Bring your 8-bit and 16-bit Nintendo titles out of retirement

In 1989 the PC Engine was still selling quite well in Japan, but Sega's 16-bit Mega Drive system was beginning to pick up steam and Nintendo's Super Famicom console was looming just around the corner. Sensing this, NEC decided that they needed a true 16-bit console if they were to have any hope of continuing their success in the Japanese console wars.

In 1982, TIME magazine named the home computer as its annual "Man of the Year".

When Nintendo announced that the Virtual Console would be supporting the Sega Master System console you can bet that there were a fair few American gamers scratching their heads in a rather quizzical manner.

Of all the machines covered by the Virtual Console service, the Neo Geo is easily the most coveted and unattainable.

Though Nintendo's domination of the 8-bit era - attained through a combination of the company's business acumen in entering the market when most other were hesitant at best...

Fingerless gloves, in-ear headphones, Michael Jackson, The Cosby Show, Transformers action figures and the Back to the Future movie are just a few of the things people think of when reminiscing about the mid 80s.

The history of the TurboGrafx-16 system is basically a tale of two countries. Electronics giant NEC and game developer Hudson joined forces in 1987 to design and release the PC Engine game console to compete head to head with Nintendo and Sega's 8-bit systems.

Since the 80's Nintendo's name has been synonymous with gaming, the company's current market dominance highlighting how attuned they have become to the requirements of the market, and providing the buyers with the very things they need.

Sega may be a name that many people readily associate with videogame brilliance, but when you seriously think about it, they've only really had one universally successful machine - the Mega Drive (Genesis to our American readers).