Were the games released in the early years of the Nes era like Legend of Zelda and Duckhunt considered later Generation X icons or would they be considered early millenial icons.

Both late gen x and early gen y!

Generation Y. The millennials were basically the Nintendo generation, while X was all about Atari, from Pong to the 2600. The NES didn't hit its peak until 1988 and was still popular through the early 90s. There were surely X'ers who appreciated the NES (even my Gen-Jones dad played Nintendo, and he was in his late 20s), but the Nintendo age of gaming was cleanly separated by everything that preceded it, due to the industry crash of the mid-1980s.

Were the games released in the early years of the Nes era like Legend of Zelda and Duckhunt considered later Generation X icons or would they be considered early millenial icons.



I would have to say later Generation X.

I would have to say later Generation X.

What about the millennials?

Generation Y. The millennials were basically the Nintendo generation, while X was all about Atari, from Pong to the 2600. The NES didn't hit its peak until 1988 and was still popular through the early 90s. There were surely X'ers who appreciated the NES (even my Gen-Jones dad played Nintendo, and he was in his late 20s), but the Nintendo age of gaming was cleanly separated by everything that preceded it, due to the industry crash of the mid-1980s.

Late Xers can claim the NES era tho too.

Late X to Early Y (late 1970s to early 1980s born).

For other consoles such as Super Nintendo it'd be the Early and Core Y. (early - mid 1980s born and early 1990s born)
Nintendo 64 it'd be Core and Late Y along with very early Z (very late 1980s to mid 1990s born)
Gamecube Late Y, Early to core Z
Wii core to late Z.

But this is all just me sort of thinking from the top of my head to be honest. Most likely some things that're wrong here. And the year spans for a gen is subjective. So correct if you wish to.

Late X to Early Y (late 1970s to early 1980s born).

For other consoles such as Super Nintendo it'd be the Early and Core Y. (early - mid 1980s born and early 1990s born)
Nintendo 64 it'd be Core and Late Y along with very early Z (very late 1980s to mid 1990s born)
Gamecube Late Y, Early to core Z
Wii core to late Z.

But this is all just me sort of thinking from the top of my head to be honest. Most likely some things that're wrong here. And the year spans for a gen is subjective. So correct if you wish to.


I'll say this:

NES:Late X
SNES:Early Y
N64:Core Y
GameCube:Late Y
Wii: Early Z
Wii U: Core Z

Late 80s and early 90s kids seem to be the target audience for the NES at the time.

I'll say this:

NES:Late X
SNES:Early Y
N64:Core Y
GameCube:Late Y
Wii: Early Z
Wii U: Core Z


I agree with this, as my peak video game interest came during the SNES era, while I appreciated both the NES as a young child and the N64 as I hit adolescence, while I felt on the fringes to try the GameCube and up since it feels too modern to me (although I'd love to appreciate these more) while I only first played the 2600 once as a child at a friend's house where I played Pitfall II. Boomers and early Xers are more music, TV, and comic book buffs than they are with video games generally speaking, and of course prefer REAL games that are played outside.

Is something whose peak was essentially the LATE 80s and early 90s really more of a Gen-X system than a millennial one? I won't act like it was purely Y-targeted, but the video game industry at the time wasn't really oriented towards older audiences yet.

I guess it just depends on your personal definition of when Gen-X ends and Gen-Y starts - and it still largely depends on the individual first and foremost - but even if you say 1982-borns are still X (like Ken from the current season of Survivor, who's definitely an X'er despite looking like a millennial), they would have already been 6 when the NEA reached its plateau in 1988, so plenty of mid-80s babies would've been introduced to the system while it was still at its height or even around 1991-1993, during which the 16-bit era was on but plenty of people still played with or owned an NES (it was still sold until 1995, after all, and new games were still coming out as late as 1994), in the same way I partially grew up with the Super Nintendo during the Y2K era.

What about the millennials?


What about them?  ???

Later Generation X and early Millennials.

Is something whose peak was essentially the LATE 80s and early 90s really more of a Gen-X system than a millennial one? I won't act like it was purely Y-targeted, but the video game industry at the time wasn't really oriented towards older audiences yet.

I guess it just depends on your personal definition of when Gen-X ends and Gen-Y starts - and it still largely depends on the individual first and foremost - but even if you say 1982-borns are still X (like Ken from the current season of Survivor, who's definitely an X'er despite looking like a millennial), they would have already been 6 when the NEA reached its plateau in 1988, so plenty of mid-80s babies would've been introduced to the system while it was still at its height or even around 1991-1993, during which the 16-bit era was on but plenty of people still played with or owned an NES (it was still sold until 1995, after all, and new games were still coming out as late as 1994), in the same way I partially grew up with the Super Nintendo during the Y2K era.


