I have absolutely no issue grouping the cartridge-driven systems from 1976-1982 together. It's only 7 years, and honestly the technology did not massively change in that time. The arrival of the NES in 1985, later the SMS and 7800 being re-issued in 1986, was a total shift not only in technology but also marketing and business practices. I realize that the Famicom and SG-1000 systems debuted in Japan about a year after the Colecovision, with similar technology. However, they were both a LOT more powerful than CV. The Intellivision, Astrocade, and Atari 5200 systems were designed in the 70's! They have no business being in the same generation as the NES/FAM. The 7800 and SMS do because they were developed post-crash, with more advanced technology than the prior generation. The Vectrex is kind of unique given it's vector tech, and gets lumped in with the 2nd gen because it was also doomed by the crash. I've always felt the SG-1000 was 2nd generation not 3rd, that's the only system I would move down. However, the Famicom was far ahead in capabilities of everything that came before it, it cannot be lumped in with the (gahhh 5200 or even Coleco).
After all this babbling, I went and looked and lo and behold, I had the same (more concise) opinion then!
The Dreamcast is absolutely the same generation as PS2, Gamecube and Xbox, heck many titles were released on those with minimal changes.Originally Posted by Greg2600
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