It would be something of a misnomer to attribute the creation and development of video games to any singular moment or event. Rather, the process can be best described as an ongoing evolution, a long and winding journey of advancements with numerous inventors all playing pivotal roles. The latest video game projects. Amazing indie games, beloved revivals, and top picks from our staff. Over 200 games made with Kickstarter, now available on Steam. Video games have been around since the early 1970s. The first commercial arcade video game, Computer Space by Nutting Associates, was introduced in 1971. In 1972, Atari introduced Pong to the arcades. An interesting item to note is that Atari was formed by Nolan Bushnell, the man who developed Computer Space. He left Nutting Associates to found. The first game invented specifically for the computer appeared in early 1962. A new $120,000 computer had just arrived at MIT that was faster and easier to use than the handful of other hulking.

1. Video Games Wikipedia
2. When Video Games Started
3. How Did Video Games Started
4. Video Games 2019
5. Video Game Franchise Started In 1996
6. How Video Games Started

Video gaming in Japan is a major industry. Japanese game development is often identified with the golden age of video games, including Nintendo under Shigeru Miyamoto and Hiroshi Yamauchi, Sega during the same time period, Sony Computer Entertainment when it was based in Tokyo, and other companies such as Taito, Namco, Capcom, Square Enix, Konami, NEC, and SNK, among others.

• 1History

History[edit]

Background[edit]

In 1966, Sega introduced an electro-mechanical game called Periscope^[1] - a submarine simulator^[2] which used lights and plastic waves to simulate sinking ships from a submarine.^[3] It became an instant success in Japan, Europe, and North America,^[4] where it was the first arcade game to cost a quarter per play,^[1] which would remain the standard price for arcade games for many years to come.^[4]

Sega later produced gun games that used rearimage projection in a manner similar to the ancient zoetrope to produce moving animations on a screen.^[5] The first of these, the light-gun game Duck Hunt,^[6] appeared in 1969;^[7] it featured animated moving targets on a screen, printed out the player's score on a ticket, and had volume-controllable sound-effects.^[6] Another Sega 1969 release, Missile, a shooter, featured electronic sound and a moving film strip to represent the targets on a projection screen.^[8]

1970s–early 1980s[edit]

Use of color graphics and individualized antagonists were considered 'strong evolutionary concepts' among space ship games.^[9] The Namco Galaxianarcade system board also introduced multi-colored animated sprites.^[10] That same year saw the release of SNK's debut shoot 'em up Ozma Wars, notable for being the first action game to feature a supply of energy, resembling a life bar, a mechanic that has now become common in the majority of modern action games.^[11] It also featured vertically scrolling backgrounds and enemies.^[12]

Japan's first home video game console was Epoch's TV Tennis Electrotennis, a licensed version of the ping-pong game from the Magnavox Odyssey. It was followed by the first successful Japanese console, Nintendo's Color TV Game, in 1977.

Sega's black and white boxing game Heavyweight Champ was released in 1976 as the first video game to feature fist fighting.^[13] The first stealth games were Hiroshi Suzuki's Manbiki Shounen (1979)^[14][15][16] and Manbiki Shoujo (1980), Taito's Lupin III (1980),^[17] and Sega's 005 (1981).^[18][19][20]

Eventually, the 1978 arcade release of Space Invaders would mark the first major mainstream breakthrough for video games in Japan.^[21] Created by Nishikado at Japan's Taito Corporation, Space Invaders pitted the player against multiple enemies descending from the top of the screen at a constantly increasing rate of speed.^[22][23]Space Invaders pitted the player against multiple enemies descending from the top of the screen at a constantly increasing rate of speed.^[23] The game used alien creatures inspired by The War of the Worlds (by H. G. Wells) because the developers were unable to render the movement of aircraft; in turn, the aliens replaced human enemies because of moral concerns (regarding the portrayal of killing humans) on the part of Taito Corporation. As with subsequent shoot 'em ups of the time, the game was set in space as the available technology only permitted a black background. The game also introduced the idea of giving the player a number of 'lives'. It popularised a more interactive style of gameplay with the enemies responding to the player-controlled cannon's movement,^[24] and it was the first video game to popularise the concept of achieving a high score,^[25][26][27] being the first to save the player's score.^[25] The aliens of Space Invaders return fire at the protagonist, making them the first arcade game targets to do so.^[28] It set the template for the shoot 'em up genre,^[29] and has influenced most shooting games released since then.^[22]

Taito's Space Invaders, in 1978, proved to be the first blockbuster arcade video game.^[30] Its success marked the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games. Video game arcades sprang up in shopping malls, and small 'corner arcades' appeared in restaurants, grocery stores, bars and movie theaters all over Japan and other countries during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Pac-Man (1980) and Bosconian (1981) were especially popular. By 1981, the arcade video game industry was worth $8 billion^[31] ($22 billion in 2018). Some games of this era were so popular that they entered popular culture. The first to do so was Space Invaders. The game was so popular upon its release in 1978 that an urban legend blamed it for a national shortage of 100 yen coins in Japan, leading to a production increase of coins to meet demand for the game^[32][33] (although 100 yen coin production was lower in 1978 and 1979 than in previous or subsequent years,^[34][35] and the claim does not withstand logical scrutiny: arcade operators would have emptied out their machines and taken the money to the bank, thus keeping the coins in circulation).^[35] Japanese arcade games during the golden age also had hardware unit sales at least in the tens of thousands, including Ms. Pac-Man with over 115,000 units,^[36]Donkey Kong with over 60,000,^[37]Galaxian with 40,000,^[38]Donkey Kong Junior with 35,000,^[37]Mr. Do! with 30,000,^[39]

1980s–early 2000s[edit]

From 1980 to 1991, Nintendo produced a line of handheld electronic games called Game & Watch. Created by game designer Gunpei Yokoi, each Game & Watch features a single game to be played on an LCD screen. It was the earliest Nintendo product to gain major success.^[40]

Konami's Scramble, released in 1981, is a side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling. It was the first scrolling shooter to offer multiple, distinct levels.^[41][42] Vertical scrolling shooters emerged around the same time. Namco's Xevious, released in 1982, is frequently cited as the first vertical scrolling shooter and, although it was in fact preceded by several other games of that type, it is considered one of the most influential.^[41]

The first platform game to use scrolling graphics was Jump Bug (1981), a simple platform-shooter game developed by Alpha Denshi.^[43]

The survival horrorvideo game genre began with Capcom's Resident Evil (1996), which coined the term 'survival horror' and defined the genre.^[44][45] The game was inspired by Capcom's Sweet Home (1989), retroactively described as survival horror.^[46]

After the video game crash, analysts doubted the long-term viability of the video game industry,^[47] but following the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System, the industry began recovering, with annual sales exceeding $2.3 billion by 1988, with 70% of the market dominated by Nintendo.^[48] In 1986 Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi noted that 'Atari collapsed because they gave too much freedom to third-party developers and the market was swamped with rubbish games'. In response, Nintendo limited the number of titles that third-party developers could release for their system each year, and promoted its 'Seal of Quality', which it allowed to be used on games and peripherals by publishers that met Nintendo's quality standards.^[49]

Video Games Wikipedia

Following a series of arcade game successes in the early 1980s, Nintendo made plans to create a cartridge-based console called the Famicom, which is short for Family Computer. Masayuki Uemura designed the system.^[50][51] The console was released on July 15, 1983 as the Family Computer (or Famicom for short) alongside three ports of Nintendo's successful arcade games Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Popeye. The Famicom was slow to gather momentum; a bad chip set caused the initial release of the system to crash. Following a product recall and a reissue with a new motherboard, the Famicom's popularity soared, becoming the best-selling game console in Japan by the end of 1984.^[52] By 1988, industry observers stated that the NES's popularity had grown so quickly that the market for Nintendo cartridges was larger than that for all home computer software.^[53][54] By mid-1986, 19% (6.5 million) of Japanese households owned a Famicom;^[55] one third by mid-1988.^[56] In June 1989, Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing Peter Main, said that the Famicom was present in 37% of Japan's households.^[57] By the end of its run, over 60 million NES units had been sold throughout the world.^[58] In 1990 Nintendo surpassed Toyota as Japan's most successful corporation.^[59][60]

Because the NES was released after the 'video game crash' of the early 1980s, many retailers and adults regarded electronic games as a passing fad,^[61] so many believed at first that the NES would soon fade.^[62] Before the NES/Famicom, Nintendo was known as a moderately successful Japanese toy and playing card manufacturer, but the popularity of the NES/Famicom helped the company grow into an internationally recognized name almost synonymous with video games as Atari had been,^[63] and set the stage for Japanese dominance of the video game industry.^[64] With the NES, Nintendo also changed the relationship between console manufacturers and third-party software developers by restricting developers from publishing and distributing software without licensed approval. This led to higher quality software titles, which helped change the attitude of a public that had grown weary from poorly produced titles for earlier game systems.^[65] The system's hardware limitations led to design principles that still influence the development of modern video games. Many prominent game franchises originated on the NES, including Nintendo's own Super Mario Bros.,^[66]The Legend of Zelda^[67] and Metroid,^[68]Capcom's Mega Man^[69] franchise, Konami's Castlevania^[70] franchise, Square's Final Fantasy,^[71] and Enix's Dragon Quest franchises.^[72]

Japan's first personal computers for gaming soon appeared, the Sord M200 in 1977 and Sharp MZ-80K in 1978.^[21] In Japan, both consoles and computers became major industries, with the console market dominated by Nintendo and the computer market dominated by NEC's PC-88 (1981) and PC-98 (1982). A key difference between Western and Japanese computers at the time was the display resolution, with Japanese systems using a higher resolution of 640x400 to accommodate Japanese text which in turn affected video game design and allowed more detailed graphics. Japanese computers were also using Yamaha's FM synthsound boards from the early 1980s.^[73] During the 16-bit era, the PC-98, Sharp X68000 and FM Towns became popular in Japan. The X68000 and FM Towns were capable of producing near arcade-quality hardware sprite graphics and sound quality when they first released in the mid-to-late 1980s.^[73]

