Mengambil setting waktu pada akhir 1950-an dengan lokasi di tiga kota, Havana, New York City, dan Miami. Disini Aldo Trapani, karakter pemain pada game pertama akan ditampilkan singkat sebagai bos dari karakter utama.

Salah satu fitur yang ditambahkan adalah kontorl ”Black Hand 2.0”, dimana pemain dapat mencengkeram, menendang dan menyundul musuh. Keunggulan lain game ini juga akan memfiturkan “Don’s View”, sebuah sudut pandang strategis di dunia game dimana pemain dapat memerintahkan anggota keluarga untuk melindungi atau mengembangkan daerah teritorialnya.

Dari sudut pandang ini, pemain juga akan mampu melihat perkembangan bisnis dalam game dan seberapa banyak musuh. Yang tidak kalah pentingnya adalah ditambahkanya kombinasi kontrol dan combo untuk menghajar lawan, mematahkan lengan dan mampu meninju dengan satu pukulan maut. Harga game ini adalah USD 4.99, untuk info lebih detail silahkan kunjungi www.ea.com/godfather2

The Xbox was Microsoft’s first product that ventured into the video game console market, after having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Dreamcast console. The Xbox first edition was initially developed by a small Microsoft team, that included game developer Seamus Blackley. Microsoft repeatedly delayed the console, which was revealed at the end of 1999 following interviews of then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Gates stated that a gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times, confirmed by Microsoft with a press release.[4] A certain amount of excitement surrounded the announcement of Xbox. When Bill Gates unveiled it at the Game Developers Conference in 2000, audiences were dazzled by the console’s amazing technology. At the time that Gates made the announcement, Sega’s Dreamcast was diminishing and Sony’s PlayStation 2 was just hitting the streets in Japan.[5]

Microsoft made a few crucial errors at the launch of Xbox, most notably in its efforts to impress Japanese consumers. Seeing the importance of a good showing in Japan, Microsoft went hard after the Japanese market, delaying its European launch. Europe was unquestionably the more receptive market.[5] Two of the original members of the Xbox team, Seamus Blackley and Kevin Bachus, left the company early on. The other founding members, Otto Berkes and Ted Hase, are still with Microsoft, but no longer working on the Xbox project. But Microsoft has also made some brilliant moves. In preparation for its launch, Microsoft acquired Bungie and used Halo: Combat Evolved as its launch title. At the time, Goldeneye 007, for Nintendo 64, had been one of the very few hit FPS games to appear on a console, some of other ones being Perfect Dark and Medal of Honor. The Bungie acquisition proved itself, giving Microsoft a good application to drive its sales.[5] In 2002, Xbox reached one milestone that few people would have predicted when Microsoft overtook Nintendo to capture the second place slot in consoles sold in North America.

Notable launch games for the console included Dead or Alive 3, Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Halo: Combat Evolved, Fuzion Frenzy and Project Gotham Racing.

Xbox 360

Nvidia ceased production of the Xbox’s GPU in August 2005, which marked the end of Xbox production and the quick release of the Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005. The Xbox 360 enhances memory, audio, graphics, and gameplay as well as storage.

When equipped with a removable hard drive add-on, the Xbox 360 supports a limited number of the Xbox’s game library through emulation. Emulation adds support for anti-aliasing as well as upscaling of the still standard definition image. These emulators are periodically updated to add compatibility for older games and are available for free through Xbox Live or as a file download to be burned to a DVD-R from the Xbox web site. These updates are also available monthly as part of the demo disc that comes with each issue of Official Xbox Magazine. As the architectures are entirely different between Xbox and Xbox 360, software emulation is the only viable option for compatibility without including processors from the original Xbox.

Hardware

The Xbox was the first major console to incorporate a hard disk drive, used primarily for storing game saves compressed in ZIP archives and content downloaded from Xbox Live. This eliminated the need for separate memory cards (although some older consoles, such as the TurboGrafx-CD, Sega CD and Sega Saturn had featured built-in battery backup memory prior to 2007). An Xbox user could rip music from standard audio CDs to the hard drive, and these songs were used for the custom soundtracks in some games.[6]

The Xbox was the first product in the gaming industry to feature Dolby Interactive Content-Encoding Technology, which allows real-time Dolby Digital encoding in game consoles. Previous game consoles could only utilize Dolby Digital 5.1 during non-interactive “cut scene” playback.[7]

The Xbox is based on commodity PC hardware and is much larger and heavier than its contemporaries. This is largely due to a bulky tray-loading DVD-ROM drive and the standard-size 3.5 inch hard drive. However, the Xbox has also pioneered safety features, such as breakaway cables for the controllers to prevent the console from being pulled from the surface on which it resides.

The original game controller design, which was particularly large, was similarly often criticized since it was ill-suited to those with small hands and caused cramping in the hands of some users. In response to these criticisms, a smaller controller was introduced for the Japanese Xbox launch. This Japanese controller (which was briefly imported by even mainstream video game store chains such as GameStop) was subsequently released in other markets as the “Xbox Controller S”. In addition, all future Xbox consoles were shipped with a “Controller S”, while the original controller (known as Controller “0″ or “The Duke”) was discontinued.[8]

Several internal hardware revisions have been made in an ongoing battle to discourage modding (hackers continually updated modchip designs in an attempt to defeat them), to cut manufacturing costs, and to provide a more reliable DVD-ROM drive (some of the early units’ drives gave Disc Reading Errors due to the unreliable Thomson DVD-ROM drives used). Later generations of Xbox units that used the Thomson TGM-600 DVD-ROM drives and the Philips VAD6011 DVD-ROM drives were still vulnerable to failure that rendered the consoles either unable to read newer discs or caused them to halt the console with an error code usually indicating a PIO/DMA identification failure, respectively. These units would not be covered under the extended warranty.

In 2002, Microsoft and Nvidia entered arbitration over a dispute on the pricing of Nvidia’s chips for the Xbox.[9] Nvidia’s filing with the SEC indicated that Microsoft was seeking a US$13 million discount on shipments for NVIDIA’s fiscal year 2002. Additionally, Microsoft alleged violations of the agreement the two companies entered, sought reduced chipset pricing, and sought to ensure that Nvidia fulfill Microsoft’s chipset orders without limits on quantity. The matter was settled on February 6, 2003, and no terms of the settlement were released.[10]

Launch-era Xbox gaming units were manufactured in Hungary, while the controllers were manufactured primarily in Indonesia.

Technical specifications

* CPU: 32-bit 733 MHz Custom Intel Coppermine-based processor in a Micro-PGA2 package. 180 nm process.[11]
o SSE floating point SIMD. Four single-precision floating point numbers per clock cycle.
o MMX integer SIMD
o 133 MHz 64-bit GTL+ front-side bus to GPU
o 32 KB L1 cache. 128 KB on-die L2 “Advanced Transfer Cache”
* Shared memory subsystem
o 64 MB DDR SDRAM at 200 MHz; 6.4 GB/s
o Supplied by Hynix or Samsung depending on manufacture date and location
* GPU and system chipset: 233 MHz “NV2A” ASIC. Co-developed by Microsoft and Nvidia.
o Geometry engine: 115 million vertices/second, 125 million particles/second (peak)
o 4 pixel pipelines with 2 texture units each
o 932 megapixels/second (233 MHz x 4 pipelines), 1,864 megatexels/second (932 MP×2 texture units) (peak)
+ Peak triangle performance (32pixel divided from filrate): 29,125,000 32-pixel triangles/s raw or w. 2 textures and lit.
# 485,416 triangles per frame at 60 frame/s
# 970,833 triangles per frame at 30 frame/s
o 8 textures per pass, texture compression, full scene anti-aliasing (NV Quincunx, supersampling, multisampling)
o Bilinear, trilinear, and anisotropic texture filtering
o Similar to the GeForce 3 and GeForce 4 PC GPUs
* Storage media
o 2×–5× (2.6 MB/s–6.6 MB/s) CAV DVD-ROM
o 8 or 10 GB, 3.5 in, 5,400 RPM hard disk. Formatted to 8 GB. FATX file system.
o Optional 8 MB memory card for saved game file transfer.
* Audio processor: NVIDIA “MCPX” (a.k.a. SoundStorm “NVAPU”)
o 64 3D sound channels (up to 256 stereo voices)
o HRTF Sensaura 3D enhancement
o MIDI DLS2 Support
o Monaural, Stereo, Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital Live 5.1, and DTS Surround (DVD movies only) audio output options
* Integrated 10/100BASE-TX wired ethernet
* DVD movie playback (Add-on required)
* A/V outputs: composite video, S-Video, component video, SCART, Digital Optical TOSLINK, and stereo RCA analog audio
* Resolutions: 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i
* Controller ports: 4 proprietary USB 1.1 ports
* Weight: 3.86 kg (8.5 lb)
* Dimensions: 320×100×260 mm (12.5×4×10.5 in)

Accessories

The Xbox’s standard retail packages came with the following accessories:

* One controller (Duke or Controller S)
* One A/V cable
* One power cable
* One CAT5 Ethernet cable (some packages)
* One bundled game disc (some packages)

Controllers
The original Duke controller (left) and the Controller S (right).

The Xbox controller features two analog sticks, a pressure sensitive directional pad, two analog triggers, a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots and six 8-bit analog action buttons (A/Green, B/Red, X/Blue, Y/Yellow, and Black and White buttons.)[12] The standard Xbox controller (also known as the “Duke” controller) was originally the Xbox controller for all territories except Japan. The Duke controller has been criticized for being relatively large and bulky compared to other video game controllers (it was awarded “Blunder of the Year” by Game Informer in 2001[13] and a Guinness World Record for the biggest controller in Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2008). The Controller S, a smaller, lighter Xbox controller was originally the standard Xbox controller only in Japan (codenamed “Akebono”).[14] It was designed to be more comfortable for those with smaller hands.[15][16] The Controller S was released in other territories by popular demand, and eventually replaced the standard controller in the Xbox’s retail package, with the larger original controller available as an accessory.

Memory

An 8 MB removable solid state memory card can be plugged into the controllers, onto which game saves can either be copied from the hard drive when in the Xbox dashboard’s memory manager or saved during a game. Most Xbox games can be copied to the memory unit and to another console but some Xbox saves are digitally signed, each console has a unique signing key, and some games (e.g., Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) will not load saved games signed by a different Xbox, limiting the utility of the memory card. Additionally, game saves can be tagged as uncopyable, or simply padded to over 8 MB (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic). The signing mechanism has been reverse-engineered by the Xbox hacking community, who have developed tools to modify savegames to work in a different console, though the signing key of the recipient Xbox (the ‘HDkey’), and the ramped-up title key of the game (the ‘authkey’), must be known. It is also possible to save an Xbox Live account on a memory unit, to simplify its use on more than one Xbox.

Cables

The Xbox includes a standard AV cable which provides composite video and monaural or stereo audio to TVs equipped with RCA inputs. European include an RCA jack to SCART converter block in addition to the cable. All Xbox consoles include a standard Ethernet cable (RJ-45 connection) for connecting to the internet for accessing Xbox Live.

System software

The Xbox runs a custom operating system which was once believed to be a modified version of the Windows 2000 kernel.[17] It exposes APIs similar to APIs found in Microsoft Windows, such as DirectX 8.1.

The user interface for the Xbox is called the Xbox Dashboard. It features a media player that can be used to play music CDs, rip CD’s to the Xbox’s built in hard drive, and play music that has been ripped to the hard drive. The Xbox Dashboard also has a memory management feature that lets users manage game saves, music, and downloaded content from Xbox LIVE. In addition, the Xbox Dashboard allows Xbox LIVE users sign in, and manage their account. The Xbox Dashboard is only available when the user is not watching a movie or playing a game. The Xbox Dashboard uses many shades of green and black for the user interface, in order to be consistent with the Xbox’s color scheme. When the Xbox was released in 2001, the LIVE service wasn’t released yet, so LIVE services could not be used.

Xbox LIVE was released in 2002, but in order to access it, the user would need to purchase the Xbox LIVE starter kit which includes a headset, a subscription, and the necessary software for the Xbox Dashboard. Throughout its history, the Xbox Dashboard has been updated via Xbox LIVE several times in order to reduce cheating and add new features.

Games

The Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001. The greatest success of the Xbox’s launch games was Halo: Combat Evolved which was well received by critics.[18] Its sequel, Halo 2, is the best-selling first-generation Xbox game worldwide.[3] Other successful launch titles included NFL Fever 2002,[19] Project Gotham Racing,[20] and Dead or Alive 3;[21] however, the failure of several first-party games (including Azurik: Rise of Perathia)[22] damaged the initial public reputation of the Xbox.

Although the console gained strong third party support from its inception, many early Xbox games did not fully use its powerful hardware, with few additional features or graphical improvements to distinguish them from the PS2 version, thus negating one of the Xbox’s main selling points. Additionally, Sony countered the Xbox for a short time by temporarily securing PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

In 2002 and 2003, several releases helped the Xbox to gain momentum and distinguish itself from the PS2. The Xbox Live online service was launched in late 2002 alongside pilot titles MotoGP, MechAssault and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon. Several best-selling and critically acclaimed titles for the Xbox were published, such as Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Ninja Gaiden and LucasArts’ Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Take-Two Interactive’s exclusivity deal with Sony was amended to allow Grand Theft Auto III and its sequels to be published on the Xbox. In addition, many other publishers got into the trend of releasing the Xbox version alongside the PS2 version, instead of delaying it for months.

In 2004, Halo 2 set records as the highest-grossing release in entertainment history making over $125 million in its first day,[23] as well as being a successful killer app for the online service. That year, Microsoft and Electronic Arts reached a deal that would see the latter’s popular titles enabled on Xbox Live.

In August of 2008, Madden NFL 09 was released for the system, making it the last game made for the Xbox.

Xbox Live

On November 15, 2002, Microsoft launched its Xbox Live online gaming service, allowing subscribers to play online Xbox games with other subscribers all around the world and download new content for their games to the system’s hard drive. This online service works exclusively with a broadband Internet connection. Approximately 250,000 subscribers had signed up within two months of Xbox Live’s launch.[24] In July 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live had reached one million subscribers, and a year later, in July 2005, that membership had reached two million. More recently, in July 2007 the membership had reached over 3 million, making it a popular gaming service.

Xbox modding
Xbox motherboard, with installed modchip

The popularity of the Xbox, as well as its relatively short 90 day warranty, inspired efforts to circumvent the built-in hardware and software security mechanisms, a practice informally known as modding. Within a few months of its release the Xbox BIOS was dumped and hacked by MIT student Andrew Huang so that it would skip digital signature checks and media flags, allowing unsigned code, Xbox game backups, etc., to be run. This was possible due to flaws in the Xbox’s security.[25][unreliable source?] Modding an Xbox in any manner will void its warranty, as it may require disassembly of the console. Having a modified Xbox may also disallow it from accessing Xbox Live if detected by Microsoft, as it contravenes the Xbox Live Terms of Use,[26] however most modchips can be disabled, allowing the Xbox to boot in a “stock” configuration, softmods can be disabled by “coldbooting” a game (having the game in the DVD drive before turning the console on, so the softmod is not loaded) or by using a multiboot configuration.

Four main methods exist of modding the Xbox:

* Modchip: installing a modchip inside the Xbox that bypasses the original BIOS, with a hacked BIOS to circumvent the security mechanisms.[27]
* TSOP flashing: reflashing the onboard BIOS chip with a hacked BIOS to circumvent the security mechanisms. The Xbox BIOS is contained on a commodity EEPROM (the ‘TSOP’), which can be made writable by the Xbox by bridging points on the motherboard.[28] Flashing is usually carried out by using a specially crafted gamesave (see ‘Game save exploit’, below) to flash the onboard TSOP, but the TSOP can also be de-soldered and re-written in a standard EEPROM programmer. This method only works on 1.0 to 1.5 Xboxes, as later versions replace the commodity TSOP with an LPC ROM contained within a proprietary chip.[29]
* Softmods: installing additional software files to the Xbox hard drive, which exploit programming errors in the Dashboard to gain control of the system, and overwrite the in-memory copy of the BIOS.[30] Soft modification is known to be safe for Xbox Live if the user enables multibooting with the Microsoft dashboard and an original game disc is used.[citation needed]
o Game save exploit: using select official game releases to load game saves that exploit buffer overflows in the save game handling.[31] When these special game saves are loaded, they access an interface with scripts for installing the necessary softmod files. Disassembly of the Xbox is not required when installing most game save exploits.
o Hot swapping: using a computer to change the data on the hard drive. This requires having the Xbox unlock the hard drive when it is turned on, then swapping the powered hard drive into a running computer. By using a Linux-based Live CD, data on the hard drive can be read, altered, and deleted. In most cases, an automated script will automatically install the softmod files directly to the Xbox hard drive. This technique has been used extensively to harbor cheating on many online games. Disassembly of the console is required to perform a hot swap.

