History Main / DaddySystem

* The PC game market has a version of this. The closest thing the PC platform has to generations is 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit, and each lasts over a decade through incremental yet vast improvements. Still, [=PCs=] from the Pentium 4 era act as the "daddy system" to [=PCs=] with a newer Core i series CPU. Intel's power-sipping Atom CPU, used in netbooks (entry-level laptops with a relatively small screen) and nettops (ultra-small desktop [=PCs=]), is roughly as fast as the power-guzzling Pentium 4 CPU found in gaming [=PCs=] built several years earlier, and they initially ran the same Windows XP operating system. Some PC game developers continue to make games that are less demanding of CPU and GPU resources so that they can target both older [=PCs=] and new Atom-powered netbooks. Another form of "generations" that PC gaming has is [[UsefulNotes/ApplicationProgrammingInterface DirectX]] versions, which add and standardize new graphical features and capabilities for graphics cards to implement. While high-end games may target the latest version of the API, others will continue to support older versions because they don't need the latest graphics and/or want to have a wider audience of those who haven't upgraded to the absolute latest hardware.

* NEC's UsefulNotes/PC98 and UsefulNotes/PC88 had this sort of relationship until the early 1990s, due to their similar display hardware; the PC-98 was so little valued for playing games in its earlier years that most PC-98 games were straight copies of PC-88 games. In the early 1980s, many Japanese game companies supported the PC-88 as the high-end counterpart to NEC's PC-6001 series.

* The Platform/ZXSpectrum became a sort of Older Brother System to the UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC: while the CPC was fancier and more expensive than the Spectrum, it didn't really lead in processing power (and cheaply-converted Speccy games tended to look ''worse'' on the CPC). By the late 1980s, however, both computer lines were being sold by Amstrad, and they were similar enough in specifications that many British and Spanish video game companies would assign the same programmers to work on the Speccy and CPC versions of a game and release both versions at the same time.
* The Acorn Electron was the budget computer version of the UsefulNotes/BBCMicro. While the Acorn Electron was supposed to have most of the features of the Model B, its cheaper circuitry was inefficient, which meant that Electron versions of BBC Micro games often had to reduce graphical quality or cut features out. Nevertheless, commercial publishers such as Superior Software supported both systems on an equal basis into the early 1990s.
* When the Platform/{{Commodore 64}} was launched, the Platform/VIC20 seems to have been originally positioned as its Daddy System, but instead it wound up being quickly retired in favor of the Commodore 16. The [=C16=] was actually a cut-down version of the Plus/4, Commodore's failed attempt at a business computer; while the [=C16=] was incompatible with the [=C64=] and much less popular, the hardware was still similar enough that some developers supported both computers on an equal basis for a few years. The 8-bit [=C64=] then managed to co-exist with Commodore's 16-bit UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, with many games released on both systems (despite the underlying hardware being totally different), until it was finally discontinued in 1993.

* In the 1990s, the PC-98 had a similar relation to the [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer IBM compatible]], which began to dominate the Japanese market as it had done elsewhere thanks to more powerful components allowing it to support Japanese without any special hardware. This was helped by the fact that the two systems had the same x86 processors in them, both ran MS-DOS (and later Windows), and later in its life several PC components such as the Sound Blaster received PC-98 versions, which made porting fairly easy. Up until NEC discontinued the PC-98 in the late 1990s in favor of standard [=PCs=], the PC-98 continued to see tons of new games (most notably the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' series), and many PC games received straight ports to the PC-98 and vice versa.

** Borderline examples with their dedicated handhelds, with most of them (Platform/GameBoy, PlatformNintendoDS, Platform/Nintendo3DS) later receiving more powerful revisions that, despite having their own exclusive games, are treated as part of the same hardware family and are sold concurrently with the earlier model for years (Platform/GameBoyColor, Nintendo [=DSi=], and New Nintendo 3DS, respectively).

* The UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast, which even after its corporate "death" in 2001 was still popular because the arcade hardware based on it, the Sega NAOMI, outlasted the system. Ports from this hardware were the source of most of the post-death Dreamcast games. The fact that the system is homebrew-friendly resulted in a second group of games published even later. In certain venues, Sega continued to publish games for the Dreamcast up until ''2007'', selling refurbished systems to keep up with demand.

