Most people think they know where the story starts. You mention Nintendo and the brain immediately jumps to a red-capped plumber or a green-clad elf. Maybe you're a bit more of a historian and you think of the NES, or maybe even those clunky Game & Watch handhelds. But if you're looking for Nintendo's first game, the real answer isn't a cartridge or a disc. It isn't even a piece of software you could buy separately. It was a dedicated console that basically did one thing: play variations of Pong.
It was 1977. Long before Mario was even a sketch in Shigeru Miyamoto’s notebook, Nintendo was a company trying to survive. They’d been around since 1889 making playing cards, then they tried love hotels and taxi services (honestly, a weird era), and eventually landed on toys. But the electronic revolution was hitting Japan hard. Everyone wanted a piece of the "home pong" craze. To keep from going under, Nintendo partnered with Mitsubishi Electric. The result was the Color TV-Game 6.
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What Was Nintendo’s First Game Exactly?
Technically, the "game" didn't have a name other than the variations of tennis, hockey, and volleyball programmed into the hardware. There was no "Super Mario Bros." title screen. You turned the machine on, and the game was just there. It was built into the circuitry.
The Color TV-Game 6 was a sleek, orange plastic brick with two dials built right into the housing. If you wanted to play with a friend, you both had to huddle over the machine because the "controllers" weren't detachable. It was cramped. It was primitive. But it was the foundation for everything.
The Mitsubishi Connection
Nintendo didn't actually have the internal tech to build a microchip at the time. They were toy makers, not computer scientists. Mitsubishi provided the processors, and Nintendo provided the "fun" and the casing. It’s a bit ironic considering how protective Nintendo is now over their hardware, but back then, they were the scrappy underdog just trying to pay the bills.
Interestingly, they actually lost money on every single Color TV-Game 6 they sold.
Why? Because it was a "loss leader." They priced it at 9,800 yen (about $35 USD back then) to undercut the competition, which was mostly Magnavox and Atari clones. They didn't care about making a profit on the 6; they wanted people to buy the more expensive Color TV-Game 15, which launched alongside it. The 15 had detachable controllers and more game variations. It was the classic "upsell" tactic that businesses still use today.
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The Miyamoto Factor
Here is a detail that gets overlooked: Shigeru Miyamoto's first job at Nintendo wasn't designing levels or characters. He was hired as a staff artist. His first real contribution to the gaming world was actually the casing for these early consoles.
He didn't program the code. He didn't invent the physics of the ball bouncing off the paddle. He helped make the plastic box look cool.
When you look at the Color TV-Game 6, you're looking at the very first touchpoints of the man who would later create Zelda and Donkey Kong. It’s wild to think that the greatest game designer in history started out basically as a product stylist for a Pong clone. But that’s the reality of the industry in the late 70s. Everything was new. Nobody knew what they were doing yet.
Why It Wasn't Just "Pong"
While the world calls these "Pong clones," Nintendo’s versions had a specific Japanese flair. They focused heavily on the "Color" aspect—hence the name. At a time when many competitors were still outputting black and white or sepia tones, Nintendo’s machine pushed bright, vibrant colors onto the screen. It felt premium even though it was the "budget" model.
The variations included:
- Stationary paddles for standard Tennis.
- Moving paddles for "Hockey" (which was basically just Tennis with different goals).
- A "Volleyball" mode where the physics felt slightly more floaty.
The Pivot from Cards to Silicon
Nintendo’s president at the time, Hiroshi Yamauchi, was a visionary, but he was also a bit of a tyrant. He saw the success of Atari in the United States and realized that playing cards—no matter how pretty—were a dying business. He forced the company into electronics.
If the Color TV-Game 6 had failed, Nintendo likely would have gone bankrupt or returned to being a small-time toy manufacturer. Instead, it sold over 350,000 units. That’s a massive number for 1977. It gave Yamauchi the confidence to keep going.
