Video game hardware generations

Video game hardware generations are time eras in which certain consoles were released and supported by the manufacturer. The video game generations are used to classify home consoles, handheld consoles, dedicated consoles, and micro consoles, as well as certain peripherals that played different formats of video game titles. Home computers are not listed, as their hardware and purposes are very diverse. Arcade machines are also not included in this list.

First Generation (1972-80)


First generation hardware is most often defined by a lack of microprocessors in the circuitry of these electronic devices, instead using a series of logic circuits. Cartridge-based media was not widespread at this point, and a large number of dedicated video game consoles were released during this early generation, each dedicated console only capable of playing one or a small number of built-in video game titles. These titles were very basic, but utilized all the processing power of logic circuits.