Japanese Games Vs American/European Games (448 Words)

The console gaming revolution started properly in the late eighties, with the 8-bit systems from developers Nintendo, Sega and Atari. These consoles started a fierce competition that has seen the rise and fall of many companies. Such companies include Sega and Atari who now focus on games development and the latest console developers Sony and Microsoft who have now entered the console gaming market.

The Atari 7800 was developed to replace the unpopular Atari 5200. The aim was to make an affordable console that would help the company regain supremacy in the console market. This worked very well until the company was sold the Atari was pulled of the shelves to pursue other interests. When console gaming took of again due to the release of Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom), Atari re-released the 7800 only for it to fail due to Nintendo’s dominance.

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES/Famicom) was the most successful console of it’s time and helped to revitalize the games industry after the video games crash of 1983. With games such as Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong the Nintendo Entertainment System was the preferred console choice in many homes.

The Sega Master System was the only console at the time that could give Nintendo Entertainment System any competition. While it eventually failed in the America and Japan. It did enjoy a success in secondary markets such as Brazil.

The games on these consoles and even the ones today still show a vast difference in game play. The earlier games were very stereo-typical to where they were released with Japanese games usually focusing on fighting with games like Mortal Kombat, and American/European games focusing on shooting side scrolled screen. The only games that seemed to appear to both regions would be mascot games such as Mario or Sonic.

One main problem with the American/European games market is the necessity for licensing. This can be a good thing in small doses but as usual, big publishing houses such as Electronic Arts always focus on repeating one successful title rather than producing new ones. This is not normally found in Japan as we see more and more different titles arriving with new and different games mechanics. New games mechanics do origin from America/Europe but it is rare.

Another major factor that is present in America and Europe is they are developers and publishers as two separate companies. This causes problems as the publishers have the say to what games are produced as they are the ones with the money.

In future games we can only hope that American/European and Japanese developers combine their best qualities to create something fantastic and will appeal to all audiences whatever they may be.