The Wizardry series (translated by ASCII Entertainment) became popular and influential in Japan, even more so than at home.^[74] Japanese developers created the action RPG subgenre in the early 1980s, combining RPG elements with arcade-style action and action-adventure elements.^[75][76] The trend of combining role-playing elements with arcade-style action mechanics was popularized by The Tower of Druaga,^[76] an arcade game released by Namco in June 1984. While the RPG elements in Druaga were very subtle, its success in Japan inspired the near-simultaneous development of three early action role-playing games, combining Druaga's real-time hack-and-slash gameplay with stronger RPG mechanics, all released in late 1984: Dragon Slayer, Courageous Perseus, and Hydlide. A rivalry developed between the three games, with Dragon Slayer and Hydlide continuing their rivalry through subsequent sequels.^[77]The Tower of Druaga, Dragon Slayer and Hydlide were influential in Japan, where they laid the foundations for the action RPG genre, influencing titles such as Ys and The Legend of Zelda.^[78][79]

The action role-playing gameHydlide (1984) was an early open world game,^[80][81] rewarding exploration in an open world environment.^[82]Hylide influenced The Legend of Zelda (1986),^[83] an influential open world game.^[84][85]Zelda had an expansive, coherent open world design, inspiring many games to adopt a similar open world design.^[86]

Bokosuka Wars (1983) is considered an early prototype real-time strategy game.^[87]TechnoSoft's Herzog (1988) is regarded as a precursor to the real-time strategy genre, being the predecessor to Herzog Zwei and somewhat similar in nature.^[88]Herzog Zwei, released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesishome console in 1989, is the earliest example of a game with a feature set that falls under the contemporary definition of modern real-time strategy.^[89][90]

Data East's Karate Champ from 1984 is credited with establishing and popularizing the one-on-one fighting game genre, and went on to influence Konami's Yie Ar Kung-Fu from 1985.^[91]Capcom's Street Fighter (1987) introduced the use of special moves that could only be discovered by experimenting with the game controls. Street Fighter II (1991) established the conventions of the fighting game genre and allowed players to play against each other.^[92]

In 1985, Sega AM2's Hang-On, designed by Yu Suzuki and running on the Sega Space Harrier hardware, was the first of Sega's 'Super Scaler' arcade system boards that allowed pseudo-3Dsprite-scaling at high frame rates.^[93] The pseudo-3D sprite/tile scaling was handled in a similar manner to textures in later texture-mappedpolygonal 3D games of the 1990s.^[94] Designed by Sega AM2's Yu Suzuki, he stated that his 'designs were always 3D from the beginning. All the calculations in the system were 3D, even from Hang-On. I calculated the position, scale, and zoom rate in 3D and converted it backwards to 2D. So I was always thinking in 3D.'^[95] It was controlled using a video game arcade cabinet resembling a motorbike, which the player moves with their body. This began the 'Taikan' trend, the use of motion-controlled hydraulic arcade cabinets in many arcade games of the late 1980s, two decades before motion controls became popular on video game consoles.^[96]

Sega's Space Harrier, a rail shooter released in 1985, broke new ground graphically and its wide variety of settings across multiple levels gave players more to aim for than high scores.^[97][98] 1985 also saw the release of Konami's Gradius, which gave the player greater control over the choice of weaponry, thus introducing another element of strategy.^[41] The game also introduced the need for the player to memorise levels in order to achieve any measure of success.^[99]Gradius, with its iconic protagonist, defined the side-scrolling shoot 'em up and spawned a series spanning several sequels.^[100] The following year saw the emergence of one of Sega's forefront series with its game Fantasy Zone. The game received acclaim for its surreal graphics and setting and the protagonist, Opa-Opa, was for a time considered Sega's mascot.^[101] The game borrowed Defender's device of allowing the player to control the direction of flight and along with the earlier TwinBee (1985), is an early archetype of the 'cute 'em up' subgenre.^[41][102]

Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness in 1985 featured an early morality meter, where the player can be aligned with justice, normal, or evil, which is affected by whether the player kills evil monsters, good monsters, or humans, and in turn affects the reactions of the townsfolk towards the player.^[103] In the same year, Yuji Horii and his team at Chunsoft began production on Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior).^[104] After Enix published the game in early 1986, it became the template for future console RPGs.^[105] Horii's intention behind Dragon Quest was to create a RPG that appeals to a wider audience unfamiliar with the genre or video games in general. This required the creation of a new kind of RPG, that didn't rely on previous D&D experience, didn't require hundreds of hours of rote fighting, and that could appeal to any kind of gamer.^[104] The streamlined gameplay of Dragon Quest thus made the game more accessible to a wider audience than previous computer RPGs.^[106] The game also placed a greater emphasis on storytelling and emotional involvement,^[107] building on Horii's previous work Portopia Serial Murder Case, but this time introducing a coming of age tale for Dragon Quest that audiences could relate to, making use of the RPG level-building gameplay as a way to represent this.^[108] It also featured elements still found in most console RPGs, like major quests interwoven with minor subquests, an incremental spell system,^[109] the damsel-in-distress storyline that many RPGs follow,^[110] and a romance element that remains a staple of the genre,^[111] alongside anime-style art by Akira Toriyama and a classical score by Koichi Sugiyama that was considered revolutionary for console video game music.^[104] With Dragon Quest becoming widely popular in Japan, such that local municipalities were forced to place restrictions on where and when the game could be sold,^[109] the Dragon Quest series is still considered a bellwether for the Japanese video game market.^[112]

Shoot 'em ups featuring characters on foot, rather than spacecraft, became popular in the mid-1980s in the wake of action movies such as Rambo: First Blood Part II.^[12] The origins of this type go back to Sheriff by Nintendo, released in 1979. Taito's Front Line (1982) established the upwards-scrolling formula later popularized by Capcom's Commando, in 1985, and SNK's Ikari Warriors (1986).^[113]Commando also drew comparisons to Rambo^[114] and indeed contemporary critics considered military themes and protagonists similar to Rambo or Schwarzenegger prerequisites for a shoot 'em up, as opposed to an action-adventure game.^[113] In 1986, Arsys Software released WiBArm, a shooter that switched between a 2D side-scrolling view in outdoor areas to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses were fought in an arena-style 2D battle, with the game featuring a variety of weapons and equipment.^[115]

The late 1980s to early 1990s is considered the golden age of Japanese computer gaming, which would flourish until its decline around the mid-1990s, as consoles eventually dominated the Japanese market.^[116] A notable Japanese computer RPG from around this time was WiBArm, the earliest known RPG to feature 3D polygonal graphics. It was a 1986 role-playing shooter released by Arsys Software for the PC-88 in Japan and ported to MS-DOS for Western release by Brøderbund. In WiBArm, the player controls a transformable mecha robot, switching between a 2Dside-scrolling view during outdoor exploration to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses are fought in an arena-style 2D shoot 'em up battle. The game featured a variety of weapons and equipment as well as an automap, and the player could upgrade equipment and earn experience to raise stats.^[117][118] Unlike first-person RPGs at the time that were restricted to 90-degree movements, WiBArm's use of 3D polygons allowed full 360-degree movement.^[118]

On October 30, 1987, the PC Engine made its debut in the Japanese market and it was a tremendous success. The console had an elegant, 'eye-catching' design, and it was very small compared to its rivals.^[119] The PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16, known as TurboGrafx-16 in the rest of the world, was a collaborative effort between Hudson Soft, who created video game software, and NEC, a major company which was dominant in the Japanese personal computer market with their PC-88 and PC-98 platforms.^[120]

R-Type, an acclaimed side-scrolling shoot 'em up, was released in 1987 by Irem, employing slower paced scrolling than usual, with difficult levels calling for methodical strategies.^[121][122] 1990's Raiden was the beginning of another acclaimed and enduring series to emerge from this period.^[123][124] In 1987, Square's 3-D WorldRunner was an early stereoscopic 3-D shooter played from a third-person perspective,^[125] followed later that year by its sequel JJ,^[126] and the following year by Space Harrier 3-D which used the SegaScope 3-D shutter glasses.^[127] Also in 1987, Konami created Contra as a coin-op arcade game that was particularly acclaimed for its multi-directional aiming and two player cooperative gameplay.

Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei by Atlus for the Nintendo Famicom abandoned the common medieval fantasy setting and sword and sorcery theme in favour of a modern science-fiction setting and horror theme. It also introduced the monster-catching mechanic with its demon-summoning system, which allowed the player to recruit enemies into their party, through a conversation system that gives the player a choice of whether to kill or spare an enemy and allows them to engage any opponent in conversation.^[128]Sega's original Phantasy Star for the Master System combined sci-fi & fantasy setting that set it apart from the D&D staple.^[129] It was also one of the first games to feature a female protagonist and animated monster encounters,^[129] and allowed inter-planetary travel between three planets.^[130] Another 1987 title Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord was a third-person RPG that featured a wide open world and a mini-map on the corner of the screen.^[131]

According to Wizardry developer Roe R. Adams, early action-adventure games 'were basically arcade games done in a fantasy setting,' citing Castlevania (1986) and Trojan (1986) as examples.^[132]IGN UK argues that The Legend of Zelda (1986) 'helped to establish a new subgenre of action-adventure', becoming a success due to how it combined elements from different genres to create a compelling hybrid, including exploration, adventure-style inventory puzzles, an action component, a monetary system, and simplified RPG-style level building without the experience points.^[133]The Legend of Zelda was the most prolific action-adventure game series through to the 2000s.^[134]

