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This is the Console Classix Wiki. It has been created in order to allow our fans to update information on the games we offer. It's going to be a work by the fans, for the fans as it were. This is just the beginning and we at Console Classix know almost nothing about using Wiki. So, help is very welcome.

Contents 1 What This Is For 2 What Console Classix Is 3 Why 4 How 5 Systems 5.1 Atari 2600 5.2 Colecovision 5.3 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) 5.4 Super Nintendo (SNES) 5.5 Game Boy 5.6 Game Boy Color 5.7 Game Boy Advance 5.8 Nintendo 64 5.9 TurboGrafx-16 (PCE) 5.10 Master System 5.11 Game Gear 5.12 Genesis

What This Is For

Console Classix desperately needs more game information. This is here to help us get that up for everyone.

What Console Classix Is

Console Classix is a legal online rental service for classic games of generations past. As of Monday, February 14th 2011, at the launch of this wiki- Console Classix had about 3500 games in its library, with more being added on a weekly basis. The SNES and Genesis systems alone, had about 680 games each, making the task of acquiring complete systems monumental. However, that is the long range goal of Console Classix.

Why

Console Classix was founded as a solution to a growing wave of piracy on the internet. Hundreds of games can be downloaded every day for use in emulators on computers, smartphones, and handhelds. Console Classix provides a inexpensive, accessible way to get that desired nostalgia from past systems as well as preserve old games.

How

We offer a browser that connects to our server through an internet backbone. When a customer or free member requests a game, the server places this image into the client's random access memory (RAM). Our server side application tracks the images that are currently in use. This application also ensures that no more copies of a software package are in use than are in our possession. Should communication between the client and the server fail, the server frees the image and the client clears the memory allocated for the game.

Think of it like a rental service's instant cue- select a game, it loads into your computer and you play it instantly. When you're done, hit the X button, and you can select another game. Console Classix has multiple copies of each game in its library to ensure no one is waiting to play a game for very long.

Systems

Currently Console Classix has the:

Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 was the first home video game system to make a large variety of video games available to the general public. Previous to the release of the Atari 2600, most home video games were hard-wired with only one or a few games, and no way to upgrade or exchange games. Atari introduced exchangeable cartidges, making the home game system customizable, so that you could have your choice of the games you really wanted for a reasonable cost. The 2600 thrived on licensed versions of huge arcade hits such as Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Pole Position and Pac-Man, as well as original titles like Asteroids, Adventure and Breakout. Released in 1977, the Atari 2600 had an amazingly long run. Even with competition from the Nintendo Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System in the U.S.) through the 1980's, the 2600 was not officially retired until 1992.

Colecovision

Coleco's first entry into the video game market was hard-wired consoles that came with only one game built in, such as the ever-popular Pong. They also released a series of hand-held games featuring various sports and licensed arcade titles. Then in 1982 the ColecoVision hit the market with a bang. Much more powerful than the Atari 2600, the ColecoVision was capable of arcade-quality ports of popular arcade games, bringing a new level of experience to the home video gamer. Their near-perfect port of Donkey Kong came with the console and provided a huge boost to sales. Coleco also released an expansion to make their console compatible with Atari 2600 games, giving them by far the largest effective game library available on the market at that time.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

Nintendo entered the video game industry as a game developer, designing hit games for arcade machines and licensing them to home console makers such as Atari and Coleco. In 1983 Nintendo entered the home console market with the 8-bit Family Computer (Famicom) released in Japan. The Nintendo Entertainment System was the equivalent system released in the U.S. and Europe in 1985-86. The NES era witnessed the launch of Nintendo's blockbuster hit franchises Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, and Metroid, along with Capcom's Mega Man and Konami's Castlevania. All of these series gained enormous success and spawned sequel after sequel, continuing on to later consoles even to the present day.

Super Nintendo (SNES)

Nintendo released the Super Famicom in Japan in 1990, and in North America in 1991 (as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System). The system came with Super Mario World, and Mario continued to be a massively popular mascot for the company. The SNES/Super Famicom continued the success of Nintendo's major franchises like Zelda, Metroid, and Donkey Kong, as well as retaining rights with several third-party developers such as Capcom (Mega Man, Breath of Fire), Square (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger) and Konami (Castlevania, Contra). The SNES/Famicom didn't enjoy the same market domination as the NES, due in part to lack of backwards compatibility, and to Sega's aggressive marketing of the Mega Drive/Genesis. However, it was still a very successful system, right up until the end of the 16-bit era.

Game Boy

Nintendo's Game Boy was essentially an expansion on the idea of their Game & Watch series. Game & Watch were handheld units featuring an LCD screen, a four-button directional pad, and one or two action buttons, each programmed with a single game. Game Boy did for handhelds what Atari 2600 had done for home consoles: introduced exchangeable cartridges, making it possible to play a variety of games on a single portable system. Game Boy was originally released in 1989, and featured the 8-way directional pad, A, B, Start and Select buttons, familiar from the NES control pad. Part of Game Boy's overwhelming success can be attributed to Tetris, which came with the unit in the U.S. Simple graphics and addictive game-play made Tetris the perfect time-passing game for adults and children alike, and soon everyone was buying a Game Boy as a travelling companion.

