Video game:Super Nintendo Star Trek: The Next Generation

Few series, if any, have made as large a pop culture impact as "Star Trek." When it first aired in 1966, the television show failed to make a large impression, and NBC cancelled it after only three seasons. However, over the years it has amassed a cult following, several spin-off shows, a movie series, and a library of novels and comics. Beginning with a board game in 1967, developers released many forms of interactive entertainment involving the beloved "Star Trek" characters.

Mike Mayfield developed the first "Star Trek" video game in 1971. Entitled simply "Star Trek," this text-based computer game spread to most home computers by the end of the 1970s, and became the first of its kind to sell more than one million copies. It showed that games based on the series could be successful, and paved the way for the release of many more video games.

In 1993, Absolute Entertainment released "Star Trek: The Next Generation" for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. Based on the Star Trek television series of the same name, this simulation game gives players the opportunity to move up the ranks of Starfleet and captain their own starship. In order to advance through the game, players must complete different missions, which vary from fighting Klingons to solving engineering problems.

Like many other games using the "Star Trek" license, "The Next Generation" disappointed critics and players, who found the gameplay frustrating and the missions dull. The Dutch gaming magazine "Power Unlimited" called the graphics of the game "prehistoric," and wrote that they expected more out of a Star Trek' game. Nevertheless, one year after the release of "The Next Generation," Sega developed "Star Trek: The Next Generation: Future's Past" for its gaming consoles.

More than four decades after the original "Star Trek" series aired, the franchise remains popular. J.J. Abrams and Paramount released a rebooted movie version of the series in 2009, followed by its sequel in 2013. Over fifty different video games featuring the beloved "Star Trek" characters exist, allowing fans to go "where no one has gone before."