A visual history of Nintendo's video game consoles

Nintendo’s future is almost here. It’s called the Switch, and, true to its name, it blurs the line between home console and portable gaming machine.

We can’t say how good it'll be just yet, but on concept alone, it looks neat.

This is far from the first time we’ve said that about a Nintendo console. The Japanese giant has earned legendary status among gaming fans for making machines — and a whole lot of games — that aren’t quite like their peers.

Some of those have brought massive success; others have led to total failure. Wherever the Switch lands on that spectrum, it appears to continue the company’s penchant for doing its own thing.

To show what we mean, here’s a quick look back at the hardware Nintendo has released over the years.

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Before there was the NES, there was the Color TV-Game. Nintendo first dipped its toes into console gaming by launching five of these rectangles between 1977 and 1980, all in its native Japan.

There were no cartridges or discs here, so you could only play whatever was loaded onto the system by default. The first of the bunch was built in partnership with Mitsubishi, and included a simple game called "Light Tennis," which you might know as "Pong."

And before there was the Game Boy, there was the Game & Watch.

Again, this was a series of handhelds, with each one capable of playing one simplified game on a tiny LCD display. Sixty different models were made in total, and Nintendo sold roughly 43 million units between 1980 and 1991.

Now we get to the familiar stuff. Nintendo built on the success of its various arcade tiles with the 1983 launch of the Family Computer (or Famicom) in Japan. Two years later, it released an American version, known as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

After a massive, years-long recession, it's hard to understate just significant the NES was for the gaming industry. It standardized business models, gave home to several iconic hits, and made Nintendo a titan in its field.