Jason Scott notes in his ASCII blog that he’s managed to get his hands on a 1980 Coleco retailers catalog – yup, that’s pre-Colecovision material, but there’s some pretty interesting stuff in there nonetheless.

Witness, for example, the radness of the 1979 hit TV game system Colortron, which features 4 Pong-like games – tennis, handball, hockey and what is one of only two computerised versions of jai alai. There’s also the “number one selling target game” of 1979, Telstar Marksman. The Marksman features an astonishing 6 games in 1, including skeet, target, tennis, handball, hockey and – you guessed it – the second of only two computerised versions of jai alai.

Personally, despite being non-videogame related, my highlight is GOOD PUPPY™, which the catalog notes “walks, sits, heels then barks for a reward”. As if that wasn’t enough, “when a biscuit is placed in his mouth, the air-actuated GOOD PUPPY™ appears to chew it, but the biscuit drops into a pouch below his chin for repeated use”. That's PS3 beating tech if I ever I heard it.

[edited by alistairw]