The first Nintendo Space World show was held on July 28, 1989.^[135] It was a video game trade show that was hosted by Nintendo until 2001. At the same year, Phantasy Star II for the Genesis established many conventions of the RPG genre, including an epic, dramatic, character-driven storyline dealing with serious themes and subject matter, and a strategy-based battle system.^[129][136] The game's science fiction story was also unique, reversing the common alien invasion scenario by instead presenting Earthlings as the invading antagonists rather than the defending protagonists.^[129][136]Capcom's Sweet Home for the NES introduced a modern Japanese horror theme and laid the foundations for the survival horror genre, later serving as the main inspiration for Resident Evil (1996).^[137][138]Tengai Makyo: Ziria released for the PC Engine CD that same year was the first RPG released on CD-ROM and the first in the genre to feature animated cut scenes and voice acting. The game's plot was also unusual for its feudal Japan setting and its emphasis on humour; the plot and characters were inspired by the Japanese folk tale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari. The music for the game was also composed by noted musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.^[139]

The ‘golden age’ of console RPGs is often dated in the 1990s.^[140][141] Console RPGs distinguished themselves from computer RPGs to a greater degree in the early 1990s. As console RPGs became more heavily story-based than their computer counterparts, one of the major differences that emerged during this time was in the portrayal of the characters, with most American computer RPGs at the time having characters devoid of personality or background as their purpose was to represent avatars which the player uses to interact with the world, in contrast to Japanese console RPGs which depicted pre-defined characters who had distinctive personalities, traits, and relationships, such as Final Fantasy and Lufia, with players assuming the roles of people who cared about each other, fell in love or even had families. Romance in particular was a theme that was common in most console RPGs but alien to most computer RPGs at the time.^[142] Japanese console RPGs were also generally more faster-paced and action-adventure-oriented than their American computer counterparts.^[143][144] During the 1990s, console RPGs had become increasingly dominant.^[145]

In 1990, Dragon Quest IV introduced a new method of storytelling: segmenting the plot into segregated chapters.^[146][147] The game also introduced an AI system called 'Tactics' which allowed the player to modify the strategies used by the allied party members while maintaining full control of the hero.^[148]Final Fantasy III introduced the classic 'job system', a character progression engine allowing the player to change the character classes, as well as acquire new and advanced classes and combine class abilities, during the course of the game.^[149][150] That same year also saw the release of Nintendo's Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryu to Hikari no Tsurugi, a game that set the template for the tactical role-playing game genre and was the first entry in the Fire Emblem series.^[151] Another notable strategy RPG that year was Koei's Bandit Kings of Ancient China, which was successful in combining the strategy RPG and management simulation genres, building on its own Nobunaga's Ambition series that began in 1983.^[146] Several early RPGs set in a post-apocalyptic future were also released that year, including Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II,^[152][153] and Crystalis,^[154] which was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Crystalis also made advances to the action role-playing game subgenre, being a true action RPG that combined the real-time action-adventure combat and open world of The Legend of Zelda with the level-building and spell-casting of traditional RPGs like Final Fantasy.^[155] That year also saw the release of Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom, which featured an innovative and original branching storyline, which spans three generations of characters and can be altered depending on which character the protagonist of each generation marries,^[156] leading to four possible endings.^[129]

In 1991, Final Fantasy IV was one of the first role-playing games to feature a complex, involving plot,^[157] placing a much greater emphasis on character development, personal relationships, and dramatic storytelling.^[158] It also introduced a new battle system: the 'Active Time Battle' system, developed by Hiroyuki Ito,^[159] where the time-keeping system does not stop.^[160] The fact that enemies can attack or be attacked at any time is credited with injecting urgency and excitement into the combat system.^[160] The ATB combat system was considered revolutionary for being a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat, with its requirement of faster reactions from players appealing to those who were more used to action games.^[161]

Nintendo executives were initially reluctant to design a new system, but as the market transitioned to the newer hardware, Nintendo saw the erosion of the commanding market share it had built up with the Nintendo Entertainment System.^[162] Nintendo's fourth-generation console, the Super Famicom, was released in Japan on November 21, 1990; Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units sold out within hours.^[163] Despite stiff competition from the Mega Drive/Genesis console, the Super NES eventually took the top selling position, selling 49.10 million units worldwide,^[164] and would remain popular well into the fifth generation of consoles.^[165] Nintendo's market position was defined by their machine's increased video and sound capabilities,^[166] as well as exclusive first-party franchise titles such as Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid.

In the early 1990s, the arcades experienced a major resurgence with the 1991 release of Capcom's Street Fighter II,^[167] which popularized competitive fighting games and revived the arcade industry to a level of popularity not seen since the days of Pac-Man,^[168] setting off a renaissance for the arcade game industry in the early 1990s.^[169] Its success led to a wave of other popular games which mostly were in the fighting genre, such as Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (1992) by SNK, Virtua Fighter (1993) by SEGA, and The King of Fighters (1994–2005) by SNK. In 1993, Electronic Games noted that when 'historians look back at the world of coin-op during the early 1990s, one of the defining highlights of the video game art form will undoubtedly focus on fighting/martial arts themes' which it described as 'the backbone of the industry' at the time.^[170]

A new type of shoot 'em up emerged in the early 1990s: variously termed 'bullet hell', 'manic shooters', 'maniac shooters' and danmaku (弾幕, 'barrage'), these games required the player to dodge overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and called for still more consistent reactions from players.^[41][171] Bullet hell games arose from the need for 2D shoot 'em up developers to compete with the emerging popularity of 3D games: huge numbers of missiles on screen were intended to impress players.^[171]Toaplan's Batsugun (1993) provided the prototypical template for this new breed,^[172][173] with Cave (formed by former employees of Toaplan, including Batsugun's main creator Tsuneki Ikeda, after the latter company collapsed) inventing the type proper with 1995's DonPachi.^[174] Bullet hell games marked another point where the shoot 'em up genre began to cater to more dedicated players.^[41][171] Games such as Gradius had been more difficult than Space Invaders or Xevious,^[99] but bullet hell games were yet more inward-looking and aimed at dedicated fans of the genre looking for greater challenges.^[41][175] While shooter games featuring protagonists on foot largely moved to 3D-based genres, popular, long-running series such as Contra and Metal Slug continued to receive new sequels.^{[176][177][178]} Rail shooters have rarely been released in the new millennium, with only Rez and Panzer Dragoon Orta achieving cult recognition.^{[179][98][180]}

1992 saw the release of Dragon Quest V, a game that has been praised for its involving, emotional family-themed narrative divided by different periods of time, something that has appeared in very few video games before or since.^[181][182] It has also been credited as the first known video game to feature a playable pregnancy, a concept that has since appeared in later games such as Story of Seasons.^[183]Dragon Quest V's monster-collecting mechanic, where monsters can be defeated, captured, added to the party, and gain their own experience levels, also influenced many later franchises such as Pokémon, Digimon and Dokapon. In turn, the concept of collecting everything in a game, in the form of achievements or similar rewards, has since become a common trend in video games.^[184]Shin Megami Tensei, released in 1992 for the SNES, introduced an early moral alignment system that influences the direction and outcome of the storyline, leading to different possible paths and multiple endings. This has since become a hallmark of the Megami Tensei series.^[185] Another non-linear RPG released that year was Romancing Saga, an open-world RPG by Square that offered many choices and allowed players to complete quests in any order, with the decision of whether or not to participate in any particular quest affecting the outcome of the storyline. The game also allowed players to choose from eight different characters, each with their own stories that start in different places and offer different outcomes.^[186]Data East's Heracles no Eikō III, written by Kazushige Nojima, introduced the plot element of a nameless immortal suffering from amnesia, and Nojima would later revisit the amnesia theme in Final Fantasy VII and Glory of Heracles.^[187] The TurboGrafx-CD port of Dragon Knight II released that year was also notable for introducing eroticadult content to consoles,^{[188][citation needed]} though such content had often appeared in Japanese computer RPGs since the early 1980s.^[116] That same year, Game Arts began the Lunar series on the Sega CD with Lunar: The Silver Star, one of the first successful CD-ROM RPGs, featuring both voice and text, and considered one of the best RPGs in its time.^[189] The game was praised for its soundtrack, emotionally engaging storyline, and strong characterization.^[190] It also introduced an early form of level-scaling where the bosses would get stronger depending on the protagonist's level,^[191] a mechanic that was later used in Enix's The 7th Saga^[192] and extended to normal enemies in Square's Romancing Saga 3 and later Final Fantasy VIII.^[193]

3D polygon graphics were popularized by the Sega Model 1 games Virtua Racing (1992) and Virtua Fighter (1993),^[194] followed by racing games^[168] like the Namco System 22 title Ridge Racer (1993) and Sega Model 2 title Daytona USA, and light gun shooters like Sega's Virtua Cop (1994),^[195] gaining considerable popularity in the arcades.^[168]

In 1993, Square's Secret of Mana, the second in the Mana series, further advanced the action RPG subgenre with its introduction of cooperative multiplayer into the genre. The game was created by a team previously responsible for the first three Final Fantasy titles: Nasir Gebelli, Koichi Ishii, and Hiromichi Tanaka.^[196] The game received considerable acclaim,^[197] for its innovative pausable real-time battle system,^[198][199] the 'Ring Command' menu system,^[199] its innovative cooperative multiplayer gameplay,^[197] where the second or third players could drop in and out of the game at any time rather than players having to join the game at the same time,^[200] and the customizable AI settings for computer-controlled allies.^[201] The game has influenced a number of later action RPGs.^[200][202] That same year also saw the release of Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium, which introduced the use of pre-programmable combat manoeuvers called 'macros', a means of setting up the player's party AI to deliver custom attack combos.^[129] That year also saw the release of Romancing Saga 2, which further expanded the non-linear gameplay of its predecessor. While in the original Romancing Saga, scenarios were changed according to dialogue choices during conversations, Romancing Saga 2 further expanded on this by having unique storylines for each character that can change depending on the player's actions, including who is chosen, what is said in conversation, what events have occurred, and who is present in the party.^[203]PCGamesN credits Romancing SaGa 2 for having laid the foundations for modern Japanese RPGs with its progressive, non-linear, open world design and subversive themes.^[204]

