So I decided, ohh shit, buddy, I gotta dig a little deeper. There's no Pepe Sharpia, you gotta be kidding me, I got T.Vs full of Pepe! All right, so I start marching my way down to Bill in Nintendo and I knock on his door and I say, "Biiiilll, Biiiilll! I gotta talk to you about Pepe!" And when I open the door, what do I find? THERE'S NOT A SINGLE GODDAMN DESK IN THAT OFFICE. THERE IS. NO. BILL. IN NINTENDO. Drew, half the T.Vs listed have been made up. The sources are a goddamn ghost town.
I believe that's the DIVERS 2000 CX-1 you are talking about (it looks like Sonic's head). It goes for around 4,500 bucks now so consider that a lucky find!
Ya Mr Riggs; I love his conspiracy videos. I do believe the nerd could his help on conspiracies since it looks like James if running out conspiracy ideas for AVGN.
I mean, the NOA headquarters are in Seattle, and according to Nintendrew's $5 bad game challenge, he lives in Kentucky, so he likely had to get a plane to Seattle (in the middle of the pandemic, mind you), and then get a plane back to Kentucky.
Wait, Drew is off the market?! Well what the heck am I subbed for? Interesting teardowns of rare televisions?! Well I suppose I can stick around for that.
Interesting analysis on the “SV” code designation. I would have just guessed it meant Sharp Videogame. A lot of Japanese companies do product codes like this though. Video games, consumer electronics, musical instruments, even car engines.
I saw one on display in a store as a kid. As I watched this video, I was recalling that memory and trying to remember which store. Sorted it out in my mind as being K-Mart just a few moments before you got to your findings of all the purchases you know of coming from K-Mart.
Our family had one for christmas’89, it was purchased from Sears @21st and yale tulsa, oklahoma for 459$. Ultimately, we decided to return it and buy a stand alone tv and nintendo for less.
Random tidbit: Sharp Plaza in Mahwah, NJ no longer exists (this address is on the back of the 19SV111). The street is there but it's now Jaguar Land Rover Way, since that's where Jaguar/Land Rover's North American headquarters (or at least one of them) is located.
The research done in this video clarifies the entire fact that this television exists. It all makes sense from a business standpoint to why it was produced and sold as it was!
My neighbor and family friend had one of these when I was a kid. I'm 99% certain she got it from a rent to own store. This was in SW Washington in the early 90s. I wish I could've gottn my handse on it. It was complete with controllers and the elusive remote as well. Neat Nintendo history, cool video.
I experienced this 2 times in my life. The one I bought and the 10 that were in a storage room at a hotel I worked at. I bought 1 (his money not mine) for a friend's van conversion we were working on in 90ish. Knowing my habits then it would make sense that it was only sold at Kmart. Through the 90's I only purchased electronics from 3 sources. 1 Fry's 2 Kmart 3 Sears. Sears was rare because Kmart was much closer and less hassle. I don't believe Fry's (Fountain Valley) was even open at that point so it was most likely Kmart. I can confirm that they were used in Hotels. Whether it was a separate model I don't know. A hotel I worked at in the mid-90's had several. They had a few rooms they labeled "family" rooms that had them. There were no games in room but you could use your own cartridges or rent from the front desk. By the time I started there in 95 only 1 was left in a room and the other 10 or so were collecting dust in a storage room.
My mom still has hers. She has all the games, controllers and books that came with it! My kids played it when they were young! I need to tell her to get that thing out and clean it up!
Just found you this morning. I find your presentations to be really nice, informative, fun and professional. I'm a huge Castlevania fan. I love Super Castlevania and I still believe the SNES is the best ever produced home console. I wonder if you might ever do a show(s) about Konami, Nintendo and of course, Castlevania as the glue between these juggernauts? I've been waiting for years to get a true successor to Super Castlevania. Lot of awesome titles since, but none of them scratch that itch for me. Everybody blathers on about SOTN. It was a very good game. For me it was just to removed from being a Belmont and though the music was good, not as good as the SNES version-that was a masterpiece of a game soundtrack. Thanks again for the awesome content Drew and keep'em coming!
Now I’m just wondering if this and the mysterious black case for the Power Glove that just said “Power Glove” with no Nintendo branding are linked. It came in Dec 1989 so what if these were supposed to be marketed together and hush hush, the PG sensors fit really well on this TV too :). Did you notice in that newspaper article picture what else was there? Power glove, NES Max, power pad NES, it was a sale of all the things Nintendo wasn’t selling well. The Power Glove(and mysterious black travel case) and the NES Sharp all coexisted and failed at basically the same time???
I’ve watched a LOT of historical video game mini documentaries. This one is fantastic. I have heard of this thing for years but learned a ton. Well done.