Tomb Raider is a video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn followed shortly thereafter for MS-DOS and PlayStation versions. Tomb Raider was also released into the mobile gaming market, for Windows Mobile Professional in 2002 and the Nokia N-Gage in 2003. Tomb Raider follows the exploits of Lara Croft, an English female archaeologist in search of ancient treasures à la Indiana Jones. The game was a big commercial success, received critical acclaim and has been widely influential.[1] It spawned a number of sequels and a franchise of related media.

Story

Plot
In Tomb Raider, Lara Croft hunts for pieces of a talisman called the Scion, the first of which is found in the Tomb of Qualopec, Peru.

The story opens with a prologue in Los Alamos County, New Mexico. A nuclear test causes an earthquake which exposes an ancient device buried beneath the desert. The device is set into motion and reveals a frozen lifeform. The story then continues in the present day.

After Lara Croft returns from an expedition in the Himalayas she is contacted by an American named Larson, who works for the wealthy businesswoman Jacqueline Natla, owner of Natla Technologies. At Natla’s request, Lara sets out on an expedition to recover a mysterious artefact called the Scion from the lost tomb of Qualopec, in the mountains of Peru. However after successfully retrieving the object, she is nearly robbed of it when Larson attempts to kill her outside the tomb. Wasting no time, Lara sets out to discover why Natla double-crossed her, and breaks into her office to find out more about the truth behind the artefact, of which there appears to be more than one piece. She discovers a medieval manuscript which reveals the whereabouts of a second piece of the Scion, which is buried beneath an ancient monastery of St. Francis in Greece. It appears Natla has sent Pierre Dupont, a rival French archaeologist, to recover the fragment from the site. Hot on each others trail, Lara and Pierre race each other through the catacombs of the monastery to get to the second Scion first. The battle comes to a head at the tomb of Tihocan, where Lara recovers the second Scion and finally kills Pierre Dupont. An inscription inside the tomb reveals that Tihocan was one of three joint rulers of Atlantis. At some point a calamity struck which sunk the continent into the ocean and scattered their culture over the world. Qualopec continued to rule in South America, Tihocan in Greece, and it appears a third ruler thrived in Egypt.

Lara travels to the Valley of the Kings where she quickly discovers the third Scion, and is faced with Larson one last time. Upon leaving the tomb however, she is awaited by Natla and her henchmen, who steal the three artefacts from her and nearly kill her. Lara escapes and follows their trail to a remote island, where mining operations of Natla Technologies have partially exposed the Great Pyramid of Atlantis. After making her way through the mines dispatching Natla’s goons, Lara reaches the heart of the pyramid chamber, where the three Scions are fused together as a source of power. In a flashback, it is revealed that Natla was the third ruler of Atlantis, and that she betrayed her co-rulers by abusing the power of the Scion amulet for genetic experimentation. As punishment, she was locked into a stasis cell by Qualopec and Tihocan, and buried beneath the ground. The power released by the pyramid and the Scion caused a major cataclysm destroying the once powerful and advanced civilization. As a result (similar to Easter Island) the survivors lost all their knowledge and power, and had to slowly rebuild from the ground up. Centuries later Natla awoke when the cell was exposed by an atomic bomb testing in Los Alamos during the 1940s. With her cunning and knowledge she quickly became incredibly rich and powerful around the world.

Having regained the power of the artefacts, Natla attempts to restore her former power with an army of genetic mutants. However, Lara manages to destroy the Scion and defeats Natla. The pyramid is destroyed along with the mutants, and the remains of the Atlantean civilization.

Gameplay

[edit] Overview
Lara in her attack stance, with pistols drawn. St. Francis’ Folly, Greece.

In Tomb Raider, the player controls the female archaeologist Lara Croft, in search for the three mysterious Scion artefacts across the world. The game is presented in third person perspective. Lara is always visible and the camera follows the action from behind or over her shoulder. The world she inhabits is fully drawn in three dimensions and characterized by its cubic nature. Ledges, walls and ceilings sit at 90 degrees to each other, although the game designers sometimes obscure this to make it less obvious.

The object of Tomb Raider is to guide Lara through a series of tombs and other locations in search of treasures and artefacts. On the way, she must kill dangerous animals and other creatures, while collecting objects and solving puzzles to gain access to an ultimate prize, usually a powerful artefact. Gunplay is restricted to the killing of various animals that appear throughout each stage, although occasionally Lara may be faced with a human opponent. Instead the emphasis lies on solving puzzles and performing trick jumps to complete each level. As such, Tomb Raider in essence harkens back to the classical form of platform style gameplay.[2][3]

Features
City of Vilcabamba, Peru.

Movement in the game is varied and allows for complex interactions with the environment. Besides walking, running, and jumping, Lara can perform side-steps, hang on ledges, roll over, dive, and swim through water. In a free environment, Lara has two basic stances: one with weapons drawn and one with her hands free. By default she carries two pistols with infinite ammo. Additional weapons include the shotgun, dual magnums and dual Uzis. At a certain point in the story, Lara will be stripped of all her weapons, leaving the player defenceless and forced to recover her pistols, a development which later became a staple of the series.

Numerous enemies as well as a variety of lethal traps can bring about Lara’s death in Tomb Raider, the most important threat of which is falling to death. As the game adopts a platform style approach of progress, well timed jumps must often bring Lara safely to the other side of a ledge or she will plummet to the ground below. Other means by which the game will prematurely end include death by burning, drowning, electrocution, becoming impaled on spikes, being shot, being crushed, lethal damage from animals, human enemies, or creatures and even being turned into gold.
Key items found throughout the game.

A general action button is used to perform a wide range of movements in Tomb Raider, such as picking up items, pulling switches, firing guns, pushing or pulling blocks, and grabbing onto ledges. Regular items to pick up include ammo, and small and large medipacks. Game-specific items are keys and artefacts required to complete a stage. Any item that is collected is held onto in Lara’s inventory until it is used.

The puzzles that the player encounters across each level vary: pulling specific combinations of levers, a course of timed jumps, avoiding a certain trap or collecting several keystones.

Throughout each stage, one or more secrets may be located. Discovering these secrets is optional, and when the player has found one a tune plays. The locations of these secrets vary in difficulty to reach. Some are hidden along the roadside in bushes, others require the completion of a hidden course or optional puzzle to be found. The player is usually rewarded with extra items.

In the PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions of Tomb Raider, saving the game is restricted to fixed save points within each level, marked by a floating blue crystal. When Lara touches one of these the option to save is made available. The scarcity of these points, however, means that if the player dies, large portions of each level must be replayed, much to the players’ frustration. Following criticism on this system, Core implemented a save anywhere at any time feature in Tomb Raider II.[4] The DOS and Mac versions of the game allow the player to save at any time.

A stage is finished when a certain doorway is reached, an artefact is recovered, or a boss is destroyed.

Development history

Preliminary work on Tomb Raider commenced in 1993, but it was not until November 1996 that the game actually saw the light of day as a retail product.[5] The title was crafted by Core Design of Derby, England, who took 18 months to develop it.[6] The team consisted of six people, among them Toby Gard, who is credited with the creation of Lara Croft.[7] The character went through several changes before Core settled on the version she became famous for. In its earliest conception, Lara Croft was a male placeholder for an as yet undefined character, but as Core decided that puzzles and stealth should be more important to the game than action, they found that these requirements better suited a female character than a classic male action hero.[8]

As such Lara was born under the name Laura Cruz.[7] “Laura” was later dropped in favour of Lara, to appeal more to American audiences. At the same time, her backstory started to shape up and it was decided she should become more English, hence Cruz was changed to Croft to accommodate this.[7] Personality-wise, Lara was a cold-blooded militaristic type in the early concepts.[9] According to Toby Gard, the idea to make her a female Indiana Jones was not present from the beginning, but rather grew naturally out of the development process as the game took its final form.[5]

The front of the Derby Studios building where Core Design worked on the game was later used as the front of Croft Manor.

It is Core’s contention that the company was struggling somewhat with 32-bit development at that time.[5] The first glints of the game were seen on Sega Saturn development kits. However, ultimately, it would be the PlayStation rendition that would be known best.[5]

Tomb Raider was released for DOS, Macintosh, Nokia N-Gage, Pocket PC, and the PlayStation and Sega Saturn game consoles. Saving methods are different – on the DOS and Macintosh versions, the player can save anywhere, while on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions the player is required to find Save Crystals to save. The DOS version also does not include the additional incidental music during gameplay. The PlayStation & Sega Saturn version only have one kind of ambience, while the PC has four different ambient tracks.

The Greatest Hits edition of the PlayStation version had extra demos and videos of other Eidos games. The early version contained demos for Tomb Raider II and Fighting Force. The next print contained Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Tomb Raider III, and Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko with videos of Fear Effect and Fighting Force 2. Yet another edition included no playable demos, but rather a trailer for the Chicken Run video game and a viewable preview of the (at the time) upcoming PlayStation 2 game TimeSplitters.

Windows 2000, Windows XP and Vista do not share Windows 9x’s full direct hardware DOS support and attempting to run the game from the CD results in a DOS Box flash and then nothing. Solutions to this problem can be found from sites such as TombRaiderChronicles.com

The Legend of Zelda (??????, Zeruda no Densetsu?) is an action-adventure video game series created by game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka and developed and published by Nintendo. The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, adventure, puzzle solving, and role-playing. The series centers on Link, the main playable character and protagonist. Link is often given the task of rescuing Princess Zelda and the most common setting of the series, Hyrule, from Ganon who is the primary antagonist of the series. However, other settings and antagonists have appeared throughout the games, with Vaati having recently become the series’ secondary antagonist. The story commonly involves a relic known as the Triforce, a set of three golden triangles of omnipotence. The protagonist in each game is not always the same iteration of Link, although the same character sometimes appears across multiple games.

The Legend of Zelda series has sold over 52 million copies since the release of the first game, The Legend of Zelda,[1] and continues to be successful worldwide. The series consists of fourteen official games on all of Nintendo’s major consoles, as well as several spin-offs. An animated series based on the games aired in 1989, and individual manga adaptions which are officially endorsed and commissioned by Nintendo have been produced in Japan since 1997.

Overview

Gameplay

The Legend of Zelda games feature a mixture of puzzles, strategic action, adventure/battle gameplay, and exploration. These elements have remained constant throughout the series, but with refinements and additions featured in each new game. The player is frequently rewarded for solving puzzles or exploring areas. Most Zelda games involve locating and exploring dungeons, in which puzzles are solved and enemies fought, then defeating the dungeon’s boss. Each dungeon usually has one major item inside, which is usually essential for solving many of the puzzles in that dungeon and often plays a crucial role in defeating that dungeon’s boss. Some items are consistent and appear many times throughout the series, while others are unique to a single game. The series also consists of stealth gameplay, where the player must avoid enemies while proceeding through a level, as well as racing elements.

Chronology

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is a prequel to The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, the first two games released in the series. The back of its packaging states it takes place before The Legend of Zelda. Ocarina of Time is also a prequel, going even further back and implicitly retelling the backstory of A Link to the Past.[2] The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask has been cited by Nintendo as the direct sequel to Ocarina of Time. The Wind Waker takes place hundreds of years after the events of Ocarina of Time.[3] The game explicitly references the “Hero of Time” from that game, and states that, due to the hero’s absence, it was necessary to flood Hyrule to stop Ganon. The Minish Cap, Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures include references to other titles and are known to be a part of the timeline, but their exact relationships with other games have not officially been made clear.[4]

In an interview conducted by Nintendo Dream with Eiji Aonuma in December 2006, it was revealed that there are two parallel universes in the Zelda chronology. The timeline is split at the end of Ocarina of Time, when Link is sent back in time by Princess Zelda to live through his childhood, while the original events of Ocarina of Time continue on a different path. Once returned to his original time, Link leaves the Master Sword in its place, preventing Ganondorf’s plan from coming to fruition, and goes to see Zelda again, resulting in the “Child Timeline” in which the villain Ganondorf is arrested and tried by the ancient sages. They attempt to execute him, but he overpowers them, and the sages are instead forced to banish him to the Twilight Realm. Twilight Princess then occurs over one hundred years later, after Link’s role as a child in the events of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Meanwhile, The Wind Waker occurs in the “Adult Timeline”, after the Hero of Time saved Hyrule in Ocarina of Time, and it is directly followed by Phantom Hourglass.[5][6]

Inspiration

The Legend of Zelda was principally inspired by Shigeru Miyamoto’s explorations as a young boy in the hillsides surrounding his childhood home in Kyoto,[7] where he ventured into forests with secluded lakes, caves, and rural villages. According to Miyamoto, one of his most memorable experiences was the discovery of a cave entrance in the middle of the woods. After some hesitation, he apprehensively entered the cave, and explored its depths with the aid of a lantern. This memory has clearly influenced Miyamoto’s work, as cave exploration is a major component of most Zelda games (often by the light of a lantern). Miyamoto has referred to the creation of the Zelda games as an attempt to bring to life a “miniature garden” for players to play with in each game of the series.[8]

Hearing of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda, Miyamoto thought the name sounded “pleasant and significant”.[9] Paying tribute, he chose to name the Princess after her, and titled his creation The Legend of Zelda.

History

The Legend of Zelda on the Nintendo Entertainment System console

The Legend of Zelda, the first game of the series, was first released in Japan on February 21, 1986 on the Famicom Disk System. A cartridge version, using battery-backed memory, was released in the United States on August 22, 1987 and Europe in 1987. The game features a “Second Quest”, accessible on completing the game, in which dungeons and item placement are different, and enemies are more difficult for the player to defeat.[10] In 1994, near the end of the Famicom’s lifespan, the game was rereleased in cartridge format.[11] A modified version, BS Zelda no Densetsu, was released for the Super Famicom’s satellite-based expansion, Satellaview, in the mid-1990s in Japan. BS Zelda was rereleased for the Satellaview a year later, with rearranged dungeons and an altered overworld.

The second game, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, was released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan in January 1987, and for the Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe in November 1988 and North America in December 1988. The game exchanged the top-down perspective for side-scrolling (though the top-down point of view was retained for overworld areas), and introduced RPG elements (such as experience points) not used in The Legend of Zelda. The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II were released in gold-colored game cartridges instead of the console’s regular gray cartridges. Both were rereleased in the final years of the Nintendo Entertainment System with gray cartridges.

Four years later, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past returned to the top-down view (under a 3/4 perspective), and added the concept of an alternate dimension, the Dark World. The game was released for the SNES in 1991. It was later rereleased for the Game Boy Advance on December 9, 2002 in North America, on a cartridge with Four Swords, the first multiplayer Zelda, and then through Nintendo’s Virtual Console service on January 22, 2007. In addition, both this game (unchanged, except for being converted into a downloadable format)[12] and an exclusive “loosely-based” sequel (which used the same game engine) called BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban were released on the Satellaview in Japan.
Link in the opening cut scene of Link’s Awakening DX

The next game, Link’s Awakening, is the first Zelda for Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld, and the first set outside Hyrule and to exclude Princess Zelda. It was rereleased, in full colour, as a launch title for the Game Boy Color in 1998 as Link’s Awakening DX with some additional features, including an extra color-based dungeon and a photo shop that allows interaction with the Game Boy Printer.