In 1994, Final Fantasy VI moved away from the medieval setting of its predecessors, instead being set in a steampunk environment,.^[205] The game received considerable acclaim, and is seen as one of the greatest RPGs of all time,^[206] for improvements such as its broadened thematic scope,^[207] plotlines, characters, multiple-choice scenarios,^[208] and variation of play.^[209]Final Fantasy VI dealt with mature themes such as suicide, war crimes, child abandonment, teen pregnancy, and coping with the deaths of loved ones.^[210] Square's Live A Live, released for the Super Famicom in Japan, featured eight different characters and stories, with the first seven unfolding in any order the player chooses, as well as four different endings.^[211] The game's ninja chapter in particular was an early example of stealth game elements in an RPG, requiring the player to infiltrate a castle, rewarding the player if the entire chapter can be completed without engaging in combat.^[211] Other chapters had similar innovations, such as Akira's chapter where the character uses telepathic powers to discover information.^[211]Robotrek by Quintet and Ancient was a predecessor to Pokémon in the sense that the protagonist does not himself fight, but sends out his robots to do so. Like Pokémon, Robotrek was designed to appeal to a younger audience, allowed team customization, and each robot was kept in a ball.^[212]

FromSoftware released their first video game, titled King's Field, as a launch title for the PlayStation in 1994.^[213] The game was later called the brainchild of company CEO Naotoshi Jin, who was later considered a key creative figure in the series.^[214] The eventual success of the first King's Field prompted the development of sequels, establishing the King's Field series.^[215][216] The design of King's Field would influence later titles by FromSoftware including Shadow Tower, which used similar mechanics to King's Field;^[215] and Demon's Souls, described by its staff as a spiritual successor to King's Field, and inspired multiple follow-up titles which form part of the Souls series and propelled FromSoftware to international fame.^{[215][214][217]}

In 1995, Square's Romancing Saga 3 featured a storyline that could be told differently from the perspectives of up to eight different characters and introduced a level-scaling system where the enemies get stronger as the characters do,^[193] a mechanic that was later used in a number of later RPGs, including Final Fantasy VIII.^[218] Sega's Sakura Wars for the Saturn combined tactical RPG combat with dating sim and visual novel elements, introducing a real-timebranching choice system where, during an event or conversation, the player must choose an action or dialogue choice within a time limit, or not to respond at all within that time; the player's choice, or lack thereof, affects the player character's relationship with other characters and in turn the characters' performance in battle, the direction of the storyline, and the ending. Later games in the series added several variations, including an action gauge that can be raised up or down depending on the situation, and a gauge that the player can manipulate using the analog stick depending on the situation.^[219] The success of Sakura Wars led to a wave of games that combine the RPG and dating sim genres, including Thousand Arms in 1998, Riviera: The Promised Land in 2002, and Luminous Arc in 2007.^[220]

The first Tokyo Game Show was held in 1996.^[221] From 1996 to 2002, the show was held twice a year: once in the Spring and once in Autumn (in the Tokyo Big Sight).^[222] Since 2002, the show has been held once a year. It attracts more visitors every year. 2011's show hosted over 200,000 attendees and the 2012 show bringing in 223,753. The busiest TGS was in 2016 with 271,224 people in attendance and 614 companies had exhibits.^[223] The event has been held annually since 1996 and was never canceled. The 20th anniversary of TGS was celebrated in 2016.^[224]

The FujitsuFM Towns Marty is considered the world's first 32-bit console (predating the Amiga CD32 and 3DO), being released only released in Japan on February 20, 1993 by Fujitsu. However, it failed to make an impact in the marketplace due to its expense relative to other consoles and inability to compete with home computers.^[225][226] Around the mid-1990s, the fifth-generation home consoles, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64, began offering true 3D graphics, improved sound, and better 2D graphics, than the previous generation. By 1995, personal computers followed, with 3D accelerator cards. While arcade systems such as the Sega Model 3 remained considerably more advanced than home systems in the late 1990s.^[227][228]

The next major revolution came in the mid-to-late 1990s, which saw the rise of 3D computer graphics and optical discs in fifth generation consoles. The implications for RPGs were enormous—longer, more involved quests, better audio, and full-motion video. This was clearly demonstrated in 1997 by the phenomenal success of Final Fantasy VII, which is considered one of the most influential games of all time,^[229][230] akin to that of Star Wars in the movie industry. With a record-breaking production budget of around $45 million,^[229] the ambitious scope of Final Fantasy VII raised the possibilities for the genre, with its more expansive world to explore,^[231] much longer quest, more numerous sidequests,^[229]dozens of minigames, and much higher production values. The latter includes innovations such as the use of 3D characters on pre-rendered backgrounds,^[232] battles viewed from multiple different angles rather than a single angle, and for the first time full-motion CGI video seamlessly blended into the gameplay,^[230] effectively integrated throughout the game.^[229] Gameplay innovations included the materia system, which allowed a considerable amount of customization and flexibility through materia that can be combined in many different ways and exchanged between characters at any time, and the limit breaks, special attacks that can be performed after a character's limit meter fills up by taking hits from opponents.^[230]Final Fantasy VII continues to be listed among the best games of all time, for its highly polished gameplay, high playability, lavish production, well-developed characters, intricate storyline,^[232] and an emotionally engaging narrative that is much darker and sophisticated than most other RPGs.^[233] The game's storytelling and character development was considered a major narrative jump forward for video games and was often compared to films and novels at the time.^[234]

One of the earliest Japanese RPGs, Koei's The Dragon and Princess (1982),^[235] featured a tactical turn-based combat system.^[236][237] Koji Sumii's Bokosuka Wars, originally released for the Sharp X1 computer in 1983^[238] and later ported to the NES in 1985,^[239] is credited for laying the foundations for the tactical RPG genre, or 'simulation RPG' genre as it is known in Japan, with its blend of basic RPG and strategy game elements.^[240] The genre became with the game that set the template for tactical RPGs, Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi (1990).^[241]

Treasure's shoot 'em up, Radiant Silvergun (1998), introduced an element of narrative to the genre. It was critically acclaimed for its refined design, though it was not released outside Japan and remains a much sought after collector's item.^{[121][41][242][243]} Its successor Ikaruga (2001) featured improved graphics and was again acclaimed as one of the best games in the genre. Both Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga were later released on Xbox Live Arcade.^{[121][41][244]} The Touhou Project series spans 22 years and 27 games as of 2018 and was listed in the Guinness World Records in October 2010 for being the 'most prolific fan-made shooter series'.^[245] The genre has undergone something of a resurgence with the release of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii online services,^[244] while in Japan arcade shoot 'em ups retain a deep-rooted niche popularity.^[246]Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 and in particular stood out from the various re-releases and casual games available on the service.^[247] The PC has also seen its share of dōjin shoot 'em ups like Crimzon Clover, Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony, Xenoslaive Overdrive, and the eXceed series. However, despite the genre's continued appeal to an enthusiastic niche of players, shoot 'em up developers are increasingly embattled financially by the power of home consoles and their attendant genres.^[246][248]

2005 - 2015[edit]

In 2002, the Japanese video game industry made up about 50% of the global market; that share has since shrunk to around 10% by 2010.^[249] The shrinkage in market share has been attributed to a difference of taste between Japanese and Western audiences,^[249][250] and the country's economic recession.^[251]

In 2009, FromSoftware released Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3, which brought them international exposure. Its spiritual successor, Dark Souls, was released in 2011. In March 2014, Dark Souls II, was released, while Dark Souls III was released in 2016.^[252] A title inspired by the Souls series, Bloodborne, was released in March 2015. The Souls series, along with Bloodborne, received widespread critical acclaim, as well as strong sales domestically and internationally.^{[253][254][255]} They have also received a number of awards, primarily those for the role-playing genre, including multiple 'RPG of the Year' and Game of the Year awards.^{[256][257][258][259]} Since release, Dark Souls and Bloodborne have been cited by many publications to be among the greatest games of all time.^{[260][261][262]}

The decline of the Japanese gaming industry during this period was partially attributed to the traditional development process. Japanese companies were criticized for long development times and slow release dates on home video game consoles, their lack of third-party game engines, and for being too insular to appeal to a global market.^[263]Yoichi Wada stated in the Financial Times on April 27, 2009 that the Japanese gaming industry has become a 'closed environment' and 'almost xenophobic.'^[264] He also stated: 'The lag with the US is very clear. The US games industry was not good in the past but it has now attracted people from the computer industry and from Hollywood, which has led to strong growth.'^[264][265] At the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, Keiji Inafune stated that 'Everyone's making awful games - Japan is at least five years behind', and that 'Japan is isolated in the gaming world. If something doesn't change, we're doomed.', stressing the need for Japanese developers to bring in Western approaches to game development to make a comeback.^[249]

Related to the isolationism, games developed in Western countries did not perform well in Japan, whereas Japanese games were readily played by Western market consumers.^{[266][267][268][269]} Foreign games often sell more poorly in Japanese markets due to differences in what consumers expect for escapism between these cultures.^[270] Microsoft had attempted to push both the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles in Japan with poor success, at they struggled to compete against Sony and Nintendo there.^[271]

When Video Games Started

However, as detailed above, Japanese console games became less successful, even in their own country, as of 2013.^{[272][273][274]}

How Did Video Games Started

In the Japanese gaming industry, arcades have remained popular through to the present day. As of 2009, out of Japan's $20 billion gaming market, $6 billion of that amount is generated from arcades, which represent the largest sector of the Japanese video game market, followed by home console games and mobile games at $3.5 billion and $2 billion, respectively.^[275] In 2005, arcade ownership and operation accounted for a majority of Namco's for example.^[276] With considerable withdrawal from the arcade market from companies such as Capcom, Sega became the strongest player in the arcade market with 60% marketshare in 2006.^[277] Despite the global decline of arcades, Japanese companies hit record revenue for three consecutive years during this period.^[278] However, due to the country's economic recession, the Japanese arcade industry has also been steadily declining, from ¥702.9 billion (US$8.7 billion) in 2007 to ¥504.3 billion ($6.2 billion) in 2010.^[251] In 2013, estimation of revenue is ¥470 billion.^[251]

