10 Gaming Console Facts You Might Not Have Known

Since the advent of the NES in 1985 (or the Famicom in 1983), the games industry has been thriving on the idea of console gaming.

While PC gamers often prize customisation and variance in hardware, console gamers like to buy a machine simply to sit down, grab a controller, and be playing their favourite game in mere moments. There have been lots of incredible games consoles throughout the decades, and each of those consoles has its own fascinating story. Here are 10 gaming console facts you might not have known before you started reading this article!

1. The Super Game Boy was an actual Game Boy

If you’re old enough to have owned a Super Nintendo, then you’ll probably remember the Super Game Boy peripheral. It was essentially a Game Boy cartridge slot mounted on a SNES cartridge slot, so you could play Game Boy games on your TV. However, did you know that the Super Game Boy was actually just a Game Boy? It contained all the hardware a Game Boy had minus the screen, because the SNES itself wasn’t powerful enough to emulate a Game Boy.

2. An Xbox controller contains half as many bacteria as a toilet seat

We’re moving into the realms of the icky for this next one. Cleanliness and proper maintenance should be a major concern for every gamer, but eventually, dust and dirt will inevitably begin to accumulate on your peripherals and your consoles. Did you know, though, that when examined for bacteria, an Xbox controller was found to contain half as many bacteria as you’d typically find on a toilet seat?

This excellent Betway infographic also highlights the fact that your computer mouse contains 8 times as many bacteria as a toilet seat. Eugh. While you’re scrubbing your hardware, be sure to check out some of the great games on Betway as thanks for providing this amazing infographic.

3. The Atari 2600 was in production for 15 years

Despite an Atari 2600 game causing the infamous 1983 video game crash, the console was still phenomenally popular. It was so ridiculously well-loved that it managed to stay in production for 15 years, outlasting many consoles people still love to this day, including the iconic PlayStation 2. The Atari 2600 finally ceased production in 1992, by which point the SNES was riding high. It’s amazing to think that such a comparatively primitive machine would still have so much clout 15 years after its inception.

4. The Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death cost Microsoft $1.15 billion

Did you own a first-generation Xbox 360? If so, there’s around a 30% chance that you eventually got stung by the Red Ring of Death. This ominous three-segment error light appeared when there was an overheating problem with the Xbox 360, and there was nothing you could do short of taking your console back to be repaired. The problem was so widespread that it ended up costing Microsoft well over $1 billion, causing them to lose face and work harder on a more sustainable design for the console’s rework.

5. Apple made a gaming console, and it failed

To look at the Apple Pippin, Apple’s disastrous attempt at a gaming console, you wouldn’t be surprised that it bombed so hard. It looks like a cross between a Sega Dreamcast and a VCR. If you’re wondering why Apple hasn’t entered the gaming space with its own dedicated hardware, the Pippin’s failure probably has a lot to do with it. Apple asked $600 for this monster, which is twice the price of the original Sony PlayStation. Think about that for a second.

6. A Game Boy survived a bombing

The Nintendo Game Boy really has not been surpassed in terms of hardware design. In the early 90s, when the Gulf War was underway, a medic hid a Game Boy in a shelter to protect it from a bombing. Subsequently, that medic sent the Game Boy to Nintendo to be repaired. Astonishingly, when Nintendo techs tried out a Tetris cartridge on the Game Boy, it still worked, despite its chassis being almost completely destroyed. It’s a tribute to Nintendo’s engineering prowess that this was possible.

7. The PlayStation controller buttons have meanings

Did you know that the face buttons on the PlayStation controller actually have significance? It’s true – they were originally designed to perform specific functions, and the icons correspond to those functions. The Circle button is confirm, the X button is cancel, the Square button represents a menu, and the Triangle button indicates a first-person view thanks to the console’s new 3D capabilities. That’s not how the buttons are used today, but it was their original purpose.

8. Nintendo provided gloves to Mario Party players

Back in 2002, Nintendo agreed to distribute gloves alongside one of the games in its Mario Party lineup. This was in response to reports that children were injuring themselves playing the game due to the nature of the Nintendo 64 controller’s joystick. Supposedly, children were getting friction burns, cuts, and punctures from the controller, with a New York Attorney General spokesperson even pointing to a child who had apparently needed a tetanus shot after using the controller.

9. Legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu has no training

This isn’t really a console fact, but since Final Fantasy VI is a console game, we’re going to cheat just this once (in the spirit of classic console gaming!). Legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu, who is responsible for masterpieces like Final Fantasy VI’s “Dancing Mad” and Final Fantasy VII’s “One Winged Angel”, has no formal musical training. Uematsu said that he wanted to learn how to make music, and so one day he simply decided to do just that. What an icon.

10. Before the Xbox One, there was the Philips CD-i

Back in 2013, when the Xbox One launched, Microsoft declared its intention to make the console a sort of home entertainment hub rather than a straightforward gaming console. However, this had already been tried before back in the 1990s with the Philips CD-i. This ill-fated console gave rise to some of the most iconically terrible video games of all time, but it also had encyclopedia software and a rather curious oddity titled The Flowers of Robert Mapplethorpe. It was a strange time indeed for gaming.