Color TV-Game

Color TV-Game was a line of consoles produced by Nintendo released from 1977 to 1980 during the first generation of consoles. They are notable for being Nintendo's first foray into the video game market, predating the Nintendo Entertainment System, which would be released over half a decade later. They were created as a joint project between Nintendo and the Mitsubishi Company after their car deal with Systek fell through when the company dissolved. While other systems at the time failed due to their steep prices, the Color TV-Game consoles were cheap and affordable, and sold over 3,000,000 units combined as a result. They were only ever released within Japan, as Nintendo wouldn't enter the worldwide video game market until the NES.
While not remembered nearly as fondly as the NES, the Color TV-Game line was an important first step for Nintendo's success in the video game industry, laying the groundwork for all of their future consoles. To attribute to its legacy, an Assist Trophy based on the Color TV-Game 15 appeared in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
==Consoles==
In total, five Color TV-Game consoles were released between 1977 and 1980.
===Color TV-Game 6===
The Color TV-Game 6 released on June 1, 1977, and was the first system of the series. It was an orange, brick-like system that plugged into the TV, and had two knobs that players could use to control the game. Light Tennis was the only game available for it, which was a clone of Atari's Pong. However, there are six versions of it on the console (hence the name), each with a minor alteration, such as adding obstacles. It was successful, selling over a million units.
===Color TV-Game 15===
The Color TV-Game 15 was released in 1978 as a follow-up to the Color TV-Game 6. As the name suggested, it had 15 different versions of Light Tennis as opposed to the previous system's six. It was also the first Nintendo console to have controllers, instead of knobs on the actual console, which would carry on into all of their home consoles from the NES onward. They are also attached to the console and could not be taken out, but had rectangular-shaped molds for them to be held in, similar to the Famicom. It was also successful and sold over a million units.
===Color TV-Game Racing 112===
The Color TV-Game Racing 112 was the third system in the line, releasing in 1978. Unlike the Color TV-Game 6 or 15, which were tennis-based games that used knobs, this one was a racing game controlled with a steering and gearstick attached to the console. The game it came with tasked players with driving on the road and avoiding cars. Because of this control set-up, it didn't feature two-player multiplayer like the other systems. It made a cameo in one of 9-Volt's microgames in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!.
===Color TV-Game Block Breaker===
The Color TV-Game Block Breaker was the fourth console in the line, releasing in 1979. As the name suggests, this system played a home console version of Breakout, tasking the player with keeping a ball bouncing so it can break blocks. In a similar vein to its predecessors, multiple options could be selected, such as adjusting the speed of the ball or selecting how many balls can appear on-screen at once. It had no controller and was used with a knob on the console, like the Color TV-Game 6.
===Computer TV-Game===
The final console in the line, the Computer TV-Game released in 1980. Because dedicated home consoles were decreasing in popularity at the time, this one was produced in limited qualities. As the name suggests, it played a home console remake of Nintendo's arcade game Computer Othello, and was an arcade-perfect rendition, a rarity during the early 1980s. The entire Color TV-Game line was discontinued in 1983 in favor of the Famicom.
Category:Nintendo Consoles
Category:Nintendo