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Adedicated console is avideo game console that is limited to one or more built-invideo game or games, and is not equipped for additional games that aredistributed viaROM cartridges,discs,downloads or other digital media. Dedicated consoles were popular in thefirst generation of video game consoles until they were gradually replaced bysecond-generation video game consoles that use ROM cartridges.
Most of the earliest home video game systems were dedicated consoles, most popularlyPong and its many imitators. Unlike almost all later consoles, these systems were typically notcomputers (in which aCPU is running a piece ofsoftware), but contained ahardwired game logic.
In the late 1970s, ROM cartridge-based systems, beginning with theFairchild Channel F, had risen to prominence during the second generation of video game consoles due to the success of theAtari 2600, though stand-alone systems such asColeco's Mini-Arcade series continued to have a smaller presence in the home video game console market until thevideo game crash of 1983. Since theNintendo Entertainment System, ROM cartridge-based consoles had dominated the home market until CD-based consoles such as thePlayStation gained prominence in the mid and late1990s.
All home video game consoles from the first generation of video game consoles are dedicated to one or a few games, and they can usually be selected with a game switch on the console. Less common, the games can be selected with a cartridge. On these cartridges isn't a program; there are just a few wires that connect electrically a few parts of the intern console hardware that a game appears on the screen. Examples for this technique are theMagnavox Odyssey, theColeco Telstar Arcade and thePhilips Tele-Game ES 2201.
Developing from earlier non-videoelectronic game cabinets such aspinball machines, arcade-style video games (whether coin-operated or individually owned) are usually dedicated to a single game or a small selection of built-in games and do not allow for external input in the form of ROM cartridges. Although modern arcade games such asDance Dance Revolution X andHalf-Life 2: Survivor do allow external input in the form of memory cards or USB sticks, this functionality usually only allows for saving progress or for providing modified level-data, and does not allow the dedicated machine to access new games. The game or games in a dedicated arcade console are usually housed in a stand-up cabinet that holds a video screen, a control deck or attachments for more complex control devices, and a computer or console hidden within that runs the games.
First released in the mid-1970s by games such as Mattel Electronics'Mattel Auto Race andMattel Electronic Football, dedicated handheld video games are considered the precursors of modernhandheld game consoles.[1] Devoted to one game or a collection or built-in games, dedicated handhelds tend to employ simpleVFD orLCD screens although older models often utilized even more primitive arrays of small light bulbs orLED lights to produce calculator-like alphanumerical screens. Dedicated handheld systems typically comprise a screen, a number of control buttons, and a compact body that houses the game engine. Nintendo's Game and Watch series increased the popularity of dedicated handheld games during 1980s.
Dedicated consoles have appeared for fishing games, where the unit's body itself becomes a specialized controller in the form of arod and reel. Other dedicated consoles have been released withlight guns, for hunting, shooting, and even archery games.
Rising to popularity in the early 1980s, game watches are electronic wristwatches that allow the wearer to access an included video game that uses the display in the watch's face as its screen. Game watch buttons which originally may have been used for setting hour and minute gain secondary functions in relation to the needs of the game.
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A dedicated console differs from a handheld TV game (or a "plug and play game") in that the latter integrates the video game console with thegame controller.
Most modern dedicated home game systems are popularly referred to as "plug and play" because they are based on modern technology which enables the hardware and software of the entire game to be within a single controller, with no separate console at all. Some of these are clones of old games, and are produced in China or Southeast Asia (i.e.Power Player Super Joy III), while others contain licensed games and are distributed in mainstream stores in the West. Of the latter,Jakks Pacific's line ofTV Games is among the most famous, which includes re-releases of many vintage games, from arcade classics to Atari 2600 games, as well as games based on currently-popular characters, such asSpongeBob SquarePants.Konami has also released a line of their classic arcade games, includingFrogger, on "plug and play" dedicated systems.
ThePelican VG Pocket was an attempt to make a TV game with a backlitcolor LCD. Dedicated consoles and handheld electronic games with LCD screens that only have one game are rather distinct devices, but the release of the Pelican VG Pocket has blurred the categorization between the two.
Beginning with the 2001[2] release by Toymax (and later Jakk's Pacific) of the Activision TV Games, there has been a revival of interest in dedicated consoles by nostalgia-driven retrogamers. The subsequent 2002 release of theAtari 10-in-1 system prompted speculation of an Atari revival.[3]
In 2002, the Brazilian Sega distributorTectoy re-released theMaster System with numerous games built in. These are not, strictly-speaking, dedicated consoles, however, as they also support cartridge-based games. As of 2006, no new official cartridges were available for sale. Tectoy also released a portableMega Drive with the firecore firmware, with LCD screen and several games built in, but it has no cartridge port and instead has a SD card slot.
In 2004, a miniaturized version of theAtari 7800 home consoles was released with 20 built-in games and no cartridge support calledAtari Flashback.[3] The dedicated console is actually based on a clone of theNES hardware, but running Atari software. A newer version,Atari Flashback 2, is based on actual Atari hardware, and includes some new built-in games developed by modern hobbyistAtari 2600 programmers, as well as old favorite games.[4] While the new console has no cartridge slot, it is designed so that one can be added, and multiple online tutorials exist detailing this process.[5][6]
In the late 2010s, Nintendo, Konami, Sony, Sega, andSNK released dedicated consoles with built-in games that had been released earlier for their historic video game consoles. Examples of these dedicated consoles include theNES Classic Edition,Super NES Classic Edition,PlayStation Classic,Neo Geo Mini,TurboGrafx-16 Mini, and theSega Genesis Mini, which usually are miniaturized replicas of their historic consoles.
