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In the history of video games, the 8-bit era was the third generation of video game consoles, but the first after the video game crash of 1983 and considered by some to be the first "modern" era of console gaming. Although the previous generation of consoles had also used 8-bit processors, it was in this time that home game systems were first labelled by their "bits". This came into fashion as 16-bit systems like the Mega Drive/Genesis were marketed to differentiate between the generations of consoles.
During the era, the Famicom (short for family computer) became very popular in Japan. The NEC PC Engine also gained a large following, enough to support several versions of the hardware. The Famicom's American counterpart, the Nintendo Entertainment System, highly dominated the gaming market in North America, thanks in part to its restrictive licensing agreements with developers. Though the NES dominated the market, the Sega Master System (which was popular in Brazil and Europe), and the Atari 7800, were also major players during this era.
The post-crash 8-bit era saw the first console role-playing video games, and was the birth of the side-scroller. Editing and censorship of video games was often used in localizing Japanese games to North America. It is the era when many famous video game series, and the characters starring in them, originated. Some notable examples include Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest, Metroid, Mega Man, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star and Bomberman.
This generation is often mislabeled as the "First Generation" as it is the start of video gaming as it is today.
Systems of the 8-bit era
1985-1995: U.S. 1987-1996: Europe 1983-2003: Japan 1990-present: Nigeria Image:Sega master system.jpeg|Sega Master System
1986-1992: US 1987-1989: Japan 1987-1996: Europe 1989-present: Brazil Image:Atari 7800 system.PNG|Atari 7800
1986-1991: U.S. Image:Amstrad gx4000.jpg|Amstrad GX4000
1990-1991: Europe Image:Commodore 64 GS.jpg|Commodore C64 Games System
1990-1991: Europe
Handhelds
Image:Gameboy.jpg|Nintendo Game Boy
1989-1995: Japan, U.S. 1990-1995: Europe
Image:Atari-lynx-1-1000.jpeg|Atari Lynx
1989-1995: U.S.
1990-1992: Europe
Image:Sega GameGear.jpg|Sega Game Gear
1990-1997: Japan 1991-1997: Europe, U.S. 1992-1997: Australia
Video game franchises established during this time
¹ The Nintendo Wars franchise was debuted in Japan during the 8-bit era, but Nintendo did not release a Nintendo Wars game in North America until the sixth generation era, where it was marketed as Advance Wars. Interestingly, Advance Wars was not released in Japan until the Gameboy Wars Advance 1+2 compilation, due to the September 11th attacks.
See also
History of computer and video games
Histoire des consoles de jeu vidéo (troisième génération) | Geschiedenis van de spelcomputer (8-bitstijdperk)
"History of video game consoles (third generation)"