TV Tennis Electrotennis

The TV Tennis Electrotennis (Japanese: テレビテニス,[1][2] Hepburn romanzination: Terebitenisu, meaning Television Tennis,[2] commonly abbreviated as TV Tennis or Electrotennis) is a dedicated first-generation home video game console that was released by Epoch Co. (developed in cooperation with Magnavox)[3] on September 12, 1975[1][2] for 19,000 Japanese yen[1][2] only in Japan. It was the first video game console ever released in Japan.[1][2][3]

TV Tennis Electrotennis
A TV Tennis Electrotennis
Also known as
  • TV Tennis
  • Electrotennis
(abbreviations)
ManufacturerEpoch Co.
(developed with Magnavox)
TypeDedicated home video game console
GenerationFirst generation
Release dateJapan: September 12, 1975
Introductory price19,000 Japanese yen
Units soldNot clear; around 10,000, 20,000 or 3 million
SuccessorTV Game System 10

It released several months before the release of Home Pong in North America. One unique feature of the TV Tennis Electrotennis is that the console is connected wirelessly to a TV, functioning through an UHF antenna.[4] Depending on the source, it sold about 10,000,[2] 20,000[5] or 3 million units[1] in its lifetime, including about 5,000 units in the first year.

Legacy

The successor of the TV Tennis Electrotennis is the TV Game System 10 from 1977. It includes as a light gun a plastic replica of a Mauser C96;[6][7] the C96 replica was also usable with its next console, the Epoch Cassette Vision, created in 1981.[8]

The wireless broadcast functionality of the TV Tennis Electrotennis got Nintendo designer Masayuki Uemura to consider adding that capability to the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System), though he ultimately did not pursue it to keep system costs low.[9]

References
  1. "Retro-Gaming: Die allererste japanische Videospielkonsole feiert 40. Jubiläum". January 22, 2019. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  2. toarcade (September 12, 2015). "Japan's 1st Video Game Console was released 40 Years ago!". Toarcade. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  3. "エポック社沿革". epoch.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  4. Martin Picard, The Foundation of Geemu: A Brief History of Early Japanese video games, International Journal of Computer Game Research, 2013
  5. 藤田, 直樹 (March 1999). "「ファミコン」登場前の日本ビデオ・ゲーム産業 ―現代ビデオ・ゲーム産業の形成過程(2)―". 經濟論叢. 163 (3): 59–76. doi:10.14989/45271. ISSN 0013-0273.
  6. "Epoch TV Game System 10". Centre for Computing History UK. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  7. "The Forgotten Epic: Epoch TV Game System 10". TheGameScholar.com. June 10, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  8. "Epoch and the Cassette Vision – 1997 Developer Interview with hardware engineer/designer Masayuki Horie". ShmupLations.com. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  9. "Feature: NES Creator Masayuki Uemura On Building The Console That Made Nintendo A Household Name". Nintendo Life. March 3, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
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