Home » Blog » This Week in Video game History (July 31st – August 6th) . . .

This Week in Video game History (July 31st – August 6th) . . .

This Week in Video Game History, a major developer is founded. A new peripheral from Nintendo. A controversy hits US arcades and Coleco challenges Atari.

July 17, 2019

The creator of hits such as Dead or Alive, Fatal Frame and Ninja Gaiden is founded. Nintendo releases a new title that introduced the world to a new peripheral, the Super NES Mouse. A controversial fighting game hits American arcades, and a new console is launched by one of Atari’s most challenging competitors.

25 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK…

Mortal Kombat (1992) [Arcade] In 1992, Midway unveils Mortal Kombat at arcades all across the United States. Mortal Kombat would go on to become one of the most controversial and successful video games of all time, sparking the great Video Game Violence debate while grossing over $500 million, Toastie! It would introduce fan favorite fighters: Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Raiden, along with long-time villains: Shang Tsung and the monstrous Goro.

Did you know that Johnny Cage is a parody of Jean Claude Van Damme? In fact, the famous action movie star was originally desired as the actor to take on the character’s role. Creators Ed Boon and John Tobias originally planned to create a video game featuring Van Damme as the main character. However, Jean Claude was already in talks with another company about a possible video game featuring his likeness. (Which never actually came to be.)

25 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK…

Mario Paint (1992) (Super NES)

Music Composition in Mario Paint

Nintendo releases Mario Paint, a new educational, art, music and animation creation title for the Super NES. This unique Mario title came packaged with and introduced the Super NES Mouse which also included a plastic mouse pad.

The Super NES Mouse is not a peripheral intended solely for Mario Paint. In fact, it’s functional with over 60 other Super NES titles. Such titles include first-person shooters: Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, as well as, puzzle/strategy games like Lemmings 2 and Populous II, titles that perhaps would be better played with a mouse. Regardless of the lack of platforming action, Mario Paint managed to become one of the best selling titles for Super NES.

35 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK . . .

In 1982, Coleco Industries launch their brand new console: the ColecoVision, the successor to Coleco’s moderately successful Telstar home console range.

Following the success of the Atari 2600, the ColecoVision would become stiff competition for Atari’s next machine, the Atari 5200. The 5200 was a significant misstep for Atari which was promoted as a high end follow up to its predecessor. However, the 5200 is incompatible with the majority of the 2600’s video game library that continued to grow. The 5200’s pack in game, Super Breakout, was criticized for not showing off any of the machines’ improved capabilities.

ColecoVision Console (1982)

Donkey Kong (1982) came packaged with the ColecoVision console.

These problems allowed the ColecoVision to gain a significant foothold in a market almost dominated by Atari. The most significant advantage the ColecoVision had over the 5200 would be the mighty Donkey Kong, included as a pack-in title. It was also lauded as a machine capable of near-perfect ports of arcade games, such as Sega’s pioneering isometric shooter: Zaxxon.

The ColecoVision had several modules available, one such module would convert the machine into a fully capable computer system called the Adam. The Adam came with a Cassette drive, Keyboard and Printer. Other ColecoVision modules included a Trackball and Steering Wheel controllers. The most significant module of all would essentially grow the ColecoVision video game library to the largest of its day. This module, an Atari 2600 video game adapter, allowed the play of 2600 titles on the system. These major advantages helped the ColecoVision reache sales of over 2 million units, double that of the Atari 5200.