Hasbro NEMO Control-Vision Canceled Video Game Console

[Justin]

The Control-Vision is an unreleased video game console from Hasbro that would've competed against the Nintendo Entertainment System. Games were a mixture of graphics and sprites overlaying full motion video, with intended gameplay on par with Dragon's Lair. Originally codenamed "NEMO", initial development began in 1985 and was supported by Nolan Bushnell's company Axlon. Tom Zito, David Crane, Rob Fullop, and Mark Turmell were key figures in NEMO's development. NEMO is notable for using VHS tapes rather than ROM cartridges, prompting the creation of game content which survived on into much more advanced CD-ROM platforms. The NEMO team created a prototype which used a modified ColecoVision console to combine interactive images with a video stream transmitted through a cable. As a storage medium, Nemo employed VHS tapes that contain computer data alongside a grid of multiple tracks of video and audio that could be switched between.

Three demo games were developed by mid-1986: Scene of the Crime, a four-minute interactive mystery; Bottom of the Ninth Inning, a baseball game; and an interactive music video for the song "You Might Think" by The Cars. Following the demos, work on real games began. They were shot like "choose your own adventure" movies with actors and full-motion video. Games included Sewer Shark, Night Trap, and a Police Academy game starring the real actors from the Police Academy franchise. After filming for Sewer Shark was completed, two months prior to NEMO's 1989 release, Hasbro abandoned the project because the projected US$299 price was deemed uncompetitive against the NES. Tom Zito purchased the rights to the games and stored everything in a Rhode Island warehouse. Sewer Shark and Night Trap would ultimately be released years later on Sega CD through Tom Zito's Digital Pictures company.

 

 

From Jeremy Parish:

The story of NEMO, Hasbro’s console that never was

Developer Mark Turmell sheds light on the most influential game system never made

https://www.polygon.com/features/2018/10/31/17997106/nemo-hasbro-vhs-console-mark-turmell

[RickR]

So this was the origin of "Sewer Shark" and "Night Trap".  Fascinating.  Night Trap lives on to the Switch to this day!

 

[Justin]

2 hours ago, RickR said:

So this was the origin of "Sewer Shark" and "Night Trap".  Fascinating.  Night Trap lives on to the Switch to this day!

 

It sure is! I remember when those games came out.. everybody was making a big deal about how violent Night Trap was, and I was just thinking how 1987-ish it looked. To me it looked dated at the time. Turned out I was right! Fascinating story for sure.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

How "violent" Night Trap was???  Really?  Mortal Kombat came out long before Night Trap ever did and it had more blood than Night Trap did.  I had both Sewer Shark (came with my Sega CD 2) and Night Trap.  Sadly I found both a bit bland.  Sewer Shark was definitely the more action-packed game.  Night Trap was a pain to try to keep up with.  I beat Sewer Shark but I never could last very long in Night Trap.  

All honesty...the better Sega CD "video" game in my opinion was Road Avenger.  Loved the animation and opening sequence.

But, I'm curious...that makes three times the ColecoVision's shell was used for something.  It was something else before it was a ColecoVision but I have no clue as to what it was suppose to be.  Why Hasbro wanted to reuse that shell is beyond me.  It has a lot of wasted space.  

[Justin]

6 hours ago, kamakazi20012 said:

How "violent" Night Trap was???  Really? 

They literally had congressional hearings on "Night Trap" which led to the creation of the ESRB and ratings being placed on video games. The perception of a home invasion with girls being dragged by their hair and potentially sexually assaulted or worse, and young children playing these events out in video games that could be bought at Toys R Us, K-Mart or Walmart was used to advance the narrative (along with Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and others) that video games had taken a violent turn in the years since Centipede and Asteroids, and government intervention was needed to regulate video games and apply a ratings system as we have with movies. 

Nintendo's Howard Lincoln testified before congress distancing himself and Nintendo from video game violence essentially saying "Night Trap" was the sort of trash you'd only find on a Sega console. Wild times.

 

 

6 hours ago, kamakazi20012 said:

But, I'm curious...that makes three times the ColecoVision's shell was used for something.  It was something else before it was a ColecoVision but I have no clue as to what it was suppose to be.  Why Hasbro wanted to reuse that shell is beyond me.  It has a lot of wasted space.  

🤔 Hasbro was not going to reuse the ColecoVision shell. What you're seeing is a Photoshopped graphic the creator of the YouTube video made for his thumbnail. Photos of the final NEMO/Control-Vision product apparently haven't surfaced yet.

[Justin]

Here's a good article looking back at Night Trap and how tame it really was lol

 

 

From Kotaku:

25 Years Later, 'Disgusting' Night Trap Is Incredibly Tame

Should you ever wonder how much video games and society have evolved since Night Trap earned an M rating in 1993, here’s a good indication: this “disgusting” game is now rated T for Teen.

https://kotaku.com/25-years-later-disgusting-night-trap-is-incredibly-tam-1797864067