The Famicom

Released July 15, 1983, for 14,800 yen. The launch lineup was three arcade ports: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye. In the very year the North American market crashed, a new playground was being born in Japanese living rooms. An anecdote holds that, just before the crash, Atari was negotiating for the US distribution rights to the Famicom — the common account traced to Game Over; I am still pinning down a primary source. Together with the invention of a software licensing system, it went on to become the center of the world for the next decade.