This is a list of home video game consoles in chronological order, which includes the very first home video game consoles ever created, such as first generation Pong consoles, from the first ever cartridge console Odyssey, ranging from the major video game companies such as Magnavox, Atari, Nintendo, Sega, NEC, 3DO, SNK, Sony, Microsoft to secondary market consoles.
The list is divided into eras which are named based on the dominant console type of the era, though not all consoles of those eras are of the same type. Some eras are referred to based on how many bits a major console could process. The "128-bit era" (sixth generation) was the final era in which this practice was widespread.[citation needed]
This list does not include other types of video game consoles such as handheld game consoles, which are usually of lower computational power than home consoles due to their smaller size, microconsoles, which are usually low-cost Android-based devices that rely on downloading, or dedicated consoles which have games built in and do not use any form of physical media. Consoles have been redesigned from time to time to improve their market appeal. Redesigned models are not listed on their own.