In the 2010s, Japanese RPGs have been experiencing a resurgence on PC, with a significant increase in the number of Japanese RPGs releasing for the Steam platform. This began with the 2010 release of doujin/indie game Recettear (2007) for Steam,^[279] selling over 500,000 units on the platform.^[280] This led to many Japanese doujin/indie games releasing on Steam in subsequent years.^[279]

Beyond doujin/indie titles, 2012 was a breakthrough year, with the debut of Nihon Falcom's Ys series on Steam and then the Steam release of From Software's Dark Souls, which sold millions on the platform. Other Japanese RPGs were subsequently ported to Steam, such as the previously niche Valkyria Chronicles which became a million-seller on the platform, and other titles that sold hundreds of thousands on Steam, such as the 2014 localization of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (2014) and ports of numerous Final Fantasy titles. Japanese developers have been increasingly considering Steam as a viable platform for the genre, with many Japanese RPGs available on the platform.^[279]

By 2015, Japan had become the world's fourth largest PC game market, behind only China, the United States, and South Korea.^[281] The Japanese game development engine RPG Maker has also gained significant popularity on Steam, including hundreds of commercial games. Every year, hundreds of games released on Steam are created using RPG Maker, as of 2017.^[282]

In the present day, Japan is the world's largest market for mobile games.^[283] The Japanese market today is becoming increasingly dominated by mobile games, which generated $5.1 billion in 2013, more than traditional console games in the country.^[284]

Former rivals in the Japanese arcade industry, Konami, Taito, Bandai Namco Entertainment and Sega, are now working together to keep the arcade industry vibrant. This is evidenced in the sharing of arcade networks, and venues having games from all major companies rather than only games from their own company.^[285]

2016 - present[edit]

Video Games 2019

Since 2016, Japanese video games have been experiencing a resurgence,^{[286][287][288]} as part of a renaissance for the Japanese video game industry.^[289][290] In 2017, Japanese video games gained further commercial success and greater critical acclaim.^[286][289] In 2016, the global success of Pokémon Go helped Pokémon Sun and Moon set sales records around the world.^[287]Final Fantasy XV was also a major success, selling millions. There were also other Japanese RPGs that earned commercial success and/or critical acclaim that year, including Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, Bravely Second, Fire Emblem Fates, Dragon Quest Builders, World of Final Fantasy, Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky and I Am Setsuna.^[288]

In 2017, Japanese RPGs gained further commercial success and greater critical acclaim.^[286][289] The year started strong with Gravity Rush 2,^[289] followed by Yakuza 0, which some critics consider the best in the Yakuza series, Nioh which is considered to have one of the eighth-generation's best RPG combat systems, and then Nier Automata which has gameplay and storytelling thought to be some of the best in recent years.^[286]Persona 5 won the Best Role Playing Game award at The Game Awards 2017.^[291] Some Japanese RPGs that were previously considered niche became mainstream million-sellers in 2017, including Persona 5, Nier: Automata,^[289]Nioh,^[292] and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Nintendo Switch.^[293] 2017 was considered a strong year for Japanese RPGs, with other notable releases including Dragon Quest VIII on the Nintendo 3DS, Tales of Berseria, Valkyria Revolution, Ever Oasis, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Ys VIII, Etrian Odyssey V, Dragon Quest Heroes II, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, and Tokyo Xanadu.^[294] In 2018, Monster Hunter: World sold over 10million units,^[295] becoming Capcom's best-selling single software title,^[296] and Square Enix's Octopath Traveler sold over 1million units.^[297]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Video Game Franchise Started In 1996