After another hiatus, the series made the transition to 3D with Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64, which was released in November 1998. This game, initially known as Zelda 64, retains the core gameplay of the previous 2D games, and was very successful commercially and critically. It ranks highly on IGN and EGM’s “greatest games of all time” lists, and scored perfect scores in several video game publications.[13] In February 2006, it was ranked by Nintendo Power as the best game released for a Nintendo console.[14] The game was originally developed for the poorly-selling, Japanese-only Nintendo 64DD, but was ported to cartridge format when the 64DD hardware was delayed.[15] A new gameplay mechanic, lock-on targeting, is used in the game, which focuses the camera on a nearby target and alters the player’s actions relative to that target.[16] Such mechanics allow precise sword fighting in a 3D space. Those who preordered the game received a gold-colored cartridge in a limited edition box with a golden plastic card affixed, reading “Collector’s Edition”.[17]
Ocarina of Time, the first 3D-styled game of the franchise

Ocarina of Time was rereleased on the Nintendo GameCube in 2002, when it was offered as a pre-order incentive for The Wind Waker in the U.S., Canada and Japan.[18] Europe continues to receive it free in every copy of The Wind Waker, except for the discounted Player’s Choice version. It includes a previously unreleased 64DD expansion known as Ura Zelda in Japan and Ocarina of Time Master Quest in North America.[18] Ocarina of Time was included as part of Collector’s Edition for the GameCube in 2003.[19] It is now available through the Wii’s Virtual Console service.[20]

Ocarina of Time’s follow-up, Majora’s Mask, was released in November 2000. It uses the same 3D game engine as the previous game,[21] and added a time-based concept, in which Link, the protagonist, relives the events of three days as many times as needed to complete the game’s objectives. It was originally called Zelda Gaiden,[22] a Japanese title that translates as Zelda Side story. Gameplay changed significantly; in addition to the time-limit, Link can use masks to transform into creatures with unique abilities. While Majora’s Mask retains the graphical style of Ocarina of Time, it is also a departure, particularly in its atmosphere. It also features motion-blur, unlike its predecessor. The game is darker,[21] dealing with death and tragedy in a manner not previously seen in the series, and has a sense of impending doom, as a large moon slowly descends upon the land of Termina. All copies of Majora’s Mask are gold cartridges. A “Limited Collector’s Edition” lenticular cartridge label was offered as the pre-order incentive. Copies of the game that were not collector’s editions featured a regular sticker cartridge label. Majora’s Mask is now available on the Virtual Console.

The next two games, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, were released simultaneously for the Game Boy Color, and interact using passwords[23] or a Game Link Cable.[24] After one game has been completed, the player is given a password that allows the other game to be played as a sequel.[23] They were developed by Flagship in conjunction with Nintendo, with supervision from Miyamoto. After the team experimented with porting the original The Legend of Zelda to the Game Boy Color, they decided to make an original trilogy[25] to be called the “Triforce Series”.[26] When the password system linking the three games proved too troublesome, the concept was reduced to two games at Miyamoto’s suggestion.[27] These two games became Oracle of Ages, which is more puzzle-based, and Oracle of Seasons, which is more action-oriented.[28] ?
The cel-shaded art-style of The Wind Waker

When Nintendo revealed the Nintendo GameCube on August 24, 2000, the day before Nintendo’s SpaceWorld 2000 exposition,[29] a software demonstration showed a realistically-styled real-time duel between Ganondorf and Link. Fans and the media speculated that the battle might be from a Zelda game in development.[30] At Spaceworld 2001 Nintendo showed a cel-shaded Zelda title, later released as The Wind Waker, which Miyamoto felt would “extend Zelda’s reach to all ages”.[31] The media reported that Zelda was shifting to a younger audience, to Miyamoto’s surprise.[32] Nothing further was shown until a playable demonstration was ready, which was well-received. The gameplay centers on controlling wind with a baton called the “Wind Waker” and sailing a small boat around an island-filled ocean, retaining similar gameplay mechanics as the previous 3D games in the series.

The next game released in the series was Four Swords Adventures for the GameCube, which was released in early 2004 in Japan and America, and January 2005 in Europe. Based on the handheld Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures was another deviation from previous Zelda gameplay, focusing on level-based and multiplayer gameplay. The game contains 24 levels and a map screen; there is no connecting overworld. For multiplayer features, each player must use a Game Boy Advance system linked to the Nintendo GameCube via a Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Advance cable. The game also features a single-player campaign, in which using a Game Boy Advance is optional.

Four Swords Adventures includes two gameplay modes: “Hyrulean Adventure”, with a plot and gameplay similar to other Zelda games, and “Shadow Battle”, in which multiple Links, played by multiple players, battle each other. The Japanese version includes an exclusive third segment, “Navi Trackers” (originally designed as the stand-alone game “Tetra’s Trackers”), which contains spoken dialog for most of the characters, unlike other games in The Legend of Zelda series.
An official Twilight Princess illustration

In November 2004 in Japan and Europe, and January 2005 in America, Nintendo released The Minish Cap for the Game Boy Advance. In The Minish Cap Link can shrink in size using a mystical, sentient hat named Ezlo. While shrunk, he can see previously-explored parts of a dungeon from a different perspective, and enter areas through otherwise-impassable openings.

In November 2006, Twilight Princess was released as the first Zelda game on the Wii, and later, in December 2006, on the Nintendo GameCube, the console for which it was originally developed. The Wii version features a reversed world; everything that is in the west on the GameCube is in the east on the Wii, and vice versa (The game was mirrored in order to make Link right-handed to make use of the Wii remote feel more natural). The game chronicles the struggle of an older Link to rid Hyrule of the “Twilight Realm”, a mysterious force consuming the land. When he enters this realm, he is transformed into a wolf, changing the gameplay. Twilight Princess also features horseback transportation and mounted battle scenarios, including boss battles.

At the 2006 Game Developers Conference, a trailer for Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS was shown. It revealed traditional top-down Zelda gameplay optimized for the DS’ features, with a cel-shaded graphical style similar to The Wind Waker. At E3 2006, Nintendo confirmed the game’s status as a direct sequel to The Wind Waker,[33] and released an extensive playable demo, including a multiplayer mode with “capture the flag” elements. Phantom Hourglass was released on June 23, 2007 in Japan, October 1, 2007 in North America and October 19, 2007 in Europe.

The next Legend of Zelda for the DS, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (tentative title), was confirmed to be in development at GDC ’09 by Satoru Iwata. It is slated for release later in 2009.

Shigeru Miyamoto officially confirmed that a new Zelda game is in development for the Wii during E3 2008.[34] He reiterated his announcement during E3 2009, noting that game will include Wii MotionPlus support (perhaps mandatorily, depending on how Wii Sports Resort fares in sales), and stated that the game will be released sometime after 2009.[35] Leaked concept art for said game shows Link appearing much how he does in Twilight Princess, but noticeably without a sword. In the same image, a ghostly girl that resembles the Queen of Fairies from The Wind Waker is standing beside him. Fans have noticed that the girl wears a dress that resembles the hilt of the Master Sword, along with several other features that come close to the Master Sword’s design.[36]

The games allow people to take on the role of a criminal in a big city, typically an individual who rises through the ranks of organized crime through the course of the game. Various missions are set for completion by the figureheads of the city underworld, generally criminal, which must be completed to progress through the storyline. Assassinations, and other crimes feature regularly, but occasionally taxi driving, firefighting, pimping, street racing, or learning to fly fixed-wing aircraft are also involved as alternate adventures, which can be done at any time during the game, with the exception of the periods performing main missions.

In later titles, notably those released after Grand Theft Auto 2, the player is given a more developed storyline, in which they are forced to overcome an unfortunate event (e.g. being betrayed and left for dead), which serves as motivation for the character to advance in the criminal ladder and eventually leads to the triumph of the character by the end of the storyline; specific examples of this are the plots for Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

The Grand Theft Auto series, belonging to a genre of free-roaming video games called “sandbox games,” grants a large amount of freedom to the player in deciding what to do and how to do it through multiple methods of transport and weapons. Unlike most traditional action games, which are structured as a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, in GTA the player can determine the missions they want to undertake, and their relationships with various characters are changed based on these choices. The cities of the games can also be roamed freely at any point in the game, offering many accessible buildings and minor missions. There are exceptions: missions follow a linear, overarching plot, and some city areas must be unlocked over the course of the game.

Grand Theft Auto III and subsequent games have more prevalent voice acting, and radio stations, which simulate driving to music with disc jockeys, radio personalities, commercials, talk radio, pop music, and American culture.

The use of vehicles in an explorable urban environment provides a basic simulation of a working city, complete with pedestrians who generally obey traffic signals. Further details are used to flesh out an open-ended atmosphere that has been used in several other games, such as The Simpsons Hit & Run, which has less emphasis on crime or violence.

History

The Grand Theft Auto series may be divided into canons, based on the inclusion of a numbering after the recognizable title name (e.g. Grand Theft Auto III) after the original Grand Theft Auto’s release, and to a certain extent, the type of graphics engine used.
The original Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto
Main articles: Grand Theft Auto (video game) and Grand Theft Auto: London

Grand Theft Auto, the first game in the Grand Theft Auto series, was released on Windows PCs in 1997/1998 and also for PlayStation .[1] The game is set in three different fictional cities, Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City. A reduced Game Boy Color port was later released.

Subsequently, two expansion packs were offered, both under the name of Grand Theft Auto: London. Although the concept of eras was not formally implemented until Grand Theft Auto III, it can be inferred that Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961, the second of the expansion packs, is the last game of the first Grand Theft Auto era canon.
Grand Theft Auto 2
Main article: Grand Theft Auto 2

The fourth game in the series, Grand Theft Auto 2, was developed for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation and Dreamcast and released in 1999. Set in the indeterminable future,[2] it featured updated graphics and somewhat different gameplay based upon the player’s appeal to various criminal organizations.

A reduced Game Boy Color port was also produced. Unlike the other games of the Grand Theft Auto series, Grand Theft Auto 2 was the only game released in its era. It is also the only game to have a “T” rating. It is also the only sequel to have a digit in the title instead of a Roman numeral.

Grand Theft Auto III
Main articles: Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto Advance, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Grand Theft Auto III was released in October 2001, and served as the breakthrough for the franchise.[3] The game’s setting takes place around that time,[4] in fictional Liberty City, which is loosely based on New York City, but also incorporates elements of other American cities.[5] Grand Theft Auto III brought a third-person view to the series, rather than the traditional top-down view of earlier titles (although the view is still made available as an optional camera angle). For the first time, the problem of navigating in the huge sandbox game was solved by implementing a constant GPS triggered mini-map that highlights the player’s position as well as those of current targets. Graphics were also updated with a new 3D game engine. The gameplay engine expanded the explorable world of GTA III, using a mission-based approach. Multiplayer was discarded (third party mods were later released, allowing for multiplayer gameplay), but GTA III improved in many other areas such as voice-acting and plot (in previous games, there was speech only in short animated cut scenes between levels, while other communication was simply subtitles running on the bottom of the screen).

After the success of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released in 2002. This game was set in 1986 in Vice City, which was based on Miami. The game’s plot focuses on the cocaine trade during the 1980s. Vice City was the first game to introduce fully functional flying vehicles that could be used by the player, such as sea planes and helicopters. It also featured a variety of new weapons and vehicles.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in October 2004, is set in 1992, focusing on California gang life and the awakening of the drug epidemic brought on by crack cocaine. The setting was in the fictional state of San Andreas, which was based on some California and Nevada cities, specifically Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. Their counterparts are Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas respectively. The game also included a countryside in between Los Santos and San Fierro and also between Los Santos and Las Venturas, and a desert in between Las Venturas and San Fierro.

Grand Theft Auto Advance, for the Game Boy Advance, was also released in 2004. Originally developed as a top-down conversion of GTA III, became an original game. Unlike the Game Boy Color ports of Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, Grand Theft Auto Advance did not tone down the violence and profanity common to the GTA series. The game received an “M” rating from the ESRB. It was developed by an external developer, Digital Eclipse.

In 2005 and 2006, Rockstar released two games for the PlayStation Portable, both developed by Rockstar Leeds. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III and set in Liberty City in 1998. A PlayStation 2 port was released by Rockstar on 6 June 2006.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories was released for the PlayStation Portable on 31 October 2006 and set in Vice City in 1984, two years before the events of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. A PlayStation 2 port of the game was released on 6 March 2007. It is the last instalment of the third generation series, and the final game in the Grand Theft Auto III canon.

Grand Theft Auto IV
Main articles: Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto IV was released on 29 April 2008, after a six month delay.[6] It was the first Grand Theft Auto game to be released simultaneously for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. In August 2008, Rockstar announced that it was going to publish GTA IV for PC. GTA IV’s game engine is the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (also known as RAGE) used in Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis and the Euphoria physics engine. The game once again takes place in a redesigned Liberty City that very closely resembles New York City, much more than previous renditions.[7]

Microsoft officially announced a “strategic alliance” with Rockstar Games over the rights to episodic content through their Xbox Live service at their X06 event. This content was released as Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned on 17 February 2009, and it is available for download, exclusively for the Xbox 360. The expansion adds some new elements to the existing game and focuses on Johnny Klebitz, the vice president of “The Lost” motorcycle gang. The second Grand Theft Auto IV Downloadable Content will be called The Ballad of Gay Tony [8].

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is the first Grand Theft Auto game to be released on the Nintendo DS, and was announced at the E3 Nintendo Press Conference on July 15, 2008. This game has several new features, such as touch screen mini-games. The game was released on 17 March 2009 in North America and 20 March 2009 to Australia and Europe. The game is rated 18+ by PEGI and the BBFC (Europe, UK) and M by the ESRB (North America).

Artist Naoto Oshima, designer Hirokazu Yasuhara and programmer Yuji Naka are generally credited with the creation of the character,[7] a blue-haired, mostly blue-skinned 15-year-old anthropomorphic hedgehog, who has the ability to run faster than the speed of sound[8] and the ability to curl up into a ball, primarily to attack enemies. This is a major part of the gameplay of the series.

Conception and creation
Sonic’s original design from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991).

Sega wanted a game capable of selling over one million copies and a character to replace Alex Kidd as the company’s mascot. Several character designs were submitted by its AM8 research & development department, including an armadillo (which then developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas (which would later be the basis of Eggman’s design), and a rabbit (intended to use its extendible ears to collect objects; these aspects were later incorporated into Ristar).[9][10] Eventually, Naoto Oshima’s spiky teal hedgehog, initially codenamed “Mr Needlemouse”,[3] was chosen as the new mascot. Sonic’s blue pigmentation was chosen to match Sega’s blue logo, his shoes were a concept evolved from a design inspired by Michael Jackson’s boots with the addition of the color red, which was inspired by Santa Claus and his personality was based on Bill Clinton’s fast reaction to trouble.[9] The character was created without the ability to swim because of a mistaken assumption by Yuji Naka that all hedgehogs couldn’t.[11] A group of fifteen people started working on Sonic the Hedgehog, and renamed themselves Sonic Team. The game’s soundtrack was composed by Masato Nakamura of the band Dreams Come True. Sega sponsored the group’s “Wonder 3″ tour, painting Sonic on the tour bus, distributing pamphlets advertising the game, and having footage of the game broadcast above stage prior to its release.[12]

The original concepts had Sonic with fangs and in a band with a human girlfriend named Madonna, however Sega of America “softened” the character up for an American audience by removing these, sparking a heated issue with Sonic Team, although Naka later admitted it was probably for the best.[9] Sonic’s appearance varies greatly depending on the medium and the style in which he is drawn. In the video games, Sonic’s original design by Oshima was quite short and round, with short quills, a round body and no visible irises (see artwork at left). Artwork featuring this design and drawn by Akira Watanabe[13] was displayed on the package artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog, and most subsequent Sonic video games featured similar designs.

When Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Mega Drive appeared, Sonic’s proportions changed. The original 1:2 head to height ratio became 1:2.5.[14]

Beginning with Sonic Adventure in 1998, Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a taller character with longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping quills, the addition of shoe buckles, and green-colored irises. Further subtle changes to the character’s design have been made in subsequent games. Spin-off media such as comics and cartoons have featured variations on all these video game designs, with restrictions set by the standardized model sheets.[15]

Actor portrayal

Quite a number of different actors have provided the voice for Sonic in his game appearances. Sonic’s first voice actor was Takeshi Kusao for SegaSonic the Hedgehog, with Junichi Kanemaru continually voicing the role beginning with the release of Sonic Adventure. Sonic’s first English game voice was provided by Ryan Drummond beginning with Sonic Adventure, a role he continued until 2004,[16] when he was replaced by Jason Anthony Griffith, who previously voiced the character in the American dub of the anime series Sonic X.[17]

Appearances

Video games
See also: Sonic the Hedgehog (series) and List of games featuring Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic’s first appearance in the video game world was in the platform game Sonic the Hedgehog (sometimes referred to simply as Sonic 1) for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, which also introduced his nemesis Dr. Robotnik (more commonly known as Dr. Eggman). His two-tailed fox friend Miles “Tails” Prower joined him in the game’s 1992 sequel Sonic 2. Sonic CD, released in 1993, introduced Sonic’s self-proclaimed girlfriend Amy Rose and his robotic doppelgänger Metal Sonic (not to be confused with Mecha Sonic, an alternate model made later by Dr. Robotnik) as Sonic traveled through time to ensure a good future for the world. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and its direct sequel Sonic & Knuckles, both released in 1994, saw Sonic and Tails battle Dr. Robotnik again, with the additional threat of Knuckles the Echidna, tricked by Robotnik into thinking Sonic was a threat to his home.

Other two-dimensional platformers starring Sonic include Sonic Chaos (1993), Sonic Triple Trouble (1994), Sonic Blast (1996), Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (1999), Sonic Advance in (2001), Sonic Advance 2 (2002), Sonic Advance 3 (2004), Sonic Rush (2005), and Sonic Rush Adventure (2007).

Sonic Adventure (1998/1999) was Sonic Team’s return to the character for a major game. It featured Sonic returning from vacation to find the city of Station Square under attack by a new, very powerful foe named Chaos, under the control of Dr. Eggman. This was also the first Sonic game to have a complete voice-over. Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) placed Sonic on-the-run from the military (G.U.N) after being mistaken for a new enemy, Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form. Sonic Heroes (2004) has Sonic teaming up with Tails and Knuckles (along with other characters) against the newly rebuilt Metal Sonic, who had betrayed his master. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) features Sonic in the city of water, “Soleanna”, where he must rescue Princess Elise from Dr. Eggman while trying to avoid a new threat to his own life, Silver the Hedgehog. He is the only playable character in Sonic Unleashed (2008), in which he unwillingly gains a new personality, “Sonic the Werehog;” the result of Sonic being fused with Dark Gaia’s power. He gains incredible strength and flexibility in exchange for his speed.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007) features Sonic in a story book world of the “Arabian Nights”. A Nintendo Power cover scan was released spoiling a new Sonic game titled Sonic and the Black Knight. Soon after, Sega confirmed that it was in fact real and was going to be the second title in the Sonic Storybook spinoff series, making Sonic and the Secret Rings the first.

Sonic has also been featured in games of many genres other than 2D and 3D platform games. The first of these was a pinball game, Sonic Spinball (1993), which expanded upon the pinball sequences in the first three platform games. Then, more spin-offs appeared like: Sonic Labyrinth (1995) and Sonic 3D Blast (1996), the racing games Sonic Drift (1994), Sonic Drift 2 (1995), Sonic R (1996), Sonic Riders (2006), Sonic Rivals (2006), Sonic Rivals 2 (2007) and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2008), the fighting games Sonic the Fighters (1996), Sonic Battle (2003), the mobile game Sonic Jump (2005) and has made an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008). Sonic is the first playable character in his first role-playing game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (2008).

Video games such as Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine (1993), Knuckles Chaotix (1995), Tails’ Skypatrol (1995), Tails Adventure (1995), and Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) starred supporting characters of the Sonic series, although Sonic himself cameos in most of these titles.

Non-Sonic appearances

Sonic has made many cameo appearances in different games. Most notably in other Sega games, such as being a power-up in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, walking around the main hallway in Phantasy Star Universe on his birthday (June 23), and appearing in the 2008 remake of Samba De Amigo (he appears in the background for the songs “Low Rider”, “UN Aguardiants” and “Mambo #5″. He is also a playable character in Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams. Sonic has proved to be popular among other publishers as well, and he cameos in games like Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, Art Alive, Shining Force II, Clockwork Knight 2 (in footage from a concept video for the main hero of the game in the background while in a toy plane), Crusader of Centy and Rad Mobile. He appears as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, being one of two third-party characters (the other being Solid Snake included in the game. Sonic cameos in the video game adaptation of the film Tom and Jerry: The Movie. He also appears on billboards around New York in the video game adaptation of The Incredible Hulk, which was produced by Sega. Sonic has also appeared in The Simpsons episodes, That 90′s Show and Marge Be Not Proud, as well as a brief, satirical appearance in The Simpsons Game. He has also appeared in the game Bug! during a bonus round where you appear to race him.

Animation
Sonic, as he appears in the anime series Sonic X.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was the first animated series to feature Sonic, where he was voiced by Jaleel White.[18] It had a very comical take on Sonic and Tails’s adventures and battles against Robotnik. Pierre De Celles, an animator who worked on Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, described the show as “fun and humorous.”[19]

In the darker and more serious series Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic was again voiced by Jaleel White.[20] In this universe, he lives on Planet Mobius in Knothole Village, where he belongs to a band of Freedom Fighters that fight to free their world from the literally iron-fisted rule of the evil dictator Dr. Robotnik.

Sonic Underground featured the introductions of Sonic’s siblings Sonia the Hedgehog and Manic the Hedgehog, as well as his mother Queen Aleena, the four of whom were destined to defeat Robotnik and rule Mobius as the “Council of Four”. Jaleel White returned to voice Sonic for the third time as well as voicing Sonic’s siblings, with Samuel Vincent providing Sonic’s singing voice.[21]

Additionally, there was a Sonic the Hedgehog anime OVA in Japan, which featured Sonic, Tails, Robotnik, Knuckles and Metal Sonic. Sonic was voiced by Masami Kikuchi in Japan, and Martin Burke in the United States.[22]

Sonic X, was an anime in which Sonic is teleported to Earth by Chaos Control, caused by the Chaos Emeralds. In this series, he is voiced by Jun’ichi Kanemaru in the Japanese version, and by Jason Griffith in the English version.

Comics
Main article: List of Sonic the Hedgehog printed media

Sonic’s first comic appearance was in a promotional comic printed in Disney Adventures magazine (which was also given away as a free pull-out with a copy of “Mean Machines” magazine), which established an origin for Sonic involving the transformation of kindly scientist Doctor Ovi Kintobor into the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Numerous British publications, including “Sega handbook” Stay Sonic (1993), four novels published by Virgin Books (1993–1994) and the comic book Sonic the Comic (1993–2001) used this premise as their basis.

The American comics published by Archie Comics, Sonic the Hedgehog (1993–), Sonic X (2005–2008) and Sonic Universe (2009-) are based on the settings established by earlier animated TV series, the ABC “SatAM” cartoon, the Sonic X anime and an expansion to the series respectively. The former series is currently the second longest-running licensed comic series in the history of American comic books, second only to Marvel’s Conan series (first issue released in 1970). In France two comic books named “Sonic Adventures” were published by Sirène in 1994.

Sonic has also been featured in two different manga. One series was simply called Sonic the Hedgehog, and featured a story about a normal boy named Nicky Parlouzer who can change into Sonic. The other series was a compilation of short stories and was separated into two volumes, the first being called Dash and Spin, and the other called Super Fast Sonic!!.

Characteristics
Super Sonic’s character design from Sonic Advance 3 onward.

According to various official materials from Sega, Sonic is described as a character who is “like the wind”:[23] a drifter who lives as he wants,[24] and makes life a series of events and adventures.[1] Sonic hates oppression and staunchly defends freedom.[25] Although he is mostly easy-going[24] he has a short temper[24] and is often impatient with slower things.[23] Sonic is a habitual daredevil who is honest, loyal to friends, keeps his promises,[1] and dislikes tears.[26] He took the young Tails under his wing like a little brother,[27] but appears to be uninterested in the marital proposals from Amy Rose.[28] In times of crisis, he focuses intensely on the challenge[23] as if his personality had undergone an astonishing change.[1]

Sonic is known as the world’s fastest hedgehog.[25] Sonic’s greatest strength is his running speed, which is faster than the speed of sound.[26] Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection with the addition of spinning his body. Since his introduction in 1991′s Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic’s primary offensive maneuver is the basic “Spin Attack” (or “Sonic Spin Attack”).[29] Later games in the series expanded on this basic attack and two of these enhancements have become mainstays of his: the Spin Dash which was introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and involves Sonic spinning on the spot before blasting off at full speed,[30] and the Homing Attack, officially introduced in Sonic Adventure, in which Sonic dashes in midair toward a target.[25] However, Sonic’s weakness is that he can’t swim.[26]

When seven Chaos Emeralds are collected in most Sonic games, Sonic can initiate a super transformation into Super Sonic, a faster and invulnerable version of himself that can fly.[31] In the 2D games, he enters Super Sonic mode after collecting an additional 50 Rings; in the 3D games where Super Sonic is playable, he starts off in the form with additional 50 Rings. While transformed, Sonic slowly loses Rings during the time he is in the form and returns to normal when all Rings are used up; the player can collect more Rings during this time to keep him as Super Sonic.

Pokémon (???? ,Pokemon?, ejaan Inggris: ['po?ke?m?n, 'p?kim?n]) adalah salah satu media franchise yang dimiliki oleh perusahaan permainan video Nintendo dan diciptakan oleh Satoshi Tajiri pada 1995. Aslinya Pokémon adalah permainan permainan video yang identik dengan konsol Game Boy. Pokémon merupakan permainan video tersukses kedua di dunia setelah serial Mario yang juga diciptakan oleh Nintendo.[1] Sementara bila dibandingkan dengan yang lain, Pokémon merupakan franchise serial terlaris ketiga di dunia setelah James Bond (karya Ian Fleming) dan Transformers (karya Hasbro), yang masih terus berjalan dan di-update sesuai perjalanan zaman. Pokémon franchise sendiri muncul dalam beragam bentuk, yaitu anime, manga, trading cards, buku, mainan, dan masih banyak lagi. Media franchise ini merayakan ulang tahunnya yang ke sepuluh di tanggal 27 Februari 2006. Dan pada 23 April 2008, omzet penjualan permainan video Pokémon telah mencapai 180 juta kopi,[2]melebihi penjualan permainan video Transformers.

Nama Pokémon merupakan nama romanisasi dari nama Jepang “Pocket Monsters” (????????? ,Poketto Monsuta?).[3] Penyebutan “Pokémon” sudah merujuk pada 493 spesies fiksi yang muncul dalam semua seri Pokémon. Seperti kata deer dan sheep, penyebutan kata singular dan plural Pokémon dalam bahasa Inggris tidak ada bedanya. Kata Pokémon dalam bahasa Inggris bisa merujuk pada satu Pokémon saja atau lebih dari satu.

Di bulan November 2005, 4Kids Entertainment, yang menjadi distributor Pokémon di luar Jepang mengumumkan bahwa mereka tidak akan memperpanjang kontrak mereka dengan Pokémon Jepang. Sadar bahwa Pokémon Jepang tidak akan sukses bila tanpa bantuan rekan dari luar Jepang, Pokémon Jepang kemudian menciptakan anak perusahaan yang berbasis di Amerika. Perusahaan itu kemudian dikenal dengan nama Pokémon USA, Inc. Tugasnya adalah menjadi distributor sekaligus pemegang nama lisensi Pokémon untuk kawasan di luar Asia.[4]

Konsep awal
Ash Ketchum sebagai tokoh utama dalam serial TV Pokémon.

Konsep asli dari Pokémon, seperti yang muncul dalam permainan video dan semua fiksional Pokémon secara umum, adalah mengadopsi hobi mengoleksi serangga, dimana hal itu pernah dilakukan oleh Satoshi Tajiri sewaktu masih anak-anak.[5] Dalam permainan video, pemain disebut sebagai Pokémon Trainers. Dua tujuan umum setiap Pokémon Trainers adalah mengkomplitkan isi dari Pokédex dengan menangkap semua spesies Pokémon yang ada di sebuah region tempat Anda berada. Selanjutnya, Anda dituntut untuk mengembangkan spesies Pokémon yang Anda punya agar menjadi kuat dan kemudian bisa menang melawan penantang yang lain. Setelah itu Anda punya kesempatan besar untuk melawan Trainer terkuat, yang kemudian disebut Pokémon Master. Semua hal tersebut ada dalam seluruh seri Pokémon franchise, termasuk dalam permainan video, anime, manga, dan trading card.

Dalam mayoritas seri Pokémon, seorang Trainer yang dapat menghadang kekuatan Pokémon liar dapat menangkapnya untuk kemudian dijadikan peliharaannya sendiri dengan melemparkan sebuah benda yang bisa menciutkan massa jenis Pokémon tersebut, yang kemudian dinamakan Poké Ball. Dengan tertangkapnya Pokémon liar tersebut, maka sang Trainer secara resmi memiliki Pokémon liar tersebut. Pokémon yang dimiliki oleh orang lain tidak bisa direbut secara paksa dengan Poké Ball kecuali ada hal-hal lain yang menjadi persetujuan antara dua Trainer yang bertarung tersebut. Pokémon yang kita miliki untuk selanjutnya bisa kita pertarungkan dengan Pokémon liar atau dengan sesama Trainer. Bagi Pokémon yang menang dalam pertarungan tersebut, sudah barang tentu kekuatannya akan bertambah dan meningkat. Mereka mendapat poin experience, dan berkesempatan untuk naik ke level yang lebih tinggi jika waktunya tiba. Ketika mereka naik levelnya, secara otomatis statistiknya akan meningkat, seperti Attack, Speed, dam masih banyak lagi. Dari waktu ke waktu, sesuai level, Pokémon kemudian mengenal beberapa taktik serangan baru, yang bisa digunakan dalam pertarungan. Dalam beberapa kesempatan, ada sebagian besar jenis Pokémon yang bila mencapai level tertentu atau dengan memenuhi syarat yang lain seperti batu evolusi dan item tertentu, akan bermetamorfosis menjadi spesies baru, yang kemudian dikenal dengan nama evolusi.

Dalam serial permainan video, kita harus berperan sebagai Trainer yang membangun dan membesarkan sebuah tim Pokémon untuk mengalahkan beragam tipe Pokémon yang dimiliki oleh Trainer rival atau saingan kita, selain tentunya Pokémon liar. Layout game Pokémon kebanyakan adalah linear, dan mengelilingi sebuah region fiksi di dunia Pokémon (sebab planet Bumi versi dunia Pokémon berbeda dengan Bumi versi fiksi yang dipakai dalam beberapa serial seperti Transformers atau James Bond, yang menggambarkan dunia seperti saat ini). Di setiap game Pokémon, sudah berisi delapan spesialis Pokémon yang kemudian disebut sebagai Gym Leaders. Kita sebagai Trainer wajib mengalahkan Gym Leader jika ini mendapatkan lencana yang kemudian bisa kita pakai sebagai tanda masuk ke kejuaraan nasional Pokémon League. Dimana disana kita akan menantang empat sesepuh Pokémon yang kemudian disebut The Elite Four. Dan jika kita berhasil menang melawan The Elite Four, kita akan dibawa untuk menantang Juara Regional, dan jika kita berhasil menang melawan Juara Regional, maka kita akan disahkan sebagai Juara Nasional dan berhak menyandang nama Pokémon Master.

Permainan video
Generasi
Bulbasaur level 5 bertempur dengan Charmander level 5 dalam Pokémon Red and Blue.

Versi orisinil permainan Pokémon adalah sebuah RPG Jepang dengan beberapa elemen strategi, dan diciptakan oleh Satoshi Tajiri untuk Game Boy. Saat ini sudah banyak permainan video beserta sekuel dan remakenya (termasuk yang dirilis dalam versi Bahasa Inggris) yang beredar di pasaran. Berbeda dengan franchise game-game RPG yang lain yang banyak berubah-ubah detail permainannya. Pokémon sampai saat ini masih terus mempertahankan konsep orsinilnya. Dimana kita berperan sebagai seorang Trainer, dan kita harus bisa memenangkan gelar Pokémon Master. Semua property lisensi Pokémon terdaftar dan dimiliki oleh The Pokémon Company (kawasan Jepang dan Asia, termasuk Indonesia) dan The Pokémon USA, Inc. (untuk kawasan AS, Australia, Amerika Latin, dan Eropa, termasuk Afrika). Semua permainan video, anime, dan manga selalu diperbaharui oleh pihak Pokémon Company setiap waktu. Dan ini menjadikan Pokémon sebagai satu dari tiga franchise fiksi yang masih terus dikembangkan hingga saat ini selain Transformers dan James Bond.

