It’s been a year already since I started this column. September 2011 is here, so it’s time to dust off last year’s column, put a fresh coat of polish on it, and take a new and improved look back into the past.

SEPTEMBER

1st –
1966 – Ralph Baer begins developing his idea for an interactive game played using a home television. This idea would eventually result in the Brown Box prototype, the first ever video game console, which also had the first ever light gun attachment. Magnavox would later adapt Baer’s prototype as the Magnavox Odyssey.
1988 – Super Mario Bros. 2 is released for the NES in North America. Unlike the Japanese SMB2, the version seen to the rest of the world is a remix of a game called Doki Doki Panic with Mario universe sprites and presentation. The reason for this was because Nintendo of America believed it looked too similar to the original and was too difficult.
1992 – Super Mario Kart is released on the SNES. Super Mario Kart would set the standard for the “Kart Racing” genre that is often imitated, but never quite duplicated. The Mario Kart series still remains one of Nintendo’s most popular franchises.

4th –
1989 – The first episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show airs. The show includes live-action sequences, along with cartoon shorts. In the live-action segments, Mario is played by the late “Captain” Lou Albano, while Luigi is played by Danny Wells.

7th –
1983 – AT&T announces a joint venture with Coleco to develop a service that would deliver games over phone lines. A similar product was made available for the Atari 2600, by another company, in 1983. That product was called Gameline, which may very well be the first attempt at what we know now as digital distribution.
1997 – Final Fantasy VII is released on the PlayStation in North America. The seventh installment of the series would quickly become the most popular entry, and later spawned a series of spin-offs including a CG movie and an action-oriented game starring Vincent Valentine.

9th –
1989 – Captain N: The Game Master airs its first episode. The cartoon features a teenager named Kevin, who is sucked into a vortex and taken to Videoland. He travels alongside Simon Belmont, Mega Man, and Pit, as they go through various NES games, fighting monsters and villains, in an attempt to stop Mother Brain and rescue Princess Lana.
1991 – The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is officially released in North America. Even though some areas had the system as early as August 23, with some sources reporting August 13. The SNES library includes several classics, such as Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario World, and many more.
1995 – The Sony PlayStation is released in North America. The PlayStation brand would soon dominate the gaming industry, as the original system was the first game console to sell 100 Million units worldwide. Stand-out titles include Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Twisted Metal 2, Resident Evil, and much more.
1999 – The Sega Dreamcast is released in North America. The Dreamcast was to be Sega’s last foray into the hardware business before becoming a third-party publisher and developer.

10th –
2000 – Sega launches SegaNet, the online gaming service for the Dreamcast. This was the first first-party online service for a video game console.

13th –
1992 – In the case of Nintendo vs. Atari over copyright infringement, the US Court of Appeals rules that reverse engineering is a legitimate business practice. However, it also rules that Atari still violated Nintendo copyright for other reasons.
1993 – On the day that Acclaim dubbed “Mortal Monday,” the company released Mortal Kombat on the SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, Amiga, Sega CD, IBM PC, and Sega Master System.

20th –
2002 – Microsoft buys Rare, a British development company. Nintendo had previously owned 49% of Rare, but once Microsoft bought the remaining 51% from the Stamper brothers, Nintendo sold their stake, as well.

27th –
1983 – Atari sends 14 truckloads of computer equipment and game cartridges to a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Six million E.T. cartridges are included in the load.

29th –
1996 – The Nintendo 64 is released in North America. Launch games included Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. Nintendo was criticized for their decision to stick with cartridges. Due to the manufacturing costs, the cartridge games cost upwards of $70, compared to $50 for PlayStation games. This, among other factors, lead to Nintendo losing their spot as the number one company.

30th –
2001 – Ico is released on the PlayStation 2. The game sells poorly, but is a critical success. Garnering praise from most gaming media sources, as well as three GDC awards, and five Interactive Achievement Awards.

(Sources for this article include Wikipedia and Chronology of Video Game Systems.)