14. The First Console Wars Give Us A Taste Of What's To Come
Atari had dropped off the face of the Earth (infamously dumping a load of unsold games into a landfill in New Mexico rather than try to sell them off) and almost all other competitors had thrown in the towel in the run-up to the release of the Super Nintendo. That is, until some interlopers called Sega unveiled their Mega Drive (or Genesis in the US) with an ad campaigning directly attacking their competitors. The first Console Wars had begun, and they're still being waged today - albeit between two very different companies.
13. Nintendo's GameBoy Keeps Us Gaming On The Go
Still, where Sega was edging in on their territory at home, Nintendo was making sure its young audience were in their thrall even when they weren't sat in front of the boob tube. It's hard to overestimate the impact of the Game Boy, which made play portable and paved the way for...well, we'll get to that soon enough. Plus it was the place where the phenomenon that is Pokemon began, something which we don't imagine would have had quite the cultural impact it has if they were "On Your Telly Monsters" rather than "Pocket Monsters".
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
