Nintendo vs Sega

            During the late 80’s and early 90’s the demand for the home entertainment system industry began to take flight. Many companies like Nintendo, Sega and Atari were know as the powerhouses in the home video game market. Though, Nintendo seemed to come out a front-runner with their release of the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES. But why did Nintendo succeed while others didn’t? The Sega had a much more advanced product, Atari released the first successful home entertainment system, but Nintendo found something that worked and continued to work at it.

            In 1985, Nintendo released the NES after the sudden slump of the arcade business. The NES came with Donkey Kong and some new titles; Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. Other companies began to notice the huge market in home entertainment systems. In 1986, another Japanese company named Sega came out with their own home entertainment system, the Master System. The Master System was much more powerful and advanced than the NES; it had more memory and a microprocessor. Some would think that a better product would have a higher share in the market, but Sega didn’t.

            Sega didn’t have anything to combat Nintendo’s arsenal of games. Nintendo also had familiar characters, like; Mario, Link and Donkey Kong, while Sega did not. Though Sega had many arcade favorites like, Frogger and Pengo. During the late 1980’s Nintendo and Sega went back and forth stealing ideas. Ultimately, Sega thought that if they released a newer version of the Master System they could get a larger share in the market. They released the Sega Genesis in 1989; Nintendo then released the their own 16-bit console, which would knock Sega out of the running, with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System or SNES.

            After the release of the SNES, Sega tried desperately to compete with Nintendo’s new powerhouse. Sega tried to release more powerful systems in the later 90’s, with the Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast with no avail. I believe that Nintendo was able to succeed because they used what they knew and made quality games that everyone would enjoy. Sega didn’t realize that their new systems needed good games to support them and ultimately survive.