Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Limited Edition CreatiVision Multicart V1.0
By James Grahame
Francesco from the Italian GAMERS magazine recently let us know about Italian retrogame guru Madrigal, who created the very first Nintendo Game & Watch simulator a few years ago. He's back with the first (and only) multi game cartridge for the 1980s Vtech CreatiVision console.
The CreatiVision was a 6502-based hybrid video game/computer console introduced in 1981. It was mainly distributed in Europe, although a somewhat rare NTSC version made its way to North America. The machine's specifications were quite respectable for the day: 256 x 192 pixel resolution with 16 colors and 32 sprites, 3 channel sound, and a pair of joystick/membrane pad controllers. There was even a rubber keyboard (shown above) that worked in conjunction with a BASIC programming cartridge and cassette interface to turn the system into a full-fledged home computer.
A limited edition of 100 multicarts will be produced, retailing for a quite reasonable $57.95 / €42.95. The package includes a deluxe full color box with internal cartridge holder and a 12 page booklet with instructions for each of the games. The 8 megabit EPROM includes 25 games (and three versions of BASIC), chosen with an onboard 5-way DIP selector switch. It even comes with 6 cardboard joystick overlays. All in all, this looks like a truly polished homebrew effort.
CreatiVision Multicart V1.0 [gamersweb.it]
Multicart order page
