will be watching .....feels old ... the 1st system i bought with my own money was the 7800 then a few months later i bought an NES with my X-mas cash born 1970 with 2 older brothers grew up seeing the local pinball/pool halls turn into videogame arcades by the late 70s saw new arcade cabinets pop up in every small shop that had a spot, after Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Asteroids took over the world (bought the Pac-Man fever LP as a kid) have often thought that if i had every .25 that i pumped into those machines as a kid back...i could be retired by now brothers had early pong systems then the 2600's and a bunch of games as well as some of the 1st home pcs... Texas Instruments TI-99

YESSSS!!!! So happy this is a thing.

I love hearing you talk about anything sega. Extremely excited for your upcoming Master System video!

I'm addicted to your videos man, they are VERY interesting. I had no idea there was that much drama and luck throughout the history of video game consoles. Keep these up, seriously!

I really like these generation recap series. good job 👍👍

I agree 100%, it was a special time...EVERYTHING was awesome... We saw Pre/Post Internet, Pre/Post Cellphones, Pre/Post HD, Pre/Post great cartoons & kids programming, and the awesome video game era of the early to mid 90's. I miss all of it.

I was an adolescent gamer during the 3rd gen and I ended up gaming on a Commodore 64 in lieu of any 3rd gen console.... but I distinctly remember my buddy’s older brother had the NES- and I was impressed by RC Pro Am, a game that my c64 simply could not match

I love this series, I'm gonna be so sad when it's over.

Born in 84. my consoles: G3- Nes G4- Mega Drive G5- Playstation G6- Playstation 2 G7- Wii & Xbox 360 G8- Playstation 4 Keep making these good vids Adam.

It's funny, the 2600 era was the wild west but the NES library ended up as a dumping ground despite Nintendo's attempt to impose standards (or rather because their standards really had nothing to do with quality control). As much as the NES saved console gaming (and it did) the SNES did the same thing all over again because if it had gone on a bit longer, poor consumer confidence would've killed the market. Instead we got a fresh console with a strong launch library (something we haven't been getting lately, sad to say). Something about the 2nd gen crash that a lot of people don't mention. It had all the problems that people talk about but it was also falling further and further behind the arcade in quality. The consoles simply weren't up to running arcade quality games. People think the market crashed and the home console market did crash... The arcades went on drinking quarters without missing a beat. Because you can make a machine to run one game and have higher quality graphics than if you try to run a lot of games on a machine that was built a couple years previously. Another thing that was added to console gaming in the 3rd gen: True game saving. It blew my mind as a kid that I could play Zelda for awhile, shut it off and pick up the game the next day. Without losing anything. That's a little something that a person who started with 3rd gen probably took for granted from the start (and why wouldn't they?) As far as the 2nd gen not being aimed at kids... I dunno man, as somebody who was a kid during 2600 days I just don't see that. The 2600 was a huge want for kids, carts were sold in the toy department of stores. The arcades (where a lot of ppl in those days first played video games) were filled with kids lined up at Centipede and Ms. Pac Man. It was the desire to bring the arcade into your house that created the game console, so they've always been very much a kid's thing. If they seemed to market it to adults, that's probably because they knew they already had kids by the short hairs (not that we had short hairs).

Born in 1979. He is exactly right. gaming on the NES in 87. And have not stopped. Grew up with the industry.

Thank you for putting together such good content for us all to enjoy an learn from.

I can't even remember a time when video games weren't a part of my life. In the early/mid 80's I remember playing the Coleco Vision in my parents bedroom. It's been one hell of a ride and I enjoy these videos to learn stuff I might have missed out on during those years.

I have been watching your recap series over and over again and switching episodes and rewatching each one I have been watching on and off for years I really appreciate your work 👍

i really like watching your videos and im too a 3rd generation gamer born in December of 1985 and i too grew up playing the Sega Master system and Mega Drive console as a kid growing up in Melbourne Australia. Sega & Sony fan throughout 👍👍 Keep it coming with the videos. Top stuff.

