The 4th generation consoles

The fourth generation of consoles, commonly referred to as the “16-bit era” began on October 30, 1987 when Japan's Nippon Electric Company released the PC Engine, known as TurboGrafx-16 in North America. NEC was ahead of the curve in this generation, though. The consoles that dominated were Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo (“Super Famicom” in Japan). In this era, game characters that had made an impact on the public became even more popular, such as Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Other companies also released consoles, but with the exception of the Neo-Geo console, the other companies were not successful. This generation experienced a period of intense commercial warfare, mainly between SEGA and Nintendo. This generation is also commonly referred to as “the golden age of video games” or “The Console War” or also “The Bit War”, the latter due to the transition from 8-bit to 16-bit.

4th generation consoles list

This is a list of the most important 4th generation consoles and your characteristics.