* Similarly, ''VideoGame/Persona5'' somehow managed to appear on the [=PS3=] as well as the [=PS4=][[note]] Royal, the UpdatedRerelease, was UsefulNotes/PS4-only[[/note]], despite being released in September 2016 in Japan and April 2017 internationally, almost ''11 years'' into the former console's lifespan. Part of this is possibly due to the 8-year SequelGap between it and ''Persona 4'', meaning that it was likely put on the [=PS3=] as well to compensate for skipping over an entire gen. Impressively, aside from some longer load times and a smaller rendering resolution[[note]]The [=PS3=] version runs at 1280x720 and [=PS4=] version runs at 1920x1080[[/note]], the two versions of the game are basically identical. It was also the final non-SportsGame to be released on physical disc for the console.

** Borderline examples with their dedicated handhelds, with most of them (UsefulNotes/GameBoy, UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS) later receiving more powerful revisions that, despite having their own exclusive games, are treated as part of the same hardware family and are sold concurrently with the earlier model for years (UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor, Nintendo [=DSi=], and New Nintendo 3DS, respectively).
** The UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem was supported by Nintendo for several years after the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem's launch, with new first-party releases occurring as late as 1994. Notably, this resulted in ''VideoGame/WariosWoods'' being the only NES game to have an ''official ESRB'' ''[[http://41.media.tumblr.com/f92552c3957fb5c758f577abc4358d70/tumblr_nesaffo9sS1rw70wfo1_500.png rating]]''.
** Nintendo originally declared that the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS would be a "third pillar" system along with its consoles and UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, likely so that if the DS flopped, the still immensely popular and successful Game Boy brand wouldn't be affected. Once the DS became a hit, however, Nintendo dropped this attitude and the GBA, with the last first-party Nintendo games for the system releasing in 2006. Both of those 2006 titles, ''VideoGame/RhythmTengoku'' and ''VideoGame/Mother3'', also happened to be NoExportForYou due to their international branches no longer wishing to use localization resources on GBA games.
** Nintendo continued to support the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS as a budget handheld option following the release of the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in 2017. The final first-party title released for the handheld was a port of ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' in March 2019, while the last significant third-party game was the Western release of ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' a few months later.
* The Atari VCS was rebranded as the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} upon the release of the Platform/{{Atari 5200}}, which was originally intended to take over after the 2600 but wound up dying away quietly. The 2600 lived on for a total of up to 14 years; in its later life, it was the Daddy System to the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 7800}}, which featured backwards compatibility.
* ''[[VideoGame/MaddenNFL Madden NFL 08]]'' was put out on a bunch of systems, including the now-dead UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube. In ''August of 2007''. It was the last game released for the system. This was repeated with ''Madden 09'' and ''Madden 12'' serving as unofficial goodbyes to the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} and UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 respectively.

** UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis[=/=]Mega Drive acted like this to the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn in Europe and America (with games such as ''VideoGame/Sonic3DFlickiesIsland'' being released on both), but in Japan Sega tried to quickly drop the Mega Drive and push the Saturn, as the older system had never sold well there.

** In turn, the Mega Drive's predecessor, the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem, served as the Daddy System to the Mega Drive in some markets (mostly Brazil and Europe), receiving its own versions of Mega Drive hits such as ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' well into the nineties. There even existed additional hardware (the "Power Base Converter" or "Mega Adaptor" depending on the region) that made the Mega Drive's cartridge slot backwards compatible with most Master System games.

