First of all, despite the "versus" in the thread title, this thread has nothing to do with silly console war, so keep the trash talk out of it. Thanks.
A few months ago a small group of sales-agers started a thread with the goal to retrieve shipment data for old console systems (think Dreamcast and earlier):
Retro Sales Age Thread
Sell-through data isn't really viable for old consoles because there are accuracy problems thus shipment data is the preferable accounting method.
For Nintendo is available their detailed shipment data from 1983 to 2013 (and beyond) since Acquamarine asked them the information.
For Sega, NEC, SNK, Panasonic etc. though is a bit harder since those manufactures went out of the console business many years ago.
The solution was finding old issues of some of the biggest japanese videogame publications (Famitsu, Beep! Mega Drive) which reported in some of them the shipment data provided by the manufacturers at the time.
Easier said than done but thanks to BKK, JumpingRyle and Benjamin Steven contributions we finally have a clear vision of the shipment transition during the 16-bit era (with some exception like Turbografx shipment in America...).
SNES vs Mega Drive (Genesis)
Game Boy vs Game Gear
Bonus:
PC Engine CD Rom^2 vs Mega CD
Sources (click on the links):
Nintendo hardware shipment data from 1983 to 2013.
Shipment data by Sega for fiscal years ending 89/03, 90/03, 91/03, 92/03 and 93/03 as reported in 1/1994 issue of Beep! MD (Page 110, published in 01/01/1994).
Shipment data for fiscal years ending 92/03 and 93/03 in Famitsu issue 221 page 8.
Shipment data for fiscal years ending 94/03 and 95/03 in Famitsu issue 339 page 8.
Shipment data for fiscal years ending 95/03 and 96/03 in Famitsu issue 392 page 8.
I hope to not have made any calculation mistake
A few months ago a small group of sales-agers started a thread with the goal to retrieve shipment data for old console systems (think Dreamcast and earlier):
Retro Sales Age Thread
Sell-through data isn't really viable for old consoles because there are accuracy problems thus shipment data is the preferable accounting method.
For Nintendo is available their detailed shipment data from 1983 to 2013 (and beyond) since Acquamarine asked them the information.
For Sega, NEC, SNK, Panasonic etc. though is a bit harder since those manufactures went out of the console business many years ago.
The solution was finding old issues of some of the biggest japanese videogame publications (Famitsu, Beep! Mega Drive) which reported in some of them the shipment data provided by the manufacturers at the time.
Easier said than done but thanks to BKK, JumpingRyle and Benjamin Steven contributions we finally have a clear vision of the shipment transition during the 16-bit era (with some exception like Turbografx shipment in America...).
SNES vs Mega Drive (Genesis)
Game Boy vs Game Gear
Bonus:
PC Engine CD Rom^2 vs Mega CD
Sources (click on the links):
Nintendo hardware shipment data from 1983 to 2013.
Shipment data by Sega for fiscal years ending 89/03, 90/03, 91/03, 92/03 and 93/03 as reported in 1/1994 issue of Beep! MD (Page 110, published in 01/01/1994).
Shipment data for fiscal years ending 92/03 and 93/03 in Famitsu issue 221 page 8.
Shipment data for fiscal years ending 94/03 and 95/03 in Famitsu issue 339 page 8.
Shipment data for fiscal years ending 95/03 and 96/03 in Famitsu issue 392 page 8.
I hope to not have made any calculation mistake
