The VTech CreatiVision is a hybrid

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

and home video game console introduced by VTech in 1981 and released in 1982 during the

second generation of video game consoles In the history of video games, the second-generation era refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld game console, handheld video game consoles available from 1976 to 1992. Notable Video game#Platform, platforms of the ...

. It cost $295 Australian Dollars in Australia. The hybrid unit was similar in concept to computers such as the APF Imagination Machine, the older VideoBrain Family Computer, and to a lesser extent the Intellivision game console and Coleco Adam computer, all of which anticipated the trend of video game consoles becoming more like low-end computers. It was discontinued in 1986.

History

The CreatiVision was distributed in many

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an countries, including most German-speaking countries like

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Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and also

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

under the Educat 2002 name, as well as in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

under The Dick Smith Wizzard name. Other names for the system (all officially produced by VTech themselves) include the FunVision Computer Video Games System, Hanimex Rameses (both released in Australia and New Zealand) and VZ 2000 (planned for release in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, likely unreleased). All CreatiVision and similar clones were designed for use with PAL standard television sets, except the Japanese CreatiVision (distributed by Cheryco) which was NTSC and is nowadays much sought after by collectors. However, the US release was planned but never sold efficiently. VTech-CreatiVision-Console-02

The CreatiVision console sports an 8-bit Rockwell 6502 CPU at a speed of 2 MHz, 1 KB of RAM and 16 KB of Video RAM, and has a graphics resolution of 256 × 192 with 16 colors and 32 sprites. The console has two integrated

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...

/membrane keypad controllers (much like the ColecoVision and Atari 5200) which, when set in a special compartment on top of the console, can be used as a

computer keyboard A computer keyboard is a built-in or peripheral input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or Push-button, keys to act as Mechanical keyboard, mechanical levers or Electronic switching system, electro ...

. The CreatiVision has interfaces for a cassette player, an extra rubber keyboard, parallel I/O interface,

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

drive and

modem The Democratic Movement (, ; MoDem ) is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was establis ...

(likely unreleased) and one memory expansion module for use with the

Basic Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...

language cartridge. Any

Centronics Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector. History Foundations Centronics began as a divisio ...

-compatible printer can be connected to the I/O module if present. The CreatiVision was discontinued in late 1985/early 1986. A computer was produced by VTech in 1984-1986, based on CreatiVision hardware and compatible with most of its games: Laser 2001, which is also sold in West Germany and was brought to

. It was also available in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

through Salora, with the name of Manager. The Manager had a Finnish keyboard layout and

character set Character encoding is the process of assigning numbers to graphical characters, especially the written characters of human language, allowing them to be stored, transmitted, and transformed using computers. The numerical values that make up a c ...

. A module to allow ColecoVision games to be played was designed for use with the CreatiVision Mark-2 model (a later revision of the 1st model, incorporating hardware changes specifically designed to make the Coleco-module work). Before being produced, the module was modified internally and released for use on the Laser 2001 and Manager computers only. A special adaptor (homebrew) would be needed to make the Coleco-module work on the CreatiVision Mark-2.

List of games

In some regions, the console and its games were distributed by different companies, such as Cheryco in Japan, and Hanimex in Australia. VTech reissued several previous existing games in 1985. There were titles known to have been released. :

Notes

References

External links

CreatiVEmu: CreatiVision Emulation Central

*

database entry
20th Century Retro Games entry
(Gallery page for many VTech CreatiVision models and regional variants.)
Retrospective: A Tale Of Dick Smith’s Wizzard
(AUSRETROGAMER E-Zine. May 9, 2016 By Aaron Clement.) {{Home video game consoles Home video game consoles Discontinued video game consoles Second-generation video game consoles Products introduced in 1981 VTech 65xx-based video game consoles