I bought one of these at a garage sale back in 2006. My main TV for playing GameCube. It's collecting dust in my parent's basement. I told them...."NEVER SELL THIS". Not sure what to do with it now, but the NES works when it wants to and the speak is mono, but many memories on this thing
Only anecdotal, but I remember one at the K-Mart here in Hudson, WI before the K-Mart got turned into a Home Depot. This was around the time the company was going out of business. I asked pointedly if they were selling the TV as part of the liquidation sale, but they said they weren't and it would go back to the vendor that sent it to them. It was a kiosk TV meant to only demo NES games it turns out. They never sold THAT television as a consumer product as far as I know. That said, obviously they did according to your video.
Back in the 80s I worked for Sharp. Japan offered the US operation 10,000 of the SV111 but there was little interest from our dealer base. KMart was up for a meeting and I brought this up and the buyer loved it a took the entire 10,000. Sales were not great as newer game systems were the rage. As I recall the final retail price was $199.
I can tell you for a fact that almost all those TVs were not available for sell. Kmart had special cages where customers could demo play NES games. I purchased mine from Kmart right out of the case display. Still have it today with black controllers. All 4 feet intact. Perfect working order. Got it "new" from the demo rack. I knew the store manager and he gave me for chance to buy it before Kmart discounted and advertised it. I believe Kmart was planning a new plan-o-game and featuring a different demo the game tv setup. Shifting away from the NES displays
This was so much fun to watch, thank you for the awesome video. I picked my Sharp NES TV up a couple years ago at a garage sale for $50. The guy I bought it from said that his dad used to sell them at the Rent-To-Own store in Piqua, OH. The unit I bought was the display model that people could demo when they came in the store.
I think I mentioned this once before, but a hospital I stayed in for a month in 1991 when I was five had one of these they kept mostly for pediatric patients, which they had very few of. One of my doctors had a brother or brother-in-law (something along those lines) who had owned a video rental store and had sold his NES inventory to make room for Super NES. He had bought one of these TVs to test out games after they had been returned to make sure they weren't damaged and after he sold most of the the NES games off he donated the TV and a handful of cartridges to the hospital. After three days of going crazy with nothing to do, I asked my Dad if he could bring in my NES and the 13" TV I used for it. He tried to get permission from the nurses, but they said something like "We've got a better idea" and an hour later they were wheeling this monstrosity into my room. I played the few games (can't even remember what they were) for a bit but they were all average to poor at best - they were literally what the former owner couldn't sell, after all - and the next day when he came to visit Dad brought some of my own games from home for me to play. It definitely made my stay a lot more tolerable.
I remember QVC the home shopping channel was selling this TV too. They had Video Power season 2 host Terry Lee Torok on it. He was showing off the TV and some other stuff. The controllers that came with the TV didn't have the official gray-black scheme for the layout. It had a weird 90's look.
Huge points for digging through digitized newspapers, it's hard on a good day to find some simple facts you need, let alone something as heavily buried as this!
I used to have one of these entirely intact with both controllers and the remote. Sold it to a somewhat local person 7~years ago I guess now. Solid TV screen kind of unique to the color you'd find with pictures in old magazine of the time oddly enough, but garbage audio with just a small mono speaker well set to one side which kind of made for disoriented output I believe to the left. Eventually couldn't justify keeping it as it takes up some space for just that one use as it only has a coax port in the back, fine to add another old console (I got snarky, added a master system.) :D It's in two pieces entirely with a small rectangular hole with a dual wire that goes between it and the NES in a box itself below which I found fascinating, you can also tweak the video a bit nicer in there to sharpen stuff up, it has hidden spaces for things.
When I was 5 (back in 1992 ish?), my brother and I were hospitalized for flu and sickness. After a few days, the hospital had one of these on a cart with wheels. Being 5, my mind blown because it was the first... and for a long time only one I saw.
Back in the time frame when this TV was sold, there was an Oregon based company, called Fred Meyer, they opened a store in, Chico Ca, which lasted something like a year, as it was not a good fit for the area, but I remember as a kid, going there with my family and they did have one of these TVs setup, as I remember spending time playing games on it, so it would be safe to assume that, Fred Meyer, sold these TVs back then, or at least was using one as a demo kiosk for some of the newer games.
I've actually seen two of these things for sale, at local used game stores by me. They are long gone now, one looked to be in very nice condition (like $800) and the other was in so-so condition ($700). Both were pretty neat though.
I remember these at our K-Mart for a short time as a kid. They had one set up on an endcap, plugged in, and the Platoon game cartridge was in it on demo mode. No controller, so it just had that endless loop of music playing on the title screen and 8-bit cinematic sequence. Almost two decades later I found one at a thrift shop with all four feet but no front covers or controllers. The picture was better than other TVs I remember, even for OTA broadcasts - this SV vestigial model nomenclature theory makes me wonder if they had a different picture tube ready to show off the SVHS image before they redesigned it to have a control deck built in...