I really like your in depth videos, and you have very good knowledge of earlier video game consoles. I was born in 1970, and have been playing video games since arcade games first came out. One of my favorite memories was the first time I went into an "arcade" near my house.and played Space Invaders. Just all of the dozens of games' audio all at once was very mezmerizing, and when I finally was able to buy an Atari VCS was absolutely an incredible experience. I was probably 10 or 11 years old, and saved my paper route money for over a year to finally be able to buy it. My friends and I all loaned each other games. Thanks for the great videos.

Second Gen!!! Second Gen!!!

Awesome to see the debut of the 3rd gen recap series. Looking forward to the future episodes!

I love your Generation Recaps. I love hearing your stories and views. I've been wanting to do that for quite some time, since I believe I have a unique view of the generations...and I believe i'll go over the generations and talk about my experiences with them. I hope everyone else does as well!

Another great job, I'm glad you are keeping this series going. Each episode is filled with a lot of really interesting information.

I'd never have found your channel if you hadn't done these generation recap videos. Super love watching these videos, I think I've seen them all at least twice at this point. I'm re-watching them to comment because I watched them on my Wii U when you did them. Apologies in advance for the comment spam.

I really have to say, it warms my heart that you did throw in a cameo of the VTech Socrates. Technically, my parents' 2600 was the very first video game system I ever had the chance to play, but Socrates was the first system that I could really call my own. I've spent heaven only knows how many hours on that thing throughout the years. It's the primary reason I have such a fondness for robots, and Socrates was just so darn cute! I'm also happy to say that, over twenty years later, it's still in perfect running order. I feel like a little kid every time I boot it up. It does takes a boat load of batteries, though, six D's for the main unit and four AA's for the controller. It did have an AC adapter, but it's long since vanished.

Great work as usual, Adam. I'm 37 years old, and while my first real exposure to gaming came in arcades and at home with my 2600, it was this third generation, and the NES in particular, that really turned me into the gamer I am today. Your analysis of Nintendo and the way they treated their games as something special, and not as a disposable way to make a quick buck, was spot on. These were the first games that felt like real, living, breathing adventures. There's no way to describe what it was like to put that gold Legend of Zelda cartridge in my NES, fire it up, and realize I could go anywhere, do anything, and that I had to somehow make my way through that world. Stuff like Super Mario Bros., Metroid, Dragon Warrior, Contra...they changed who I was as a person. And I'm grateful for it. This is the most important generation of consoles in gaming history, IMO. Looking forward to the rest of the videos.

Was looking forward to this Adam, brilliant and great to see the GX4000 get a mention. Thoroughly enjoyable stuff.

Thanks so much for your videos overall & the recap series, too! I have greatly enjoyed them over the weeks & months since discovering your channel. Of particular interest were your UK trip videos & the various generation recaps. The cleaning/repair videos were also quite helpful. I have wondered for a long while whether you were going to do a 3rd-gen recap. I am thrilled that you actually did one. This is where gaming benan for me, with the NES that I received & (still have) for Xmas in 1991. I appreciate this generation, including the computer games like C64 & Amiga (well Amiga came out in 1985 but probably belongs in the 4th-gen when it comes to games), more now than any prior decade. The primitive 8-bit graphics & sound that make up so many games from the 3rd-gen & related handheld & arcade hardware now are dear to many of us gamers. Companies really did a lot of ad-hoc work on trying to get functional games that were cohesive once again following the arcades crash in the middle 1980s. Many, many franchises that are household names began here & still live on. It is likely online gaming that made as big an impact on gaming in more recent times as this generation did back then. The 3rd gen was where games transitioned from being an arcade experience to a home experience.

Awesome! I really enjoy the hell out of these generational videos you've been putting out. By the way, I found your channel thanks to Sega CD Universe aka Vampire Mike. Hell of a guy.

Yesssss! So glad you're doing more of these. I watch the other ones all the time.

Yes! It's been a while since one of these. This series is why I subscribed. So happy to get more.

Although im no where near 30, for some reason i feel like i understand your point. I grew up playing NES/SNES in the mid 90s. i was born in the early 90s. Although im 23, i did get to see a huge change in the gaming scene. For example when i saw 3D polygon games on the N64 and the play station i was blown away. But i agree that people who grew up in the 80s probably got to experience the whole evolution of gaming. I feel like the people born in the mid 90s were the last group of people to ever experience some sort of sense of seeing the evolution of gaming. Back then every generation of gaming had a drastic change, now a days its not like that. Thanks for making these videos.