Pokémon G1

Franchise game Pokémon generasi pertama adalah Pocket Monsters Aka and Midori (“Red” and “Green”, dalam versi bahasa Inggris) untuk Game Boy di Jepang.[6] Yang kemudian disempurnakan menjadi Pokémon Red dan Blue[7] untuk dirilis secara internasional. Game ini diluncurkan di AS pada 30 September 1998. Selanjutnya versi remake dari Red dan Blue dirilis dengan nama Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition, dengan elemen warna untuk Game Boy Color dan game ini menggambarkan apa yang ada di serial TV Pokémon season satu. Generasi pertama Pokémon memperkenalkan 151 spesies (dari daftar National Pokédex, urutannya adalah dari Bulbasaur sampai Mew). Basis cerita permainan videonya seperti yang sudah diutarakan sebelumnya adalah kita harus berperan sebagai Trainer yang membangun dan membesarkan sebuah tim Pokémon untuk mengalahkan beragam tipe Pokémon yang dimiliki oleh Trainer rival atau saingan kita, selain tentunya Pokémon liar. Dan untuk selanjutnya kita harus bisa menjadi seorang Pokémon Master. Region pertama dalam Pokémon G1 adalah Kanto, yang lucunya sampai G2 dirilis, nama tersebut tidak pernah disebutkan dalam serial TV atau permainan video.

Pokémon G2

Generasi dua dari Pokémon dirilis pada pertengahan 2000 dengan diluncurkannya Pokémon Gold and Silver untuk Game Boy Color. Seperti versi sebelumnya, sebuah game remake dengan nama Pokémon Crystal diluncurkan kemudian. G2 Pokémon memuat 100 spesies baru Pokémon yang dimulai dari Chikorita dan diakhiri dengan Celebri, menambah total jumlah Pokémon menjadi 251 spesies. Region baru pun diperkenalkan, namanya Johto, dan merupakan tetangga dari Kanto. Game Pokémon G2 dirilis di Jepang pada Desember 2001 dan di 2002 untuk Eropa dan Amerika Utara.

Advanced Generation
May sebagai salah satu karakter utama dalam permainan video Pokémon Ruby dan Sapphire.

Generasi ketiga Pokémon dimulai tahun 2003 dengan dirilisnya Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire untuk Game Boy Advance dan dilanjutkan dengan dirilisnya remake versi G1 (Pokémon Red and Blue) dengan nama Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, versi remake untuk Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire berjudul ‘‘Pokémon Emerald’’. Dimana di versi ini, yang menjadi tokoh utamanya adalah anak perempuan bernama May (Haruka). Di G3, Pokémon yang ditambahkan adalah 135 spesies baru, dimulai dari Treecko dan diakhiri oleh Deoxys, sehingga menambah jumlahnya menjadi 386 jenis. Region di versi ini bernama Hoenn. Meskipun di G3 sudah banyak penyempurnaan dan penambahan hal-hal yang baru, tapi tetap saja para fans merasa kurang puas. Karena system siang-malam seperti di G2 dihilangkan, dan yang lebih parah, dalam game Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, hanya 202 spesies Pokémon yang bisa ditangkap (dari total 386 spesies). Sisanya sama sekali tidak muncul, kecuali jika Anda bermain curang memakai kode cheat game shark.

Pokémon G4

Generasi keempat Pokémon dimulai di tahun 2006 dengan diluncurkannya Pokémon Diamond and Pearl untuk Nintendo DS. G4 mengambil setting cerita di region Sinnoh. Pokémon baru yang ditambahkan berjumlah 107 spesies (dimulai dari Turtwig dan diakhiri oleh Arceus), dan semakin menambah jumlah Pokémon hingga angka 493 jenis.[8] Sebagai perbandingan, jumlah anggota karakter fiksi Autobots dan Decepticons –plus Maximal dan Predacons- (jika digabungkan) dalam franchise Transformers masih berkisar di angka 300-an. Fitur baru diperkenalkan dalam versi Nintendo DS, yaitu dengan adanya touch screen, dan dengan perbaikan di bidang system pertarungan dan jurus. Selain itu, muncul kembali system siang-malam seperti di G2, dan tetap dipertahankannya Pokémon Contests yang kali ini berubah nama menjadi Super Contest. Versi remake dari Diamond and Pearl adalah Pokémon Platinum.

Pokémon starter

Aspek utama yang masih terus bertahan dari serial Pokémon versi game — tepatnya dari Pokémon Red and Blue dalam Nintendo Game Boy sampai Nintendo DS game, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl — adalah pemilihan satu dari tiga Pokémon berbeda dalam awal start petualangan kita ketika bermain permainan video Pokémon. Hal tersebut kemudian dikenal dengan nama starter Pokémon, dengan tiga jenis Pokémon yang berbeda. Kita dapat memilih Grass-type, Fire-type, atau Water-type.[9][10] Contohnya, di Pokémon Red and Blue (dan versi remake-nya, Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen), pemain dapat memilih Bulbasaur, Charmander, atau Squirtle. Pengecualian hanya untuk Pokémon Yellow (yang merupakan remake dari cerita di season satu Pokémon anime), dimana pemain diberikan seekor Pikachu, yang merupakan Pokémon bertipe listrik, dan merupakan mascot utama Pokémon franchise. Satu hal lain yang juga menjadi ciri khas adalah, rival kita selalu memilih Pokémon yang memiliki kemampuan yang hampir sama dengan Pokémon kita. Misalnya jika kita memilih Pokémon jenis tanaman, maka rival akan memilih jenis api, dan sebaliknya. Lagi-lagi pengecualian diberikan untuk Pokémon Yellow, dimana rival kita mendapatkan Eevee.

Pokédex

Pokédex adalah sebuah alat elektronik fiksi yang ada dalam semua seri permainan video dan anime Pokémon. Dalam game, jika seekor Pokémon tertangkap, maka data dari Pokémon tersebut akan masuk ke dalam Pokédex milik sang pemilik. Namun lain halnya dengan di anime atau manga, dimana di versi ini Pokédex adalah sebuah ensiklopedia elektronik lengkap yang bisa digunakan untuk mencari atau mendapatkan informasi tentang Pokémon yang kita temui. Pokédex biasanya digunakan untuk menyebutkan daftar Pokémon, atau lebih lengkapnya untuk menyebutkan daftar urut Pokémon sesuai nomor. Dalam permainan video, kita yang bermain sebagai Pokémon Trainer akan memulainya dengan Pokédex yang kosong ketika kita memulai petualangan. Untuk mengisinya, kita harus mengadakan pertarungan dengan Pokémon liar, atau kalau lebih bagus, kita harus menangkap Pokémon liar yang kita jumpai tersebut. Setelah kita berhasil mengalahkan atau menangkap Pokémon tersebut, kita akan menerima keterangan seperti gambar, nama, dan tempat habitat Pokémon tersebut dalam Pokédex.

Dalam Pokémon Red dan Blue, beberapa Pokémon malah bisa masuk ke daftar Pokédex tanpa harus mengalahkan mereka, tetapi cukup dengan melihat atau menjumpainya saja, seperti di kebun binatang dekat Safari Zone. Dalam perkembangannya, Pokédex kemudian member kita informasi lengkap tentang spesies, ukuran, berat badan, dan jurus-jurus yang Pokémon kita miliki. Bahkan Pokédex di Pokémon G3 sudah memuat daftar lengkap tentang habitan di mana Pokémon tersebut tinggal secara konfrehensif, seperti misalnya di gunung, kota, atau hutan.

Dalam media lain

Serial animasi
Misty sebagai salah satu karakter fiksi dari serial Pokemon.

Serial TV dan film teater Pokémon merupakan versi pengembangan dari seluruh seri permainan video Pokémon (dengan pengecualian untuk Pokémon Yellow, yang meretas jalan sebaliknya dari serial TV ke permainan video). Karakter utama dalam serial TV Pokémon adalah Ash Ketchum (alias Satoshi di versi Jepang).[11] Ia bersama rekan-rekannya saling bahu membahu dalam perjalanan. Rekan-rekan Ash adalah Brock (mantan leader dari Pewter City Gym), Misty (leader Cerulean City Gym), Tracey Sketchit, May (dari kota Petalburg), Max, dan Dawn. Musuh utama tim ini adalah Team Rocket yang dipimpin oleh Giovanni (Sakaki) dengan anak buahnya yang selalu mengikuti kemanapun Ash pergi yaitu Jessie (Musashi), James (Kojiro), dan Meowth (Nyasu).

Dalam serial Pokémon G1, Ash mendapatkan Pokémon Pikachu, berbeda dengan di permainan video Pokémon Red dan Blue, dimana yang ada adalah Bulbasaur, Charmander, dan Squirtle. Cerita di G1 mengambil tempat di Kanto. Ash kemudian mendapatkan teman bertualang yaitu Brock dan Misty. Sementara di G2 mengambil tempat di Johto, dan masih melanjutkan petualangan Ash, Misty, dan Brock. Selanjutnya, serial berlanjut dengan masuknya Ash ke Hoenn (Pokémon G3), dimana ia menjadi mentor dan guru bagi May. Di G2 dia juga berteman dengan adik May, Max. Posisi May dan Max adalah menggantikan Misty yang kembali lagi ke kota asalnya, yaitu Cerulean City.

Di Pokémon G4, Ash bersama Brock pergi ke Sinnoh, dimana di saat yang sama May bersama Max pergi ke Johto setelah sebelumnya ke Kanto untuk mengikuti kompetisi Battle Frontier. Ash di Sinnoh kemudian bertemu dengan teman baru bernama Dawn. Untuk mendukung cerita film, tim Pokémon Company juga telah mengeluarkan 11 film Pokémon (12 untuk Jepang) sampai Juli 2008.

Dalam serial animasi Pokémon terdapat banyak argumen dari fans mengenai kisah cinta dari Ash (Satoshi) ataupun karakter lainnya. Namun sampai sekarang belum terbukti bahwa Ash memiliki kekasih, walaupun ada beberapa bukti dalam episode Pokémon mengenai kisah cinta. Tapi tetap saja, tidak ada satu episode pun yang menyebutkan kalau karakter utama dalam Pokémon memiliki hubungan cinta.

History
An original PlayStation control pad. This model was later replaced by the Dual Analog, and then the DualShock.

The second conceptions of the PlayStation date back to 1986 in Japan where it was created. Nintendo had been attempting to work with disc technology since the Famicom, but the medium had problems. Its rewritable magnetic nature could be easily erased (thus leading to a lack of durability), and the discs were a copyright infringement danger. Consequently, when details of CDROM/XA (an extension of the CD-ROM format that combines compressed audio, visual and computer data, allowing all to be accessed simultaneously) came out, Nintendo was interested. CD-ROM/XA was being simultaneously developed by Sony and Philips. Nintendo approached Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on, tentatively titled the “SNES-CD”. A contract was signed, and work began. Nintendo’s choice of Sony was due to a prior dealing: Ken Kutaragi, the person who would later be dubbed “The Father of PlayStation”, was the individual who had sold Nintendo on using the Sony SPC-700 processor for use as the eight-channel ADPCM sound synthesis set in the Super Famicom/SNES console through an impressive demonstration of the processor’s capabilities.[12]

Sony also planned to develop another, Atari compatible, Sony-branded console, but one which would be more of a home entertainment system playing both Super Nintendo cartridges and a new CD format which Sony would design. This was also to be the format used in SNES-CD discs, giving a large degree of control to Sony despite Nintendo’s leading position in the video gaming market.
The DualShock controller.

The SNES-CD was to be announced at the June 1991 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). However, when Hiroshi Yamauchi read the original 1988 contract between Sony and Nintendo, he realized that the earlier agreement essentially handed Sony complete control over any and all titles written on the SNES CD-ROM format. Yamauchi decided that the contract was totally unacceptable and he secretly canceled all plans for the joint Nintendo-Sony SNES CD attachment. Instead of announcing a partnership between Sony and Nintendo, at 9 a.m. the day of the CES, Nintendo chairman Howard Lincoln stepped onto the stage and revealed that Nintendo was now allied with Philips, and Nintendo was planning on abandoning all the previous work Nintendo and Sony had accomplished. Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa had, unbeknownst to Sony, flown to Philips headquarters in Europe and formed an alliance of a decidedly different nature—one that would give Nintendo total control over its licenses on Philips machines.

After the collapse of the joint project, Sony considered halting their research, but ultimately the company decided to use what they had developed so far and make it into a complete, stand alone console. As a result, Nintendo filed a lawsuit claiming breach of contract and attempted, in U.S. federal court, to obtain an injunction against the release of the PlayStation, on the grounds that Nintendo owned the name. The federal judge presiding over the case denied the injunction and, in October 1991, the first incarnation of the new Sony Play Station was revealed. However, it is theorized that only 200 or so of these machines were ever produced.[citation needed]
PlayStation Memory Card.

By the end of 1992, Sony and Nintendo reached a deal whereby the “Sony Play Station” would still have a port for SNES games, but Nintendo would own the rights and receive the bulk of the profits from the games, and the SNES would continue to use the Sony-designed audio chip. However, Sony decided in early 1993 to begin reworking the “Play Station” concept to target a new generation of hardware and software. As part of this process the SNES cartridge port was dropped and the space between the names was removed.

[edit] Launch

The PlayStation was launched in Japan on December 3, 1994, North America on September 9, 1995,[2] Europe on September 29, 1995,[3] and Oceania in November 15, 1995.[4] The launch price in the American market was US$299[2] (a price point later used by its successor, the PlayStation 2),[13] and Sony enjoyed a very successful launch with titles of almost every genre, including Battle Arena Toshinden, Warhawk, Air Combat, and Philosoma. Ridge Racer, however, was not a launch game, despite popular belief. Almost all of Sony’s and Namco’s launch titles went on to spawn numerous sequels.

The PlayStation was also able to generate interest with a unique series of advertising campaigns. Many of the ads released at the time of launch were full of ambiguous content which had many gamers rabidly debating their meanings. The most well-known launch ads include the “Enos Lives” campaign, and the “U R Not e” ads (the “e” in “U R Not e” was always colored in red, to symbolize the word “ready”, and the “Enos” meant “ready Ninth Of September”, the U.S. launch date). The Enos ad could also be read as Sony written backward with phonetic sound of “E” replacing the “y”. It is believed that these ads were an attempt to play off the gaming public’s suspicion towards Sony as an unknown, untested entity in the video game market. The PlayStation 3 slogan, “PLAY B3YOND”, resembles this slogan, as the 3 is red.

Demo disk 1 that shipped with the PlayStation in Europe.
Titles
See also: Chronology of PlayStation games and List of PlayStation 1 games

As of September 30, 2007, a total of 7,978 software titles have been released worldwide (counting games released in multiple regions as separate titles).[14] As of March 31, 2007, the cumulative software shipment was at 962 million units.[15] The very last game for the system released in the United States was FIFA Football 2005.

The OK and Cancel buttons on most of the Japanese PlayStation games are reversed in their North American and European releases. In Japan, the Circle button (maru, right) is used as the OK button, while the X button (batsu, wrong) is used as Cancel. North American and European releases have the X button or the Circle buttons as the OK button, while either the Square or the Triangle buttons are used as Cancel (some titles like Xenogears used the Circle button for cancelling actions and selections). However, a few games such as Squaresoft’s Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy VII (although players could change the button configuration in-game in the North American and European releases, this brought up problems in certain situations), and Final Fantasy Tactics, Namco’s Ridge Racer Type 4 and Konami’s Metal Gear Solid, have the buttons remain in the same Japanese configurational layout. Some games like Japanese version of Gran Turismo had used different control similar to North American games. These Japanese button layouts still apply to other PlayStation consoles, such as the PlayStation Portable (PSP), PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 3. This is because in the early years Sony America (SCEA), Sony Europe (SCEE) and Sony Japan (SCEJ) had different development and testing documents (TRCs) for their respective territories.

