First-generation video game consoles


First-generation video game consoles
Designer	Atari, Coleco, Elektronika, Epoch, Magnavox, Nintendo, Sanders Associates, various
Manufacturer	Atari, Coleco, Epoch, Lorta, Magnavox, Mitsubishi Electric, Nintendo, Philips, various
Distributor	JCPenney, K Mart, Montgomery Ward, Radio Shack, Sears, various
CPU	Integrated circuits
Graphics	various
Memory	N/A
Media	Built-in ICs or on external cartridges
Released	September 1972 - 1983
Added to Museum	See First-generation video consoles

First-generation video game consoles used either mechanisms, transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits, or a combination thereof. They mostly contained ball-and-paddle-style video games, as popularized by Pong, brick-breaking video games as popularized by Breakout, racing games, and home versions of arcade games. The first video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, was released in September 1972.

The video game consoles in this generation saturated the market due to the ubiquity of integrated circuitry chips such as the General Electric AY-3-8500.

The market saturation of the consoles in the first generation, and the poor reception of video games released on the programmable ROM cartridges in the second, led to the North American video game crash of 1983.

Companies involved

The first generation had multiple consoles by various console designers, distributors, and manufacturers. Some companies would continue releasing consoles in other generations. Elektronika, Magnavox, and Radofin released consoles in the second generation. Coleco and Epoch released consoles in the second and third generations. Commodore released a console in the third generation. Philips released consoles in the second, third, and fourth generations. Atari released consoles in the second, third, fourth, and fifth generations. Nintendo is the only company to release consoles in every generation, including the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth generations.

The consoles in this generation were distributed by several department store brands, such as JC Penney, K Mart, Montgomery Ward, Radio Shack, and Sears.

Home consoles

Magnavox and Philips Odyssey consoles

Title	Chipset	Release	Notes
Magnavox Odyssey	discrete components	1972	Eleven game cards were available as well as one that was cancelled and reproduced for the aftermarket. The cards did not contain integrated circuitry or read-only memory. They acted as jumpers to connect to internal components of the console. Unlike later consoles, it was constructed using discrete components like transistors, resistors, and capacitors.
Magnavox Odyssey 100	SN 94025N SN 94026N SN 94027N SN 94028N	1975	Created after Philips purchased Magnavox in 1974. It was a simplified version of the original Odyssey with built-in controls that contained only tennis and hockey with no onscreen scoring.
Magnavox Odyssey 200 Philips Odyssey 200	SN 94025N SN 94026N SN 94027N SN 94028N SN 94029N SN 94030N	1975	Used two additional Texas Instruments integrated circuits in addition to the four in the Odyssey 100. It contained hockey, squash, and tennis. It was one of the first console to have support for up to four players. Had a non-numerical system of scoring that had a white rectangle move one space to the right each time a player scored a point. Released under the Philips brand in Europe.
Magnavox Odyssey 300	AY-3-8500	1976	Contained hockey, squash, and tennis. However, due to the use of the General Instruments AY-3-8500, the gameplay was closer to Atari Pong. It had two built in controllers.
Magnavox Odyssey 400	SN 94025N SN 94026N SN 94027N SN 94028N SN 94029N SN 94030N SN 76460N	1976	It contained hockey, squash, and tennis. It had support for up to four players. Had an additional TI integrated circuit for on-screen scoring compared to the Odyssey 200.
Magnavox Odyssey 500	SN 94025N SN 94026N SN 94027N SN 94028N SN 94029N SN 94030N SN 94069N SN 94092N SN 94093N SN 94192N	1976	It contained hockey, soccer, squash, and tennis. It had support for up to four players. Had an TI integrated circuits for color, scoring, and sprites in place of the paddles.
Philips Odyssey 2000	AY-3-8500	1977	It contained hockey, squash, and tennis. It also had a one-player practice mode for squash. The Philips version of the Odyssey 2000, released in Europe, had smaller knobs on its embedded controllers than its Magnavox counterpart.
Magnavox Odyssey 2000	AY-3-8500	1977	It contained hockey, squash, and tennis. It also had a one-player practice mode for squash.
Magnavox Odyssey 3000	AY-3-8500	1977	It contained hockey, squash, and tennis. It also had a one-player practice mode for squash. The case has been redesigned to more closely match the industry standard.
Philips Odyssey 2001	MM 57105N	1977	It contained hockey, squash, and tennis. It was released under the Philips brand in Europe. It used the Magnavox Odyssey 4000 design, but had two paddles that could be connected to the unit in place of controllers.
Magnavox Odyssey 4000	AY-3-8500	1977	It contained basketball, gridball, hockey, soccer, squash, and tennis. It also had a one-player practice mode for basketball and squash. It had two controllers that could be connected to the unit.
Magnavox Odyssey 4305	AY-3-8500	1977	Contained a Magnavox 300 with hockey, squash, and tennis inside of a 19-inch T991 television chassis. It had two wired game controllers which each contained a button and a paddle.
Philips Odyssey 2100	MM 57186N	1978	It contained flipper, football, handball, hockey, tennis, and Wipe-Out (Breakout). It was released under the Philips brand in Europe. It used the Magnavox Odyssey 2100 design with a darker color scheme.
Magnavox Odyssey 5000	MM 57106 CR861	Unreleased	An unreleased prototype that would have used IC chips including National Semiconductor MM 571068, the unreleased US version of the MM 57186, and the unreleased Signetics CR861, also known as MUGS-1. It would have included basketball, helicopter, hockey, knockout, tank, tennis, and volleyball as well as a one-player practice mode for each. A display would have displayed the current game being played. Although it was canceled, its development led to the design of the Magnavox Odyssey².

