Colecovision in Japan

[Serguei2]

Since both Sega released SG-1000 based on Colecovision hardware and Nintendo released NES with double power of Colecovision in Japan, I started to wonder if Colecovision was released in Japan?

Edited October 20, 2018 by Serguei2

[retroillucid]

Since both Sega released SG-1000 based on Colecovision hardware and Nintendo released NES with double power of Colecovision in Japan, I started to wonder if Colecovision was released in Japan?

 

As far as I know, it wasn't

Although, a few people imported the system back in the days

 

We (CollectorVision) do have a few customers in Japan

[CrazyBoss]

I dont think it was released in Japan, When the Colecovision came out, it might be very close to the release of MSX in Japan. If it came out in Japan in great numbers i would assume there was Japanese games, like we saw at the SG-1000.

 

I think back then USA was more a Console Market, while Europe and Japan was a Computer Market.

[mr_me]

Japan had consoles in 1982 from Bandai and Epoch. Intellivision and Atari 2600 were also there, for whatever reason it was very expensive for foreign manufacturers in Japan. Colecovision, famicom, and the sg-1000 were all marketed as upgradeable to a computer. I wonder if Coleco could sell their Donkey Kong and Zaxxon cartridges in Japan.

[wileyc]

I think I'm one of the Japanese customers that Collectorvision is referring to.

 

Never seen a unit or compatible here. Even Super Potato has never heard of it. I got my unit from the US.

[johannesmutlu]

I wonder what would,ve happen if the colecovision was also released in japan, would it had influenced the sales of the famicom??? Remember when nintendo had to come with a call back order to fix certain bugs in the famicom , could coleco could,ve took advantage of this by selling more colecovision systems? Remember donkeykong did help selling the colecovision, 

Am curious if the story would,ve been different now ,,or just not

[Pixelboy]

So I'm guessing the Dina 2-in-1 and the Bit-90 computer were never sold in Japan?

 

[ApolloBoy]

It's worth noting that Coleco and Sega signed an agreement in 1982 that gave Sega the rights to distribute the CV in Japan for a 1983 release, but for some reason they didn't go through with it. I wonder if perhaps Sega was dissatisfied with the ColecoVision and reworked the hardware into something more palatable for the Japanese market. One other thing is that SG-1000 carts look a *lot* like CV carts, only slightly taller and thicker. They even have a large indentation on the back just like CV carts do despite not having overlays.

 

On 6/8/2020 at 5:12 AM, johannesmutlu said:

Remember when nintendo had to come with a call back order to fix certain bugs in the famicom , could coleco could,ve took advantage of this by selling more colecovision systems?

But that recall occurred in 1984. By that time, the Famicom had already gained a massive lead in the Japanese market and its sales increased significantly afterwards.

[Serguei2]

On 6/8/2020 at 8:12 AM, johannesmutlu said:

I wonder what would,ve happen if the colecovision was also released in japan, would it had influenced the sales of the famicom??? Remember when nintendo had to come with a call back order to fix certain bugs in the famicom , could coleco could,ve took advantage of this by selling more colecovision systems? Remember donkeykong did help selling the colecovision, 

Am curious if the story would,ve been different now ,,or just not

If Coleco was released Colecovision in Japan, it would be expensive and not profitable.

 

Atari 2600 (2800 in Japan in 1986?) and Commodore 64 are released in Japan.

 

Both were too expensive to buy.

[ChildOfCv]

5 hours ago, ApolloBoy said:

One other thing is that SG-1000 carts look a *lot* like CV carts, only slightly taller and thicker. They even have a large indentation on the back just like CV carts do despite not having overlays.

Wait.... that indentation was to hold the overlays?

 

Now I gotta invent a time machine to tell that to my 10yo self.

 

Was that even true for the SAC games?  They used an irregular overlay to fit the controller.

[spacecadet]

On 6/8/2020 at 5:12 AM, johannesmutlu said:

I wonder what would,ve happen if the colecovision was also released in japan, would it had influenced the sales of the famicom??? Remember when nintendo had to come with a call back order to fix certain bugs in the famicom , could coleco could,ve took advantage of this by selling more colecovision systems? Remember donkeykong did help selling the colecovision, 

Am curious if the story would,ve been different now ,,or just not

Just not. You tell me what American console was a success in Japan. Literally ever. Japan is just not receptive to systems and games not developed specifically for their tastes.

