well when did ET come out, I know it didn't cause the crash but it is definitely a marker to when everything started to crap out at that time

Quote Originally Posted by WelcomeToTheNextLevel View Post
What we call the "third generation" were consoles launched in 1985-1986 in the USA, with the near-total of the 3rd gen market between the NES, Master System, and Atari 7800.

But there are some major points to be made that the third generation was really the systems launched circa 1982, such as the ColecoVision, Vectrex, Atari 5200, and Arcadia 2001.
I snipped this out because I know what your getting at but I think it might be a bit misguided or, and I am not aiming to offend with this comment, narrow minded. atleast in a trivial sence that has no real bearing on life just as to the subject in these two lines that I have quoted.

I agree, the 5200 is a third generation console, it falls into the time line and in line of the general progession but that puts the 7800 in a strange generational spot, it was better than the 5200 but it wasn't far enough out to be 4th generation either, almost a generation 3.5 but since it was a "lets try and save our asses from getting burned" I can imagine more companies would have tried 2 systems within the generation to keep them in business if they had that sort of money and Atari did still have money from the home computer lines at the time.

so yes Atari 5200 is 3rd generation (in my mind atleast) but heres where I am getting at the narrow part. you say "in the USA" gaming is gaming, the generations don't change outside of the US. if a 2600 comes out as a 2800 in japan its still the same thing, it doesn't change generations its still generation 2. with out systems from other countries we wouldn't have generations.

these "third generation consoles launched in 1985" like the NES started sooner as another system, the Famicom, in 1983. so technically, even though we didn't get it here till 85 it wouldn't have existed if it came out in another country in 83. so if third generation stuff came out as pretty much the same thing in another country then why did it not become 3rd generation until it got to the US? long story short, it doesn't. the NES was 3rd generation before it was even released in the US because it already existed 2 years earlier in another country and that shortens up the gap between coleco and the 5200 (amongst others).

so take that in to account as to what your saying about the 5200, coleco and all that and it effectively fixes your mid generational gap you were talking about. colecovision and 5200 isn't hanging out as an in between when the famicom comes out less than a year after it and sg-1000 shortly after that I feel that solidly makes the 3rd generation start late 82 early 83.



and if TLDR

Console generations are not just dictated by US markets