1. ^ ^abSteven L. Kent (2000), The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games, p. 83, BWD Press, ISBN0-9704755-0-0
2. ^Brian Ashcraft (2008) Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan's Game Centers, p. 133, Kodansha International
3. ^Steve L. Kent (2001), The ultimate history of video games: from Pong to Pokémon and beyond: the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world, p. 102, Prima, ISBN0-7615-3643-4
4. ^ ^abMark J. P. Wolf (2008), The video game explosion: a history from PONG to PlayStation and beyond, p. 149, ABC-CLIO, ISBN0-313-33868-X
5. ^D.S. Cohen. 'Killer Shark: The Undersea Horror Arcade Game from Jaws'. About.com. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
6. ^ ^ab'1969 Sega Duck Hunt (Arcade Flyer)'. pinrepair.com. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
7. ^Duck Hunt (1969) at the Killer List of Videogames
8. ^Missile at the Killer List of Videogames
9. ^'Arcade Games'. Joystick. 1 (1): 10. September 1982.
10. ^Montfort, Nick; Bogost, Ian (9 January 2009). Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. MIT Press. ISBN9780262261524 – via Google Books.
11. ^Playing With Power: Great Ideas That Have Changed Gaming Forever, 1UP
12. ^ ^abThe History of SNKArchived 2012-05-14 at the Wayback Machine, GameSpot. Accessed February 16, 2009
13. ^Ashcraft, Brian (2008). Arcade Mania! The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers. Kodansha International. p. 94.
14. ^Szczepaniak, John (2014). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers. 1. SMG Szczepaniak. p. 7. ISBN978-0-9929260-3-8. First ever stealth game, Manbiki Shounen
15. ^'The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers BOOK'. Hardcore Gaming 101.
16. ^Szczepaniak, John (2014). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers. 1. SMG Szczepaniak. pp. 604–605. ISBN978-0-9929260-3-8. SUZUKI, Hiroshi ... Manbiki Shounen (Shoplifting Boy) – PET2001 (1979/11)
17. ^Szczepaniak, John (2014). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers. 1. SMG Szczepaniak. pp. 604–615. ISBN978-0-9929260-3-8.
18. ^'005 from Sega'. Popularplay. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
19. ^Video gaming in Japan at the Killer List of Videogames
20. ^005, Arcade History
21. ^ ^abMartin Picard, The Foundation of Geemu: A Brief History of Early Japanese video games, International Journal of Computer Game Research, 2013
22. ^ ^abEdwards, Benj. 'Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Space Invaders'. 1UP.com. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
23. ^ ^abBuchanan, Levi, Space InvadersArchived 2008-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, March 31, 2003. Accessed June 14, 2008
24. ^Retro Gamer Staff. 'Nishikado-San Speaks'. Retro Gamer. No. 3. Live Publishing. p. 35.
25. ^ ^abGeddes, Ryan; Hatfield, Daemon (2007-12-10). 'IGN's Top 10 Most Influential Games'. IGN. Archived from the original on 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
26. ^Kevin Bowen. 'The Gamespy Hall of Fame: Space Invaders'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2008-04-08. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
27. ^Craig Glenday, ed. (2008-03-11). 'Record Breaking Games: Shooting Games Roundup'. Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008. Guinness World Records. Guinness. pp. 106–107. ISBN978-1-904994-21-3.
28. ^'Players Guide To Electronic Science Fiction Games'. Electronic Games. Vol. 1 no. 2. March 1982. pp. 34–45 [44]. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
29. ^'Essential 50: Space Invaders'. 1UP.com. Retrieved 2011-03-26.
30. ^Chris Kohler (2005). Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life. BradyGames. p. 18. ISBN0-7440-0424-1. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
31. ^'Can Lasers Save VIdeo Arcades?'. The Philadelphia Inquirer. 3 February 1984. Retrieved 13 March 2012. Last year, arcade game revenues were approximately $5 billion, compared to $8 billion in 1981 and $7 billion in 1982.
32. ^Craig Glenday, ed. (March 11, 2008). 'Record Breaking Games: Shooting Games Roundup'. Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008. Guinness World Records. Guinness. pp. 106–107. ISBN978-1-904994-21-3.
33. ^Richards, Giles (July 24, 2005). 'A life through video games'. The Observer. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved May 22, 2008.
34. ^'JAPAN 100 Yen Y# 82 Yr.42(1967)-Yr.63(1988)'. World Coin price Guide. Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
35. ^ ^abFox, Mark (2012). 'Space Invaders targets coins'. World Coin News. Krause Publications. 39 (2): 35–37. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
36. ^Mark J. P. Wolf (2001), The medium of the video game, University of Texas Press, p. 44, ISBN0-292-79150-X, going into virtually every location in the country [..] even a few funeral homes had video games in the basements
37. ^ ^abSteven L. Kent (2001), The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story behind the Craze that Touched Our Lives and Changed the World, Prima, p. 352, ISBN9780761536437, With more than 60,000 units sold in the United States, Donkey Kong was Nintendo's biggest arcade hit. ... Nintendo released Donkey Kong Junior in 1982 and sold only 30,000 machines, 20,000 Popeye machines (also 1982), and a mere 5000 copies of Donkey J (1983).
38. ^Bureau of National Affairs (1983), 'United States Patents Quarterly, Volume 216', United States Patents Quarterly, Associated Industry Publications, 216, Since February 1980, Midway has sold in excess of 40,000 Galaxian games
39. ^Steve L. Kent (2001), The ultimate history of video games: from Pong to Pokémon and beyond : the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world, Prima, p. 352, ISBN0-7615-3643-4, In 1982, Universal Sales made arcade history with a game called Mr Do! Instead of selling dedicated Mr Do! machines, Universal sold the game as a kit. The kit came with a customized control panel, a computer board with Mr Do! read-only memory (ROM) chips, stickers that could be placed on the side of stand-up arcade machines for art, and a plastic marquee. It was the first game ever sold as a conversion only. According to former Universal Sales western regional sales manager Joe Morici, the company sold approximately 30,000 copies of the game in the United States alone.
40. ^'Wii.com - Iwata Asks: Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary'. Us.wii.com. Retrieved 2011-03-23.
41. ^ ^abcdefghiGame Genres: Shmups|date=December 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Professor Jim Whitehead, January 29, 2007. Accessed June 17, 2008
42. ^Glass, John (2014). Ray, Linda (ed.). Things To Do At Disneyland 2014: The Ultimate Unauthorized Adventure Guide. Alternative Travel Press. p. 113. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
43. ^'ジャンプバグ レトロゲームしま専科'. Archived from the original on 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
44. ^Justin Speer; Cliff O'Neill. 'The History of Resident Evil'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2008-09-06. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
45. ^'Enter The Survival Horror... A Resident Evil Retrospective,' Game Informer 174 (October 2007): 132-133.
46. ^'Top 11 Survival Horror Games: Sweet Home'. UGO Networks. 2008-05-21. Archived from the original on 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
47. ^'Gainesville Sun - Google News Archive Search'.
48. ^'Toy Trends', Orange Coast, Emmis Communications, 14 (12), p. 88, December 1988, ISSN0279-0483, retrieved April 26, 2011
49. ^Takiff, Jonathan (June 20, 1986). 'Video Games Gain in Japan, Are Due For Assault on U.S.'The Vindicator. p. 2. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
50. ^'How Nintendo Made The NES (And Why They Gave It A Gun)'. Kotaku. October 16, 2015. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015.
51. ^'7 things I learned from the designer of the NES'. The Verge. October 18, 2015. Archived from the original on October 19, 2015.
52. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. pp. 279, 285. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
53. ^'The Nintendo Threat?'. Computer Gaming World. June 1988. p. 50.
54. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001) [2001]. The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond- The Story That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World (First ed.). Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. p. 347. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
55. ^Takiff, Jonathan (June 20, 1986). 'Video Games Gain In Japan, Are Due For Assault On U.S.'The Vindicator. p. 2. Retrieved 10 April 2012 – via Google News Archive.
56. ^Keiser, Gregg (June 1998). 'One Million Sold in One Day'. News & Notes. Compute!. New York City: COMPUTE! Publications. 10: 7. ISSN0194-357X. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
57. ^Freitag, Michael (June 8, 1989). 'Talking Deals; How Nintendo Can Help A.T.&T'. International New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
58. ^'Nintendo - Corporate Information | Company History'. Nintendo.com. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
59. ^Liedholm, Marcus; Liedholm, Mattias. 'A new era – (1990–97)'. Nintendo Land. Archived from the original on July 28, 2009. Retrieved February 12, 2006.
60. ^Koelsch, Frank (1995). The Infomedia Revolution: How it is Changing Our World and Your Life. McGraw-Hill Ryerson. p. 87. ISBN0075518473.
61. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001) [2001]. The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond- The Story That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World (First ed.). Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. p. 280. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
62. ^Keizer, Gregg (July 1989). 'Editorial License'. Compute!. p. 4. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
63. ^McGill, Douglas C. (December 4, 1988). 'Nintendo Scores Big'. New York Times. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
64. ^'Smart Bomb: Inside the Video Game Industry'. Talk of the Nation. 2005-11-14. National Public Radio.
65. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001) [2001]. The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond- The Story That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World (First ed.). Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. pp. 306–307. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
66. ^Kohler, Chris (2004). Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life. Indianapolis, Indiana: Brady Games. p. 57. ISBN0-7440-0424-1.
67. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. p. 353. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
68. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. p. 357. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
69. ^Turner, Benjamin; Christian Nutt (July 18, 2003). '8-Bit Memories, 1988–1994'. GameSpy.com. p. 20. Archived from the original on May 20, 2009. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
70. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. p. 358. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
71. ^Kohler (2004), p. 95.
72. ^Kohler (2004), p. 222.
73. ^ ^abJohn Szczepaniak. 'Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier Retro Japanese Computers'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved March 29, 2011. Reprinted from Retro Gamer, 2009
74. ^Maher, Jimmy (2014-06-25). 'Of Wizards and Bards'. The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
75. ^Adams, Roe R. (November 1990), 'Westward Ho! (Toward Japan, That Is): An Overview of the Evolution of CRPGs on Dedicated Game Machines', Computer Gaming World (76), pp. 83–84
76. ^ ^abJeremy Parish (2012). 'What Happened to the Action RPG?'. 1UP. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
77. ^John Szczepaniak (2016), The Untold History Of Japanese Game Developers, Volume 2, pages 38–49
78. ^John Szczepaniak (2016), The Untold History Of Japanese Game Developers, Volume 2, page 38
79. ^Kalata, Kurt. 'Dragon Slayer'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011.
80. ^'HIDEO_KOJIMA on Twitter'.
81. ^1982–1987 – The Birth of Japanese RPGs, re-told in 15 Games, Gamasutra
82. ^'IGN India discusses game design: Combat in open world games'. 2 November 2015.
83. ^John Szczepaniak, War of the Dead, Hardcore Gaming 101, 15 January 2011
84. ^Peckham, Matt (2012-11-15). 'ALL-TIME 100 Video Games'. TIME. Archived from the original on 2014-03-30. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
85. ^Mc Shea, Tom (2011-12-21). 'The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary A Look Back'. GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
86. ^'How The Legend of Zelda Changed Video Games'. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
87. ^'Dru Hill: The Chronicle of Druaga'. 1UP. Archived from the original on 19 January 2005. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
88. ^Herzog ZweiArchived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, GameSpy
89. ^'Are Real Time Strategy Games At Their Peak?'. GameSpy. May 9, 2001. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