[edit] Production Run

Lasting over 11 years, the PlayStation enjoyed one of the longest production runs in the video game industry. On March 23, 2006, Sony announced the end of production. However, Duel Masters: Sempai Legends!, the last game for the PlayStation was released on September 29, 2006.[11]

[edit] Variants
An editor has expressed a concern that this section lends undue weight to certain ideas relative to the article as a whole. Please help to discuss and resolve the dispute before removing this message. (April 2009)
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)
Developer’s kit PlayStation

The PlayStation went through a number of variants during its production run, each accompanied by a change in the part number. From an external perspective, the most notable change was the gradual reduction in the number of external connectors on the unit. This started very early on—the original Japanese launch units (SCPH-1000) had an S-Video port, which was removed on the next release. This also led to the strange situation where the US and European launch units had the same part number series (SCPH-100x) as the Japanese launch units, but had different hardware (Rev. C silicon and no S-Video port)—they were the same as the Japanese SCPH-3000, so for consistency should have been SCPH-3001 and SCPH-3002 (this numbering was used for the Yaroze machines, which were based on the same hardware and numbered DTL-H3000, DTL-H3001, and DTL-H3002). Also, the first models (DTL-H1000, DTL-H1001, DTL-H1002) had some problems with printf function and developers had to use another function instead. This series of machines had a reputation for CD drive problems—the optical pickup sled was made of thermoplastic, and eventually developed wear spots that moved the laser into a position where it was no longer parallel with the CD surface—a modification was made that replaced the sled with a die-cast one with hard nylon inserts, which corrected the problem.

With the release of the next series (SCPH-500x), the numbers moved back into sync. A number of changes were made to the unit internally (CD drive relocated, shielding simplified, PSU wiring simplified) and the RCA jacks and RFU power connectors were removed from the rear panel. This series also contained the SCPH-550x and SCPH-555x units, but these appear to have been bundle changes rather than actual hardware revisions.

These were followed by the SCPH-700x and SCHP-750x series—they are externally identical to the SCPH-500x machines, but have internal changes made to reduce manufacturing costs (for example, the system RAM went from 4 chips to 1, and the CD controller went from 3 chips to 1).

The final revision to the original PlayStation was the SCPH-900x series—these had the same hardware as the SCPH-750x machines with the exception of the removal of the parallel port and a slight reduction in the size of the PCB. The removal of the parallel port was probably partly because no official add-on had ever been released for it, and partly because it was being used to connect cheat cartridges that could be used to defeat the copy protection.

The PS one was based on substantially the same hardware as the SCPH-750x and 900x, but had the serial port removed, the controller / memory card ports moved to the main PCB and the power supply replaced with a DC-DC converter that was also on the main PCB.

With the early units, many gamers experienced skipping full-motion video or dreaded physical “ticking” noises coming from their PlayStations. The problem appears to have come from poorly placed vents leading to overheating in some environments—the plastic moldings inside the console would warp very slightly and create knock-on effects with the laser assembly. The solution was to ensure the console was sat on a surface which dissipated heat efficiently in a well vented area, or raise the unit up slightly by propping something at its edges. A common fix for already affected consoles was to turn the PlayStation sideways or upside-down (thereby using gravity to cancel the effects of the warped interior) although some gamers smacked the lid of the PlayStation to make a game load or work.

Earliest series had potentiometers on the board for adjusting the reading mechanism, named BIAS, GAIN and an unknown one. By connecting a voltmeter between the upper-most metering point near the BIAS potentiometer and the chassis, the resulting voltage could be read. The supposed right values are 1.70V when a CD is spinning at 1x speed and 1.85V when a CD is spinning at 2x speed. Further tuning was also possible on the unique potentiometer present on the CD drive. Later series featured an automatic laser calibration mechanism.

Sony then released a version dubbed “Dual Shock”, which included a controller with two analog sticks and a built-in vibration-feedback feature.

Another version that was colored blue (as opposed to regular console units that were grey in color) was available to game developers and select press. Later versions of this were colored green—on a technical level, these units were almost identical to the retail units, but had a different CD controller in them that did not require the region code found on all pressed disks, since they were intended to be used with CD-R media for debugging. This also allowed the use of discs from different regions, but this was not officially supported; different debug stations existed for each region. The two different color cases were not cosmetic—the original blue debug station (DTL-H100x, DTL-H110x) contained “Revision B” silicon, the same as the early retail units (these units had silicon errata that needed software workarounds), the green units (DTL-H120x) had Rev. C hardware. As part of the required tests, the user had to test the title on both. Contrary to popular belief, the RAM was the same as the retail units at 2 MB. The firmware was nearly identical—the only significant change was that debug printf()s got sent to the serial port if the title didn’t open it for communications—this used a DTL-H3050 serial cable (the same as the one used for the Yaroze).

A white version (SCPH-5903) was also produced that had the ability to play VCDs—this was only sold in Asia, since that format never really caught on anywhere else. From a developer perspective, the white PSX could be treated exactly like any other NTSC:J PlayStation.

[edit] “Chipped” consoles

The installation of a modchip allowed the PlayStation’s capabilities to be expanded, and several options were made available. By the end of the system’s life cycle almost anyone with minimal soldering experience was able to realize the modification of the console. Such a modification allowed the playing of games from other regions, such as PAL titles on a NTSC console, or allowed the ability to play copies of original games without restriction. Modchips allow the playing of games recorded on a regular CD-R. This created a wave of games developed without official approval using free, unofficial tools, as well as the reproduction of original discs. With the introduction of such devices the console was very attractive to programmers and illegal copiers alike.

Anyone seeking to create copies of games that would work correctly faced several issues at the time, as the discs that were produced by Sony were designed to be difficult to copy — and impossible to copy on recordable media. Discs were manufactured with a black-colored plastic, transparent only to the infrared radiation used by the CD-ROM drive’s laser. This was found to offer little protection. Additionally, the discs were mastered with a specific wobble in the lead-in area. This wobble encodes a four-character sequence which is checked by the CD-ROM drive’s controller chip. The drive will only accept the disc if the code is correct. This string varies depending on the region of the disk—”SCEI” for NTSC:J machines, “SCEA” for NTSC:U/C machines, “SCEE” for PAL machines and “SCEW” for the Net Yaroze. Since the tracking pattern is pressed into the disc at the time of manufacture, this cannot be reproduced on a CD-R recorder. Some companies (notably Datel) did manage to produce discs that booted on unmodified retail units, but this required special equipment and can only be done with “pressed” discs. However, inexpensive modchips were created that simply injected the code to the appropriate connections to the controller chip, which provided an easy way of bypassing these measures. The other issue is that most PC drives used Mode 1 or Mode 2/Form 1 (2048 bytes/sector) and the PSX uses a mixed-mode format with most data in Mode 2/Form 1 and streaming audio/video data in Mode 2/Form 2, which most CD-R drives at the time could not handle well. Newer drives were able to correctly handle these variations.

The creation and mass-production of these inexpensive modchips, coupled with their ease of installation, marked the beginning of widespread console videogame copyright infringement. Also, CD burners were made available around this time. Prior to the PlayStation, the reproduction of copyrighted material for gaming consoles was restricted to either enthusiasts with exceptional technical ability, or others that had access to CD manufacturers. With this console, amateurs could replicate anything Sony was producing for a mere fraction of the MSRP.

Swap Trick

On earliest series, SCPH-100X and SCPH-3000, it was possible to launch games burned on CD-R without any mod-chip. The trick consisted in starting the console with no game, then going to the CD player application. After inserting an original game, using a small object like a match or a spring, make the lid contactor go down to simulate a closed lid. The CD would spin up and stop, after it was exchanged by another game this time burned on a CD-R. After exiting the CD player application, the PlayStation loads the game thinking it’s an original CD. On later series, this trick was defeated, though it was still possible to realise a double-swap which consisted of launching an original game, the two times the CD-ROM spins to 2x speed and lowers to 1x speed, the original game was exchanged by a copy, twice. This defeated the tighter verifications on newer series, but at a price of wearing out the CD-ROM motor.
Net Yaroze

A version of the PlayStation called the Net Yaroze was also produced. It was more expensive than the original PlayStation, colored black instead of the usual gray, and most importantly, came with tools and instructions that allowed a user to be able to program PlayStation games and applications without the need for a full developer suite, which cost many times the amount of a PlayStation and was only available to approved video game developers. Naturally, the Net Yaroze lacked many of the features the full developer suite provided. Programmers were also limited by the 2 MB of total game space that Net Yaroze allowed. The amount of space may seem small, but games like Ridge Racer ran entirely from the system RAM (except for the streamed music tracks). It was unique in that it was the only officially retailed Sony PlayStation with no regional lockout; it would play games from any territory. It would not however play CDR discs, so it was not possible to create self-booting Yaroze games without a modified Playstation.
PS one with LCD screen and a DualShock controller.

PlayStation 1

The PlayStation 1 (also PSone, PSOne, or PS1), launched in 2000, is Sony’s smaller, redesigned version of its PlayStation video game console. The PS one is considerably smaller than the original PlayStation (dimensions being 38 mm × 193 mm × 144 mm versus 45 mm × 260 mm × 185 mm). It was released on July 7, 2000,[16] and went on to outsell all other consoles—including Sony’s own brand-new PlayStation 2—throughout the remainder of the year.[17] Sony also released a small LCD screen and an adaptor to power the unit for use in cars. The PS one is fully compatible with all PlayStation software. The PlayStation is now officially abbreviated as the “PS1″ or “PS one.”[citation needed] There were three differences between the “PS one” and the original, the first one being cosmetic change to the console, the second one was the home menu’s Graphical User Interface, and the third being added protection against the modchip by changing the internal layout and making previous-generation modchip devices unusable. The PS one also lacks the original PlayStation’s parallel and serial ports. The serial port allowed multiple consoles to be connected for multiplayer or for connecting a console to debugging software.

Summary of PlayStation models

The last digit of the PlayStation model number denotes the region in which it was sold:

* 0 is Japan (Japanese boot ROM, NTSC:J region, NTSC Video, 100V PSU)
* 1 is USA/Canada (English boot ROM, NTSC:U/C region, NTSC Video, 110V PSU)
* 2 is Europe/PAL (English boot ROM, PAL region, PAL Video, 220V PSU)
* 3 is Asia (Japanese boot ROM, NTSC:J region, NTSC video, 220V PSU)

Consumer models
Model:     Case:     BIOS:     Hardware:     Region:     A/V Direct Out:     Parallel Port:     Serial Port:     Sound Scope:     Notes:
SCPH-1000     Original (Grey)     Unknown (09/22/94)     Rev. A     NTSC-J     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     FMV skipping issues. S-Video direct out.
SCPH-1001     Original (Grey)     2.2 (12/04/95)     Rev. B     NTSC-U/C     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     FMV skipping issues. Based on SCPH-3000 series.
SCPH-1002     Original (Grey)     2.0 (05/10/95)     Rev. B     PAL     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     FMV skipping issues. Based on SCPH-3000 series.
SCPH-1002     Original (Grey)     2.1 (07/17/95)     Rev. B     PAL     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     FMV skipping issues. Based on SCPH-3000 series.
SCPH-1002     Original (Grey)     2.2 (12/04/95)     Rev. B     PAL     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     FMV skipping issues. Based on SCPH-3000 series.
SCPH-3000     Original (Grey)     1.1 (01/22/95)     Rev. B     NTSC-J     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     FMV skipping issues. Earliest units had a PU-7 board, further units featured a PU-8 board like SCPH-1002.
SCPH-3500     Original (Grey)     2.1 (07/17/95)     Rev. B     NTSC-J     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     FMV skipping issues.
SCPH-5000     Original (Grey)     2.2 (12/04/95)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide.
SCPH-5001     Original (Grey)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. C     NTSC-U/C     No     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide.
SCPH-5002     Original (Grey)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. C     PAL     No     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide.
SCPH-5003     Original (Grey)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide.
SCPH-5500     Original (Grey)     3.0 (09/09/96)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide.
SCPH-5501     Original (Grey)     3.0 (11/18/96)     Rev. C     NTSC-U/C     No     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide.
SCPH-5502     Original (Grey)     3.0 (01/06/97)     Rev. C     PAL     No     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide.
SCPH-5503     Original (Grey)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide.
SCPH-5552     Original (Grey)     3.0 (01/06/97)     Rev. C     PAL     No     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide. A very rare Men in Black promotional model exists with a black case and the film’s logo on the CD lid.
SCPH-5903     Original (White)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     CD-ROM drive re-located on right side of CD bay. Lens carriage reinforced and power simplified, fixing FMV skipping issues. A/V direct out and RFU power connector removed. Model numbers synchronized worldwide. Only model capable of playing Video CD movies. This model also has RCA plugs, like earlier Playstation models.
SCPH-7000     Original (Grey)     4.0 (08/18/97)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     Yes     Yes     Yes     DualShock now standard. Introduction of Sound Scope. Major manufacturing cost reductions took place from this model onwards. The number of memory chips and CD-ROM controllers were reduced, other components were simplified. Available in midnight blue as promotional item to celebrate the 10 millionth PlayStation sold.
SCPH-7001     Original (Grey)     4.1 (12/16/97)     Rev. C     NTSC-U/C     No     Yes     Yes     Yes     DualShock now standard. Introduction of Sound Scope. Major manufacturing cost reductions took place from this model onwards. The number of memory chips and CD-ROM controllers were reduced, other components were simplified. Available in midnight blue as promotional item to celebrate the 10 millionth PlayStation sold.
SCPH-7002     Original (Grey)     4.1 (12/16/97)     Rev. C     PAL     No     Yes     Yes     Yes     DualShock now standard. Introduction of Sound Scope. Major manufacturing cost reductions took place from this model onwards. The number of memory chips and CD-ROM controllers were reduced, other components were simplified. Available in midnight blue as promotional item to celebrate the 10 millionth PlayStation sold.
SCPH-7003     Original (Grey)     3.0 (11/18/96)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     Yes     Yes     Yes     DualShock now standard. Introduction of Sound Scope. Major manufacturing cost reductions took place from this model onwards. The number of memory chips and CD-ROM controllers were reduced, other components were simplified.
SCPH-7500     Original (Grey)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     Yes     Yes     Yes     DualShock now standard. Introduction of Sound Scope. Major manufacturing cost reductions took place from this model onwards. The number of memory chips and CD-ROM controllers were reduced, other components were simplified.
SCPH-7501     Original (Grey)     4.1 (12/16/97)     Rev. C     NTSC-U/C     No     Yes     Yes     Yes     DualShock now standard. Introduction of Sound Scope. Major manufacturing cost reductions took place from this model onwards. The number of memory chips and CD-ROM controllers were reduced, other components were simplified.
SCPH-7502     Original (Grey)     4.1 (12/16/97)     Rev. C     PAL     No     Yes     Yes     Yes     DualShock now standard. Introduction of Sound Scope. Major manufacturing cost reductions took place from this model onwards. The number of memory chips and CD-ROM controllers were reduced, other components were simplified.
SCPH-7503     Original (Grey)     4.1 (12/16/97)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     Yes     Yes     Yes     DualShock now standard. Introduction of Sound Scope. Major manufacturing cost reductions took place from this model onwards. The number of memory chips and CD-ROM controllers were reduced, other components were simplified.
SCPH-9000     Original (Grey)     4.0 (08/18/97)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     No     Yes     Yes     Parallel port removed. Motherboard PCB reduced in size.
SCPH-9001     Original (Grey)     4.1 (12/16/97)     Rev. C     NTSC-U/C     No     No     Yes     Yes     Parallel port removed. Motherboard PCB reduced in size.
SCPH-9002     Original (Grey)     4.1 (12/16/97)     Rev. C     PAL     No     No     Yes     Yes     Parallel port removed. Motherboard PCB reduced in size.
SCPH-9003     Original (Grey)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     No     Yes     Yes     Parallel port removed. Motherboard PCB reduced in size.
SCPH-100     PS one (White)     4.3 (03/11/00)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     No     No     Yes     Redesigned smaller case. Controller and memory card ports integrated onto motherboard. Serial port removed. Has external power supply.
SCPH-101     PS one (White)     4.5 (05/25/00)     Rev. C     NTSC-U/C     No     No     No     Yes     Redesigned smaller case. Controller and memory card ports integrated onto motherboard. Serial port removed. Has external power supply.
SCPH-102     PS one (White)     4.4 (03/24/00)     Rev. C     PAL     No     No     No     Yes     Redesigned smaller case. Controller and memory card ports integrated onto motherboard. Serial port removed. Has external power supply.
SCPH-102     PS one (White)     4.5 (05/25/00)     Rev. C     PAL     No     No     No     Yes     Redesigned smaller case. Controller and memory card ports integrated onto motherboard. Serial port removed. Has external power supply.
SCPH-103     PS one (White)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     No     No     No     Yes     Redesigned smaller case. Controller and memory card ports integrated onto motherboard. Serial port removed. Has external power supply.

