Timeline | 1986: Sega Master System

Sega's competition for the NES, didn't reach nearly the same heights but it did pave the way for the Genesis/MegaDrive

The height of Sega's console sales, and arguably their importance as a video game console manufacturer came during the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive era - but the foundation for that success was laid during the previous gaming generation with the humble Sega Master System. The Master System was released in Japan in 1985 as the Sega Mark III and later rereleased as the Master System in 1987. It first came to North America in 1986. The Master System was not Sega's first console, it succeeded the SG-1000 in Japan, but it was Sega's first to come to North America and was released to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Unfortunately due to a lack of advertising and third party games (due in large part to Nintendo's policy on the NES not allowing games to be released on other consoles) along with some questionable decisions as far as game localization by Tonka, the company Sega had contracted the North American market for the Master System to, the system never really took off. While the Master System only sold between 10-13 million consoles worldwide, compared to the 61+ million of the NES, it did establish successful markets for Sega in Europe and places like Brazil and Sega would build off of this success with the Genesis/Mega Drive.

A typical Master System game case.

The Master System's game library is relatively sparse, even more so when you consider that many of its later games could also be found (in superior ports) on other systems including usually the Sega Genesis. However, there are a few games that released on the Master System that would go on to be important for Sega including most notably Shinobi and Phantasy Star. Sega's first attempt at a mascot to compete with Nintendo's Mario was Alex Kidd whos games (all but 1 which came out on the Genesis) released for the Master System. Later Sonic the Hedgehog would replace Alex Kidd as Sega's mascot and while he came to the Master System a few times it was only ports of the newer systems.

Further Reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Master_System_games

Magazine | 1988: Nintendo Power Issue #1

The Inaugural Issue of Nintendo Power!

Prior to Nintendo Power, Nintendo produced a monthly newsletter call Nintendo Fun Club. The Fun club ran for 7 issues from 1987 to 1988 before Nintendo decided to start a full-fledged magazine and so Nintendo Power was born. Even if you are only a casual fan of video games, you likely remember Nintendo Power, it ran for nearly 300 issues starting in 1988 all the way until its demise in late 2012. We at least have it's spiritual successor - Nintendo Force!

They didn't skimp on the SMB 2 details, they included basically a walkthrough guide to the first 2 worlds/6 levels even.

For their Premiere issue, Nintendo Power ironically focused on seconds. The cover depicted a clay-mation scene from Super Mario Bros. 2 which was the focus of the magazine with gameplay tips and some great art about the enemies. They followed this with an article about the Second Quest in The Legend of Zelda which included a fold-out map of the game. Double Dragon, Gauntlet, Contra and several other games got smaller articles along with a 'Classified Information' section and a 'Counselor's Corner' section both with game play tips and tricks - in the pre-Internet era this was the place to be for how-tos (we didn't have 'Let's Play' videos on Youtube).

Eventually Nintendo would split the walkthroughs off as 'Nintendo Player's Guides' but early Nintendo Powers had all that included, the Zelda map here was quite an impressive addition.

A Howard & Nester comic (which introduced Nester who would become a long time mascot of Nintendo Power) along with a 'Video Shorts' section talking about other recently released NES games, and a 'Pak Watch' section talking about games that were coming soon were next followed by the NES Journal section which included an article about the launch of Dragon Quest III in Japan around that time. They had a 'Player's Forum' with some advertisements for books and movies along with the 'NES Achievers' sections with high scores.

They printed close to 3.6 million copies of Nintendo Power #1, and almost 1/3 of those that had Nintendo Fun Club before it subscribed - that 'Next Issue' might not have happened without those sales!

Finally the issue has a Top 30 Ranking of most popular NES games, then breaks it down to top 30's for 'Players' 'Pros' and 'Dealers' and then information on what is coming in the Next issue of Nintendo Power: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Bayou Billy, and Bionic Commando. Should be fun!

Timeline | 1988: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

The follow-up to The Legend of Zelda diverged from the original significantly!

