Nintendo’s console history begins with the TV Game 15 and TV Game 6 in 1977, not the Famicom. The timeline below puts its home-console families in release order, with portable systems listed separately because Nintendo does not publish one official generation numbering that combines both lineages. Dates are labeled by region where available; a launch year without a day or month reflects the dates Nintendo provides in its histories.
Nintendo home consoles in release order
This is a chronology of hardware families, not a numbered list of Nintendo generations. Nintendo’s own history records the systems below as home-use videogames or home consoles, including the hybrid Switch family.
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| System family | First release | Form and defining detail |
|---|---|---|
| TV Game 15 and TV Game 6 | 1977 | Home-use videogames developed with Mitsubishi Electric. Nintendo corporate history. |
| Family Computer (Famicom) / Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) | Japan: July 15, 1983; US: 1985; Europe: 1986 | The Famicom launched first in Japan; NES was the name used for the overseas version, with staggered regional releases. Nintendo Japan’s Famicom history; Nintendo US history; Nintendo UK history. |
| Super Famicom / Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES/SNES) | Japan: autumn 1990; US: 1991; Europe: 1992 | Regional names and launch timing differed. Nintendo reports worldwide sales of more than 46 million units; its history page does not state the figure’s publication year. Nintendo corporate history; Nintendo US history. |
| Nintendo 64 | Japan: June 23, 1996; US: September 29, 1996; Europe: March 1997 | Nintendo describes it as its first 64-bit home videogame system. Nintendo corporate history; Nintendo US history. |
| Nintendo GameCube | Japan: September 14, 2001; US: November 18, 2001; Europe: May 2002 | Nintendo’s first system to use optical discs instead of cartridges. Nintendo corporate history; Nintendo US history. |
| Wii | 2006 | A home system associated with motion-sensitive controls. Nintendo’s US history gives the year; its UK history describes a launch at the end of 2006. Nintendo US history; Nintendo UK history. |
| Wii U | November 2012 | The Wii U GamePad included a screen, enabling play options beyond the television. Nintendo US history; Nintendo UK history. |
| Nintendo Switch | March 2017 | A home videogame system that can also be used as a handheld. Switch Lite, released in 2019, is a portable-focused model in the same family, not a separate console generation. Nintendo Australia history; Nintendo UK history. |
| Nintendo Switch 2 | June 5, 2025 | The latest system family in this timeline as of October 7, 2026. Nintendo reported more than 3.5 million systems sold worldwide in the first four days after launch; that was a launch-period figure, not a continuing sales total. Nintendo Switch 2 product page; Nintendo’s June 11, 2025 announcement. |
Nintendo portable systems in release order
Handhelds form a parallel lineage rather than an earlier or later rung in one official Nintendo-wide generation list. Switch complicates the distinction because its standard model supports both television and handheld play.
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| Portable family | First release | Form and family relationship |
|---|---|---|
| Game & Watch | 1980 | Nintendo’s portable LCD game line. Nintendo corporate history. |
| Game Boy | Japan: 1989 | Handheld system with interchangeable game cartridges; regional releases followed. Nintendo corporate history; Nintendo US history. |
| Game Boy Color | 1998 | A successor within the Game Boy line, rather than an unrelated family. Nintendo corporate history; Nintendo US history. |
| Game Boy Advance | Japan: March 21, 2001; US: June 11, 2001; Europe: June 22, 2001 | A later Game Boy family handheld. Nintendo corporate history. |
| Nintendo DS | Japan and US: 2004; Europe: 2005 | Dual-screen handheld with a touch screen; backward compatible with Game Boy Advance titles. Nintendo corporate history; Nintendo US history. |
| Nintendo 3DS | 2011 | Distinguished by glasses-free stereoscopic 3D. Nintendo US history; Nintendo Australia history. |
| Nintendo Switch family | 2017 onward | The standard Switch supports home and handheld play; Switch Lite followed in 2019 as a portable-only model. Nintendo Australia history; Nintendo UK history. |
How to read Nintendo’s console timeline
“Generation” is an informal label here
Nintendo’s official history does not number a unified sequence of console generations across home systems and handhelds. Lists that use labels such as “first generation” or “eighth generation” may follow a separate industry convention; they should not be mistaken for Nintendo’s own classification. Family names and release chronology are the more reliable way to identify the hardware.
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Names and launch dates depend on region
Famicom and NES belong to the same system family, but the Japanese launch came first and overseas markets used a different name. The same regional caution applies to later systems: a year-only entry should not be read as a simultaneous worldwide launch. The dates above distinguish markets where Nintendo’s histories provide them.
Revisions and family variants are not automatically new generations
Switch Lite is a portable-focused member of the Switch family, while Game Boy Color is a successor within the Game Boy line. Treating every revised model or family variant as a new generation would mix product-family history with release order and obscure the lineage.
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- The next evolution of the Nintendo Switch system
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What was the first Nintendo console?
In Nintendo’s corporate timeline, the earliest home-use videogames were TV Game 15 and TV Game 6, released in 1977. If the question means the first major cartridge-based system later known internationally as a Nintendo console, that is the Famicom, released in Japan on July 15, 1983, and later marketed overseas as the NES.
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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
