After the startling success of Nintendo's NES and Super SNES video game systems, they had a tentative agreement with Sony to introduce a disc-based console to the public.  When the deal fell through, however, Sony decided to create the Playstation while Nintendo stuck with cartridges for one more go-round.  The "battle" proved to be roughly a draw if you can remember back to the actual period and not just remember the Playstation hype.