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Why are the NES era Consoles 3rd Gen and not 4th?
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burningdoom:
Something to chew on:

The Atari 2600 is a 2nd generation console. The Atari 5200 is it's successor making it a 3rd generation console.

That would mean the Atari 7800 and it's contemporaries (NES/Master System) are 4th generation consoles...so who decided they were 3rd generation consoles?!
dhaabi:
Historically, a new generation begins once a major upgrade in graphical quality has been reached.

With that said, Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 are formally considered to be a part of the second generation. The Atari 7800 made the shift to third generation.

It is similar to the Wii U and Switch, which are both a part of the eighth generation.
burningdoom:

--- Quote from: dhaabi on November 21, 2022, 04:41:43 pm ---Historically, a new generation begins once a major upgrade in graphical quality has been reached.

With that said, Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 are formally considered to be a part of the second generation. The Atari 7800 made the shift to third generation.

It is similar to the Wii U and Switch, which are both a part of the eighth generation.

--- End quote ---

Going from the 2600 to the arcade quality 5200 was a leap in graphics.
dhaabi:

--- Quote from: burningdoom on November 21, 2022, 04:43:01 pm ---
--- Quote from: dhaabi on November 21, 2022, 04:41:43 pm ---Historically, a new generation begins once a major upgrade in graphical quality has been reached.

With that said, Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 are formally considered to be a part of the second generation.

--- End quote ---

Going from the 2600 to the arcade quality 5200 was a leap in graphics.

--- End quote ---

It is probably best to not compare the items on their own but instead within the generation as a whole and the many systems which were released concurrent to them.

I'm not familiar with this generation of consoles, so I don't have any opinion the quality of the 2600 and the improvements the 5200 had over it.
burningdoom:

--- Quote from: dhaabi on November 21, 2022, 05:02:41 pm ---
--- Quote from: burningdoom on November 21, 2022, 04:43:01 pm ---
--- Quote from: dhaabi on November 21, 2022, 04:41:43 pm ---Historically, a new generation begins once a major upgrade in graphical quality has been reached.

With that said, Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 are formally considered to be a part of the second generation.

--- End quote ---

Going from the 2600 to the arcade quality 5200 was a leap in graphics.

--- End quote ---

It is probably best to not compare the items on their own but instead within the generation as a whole and the many systems which were released concurrent to them.

I'm not familiar with this generation of consoles, so I don't have any opinion the quality of the 2600 and the improvements the 5200 had over it.

--- End quote ---

Judge for yourself.

Donkey Kong on Atari 2600:


Donkey Kong on Atari 5200:


It's a big difference. One sort of looks like Donkey Kong. While the other is a near arcade-quality port.

And 5200's contemporaries were the Intellivision and Colecovision, both of which are improvements over the 2600 (especially the Colecovision).
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