Game Boy Color

Game Boy Color began replacing the Game Boy in 1998. The big deal about Game Boy Color, obviously, was the color screen. The monochromatic nature of the Game Boy was one of the major complaints against it, especially since it had to compete with Sega's full-color Game Gear. In terms of processing power, the GBC was essentially an 8-bit NES in a very small package, somewhere between the size of the original Game Boy and the Game Boy Pocket. Besides color, one of the favorite features of GBC was the ability to also play original Game Boy games, adding color to them in a similar way to what the Super Game Boy accessory for SNES did. This gave GBC a huge library of titles from the start, and many gamers were thus encouraged to upgrade their system without having to replace all their games. The Pokemon series was the new Tetris: the reason every kid wanted a Game Boy now, was to collect and trade all the different critters in the many, many Pokemon titles.

Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Advance succeeded the Game Boy Color in 2001. With a 32-bit processor and large memory capacity, it allowed hand-held game-play on approximately the level of Super Nintendo with its first releases, and even better as developers learned to take full advantage of its abilities. GBA added L and R buttons to bring the controls in line with the SNES, and moved the controls to the sides of the screen, like Game Gear (although the SP model later reverted to placing the controls below the screen). Many of the big titles in GBA's library were toned-down versions of games available for the GameCube, as well as remakes and collections of NES and SNES games, such as the Zelda and Final Fantasy series. Of course, the Pokemon series was always huge on hand-held systems as well. Finally, one of the best things about the GBA was backward compatibility, allowing you to play your older Game Boy and Game Boy color games on the new unit.

Nintendo 64

Nintendo 64 could have been the console time forgot. Nintendo's refusal to accept that the future of home gaming would be written on discs instead of cartridges certainly cost them. Compared to disc-using rivals, N64 was harder to program, and games had to be smaller and graphically simpler. The carts were bulkier and heavier than discs, more expensive to make, ship and store. Yet the Nintendo 64 was, and still is, extraordinarily popular. The reason? Quality. Of course there were the in-house super-powers like Mario and Zelda: these weren't just thrown together because people would buy anything with Mario or Zelda on it, they were some of the best games ever made for any gaming system. Add to that Rareware's inspired adventure games like Banjo-Kazooie and, for the more mature audience, Conker's Bad Fur Day. Tack on the redefining of the first person shooter with GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. Yes, the Nintendo 64 was truly a quality-over-quantity affair.

TurboGrafx-16 (PCE)

This system was released in Japan as the PC Engine in 1987, and in North America in 1989. It featured an 8-bit CPU and 16-bit graphics, giving it superior visual performance over the NES with which it originally competed. With a head-start in the 16-bit market and the support of major Japanese game makers, the PC Engine continued to do well in Japan against Nintendo's Super Famicom and Sega's Megadrive, but the TurboGrafx-16 struggled in North America, probably due to the larger number of game titles available for SNES and Genesis. Also both Nintendo and Sega offered multiplayer support out of the box, but the TurboGrafx included only one controller port.

Master System

The Master System was Sega's 8-bit home console, competing directly with the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in Japan 1985 and in the U.S. in 1986. Although more technically advanced, the Master System suffered because Nintendo had already established a market share, and had cornered licensing on many software developers. The Master System had its greatest impact and commercial success in Europe, where it was aggressively marketed, and where Nintendo had less influence. Sega introduced several hit franchises with the Master System, including Phantasy Star, Fantasy Zone, and Alex Kidd. These series enjoyed continuing success with Sega's later platforms, Genesis and Game Gear.

Game Gear

Sega Game Gear, released in Japan in 1990 and in North America and Europe in 1991, was essentially a portable Master System. In fact, you could get an adapter to plug Master System carts into your Game Gear. Unlike the Nintendo Game Boy, it had a full-color back-lit screen. The screen was already a bit larger than the Game Boy's, and you could get a magnifier to make the screen even larger. The Game Gear's controls were placed on either side of the screen, instead of crammed together at the bottom, making it easier to hold. Despite all of its technical superiority, the Game Gear did not do as well as the Game Boy. This can be attributed to Nintendo's head-start in the handheld market, Game Gear's smaller selection of popular titles, and the fact that Game Gear required more batteries and used them up much faster than the Game Boy.

Genesis

Sega introduced the Mega Drive in Japan in 1988, in North America in 1989, and in Europe, Asia and Australia in 1990. It was called Genesis in North America due to a trademark dispute. Genesis/Mega Drive was the first 16-bit home video game console. It originally competed with the NES/Famicom and NEC's PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, but Super Famicom/SNES would soon follow. To compete with Nintendo's entrenched market share and huge library of titles, Sega focused on a slightly older audience, producing games with more intense action and a large number of role-playing games, their initial stars being Altered Beast and the Phantasy Star series. A converter was available to let users play Master System games on the Genesis, which instantly expanded the game library. The Genesis/Mega Drive also introduced Sega's new mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, in a very popular platforming game, directly competing with Nintendo's Mario.