1988 – Super Mario Bros. 2 is released for the NES in North America.
Unlike the Japanese SMB2, the version seen to the rest of the world is a
remix of a game called Doki Doki Panic with Mario universe sprites and
presentation. The reason for this was because Nintendo of America
believed it looked too similar to the original and was too difficult.

1992 – Super Mario Kart is released on the SNES. Super Mario Kart would
set the standard for the “Kart Racing” genre that is often imitated, but
never quite duplicated. The Mario Kart series still remains one of
Nintendo’s most popular franchises.

4th –

1989 – The first episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show airs. The
show includes live-action sequences, along with cartoon shorts. In the
live-action segments, Mario is played by the late “Captain” Lou Albano,
while Luigi is played by Danny Wells.

7th –

1983 – AT&T announces a joint venture with Coleco to develop a
service that would deliver games over phone lines. A similar product was
made available for the Atari 2600, by another company, in 1983. That
product was called Gameline, which may very well be the first attempt at
what we know now as digital distribution.

1997 – Final Fantasy VII is released on the PlayStation in North
America. The seventh installment of the series would quickly become the
most popular entry, and later spawned a series of spin-offs including a
CG movie and an action-oriented game starring Vincent Valentine.

9th –

1989 – Captain N: The Game Master airs its first episode. The cartoon
features a teenager named Kevin, who is sucked into a vortex and taken
to Videoland. He travels alongside Simon Belmont, Mega Man, and Pit, as
they go through various NES games, fighting monsters and villains, in an
attempt to stop Mother Brain and rescue Princess Lana.

1991 – The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is officially released in
North America. Even though some areas had the system as early as August
23, with some sources reporting August 13. The SNES library includes
several classics, such as Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario
World, and many more.

1995 – The Sony PlayStation is released in North America. The
PlayStation brand would soon dominate the gaming industry, as the
original system was the first game console to sell 100 Million units
worldwide. Stand-out titles include Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid,
Twisted Metal 2, Resident Evil, and much more.

1999 – The Sega Dreamcast is released in North America. The Dreamcast
was to be Sega’s last foray into the hardware business before becoming a
third-party publisher and developer.

10th –

2000 – Sega launches SegaNet, the online gaming service for the
Dreamcast. This was the first first-party online service for a video
game console.

13th –

1992 – In the case of Nintendo vs. Atari over copyright infringement,
the US Court of Appeals rules that reverse engineering is a legitimate
business practice. However, it also rules that Atari still violated
Nintendo copyright for other reasons.

1993 – On the day that Acclaim dubbed “Mortal Monday,” the company
released Mortal Kombat on the SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, Amiga,
Sega CD, IBM PC, and Sega Master System.

20th –

2002 – Microsoft buys Rare, a British development company. Nintendo had
previously owned 49% of Rare, but once Microsoft bought the remaining
51% from the Stamper brothers, Nintendo sold their stake, as well.

27th –

1983 – Atari sends 14 truckloads of computer equipment and game
cartridges to a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Six million E.T.
cartridges are included in the load.

29th –

1996 – The Nintendo 64 is released in North America. Launch games
included Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. Nintendo was criticized for
their decision to stick with cartridges. Due to the manufacturing costs,
the cartridge games cost upwards of $70, compared to $50 for
PlayStation games. This, among other factors, lead to Nintendo losing
their spot as the number one company.

30th –

2001 – Ico is released on the PlayStation 2. The game sells poorly, but
is a critical success. Garnering praise from most gaming media sources,
as well as three GDC awards, and five Interactive Achievement Awards.