The Man Who Changed Video Games Forever

I remember spending countless hours on my Game Boy as a kid, playing classics like Pokémon and Final Fantasy, investing countless hours in my spare time. Each game was on a portable cartridge, and I had to manually swap out games in order to play a new one, which is something that some of you might be able to relate with.

Nowadays, gaming is so much more optimized as hard, heavy cartridges are no longer the norm. We have small, compact cartridges, or validation discs. We also have digital download options, which allow us to instantly purchase games from the time of their release and download them to our devices.

With the rapid development of video game optimization, it got me thinking about where it all began, which led me to learn about the man who made the very first video game cartridge.

The Man Who Designed the Cartridge

The video game cartridge is an invention that ultimately changed how video games were produced and played.

The development was led by electrical engineer, Gerald “Jerry” Lawson.

Jerry Lawson in his office (Museum of Play)

Lawson led a team at a company called Fairchild in the 1970s, where they aimed to design a console with interchangeable ROM cartridges. He was helping design the Fairchild Channel F console, with hopes of beating out competitors like Atari.

Unfortunately, the Channel F console wasn’t a success, as its game library couldn’t compete with the Atari 2600, which was released in 1977 with popular games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders.

Even though the Channel F console failed commercially, future game consoles like the Atari 2600 applied the idea of interchangeable cartridges, allowing the technology to become popular in the gaming world.

The Impacts of Jerry Lawson Seen Today

Without the invention of interchangeable cartridges, the video game industry could be in a very different state today.

Consoles would cost more, and video game portability would be harmed. Classics like Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time might have been limited to consoles instead of being interchangeable.

Transportable cartridges pathed the way for advanced hardware and changed how games were created for consoles.

Legend of Zelda Cartridge (Mark Richards)

Conclusion

There are so many influential figures that often get under looked, so I hope I was able to expand your knowledge on the history of gaming a little bit more.

I was able to experience so many amazing games easily thanks to cartridges, and I couldn’t imagine missing out on some my favorite games.

Game companies were able to flourish, and gaming was able to become the renowned genre it is today thanks to cartridges.

I also highly recommend checking out Google's video on Jerry Lawson