Great video man! Really enjoyed it! The Amstrad GX4000 was actually my 1st gaming console. I got it in 1991 and only had the pack in game for it. It was replaced a few months later on my 7th birthday with the NES Action Set! I'm so happy that I grew up in the 80's and 90's and got to experience all these systems in the hay day :) Looking forward to seeing the next episode! Cheers

Thank you for doing this. Gaming history needs to be documented in video form for future generations. Thank you again.

Good recap, Adam. Enjoyed the Disney analogy. I was born in 78. First game I remember was Pac-Man on Atari 2600 at age 5. Then NES was what really got me addicted to gaming around '87 I think was when we finally got one. Neighbors had it before we did. Loved going over to their place and playing Super Mario Bros.

Looking forward to this series, love all the past ones as well. Thanks man.

I have been waiting this third generation recap videos forever , thanks man

I like your play load videos, but I love these gen recaps. You have great insight into these different systems of their time.

Great recap! I was born in late 1985 and grew up first hand on the NES...then Atari 2600, SNES, N64, Saturn, Genesis, PSX, etc. Being 30 years old I only knew of the NES at the time and had a ton of fun with my siblings and friends. I remember seeing ads in certain gaming magazines slamming the NES toward their crappy game on another system but looking back they never succeeded in the long run. Oddly enough though I bought a Sega Master System and many games back in 2008 wanting to see what competition we had at the time. With that saw a system that was like a Game Gear that hooked up to my tv. The year later I invested in an Atari 7800 seeing how it played 2600 games along with new to me games that I missed in translation. Most kids won't understand what gaming was then compared to now in either case as a result of the technology at the time and the progressions over the years. It still boggles my mind that 15-20 years ago we were playing 16 bit games compared to the HD creations now.

Adam!! I really think you knocked it out of the park with this video. me being a 37 year old gamer my first system was a ColecoVision. I can tell you everything you said was very much on point. great job man, keep em coming!!

I am 32 an one of the main benefits I think I gained from being born when I was an starting to game when I did would be the controllers. What I mean by this is the NES started me with a simple button layout and as newer consoles came out with more buttons an harder button combinations. I feel I an people like me who developed our skills in parallel with the games them selves coming out generation to generation had an advantage in understanding what to expect to do in terms of button pressing.I hope this makes sense I could not think of a better way to put in in text.

Adam, great job. You always do top notch work on these generation reviews.

These recap videos are how I found your channel back in July and been subbed since. Its nice to see its back and with the 3rd gen. My first memory of ever playing a game was the first Zelda on the NES before going to preschool and I'll never forget it lol. BTW nice shirt, I also remember watching terminator but mostly Judgement Day a lot back then lol nice nostalgia trigger Adam.

Worth saying, the GX4000 and the related Amstrad Plus range were released in Europe, it was extensive in France in particular. I focus a lot on this system on my channel.

I was born in 75, so video games were always around, but I mostly only got to play the *new* systems when I would visit my friends. We had a "pong" machine that we got in the early 80s, but I didn't get a real console until I got my Genesis in the early 90s. By that point, I had a lot of experience with the NES, but my best friend had a Master System and I was just blown away by "Space Harrier" with the scaling, and of course I played "Out Run" in the arcade. So, nobody talks about this too much, but honestly Sega's early edge to me was from their racing titles (Road Rash was *big* with me and my friends). This was a few years before "Sonic" was released, but if you combine that scaling and fast pace with a side scrolling platform, you've got the formula for the famous Hedgehog. Hardware capability, of course, wasn't everything -- I had a rich friend who had a Neo Geo, which was just amazing, but the price point on the games and the fact that I couldn't really trade/borrow games from anybody else made that a not really sensible choice. I bought a Master System Power Base Converter for the Genesis, because I bought it early enough in the run that there weren't many games yet. But the only Master System game I actually owned was "Reggie Jackson Baseball." Far, far superior to any kind of sports title on Nintendo. The range of games that Sega offered was unbeatable. But I can see how, for slightly younger gamers born in the 1980s, the Nintendo was still offering that more kid-oriented focus.

great opener to the series. its mad that its come this far. but they've all been fascinating. loved the 'deep' analysis on this one. trufax.

