This will be a forum series where I'll talk about the history and my experience with the gaming consoles I own and today I'm looking at one of the rarest consoles I personally own, The Vtech Creativision.
Vtech Creativision
History:Released in 1981 by Vtech, The Creativison was only released across Europe & Japan, In South Africa and Israel it was known the Educat 2002 and in Australia is was called as the Dick Smith Wizard. (yes that is what they called it) lol
How did it do?The system was discontinued in 1986, and that's about all I can find on this console. Seeing how rare it is tells me now many people own this system.
Graphics: Pretty decent for 1981, colors are sharp and remind me a lot of the Colecovision.
Is this system still fun to play?I only have played four games, but I did find it fun to play. There was only 16 games released for the console and one basic programming cart. But of the four, three of them are fun to play.
What games are worth playing? The games I've played that are fun is Crazy Chicky, a Pac-Man clone that the Pac is replaced with a Chicken. Mouse Puzzle witch reminds me or Pipe Dream, and Sonic Invader is a Space Invaders clone.
I'd love to play more but finding games for this system is a feat of it's own.
How many versions are there?Mainly one, All the consoles from the different countries look the same just stamped with different logos with different names.
What do I need to know if I start collecting this system? Well, finding one would be the first challenge, Euro consoles are easier to find but you might have to go to the UK Ebay to even have a chance to find one. But then you'll need a PAL TV to use it. There is a NTSC version that was sold in Japan but it is extremely rare. The games also used overlays (similar to Intellivision) and these overlays are harder to find then the games. This system feels like Colecovison and Intellivision's secret love child that they don't want to talk about. Vtech wanted this console to be a computer also, they released accessories to make this system as a computer. Good luck finding these today.
My Experience with the ConsoleI got this console on dumb luck, a vintage console collector's website was selling some of their systems and this odd console was one. I made him and offer and he sold it to me. Once I got I had one problem, it was a PAL console and I didn't own a PAL TV. So at first I tried to find an PAL to NTSC converter, and finding a converter for an RF input is near impossible. I found one site that had one and ordered it. And while I got the see the game for the first time, the frame rate was so bad it was one frame per minute. (not a joke) So I returned the converter and hunted for a PAL TV, finally I found a PAL TV at a garage sale and finally got to play the Creativision and to be honest it was fun to play. While I only played four games they where not that bad, nothing original, just clones of classics but they where enjoyable.
Final ThoughtsThis is a collectors item only, just because the games are all clones of other games on consoles that are easier find. While the games are fun its not worth the time and effort to hunt this console down. But if your do live in a Euro country and stumble across on of these, I highly recommend adding it to your gaming collection.
Let me know what you think, I'm planning on continuing the reviews in a somewhat order of when they came out.
Leave reply's on what you think of the Creativision, because I don't anyone else has played this system. But if you have I'd love to hear it.
By the Numbers: At the time of this article only
ONE person owns this console on Vgcollect...Gee I wonder who that is?
Past Reviews:
Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer
Commodore VIC-20
MB Microvision
Atari 400/800
Mattel Intellivision
Magnavox Odyssey 2
Interton VC 4000
APF MP1000
Bally Astrocade
Atari 2600
Coleco Telstar Arcade
RCA Studio II
Fairchild Channel F
PC-50X
Pong Consoles
Magnavox Odyssey