First color video game?

[joemagiera]

I know Berzerk is the first video game with speech. What is the first color video game? Not a trivia question, I really have no idea and no idea how to look it up.

emails only, [email protected]

 

[KaPH33n]

This has been discussed quite a bit... I suppose it matters who you ask and what your definition of color is?

screen gels I am guessing are out. the monitors themselves are not color.

are you talking vector or raster monitors now? or either?

and now are we talking black backgrounds with color sprites? or backgrounds and sprites?

notable/early games that come to mind for me are
galaxian 1979
turbo 81
tempest 81

looking to get schooled on "earliest" too

 

[Onyx Jaguar]

Why did it take so long for arcade games to do color? The VCS was 75/76 right and the Odyssey 2 was 78?

 

[VectorCollector]

Stratovox, known in Japan as Speak & Rescue (スピーク&レスキュー), is a 1980 arcade fixed shooter developed and published in Japan by Sun Electronics and released in North America Taito. It is the first video game with voice synthesis.

 

[fcjim]

Not sure if it is THE earliest arcade game to use a color monitor, but this one beats Galaxian by five years:

Wimbledon - Videogame by Nutting Associates

Wimbledon is a Videogame by Nutting Associates (circa 1974). An early two- to four-player color tennis game that is set on a green lawn court with white border lines. Each paddle has its own color.

www.arcade-museum.com

 

[lentel]

Sea Wolf II comes to mind. If I'm not wrong that came out 1978? one year before Galaxian saw the light. Full color 25" monitor came with the cabinet

 

[coinopper]

Atari Gotcha was the first.
Atari VCS was released in 1977.

 

[Stiletto]

In the arcade:

@astrp3 asked and answered this years ago. Though the splitting of hairs gets pretty fine. (I appear in the comments section )

http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-was-first-true-color-arcade-video.html

The answer: Most likely, the limited edition "Color Gotcha" is the first with any sort of color video signal. "Wimbledon" (seen above) may be a close second.

See Ed Fries' repair log: https://edfries.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/fixing-color-gotcha/

Video:

 

[KenLayton]

I was going to say Sea Wolf 2.

 

[andrewb]

Just type the question into google. (Though Stiletto had it first, above.)

What Was The First "True" Color Arcade Video Game?

What was the first "true color" coin-op video game? The answer to that question obviously depends on what you mean by "true color". I am n...

allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com

 

[Laschek]

Both Wimbledon and Gotcha were introduced at the MOA trade show in 1973.



(Taken from Cash-Box magazine issue 11-24-1973)

Cashbox 12-08-1973 has an article claiming that it is the first one with a color monitor:



Well, given that there supposedly was a very limited number of color Gotchas, I guess this is indeed the first widely released color game.

Cash-Box archive: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box-Magazine.htm

 

[creepykenny]

neither are the first, but indy 800 and tank 8 both used color monitors

 

[Laschek]

neither are the first, but indy 800 and tank 8 both used color monitors

Well, Indy 800 and Tank 8 came out out in 75/76, so way later than Gotcha and Wimbledon.

 

[Coindork]

Well, Indy 800 and Tank 8 came out out in 75/76, so way later than Gotcha and Wimbledon.

Hence where he said neither are first.

 

[Coindork]

Never seen a color Gotcha.
The couple I've seen are black and white monitor with an orange gel overlay.
Color version must be extremely rare as the game itself is quite rare.

 

[Laschek]

Hence where he said neither are first.

Right, I got that wrong, sorry.

 

[geech]

Two years ago saw a Wimbledon unboxed at Grinkfest. Unfortunately the tv needed attention so we never saw it working but goddamn, that was really cool. Hats off to Island Pirate for that one.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Two years ago saw a Wimbledon unboxed at Grinkfest. Unfortunately the tv needed attention so we never saw it working but goddamn, that was really cool. Hats off to Island Pirate for that one.

But did someone keep the box?

 

[Sumer]

Never seen a color Gotcha.
The couple I've seen are black and white monitor with an orange gel overlay.
Color version must be extremely rare as the game itself is quite rare.

If you read the blog post that Stiletto posted, it looks like the Golden Age Arcade Historian interviewed an old Atari employee and he (the Historian) seemed to think less than 10 were made...mostly likely prototypes out of Grass Valley.

 

[Stiletto]

If you read the blog post that Stiletto posted, it looks like the Golden Age Arcade Historian interviewed an old Atari employee and he (the Historian) seemed to think less than 10 were made...mostly likely prototypes out of Grass Valley.

WELL - there was also some schematic showing the mods you could make to a Gotcha to turn it into a Color Gotcha (well... you could...), published by Atari in some technical manual. Lemme see...

Manual: TM-029 - Atari -- Kurz-Kasch, Inc. Computer Games Operators Handbook. 1974. Covers Pong, Pong Doubles, Space Race, Quadrapong, Superpong, Gotcha, Color Gotcha, Rebound, World Cup, Gran Trak 10. 113 pages.

@P-man still has a scan of the page online: http://www.andysarcade.net/pix/ColorGotcha.JPG