8-bit

8 binary numbers (ie. 10110101, which is equal to the decimal 181) that form 1 bit. During the late 1970's up through the mid-late 1980's, most commercial CPU's could only count 8-bit numbers, ranging from 0-255.

Somehow, people only tend to think of video games when refering to 8-bit things, which it completely innacurate. Many computer systems, as well as video games, were concidered "8-bit."

8-bit processors were eventually replaced by more powerful and faster 16-bit CPU's such as IBM's 8080 line and Motorola's 68000.

Computers: Atari x00 series, Commodore series (PET 16, C-64, C-128, etc.), Apple series, and other similar systems that used the 6502, 6800, or Z-80 processors and their varients.

Game systems: Atari 2600 and 5200, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo's Gameboy, Sega Genesis, Colecovision, etc.

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