I have one of these that I bought at a garage sale for $20 in the late 90s. The sellers didn't know if the Nintendo worked on it or not as their kids had moved out by that point. Boy did it work on mine. Couldn't get it to freeze, loaded on first try everytime and I would leave it paused for days sometimes and it never froze. Unfortunately the exterior wasn't in great shape. Only one leg and no doors, remote or controllers. Still a bargain for such a unique item.
Loved the video! There is a different controller model you can get for about $5 that doesn’t have the game button at first glance, but if you take it apart it does have the button on the board and the signal works so you can make your own that works with the NES TV :)
This is how old I am, my family owned this TV game combo and we enjoyed countless hours of classic Nintendo on it... It was a big deal to me at the time it still is ,grew up in a poor family so having a video game system of our own especially one so unique made me feel extremely privileged 😊 just a piece of information that might not ever be seen is that we actually got the system from Rent-A-Center, perhaps they had to deal with Sharp. Anyway thank you for bringing back some fantastic memories of spending time with my family
Oh man, I thought you were about to go full Charlie for a second there! Great video! Your production value has continued to increase and so has the overall quality of your videos too! I feel like you're continuing to develop and hone your style more and more with each new release, and It's been great to see you grow.
I ended up here because one of these ended up at a local Habitat ReStore. And I was was like what the heck is that. Thanks for all your hard work in finding the info on this. The one at the store was from November 1989 and sold for $650.
I actually own one of these, and it still has all 4 feet on it, only thing broken on it is the door covering the TV controls. It was purchased at an auction back in the mid to late 90s by my parents for around $110
My theory: Nintendo and Sharp agreed on a deal to create the Sharp Nintendo TV, but Nintendo simply got cold feet and back out of supporting the deal. Sharp still had the rights and simply removed Nintendo's trademarks from being visible on the package. Then in order to recoup some of their loses, they offloaded the units to K-Mart, a discount seller.
This was epic. My thanks to you and your fiancee for ploughing through all of those newspapers.... Your speculation about the Sharp deal sounds very plausible, btw.
I was born in 1988 but I don't mind that I'm older than this TV. I grew up in the 90s and really liked having a TV at the time that had a VHS player attached to it. It was pretty convenient for the time. Of course flat screen TVs we have today are the way to go, but they can't have DVD players attached to them, but not like that matters now with Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, Prime, and others. Honestly the idea of a TV with a built in video game system does sound pretty cool though.
Wonderful video! I love hearing more about this TV. It's very nostalgic to me as my sister used to have one when I was a kid. She was much older than me and didn't live with me. I would go over to her house and play that Sharp NES TV all the time! I remember specifically playing Contra and Super Mario Bros 3 on it. It's a shame she doesn't have it any more, but at least I have the memories of playing on it!
That was solid investigating because I bet you’re absolutely right - had combo tv shells made and their combo partner bailed leaving them with a shit ton. They probably used Nintendo instead of scrapping them hoping it would sell
I cant find anything relevant on the fly but I am almost positive this thing was sold for either $499 or $599 in 1990 or 1991 via Fingerhut mail order. Fingerhut was actually how my single mom was able to afford getting us an NES Action Set with SMB2 and Zelda II alongside packins SMB and Duck Hunt, interest was kinda crazy but at least transparent and low monthly payments if you needed them to be low. I remember seeing this and thinking the $499 price tag was crazy because what happens if the tv screen got a scratch or crack...you would be stuck with a useless siamese NES...also always wondered if it was another bootleg attempt at stealing at Nintendo's dominance, since as youve shown, it has PacMan font and NO Nintendo logos or anything. Good vid.
Wow that remote... this brings me back to when I was a kid. I had a different TV that used pretty much the same remote. I forgot about that 'cause who remembers an old tv remote, after being through like 50 of them.
The Twin Famicom was also made by Sharp and only sold in Japan is also devoid of any Nintendo branding. They even removed it in the Famicom Disk startup. It also has extra ports that has no discernable use.
My go-to game store in Mechanicville recently got a Sharp Nintendo TV with both of the controllers and I swear I've never seen one in such perfect condition. They're selling is for $2,000.
Awesome to get some back story on this TV, my dad bought one from Kmart in the 90s and I still play it to this day! Mine still has all 4 original feet but I'm missing the top door and only have 1 original controller. Thanks for the video!
Just when I thought I knew everything there was to know about the NES Sharp TV thanks to the Gaming Historian, you go and make this. Great video man! Btw speaking of Gaming Historian, I'm pretty sure his wife's name is also Kristen. Fun fact! lol
@@notsyzagts7967 As a fan of both channels, it was just something I noticed since they both mentioned their names. Not like I went out of my way to look it up or be a negative dbag such as yourself. Stay positive fella. It's gonna be ok. ❄️
The "PAC-MAN Font" is not a knock-off font, it was a common font in the 70s (and early 80s) It has existed since the 30s, but of course, can't find anything on what the actual font name is. The game show "Las Vegas Gambit" used it extensively.