 

As others have pointed out, CV hardware did more or less get released in Japan in the form of both the SG-1000 and the MSX. Both of these were only mildly successful despite being tailored for the Japanese market and coming from a Japanese company (yes, I'm familiar with Sega's origins) or companies in the MSX's case. The SG-1000 and its successors (which were backward compatible), the SG-1000 Mark II, Mark III and Master System, were trounced by the Famicom in Japan.

 

Donkey Kong was a system seller in 1982 in the United States, but it also came out on the Famicom in 1983 and it's frankly a better port. So at most Coleco would have had about a six month window to sell a bunch of American systems in Japan before it became clear to Japanese consumers that the original maker of the best game on the system made a better port in Japan. So not really a recipe for success IMO. And once the Famicom did come out and started *adding* to that launch lineup, forget it. Yes I know about the recall. The recall didn't really affect anything; people waited.

[youki]

Quote

Just not. You tell me what American console was a success in Japan. Literally ever. Japan is just not receptive to systems and games not developed specifically for their tastes.

The Commodore Vic 20  (VIC 1001 in Japan) has been a big success in Japan.  It has even been introduced in Japan before the US market , i think.

 

[ApolloBoy]

11 hours ago, youki said:

The Commodore Vic 20  (VIC 1001 in Japan) has been a big success in Japan.  It has even been introduced in Japan before the US market , i think.

It was released in Japan first, but there's no indication that it was ever a success in Japan, especially since VIC-1001s are fairly difficult to come by. 

 

13 hours ago, ChildOfCv said:

Wait.... that indentation was to hold the overlays?

 

Now I gotta invent a time machine to tell that to my 10yo self.

 

Was that even true for the SAC games?  They used an irregular overlay to fit the controller.

Yep, it even has slits to hold the overlay in place.

[youki]

1 hour ago, ApolloBoy said:

It was released in Japan first, but there's no indication that it was ever a success in Japan, especially since VIC-1001s are fairly difficult to come by. 

 

i think it is stipulated in the book "Commodore: On the edge" , that sales of the Vic 20 in Japan was very good.    And i just read an article that said that just for the first day  1200 units was ordered in Japan.

[spacecadet]

13 hours ago, youki said:

The Commodore Vic 20  (VIC 1001 in Japan) has been a big success in Japan.  It has even been introduced in Japan before the US market , i think.

 

The VIC-20 is a computer, not a console.

 

I mean, the PC is pretty popular in Japan too. But I was specifically talking about game consoles, which is what the ColecoVision is. I realize I brought up the MSX later, but that was to illustrate the point that *even as* a computer, and one with homegrown manufacturers, CV-like hardware didn't do all that well in Japan.

Edited June 11, 2020 by spacecadet

[youki]

11 hours ago, spacecadet said:

The VIC-20 is a computer, not a console.

 

I mean, the PC is pretty popular in Japan too. But I was specifically talking about game consoles, which is what the ColecoVision is. I realize I brought up the MSX later, but that was to illustrate the point that *even as* a computer, and one with homegrown manufacturers, CV-like hardware didn't do all that well in Japan.

I  answered the sentence where you were talking about "systems"

Quote

 Japan is just not receptive to systems and games not developed specifically for their tastes.

 

But anyway, i think it is not a problem with system conception  , it is more a issue with the language barrier...  very few people in Japan are able to read english , i have been very surprised by that.  And i imagine that in the 80's it was even more the case.

 

 

[mr_me]

There's a lot more work in exporting a computer system to Japan than a video game system.  There's the character set and software and also the volumes of manuals that have to be translated.  But the biggest problem is that Japan made it very difficult for foreign manufacturers.  There were import quotas and import taxes that made these products very expensive.  These restrictions didn't improve significantly until about the mid-1980s.

 

When it comes to success of a video game system you can't overlook the software.  In both north america and japan it was Donkey Kong that drove sales for both colecovision and famicom.

[retroillucid]

I think at that time in Japan, computers market was huge, Nintendo even named their system: Familly Computer, had keyboard, cassette recorder.... 
MSX was a huge deal as well in Japan

One thing Nintendo might have been inspired by Coleco is bundle a game like DK and your console will sell well 
When Nintendo had bundle Super Mario Bros with the NES, that's exactly when the NES took off and the Nintendo craze started.