Everything you said here is pretty much spot on. The NES had a much longer retail run than most consoles, and though it is seen as an "eighties thing" it's popularity is not at all confined to just that decade.

For this reason, I would say that the reach of the NES is quite long. Probably longer than any other console in any generation, in fact. Late Xers and Early Yers are the ones that owned the console in it's prime, but even us "Core Yers" are part of the NES cohort, too. Out of all the people that I know born between 1985-1989 (which is, like, 75% of my acquaintances) nearly all of us had our first gaming experiences on the NES. I know, for me, I can recall playing the NES at my cousin's house in 1990 and 1991, and I later got an NES of my own in 1995, shortly before it was discontinued in North America.

Even though I was born two years after it made it's debut in the United States, there's no doubt that the NES was a major factor in my childhood, and that holds true for many others in my age range as well.

Everything you said here is pretty much spot on. The NES had a much longer retail run than most consoles, and though it is seen as an "eighties thing" it's popularity is not at all confined to just that decade.

For this reason, I would say that the reach of the NES is quite long. Probably longer than any other console in any generation, in fact. Late Xers and Early Yers are the ones that owned the console in it's prime, but even us "Core Yers" are part of the NES cohort, too. Out of all the people that I know born between 1985-1989 (which is, like, 75% of my acquaintances) nearly all of us had our first gaming experiences on the NES. I know, for me, I can recall playing the NES at my cousin's house in 1990 and 1991, and I later got an NES of my own in 1995, shortly before it was discontinued in North America.

Even though I was born two years after it made it's debut in the United States, there's no doubt that the NES was a major factor in my childhood, and that holds true for many others in my age range as well.


A consoles tend to last longer than their respective generation peaks. Some tend to think that you must be born 4-5 years before a console released in order to experience it. I don't believe that very much. I have a cousin from 1995 who remembers growing up with the N64 and PS1 (which released in 1995 & 1996). I'm from 1990 yet I remember playing the Sega Genesis which is from 1989. Even if you're born two years after the NES was released as long as you remember playing it when it was still available in the market is all that matters in my opinion.

I've seen a lot of late 1980s born who remembers playing the NES. It lasted for 10 years. Although the NES isn't the longest lasting console. The PS2 is the longest lasting console. It released in 2000 and didn't go away until 2013. I can imagine late 2000s born having memories.

Everything you said here is pretty much spot on. The NES had a much longer retail run than most consoles, and though it is seen as an "eighties thing" it's popularity is not at all confined to just that decade.


I can see the Early '90s Guy saying this:

However, given that Atari still ran commercials for the 2600 as late as 1990 (as part of the compatibility with the 7800) just like they had as early as December 1977, so that was still the definitive 1980s video game system (and therefore the true Generation X system), with the SNES (introduced in 1990 in Japan with the last games released in 1998) being the definitive 1990s/core Millenial systems and the Playstation 2 the definitive 2000s/late Millenial system. The NES bridged the '80s and '90s just like the N64 bridged the '90s and 2000s.

A consoles tend to last longer than their respective generation peaks. Some tend to think that you must be born 4-5 years before a console released in order to experience it. I don't believe that very much. I have a cousin from 1995 who remembers growing up with the N64 and PS1 (which released in 1995 & 1996). I'm from 1990 yet I remember playing the Sega Genesis which is from 1989. Even if you're born two years after the NES was released as long as you remember playing it when it was still available in the market is all that matters in my opinion.

I've seen a lot of late 1980s born who remembers playing the NES. It lasted for 10 years. Although the NES isn't the longest lasting console. The PS2 is the longest lasting console. It released in 2000 and didn't go away until 2013. I can imagine late 2000s born having memories.


Totally agree. My younger brother (a 1991er) is a year younger than you and he played my Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis constantly back in the day, so he definitely grew up with those consoles as well. I know of many early '90s babies that consider the 16-bit era of gaming to be a part of their childhood, even though they tend to be stereotyped as mainly N64/PS1 kids.

That's true about the PlayStation 2 as well. It had an extremely long shelf life, too. My little cousin (born in 2005) had one of those when he was younger despite being born a full five years after the console launched in North America. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was the first console for many '00s babies.