The Insane Console History Video 2.0

atari-2600 02 Aug

Last year, I produced a pain-in-the-ass of a video called ‘The Insane Console History Video.’ You can see the original here, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Because I recently updated it to the new and improved ‘Insane Console History Video 2.0’

There are over 450 consoles, computers, and dedicated game machines in this video and there were over 1300 individual elements in Sony Vegas that, when combined, formed this awesome video slideshow that you’ll see below.

As for the music, Elder-Geeks should recognize the majority of the tunes. But I can guarantee that you won’t recognize even half of the consoles on display. The torch of ‘most complete and definitive console history video’ has been passed. Yes, it’s been passed from the first version to this updated one, but it’s been passed nonetheless.

Please forgive the quality of some of the photographs. Also, the systems are ordered by release date by year and then sub-ordered alphabetically or chronologically depending on what information was available.  Thanks to Old-Computers for many of the images.

EDIT: As requested, here’s an ordered list of the songs used in the video.

Bubble Bobble – Gameplay
Ice Climbers – Title & Gameplay
Balloon Fight – Balloon Trip
Super Mario Bros – Main Theme
Duck Tales – The Amazon
The Goonies – World 1
Blaster Master – Stage 1
Punch-Out!! – Boxing
Metroid – Brinstar
Kid Icarus – World 1
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link – Castle
Castlevania – Vampire Killer
Dr. Mario – Fever
Mega Man – Cut Man
Double Dragon – Stage 1
Gradius – Stage 1 (Part 2)
Ikari Warriors – Gameplay
Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins – Stage 1
Donkey Kong Country – Mine Cart Madness
Final Fantasy VI – The Veldt
Chrono Trigger – The Ruins of Lab 16
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge – Opening Theme
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Gerudo Valley
Final Fantasy IX – Vamo ‘alla Flamenco
Bioshock – Welcome to Rapture
Dragon Age: Origins – Main Theme
Shadow of the Colossus – Final Battle

33 thoughts on “The Insane Console History Video 2.0”

  1. Fantastic work, Eliot! I’m actually a little surprised how much ‘trash’ is still being put out from a hardware perspective… calling something ‘retro’ shouldn’t an excuse for looking crappy.

    1. Surprisingly, the FC Mobile II and RetroGen are both quite good. Same with the Retro Duo and Generation NEX.

      But seeing as a Linux-based handheld can emulate everything, there’s not much reason to buy an FC Mobile II. Unless you want to look like a jackass walking around with a handheld and a huge NES cartridge sticking out of it.

      1. No, its from FFIX. I believe it is Vamo’ Alla Flamenco, if what my FF music is telling me is correct. The song after that is from Bioshock though, well I think it is. You were going by genre there for quite a bit, but you missed a lot of the PS2, GCN, and Xbox genre.

        1. Oh yeah. In a draft version I had Vamo’Alla Flamenco before Gerudo Valley and then the piece from Bioshock.

          And when editing the music, I was really only able to use pieces that could merge.

  3. Nice vid, and it is better than last year’s. I think I got like 75% of the music notified as to what game it was from, but as to what song, that was more like 25% of what I identified, maybe, but I wasn’t really keeping track.

    Nice work, I know it took a lot of work.

    1. Looks like you got it. For me it is driving me slightly insane cause it is compressed a little too much and doesn’t sound as good. Well, that stems from playing copious amounts of Bubble Bobble over the last 15 years on my NES, or on an arcade cabinet (that has been over the last four months).

    1. It looks like my Al Alamiah AX170 was also missing in action, but everything else was there as far as I can recall. Even my lovely Dingoo A320 and Nomad.

      1. Heh. There used to be some more results, but it looks like the images are gone. I guess I should put some up on the ‘net one of these days.

  8. AWESOME JOB GUYS!!

    There is one minor fly in the ointment though…the Atari 2600 most midely known as the “VCS” (Video comuter System) was released in 1977 with 6 buttons across the face. Later Atari release the 4-lever Atari 2600A, which was pictured as the original system.

    The primary differences between the 2 versions wera an increase in overall manufacturing quality control, and the relocation of the difficulty buttons to the top of the system (on the 2600 those buttons are adjacent to the cartridge slot).

    Again, GREAT JOB, and cheers from another elder geek!

    Gaming since 1974,
    RaQin

    1. Ah yes good point. I have a first run 1977 Sunnyvale 2600, signed by Nolan Bushnell himself, no less.

  9. This was awesome! Is it possible that we could get a setlist for the music? By the way, is anyone going to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo in September?

    1. Sadly no. My September is filled up with other stuff, but I will be going to PAX though. I can easily get down to Portland, but I have prior commitments that I made months ago.

          2. Cool, there are some awesome game shops in town as well as some comic shops. Next week I am going to go out about town and find a bunch of geeky places to just hang out or buy stuff from.

    1. That’s from Dragon Age Origins. I don’t remember the exact track name, but I’ll check later.

  11. Great job! SONG LIST PLEASE! some of these are killing me.. but they are making me want to fire up the old systems.

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