And now Adam owns an SG-1000. Cant wait to see a video on it!

I remember the ads in comic books where they would have a picture of the game and how it was ported on different consoles. Now that I look at it, the ads aimed at us in the early 80's were quite crude, laughable even. Can't believe I;m still gaming through all of this lol!! Thanks for the memories Adam!!

I was waiting for you to cover all these consoles in depth, glad to see it happen! I love these recap vids :)

YESSSS! I've been waiting for you to make this video. Thank you!

Thats a great series. I love it. I still learn a lot. I totally on your page with the generation question. I'm 35. Istarted Internet use on a regular basis when I was 18 (Europe was a little slow). Nintendo (and to a lesser degree Sega) was my only digital experiance for a long time. I really get sentimental when I think about the NES. Thanks for this awesome look at gaming history.

I'm from New Zealand. I've seen a few SG1000s for sale here, very respectable prices as a standalone item. They were released under license by a company called Grandstand, who dabbled in a variety of consumer electronics. We also had the Sega SC3000 personal computer.

I've been waiting for this, and the first video certainly did not disappoint. I'm not that much older than you (born in '85) so I view this generation the same way you do, and I agree with everything you said. The NES was my first console and I played the crap out of it for about 3 years until 1993 when I finally got an SNES. I absolutely define myself as a gamer by the NES no matter what anyone says about needing to be around 33 to have experienced the NES. Plus it was great because a lot of the NES games were super cheap by 1990 when I got an NES for my 5th birthday, and I got a couple games a month that were all new and exciting to me no matter how old they were by 1993. Thanks for doing this series.

Been waiting for a 3rd generation recap for a long time, you're awesome, Adam! Keep up the great work.

Born in 1985, and got to see gaming evolve over the years and lean to appreciate what we have now. still love old School gaming because as you said, we got to experience a it as it was happening.

Love these series you do, look forward to the following videos.

Love this series

Another great vid. I'm a GenX'er and remembering growing up with some of these systems.

I was born in 82 and i remember when my mom bought an nes. we played that heck out of that thing. she also bought the top loader when it came out. lots of memories.

man, I agree with the age thing. This was a very thought provoking video. I remember seeing an NES for the first time. my sister wouldn't let me play it much and I sucked at super Mario Brothers but that D pad was so intuitive the first time I used it :) thanks for making me remember some roots! we 86 kids are lucky indeed

Your videos are really awesome. I'm the same age and I relate to everything you remember too.

Funny, the point you make about this generation. I was 8 when I got my NES and have been hooked on games since. Great video.

Awesome video! Glad to see you covering this generation. Although it is a different category I would point out that Nintendo, Sega and Atari did compete one other time in the portable market. Gameboy, Gamegear, and Lynx. I look forward to individual videos!!

This is such an awesome series that you do man. This "series" (saw the 6th gen one first) thing is what hooked me on this channel, and certainly keep me coming back, along with the Keep Dreaming content. On another note, can we just talk about how cool the Master System looks?! It's so late 70's Star Wars looking. For me the NES defined my youth, and secured my love for the hobby through out my childhood, teens, early adult and now "adult" eras.

I'm from Sydney Australia and distinctly remember my uncle having a SG-1000.

I'm an 83 baby and gotta say you brought up points I never considered before. Kudos and ballyhoo to those that think you're too young to be a third gen kid.

Alright this is where I will start a marathon today of the retrospectives, wish me luck.

+Adam Koralik The D pad actually started on the Nintendo Game and Watch. But the NES/Famicom was the first console to adopt it.

Thank you so much! Ive wanted this for a while ;)

WOW!! I just learned something today. I didnt know the SG-1000 was part of this generation. Always thought it was the second gen. cool to know thanks.

