In my oh-so-gay-but-not-so-humble opinion, only a handful of cartridge designs (five, actually) have checked both of those boxes and, as such, deserve to be called iconic. Here they are:
Atari 2600--I probably should add an asterisk to this entry, as the colorful labels affixed to Atari 2600 cartridges are chiefly responsible for them earning a spot on this list. Without them, they'd be little more than black rectangles. Taken as a whole, though, the carts are undoubtedly, unquestionably iconic.
Famicom Disk System--Admittedly, Nintendo's shockingly yellow disks aren't all that well known outside of Japan, but that shouldn't keep them from achieving iconic status, should it? Of course, the opposite could be said of the similarly iconic NES cartridge design, below, which is likely to be unknown among the people of Nintendo's home country.
NES--Bow down to what may be the most iconic (among Western gamers, at least) cartridge design of all time. After all, any American (of a certain age) worth his or her salt can identify these gray, ridged and textured hunks of plastic as Nintendo Entertainment System games.
PC Engine--Say what you will about the PC Engine's catalog (or, more likely, the anemic catalog of its criminally ignored American counterpart, the TurboGrafx-16), but you can't fault the sleek, sexy (yes, sexy) cartridges--or, rather, HuCards--that housed the system's games.
GameBoy--Is it just me or do the GameBoy's boxy, gray cartridges look like miniature versions of their NES counterparts? I guess that's why I consider them similarly iconic. Anyway, just between you and me: I prefer the GameBoy cart design thanks to the oval indentation at the top and the larger label space.
See also: 'In my oh-so-gay opinion: The five most iconic controller designs of all time'
Ignore the Spam...I must have spilled. :-P
ReplyDeleteUmm...now I forgot what I was going to say.
I think the NES cartridge is pretty much the most recognizable thing on the planet. They're beautiful, and if they weren't so damn fun to play, I'd hang them on my wall.
It probably goes without saying that the HuCard is my favorite design, but I like the little Gameboy carts a lot too. Your "most iconic" posts have made me realize how much I dig the original Gameboy console and cartridge designs. If only I'd found the games as appealing, ha.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, I agree with you about the NES cart, Justin. It's the definition of iconic when it comes to gaming, I think.
ReplyDeleteIvaNEC: Coming up with these recent "iconic" posts really made me wish I had held on to my original GameBoy and its games. Sure, many of the games sucked, and the "black and green" graphics were often painful to look at, but the system itself was beautiful.