For decades, advances in hardware have reshaped our gaming lives – sometimes with great fanfare, sometimes going almost unnoticed. Join us for a look back at 20 innovations with legacies that still impact gaming today
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1. The first commercial console
Hardware: ZX81 | Year: 1981 | Company: Sinclair Research
The computer that took British homes by storm in the early Eighties did so on account of its price – £49.95 in kit form, £69.95 assembled – and it couldn’t have achieved that without some incredibly innovative hardware design. The computer utilised a mere four silicon chips and no moving parts – even the keyboard was a plastic membrane model. The machine also leveraged household items, using your TV in lieu of a monitor and a cassette player for data storage. Not only did the ZX81 produce a generation of bedroom coders that provided the foundation of the British gaming industry, it set the stage for similarly affordable computers throughout the Eighties.
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2. Backwardscompatible gaming
Hardware: ColecoVision Expansion Module #1 | Year: 1982 | Company: Coleco
As well as fostering brand loyalty, backwards compatibility can help a new console through the transition between generations. This was something that Coleco recognised when launching its ColecoVision in 1982, and backwards compatibility was provided by way of an expansion module. But Coleco didn’t have a previous console to provide the library, so the ColecoVision Expansion Module #1 allowed the ColecoVision to play Atari 2600 games. It was a bold move – not only was Coleco offering compatibility with a competitor’s machine, but the new Atari 5200 itself completely lacked backwards compatibility. Atari failed to stop the device through litigation as the 2600 could be replicated without infringing on proprietary technologies. Atari was eventually forced to release the Atari VCS Cartridge Adapter for the 5200. Coleco’s device not only proved the value of backwards compatibility, but forced platform holders to better protect their hardware designs from unauthorised cloning.
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3. The chip that saved gaming
Hardware: NES | Year: 1985 | Company: Nintendo
Some innovations benefit players; others are designed to aid businesses. Nintendo’s greatest innovation with the NES definitely fell into the latter category. The NES features the 10NES lockout chip, an addition to the original Famicom design which gave the company a powerful weapon against unlicensed development and piracy, as well as an effective means of regional lockout.
Hardened importers may baulk at the idea of region-locking as a key innovation in gaming history. However, Nintendo’s control over the supply of NES software was one of the key factors which allowed it to prevent the console market from being flooded with low-quality software as it had been prior to the crash of 1983. Without the 10NES, it’s unlikely that Nintendo would have regained the trust of North American retailers and consumers.
Ironically, the 10NES would cause as many problems as it solved, as the chip was central to the machine’s reliability issues. It ultimately didn’t matter, as other platform holders quickly implemented similar lockouts, creating the closed and restrictive console market that has existed to a greater or lesser degree ever since.
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4. Hardware boosting games
Hardware: NES Game Pak | Year: 1985 | Company: Nintendo
The NES wasn’t endowed with a great amount of RAM, so cartridges often supplemented it. But the improvements didn’t end there – on-board memory management controller chips provided capabilities beyond what the stock NES could achieve. Later, cartridge-based systems allowed for similar capabilities, leading to the likes of the famous SNES Super FX chip and the less famous Sega Virtua Processor.
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5. Controller design
Hardware: NES controller | Year: 1985 | Company: Nintendo
Early consoles had a range of designs, from joysticks to vertically-oriented controllers with over ten buttons. When Nintendo introduced the Famicom in 1983, it came close to standardising console controllers, with two action buttons, two function buttons and the cross-shaped D-pad borrowed from its Game & Watch range. The export NES version further refined the design and competitors caught on – the Atari 7800, Sega Master System, NEC PC Engine and Amstrad GX4000 offered similar pads.