I was born in '83 and the Nintendo was my first console. I have great memories of that time in my life and with help from my mom beat many a game. Then we got the SNES and we loved it! So many titles that still exist today got their start on the SNES, but most people know that. We stayed with the SNES until the PS1, that's how long it held my attention. Honestly I think anyone's first console will be their greatest memories of gaming. I love gaming as a whole and while I would never consider my generation the best there is no denying that we lived through a "revolution" with this technology. Great video man! In my opinion you are unbiased and tell the whole story, I think that's great. I will admit that I would play Zombies Ate My Neighbors before any FPS, but again that doesn't mean one is better than the other. 😎

Hi #AdamKoralik.I'm european and I'm a lot older than you. I've had my first gaming computer when I had 6 years old, it was a ZX Spectrum, and that stuff was sold as a kids computer. I've played games like Chuckie Egg and Manic Miner with my school friends. With this I'm saying that gaming was already marketed mainly for kids and that there was already a gaming movida, and also that we played not using consoles but computers, they were open to use for a lot of other purposes and we could program ourselves. In my home town there were a lot of commercial places where we could go to copy games, piracy was the rule. Machines like Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad were marketed for kids.During early 90s, PC gaming was the "mature market" and console gaming appeared directed for kids, it was your generation arriving. During that period I got a Commodore Amiga (1991 maybe) and, as an example of those times, I was able to make a Kick Off (a football game of those days) Tournment on which 32 friends and friends of friends participate. We were a lot and active, but we were on PC and Amiga gaming. Playstation One was the first console that brought young adults to console gaming, with adult themed games, similar to those on computers.I understand what you mean when you say that Nintendo focus on kids, that's true, and it was a double edge knife for them. Their first image around here was that of a little kids machine, with no violence, with no blood, a secure console that parents could give to their children. A boy with more than 7 yo would never say that he had a Nintendo and dreamed on having a PC to play Mortal Kombat and Larry Suit. That little kids image that Nintendo got was later replaced by a family system image (Wii). That's why they are having problems to sell WiiU, it's a console that isn't for kids neither for families, they want to fight in the grow ups league against Sony and Microsoft.

Awesome video Adam. Looking forward to the videos for this generation.

I really enjoy these kind of videos, keep em' coming!

This is the fourth night in a row I'm going to listen to this video. So far every time I fell asleep at some point. Granted it's late and I'm in bed listening to this with my eyes closed. See if I can make it to the end tonight

His talking points and his thoughts about each system are usually well informed, and he's not reading off a script or saying canned wikipedia stuff. He should have way more views than the other channels that do this stuff that go for all that high production value and over do video editing and effects.

Im 32 years old and one cool thing the nes helped me back in 89 besides by also learning in school when i was 6 my older brother bought ninja gaiden and i kinda learned how to read during the games cut scenes

I remember being unimpressed with video games until I saw "Batman" on the Genesis. Then I wanted one of my own (and my dad ended up playing it more than I did, his favorite was "Sonic Spinball"). Later I watched over the shoulder someone playing "Metroid: Fusion" and that was it. I've had a game console since about midway through the GB:A's lifespan.

Second Gen! Second Gen! :P [hopefully]

Interesting videos. I am a similar age to you (slightly older). By the time I was old enough to have a console, that master system was the latest thing. My mum wouldn't get me it. This was because it lacked a keyboard for educational purposes. 1990 I got an Atari ST. Christmas 1992 she gave in and just bought me a Sega Megadrive. It was either going to be the megadrive or the cheaper master system II (I asked for either, whatever I was allowed). I remember looking through the wrapping paper on Christmas eve and seeing the Megadrive pattern. My Atari ST will always be my favourite.

I was born in 1978 in the UK and and got to grow up first hand seeing the whole industry start it's journey (and got to live through the awesome pop culture of the 1980s as a kid). We used to borrow an Atari 2600 from one of my Uncle's friends till we got our first proper home computer (an Atari 800XL) and had to load games from cassette tapes. By the way if you want to find out more on why the Sega Master System was more popular in the UK than the NES then I'd recommend you research a company called Mastertronic who distributed the console here (and then for other Euro countries after making it wildly popular in the UK), they eventually became Sega Europe after various mergers and takeovers. Also check out the film 'From Bedrooms to Billions' for further insights into the UK gaming industry of that era.