90. ^Zzap! Issue 68, December 1990, p.45 – 'Amiga Reviews: Battlemaster'. Archived from the original on February 11, 2006. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
91. ^Ryan Geddes; Daemon Hatfield (2007-12-10). 'IGN's Top 10 Most Influential Games'. IGN. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
92. ^'The History of Street Fighter'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
93. ^'IGN Presents the History of SEGA'. 21 April 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
94. ^'Extentofthejam.com'. Extentofthejam.com. 2013-05-03. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
95. ^'Web.archive.org'. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2018.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
96. ^'Web.archive.org'. Archive.is. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2018.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
97. ^Buchanan, Levi, Space Harrier RetrospectiveArchived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, September 5, 2008. Accessed February 17, 2009
98. ^ ^abMaragos, Nich, Space Harrier (PS2), 1UP.com, January 1, 2000. Accessed February 17, 2009
99. ^ ^abAshcraft, p. 76
100. ^Kasavin, Greg, Gradius Collection Review, GameSpot, June 7, 2006. Accessed February 12, 2009
101. ^Fahs, Travis, Fantasy Zone RetrospectiveArchived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, October 1, 2008. Accessed February 13, 2009
102. ^Kalata, Kurt, Fantasy ZoneArchived 2010-01-16 at the Wayback Machine, Hardcore Gaming 101. Accessed February 02, 2010
103. ^Kalata, Kurt; Greene, Robert. 'Hydlide'. Hardcore Gaming 101.
104. ^ ^abcGifford, Kevin. 'The Essential 50 Part 20 – Dragon Warrior'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
105. ^Cassidy, William. 'The GameSpy Hall of Fame: Dragon Warrior'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 16 June 2004. Retrieved 29 May 2005.
106. ^Jeremy Parish (27 October 2005). 'Solid Gold: The Best of NES'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
107. ^Nintendo Power volume 221. Future US. 2007. pp. 78–80. At the time I first made Dragon Quest, computer and video game RPGs were still very much in the realm of hardcore fans and not very accessible to other players. So I decided to create a system that was easy to understand and emotionally involving, and then placed my story within that framework.
108. ^Goro Gotemba & Yoshiyuki Iwamoto (2006). Japan on the upswing: why the bubble burst and Japan's economic renewal. Algora Publishing. p. 201. ISBN0-87586-462-7. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
109. ^ ^abVestal 1998a, p. 'Dragon Quest'
110. ^'15 Most Influential Games'. GameSpot. 2005. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
111. ^Bailey, Kat (February 2010). 'The Uncanny Valley of Love: The challenges and rewards of crafting a video game romance'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
112. ^Parish, Jeremy (12 December 2006). 'Why the tiniest Dragon Quest is the biggest deal'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
113. ^ ^abBielby, Matt, 'The YS Complete Guide To Shoot-'em-ups Part II', Your Sinclair, August 1990 (issue 56), p. 19
114. ^Segre, Nicole, 'Commando,' Sinclair User, February 1986 (issue 47)
115. ^John Szczepaniak. 'Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier'. Hardcore Gaming 101. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2011-01-13. Retrieved 2011-03-16. Reprinted from 'Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier', Retro Gamer (67), 2009
116. ^ ^abJohn Szczepaniak. 'Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier'. Hardcore Gaming 101. p. 3. Retrieved 2011-03-29. Reprinted from Retro Gamer, 2009
117. ^John Szczepaniak. 'Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 2011-07-28. (Reprinted from Retro Gamer, Issue 67, 2009)
118. ^ ^ab'【リリース】プロジェクトEGGから3月25日に「ウィバーン」発売'. 4Gamer.net. Retrieved 2011-03-05. (Translation)
119. ^Christian Nutt. 'Stalled engine: The TurboGrafx-16 turns 25'. Gamasutra.
120. ^Video Game Trader Magazine (March 16, 2009). 'Video Game Trader #3, March 2008'. Videogametrader.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
121. ^ ^abcBuchanan, Levi, Top 10 Classic Shoot 'Em UpsArchived 2012-02-16 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, April 8, 2008, May 26, 2009
122. ^Todd, Brett, R-Type Dimensions Review, GameSpot, February 7, 2009. Accessed February 13, 2009
123. ^Navarro, ALex, Raiden ReviewArchived 2011-09-20 at the Wayback Machine, GameSpot, November 17, 2004. Accessed February 13, 2009
124. ^Buchanan, Levi, RaidenArchived 2009-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, February 17, 2004. Accessed February 13, 2009
125. ^3-D WorldRunner at AllGame
126. ^JJ: Tobidase Daisakusen Part II [Japanese] at AllGame
127. ^Space Harrier 3-D at AllGame
128. ^Kurt Kalata & Christopher J. Snelgrove. 'Megami Tensei'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
129. ^ ^abcdef'Time Machine: Phantasy Star'. ComputerAndVideoGames.com. 2 January 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
130. ^John, McCarroll (20 August 2002). 'RPGFan Previews – Phantasy Star Collection'. RPGFan. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
131. ^Kalata, Kurt. 'Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord / Haja no fuuin'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
132. ^Adams, Roe R. (November 1990), 'Westward Ho! (Toward Japan, That Is): An Overview of the Evolution of CRPGs on Dedicated Game Machines', Computer Gaming World (76), pp. 83–84 [83], Action adventures were basically arcade games done in a fantasy setting such as Castlevania, Trojan, and Wizards & Warriors.
133. ^Travis Fahs (2010-08-27). 'IGN Presents the History of Zelda - Retro Feature at IGN'. Uk.retro.ign.com. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
134. ^'Most-prolific action-adventure video game series'. Guinness World Records. 1 Jan 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
135. ^'Japanese Secrets!'. chrismcovell.com. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
136. ^ ^abKasavin, Greg. 'The Greatest Games of All Time: Phantasy Star II – Features at GameSpot'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 18 July 2005. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
137. ^Bert, Max. 'GOTW: Sweet Home'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
138. ^Harrison, Thomas Nowlin (2006). The Sweet Home of Resident Evil.
139. ^Kalata, Kurt. 'Tengai Makyou: Ziria'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
140. ^PSM3 UK (16 March 2010). 'Are JRPGs dead?'. GamesRadar. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
141. ^Barton 2008, p. 228
142. ^Neal Hallford & Jana Hallford (2001), Swords & circuitry: a designer's guide to computer role playing games, Cengage Learning, p. xxiv, ISBN0-7615-3299-4, retrieved 2011-05-16
143. ^Adams, Roe R. (November 1990), 'Westward Ho! (Toward Japan, That Is): An Overview of the Evolution of CRPGs on Dedicated Game Machines', Computer Gaming World (76), pp. 83–84 [84], Last year also saw the coattail effect of traditional bestselling CRPGs being ported over onto dedicated game machines as the new market of machines blossomed into money trees. Games like Ultima, Shadowgate, and Defender of the Crown appeared to mixed reviews. These stalwarts of computer fame were not perceived, by many of the players, to be as exciting as the Japanese imports.
144. ^Kaiser, Rowan (16 February 2012). 'East Is West: How Two Classic RPGs Prove the Stereotypes False'. Joystiq. Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
145. ^Barton 2007c, p. 12
146. ^ ^abVestal 1998a, p. 'Dragon Quest IV'
147. ^Harris 2009, p. 8
148. ^Kalata, Kurt (4 February 2008). 'The History of Dragon Quest'. Gamasutra. p. 5. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
149. ^'Final Fantasy III'. Na.square-enix.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
150. ^Square Enix Co., ed. (1999). Final Fantasy Anthology North American instruction manual. Square Enix Co. pp. 17–18. SLUS-00879GH.
151. ^Harris 2009, p. 14
152. ^Kalata, Kurt; Snelgrove, Christopher J (2010-08-08). 'Hardcore Gaming 101: Megami Tensei / Shin Megami Tensei'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2016-11-11.
153. ^Kalata, Kurt (2008-03-19). 'A Japanese RPG Primer: The Essential 20'. Gamasutra. p. 8. Archived from the original on 2014-11-11. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
154. ^Vestal 1998a, p. 'Crystalis'
155. ^'Console vs Handheld : Crystalis'. 1up.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-01. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
156. ^'Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom Review'. IGN. 25 April 2008.
157. ^Bahamut. 'Reviews–Final Fantasy II'. RPGFan. Retrieved 2006-03-06.
158. ^Kasavin, Greg (12 December 2005). 'Final Fantasy IV Advance Review'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2006.
159. ^'Final Fantasy Retrospective Part XIII'. GameTrailers. 2 November 2007. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
160. ^ ^abVestal 1998b, p. 'Final Fantasy IV'
161. ^Loguidice & Barton 2009, p. 82
162. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. pp. 413–414. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
163. ^'Why Super Nintendo Is the Reason You're Still Playing Video Games'. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2017-06-26.
164. ^'Consolidated Sales Transition by Region'(PDF). Nintendo. January 27, 2010. Archived from the original(PDF) on February 24, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
165. ^Allen, Danny (December 22, 2006). 'A Brief History of Game Consoles, as Seen in Old TV Ads'. PC World. Retrieved July 15, 2007.
166. ^Jeremy Parish (September 6, 2005). 'PS1 10th Anniversary retrospective'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
167. ^Shanna Compton (2004). Gamers: writers, artists & programmers on the pleasures of pixels. Soft Skull Press. p. 119. ISBN1-932360-57-3.
168. ^ ^abcSpencer, Spanner, The Tao of Beat-'em-ups (part 2), EuroGamer, 12 February 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2009
169. ^June, Laura (2013-01-16). 'For Amusement Only: the life and death of the American arcade'. The Verge. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
170. ^Jay Carter (July 1993). 'Insert Coin Here: Getting a Fighting Chance'. Electronic Games. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
171. ^ ^abcAshcraft, p. 77
172. ^Curtains for You: The History of Bullet Hell:The Birth of Bullet Hell, and the Rise of Cave
173. ^Bullet hell - Glitchwave video games database
174. ^Ashcraft, pp. 78-80
175. ^Ashcraft, pp. 77-78
176. ^Magrino, Tom, Contra conquering DSArchived 2011-09-19 at the Wayback Machine, GameSpot, June 20, 2007. Accessed February 17, 2009
177. ^Staff, Contra Q&AArchived 2011-09-20 at the Wayback Machine, GameSpot, October 1, 2002. Accessed February 17, 2009
178. ^Bozon, Mark, Metal Slug Anthology ReviewArchived 2009-02-14 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, December 20, 2006. Accessed February 17, 2009
179. ^Goldstein, Hilary, Panzer Dragoon OrtaArchived 2009-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, January 10, 2003, July 17, 2008
180. ^Brudwig, Erik, Rez HD is ComingArchived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, January 22, 2008. Accessed February 17, 2009
181. ^Kalata, Kurt. 'The History of Dragon Quest'. Features. Gamasutra. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
182. ^Kurt Kalata (2007). 'Dragon Quest V'. Retrieved 29 January 2008.
183. ^Glasser, AJ (9 February 2009). 'Knocked Up: A Look At Pregnancy In Video Games'. Kotaku. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
184. ^'Gaming's most important evolutions'. GamesRadar. 10 October 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
185. ^Kalata, Kurt; Snelgrove, Christopher. 'Hardcore Gaming 101: Megami Tensei / Shin Megami Tensei'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
186. ^Sullivan, Meghan (11 October 2005). 'Romancing SaGa Review'. IGN. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
187. ^Gann, Patrick (6 February 2010). 'RPGFan Reviews – Glory of Heracles'. RPGFan. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
188. ^'HonestGamers – Dragon Knight II review'. HonestGamers. 10 January 2005. Retrieved 15 May 2011.|first= missing |last= (help)
189. ^Skid (December 1993). Lunar: The Silver Star. GameFan. 2. DieHard Gamers Club. Archived from the original on 26 January 2005. Retrieved 2011-05-16.
190. ^'RPGFan Reviews – Lunar: The Silver Star'. RPGFan. Retrieved 15 May 2011.|first= missing |last= (help)
191. ^'RPGFan Reviews – Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete'. RPGFan. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
192. ^'The 7th Saga – Review'. RPGamer. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2011.|first= missing |last= (help)
193. ^ ^abYazarc420. 'RPGFan Reviews – Romancing SaGa 3'. RPGFan. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
194. ^'Virtua Racing – Arcade (1992)'. 15 Most Influential Games of All Time. GameSpot. 14 March 2001. Archived from the original on 13 December 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
