Computer TV Game

"Game?"  --in-game text (translated)

Developer
Nintendo

Release Date
1980


So far we have encountered games for the arcade, and games for the hand. But for many Nintendo's home turf will always be the living room. Under the iron fist and titanic initiative of Hiroshi Yamauchi Nintendo had not been idle even there, releasing several dedicated gaming machines known as the Color TV Game series. The first four to release were the Pong machines Color TV Game 6 and Color TV Game 15, racing game Racing 112  and ball-and-paddle game Block Kuzushi - all released between 1977 and 1979. With their bright colours, sleek casings and attractive price points, each of these games found moderate success amidst the sea of clones, selling in the order of half a million units each.

But then it all went wrong.

To find out how, we first need to hop back to 1977 when Nintendo developed a table top arcade unit Computer Othello - a version of the strategic tile game where players attempt to sandwich each other's pieces and capture the ones between. The modern incarnation of Othello actually originates in Japan, where the early nineteenth century English game Reversi was evolved and renamed during a surge of popularity in the early seventies. With gaming parlours a popular leisure destination for both youths and working adults, Computer Othello had a strong market base to tap and acquitted itself well.

Now three years later, Nintendo sought a quick and dirty method of transferring this game from the arcade to the home. Their solution? To take the game board of the arcade version and build a new shell around it. The result? An oversized, hefty, power glutton of a system with a price point that would make eyes reel. When Computer TV Game first released it cost ¥48,000. In today's terms that would be, using my wide knowledge of international exchange rates and the Japanese inflation index, a lot. At any rate it was enough to buy the Color TV Game 6 five times over, or the entire run of Game & Watch to date with money left over for the next three.

And all for a dedicated system that's sole purpose is to replicate a board game any half-interested household would already own. True, the availability of a computer opponent is a novel addition, and fed into the contemporaneous obsession with computerised engines in competitive Chess. But while that kind of novelty might be worth a coin in the arcade, it is not enough to warrant the average worker's wages for a typical week. Needless to say very few units were ever sold, and the rarity of the system has held up their ridiculously expensive nature to this day.

Even if you could overcome the price, Computer TV Game is mistakes all the way down - from the nondescript title to the controls used to move your cursor (there only appears to be buttons for moving right and down). You have to wonder what breakdown in business logic caused something to release in this state. Where was the feasibility study? Where was the market assessment? Where was anyone who could look at the size, practicality and cost of this monster and shake their head? It's a dire portent for the future of this company. They might have peerless designers and boundless ambition, but when Nintendo fails they fail big.

But it is said you learn from your mistakes. And if that's true, then Nintendo must have learned an awful lot from Computer TV Game. Here's hoping that their next attempt to infiltrate the home takes these lessons on board. They might not get another chance.

(This entry would not have been possible were it not for this post from the superlative blog Before Mario, the source for most of the information above and quite frankly a much more interesting read. Sorry. I did try.)