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.
13 – Atari Video Pinball
Atari Video Pinball CC Image – Wikipedia – Arosio Stefano
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1978
Origin: U.S.A.
Initial Price: $69.95 USD
CPU: Custom Atari chipsets (C011500-11 / C011512-05)
In-Built Games: 7
Back in 1978 Atari decided that there simply were not enough dedicated games consoles on the market. So continuing their trend of trying to bring the arcade experience home with their Atari Stunt Cycle, in 1978 Atari wanted to give gamers the pinball experience at home, without the need for a large Pinball table taking up half the living room. So here we are taking a look at another somewhat obscure console.
Atari Video Pinball – 1978
As far as looks go there were two different variations of the Atari Video Pinball dedicated console. There is the wood grain effect console and there is also a white plastic version. Sears also had their own version of the wood grain model, but with the Sears logo instead of the Atari one.
The wood grain model had two buttons on the side of the console that I am sure you can guess are the pinball flipper controls. As well as this there is a paddle controller on the right hand side of the console. You also have a large button that is used to serve the ball in the games as well as various buttons to select games and settings. There are also pictures on the actual console showing the games that can be played. In all I think this is quite a classy looking video game console.
The white plastic version was released a little later and while it is not ugly it lost a lot of the charm that the wood grain effect console had. If you put the two together side by side it looks a heck of a lot cheaper. It had all the same buttons, again in the same places as the wood grain model did, but they got rid of the little pictures of the game. I assume that this was to save a few bucks in production. It does not look bad, but once you see the wood grain version I would bet that you will want that version in your game console collection.
As far as the games go, the Atari Video Pinball was pretty stacked with games to play. In all you had seven games to play. You had four pinball games, two of which used the bumpers on the side of the console and two that used the paddle. You also had Basketball, Breakout and Breakaway and all three of these used the paddle. So there is a really good fun selection of games for you to play.
At the time this was released, the insides of the console were actually far more advanced than a regular Pong clone system. One cool feature is that it has the ability to save your pinball score. The Atari Video Pinball console can run off batteries or a power supply.
One cool thing for collectors is that the white plastic version of Atari Video Pinball can be found pretty cheaply, but you will have to pay a little more if you want to get the wood grain version. Still, if you just want to experience the actual games then it's worth while picking up the white version.
In 1980 there was a version of Atari Video Pinball released for the Atari 2600. This version used the joystick to control everything which I know sounds like a nightmare, but it kind of worked. With how crazy Atari were with their add-ons I am surprised they never made a pinball controller for the Atari 2600. Pinball was huge back in the late 70s and early 80s and there were other pinball games on the 2600, so I am sure it would have sold fairly well.
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