13th July, 2021

Another half a year has passed since the last site update. Nothing has changed much in our world due to the pandemic still ruling our lives (especially here in Australia). So I propose to lift up the mood a little bit with some good news... well, "Retro"-news!

Firstly, I have recently been contacted by New Zealander gent Greg Clare, who worked at Dick Smith New Zealand around 1983. He confirmed that the rare Wizzard X-1600 variant (with included BASIC cartridge) was indeed specifically packaged for the NZ market. Greg sates that this was due to import restrictions in force at that time, that prevented video games from being imported into NZ. So the Wizzard was imported as a computer instead. This precious piece of info is now part of our History page.

And now, a lot of new additions to the database of releases and BASIC listings. One notable piece is the recovery of a never-seen-before South-African demo tape which contains a mix of programs from the "normal" demo tape, and a series of other programs never dumped before. This tape is a C10 (10 minutes) type and was found without box, unfortunately. And the content had been partially re-written, so a portion of the original files is probably lost forever. :-( Anyway, let's enjoy what we got. Thanks to Paul Rahme for this amazingly rare finding and share, and Kym Greenshields for the conversion!

Other rare items that have been preserved with dumps, scans and photos are Laser 2001 variant and memory module, a NZ catalogue and flyer, and a Salora Manager tape. Thanks go to Kym Greenshields, Gabriele Lera, Greg Clare and Jarkko Pitajamaki for this!

See below full list of new additions the site database:

Articles
- The Wizzard of Oz (Australia, Bits and Bytes, 1983)

Books
- Dick Smith NZ Enthusiasts Catalogue 83/4 (New Zealand, 1983)

Flyers
- New Zealand's top value home colour computer (New Zealand, 1983)

Releases/Hardware - Laser 2001
- Laser 2001 Computer (German Sanyo variation with 5 pack-in games) (box)
- Laser 2001 16K Memory Expansion (ultra rare international version) (pictures)

Releases/Software - Cassette tapes for CV
- C10 Demo Tape (unknown origin, South Africa) (tape and WAV recording)

Releases/Software - Cassette tapes for Laser 2001
- Sonic Invader (Salora Manager) (WAV file)

Emulation/BASIC programs
- Biorythm (C10, unknown, South Africa)
- C10 Demo Tape (unknown origin, South Africa)
- Loan Amortisation (unknown origin, South Africa)

Enjoy all this goodness and stay safe! :-)

20th January, 2021

Happy new year everyone!

This is the first post after more than one and a half year of silence, due to pandemic and personl reasons.

Even though I did not post anything new all this time, I have never stopped researching actively, almost daily, into the CreatiVision world, I have collaborated with collectors and enthusiasts, and in the end I got so much new material, that I realised that the time had come for me to share it all with this small community! So here we are with a new, massive site update, that fills more gaps in the history of this obscure console! :-)

Before leaving you with the (usual) bullet list of new items available for (free!) access in the sub-sections of the website, I will point out the main items included in this update:

For the very first time, we have proof that an U.S. NTSC version of the CreatiVision really exists! One unit was spotted by an American collector who reported the unit being purchased in Hong Kong (altough clearly indicating it was designed to work in U.S.A). I believe that the unit was part of a very limited batch of units assembled in the hope for VTech to find a company willing to distribute the system in the U.S.A. but eventually these units remained in Hong Kong until U.S. travellers bought them from some shop.

Two very kind Japanese collectors (Takaaki and Proudrow) have contributed by sending me scans of Japanese editions of CreatiVision games, including boxes and manuals. I was very surprised to discover that manuals come in two versions: an older revision in black and white, and a more recent (and more widespread) version with the lovely coloured artworks. I have uploaded all the scanned manuals in my possession - available in the usual "Sofware" section.

A catalogue from a British videogame expo fair, which took place in 1983, mentions the CreatiVision system as distributed by Leisure Zone. This seems to confirm that VTech had attempted to promote their system in UK at the time. No mystery that several units found in Europe are marked "UK PAL".

Two obscure books of programs have surfaced recently, one being the "Funvision" version of the "First Book of Programs for the Wizzard" containing the same programs as the Wizzard version, but of course all references to Wizzard have been changed into Funvision. The second book is even more obscure and it is a book of listings of programs and games for the Salora Fellow and Manager (Finnish versions of VTech Laser 200 and Laser 2001). A few listings were converted into BASIC text file, cassette and floppy disk "dumps" by our friend Kym Greenshields. These files are now available for download in the usual "BASIC Programs" section.

A lot of scans of Finnish Salora and VTech Laser 2001 editions of game cartridges, boxes and manuals were submitted by our Finnish contributor, that is a 'regular' on this website: Jarkko. Thanks so much for the invaluable help!

Last but not least, I recently took part to a Youtube live event dedicated to homebrew production for retro-systems. I spoke about my experience as designer and producer of the Multicart, Diagnosticart, and my approach to the preservation of the CreatiVision. The video is available (in Italian only, with subtitles) at this page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVhUg-0W1dU

Below is the complete list of new entries added to the site database:

Articles
- Hi-tech package for '83 (UK, Toy Trader, 1983)
- Le macchine per giocare (Italy, Video Magazine, 1983)
- Markkinakatsaus -85 (Finland, Mikrobitti, 1985)

Books
- First book of programs for the Funvision (Australia, 1983)
- Kotitietokoneiden Ohjelmavihkonen Fellow/Manager (Finland, ca 1984-85)

Flyers
- There are 3 good reasons why you should visit... (UK, Toy Trader, 1983)

Releases/Hardware - Consoles
- CreatiVision (UK PAL w/Chinese sticker and Tennis cartridge) (box)
- CreatiVision (U.S. NTSC) (box, pictures pack)

Releases/Software - Cartridges
- Air/Sea Attack (Japan CreatiVision) (box)
- Astro Pinball (Laser 2001) (box, manual)
- Astro Pinball (Salora Manager) (box, manual, cartridge)
- Crazy Chicky (Laser 2001) (box, cartridge)
- Locomotive (Laser 2001) (manual)
- Planet Defender (Laser 2001) (manual)
- Planet Defender (Salora Manager) (box, manual)
- Police Jump (Japan CreatiVision) (1st edition box, b/w manual)
- Police Jump (Japan CreatiVision) (customer service card)
- Sonic Invader (Japan CreatiVision) (1st edition box, b/w manual)
- Tennis (Japan CreatiVision) (1st edition box, b/w manual)

Releases/Software - Cassette tapes for CV
- Concentration (Dick Smith Wizzard) (WAV recording)

Releases/Software - Cassette tapes for Laser 2001
- Sonic Invader (Salora Manager) (cassette scan at high resolution)

Releases/Software - Floppy disks for Laser 2001
- Tekstinkasittely (Word Processor) (Salora Manager) (box, diskette)

Emulation/BASIC programs
- Concentration (Dick Smith Wizzard) (listing, screenshot)
- Aakkostusohjelma/Sort (Salora Manager) (listing, screenshot)
- Hirsipuu/Hangman (Salora Manager) (listing, screenshot)
- Merkki/Editor (Salora Manager) (listing, screenshot)

I wish to express my infinite gratitude to all the old and new friends who very generously devoted their time to collect and share information and photos of their obscure and rare items with me: Mauro Spadazzi, Jarkko Pitajamaki, Kym Greenshields, Ian Baronofsky, Ian Sterne, Bob Mihajlovic, Takaaki Sugimoto and Proudrow (watch his collection on Youtube here).

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