* Sega's handheld systems (UsefulNotes/GameGear and Nomad) were compatible with games for its previous-generation consoles (UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem and UsefulNotes/MegaDrive[=/=]Genesis respectively) and could be seen as a [[ProductFacelift facelifted]] daddy system being sold alongside the later consoles, just as low-end [=PCs=] are sold alongside gaming [=PCs=].
* The UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 came out in 2006, but Japan still saw UsefulNotes/PlayStation2-exclusive games in 2009 (and possibly later), and cross-platform games were still being released on the [=PS2=] worldwide in 2012. Even with production on the console itself ending in January 2013, there was ''still'' another game planned for release on it in March, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI: Seekers of Adoulin'', and later in the year the latest FIFA game was released on the console. Keep in mind, the [=PlayStation=] '''4''' was scheduled to be released in November 2013, which also got the new FIFA game, as did the [=PlayStation=] 3, meaning that ''FIFA 14'' released across ''three'' generations of [=PlayStations=] [[note]]It also released on both the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable and UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita, meaning that it released on a total of ''5'' [=PlayStation=] consoles if you include portables.[[/note]]
* The UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum became a sort of Older Brother System to the UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC: while the CPC was fancier and more expensive than the Spectrum, it didn't really lead in processing power (and cheaply-converted Speccy games tended to look ''worse'' on the CPC). By the late 1980s, however, both computer lines were being sold by Amstrad, and they were similar enough in specifications that many British and Spanish video game companies would assign the same programmers to work on the Speccy and CPC versions of a game and release both versions at the same time.

* When the UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}} was launched, the Platform/VIC20 seems to have been originally positioned as its Daddy System, but instead it wound up being quickly retired in favor of the Commodore 16. The [=C16=] was actually a cut-down version of the Plus/4, Commodore's failed attempt at a business computer; while the [=C16=] was incompatible with the [=C64=] and much less popular, the hardware was still similar enough that some developers supported both computers on an equal basis for a few years. The 8-bit [=C64=] then managed to co-exist with Commodore's 16-bit UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, with many games released on both systems (despite the underlying hardware being totally different), until it was finally discontinued in 1993.

* Both the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and UsefulNotes/Xbox360 served as this for their respective successors, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne. Both seventh-gen systems enjoyed strong sales even though the next-gen release, and 2013 and 2014 saw several prominent releases exclusively for seventh-gen. Even as late as 2017, publishers continue to release new games for the systems, albeit mostly just sports titles and ''VideoGame/JustDance''. Microsoft finally ceased manufacturing new 360s in April 2016, but still continues to support the console's online services and game store, and will probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future since the Xbox One and its own successor, the UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS, are both backwards compatible with 360 games. The UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 was discontinued in October 2016, but still has a large player base largely due to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 lacking backwards compatibility with it[[note]]The [=PS4=] doesn't have any backwards compatibility at all, while the [=PS5=] is only backwards compatible with [=PS4=] games[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/JustDance'' 2020 was released for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} but '''not''' the UsefulNotes/WiiU. This means that in North America, the Wii outlived its successor. The reaction was so strong that Ubisoft themselves had to publicly address the fact that it was true. According to some sources, the only thing that stopped Ubisoft from releasing even more ''Just Dance'' games on the console was Nintendo ending support for the release of new Wii games.

* When the UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}} was launched, the UsefulNotes/VIC20 seems to have been originally positioned as its Daddy System, but instead it wound up being quickly retired in favor of the Commodore 16. The [=C16=] was actually a cut-down version of the Plus/4, Commodore's failed attempt at a business computer; while the [=C16=] was incompatible with the [=C64=] and much less popular, the hardware was still similar enough that some developers supported both computers on an equal basis for a few years. The 8-bit [=C64=] then managed to co-exist with Commodore's 16-bit UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, with many games released on both systems (despite the underlying hardware being totally different), until it was finally discontinued in 1993.

** The Japanese version of the Master System was backwardly-compatible with its own Daddy System, the UsefulNotes/SG1000, which was fully supported for over a year after its successor's launch.

* The Atari VCS was rebranded as the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} upon the release of the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 5200}}, which was originally intended to take over after the 2600 but wound up dying away quietly. The 2600 lived on for a total of up to 14 years; in its later life, it was the Daddy System to the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 7800}}, which featured backwards compatibility.

* Due to hardware shortages, publishers (including Sony and Microsoft) continue to release games on the [=PS4=] and Xbox One despite the [=PS5=] and Xbox Series X|S being out. It helps that both systems are backwards compatible with their previous-gen counterparts, games released late in the [=PS4=] and Xbox One's lifespans were required to take advantage of [=PS4=] Pro and Xbox One X hardware (meaning that eighth-gen games running on ninth-gen hardware will default to running in "[=PS4=] Pro" or "Xbox One X" mode when available) and many games released while both systems are still produced include "Next-Gen" patches that update the game to take advantage of the newer hardware when the user upgrades systems.