Great detective work, Drew! At NOA HQ, I was expecting a line like, hey plumber boy, mustache man, your worst nightmare has arrived!!! BAWHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely saw one of these at a friends house probably around 1992-3? Had no idea what it was, but that explains why his bin full of nes games was next to it.
I still have mine and it still works with all 4 legs. I even still have the remote for the TV part but I don't have the 2 controllers. I do remember having them when I was a kid.
ARE YOU SHITTING ME, I SAW ONE OF THOSE AT A FLEA MARKET AND MY MOM WAS LIKE "we already have a crt TV at home" (which is understandable, we have 4 of them) but but im genuinly pissed about that
I played on one of these when I was super young. I can't remember where or exactly when. I just remembered playing it. I wish I knew more about it and had more experience with it
![10 Weird NES Facts! [Nintendo Entertainment System] | Nintendrew](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DKOtyWggaNI/mqdefault.jpg)
![10 Weird NES Facts! [Nintendo Entertainment System] | Nintendrew](/img/tr.png)
![Are Retro Game Subscription Boxes WORTH IT? [Retro Game Treasure Unboxing] | Nintendrew](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lfIoqNipiOY/mqdefault.jpg)
There is no Pepe Sharpia!
Okay
Okay
So I decided, ohh shit, buddy, I gotta dig a little deeper. There's no Pepe Sharpia, you gotta be kidding me, I got T.Vs full of Pepe! All right, so I start marching my way down to Bill in Nintendo and I knock on his door and I say, "Biiiilll, Biiiilll! I gotta talk to you about Pepe!" And when I open the door, what do I find? THERE'S NOT A SINGLE GODDAMN DESK IN THAT OFFICE. THERE IS. NO. BILL. IN NINTENDO. Drew, half the T.Vs listed have been made up. The sources are a goddamn ghost town.
@@goldexp1882 wth are you taking about
okay 😃👍
I'd watch an entire series dedicated to Drew diving into gaming myths and mysteries
So you mean swankybox
Same. Loved it. Let’s see more deep dives into crazy video game lore.
Then you might wanna check out the Gaming Historian, who does basically that, almost exclusively!
And on a very professional level as well.
I want this video turn in to movie and I want Jack Black play as NintenDrew and Betty White as his Fiancée.
scott the woz
Nintendo employee: “Hey Doug! That guy is yelling at us in the parking lot again!”
Doug: You know what?! We will sue him!
Nintendo CEO: Let’s hire him! He can be the janitor of Nintendo!
Best way to deal with them:
“Leave luck to heaven”…
I like to think that Nintendrew flew all the way to Redmond, Washington just to yell at the building and then fly back home.
My man just straight up went to Nintendo's headquarters to ask about an obscure TV set from the late 80s
I edited my comment because of a small typo, and now it isn't 'Liked' anymore ;-;
Nintendrew, give this man his heart back
That was hilarious.
"Is Doug Bowser related to THE Bowser?"
"What's Reggie up to these days?"
I remember seeing a limited edition TV with a Sega Dreamcast built in kinda like this NES!
I believe that's the DIVERS 2000 CX-1 you are talking about (it looks like Sonic's head). It goes for around 4,500 bucks now so consider that a lucky find!
Yep! It exists and it's super rare.
Sony did the same with PS2 Bravia
I belive Adam Koralik did an video on that.
Awesome video my man
Many thanks my guy!
@@therealmrbeetdeez1984 What’s with your spamming, don’t do that.
Hi TetraBitGaming I like the parappa and um jammer lammy video
E
@@Nintendrew EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Eating lunch while hearing Drew talk about a TV with a built-in NES is indeed blissful. Great video as always!
We need more 'Conspiracy Theory' Nintendrew
he already blew the lid on Nintendo's secret moon base, now he's gotta cover that XD
Yes
Hey John
No plz
Ya Mr Riggs; I love his conspiracy videos. I do believe the nerd could his help on conspiracies since it looks like James if running out conspiracy ideas for AVGN.
Drew literally went to Nintendo HQ for a 6 second bit what a ledgend
Imagine all the tours he could make there
I mean, the NOA headquarters are in Seattle, and according to Nintendrew's $5 bad game challenge, he lives in Kentucky, so he likely had to get a plane to Seattle (in the middle of the pandemic, mind you), and then get a plane back to Kentucky.
scott the woz levels of dedication
@@michaelcccr shut up.
@@Gameboy-Unboxings shut on
It's cool to see a dude--who wasn't even alive until almost a decade after the NES was released--being so passionate about the system. Cheers, man!
I wasn't alive until 2 decades after
Fiancée? Congratulations Drew!
Yes, congrats
Congrats!! :DD
Wait, Drew is off the market?! Well what the heck am I subbed for? Interesting teardowns of rare televisions?! Well I suppose I can stick around for that.
What do you mean by off the market
@@grizzlydino It's a turn of phrase to mean someone is no longer single. He's married now.
