Second Generation (1977-1983)

The second generation (sometimes referred to as the early 8 bit era) began in 1976 with the release of the Fairchild Channel F and Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System.

The early portion of this generation saw the release of several consoles as various companies decided to enter the market, and an occurrence of a later portion whose releases were in direct reaction to the earlier consoles. The Atari 2600 was the dominant console for much of the second generation, with other consoles such as the Intellivision, Odyssey 2, and ColecoVision also enjoying market share.

The second generation came to an abrupt end in 1984 amid the video game crash of 1983.