List of best-selling game consoles

A home video game console is a standardized computing device tailored for video gaming that requires a computer monitor or television set as an output.^[2] Video game consoles usually^[2] weigh between 2 and 9 pounds (1–4 kg) on average,^[3] and their compact size allows them to be easily used in a variety of locations, making them portable.^[3] Handheld controllers are commonly used as input devices. Video game consoles may use one or more data storage devices, such as hard disk drives, optical discs, and memory cards for downloaded content.^[3] Dedicated consoles are a subset of game consoles that are only able to play built-in games.^[4][5] Video game consoles in general are also described as "dedicated" in distinction from the more versatile personal computer and other consumer electronics.^[6][7][8] Sanders Associates engineer Ralph H. Baer along with company employees Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch licensed their television gaming technology to contemporary major TV manufacturer Magnavox. This resulted in the 1972 release of the Magnavox Odyssey—the first commercially available video game console.^[9]

A handheld game console is a lightweight device with a built-in screen, controls, speakers,^[11] and has greater portability than a standard video game console.^[3] It is capable of playing multiple games unlike tabletop and handheld electronic game devices. Tabletop and handheld electronic game devices of the 1970s and early 1980s are the precursors of handheld game consoles.^[12] Mattel introduced the first handheld electronic game with the 1977 release of Auto Race.^[13] Later, several companies—including Coleco and Milton Bradley—made their own single-game, lightweight tabletop or handheld electronic game devices.^[14] The oldest handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges is the Milton Bradley Microvision from 1979.^[15] Nintendo is credited with popularizing the handheld console concept with the Game Boy's release in 1989^[12] and continued to dominate the handheld console market into the early 2000s.^[16][17]