195. ^Virtua CopArchived 20 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, 7 July 2004. Retrieved 7 February 2009
196. ^Parish, Jeremy; Frank Cifaldi; Kevin Gifford (December 2003). 'Classics Column #1: Desperately Seeking Seiken'. 1UP.com. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 26 July 2007.
197. ^ ^abDutton, Fred (17 December 2010). 'Secret of Mana hits App Store this month'. Eurogamer. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
198. ^'RPGFan Reviews – Secret of Mana'. RPGFan. Retrieved 15 May 2011.|first= missing |last= (help)
199. ^ ^ab'Secret of Mana for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad on the iTunes App Store'. Apple.com.
200. ^ ^abMackenzie, Gavin (14 December 2010). 'Dungeon Siege III Developer Interview'. NowGamer. Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
201. ^Karge, Anthony (27 May 2005). 'Secret of Mana – SNES review at Thunderbolt Games'. Thunderbolt Games. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
202. ^Barton 2008, p. 220
203. ^IGN staff (18 February 1997). 'Square, The Final Frontier'. IGN. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
204. ^'Romancing SaGa 2 doesn't get enough credit for helping shape modern JRPGs'. PCGamesN. January 29, 2018.
205. ^Square Co., Ltd. (11 October 1994). Final Fantasy III. Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Square Soft, Inc. (NPC in Jidoor) You like art? No? Philistines!
206. ^http://www.ign.com/top/rpgs/1
207. ^Final Fantasy III. Nintendo Power 65, page 27. October 1994.
208. ^Scary Larry (November 1994). 'Final Fantasy III'. GamePro. IDG Communications. 64 (11): 192–194.
209. ^Now Playing. Nintendo Power 65, page 103. October 1994.
210. ^http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/26/a-love-letter-to-final-fantasy-vi-readers-feature-4920787/
211. ^ ^abcLada, Jenni (1 February 2008). 'Important Importables: Best SNES role-playing games'. Gamer Tell. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
212. ^Kaiser, Joe (8 July 2005). 'Unsung Inventors'. Next-Gen.biz. Archived from the original on 28 October 2005. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
213. ^Ciolek, Todd (March 16, 2015). 'The History of From Software'. ign.com. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
214. ^ ^abMielke, James (2016-10-05). ''Dark Souls' Creator Miyazaki on 'Zelda,' Sequels and Starting Out'. Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
215. ^ ^abcCiolek, Todd (2015-03-16). 'The History of FromSoftware'. IGN. Archived from the original on 2015-03-18. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
216. ^ゲーム戦線超異状―任天堂VSソニー (in Japanese). Life Inc. 1996. pp. 77–90. ISBN4-7973-2010-9.
217. ^なぜいまマゾゲーなの？ ゲーマーの間で評判の“即死ゲー”「Demon's Souls」（デモンズソウル）開発者インタビュー (in Japanese). 4Gamer.net. 2009-03-19. Archived from the original on 2009-03-22. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
218. ^Cunningham, Michael. 'Final Fantasy VIII – Staff Retroview'. RPGamer. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
219. ^'Sakura Wars ~So Long My Love~ Interview'. RPGamer. 2010. Archived from the original on 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2011-03-30.
220. ^Jeremy Parish (8 May 2009). 'Sakura Wars Comes to America, But is it Too Late to Matter?'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
221. ^'Tokyo Game Show'. Expo.nikkeibp.co.jp. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
222. ^'TOKYO GAME SHOW 2001 AUTUMN'. Cesa.or.jp. 2001-10-12. Archived from the original on 2010-10-08. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
223. ^'東京ゲームショウ2016結果速報'(PDF). Tokyo Game Show. September 18, 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
224. ^'東京ゲームショウ2016開幕直前情報'(PDF). Tokyo Game Show. September 7, 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
225. ^'FM Towns Marty/FM Towns Marty 2 Console Information'. Consoledatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2005. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
226. ^Wolf, Mark J. P. (2012). Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming, Volumen 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 296. ISBN978-0313379369. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
227. ^'News: Virtua Fighter 3'. Computer and Video Games (174): 10–1. May 1996.
228. ^THG.RU (2000-01-01). 'Second Hand Smoke - One up, two down'. THG.RU. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
229. ^ ^abcd'The Essential 50 Part 38: Final Fantasy VII from 1UP.com'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
230. ^ ^abcLoguidice & Barton 2009, p. 84
231. ^Loguidice & Barton 2009, p. 77
232. ^ ^abLoguidice & Barton 2009, p. 78
233. ^Loguidice & Barton 2009, p. 86
234. ^Boyer, Brandon; Cifaldi, Frank (3 November 2006). 'The Gamasutra Quantum Leap Awards: Storytelling'. Gamasutra. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
235. ^'ランダム・アクセス・メモ'. Oh! FM-7. 4 August 2001. p. 4. Retrieved 19 September 2011. (Translation)
236. ^'Dark Age of JRPGs (1): The Dragon & Princess (1982)'. blog.hardcoregaming101.net. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
237. ^Pepe, Felipe (2016-10-10). '1982-1987 - The Birth of Japanese RPGs, re-told in 15 Games'. Gamasutra. UBM Techweb. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
238. ^'Bokosuka Wars'. GameSpot.
239. ^'Bokosuka Wars'. Virtual Console. Nintendo. Retrieved 2011-05-16. (translation)
240. ^'VC ボコスカウォーズ'. www.nintendo.co.jp. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
241. ^'Game Design Essentials: 20 RPGs'. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
242. ^Buchanan, Levi, Fond Memories: Radiant SilvergunArchived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, April 7, 2008. Accessed February 13, 2009
243. ^McCarthy, Dave, The Best Games That Never Came out in BritainArchived 2009-01-30 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, January 26, 2009, Accessed February 13, 2009
244. ^ ^abStaff, Top 10 Tuesday: 2D Space ShootersArchived 2009-09-03 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, March 6, 2007. Accessed February 13, 2009
245. ^'Most prolific fan-made shooter series'. Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 2013-04-24. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
246. ^ ^abAshcraft, p. 88
247. ^Gouskos, Carrie, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved ReviewArchived 2009-01-30 at the Wayback Machine, GameSpot, November 23, 2005. Accessed February 13, 2009
248. ^'State of the Shoot ëEm Up - Edge Magazine'. Next-gen.biz. 2008-11-17. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
249. ^ ^abcCieslak, Marc (2010-11-04). 'Is the Japanese gaming industry in crisis?'. BBC. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
250. ^Krotoski, Aleks (2008-10-08). 'Tokyo Game Show Day 2: the state of the Japanese industry'. Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
251. ^ ^abc'Market Data'. Capcom Investor Relations. 14 October 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
252. ^'Dark Souls 3 confirmed, coming early 2016'. Polygon. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
253. ^Ben Dutka (February 12, 2009). 'Demon's Souls Caps Impressive First Week of Sales in Japan'. PSX Extreme. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
254. ^May 8, 2014, Financial Highlights for the Fiscal Year Ended March 2014, NAMCO BANDAI Holdings Inc.
255. ^May 7, 2014, Dark Souls II Ships 1.2 Million In U.S. And Europe, Siliconera
256. ^den Ouden, Adriaan. 'RPG of the Year'. RPGamer. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
257. ^Marchello, Sam. 'Best Graphics'. RPGamer. Archived from the original on April 10, 2010. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
258. ^Staples, Ken. 'Best PS3'. RPGamer. Archived from the original on April 6, 2010. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
259. ^'Community Choice Game of the Year'. Game Revolution. December 23, 2011. Archived from the original on April 2, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
260. ^Polygon Staff (November 27, 2017). 'The 500 Best Video Games of All Time'. Polygon.com. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
261. ^'The Top 300 Games of All Time'. Game Informer. No. 300. April 2018.
262. ^'Edge Presents: The 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time'. Edge. August 2017.
263. ^'Why do Japanese developers keep us waiting?'. The Japan Times. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
264. ^ ^ab'Square Enix eyes further acquisitions'. Financial Times. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
265. ^Johnson, Gerry; Whittington, Richard; Scholes, Kevan; Angwin, Duncan; Regnér, Patrick (2014). Exploring Strategy, 10th Ed, Pearson Education, 2014: Organization. Pearson Education. p. 357. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
266. ^Kent, Steven (April 28, 2004). 'Video games that get lost in translation'. NBC News. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
267. ^Robson, Daniel (June 29, 2011). 'Local heroes take Japanese video games to the world'. The Japan Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
268. ^Ashcraft, Brian (August 3, 2011). 'Top game designers going social'. The Japan Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
269. ^Ashcraft, Brian (May 2, 2012). 'Japan's gamers are starting to shoot 'em up'. The Japan Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
270. ^Ashcraft, Brian (September 5, 2012). 'Gunslinging the Japanese way'. Japan Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
271. ^Yin-Poole, Wesley (November 17, 2013). 'Why Xbox failed in Japan'. Eurogamer. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
272. ^'Inafune: Japanese game industry is not fine'. Destructoid. 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
273. ^Johnson, Stephen (2010-08-09). 'Itagaki: japanese game industry dying'. G4tv. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
274. ^Robinson, Martin (2012-10-10). 'The truth about Japan: a postcard from the Japanese games industry'. Eurogamer. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
275. ^Sambe, Yukiharu (2009). 'Japan's Arcade Games and Their Technology'. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Entertainment Computing– ICEC 2009. 5709: 338. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-04052-8_62. ISBN978-3-642-04051-1.
276. ^Carless, Simon (2 May 2005). 'Namco, Bandai To Merge'. Gamasutra. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
277. ^'Video Games Daily | Yu Suzuki: The Kikizo Interview (Page 2)'. archive.videogamesdaily.com. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
278. ^https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/library/pdf/printing_annual/2008/e_2008_annual.pdfPage 16: ' The domestic market has continued to expand for five years and has set new records for three consecutive years.'
279. ^ ^abchttp://www.pcgamer.com/how-japan-learned-to-love-pc-gaming-again/
280. ^'Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale'. Steam Spy. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
281. ^'PC games revenue to hit $42 billion in 2020 - DFC'. GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
282. ^'The surprising explosion of RPG Maker on Steam'. PC Gamer. April 12, 2017.
283. ^Negishi, Mayumi (2013-12-11). 'Japan Tops World In Mobile Apps Revenue'. Wsj.com. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
284. ^Johnson, Erik. 'Japanese console market down as mobile gaming takes over | Games industry news | MCV'. Mcvuk.com. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
285. ^Russell, Danny. 'Interview: Takenobu Mitsuyoshi'. TSSZ News. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
286. ^ ^abcd'2017: The Year Japanese RPGs Caught Up To Western RPGs - GameRevolution'. 27 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
287. ^ ^ab'The JRPG is Doing Just Fine, Thanks'. USgamer.net. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
288. ^ ^ab'Did 2016 truly hold up as a comeback year for the JRPG genre?'. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
289. ^ ^abcde'How Japanese video games made a comeback in 2017'. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
290. ^'Yakuza, Nioh and the New Japan Renaissance'. PC & Tech Authority. Archived from the original on 2017-10-26. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
291. ^'Awards'. The Game Awards. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
292. ^http://ign.com/articles/2017/10/02/nioh-complete-edition-coming-to-pc
293. ^Handrahan, Matthew (January 31, 2018). 'Nintendo's revenue rockets as Switch nears 15m sold'. GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
294. ^Schreier, Jason (December 25, 2017). 'The Year In JRPGs, 2017'. Kotaku.
295. ^http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2018/08/14/monster-hunter-world-sales-10-million/
296. ^Kerr, Chris (March 5, 2018). 'Monster Hunter: World is now the best-selling title in Capcom history'. Gamasutra. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
297. ^Kent, Emma. 'Octopath Traveler sells 1m copies worldwide'. Eurogamer. Retrieved August 3, 2018.

External links[edit]

• Szczepaniak, John (4 March 2014). 'History of Japanese computer games'. Gamasutra. Think Services.

How Video Games Started