official GameCube games. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. As of December 31, 2008 the Wii leads the generation over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales. A distinguishing feature of the console is its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and detect movement in three dimensions. Another distinctive feature of the console is WiiConnect24, which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet while in standby mode.

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