The games were announced as 「見るテレビから遊べるテレビへ」, which translates to "from watching television to playing television". In 1977, interactive entertainment was still a concept that required explanation to a large group of the prospective audience.
Showing posts with label TV Game 15. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV Game 15. Show all posts
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Nintendo Color TV Game - leaflet (任天堂 カラー テレビゲーム カタログ, 1977)
In 1977, Nintendo entered the home video game market with the Color TV Game series. The image below is taken from a leaflet announcing this series in May of that year.
The games were announced as 「見るテレビから遊べるテレビへ」, which translates to "from watching television to playing television". In 1977, interactive entertainment was still a concept that required explanation to a large group of the prospective audience.
The games were announced as 「見るテレビから遊べるテレビへ」, which translates to "from watching television to playing television". In 1977, interactive entertainment was still a concept that required explanation to a large group of the prospective audience.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Nintendo Color TV-Game 15 (カラー テレビゲーム 15, 1977)
When Nintendo entered the home video game market in Japan in 1977, they did so with two Pong based TV tennis games, co-developed with Mitsubishi: the Color TV-Game 6 and its bigger brother (sister?) Color TV-Game 15.
The circuitry inside TV-Game 6 and TV-Game 15 was very similar (their main chip was actually identical), but the latter came with detached controllers and provided more game options: fifteen to be precise (obviously).
Nintendo released two versions of TV-Game 15 (again, just like TV-Game 6).
The first release had an orange colored box and orange housing with a black base. It had product code CTG-15S.
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| Advertisement for TV-Game 6 and TV-Game 15 |
The circuitry inside TV-Game 6 and TV-Game 15 was very similar (their main chip was actually identical), but the latter came with detached controllers and provided more game options: fifteen to be precise (obviously).
Nintendo released two versions of TV-Game 15 (again, just like TV-Game 6).
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| Nintendo TV Game 15 CTG-15S Manual |
The first release had an orange colored box and orange housing with a black base. It had product code CTG-15S.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Nintendo Color TV Game 15 - Service Manual (カラー テレビゲーム 15 サービス マニュアル)
In my experience, the consoles in the Nintendo Color TV-Game series (カラー テレビゲーム シリーズ) are pretty much unbreakable. Even though they are well over thirty years old by now, I have never had a problem with any of them.
But as they were produced and sold in the hundreds of thousands, of course every now and then one would break down. And this is were the Service Manual (サービス マニュアル) of the Color TV-Game 15 (カラー テレビゲーム 15) comes in.
This manual covers all you (don't) want to know about Color TV-Game 15; it shows what makes it tick. The model covered is the more common second generation (CTG-15V). Differences with the first generation (CTG-15S) are minor, though.
But as they were produced and sold in the hundreds of thousands, of course every now and then one would break down. And this is were the Service Manual (サービス マニュアル) of the Color TV-Game 15 (カラー テレビゲーム 15) comes in.
This manual covers all you (don't) want to know about Color TV-Game 15; it shows what makes it tick. The model covered is the more common second generation (CTG-15V). Differences with the first generation (CTG-15S) are minor, though.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Nintendo Color TV Game Series (カラー テレビゲーム シリーズ, 1977-1979)
Before Nintendo released the Family Computer in 1983, it had already created five home-use TV video game machines in the Japanese market. Between 1977 and 1979 four games were released in the Color TV Game series. The fifth game was Computer TV Game (CTG-HC10), which came out in 1980.
Though the Color TV Game series (カラー テレビゲーム シリーズ) was successful, contrary to the other Nintendo toys and games of the era, not too much effort was put into creating a unique experience. For the most part, these machines adopted concepts developed by Magnavox and Atari.
Atari’s home version of Pong was released during the holiday season of 1975, and in 1977 Nintendo was ready to take a slice of the Pong clone pie when it released the Color TV Game 6 (カラー テレビゲーム 6) and Color TV Game 15 (カラー テレビゲーム 15), offering 6 and 15 Pong-style game variants respectively.
The machines were co-developed by Mitsubishi Electronic and did not prominently feature Nintendo branding on the casing.
These first TV Games were followed by two somewhat more original creations: Color TV Game Racing 112 (カラー テレビゲーム レーシング 112) in 1978 and Color TV Game Block Kuzushi (カラー テレビゲーム ブロック崩し) the following year.
Racing 112 is a racing game that could be played by a single payer, using the provided steering wheel, or by two players using the paddles.
Block Kuzushi is clearly inspired by Breakout, and featured six game variants with some original ideas.
In upcoming posts we will take a closer look at each of these four games, and their power adapter accessory:
Though the Color TV Game series (カラー テレビゲーム シリーズ) was successful, contrary to the other Nintendo toys and games of the era, not too much effort was put into creating a unique experience. For the most part, these machines adopted concepts developed by Magnavox and Atari.
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| The four Color TV Games released between 1977 and 1979 |
Atari’s home version of Pong was released during the holiday season of 1975, and in 1977 Nintendo was ready to take a slice of the Pong clone pie when it released the Color TV Game 6 (カラー テレビゲーム 6) and Color TV Game 15 (カラー テレビゲーム 15), offering 6 and 15 Pong-style game variants respectively.
The machines were co-developed by Mitsubishi Electronic and did not prominently feature Nintendo branding on the casing.
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| The Nintendo video game consoles of the 1970s |
These first TV Games were followed by two somewhat more original creations: Color TV Game Racing 112 (カラー テレビゲーム レーシング 112) in 1978 and Color TV Game Block Kuzushi (カラー テレビゲーム ブロック崩し) the following year.
Racing 112 is a racing game that could be played by a single payer, using the provided steering wheel, or by two players using the paddles.
Block Kuzushi is clearly inspired by Breakout, and featured six game variants with some original ideas.
In upcoming posts we will take a closer look at each of these four games, and their power adapter accessory:
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