page_title: History of video games
section_title: Fifth generation consoles (1993–2005) (32- and 64-bit)
hierarchical_section_title: History of video games / 1990s / Fifth generation consoles (1993–2005) (32- and 64-bit)
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Ein Sony PlayStation Spielkonsole (SCPH-5001), mit einem DualShock Gamecontroller und Speicherkarte angezeigt. Dieses ist die JPG-Version. English: A Sony PlayStation (SCPH-5001), shown with a DualShock controller and Memory Card. This is the JPG version. Українська: Sony PlayStation (SCPH-5001), показана з контролером DualShock і картою пам'яті. Це JPG-версія.
context_page_description: The history of video games goes as far back as the early 1950s, when academic computer scientists began designing simple games and simulations as part of their research or just for recreation. At M.I.T. in the 1960s, professors and students played games such as 3D tic-tac-toe and Moon Landing. These games were played on computers such as the IBM 1560, and moves were made by means of punch cards. Video gaming did not reach mainstream popularity until the 1970s and 1980s, when video arcade games and gaming consoles using joysticks, buttons, and other controllers, along with graphics on computer screens and home computer games were introduced to the general public. Since the 1980s, video gaming has become a popular form of entertainment and a part of modern popular culture in most parts of the world.
  One of the early games was Spacewar!, which was developed by computer scientists. Early arcade video games developed from 1972 to 1978. During the 1970s, the first generation of home consoles emerged, including the popular game Pong and various "clones". The 1970s was also the era of mainframe computer games. The golden age of arcade video games was from 1978 to 1982.
context_section_description: In 1993, Atari re-entered the home console market with the introduction of the Atari Jaguar. Also in 1993, The 3DO Company released the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, which, though highly advertised and promoted, failed to catch up to the sales of the Jaguar, due to its high pricetag. Both consoles had very low sales and few quality games, eventually leading to their demise. In 1994, three new consoles were released in Japan: the Sega Saturn, the Sony PlayStation, and the PC-FX, the Saturn and the PlayStation later seeing release in North America in 1995. The PlayStation quickly outsold all of its competitors mainly on the strength of its available titles, with the exception of the aging Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which still had the support of many major game companies.
  The Virtual Boy from Nintendo was released in 1995 as one of the first consumer consoles providing 3D depth perception, but did not achieve high sales, largely due to the monochrome display and the lack of third-party support. In 1996 the Virtual Boy was taken off the market.
  After many delays, during which Sony's PlayStation gained industry acceptance, Nintendo released its 64-bit console, the Nintendo 64 in 1996. The console's flagship title, Super Mario 64, became a defining title for 3D platformer games.
  PaRappa the Rapper popularized music video games in Japan with its 1996 debut on the PlayStation. Subsequent music and dance games like beatmania and Dance Dance Revolution became ubiquitous attractions in Japanese arcades. While Parappa, DDR, and other games found a cult following when brought to North America, music games did not gain a wide audience in the market until the next decade with titles like Guitar Hero. Also in 1996 Capcom released Resident Evil, the first well known survival horror game. It was a huge success selling over 2 million copies and is considered one of the best games on the PlayStation.
  Other milestone games of the era include Rare's Nintendo 64 title GoldenEye 007 (1997), which was critically acclaimed for bringing innovation as being the first major first-person shooter that was exclusive to a console, and for pioneering certain features that became staples of the genre, such as scopes, headshots, and objective-based missions. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) for the Nintendo 64 is one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, and is still the highest ranked game across all platforms on video game aggregator Metacritic. The title also featured many innovations such as Z-targeting, which has persisted through subsequent Zelda titles on newer consoles and is commonly used in many other franchises today.
  Nintendo's choice to continue using ROM cartridges instead of moving to CD-ROMs for the Nintendo 64, unique among the consoles of this period, proved to have negative consequences for the console and for Nintendo's market share. While cartridges had faster access times, were more durable and resistant to unlicensed copying, CDs could hold far more data (650MB, over ten times the capacity of the largest N64 ROM at 64MB) and cost far less to produce, causing many game companies to turn to Nintendo's CD-based competitors. Notably, Square, which had released all prior games in its Final Fantasy series for Nintendo consoles, now turned exclusively to the PlayStation; Final Fantasy VII (1997) was a massive success, establishing the popularity of role-playing video games in the west and making the PlayStation the primary console for the genre, taking the crown from Nintendo who had enjoyed it with the SNES and Square's then Nintendo-exclusive Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger titles. Copies of FFVII still command like-new prices of between US$30–$50 on the used market. Square did not return to Nintendo's main console platforms until 2003 with the GameCube and the cross-platform title Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (the only Square-published title for that console), and after FFVI for the SNES, Square did not release a "main series" Final Fantasy title for a Nintendo platform until 2019. 
caption: The Sony PlayStation.
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