Speciality models
Model:     Case:     BIOS:     Hardware:     Region:     A/V Direct Out:     Parallel Port:     Serial Port:     Sound Scope:     Notes:
DTL-H1000     Original (Blue)     Unknown (09/22/94)     Rev. A     NTSC-J     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. S-Video direct out. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies.
DTL-H1000H     Original (Grey)     1.1 (01/22/95)     Rev. B     NTSC-J     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies.
DTL-H1001     Original (Blue)     2.0 (05/07/95)     Rev. B     NTSC-U/C     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies.
DTL-H1001H     Original (Grey)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. B     NTSC-U/C     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies.
DTL-H1002     Original (Blue)     2.0 (05/10/95)     Rev. B     PAL     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies.
DTL-H1100     Original (Blue)     2.2 (03/06/96)     Rev. B     NTSC-J     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies. Has external power supply.
DTL-H1101     Original (Blue)     2.1 (07/17/95)     Rev. B     NTSC-U/C     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies. Has external power supply.
DTL-H1102     Original (Blue)     2.1 (07/17/95)     Rev. B     PAL     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies. Has external power supply.
DTL-H1200     Original (Green)     2.2 (12/04/95)     Rev. C     NTSC-J     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies. Will not display PAL video mode.
DTL-H1201     Original (Green)     2.2 (12/04/95)     Rev. C     NTSC-U/C     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies. Will not display PAL video mode.
DTL-H1202     Original (Green)     2.2 (12/04/95)     Rev. C     PAL     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Debugger. Can boot games from any region and CD-R copies. Will not display NTSC video mode.
DTL-H3000     Original (Black)     Unknown (Unknown)     Rev. B     NTSC-J     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Net Yaroze hobbyist development system. Can boot games from any region but not CD-R copies.
DTL-H3001     Original (Black)     2.2 (12/04/95)     Rev. B     NTSC-U/C     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Net Yaroze hobbyist development system. Can boot games from any region but not CD-R copies.
DTL-H3002     Original (Black)     2.2 (12/04/95)     Rev. B     PAL     Yes     Yes     Yes     No     Low quality CD-ROM drive. Net Yaroze hobbyist development system. Can boot games from any region but not CD-R copies.

Successors

Sony’s successor to the PlayStation is the PlayStation 2, which is backward compatible with its predecessor in that it can play almost every PlayStation game. Unlike emulators that run on a PC, the PlayStation 2 actually contains the original PlayStation processor, allowing games to run exactly as they do on the PlayStation. For PlayStation 2 games this processor, called the IOP, is used for input and output (memory cards, DVD drive, network, and hard drive). Like its predecessor, the PlayStation 2 is based on hardware developed by Sony itself.

The third generation of the PlayStation known as the PlayStation 3 (abbreviated PS3), was launched on November 17, 2006 in Japan, November 17, 2006 in North America, and March 23, 2007 in Europe. The PlayStation 3 was initially backward compatible with all games that were originally made for the first PlayStation, but due to the removal of the PlayStation 2 chipset after the introduction of the 40 GB version, that capability is limited now to emulation. While PS3 games are not region-locked, PlayStation games still only play on a PS3 console from the same territory.

The PlayStation Portable (officially PSP) is a handheld game console first released in late 2004. The PSP is capable of playing PlayStation games downloaded via Sony’s online store, and can also play any PlayStation game by using the PlayStation 3′s remote play feature while the disc in the PlayStation 3. Sony hopes to release nearly all PlayStation games on a gradual basis.[18] It is also possible to convert original PlayStation disc images into executable binaries using freely available software. These games are then playable on PSPs that have been modified to run unsigned code.

An original PlayStation 2

A 60 GB PlayStation 3 unit, alongside its packaging box and a Sixaxis controller.

A 1000 series PlayStation Portable

Legacy

The success of the PlayStation is widely believed to have influenced the demise of the cartridge-based home console. While not the first system to utilize an optical disc format, it was the first success story, and ended up going head-to-head with the last major home console to rely on proprietary cartridges—the Nintendo 64.

Nintendo was very public about its skepticism toward using CDs and DVDs to store games, citing longer load times and durability issues. It was widely speculated that the company was even more concerned with copyright infringement, given its substantial reliance on licensing and exclusive titles for its revenue.

The increasing complexity of games (in content, graphics, and sound) pushed cartridges to their storage limits and this fact began to turn off third party developers. Also, CDs were appealing to publishers due to the fact that they could be produced at a significantly lower cost and offered more flexibility (it was easy to change production to meet demand). In turn, they were able to pass the lower costs onto consumers. One major industry disadvantage of CDs was illegal copying due to the advent of CD burners and mod chips.[citation needed] Despite this drawback for CDs, Sony still supported them over cartridges, and has helped bring the concept of using CDs as a storage device for video games. And while helping forward this idea, they have had great success with it: the PlayStation has sold over 100 million consoles worldwide. The PlayStation’s production was discontinued on March 23, 2006.[11]
This article needs reorganization to meet Wikipedia’s quality standards. There is good information here, but it is poorly organized; editors are encouraged to be bold and make changes to the overall structure to improve this article. (December 2006)

Quality of construction

The first batch of PlayStations used a KSM-440AAM laser unit whose case and all movable parts were completely made out of plastic. Over time, friction caused the plastic tray to wear out—usually unevenly. The placement of the laser unit close to the power supply accelerated wear because of the additional heat, which made the plastic even more vulnerable to friction. Eventually, the tray would become so worn that the laser no longer pointed directly at the CD and games would no longer load. Sony eventually fixed the problem by making the tray out of die-cast metal and placing the laser unit farther away from the power supply on later models of the PlayStation.

Some units, particularly the early 100x models, would be unable to play FMV or music correctly, resulting in skipping or freezing. In more extreme cases the PlayStation would only work correctly when turned onto its side or upside down.

Electronic games
Nintendo’s first video game system, the Color TV Game 6
The Nintendo Game & Watch unit Donkey Kong

Nintendo at this time saw how successful video games were and began to dabble in them. Their first step in that field was to secure the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan, which they did in 1975. At the time, home video game consoles were extremely rare — even the seminal Atari Pong console had yet to be produced. After experiencing reasonable success at this, Nintendo began developing its own video games, both for the home and for arcades. In the 1970s, Mitsubishi Electric proposed joint development of “Color TV Game Machine”. In 1977, they released “Color TV Game 6″ and “Color TV Game 15″ (6 and 15 indicates the number of games).

Their first video arcade game was 1978′s Computer Othello; a large handful of others followed in the next several years, Radar Scope and Donkey Kong being among the most famous of these. The early 1980s saw Nintendo’s video game division (led by Yokoi) creating some of its most famous arcade titles. The massively popular Donkey Kong was created in 1981 with Miyamoto as its mastermind, and released in the arcades and on the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and ColecoVision video game systems (although Nintendo themselves generally had no involvement with these early console ports). This release method would be used on several later Nintendo arcade games of this same period, including the original Mario Bros. (not to be confused with the later Super Mario Bros.) In addition to this arcade and dedicated console game activity, Nintendo was testing the consumer handheld video game waters with the Game & Watch.

1983–1989

In July 1983, Nintendo released their Famicom (Family Computer) system in Japan, which was their first attempt at a cartridge-based video game console. The system was a failure until the release of the game Super Mario Bros., selling over 500,000 units within two months. The console was also a technical insulation and inexpensive when compared to its competitors, priced at about $100 USD. However, after a few months of the consoles selling well, Nintendo received complaints that some Famicom consoles would freeze when the player attempted to play certain games. The fault was found in a malfunctioning chip and Nintendo decided to recall all Famicom units currently on store shelves, which cost them almost half a million USD.

By 1985, the Famicom had proven to be a huge continued success in Japan. However, Nintendo also encountered a problem with the sudden popularity of the Famicom — they did not have the resources to manufacture games at the same pace they were selling them. To combat this, Yamauchi decided to divide his employees into three groups, the groups being Research & Development 1 (R&D 1), Research & Development 2 (R&D 2) and Research & Development 3 (R&D 3). R&D 1 was headed by Gunpei Yokoi, R&D 2 was headed by Masayuki Uemura, and R&D 3 was headed by Genyo Takeda. Using these groups, Yamauchi hoped Nintendo would produce a small number of high quality games rather than a large number of average quality games.
The Nintendo Famicom, released in 1983, sold well in Japan.

During this period of time, Nintendo rekindled their desire to release the Famicom in the USA. Since the company had very little experience with the United States market, they had previously attempted to contract with Atari for the system’s distribution in 1983. However, a fiasco involving Coleco and Donkey Kong soured the relationship between the two during the negotiations, and Atari refused to back Nintendo’s console. The video game crash of 1983 soon took out not only Atari, but the vast majority of the American market itself. Nintendo was on their own.

Nintendo was determined not to make the same mistakes in the US that Atari had. Because of massive influxes of games that were regarded as some of the worst ever created, gaming had almost completely died out in America. Nintendo decided that to avoid facing the same problems, they would only allow games that received their “Seal of Quality” to be sold for the Famicom, using a chip called 10NES to “lockout” or prevent unlicensed games from working.

In 1985, Nintendo announced that they were releasing the Famicom worldwide — except under a different name — the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) — and with a different design. They used a trojan-horse tactic to counter the bad view that the media was giving on video games, and released the NES with R.O.B. units that connected to the console and were synchronised to the games. To ensure the localization of the highest-quality games by third-party developers, Nintendo of America limited the number of game titles third-party developers could release in a single year to five. Konami, the first third-party company that was allowed to make cartridges for the Famicom, would later circumvent this rule by creating a spinoff company, Ultra Games, to release additional games in a single year. Other manufacturers soon employed the same tactic. Also in 1985, Super Mario Bros. was released for the Famicom in Japan and became a large success.
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), released in 1985, is one of the most popular consoles of all time.

Nintendo test marketed the Nintendo Entertainment System in the New York area on October 18, 1985. They expanded the test to Los Angeles in February 1986 followed by tests in Chicago and San Francisco. They would go national by the end of 1986, along with 15 games, sold separately. In the US and Canada, it outsold its competitors by a wide margin. This was also the year that Metroid and Super Mario Bros. 2 (the Japanese version) were released.

In 1988, Nintendo of America unveiled Nintendo Power, a monthly news and strategy magazine from Nintendo that served to advertise new games. The first issue published was the July/August edition, which spotlighted the NES game Super Mario Bros. 2. Nintendo Power is still published today with its two hundredth issue released in February 2006.

In 1989, Nintendo (which had seen a large amount of success from the Game & Watch) released the Game Boy (both created by Gunpei Yokoi), along with the accompanying game Tetris. Due to the price, the game and its durability (unlike the prior Microvision from Milton Bradley Company, which was prone to static and screen rot), the Game Boy sold extremely well. It eventually became the best selling portable game system of all time. Later, Super Mario Land was also released for the Game Boy, which sold 14 million copies worldwide. 1989 was also the year that Nintendo announced a sequel to the Famicom, to be called the Super Famicom.

By the end of the 1980s, Sega sued Nintendo, claiming that they had abused their relationship with third-party developers and created a monopoly in the gaming industry by not allowing developers to make games for any other platforms. The courts found Nintendo guilty of anti-trust activities. They changed this rule during the Super NES era, allowing Sega to start a massive console war against Nintendo with the Sega Mega Drive and Game Gear. This occurred once more in 1996, when Sony released the PlayStation.

1990–1995
The original North American SNES, circa 1991

The last major blockbuster game for the NES, Super Mario Bros. 3, was released in early 1990. The game went on to sell over 18 million units.

The Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990. The system’s launch was widely successful, and the Super Famicom was sold out across Japan within three days. In August 1991, the Super Famicom was launched in the US under the name “Super Nintendo Entertainment System” (SNES). The SNES was released in Europe in 1992.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System followed in the steps of its predecessor, with a low price and high technical specifications for its era. The controller of the SNES had also improved over that of the NES, as it now had rounded edges and four new buttons.

In Japan, the Super Famicom easily took control of the gaming market. In the US, due to a late start and an aggressive marketing campaign by Sega, Nintendo saw its market share take a precipitous plunge from 90-95% with the NES to a low of approximately 35% against the Sega Genesis. Over the course of several years, the SNES in North America eventually overtook the Genesis, thanks to franchise titles such as Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Street Fighter II, and the Final Fantasy series. Total worldwide sales of the SNES were higher than the Genesis.

In 1992, Gunpei Yokoi and the rest of R&D 1 began planning on a new virtual reality console to be called the Virtual Boy. Hiroshi Yamauchi also bought majority shares of the Seattle Mariners in 1992.

In 1993, Nintendo announced plans to develop a new 64-bit console codenamed Project Reality that would be capable of rendering fully 3D environments and characters. In 1994, Nintendo also claimed that Project Reality would be renamed Ultra 64 in the US. The Ultra 64 moniker was unveiled in arcades on the Nintendo branded fighting game Killer Instinct and the racing game Cruisin’ USA. Killer Instinct was later released on the SNES. Soon after, Nintendo realized they had mistakenly chosen a name for their new console that the Konami corporation owned the rights to. Specifically, only Konami would have the rights to release games for the new system called Ultra Football, Ultra Tennis, etc. Therefore, in 1995 Nintendo changed the final name of the system to the Nintendo 64, and announced that it would be released in 1996. They later showed previews of the system and several games, including Super Mario 64, to the media and public. 1995 is also the year that Nintendo purchased part of Rare.

In 1994, after many years of Nintendo’s products being distributed in Australia by Mattel since the NES in 1985, Nintendo Co., Ltd opened its Australian headquarters and its first Managing Directors were Graham Kerry, who moved along from Mattel Australia as Managing Director and Susumu Tanaka of Nintendo UK Ltd.

In the mid-90s Nintendo of America eased up on its stringent policies on blood and violence. After Sega created the Sega CD add on for its 16-bit machine, Nintendo initially contracted with Sony to develop an add-on CD-ROM drive for the SNES, but realized that Sony would get all the profit from the CD-ROM media, and also surprised at the failure of Sega CD, Nintendo terminated the contract and went with Philips. Nintendo announced their alliance with Philips at the same conference that Sony announced their CD-ROM drive. Nothing happened about the add-on drive in regard to the SNES, but Sony took the time and research and began to spin it off into a new product, the PlayStation. Philips took a similar route and developed the far less successful CD-i. Since Philips had already gained license to create games using Nintendo’s exclusive characters, games from series such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda appeared on the CD-i, though most fans discard them from being part of the series due to their entirely third-party development and poor quality. The deal between Philips and Nintendo eventually fell through, and the CD-i was seen as another ill-fated attempt by Philips to enter the computer market.

In 1995, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy in Japan. The console sold poorly, but Nintendo still said they had hope for it and continued to release several other games and attempted a release in the US, which was another disaster.

Also in 1995, Nintendo found themselves in a competitive situation. Competitor Sega introduced their 32-bit Saturn, while newcomer Sony introduced the 32-bit PlayStation. Sony’s fierce marketing campaigns ensued, and it started to cut into Nintendo and Sega’s market share.

1996–2001

On June 23 1996, the Nintendo 64 (N64) was released in Japan and became a huge hit, selling over 500,000 units on the first day of its release. On September 29 1996, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in North America, and it too was a success. Many feel that the advertising onslaught by Sony at this time did not truly begin to take effect until many of the consumers who held out for the N64 became frustrated at the lack of software following the first few months after the system’s release. What also greatly contributed to the extremely competitive climate that Nintendo was entrenched in was the fact that many third-party companies immediately began developing and releasing many of their leading games for Nintendo’s competing consoles. Many of those third party companies cited cheaper development and manufacturing costs for the CD format, versus the cartridge format. On December 1 1999, Nintendo released an add-on to the Nintendo 64 in Japan, titled the Nintendo 64DD, although it was never released elsewhere.
The exterior of Nintendo’s main research center. It is a few blocks away from the company’s main headquarters.