Originally developed for the Famicom Disk System in Japan (and released about 7 months before the original Legend of Zelda in the US) The Adventure of Link was a whole different beast than the original. Eventually making its way to the US in December 1988, Zelda II would introduce several new gameplay aspects to the series. Some, including the 'Magic Meter' and the Dark Link character would see use in later Zelda games, however others including Experience Points and Multiple Lives. Zelda II is famous for being the 'only' Zelda game with side-scrolling portions, however this is not exactly the case as some of the Gameboy Zelda games would reuse this concept.

A screenshot from the Zelda II Overworld

Zelda II borrowed the 'overworld' idea from Role-Playing games of the era (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc.) and plays very similar to another great NES game - Faxanadu (a side-quest from Xanadu/Dragon Slayer, an RPG series nearly exclusive to Japan with Faxanadu being one of the only releases outside of Japan).

A screenshot from Zelda II's side-scrolling portions - here he finds the sleeping (original) Princess Zelda for the first time.

Zelda II was the most popular NES game of 1988 and would eventually go on to surpass all other NES games (save the Super Mario Bros. trilogy and the original Legend of Zelda) in sales. The game has since been ported to the GameCube (in the The Legend of Zelda: Collectors Edition) and later to the Game Boy Advance (as part of the NES Classics series) and has been released on the Virtual Consoles of the Wii, 3DS and Wii U.

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_II:_The_Adventure_of_Link

Timeline | 1988: Paperboy

A unique Arcade game and a great experience on NES

Paperboy was released in the Arcades in 1985 and made its way to the NES in 1988. The game involves the player taking the roll of a neighborhood paperboy who rides a bike and attempts to successfully deliver papers to newspaper subscribers while avoiding obstacles and gaining extra points for using newspapers to vandalize non-subscribers homes.

A screenshot of Paperboy showing the paperboy on his bike, sticking to the sidewalk to avoid an obstacle and attempting to line up for a throw to the next house's mailbox (mailboxes only show on subscriber homes).

Paperboy was an awesome game with a unique premise. The Arcade cabinet had an actual Bicycle Handlebar controller (which was in actuality a modified Star Wars 'yoke' controller). The Arcade game was a mild success, with some of the console (and home PC) ports doing slightly better. Eventually Paperboy would be ported to all the major consoles of the day (into the early 90's) and received a sequel (Paperboy 2) which came to the NES as well as the SNES and Sega systems, etc. Later Paperboy 64 for the N64, along with inclusions in a Midway Classics game, a mobile game in 2005, an XBLA game (although this has since been delisted) and an iOS appearance in 2009 is the last inclusion in the franchise.

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paperboy_(video_game)

Timeline | 1988 Super Mario Bros. 2

Super Mario Bros. 2 was a radical departure for the series.

Super Mario Bros. 2 launched in North America in October 1988. This game had several new additions to the series including a save feature, multiple characters, new enemies and items and a different look and feel from the original game that included a more vertical nature to the level design (due mainly to the original game it was based upon).

Japan received a very different Super Mario Bros. 2

The Super Mario Bros. 2 that was released in North America was not the same Super Mario Bros. 2 that Japan got. In Japan Super Mario Bros. 2 was a continuation of the original game, designed to be more challenging and engaging for veteran Super Mario Bros. players, but Nintendo of America was afraid that this game would be too difficult for their North American audience and turn people off of what was quickly becoming their flagship franchise. So another Super Mario Bros. 2 was created for the non-Japanese world based upon the prototype game: Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic. Later the original Super Mario Bros. 2 would be released as Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels as part of Super Mario All-Stars on the SNES (and has since been released several times via these remake channels, virtual console, etc.)

A screenshot from Super Mario Bros. 2 (NA) showing Mario carrying an item, in this case a POW block.

Super Mario Bros. 2 differentiated from the original in a few key aspects. 1) Jumping on an enemy no longer killed them, you could stand on top of most enemies and even pick them up and fling them (as weapons or down pits, etc.), also the character's ability to throw things were key parts of the gameplay. 2) The four characters had different playing styles (Mario was balanced, Luigi had the highest jump, Peach could jump and float, Toad was the strongest) and some secrets could only be attained (or at least much more easily attained) by certain characters.

