Introduction

I'm something of a gaming geezer. At the time of this writing (2007-07-06) I don't own a Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or even Nintendo Wii. Heck, by the time you're reading this I might be busy not-owning the Playstation 4, Xbox 720, or WiiII. Although not an active participant in this generation of gaming there's still something about it I admire: all the competing consoles offer backwards compatibility with their previous incarnation. This is the first time in the nearly 40-year history of console gaming it's happened. Hardware manufacturers tried it for various reasons in the past, but not until 2006 was it a standard on all consoles.

This would have seemed impossible ten years ago. The idea that a new game system would support old games was by far the exception instead of the rule. How did backwards compatibility suddenly become an expectation for gamers and why are vendors now obliging? Let's take a walk through the history of backwards compatibility to see how we got where we are today.

OK, so what qualifies as "backwards compatibility"? For this article it refers to a new game system being able to natively play the games from the manufacturers previous system. Whether it's accomplished through hardware or emulation doesn't matter. If a cartridge adaptor is required that's fine. The key is being able to put the actual cartridge or CD in the newer system and play it. Yeah, you can play Genesis games on a Dreamcast with an emulator but you can't exactly stick a Genesis cartridge in and play it.

On a similar note, third party (sometime pirate) adaptors to play one system on another don't qualify either. And last but not least, dual or combined systems like the TurboDuo or X'eye aren't included because they weren't new consoles; same deal for computers like the Coleco ADAM that happen to play cartridge games.

I think everyone understands what I mean by "backwards compatibility" but I'll still get some email like "well your whole article is totally invalid because you didn't include Amstrad Mega PC which could play Genesis games." This is strictly looking at backwards compatibility from one system generation to the next, not a broad examination of systems that can play other systems.

Note: I see the terms "backward" and "backwards" used about equally when referring to this subject. I be no english scholar so I can't say which is correct. I only went with the 's' version because it just sounds right.