It reminds me of how Sony made a TV with a built-in PS2 even though the PS3 had been out for a few years by then already.
Interesting analysis on the “SV” code designation. I would have just guessed it meant Sharp Videogame. A lot of Japanese companies do product codes like this though. Video games, consumer electronics, musical instruments, even car engines.
My only rebuttal would be why would Sharp include their own name in their product That's calling it the Sharp Sharp Videogame.
@@novamaster0 how 'bout "Some Videogame" keeping it nice and generic ;-)
I remember seeing one of these in my uncle's attic. Too bad his house burned down.
sorry to hear that man
I can’t tell if this is a “my uncle works at _______” joke or a serious comment.
@@nettemarie2 it's serious
F in the chat
Press F to pay respects
Oh no!
I saw one on display in a store as a kid. As I watched this video, I was recalling that memory and trying to remember which store. Sorted it out in my mind as being K-Mart just a few moments before you got to your findings of all the purchases you know of coming from K-Mart.
I also saw this tv in a KMart, it was out in the Open in the display area.
Same here...still curious why I didn't have one
Our family had one for christmas’89, it was purchased from Sears @21st and yale tulsa, oklahoma for 459$. Ultimately, we decided to return it and buy a stand alone tv and nintendo for less.
Random tidbit: Sharp Plaza in Mahwah, NJ no longer exists (this address is on the back of the 19SV111). The street is there but it's now Jaguar Land Rover Way, since that's where Jaguar/Land Rover's North American headquarters (or at least one of them) is located.
The research done in this video clarifies the entire fact that this television exists. It all makes sense from a business standpoint to why it was produced and sold as it was!
My neighbor and family friend had one of these when I was a kid. I'm 99% certain she got it from a rent to own store. This was in SW Washington in the early 90s. I wish I could've gottn my handse on it. It was complete with controllers and the elusive remote as well. Neat Nintendo history, cool video.
My family owned one and you're right we've got it from a rent-to-own store Rent-A-Center to be specific 👍 nice memory
I experienced this 2 times in my life. The one I bought and the 10 that were in a storage room at a hotel I worked at. I bought 1 (his money not mine) for a friend's van conversion we were working on in 90ish. Knowing my habits then it would make sense that it was only sold at Kmart. Through the 90's I only purchased electronics from 3 sources. 1 Fry's 2 Kmart 3 Sears. Sears was rare because Kmart was much closer and less hassle. I don't believe Fry's (Fountain Valley) was even open at that point so it was most likely Kmart.
I can confirm that they were used in Hotels. Whether it was a separate model I don't know. A hotel I worked at in the mid-90's had several. They had a few rooms they labeled "family" rooms that had them. There were no games in room but you could use your own cartridges or rent from the front desk. By the time I started there in 95 only 1 was left in a room and the other 10 or so were collecting dust in a storage room.
My mom still has hers. She has all the games, controllers and books that came with it! My kids played it when they were young! I need to tell her to get that thing out and clean it up!
Just found you this morning. I find your presentations to be really nice, informative, fun and professional. I'm a huge Castlevania fan. I love Super Castlevania and I still believe the SNES is the best ever produced home console. I wonder if you might ever do a show(s) about Konami, Nintendo and of course, Castlevania as the glue between these juggernauts? I've been waiting for years to get a true successor to Super Castlevania. Lot of awesome titles since, but none of them scratch that itch for me. Everybody blathers on about SOTN. It was a very good game. For me it was just to removed from being a Belmont and though the music was good, not as good as the SNES version-that was a masterpiece of a game soundtrack.
Thanks again for the awesome content Drew and keep'em coming!
Now I’m just wondering if this and the mysterious black case for the Power Glove that just said “Power Glove” with no Nintendo branding are linked. It came in Dec 1989 so what if these were supposed to be marketed together and hush hush, the PG sensors fit really well on this TV too :). Did you notice in that newspaper article picture what else was there? Power glove, NES Max, power pad NES, it was a sale of all the things Nintendo wasn’t selling well. The Power Glove(and mysterious black travel case) and the NES Sharp all coexisted and failed at basically the same time???
I remember the gaming historian talking about this.
I've seen his video quite a few times!
Yep, he did a nice video about it a while back.
@@RantingThespian he does make great videos
@@SteveDC101 Oh, he's fantastic! His Tetris video is outstanding.
I’ve watched a LOT of historical video game mini documentaries. This one is fantastic. I have heard of this thing for years but learned a ton. Well done.
I bought one of these at a garage sale back in 2006. My main TV for playing GameCube. It's collecting dust in my parent's basement. I told them...."NEVER SELL THIS". Not sure what to do with it now, but the NES works when it wants to and the speak is mono, but many memories on this thing
Only anecdotal, but I remember one at the K-Mart here in Hudson, WI before the K-Mart got turned into a Home Depot. This was around the time the company was going out of business. I asked pointedly if they were selling the TV as part of the liquidation sale, but they said they weren't and it would go back to the vendor that sent it to them. It was a kiosk TV meant to only demo NES games it turns out. They never sold THAT television as a consumer product as far as I know. That said, obviously they did according to your video.