Adam good to know you are also a late 80s kids. I grew up playing with a Dendy, that is a Russian pirated Nes game console, it was made with original Nintendo hardware, produced by a Korean company and sold in Russia. So i grew up playing pal and NTSC releases. I really enjoyed everything you said and I really get your point about the internet, back than we had to solve our problems with the games our-self by playing our limited Libraries until we passed every lvl. Games were so expensive that i had to beg my parents for a very long amount of time to get at lest one game to play in a year and if you made a wrong choice this game was played until it was finished.

As a kid, I grew up with the handhelds. GameBoy, than Colour, than Advanced, Advanced SP, etc. I've had almost every Nintendo handheld. I even had a GameGear. The only console I remember playing was a Genesis. Sonic 2, Mean Bean Machine and X-Men are the only games I can remember.

I actually HAD a VTech Socrates but by grandpa sold it in a yard sale before he moved to Illinois. I was and still am so sad that I don't have it anymore.

The sega master system is my favourite system from this generation of consoles. The amstrad did have a limited release in Canada but I only knew one or two people in Toronto that had one.

WHOOO! I was waiting SO LONG for this! ^^

2nd gen! 2nd gen!

A very good episode Adam. Nicely put into words. I'm a bit older than you but I remember when (decent) game intros and digitised voice was a big thing in gaming!! We grew up in the best gaming days for sure. I still remember seeing Super Mario World in a mag at school, before it launched, and I was in awe of all those rich colours on screen! oh those days!! Kudos on Sega with the RGB..shame they dealt the UK with shitty 50Hz! :)

Been looking forward to another one of these!

I'm in the same age bracket as you and I remember getting my NES, the funny thing is that a lot of people 25+ loved playing it, in fact I got it from a guy in his 30s as he wanetd the soon to be released SNES. I genuinely believe older people loved the NES and bought it. The reason I think that is because games where now at level where they could get into it. Gen 1-2 where incredibly basic/simple and perhaps too much for people of that age. In fact my nan had her own NES(it was in her room I had to ask to get at it), she loved dig-dug, Castelian and doctor mario.

i was born on a the year famicom came out 1983, so i got experience gaming on how it grew to what it is today, 27 years of gaming from nes to ps4, i was the lucky guys who have a dad who introduced me to gaming.

Nice video, looking forward to the other game console generation video you posted. One thig you should note is that any company could clone the Atari 2600 because there were no proprietary hardware components in the 2600, it was made from off the shelf parts that anyone could buy. A better example of the Atari 2600 is the Coleco Gemini console, the only difference on the Coleco Gemini console is the cartridge slot was rotated 180 degrees so the label on the Atari 2600 cartridge face the rear of the console.

Hello this is adam korolik with figure it out productions the following video is part of our quickshoot series........

Also, reading the copy of that _Journey: Escape_ magazine ad basically makes me think the whole game was one gigantic episode of _Metalocalypse_, simply with Journey standing in for Dethklok, LOL.

I was waiting for this series, good job and love your videos.

Like yourself my first video game memories were made on the NES. Born in '86 also. And then going into the 4th generation of consoles I actually had a Sega Genises before a Super NES. I never played the Master System. I wish I had.

I am soooo glad you are doing the 3rd generation. BTW you are my favorite youtuber man! Good work!!!

Thanks for finally doing this Generation!

I was born in 86 too and guess what the first game console I saw the nes. My brother owned one and I still think for how old it is it's one one of the best consoles ever made in history

Thank you kindly for your recap, i have enjoyed your videos, especialy the ones on the best video game quality for you consoles.

My favorite video game generation. NES was my first console, it is my favorite. Enjoyed this a lot.

Absolutely perfect 23mins.about 3rd gen,You sad everything thats importent,and all informations are correct.Nice vid man,Greetings from Croatia!

Amstrad is the company name, they were run and owned by Sir Alan Sugar who is the host of the UK version of "The Apprentice". I never knew they did a console & I live in the UK. Lol