The Colorvision is a

handheld video game console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the cons ...

developed and manufactured by Hong Kong-based company Romtec Enterprises, Ltd., released in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

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in 1984. It is the first handheld video game console to have colored sprites on a

LCD screen A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...

instead of overlays or

VFD VFD may refer to: * Factory Workers' Union of Germany, (german: Verband der Fabrikarbeiter Deutschlands, link=no), a former trade union in Germany * Vacuum fluorescent display, a display device on consumer electronics equipment * Variable-freque ...

displays. Previous systems like The Entex Select-A-Game had games that came with overlays to enhance the graphics and play experience, while only the cartridge is needed on the Colorvision. It was manufactured and released by Romtec, but the console was also distributed under several brands, including Altic, Bazin and Bristol.

Hardware

The game code was all contained in the console, meaning that the cartridges functioned similar to the jumper cards on the

Magnavox Odyssey The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September ...

to control which game would be played, and only contained the LCD portion of the game with the sprites. The LCD was clear, and the plastic shell contains a window to let light through. The console contains the controls for the game, and the cartridge port on the top, where it slides into place, showing a bezel with the name of the game. The play screen is a mirror, similar to the Adventure Vision, that reflects the LCD image using the light that shines from the window on top.

Games

Only 5 games are known to have been released for the system. Since the cartridge didn't contain the actual games, only the graphics, it is not known if other games were programmed inside of the console for future releases, or if only the 5 were planned. The names of the games on the cartridges came both in English and French: * Beasts Planet (French: Planete des Bêtes) * Horror House (French: Salle Des Horreurs) * Jungle Boy (French: Fils de la Jungle) * Monster Chase (French: Chasse Aux Monstres) * Submarine (French: Bataille Navale)

References

Products introduced in 1984 Second-generation video game consoles Discontinued handheld game consoles Handheld game consoles {{videogame-hardware-stub