Nintendo followed with the release of the Game Boy Pocket, a smaller version of the original Game Boy. A week after the release of the Game Boy Pocket, Gunpei Yokoi resigned from his position at Nintendo. Gunpei Yokoi helped in the creation of a competitor system named the WonderSwan, using the skills he gained in the creation of the Game Boy.

In 1996, Pocket Monsters (known internationally as “Pokémon”) was released in Japan to a huge following. The Pokémon franchise, created by Satoshi Tajiri, was proving so popular in America, Europe, and Japan, that for a brief time, Nintendo took back their place as the supreme power in the games industry.

In 1997, Gunpei Yokoi died in a car accident at the age of 56.

On October 13 1998, the Game Boy Color was released in Japan, with releases in North America and Europe a month later.

Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance in Japan on March 21 2001. This was followed by the North American launch on June 11 and the European launch on June 22. Nintendo released the GameCube home video game console on September 14 2001 in Japan. It was released in North America on November 18 2001, Europe on May 3 2002 and Australia on May 17 2002.

2002–present

In 2002, Hiroshi Yamauchi stepped down as the president of Nintendo and named Satoru Iwata his successor. Nintendo and Chinese-American scientist Dr Wei Yen co-founded iQue to manufacture and distribute official Nintendo consoles and games for the mainland Chinese market under the iQue brand.

During the same year, Nintendo’s aggressive business tactics in Europe would catch up to them. The European Commission determined that Nintendo had engaged in anticompetitive price-fixing business practices dating at least as far back as the early 90s. This resulted in a heavy fine being laid against the company- €149 million, one of the largest antitrust fines applied in the history of the commission.[2]

In May 2004, Nintendo announced plans to release a new brand of handheld, unrelated to the Game Boy, featuring two screens, one of which was touch-sensitive. The Nintendo DS, released on November 21 2004, received over three million pre-orders. In addition to the touch screen, the DS can also create three-dimensional graphics, similar to those of the Nintendo 64, although its lack of hardware support for texture filtering results in more pixelated graphics than on the Nintendo 64.

President Satoru Iwata merged all of Nintendo’s software designers under the EAD division; this was done to allocate more resources to Shigeru Miyamoto. As of 2005 Nintendo’s internal development divisions are the following five groups (see Nintendo development divisions for more information):

* Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development
* Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development Tokyo
* Nintendo Integrated Research & Development
* Nintendo Software Production & Development
* Nintendo Technology & Development

On May 14 2005, Nintendo opened its first retail store accessible to the general public, Nintendo World Store, at the Rockefeller Center in New York City. It consists of two stories, and contains many kiosks of GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS games. There are also display cases filled with things from Nintendo’s past, including Hanafuda playing cards, Nintendo’s first product. They celebrated the opening with a block party at Rockefeller Plaza.

At E3 in May 2005, Nintendo displayed the first prototype for their “next-generation” system, codenamed the Nintendo Revolution (now known as the Wii), its controller revealed at the Tokyo Game Show later that year.

On January 26 2006, Nintendo announced a new version of their Nintendo DS handheld, the Nintendo DS Lite, designed to be smaller and lighter, with a brighter screen. It was launched in Japan on March 2 2006.

On May 25 2006, Reggie Fils-Aime was promoted to President and CEO of Nintendo of America, Inc. The former President, Tatsumi Kimishima, was promoted to Chairman of the Board and CEO.[3]

On June 11 2006, Nintendo released their update to the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo DS Lite, in North America, also on this day Nintendo opened its official US press site to the public which continued until June 17 2006.

On June 23 2006, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS Lite in Europe.

On July 7 2006, Nintendo officially established a South Korean subsidiary, Nintendo Korea, in the country’s capital, Seoul, which replaced Daewon Media as the official distributor of Nintendo products in South Korea.

In early August 2006, it was revealed that the Nintendo corporation (along with Microsoft) was the target of a patent-infringement lawsuit. Levelled by the Anascape corporation, the suit claims that Nintendo’s use of analog technology in their remote game controllers constitutes a violation of their patents. Microsoft is also named in the lawsuit, for the same reasons. The lawsuit seeks to bring damages to both corporations and possibly force them to stop selling controllers with the violating technology. [2]

In mid-September 2006, during press conferences held in Tokyo, New York, and London on 13, 14 and 15 September, respectively, Nintendo announced launch details for its Wii console, as well as demonstrated features of the “Wii Menu” GUI. The Retail price was going for US$249.99 and was released on November 19 2006. The console is selling fast and is a big breakthrough for Nintendo, picking up the pace lost from their last console, the Nintendo GameCube. The Wii was released in Europe at €249 (£179.99 in the UK).[3]

On September 17, 2007, Nintendo of America closed its official forums, the NSider Forums, indefinitely due to a major overhaul of their site; for months prior, cutbacks in Nintendo of America’s online department led to the trimming back of NSider’s chat hours and the replacement of their annual Camp Hyrule event — held during August — with a sweepstakes. In the meantime, Nintendo encouraged fans to run their own forums. In response to this, some members of the NSider forums created a couple of online communities, one called NSider2 two days after the clousure, and another one, formed the same day of the clousure, which dissolved into NSF[4], both of which were intended to replace NSider. Nintendo-Europe’s forum section of their site was also officially closed down a week later due to a site revamp, however it had been offline citing “security issues” since June of that year. On December 19 2007, Nintendo opened new technical support forums, but discussion is now limited to technical support.

In October 2007, Nintendo Co., Ltd announced Nintendo Australia’s new Managing Director, Rose Lappin, who is Nintendo’s first Female head of one of its subsidiaries and worked for Nintendo before it started in Australia as Director of Sales and Marketing for Mattel and had that role until she was announced Managing Director.

game play
Despite a transition to 3D, the gameplay of Metal Gear Solid remains similar to its 2D MSX2 predecessor Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The player must navigate the protagonist, Solid Snake, through the game’s areas without being detected by enemies.[14] Detection is triggered by the player moving into an enemy’s field of vision and sets off an alarm that draws armed enemies to his location.[15] This also triggers “alert mode” and the player must then hide and remain undetected, at which point “evasion mode” begins and once the counter reaches zero the game returns to “infiltration mode” where enemies are not suspicious of Snake’s presence. The radar cannot be used in alert or evasion mode.[16]

To remain undetected, the player can perform techniques which make use of Solid Snake’s abilities and the environment, such as crawling under objects, using boxes as cover, ducking or hiding around walls, and making noise to distract enemies. These are carried out using the third-person camera; which often changes its angle to give the player the best view of the area possible, and an on-screen radar, which displays enemies and their field of vision.[17] Snake can also make use of many items and gadgets, such as infra-red goggles or a cardboard box disguise.[18] The emphasis on stealth promotes a less violent form of gameplay, as fights against large groups of enemies will often result in serious damage for the player.[19]

Intermixed with the player’s progress are cut scenes and codec conversations as well as encounters with bosses. To progress, players must discover the weaknesses of each boss to defeat them. Game controls and play strategies can also be accessed via the Codec radio, where advice is delivered from Snake’s support team; for example, the support team may chastise Snake for not saving his progress often enough, or explain his combat moves in terms of which buttons to press on the gamepad. The Codec is also used to provide exposition on the game’s backstory. Completion of the title provides the player with a statistical summary of their performance, and a “code name” based upon it, typically the name of a common animal.

In a first for the Metal Gear series, a training mode is available in which players can practice hiding techniques, weapons use, and sneaking. In addition to the stealth gameplay, there are set piece sequences that entail firefights between the player and enemies from the third-person and first-person perspectives.[16]

Plot

Characters
Main article: List of Metal Gear Solid characters

The protagonist of Metal Gear Solid is Solid Snake, a legendary infiltrator and saboteur. His physique is based on Jean Claude Van Damme, while his facial appearance was originally based on Christopher Walken.[20][21] During the mission, Snake receives support and advice via codec radio. Colonel Roy Campbell, Solid Snake’s former commanding officer, supports Snake with advice and tactics. While he initially keeps a number of secrets from Snake, he gradually reveals them.[22] He is joined by Naomi Hunter, who gives medical advice; Nastasha Romanenko, who provides item and weapon tips; Master Miller, a former drill instructor and survival coach; and Mei Ling, who invented the soliton radar system used in the mission and is also in charge of mission data – the player can call her to save the game.

The main antagonist of the game is Liquid Snake, leader of the now-terrorist organization FOXHOUND, and genetic counterpart to Solid Snake.[16] An elite special forces unit, FOXHOUND contains experts specializing in unique tasks. Members are Revolver Ocelot, a Western-style gunslinger and expert interrogator whose weapon of choice is the Colt Single Action Army; Sniper Wolf, a preternatural sniper; Vulcan Raven, a hulking Alaskan shaman armed with an M61 Vulcan torn from a downed F-16; Psycho Mantis, a psychic profiler and psychokinesis expert; and Decoy Octopus, a master of disguise.[16]

Other characters include Meryl Silverburgh, initially known as Roy Campbell’s niece, and a rookie soldier stationed in Shadow Moses who did not join the revolt; Dr. Hal “Otacon” Emmerich, the lead developer of Metal Gear REX; and the Cyborg Ninja, a mysterious cybernetically-enhanced agent who is neither an ally nor an enemy of Snake but does oppose FOXHOUND.[16]

Story

Metal Gear series fictional chronology

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Metal Gear
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Metal Gear Solid (The Twin Snakes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

The story is set in 2005,[23] where a genetically enhanced next-generation special forces unit commanded by FOXHOUND lead an armed uprising on a remote island in Alaska’s Fox Archipelago. This island, codenamed Shadow Moses, is the site of a nuclear weapons disposal facility.[19] The forces that seized this island have acquired the nuclear-capable mecha Metal Gear REX, and are threatening the US government with a nuclear reprisal if they do not receive the remains of the “legendary mercenary” Big Boss within 24 hours.[24]

As the game begins, Solid Snake is forced out of retirement and is dispatched at the request of Colonel Roy Campbell to penetrate the terrorists’ defenses and neutralize the threat.[25] Snake is also ordered to locate hostages DARPA Chief Donald Anderson, and ArmsTech president Kenneth Baker. Colonel Campbell’s niece, Meryl Silverburgh is also held captive in the facility after refusing to take part in the uprising. Snake enters the facility via an air vent and eventually locates the DARPA Chief in a cell. He informs Snake of the new Metal Gear REX unit housed at the facility and how he can prevent it from being launched using a secret detonation override code, but then suddenly dies of what appears to be a heart attack.[26] Meryl, who is held in adjoining cell, manages to break out and assists Snake in his escape as enemy soldiers are alerted to his presence. Snake then finds the other hostage, Kenneth Baker. Whilst attempting to free Baker, Snake is confronted by Revolver Ocelot who challenges Snake to a gunfight, which is interrupted by a mysterious cyborg ninja who cuts off Ocelot’s right hand. Baker briefs Snake on the Metal Gear project and advises him to contact Meryl, whom he gave a PAL card that could be used to prevent the launch, but like the DARPA Chief, he suddenly dies of what appears to be a heart attack.

Snake then contacts Meryl via codec, and agrees to meet her in the base’s warhead disposal area on the condition that he contacts Metal Gear’s designer, Hal “Otacon” Emmerich. As he emerges onto a canyon, Snake receives an anonymous codec call. The mysterious voice calls himself “Deepthroat” and warns Snake of an ambush up ahead. Snake is confronted by Vulcan Raven in an M1 tank, but manages to defeat the two gunners and proceeds to the warhead disposal area. Snake locates Otacon in his lab. The ninja reappears, and Snake realizes that it is actually his former ally Gray Fox, whom he believed was killed years earlier. Otacon agrees to aid Snake remotely, using special camouflage to procure information and supplies while he remains invisible. Snake meets with Meryl and agrees for her to accompany him on his mission. Meryl gives Snake the PAL card Baker gave to her and as they head for the underground base, Meryl becomes possessed by Psycho Mantis’s mind control tune and pulls her gun on Snake. Snake disarms Meryl and defeats Psycho Mantis and before he dies, he tells Snake that he has “a large place” in Meryl’s heart after reading her mind. After they reach the underground passageway, Sniper Wolf ambushes them, wounds Meryl, and after a brief duel captures Snake.

While imprisoned, Liquid confirms Snake’s suspicion that they are twin brothers.[27] Snake is then tortured by Ocelot[28] and the player can choose whether or not to give in to the torture. When Snake is taken to his cell, he discovers the body of DARPA Chief Donald Anderson lying in the corner; however, though it was only hours before Snake watched Anderson die in front of him, the body has been decomposing as if he were dead for days. Eventually Snake is able to escape by fooling the guard (by either lying in ketchup or hiding under a bed).

As Snake makes his way up the facility’s communications tower, he is ambushed by Liquid in an attack helicopter, but swiftly defeats him. As he emerges from the tower onto the snowfield he is confronted once again by Sniper Wolf, and after a second duel he fatally wounds her. Otacon, enamoured with Wolf, is overcome with grief as Snake is forced to execute her. Snake descends into the bowels of the Shadow Moses facility. After defeating Vulcan Raven, the shaman reveals to Snake that the man he watched die was not the DARPA Chief. It was Decoy Octopus.[29] However, Raven leaves the cause of death for Snake to find out. Shortly after, Master Miller calls and reveals that Dr. Naomi Hunter, a support agent, has given Snake the genetically engineered virus “FoxDie” during his mission preparations, and is sending coded messages into the facility. Campbell swiftly orders her arrest. The virus, designed to kill people with particular genetic markers via cardiac arrest,[30][31] was responsible for the deaths of Octopus and the ArmsTech president.[32] Naomi contacts Snake and confesses that she joined the mission to sabotage it. But upon learning of Snake’s own past, she no longer had the heart to kill him directly having reprogrammed the virus.[33]

Infiltrating Metal Gear’s hangar, Snake overhears Liquid and Ocelot preparing the launch sequence for Metal Gear REX. Thinking he is deactivating it by using the PAL card, Snake activates Metal Gear REX.[34] Master Miller then reveals himself to be Liquid in disguise. He informs Snake that his entire mission was manipulated by the renegades to allow the launch of the nuclear weapon.[35] Liquid explains that they are the product of the Les Enfants Terribles project, a government sponsored effort to clone Big Boss, that was conducted during the 1970s. Liquid explains that Solid received all of Big Boss’ dominant genes, while he received all of the recessive genes.[36][37] He also reveals to Snake the government’s true reason for sending him in: the reprogrammed FoxDie virus would kill all the members of FOXHOUND, allowing the government to retrieve REX undamaged.
Solid Snake in battle against Metal Gear REX.

Liquid assumes control of Metal Gear REX and a battle ensues. Gray Fox suddenly appears and destroys REX’s radome and dies trying to fend off the bipedal tank from Snake. Snake destroys Metal Gear REX and is challenged again by Liquid in person. He fights Liquid atop REX and defeats him after knocking him over the edge. He is then reunited with Meryl or Otacon, depending on the player’s actions. They escape through an underground tunnel, while being chased by Liquid, in a jeep. After the two vehicles crash at the tunnel entrance, Liquid emerges and pulls a gun on Snake but suddenly dies from the FoxDie virus.[38] Colonel Campbell, briefly ousted from command of the mission, calls off a nuclear airstrike intended to obliterate the evidence of the day’s events and officially declares Snake killed in action to stop the US government’s search for him in the future.

There are two possible endings, depending on the player’s actions during the torture sequence. If the player gives in to the torture, Snake discovers after defeating Liquid that Meryl has died and escapes with Otacon. If the player does not give in to the torture, Meryl survives and escapes with Snake while Otacon volunteers to stay behind and sacrifice himself to help Snake and Meryl get out, not knowing that the nuclear strike intended to hit the disposal facility would never come (Meryl surviving is the canon ending).

After the end credits the player finds out Snake is actually genetically inferior to Liquid[39] and has an indeterminate amount of time left before FoxDie kills him. Ocelot is revealed to be a double agent for the President of the United States. His intention was to obtain Baker’s disk containing Metal Gear’s specifications and deliver it to the President, and kill whoever knew of his true motives, the reason for his “accidental” killing of the DARPA Chief.