VTech CreatiVision

VTech CreatiVision

VTech CreatiVision
Manufacturer	VTech
Type	Home video game console
Generation	Second generation
Release date	1982 (1982) (Hong Kong)
Discontinued	Early 1986
CPU	Rockwell 6502 @ 2 MHz
Storage	Cassette tapes
Removable storage	ROM cartridges
Graphics	Texas Instruments TMS 9918/9929
Controller input	Joystick/Membrane keypad controllers
Successor	VTech Socrates

The Video Technology CreatiVision is a hybrid computer and home video game console introduced by VTech in 1981 and released in 1982. 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.

History

The CreatiVision was distributed in many European countries, including most German-speaking countries like West Germany, Austria and Switzerland and also Italy and Sweden, South Africa, in Israel under the Educat 2002 name, as well as in Australia and New Zealand 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, 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 rebranded as a Dick Smith Wizzard

The CreatiVision console sported an 8-bit Rockwell 6502 CPU at a speed of 2 MHz, 1KB of RAM and 16KB of Video RAM, and had a graphics resolution of 256 × 192 with 16 colors and 32 sprites. The console had two integrated joystick/membrane keypad controllers (much like the ColecoVision and Atari 5200) which, when set in a special compartment on top of the console, could be used as a computer keyboard. The CreatiVision had interfaces for a cassette player, an extra rubber keyboard, parallel I/O interface, floppy disk drive and modem (likely unreleased) and one memory expansion module for use with the Basic language cartridge. Any Centronics-compatible printer could 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 was compatible with most of its games: Laser 2001, which is also sold in West Germany and was brought to France. It was also available in Finland through Salora, with the name of Manager. The Manager had a Finnish keyboard layout and character set.

A module allowing to play ColecoVision games were 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 Salora 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 18 titles known to have been released.

   Background shading indicates games that were reissued in 1985.

#	Title	AKA title(s)	Genre(s)	Clone of	Release year
1	Air/Sea Attack	Submarine Air/Sea Battle	Fixed shooter		1981
2	Astro Pinball		Pinball	None	1982
3	Auto Chase	Car Chase	Maze, Driving	Rally-X	1981
4	BASIC Interpreter 1.0		None	None	1982
5	Chopper Rescue		Scrolling shooter		1983
6	Crazy Chicky		Maze	Pac-Man (with modified gameplay)	1982
7	Crazy Pucker		Maze	Pac-Man	1981
8	Deep Sea Adventure		Scrolling shooter	Defender	1982
9	Locomotive		Platformer	BurgerTime	1983
10	Mouse Puzzle		Puzzle	Loco-Motion	1982
11	Music Maker		Music	None	1983
12	Planet Defender	Earth Defense Force (Chikyū Bōeigun) Galaxy Defender	Scrolling shooter	Defender	1981
13	Police Jump		Platformer	Donkey Kong	1982
14	Soccer		Sports	None	1983
15	Sonic Invader	Invaders	Fixed shooter	Space Invaders	1981
16	Stone Age		Puzzle	Pengo	1984
17	Tank Attack	Tank Battle	Multi-directional shooter	Combat (Atari 2600)	1981
18	Tennis	Who's for Tennis?	Sports	None	1981

External links

• CreatiVEmu: CreatiVision Emulation Central
• Creativision Datasette Interface
• VTech Creativision - Dark Watcher's Console History at the Wayback Machine (archived September 26, 2009)
• Video Game Console Library 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.)