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Color TV Game Block Breaker CC Image – Wikipedia – Evan-Amos

Developer: Nintendo

Release Date: 1977 - 1980

Original Price: Around 15,000 yen

CPU: a /N CPU

Origin: Japan

Built-Games: 6 (variations of 1 game)

Ah now here we have something very special for you guys. The very first home console from a little video game company called Nintendo. Yep that’s right, before they gave us the Nintendo Entertainment System or even before they gave the good people of Japan the Famicom there was the Color TV game. Today we are going to have a look at the first two consoles that were released under the Color TV brand.

Nintendo Color TV Game 6 – 1977 - Japan Only

It may sound like a odd name, but the reason for this is because it was the first home console to offer gaming in colour. At this point in time Pong clones were not really flying off the shelves in Japan. A man at Nintendo called Hiroshi Yamauchi thought the main reason for this was because they were so expensive. So he wanted a games console that was affordable. The console was a huge hit selling well over a quarter of a million units

The aesthetics of the console really just look like any other Pong clone on the market. It has a blinding orange colour scheme that could cause someone to have a migraine. In fact, the colour is so striking that it almost slaps you in the face when you look at it. On each side of the console there are two paddle controllers and in the middle you have your switches that alter the game settings.

I am sure that as the console is called Color TV Game 6 you are probably assuming that there are 6 games on it. Well sadly there is only one game, Light Tennis. Light Tennis, if you have not guessed by now, is really just Pong, but you can mess with the settings which in total give you 6 variations of the game. What this does have over the other Pong clones is just how bright and colourful it is. That is perhaps how they got away with calling the game Light Tennis and not just Pong.

There is no power-in, as this console runs on batteries.

Nintendo Color TV Game 15 -1978 - Japan Only

Nintendo had such a huge hit with their Color TV Game 6 console that they got right to work on a successor, thus the Color TV Game 15 was born around a year later. The Color TV Game 15 was even more successful than its predecessor. This bad boy shifted over a million units.

The look of the console is kind of similar, but different (does that make any sense?) The console has the same kind of shape, but where the Color TV Game 6 had built in paddles the Color TV Game 15 had removable ones that actually had a decent cable length on them. At a glance it really does not look all that different, but once you take the time to have a good look at it you will notice that it does have its own distinguished look. The first release of the Color TV Game 15 had that same orange plastic casing, but it was also released with a much nicer Mario red plastic casing.

As far as the game selection goes it again just offers Light Tennis, but this time there are 15 variations. The variations this time are called different things. Tennis A and B, Volley A and B, Hockey A and B, Ping Pong and Shooting Game. All the games except for the Shooting game can be played in two player thus making up the 15 games.

Nintendo had such a huge hit with their Color TV Game 6 and Color TV Game 15 consoles that they were not going to stop there. There would be three more very interesting consoles to be released under the Color TV name. So we are going to have a little look at these and see what makes them so special.

Color TV Racing 112 – 1978 - Japan Only

Back in the early days of video games you had three main genres, sports games, shooters and racing games. Really it's funny to think about this as right now as I write this, sports games, shooters and racing games are still some of the most popular games on modern gaming systems. Anyway Nintendo wanted a piece of the pie that was the racing game scene. Racing games in the arcades that let you use a steering wheel were a huge hit and Nintendo wanted in. This was one of the very first home consoles to have a steering wheel.

This console is a monster. The thing is huge, but it's not ugly. It has a nice white plastic finish to the casing with a really cool steering wheel right in the centre. To the left of the steering wheel we have our gear shift stick and then on the right there are the various switches to alter the game settings. I think that the console does look pretty cool, but it looks more like a toy than a games console. As well as the steering wheel the Color TV Racing 112 came with two detachable paddle controllers for two player gaming. These had a storage compartment on the back of the Color TV Racing 112 console. In all from a retro design point of view this system looks really cool.

I am sure a big question that you have is “Does the Color TV Racing 112 really have 112 games on it?” Well I want to say no it does not, but the truth is it kind of does. You see, much like the Color TV Game 15 did the Color TV Racing 112 classes each little game change and 1 or 2 player settings as a different game. So while the changes may be very minimal, at the end of the day it is still a difference. The actual racing on the Color TV Racing is surprisingly good for such an early console. Even when using the paddles in 2 player mode it controls very well. A cool little bit of trivia about the Color TV Racing 112 is that it was honoured with a mini game in the Game Boy Advance game Wario Ware Inc.

Color TV Game Block Breaker -1979 - Japan Only

Even back in the late 70s Nintendo were trying to innovate. A cool fact about this console is that the designer was none other than Nintendo and video game legend Shigeru Miyamoto and this would be his first big job for Nintendo.

When you first look at this console it looks kind of odd. It looks like a Pong clone, but with just one built in paddle. It is also that orange colour that was used in the Color TV game 6 and 15, but the Color TV Game Block Breaker console has one feature that makes this a console many gamers would trade their right arm for. This feature is the Nintendo logo on the front of the console. The Color TV Game Block Breaker was the first console to have the Nintendo name featured on it. This alone makes this console very sought after by collectors. The game also shows you on the console itself the difference in the 6 available games.

As cool as the console itself are the games themselves. Even back in 1979 Shigeru Miyamoto knew how to make a fun game. To put it in as basic terms as possible, the Color TV Game Block Breaker was a Break Out clone, but it was just so much more fun. It offered 6 different variations on the game with a game for gamers of all skill levels. This is a serious item for collectors to seek out, what with it having the Nintendo logo on the actual console and having Shigeru Miyamoto getting his first break on it also.

Computer TV Game – 1980 - Japan Only

Computer TV Game would not only be the last console in the TV game series, but it would also be the last Nintendo console before they moved onto the Nintendo Famicom or Nintendo Entertainment System. It was not really a new console, but a home version of an arcade game they had released a couple of years earlier.

This was a beast of a console. The thing was large in both its size and weight and its price. It is a large white plastic console with two built in controllers on each side. The middle has the various game settings and so on. It was such a large console that the Computer TV Game required a large power adapter just to get enough juice to fire it up. As it had such a large price and only offered one game Nintendo were smart enough not to mass produce the Computer TV Game.

There was only one game on this console and that was Othello. You could either play with a buddy or against the computer. The AI in the console was actually really sophisticated for its time. It has long been speculated that the technology at the time was not really enough to do what Nintendo wanted to do. The Computer TV Game does have a place in history. You could make the argument that this is the most obscure console that Nintendo has ever produced. As it was made in limited quantities and because of its obscurity you can expect to pay a hefty price to pick up one for your collection. There were only a few hundred actually produced, so this model is extremely rare and prized by collectors.