Back in the 80s I worked for Sharp. Japan offered the US operation 10,000 of the SV111 but there was little interest from our dealer base. KMart was up for a meeting and I brought this up and the buyer loved it a took the entire 10,000.
Sales were not great as newer game systems were the rage.
As I recall the final retail price was $199.
I can tell you for a fact that almost all those TVs were not available for sell. Kmart had special cages where customers could demo play NES games. I purchased mine from Kmart right out of the case display. Still have it today with black controllers. All 4 feet intact. Perfect working order. Got it "new" from the demo rack. I knew the store manager and he gave me for chance to buy it before Kmart discounted and advertised it. I believe Kmart was planning a new plan-o-game and featuring a different demo the game tv setup. Shifting away from the NES displays
This was so much fun to watch, thank you for the awesome video. I picked my Sharp NES TV up a couple years ago at a garage sale for $50. The guy I bought it from said that his dad used to sell them at the Rent-To-Own store in Piqua, OH. The unit I bought was the display model that people could demo when they came in the store.
I think I mentioned this once before, but a hospital I stayed in for a month in 1991 when I was five had one of these they kept mostly for pediatric patients, which they had very few of. One of my doctors had a brother or brother-in-law (something along those lines) who had owned a video rental store and had sold his NES inventory to make room for Super NES. He had bought one of these TVs to test out games after they had been returned to make sure they weren't damaged and after he sold most of the the NES games off he donated the TV and a handful of cartridges to the hospital. After three days of going crazy with nothing to do, I asked my Dad if he could bring in my NES and the 13" TV I used for it. He tried to get permission from the nurses, but they said something like "We've got a better idea" and an hour later they were wheeling this monstrosity into my room. I played the few games (can't even remember what they were) for a bit but they were all average to poor at best - they were literally what the former owner couldn't sell, after all - and the next day when he came to visit Dad brought some of my own games from home for me to play. It definitely made my stay a lot more tolerable.
I remember QVC the home shopping channel was selling this TV too. They had Video Power season 2 host Terry Lee Torok on it. He was showing off the TV and some other stuff. The controllers that came with the TV didn't have the official gray-black scheme for the layout. It had a weird 90's look.
That's some impressive investigative journalism. Well done.
Huge points for digging through digitized newspapers, it's hard on a good day to find some simple facts you need, let alone something as heavily buried as this!
I used to have one of these entirely intact with both controllers and the remote. Sold it to a somewhat local person 7~years ago I guess now. Solid TV screen kind of unique to the color you'd find with pictures in old magazine of the time oddly enough, but garbage audio with just a small mono speaker well set to one side which kind of made for disoriented output I believe to the left. Eventually couldn't justify keeping it as it takes up some space for just that one use as it only has a coax port in the back, fine to add another old console (I got snarky, added a master system.) :D
It's in two pieces entirely with a small rectangular hole with a dual wire that goes between it and the NES in a box itself below which I found fascinating, you can also tweak the video a bit nicer in there to sharpen stuff up, it has hidden spaces for things.
When I was 5 (back in 1992 ish?), my brother and I were hospitalized for flu and sickness. After a few days, the hospital had one of these on a cart with wheels. Being 5, my mind blown because it was the first... and for a long time only one I saw.
Back in the time frame when this TV was sold, there was an Oregon based company, called Fred Meyer, they opened a store in, Chico Ca, which lasted something like a year, as it was not a good fit for the area, but I remember as a kid, going there with my family and they did have one of these TVs setup, as I remember spending time playing games on it, so it would be safe to assume that, Fred Meyer, sold these TVs back then, or at least was using one as a demo kiosk for some of the newer games.
You make great content! Keep it up Nintendrew!👏👏
I’m interested in the process of 3d printing the plastic feet
Yeah. I could use 3 of them.
I've actually seen two of these things for sale, at local used game stores by me. They are long gone now, one looked to be in very nice condition (like $800) and the other was in so-so condition ($700). Both were pretty neat though.
"Hey, do you guys know anything about the Sharp game Television?" Nintendo worker: Let's go splatoon on this foo' 😂😂😂
I remember these at our K-Mart for a short time as a kid. They had one set up on an endcap, plugged in, and the Platoon game cartridge was in it on demo mode. No controller, so it just had that endless loop of music playing on the title screen and 8-bit cinematic sequence. Almost two decades later I found one at a thrift shop with all four feet but no front covers or controllers.
The picture was better than other TVs I remember, even for OTA broadcasts - this SV vestigial model nomenclature theory makes me wonder if they had a different picture tube ready to show off the SVHS image before they redesigned it to have a control deck built in...
How ironic, years later KMart is bought by Sears. Now both company are gone
We have 2 Sears Home and Life physical stores in my state I think they focus on furniture and electronics.
