List of first generation home video game consoles
The first generation of video game consoles lasted from 1972 to 1983. The first console of this generation was the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey. The final console available for sale was the 1978 Elwro Television Game 10 (TVG-10), later sold by PPZ Ameprod from 1981 until 1984. The last new console release of the generation was most likely the Compu-Vision 440 by radio manufacturer Bentley in 1983, although other systems were also released in that year. The first console generation overlaps with the second (1976 to 1992) and third generations (1983–2003), which  comprise more advanced consoles than the first. For a list of home consoles after the first generation, see List of home video game consoles. For a list of handheld game consoles, see List of handheld game consoles. Repetition and similarities. Naming. Manufacturers placed emphasis on what the console was and what it could do to differentiate the console. The most common elements were usually: This led to many consoles being nearly identical in name, possibly leading to market confusion. Identical consoles. Many consoles were copies of others, had very similar form factors with different inputs, or were distributed under different  names in different regions. An example is the Binatone line that was released simultaneously under the names "Mentor" and "Tokyo". Name changes are most commonly exemplified by the Sears Tele-Games line, which consisted of existing Coleco, APF and Atari Consoles. The only difference was the Sears branding: Other examples include: Clone consoles. Although most consoles are near identical gameplay-wise, some consoles were more blatant on their copying and tried to mimic specific consoles. An example of what is possibly the first clone video game console is the Spanish Overkal created by Inter Electrónica S. A. in 1974, the  console cloned the Magnavox Odyssey released two years earlier in the US, and in Europe as the ITT Odyssee one year earlier. It had a similar shape, controllers, color scheme, and even all the accessories included: Light Gun Functionality. Some consoles had light gun style games included in the system alongside other sports games modes. Some consoles included the accessory in the box while others needed to be purchased separately. The first Light Gun was the shotgun compatible with the Odyssey and came with the game Shooting Gallery. Some guns, like the one on the Coleco Telstar Marksman, came with  stock and barrel parts that could be removed or re-attached depending on playstyle. Light Guns of this era have realistic proportions, shape and color, due to the fact that during the '70s and '80s there were no laws against the depiction of realistic weapons in children's toys. While some manufacturers later chose to use bright colors and more sci-fi designs, the prohibition of such designs in the US only came in 1992. Market saturation. Video game crash of 1977. While the video game crash of 1983 led to three years without innovation and furthered stagnation, the video  game crash of 1977 was a more instantaneous event. This was due to the existence of cartridge-based consoles, like the Fairchild Channel F one year prior, the popular Atari 2600, and many others that were available on the market. Rather than purchasing several identical consoles that occupied more space and required connection to the TV, being able to purchase new, improved and different games for the same console at a lower price led to the fall of dedicated consoles. The transition was abrupt, so manufacturers scrambled to replace or sell aging tech. Atari considered creating a second cartridge console  to implement their surplus of processors from their dedicated line of consoles, which took the form of the Atari Game Brain to be released in 1978. However, the plan ultimately fell through and the Game Brain was canceled, as it would create confusion with their more successful console. While these consoles mostly disappeared from America in 1978, in other regions of the world—most notably Europe and Japan—these consoles were thriving because second generation consoles did not have a strong presence. This led to a family of clone consoles that had their CPUs in individual cartridges. Permanence in the  market. More than 200 different companies were involved in the first generation, and while more than half only released one console, it was still a large number of companies compared to the 20 that partook in the second generation. There were only manufacturers to create consoles past the first generation. The rest no longer partook in the video game industry. When counting only those who took part in the second generation, meaning companies that released a new platform after the first generation, there were only 12. Nintendo is the only company that participated in the first generation and still presently  manufactures video game consoles. List. The following is a list in alphabetical order of the manufacturers, followed by the name of the console, release year, integrated chip if it had one, and whether it came with a light gun or the option to buy one separately. This list is in no way complete, as there are hundreds of consoles, some with color, name, or hardware variations. For comparison, there are home platforms starting with the second generation, and handheld consoles, totaling +. Released systems. There are first-generation home video game consoles in this list but a lot more are  known to exist. Σ items. Canceled Systems. A lot of systems were released, but some were cancelled during development or never made it to market, with some prototypes existing. There are known first-generation home video game consoles that were never released.