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The Vectrex is a vector display-based home video game console that was developed by Western Technologies/Smith Engineering.It was licensed and distributed first by General Consumer Electronics (GCE), and then by Milton Bradley Company after its purchase of GCE.It was released in November 1982 at a retail price of $199 ($470 adjusted for inflation), as Milton Bradley took over international marketing the price dropped to $150, $100 shortly before the video game crash of 1983 and $49 after the crash.The Vectrex exited the console market in early 1984.

Unlike other non-portable video game consoles, which connected to televisions and rendered raster graphics, the Vectrex has an integrated vector monitor which displays vector graphics.The Vectrex is monochrome and uses plastic screen overlays to simulate color and various static graphics and decorations. At the time, many of the most popular arcade games used vector displays, and through a licensing deal with Cinematronics, GCE was able to produce high-quality versions of arcade games such as Space Wars and Armor Attack.

Vectrex comes with a built-in game, MineStorm.Two peripherals were also available for the Vectrex, a light pen and a 3D imager.

The Vectrex was also released in Japan under the name Bandai Vectrex Kousokusen.In the US, the model number of the Vectrex is HP-3000.

The Atari 2600, (or Atari VCS before 1982) is a home video game console released on September 11, 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and ROM cartridges containing game code, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F video game console in 1976. This format contrasts with the older model of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware, which could only play the games which were physically built into the unit.

The console was originally sold as the Atari VCS, an abbreviation for Video Computer System. Following the release of the Atari 5200 in 1982, the VCS was renamed to the "Atari 2600", after the unit's Atari part number, CX2600. The 2600 was typically bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge, initially Combat, and later Pac-Man.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Australasia (Oceania), and 1993 in South America. In Japan, the system is called the Super Famicom, officially adopting the abbreviated name of its predecessor, the Family Computer), or SFC for short. In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional lockout prevent the different versions from being compatible with one another. It was released in Brazil on September 2, 1992, by Playtronic.

The SNES is Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The console introduced advanced graphics and sound capabilities compared with other consoles at the time. Additionally, development of a variety of enhancement chips (which were integrated on game circuit boards) helped to keep it competitive in the marketplace.

The SNES was a global success, becoming the best-selling console of the 16-bit era despite its relatively late start and the fierce competition it faced in North America and Europe from Sega's Genesis/Mega Drive console. The SNES remained popular well into the 32-bit era, and continues to be popular among fans, collectors, retro gamers, and emulation enthusiasts, some of whom are still making homebrew ROM images.

The PlayStation (officially abbreviated as PS, and commonly known as PS1 or PSX) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The console was released in Japan on December 3, 1994, and in North America and Europe in September 1995. The PlayStation is the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. As part of the fifth generation of gaming, it primarily competed with the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn. In 2000, a re-designed "slim" version called the PSone was released, replacing the original grey console and named appropriately to avoid confusion with its successor, the PlayStation 2.

The PlayStation is the first "computer entertainment platform" to ship 100 million units, which it had reached 9 years and 6 months after its initial launch. Reactions to the console upon launch were favourable; critics praised the console for the quality of its 3-dimensional graphics. Then Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates, preferred Sony's console to the competition from Sega's Saturn, saying "our game designer likes the Sony machine".

The successor to the PlayStation is the PlayStation 2, which is backwards compatible with its predecessor in that it can play almost every PlayStation game. The last PSone units were sold in winter of 2004 before it was finally discontinued in March 2005, for a total of 102 million units shipped since its launch 10 years earlier. Games for the PlayStation continued to sell until Sony ceased production of PlayStation games on March 23, 2006 – over 11 years after it had been released, and less than a year before the debut of the PlayStation 3.

The Xbox (commonly known today as the original Xbox) is a home video game console and the first installment in the Xbox series of consoles manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia, Europe and Japan in 2002. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market. The sixth-generation console competed with Sony's PlayStation 2 and the GameCube. It was also the first console produced by an American company since the Atari Jaguar ceased production in 1996.

The Xbox, graphically powerful compared to its rivals, featured a standard PC's 733 MHz Intel Pentium III processor. It was also noted for its PC-like size and weight, and was first console to feature a built-in hard disk. In November 2002, Microsoft launched Xbox Live, a fee-based online gaming service that enabled subscribers to download new content and connect with other players through a broadband connection. Unlike other online services from Sega and Sony, Xbox Live had support in the original console design through an integrated Ethernet port. The service gave Microsoft an early foothold in online gaming and would help the Xbox become a relevant competitor to other sixth-generation consoles. The popularity of blockbuster titles such as Halo 2 contributed to the popularity of online console gaming, and in particular first-person shooters. Despite this and being in second position, ahead of Nintendo, sales of the Xbox were always well behind Sony's PlayStation 2.

Xbox's successor, the Xbox 360, was launched in November 2005. The Xbox was soon discontinued beginning with Microsoft's worst-performing market, Japan, in 2005. Other countries would follow suit in 2006. The last Xbox game in Europe was Xiaolin Showdown released in June 2007, and the last game in North America was Madden NFL 09 released in August 2008. Support for out-of-warranty Xbox consoles was discontinued on March 2, 2009. Support for Xbox Live on the console ended on April 15, 2010.