@@gameboypunk660 One Kmart exists in west virginia if I remember correctly.
Aren't Sears still in lots of malls? I've never heard of Sears going bankrupt and out of business.
both still (barely) exist, with 12 sears locations and 2 kmart locations
I have one of these that I bought at a garage sale for $20 in the late 90s. The sellers didn't know if the Nintendo worked on it or not as their kids had moved out by that point. Boy did it work on mine. Couldn't get it to freeze, loaded on first try everytime and I would leave it paused for days sometimes and it never froze.
Unfortunately the exterior wasn't in great shape. Only one leg and no doors, remote or controllers. Still a bargain for such a unique item.
Holy crap, that was the best 20 minute adventure I’ve ever been on - INCREDIBLE research my dude!
The shot in front of Nintendo HQ killed me. Thanks for the laughs as always!
Eeeeeeeey, I knew that TV looked familiar! Glad to see it working so smooth!
Nintendrew you have some of the highest quality videos on TH-cam
Thanks so much!
Of course!
Your videos are great
Keep doing what you do
Each video tops the last
Had one of those growing up. Still have one the controllers. I wish I could ask my Grandpa where he got it from.
Loved the video! There is a different controller model you can get for about $5 that doesn’t have the game button at first glance, but if you take it apart it does have the button on the board and the signal works so you can make your own that works with the NES TV :)
Yeah I've done this as well.
It’s the Sharp CG0520CESA remote with a blank space next to the number 9 where the game button would be
6:39 That was priceless. Keep it up Nintendrew.
This is how old I am, my family owned this TV game combo and we enjoyed countless hours of classic Nintendo on it... It was a big deal to me at the time it still is ,grew up in a poor family so having a video game system of our own especially one so unique made me feel extremely privileged 😊 just a piece of information that might not ever be seen is that we actually got the system from Rent-A-Center, perhaps they had to deal with Sharp. Anyway thank you for bringing back some fantastic memories of spending time with my family
That would've been a total badass if the sharp nintendo tv also has AV inputs so that way I can hook it up my VCR/DVD player and watch movies with it.
Don’t forget about VCD too, Video CD.
Does your VCR/DVD player have an RF out jack in the back?
@@Chaos89P it does but I don't think I have a cord axel for that
@@Thewolfguys.cartoons2000 You can easily find those at home theater stores, or home theater sections of department stores.
Detective Drew is the most entretaining thing Ive seen this week, I need M O R E
Oh man, I thought you were about to go full Charlie for a second there!
Great video! Your production value has continued to increase and so has the overall quality of your videos too! I feel like you're continuing to develop and hone your style more and more with each new release, and It's been great to see you grow.
Interesting that everyone thought there was a second set for so long without there ever being proof.
I actually got to fix one of these for a friend a couple months ago.
I'll eventually be doing a full recap of the TV mainboard.
I ended up here because one of these ended up at a local Habitat ReStore. And I was was like what the heck is that. Thanks for all your hard work in finding the info on this. The one at the store was from November 1989 and sold for $650.
I actually own one of these, and it still has all 4 feet on it, only thing broken on it is the door covering the TV controls. It was purchased at an auction back in the mid to late 90s by my parents for around $110
My theory: Nintendo and Sharp agreed on a deal to create the Sharp Nintendo TV, but Nintendo simply got cold feet and back out of supporting the deal. Sharp still had the rights and simply removed Nintendo's trademarks from being visible on the package. Then in order to recoup some of their loses, they offloaded the units to K-Mart, a discount seller.
This was epic. My thanks to you and your fiancee for ploughing through all of those newspapers.... Your speculation about the Sharp deal sounds very plausible, btw.
Great work on the video. Most on depth to date. Glad my little list on NA could help ya out!
Do you have the list still I'd like to see it. I can provide my serial number as well for it.
@@oneinchbiceps I don't. Stopped tracking numbers in 2017. There is a link floating around somewhere to it...
I was born in 1988 but I don't mind that I'm older than this TV. I grew up in the 90s and really liked having a TV at the time that had a VHS player attached to it. It was pretty convenient for the time. Of course flat screen TVs we have today are the way to go, but they can't have DVD players attached to them, but not like that matters now with Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, Prime, and others. Honestly the idea of a TV with a built in video game system does sound pretty cool though.
Wonderful video! I love hearing more about this TV. It's very nostalgic to me as my sister used to have one when I was a kid. She was much older than me and didn't live with me. I would go over to her house and play that Sharp NES TV all the time! I remember specifically playing Contra and Super Mario Bros 3 on it. It's a shame she doesn't have it any more, but at least I have the memories of playing on it!