* The UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem was supported by Nintendo for several years after the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem's launch. While this policy resulted in more NES/Famicom games being rereleased on the same system than ported to the SNES, as late as 1994, a first-party title, namely ''VideoGame/WariosWoods'', was released for both consoles. In fact, ''Wario's Woods'' was released so late in the console's lifespan that it is the only NES game to have an ''official ESRB'' ''[[http://41.media.tumblr.com/f92552c3957fb5c758f577abc4358d70/tumblr_nesaffo9sS1rw70wfo1_500.png rating]]''.

* Nintendo continued to support the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS as a budget handheld option following the release of the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in 2017. The final first-party title released for the handheld was a port of ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' in March 2019, while the last significant third-party game was the Western release of ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' a few months later.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' is a notable example -- originally announced as a [=GameCube=] game, it was repeatedly delayed, with much speculation that it would be moved to the next Nintendo system -- eventually, it was released on both [=GameCube=] ''and'' Wii. Apart from controls, resolution, and the need to flip everything backwards for the Wii version to make Link right-handed (inconveniencing left-handed players), the games are exactly the same.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': Developed for the Wii U but delayed until it was released for both the Wii U and the Switch. And unlike ''Twilight Princess'', the differences between versions are much more minimal; the Switch version has a small but noticeable graphics bump but otherwise the gameplay is largely identical.

* Nintendo originally declared that the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS would be a "third pillar" system along with its consoles and UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, likely so that if the DS flopped, the Game Boy brand wouldn't be affected. Once the DS became a hit, however, Nintendo dropped this attitude and the GBA (although the original DS did still play GBA games). Interestingly, when they introduced the [=DSi=] (which removed GBA backwards-compatibility), they used the same [[RecycledScript "third pillar" speech]]. This was truer this time, since most retail games were still playable on the original DS. Nintendo did it again with the 3DS, which was introduced and which games were made for alongside the DS. It has backward compatibility with the DS[[note]]even to a greater extent than the DS had with GBA games, due to the DS lacking the link cable port used to utilize GBA games' multiplayer and GCN link capabilities[[/note]] so that gamers could still play their existing library after upgrading and new games were still being produced for both systems for a few years.
* Nintendo continued to support the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS even after they released the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in 2017, with the latest notable game for it being ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'', which was released in the west on June 4, 2019, over two years after the Switch came out. Nintendo later ended production of new 3DS systems in mid-September 2020. (This one's more justified than most, as the 3DS is a handheld and the Switch is primarily a home console. It's worth pointing out that the [=3DS=] was only discontinued after the smaller, handheld-only Switch Lite released in 2019.)
* A player-related case is how the Virtual Console is still up and with many titles yet to hit the Nintendo Switch Online catalogue, making many gamers keep or seek the less successful Wii U for retro gaming.

* The UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast, which even after its corporate "death" in 2001 was still popular because the arcade hardware based on it outlasted the system. Ports from this hardware were the source of most of the post-death Dreamcast games. The fact that the system is homebrew-friendly resulted in a second group of games published even later. In certain venues, Sega continued to publish games for the Dreamcast up until ''2007'', selling refurbished systems to keep up with demand.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': developed for the Wii U but delayed until it was released for both the Wii U and the Switch. And unlike ''Twilight Princess'', the differences between versions are much more minimal; the Switch version has a small but noticeable graphics bump but otherwise the gameplay is largely identical.

* ''VideoGame/JustDance'' 2020 was released for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} but '''not''' the UsefulNotes/WiiU. This means that in North America, the Wii outlived its successor. The reaction was so strong that Ubisoft themselves had to publicly address the fact that it was true. According to some sources, Ubisoft would have continued releasing ''Just Dance'' games on the console if it weren't for Nintendo ending support for the release of new Wii games.

* ''VideoGame/JustDance'' 2020 was released for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} but '''not''' the UsefulNotes/WiiU. This means that in the North America, the Wii outlived its successor. The reaction was so strong that Ubisoft themselves had to publicly address the fact that it was true. According to some sources, Ubisoft would have continued releasing ''Just Dance'' games on the console if it weren't for Nintendo ending support for the release of new Wii games.