Super Mario Bros. 2 was a great game and a unique followup to Super Mario Bros. this pattern of reinventing games (Donkey Kong 3, Zelda 2, SMB 2, etc.) was very successful for Nintendo in the first half of the NES's timeline. The game was popular enough (and financially successful enough) that it was eventually released in Japan as Super Mario USA and has been rereleased in compilation games (Super Mario All-Stars), on the Virtual Console and on the Game Boy Advance (Super Mario Advance) - it was also influential in many of the gameplay elements in the Wii U's Super Mario 3D World.

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.:_The_Lost_Levels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario

Timeline | 1988: Contra

Contra was an amazing game on the NES and still shines even today.

Contra was released for the NES in North America in February 1988. Contra had been a very popular arcade game for Konami and they handled the NES port in house (as opposed to other ports to the COmmodore 64 and other home PCs at the time which were done by Ocean Software).

A screenshot of the NES version of the game.

The majority of the gameplay in Contra is a side-scrolling shooter/action-platformer, but there are also levels with a pseudo-3D feel (shooting and moving forward and left/right) and a top down portion where the player moved up the screen shooting up.

A screenshot from the Arcade version, note the more detailed Pallet and the different character sprites for Bill and Lance.

The NES was not nearly as powerful as Arcade machines of the time, but Konami did a great job stripping out what they could and making a very nice port of the game on the home console.

Some intersting notes about the game from wikipedia:

"Contra was one of the early NES games to feature the Konami Code. Inputting the code at the title screen starts the player with thirty lives instead of the usual three. The cheat will be in effect as well when the player runs out of lives and uses a continue to retry a stage.

When the NES version of Contra was localized for the North American market, certain details of the game's background story were altered. The year of the setting was changed from 2633 to 1987 (the year of the arcade version's release) and the location was moved from the Galuga Islands to the Amazons. Bill and Lance were also given the codenames of Mad Dog and Scorpion."

Contra was well received both critical acclaim and financial success and two sequels (Super Contra or Super C as it was known in North America and Contra Force) that also came to the NES along with the Gameboy Operation Contra. Later console games like the SNES Contra III: The Alien Wars and Genesis Contra: Hard Corps continued the burgoning franchise. Contra would wax and wane in popularity but is now one of Konami's most well known franchises and has seen 15 installments.

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_(video_game)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_(video_game_series)

Timeline | 1987: Mega Man

Mega Man didn't do so well initially in North America thanks in part to this weird artwork!

Mega Man was an action-platforming game for the NES (much like many of the popular games of the time) but differentiated it that it had multiple levels with distinct bosses that the player could take on in any order - this freedom of advancement was quite the novelty at the time and along with the pretty good graphics and difficult but rewarding gameplay made Mega Man a great game. It would go on to start one of Capcom's most successful franchises (with 6 Mega Man games on the NES alone). Later Mega Man 2 and 3 especially would be more financial successes for Capcom (and Mega Man 2 is widly regarded as the best of the original series) but the Original Mega Man set the stage for all those that would come before it.

A screenshot of Mega Man's Cut Man stage.

Mega Man was vibrant and fun to play, it had great graphics for the time, awesome music, great replayability and awesome boss battles (although they are hard!). Mega Man was released (in both Japan and North America) in December 1987. While the game did better in sales than Capcom had expected (especially in Japan) it lagged behind what it's creator thought it should have done, especially in the United States - he blamed the inaccurate box art of the North American version for this.

The European box art is much cooler I think.

After the 6 NES Mega Man Games, Capcom revamped the series with Mega Man X (the start of a new sub-series) on the SNES which they continued with X2 and X3 (although they also did Mega Man 7 on SNES as well). Later they would take the series to the PS1, N64, PS2, and handhelds (in the form of Battle Network games). More recently Mega Man received two neo-retro games for downloadable services (PSN, XBLA, eShop, etc.) called Mega Man 9 and 10 (8 was on the PS1) that returned to the NES style.

Today Capcom mainly uses Mega Man as a guest start (games like Project X Zone, anything Capcom vs., etc.) with his biggest appearance being alongside PacMan and Sonic as guest stars in the newest Super Smash Bros. (for 3DS and Wii U)

Further Reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_(video_game)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man