That was solid investigating because I bet you’re absolutely right - had combo tv shells made and their combo partner bailed leaving them with a shit ton. They probably used Nintendo instead of scrapping them hoping it would sell
I cant find anything relevant on the fly but I am almost positive this thing was sold for either $499 or $599 in 1990 or 1991 via Fingerhut mail order. Fingerhut was actually how my single mom was able to afford getting us an NES Action Set with SMB2 and Zelda II alongside packins SMB and Duck Hunt, interest was kinda crazy but at least transparent and low monthly payments if you needed them to be low. I remember seeing this and thinking the $499 price tag was crazy because what happens if the tv screen got a scratch or crack...you would be stuck with a useless siamese NES...also always wondered if it was another bootleg attempt at stealing at Nintendo's dominance, since as youve shown, it has PacMan font and NO Nintendo logos or anything. Good vid.
Wow that remote... this brings me back to when I was a kid. I had a different TV that used pretty much the same remote. I forgot about that 'cause who remembers an old tv remote, after being through like 50 of them.
13:47 Theres no Pepe Silvia!? You've gotta be kidding me! I've got boxes full of Pepe!
The Twin Famicom was also made by Sharp and only sold in Japan is also devoid of any Nintendo branding. They even removed it in the Famicom Disk startup. It also has extra ports that has no discernable use.
Fantastic video! I was kinda hoping to hear a distant "no!" From the Nintendo building but the "post credits" shout session made up for that
My go-to game store in Mechanicville recently got a Sharp Nintendo TV with both of the controllers and I swear I've never seen one in such perfect condition. They're selling is for $2,000.
Awesome to get some back story on this TV, my dad bought one from Kmart in the 90s and I still play it to this day! Mine still has all 4 original feet but I'm missing the top door and only have 1 original controller. Thanks for the video!
I use to know someone who had this TV set back in the 1990's, sadly it was destroyed by a power surge from a lightning strike that totally fried it.
Just when I thought I knew everything there was to know about the NES Sharp TV thanks to the Gaming Historian, you go and make this. Great video man! Btw speaking of Gaming Historian, I'm pretty sure his wife's name is also Kristen. Fun fact! lol
Fun fact? Why would people want/care to know about his wife's name? Sounds a bit creepy to me.
@@notsyzagts7967 As a fan of both channels, it was just something I noticed since they both mentioned their names. Not like I went out of my way to look it up or be a negative dbag such as yourself. Stay positive fella. It's gonna be ok. ❄️
This is the second video I have seen this week with someone out in front of Nintendo of America. Metal Jesus was there too recently.
yep!
The "PAC-MAN Font" is not a knock-off font, it was a common font in the 70s (and early 80s) It has existed since the 30s, but of course, can't find anything on what the actual font name is.
The game show "Las Vegas Gambit" used it extensively.
Didn’t expect to enjoy this video as much as I did! Well done, well done indeed!
WOW, that brings back memories... got mine in June of 1990. I was 9.
This is without a doubt one of the best and most intriguing videos I’ve ever seen of yours. Excellent job!
You did it Drew, you out-researched the gaming historian himself
just when I thought I couldn't love the way you presented this more than the Pepe Silvia conspiracy board, you brought out STICK PUPPETS.
Dang, even more in depth than the Gaming Historian
Well, that video was from 6yrs ago! 😂
Great detective work, Drew! At NOA HQ, I was expecting a line like, hey plumber boy, mustache man, your worst nightmare has arrived!!! BAWHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely saw one of these at a friends house probably around 1992-3? Had no idea what it was, but that explains why his bin full of nes games was next to it.
I still have mine and it still works with all 4 legs. I even still have the remote for the TV part but I don't have the 2 controllers. I do remember having them when I was a kid.
ARE YOU SHITTING ME, I SAW ONE OF THOSE AT A FLEA MARKET AND MY MOM WAS LIKE "we already have a crt TV at home" (which is understandable, we have 4 of them) but but im genuinly pissed about that
Hey Nintendrew you are one of the main reasons I am a retro game collector and I have my own TH-cam channel so... thank you so much
Oh man, the crysis joke never gets old hahaha
I'd never go out of my way to get that thing but it's cool you own one
I used to have 1 when I was a kid. Can't remember if my parents got it from toys-r-us or Target. I loved that tv.
I played on one of these when I was super young. I can't remember where or exactly when. I just remembered playing it. I wish I knew more about it and had more experience with it
I still have one. My grandparents bought it at an auction back in the early 90's
Dude I'd never even heard of this thing and I was on the edge of my seat the whole video. This is GREAT!
Thanks for the videogame history deep dive. Great video! Love the bits throughout
Conspiracy theory Nintendrew was a hoot, but idk why the stick puppets with company logos really had me laughing
I've had two of those controllers in my collection FOREVER but I've still never seen the TV in person. Someday.....
my sister and i both had our own in our rooms.if i remember correctly grandparents got them from rent a center or colortime rent to buy around 1990.
Just seeing this and I know FOR CERTAIN I got my Jan. 1990 19sv111 tv at Sears in Decatur, Alabama.. I still have it as well 😀