Home Consoles
Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo's first generation of home consoles and one that went down as the industry standard setter for everything that came after from the control pads to the way software publishing was handled and was the birth of many classic Nintendo game series like Mario, Metroid and Zelda. There was also strong support from other publishers and there key games like Capcom with Mega Man, Konami with Castlevania and Metal Gear, Squaresoft with Final Fantasy and Enix with Dragon Quest all becoming key series in the history of gaming.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo's second generation of home consoles continued the tradition of the NES with superior power behind it, housing some of the best games of the generation and one console that became known for it's high quality games from both Nintendo and third parties, it is also considered by many as the console of choice for some of the best RPGs ever made. Also birth of other main stay Nintendo series such as Piolotwings, F-Zero, Mario Kart, Star Fox and the Mario RPG series that would continue in the form of Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi games.
Nintendo 64
Nintendo's third generation home console was not only the most powerful console of the period but also one of the most loved amongst hardcore fans due to the quality of titles released from both first second and when they made them with the N64 in mind third parties, while not the success as the other systems before it led the way in 3D gaming and many of Nintendo's key game series appeared on the system with the birth of others such as Super Smash Bros. and the Mario Party games
Nintendo Gamecube
Nintendo's forth generation home console while it failed to stand out from the crowd it did feature much better third party support from the start from the likes of Capcom and Sega(yes a dark day) although some consider Nintendo's own efforts on the system to be less than their previous generations efforts it still had some quality entries into all of Nintendo's bigger game series there was only one new Nintedno series to be launched however and that was Pikmin. Third party support was far better though with Capcom bring the Resident Evil series to the console exclusive for a time remaking the first and bring two new ones to the system as well as supplying with many other games such as Veautiful Joe and Killer 7. Konami got in on the remake act with Metal Gear Solid and Sega pumped out many games even a collaboration with Nintendo to make F-Zero GX and the games like Super Monkey ball helped the system at launch
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo's fifth generation home console and arguable Nintendo's most radical while there wasn't as big a leap in power over the previous generation as people expected the main change came in the form of motion control allowing players to move the controller itself to control the game and it became a success and a very popular one too also gaining many key entries into most of the main Nintendo series' as well as the birth of the Wii Sports series, Endless Ocean and Wii Fit. Third party support took some time in bringing quality games to the system as most just ported games from the previous generation with motion control or offered poor multi platform variations. Nintendo has often been criticised for their lack of online support the Wii goes some way to correcting that. One other major innovation was the Virtual Console which allows you to download older games from previous Nintendo consoles and other non-Nintendo giving a massive back catalogue of games from years gone by.