Misconceptions About the "First" Title
If you ask a casual fan about Nintendo's first game, they might say Donkey Kong (1981). That was their first massive arcade hit, sure. Others might say Radar Scope, which was the game that nearly killed Nintendo of America because it was a commercial flop.
But the TV-Game series is the true ancestor. Without the success of those orange and white boxes, there is no NES. There is no Game Boy.
There was also a very strange game called EVR Race released in 1975. Some historians argue this is the first "video game" Nintendo was involved with. It was an arcade cabinet that used a film projector to show horse racing or car racing. It wasn't really "rendered" graphics like we think of today; it was more like a mechanical betting machine that used video. Because it relied on pre-recorded film, many don't count it as a true "video game" in the modern sense. The Color TV-Game 6 is generally accepted as the start of the digital era for Nintendo.
What it’s Like to Play Today
Honestly? It's kind of boring.
If you hook one up to a modern 4K TV—assuming you can find the right RF adapters and a signal converter—it’s a very repetitive experience. The paddles are twitchy. The sound is a series of "beeps" and "boops" that will drive you crazy after ten minutes. But there is a tactile satisfaction in those old dials. There’s no lag. It’s pure, raw input.
You can really feel the "toy" DNA in the hardware. Unlike the sleek, sterile consoles of today, the Color TV-Game 6 feels like something you’d find in a 1970s playroom next to some Legos and a tin robot.
The Legacy of the "6"
It’s easy to dismiss a Pong clone as unoriginal. And, strictly speaking, it was. Nintendo was copying a proven formula. But they did it with a level of manufacturing polish that their competitors lacked. They focused on the "user experience" before that was even a buzzword.
They made the console look like a piece of high-end home decor. They made sure the buttons didn't stick. They made sure the colors popped. This obsession with "Nintendo Quality" (or Nintendokyo) started right here.
Key Takeaways for Game History Buffs
- Nintendo didn't start with Mario. They started as a partner to Mitsubishi.
- Hardware came before software. The "game" was the machine itself.
- Color was the selling point. While others were grey, Nintendo was vibrant.
- Miyamoto was there. He designed the shell, not the soul.
If you want to understand why Nintendo survives today while companies like Sega or Atari struggled to stay in the hardware race, you have to look at 1977. They learned how to sell hardware to families, not just "gamers." They learned how to price things aggressively. And they learned that the "look" of a console mattered almost as much as what was on the screen.
How to Experience This History Now
You don't need to spend $500 on an auction site to see what Nintendo's first game was like. While the original hardware is a collector's item, Nintendo has nodded to its roots many times.
- WarioWare: Several WarioWare titles feature "microgames" that are literal emulations of the Color TV-Game 6.
- Super Smash Bros.: The "Color TV-Game 6" actually appears as an "Assist Trophy" in the newer Smash Bros. games. It’s a giant, blocky orange machine that bounces a ball across the stage to damage opponents. It’s a hilarious, deep-cut reference that most kids probably don't understand.
- YouTube Longplays: If you just want to see the flickery, 1970s glory, there are plenty of archival videos showing the different modes.
Actionable Steps for Collectors
If you are actually looking to buy one of these, be careful. The "6" model is famous for having a battery compartment that corrodes easily. Most units you find on eBay will have blue-green gunk inside them from 40-year-old C-batteries.
Search for "Color TV-Game 6" (not 15) if you want the true first model. Look for the "C" battery version, as the later "AC adapter" versions are slightly different internally. And remember, these output an NTSC-J RF signal. You can't just plug them into a modern American or European TV and expect a picture. You’ll need an analog tuner that can hit Japanese frequencies (usually channel 1 or 2).
Basically, it’s a lot of work for a game of Pong. But for a piece of the most important history in gaming? It’s arguably worth the headache.
Nintendo's journey from handmade hanafuda cards to the Switch is a miracle of corporate evolution. It all hinged on an orange box that let you move a white line up and down a screen. It wasn't "Super," and it didn't have a "World," but it was the start of everything. Without the Color TV-Game 6, the world of entertainment would look very, very different today.