Atari consoles

Title	Chipset	Release	Notes
Sears Tele-Games Pong	3659-1C	1975	Sears released the home version of Pong first under its Tele-Games brand.
Atari Home Pong	3659-1C	1976	Home Pong was released under the Atari brand.
Sears Tele-Games Pong IV	3659-3	1976	Sears released the home version of the four-player Pong Doubles under its Tele-Games brand. Atari Pong Doubles never released, but the box shipped bundled with some Pong or Super Pong consoles.
Sears Tele-Games Super Pong	3659-1C	1976	Four variations of Pong released under the Sears Tele-Games brand. Not the same game as the Atari Super Pong! arcade game.
Atari Super Pong	C010073-3	1976	Four variations of Pong released by Atari. Not the same game as the Atari Super Pong! arcade game.
Sears Tele-Games Super Pong IV	C010073-3	1976	Four-player Super Pong released by Sears under the Tele-Games brand.
Atari Super Pong Pro-Am Ten	C010073-01	1977	Supports one to four players. Has two modes of five types, for a total of ten variations, of Pong.

Commodore International consoles

Image	Title	Chipset	Release	Notes
	Commodore T.V. Game 2000K	MOS 7601	1975	Contains soccer, squash, target, and tennis. Two controllers can be connected to the unit. A light gun came separately.
	Commodore T.V. Game 3000H	MOS 7601	1975	Contains soccer, squash, target, and tennis. Two controllers can be connected to the unit. A light gun came separately.

Coleco Telstar consoles

Title	Chipset	Release	Notes
Coleco Telstar	AY-3-8500	1976	Contains tennis, hockey and handball. Its two controllers are connected to the unit.
Coleco Telstar Classic	AY-3-8500	1976	Contains tennis, hockey and handball. Its two controllers are connected to the unit. Deluxe wood case.
Coleco Telstar Arcade	MPS-7600	1977	Four cartridges are available. The chips are integrated circuitry not ROM.
Coleco Telstar Colormatic	AY-3-8500	1977	Contains hockey, handball, tennis, and jai alai. Its two controllers can be connected to the unit.
Coleco Telstar Combat	AY-3-8700	1977	Contains four built-in joysticks to play four variations of Tank by Key Games: Combat, Night Battle, Robot Battle, and Camouflage Combat.
Coleco Telstar Galaxy	AY-3-8600	1977	Contains basketball, handball, hockey, soccer, and tennis. AY-3-8615 chip for color. Its two controllers are connected to the unit. Separate controllers can also be connected to it.
Coleco Telstar Gemini	MPS 7600	1977	Contains four pinball games and two lightgun games. A lightgun can be connected to it.
Coleco Telstar Ranger	AY-3-8500	1977	Contains tennis, hockey handball, jai alai, target, and skeet. Lightgun and two controllers can be connected to the unit.
Coleco Telstar Regent	AY-3-8500	1977	Contains hockey, handball, tennis, and jai alai. SN76499N chip for color. Its two controllers can be connected to the unit.
Montgomery Ward Video World of Sports	AY-3-8500	1977	Contains tennis, hockey and handball. Its two controllers are connected to the unit. Wood panel.
Coleco Telstar Colortron	AY-3-8500	1978	Contains hockey, handball, tennis, and jai alai. Its two controllers can be connected to the unit.
Coleco Telstar Marksman	AY-3-8512	1978	Contains handball, hockey, skeet, target, tennis, and jai alai. In color. A lightgun can be connected to the unit. Its two controllers are connected to it.
Coleco Telstar Sportsman	AY-3-8512	1978	Contains hockey, handball, tennis, and jai alai. In color, with built-in sound. Its two controllers can be connected to the unit.

