Part of the lifecycle for any game console is its inevitable retirement. Systems are often outright cancelled, but many are also phased-out in favor of a replacement system. Competition drives the hardware manufacturers to create a newer, better system every few years. The replacement system may play the old games but it also has its own library of new titles. So something like the Intellivision II wouldn't count as a replacement system since it played the exact same library, there were no games that played on an Intellivision II but not the original. The Dreamcast also wouldn't count since it was launched after the Saturn was already discontinued.

The first replacement system has the notoriety of not managing to dispose the system it was intended to. The poor Atari 5200 was canned years before the 2600 was. Not only did the 2600 outlast its first replacement system but it held on for almost two years after the 7800 was released.



At first, Nintendo wasn't especially good at replacing systems either. The NES held on for over three years after the Super Nintendo launched.



By 1996, Nintendo adopted a more aggressive strategy and the SNES was dropped in half that time.



That was nothing though compared to their next two consoles which they managed to kill in under a year each.



Despite the Game Boy's long lifespan, it didn't stick around long after the Game Boy Color was available.



The next two handhelds had a different fate, they lasted for quite a while after their respective replacements were launched. In the case of the Game Boy Advance and DS, Nintendo claimed for some time that the DS was not a replacement for the Game Boy Advance. I don't think anyone bought that story but it has some credibility as they supported both for three years. I think they're giving the same line about the 3DS not being a replacement for the DS for now too but we all know better.



Nintendo's former rival kept their first US console going for two years after its replacement was out. The Sega Master System was briefly marketed as a cheap alternative system which may have accounted for it surviving that long.



The Sega Saturn was technically the replacement for three systems, two of them collapsed immediately. The Genesis would be available for several years though with new consoles and games being produced well after the Saturn launch.



The Sony PlayStation was the clear winner of its generation, and like the NES, it had a respectable run after its replacement came out.



The PlayStation 2 managed to beat the mark set by original PlayStation and is still going.



The Xbox one is a bit deceptive. The last game for the system, Madden 09, came out after a year-long gap in releases.



Alright, we've looked at 'em all, let's rank 'em:



It's no big surprise that the three consoles that were most dominant in their generations also lived the longest after their replacement was launched. With the PlayStation 2 still being an active console at the time of this writing, it's quite possible it will set a record that will never be broken.

I didn't do the math to support this statement, but two years looks to be the average time a system dies after it's been replaced. It will be interesting to see if this number holds up when the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 are released. Nintendo seems to be the most dedicated to bringing this number down though. I suspect new Wii games will vanish in under a year once its eventual replacement is available.

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