Nintendo Color TV-Game consoles

Title	Chipset	Release	Notes
Color TV-Game 6 (カラーテレビゲーム6, Karā Terebi-Gēmu 6)	M58815P	1977	Initial CTG-6S release of the Color-TV Game 6. Contains tennis, hockey and volleyball, in single and doubles mode. Its two controllers are connected to the unit.
Color TV-Game 6 (カラーテレビゲーム6, Karā Terebi-Gēmu 6)	M58816P	1977	Updated CTG-6V release of the Color-TV Game 6. Contains tennis, hockey and volleyball, in single and doubles mode. Its two controllers are connected to the unit.
House Shanmen Color TV-Game 6 (ハウスシャンメンカラーテレビゲーム, Hausu Shanmen Karā Terebi-Gēmu)	M58816P	1977	House Foods CTG-6V version of the Color TV-Game. 1,000 units were produced to promote the Shanmen brand of instant ramen. The text on the unit is completely in Japanese. Contains tennis, hockey and volleyball, in single and doubles mode. Its two controllers are connected to the unit.
Sharp Color TV-Game 6 (シャープカラーテレビゲーム, Shāpu Karā Terebi-Gēmu)	M58816P	1977	Sharp CTG-6V version of the Color TV-Game. Contains tennis, hockey and volleyball, in single and doubles mode. Its two controllers are connected to the unit.
Color TV-Game 15 (カラーテレビゲーム15, Karā Terebi-Gēmu 15)	M58815P	1977	Contains two variants of tennis, hockey and volleyball, and two ping pong games, in single and doubles mode. It contains two wired controllers, rather than controllers that connected to the unit.
Color TV-Game Racing 112 (カラーテレビゲーム112, Karā Terebi-Gēmu 112)	M58751P?	1978	Contains a driving game with switches on the side that allows play of 112 variants of the game. It's playable either with the steering wheel or with two wired controllers for two player games.
Color TV-Game Block Breaker (カラーテレビゲームブロック崩し, Karā Terebi-Gēmu Burokku Kuzushi)	M58821P	1979	Several variations on the Nintendo Block Fever Atari Breakout clone.
Computer TV-Game (コンピューターテレビゲーム, Konpyūtā Terebi-Gēmu)	M58710S	1980	Nintendo's arcade game Computer Othello re-purposed for home use.

Elektronika consoles

Title	Chipset	Release	Notes
Elektronika Palestra-02	Discrete components	1978	It contained hockey, soccer, squash, tennis, and volleyball. Unlike later Elektronika consoles, it was constructed using discrete components like transistors, resistors, and capacitors. Manufactured at the Lorta plant.
Elektronika Eureka	K145IK17	1978	It contained soccer, soccer with a handicap (advantage), squash, tennis, and training (one-player squash).
Elektronika Turnir	GI AY-3-8500	1978	It contained hockey, squash, tennis, and training (one-player squash). Used the General Instrument AY-3-8500 instead of the soviet K145IK17 IC chip.
Elektronika Eksi-Video 01	K145IK17	1979	It contained soccer, soccer with a handicap (advantage), squash, tennis, and training (one-player squash).
Elektronika Eksi-Video 02	K145IK17	1979	It contained soccer, soccer with a handicap (advantage), squash, tennis, and training (one-player squash). It also included a lightgun to play two target shooting games.
Elektronika Rubin TS1-205	K145IK17	1981	It contained soccer, soccer with a handicap (advantage), squash, tennis, and training (one-player squash). The Rubin TS1-205 was a color television with a built-in video game console.
Elektronika Videosport	K145IK17	1981	It contained lapta, soccer, soccer with a handicap (advantage), and tennis. It also included a lightgun to play a target shooting game.
Elektronika Videosport-2	K145IK17	1982	It contained lapta, soccer, soccer with a handicap (advantage), and tennis. It also included a lightgun to play a target shooting game.
Elektronika Videosport-3	K145IK17	1983	It contained lapta, soccer, soccer with a handicap (advantage), squash and tennis. It also included a lightgun to play four target shooting games.
Elektronika Videosport-M	K145IK17	1985	It contained lapta, soccer, soccer with a handicap (advantage), squash and tennis. It also included a lightgun to play four target shooting games.