LJN Video Art

This article was copied (instead of imported) from the now-deleted Crappy Games Wiki.

The LJN Video Art was an "educational" console manufactured by LJN. It wasn't meant to compete against the Nintendo Entertainment System or Master System: rather, it was supposed to be an alternative to television. It was launched in 1987 with a two-year market presence of mostly negative critical reviews but sharing retail prestige among hit toys. It was discontinued in late 1989 at a heavy price drop, as ultimately a commercial failure. It is LJN's only video game console, and only nine games were made for it. Very little information about it survives, not even the retail price or sale statistics.

LJN Video Art

If you're like Des, you wanted an NES
But then his mama, she hit her head
And so she bought this junk instead.

Developer:	LJN
Release Date:	WW: 1987
Competitors:	Television Paper and pencils
Generation:	Third generation
Discontinued:	1989

Gameplay

Core functionality is similar to basic personal computer paint programs. There are two main inputs on the system's controller—a joystick controlling a cursor to draw lines and curves, and a slider to select up to 16 colors. Turning on the system without a cartridge inserted gives a blank screen for drawing. The library is based on themed coloring books. Animations can be made by creating a series of drawings and recording a slide show to a VCR. Video Art Activity Cartridge is included, with several outline drawings that can be colored.

Marketing

Video Art was positioned against a wide range of educational toys and interactive television systems, such as View-Master Interactive Vision and VideoSmarts, and against television itself. It was sold alongside, but not directly positioned against, mainstream game consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Master System. A patent was filed in 1986, which was granted in 1988.

In 1987, LJN spent most of its $5 million TV and print advertising budget on Gotcha! and Video Art. A TV advertisement includes a rap-style beat, saying "Watching TV, watching TV, you just keep searching for something to see. But then my mom, she got smart! She got me Video Art!"

Why You're Not Smart If You Got Video Art

The Console

It uses a twin-lead TV connector consisting of two U-shaped prongs that were supposed to screw onto two terminals on the top of the TV. Why this was used when it had not been common on televisions since the adoption of the RF connector in the 1970s is unclear: That's like shipping a modern PC that only has a floppy disk drive.
False advertising: The box art and commercials show pictures of artwork that could not possibly have been drawn using the console unless you have professional skills. Below this is a box claiming that it offers “Hours of creative fun for the entire family!”, which is only true if the drive to the store to get a refund is very long.
The system lacks sound but still makes horrible static noises (also known as white noise) coming from the television while it is running.
The joystick does not self-center, moves stiffly, has far too much travel to be able to draw with any reasonable precision, and makes a grating squeaking sound whenever it moves. It also has a limited number of directions it recognizes as opposed to being analog and requires pressing down on a very large button atop the long, thin joystick to draw, which makes it even harder to control.
The two erase buttons, image change buttons, and background color change buttons are placed on the console itself, not on the controller. The two buttons for erasing appear to be because pressing both at once clears the canvas.
It is only a video game console at the most technical level, as the only thing it can run is a piece of drawing software.
The system can only run a single program, which is preloaded onto it. The "cartridge" holds nothing but a set of pre-drawn wireframe images to color.

The Software

It's a paint program similar to period drawing programs such as MacPaint, Paintbrush Microsoft/MS Paint, and Deluxe Paint, but vastly more primitive.
Very little content. There are only the simplest tools imaginable, no brush options, and a limited color palette including 16 colors that are selected using a slider at the top of the controller.
The console will either load from a ROM cartridge with a set of wireframe images that can be cycled through and colored in or, if no cartridge is inserted, it will load up with a blank canvas.
The program itself offers about as many activities as a children's coloring book or an Etch A Sketch toy, both of which are cheaper, easier to use, and portable.
There are only four drawing tools: the two buttons on the controller which lock it to draw vertical or horizontal lines, the eraser (which can only erase either one pixel at a time or the entire canvas), and the background color change tool.
The program doesn't have a fill tool. The AVGN compared it negatively to Color a Dinosaur, infamous in its own right, but at least has a paint bucket.
Just to round things off, there is no ability to save drawings!
You can't even draw a perfect circle, spiral, or stick person no matter how hard you will try; the circle will always come out square-ish.

Smartdeeming Qualities

The commercial, while showing false advertising, does at least have a catchy tune.
The already made drawings look well done.

Trivia

The console likely has MOS 6502 as its microprocessor.
It is known that LJN released at least eight additional cartridges with different pre-drawn image sets on them, but they are incredibly rare.

Reception

"What were they thinking?"The Shit Scale

Games that are debatably bad	High level of shit contamination	The very high category	The severe zone	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Major code red
					👆

This product belongs to the "MAJOR CODE RED" category of the AVGN's Shit Scale.

In December 1987, in a year of increasing price trends on high-tech interactive toys but without a single breakaway hit product, Toys R Us reported that the Video Art at about US$100 (equivalent to about $268 in 2023) was among its "hot toys" for Christmas, alongside the NES and talking dolls such as Cabbage Patch Kids and Julie. The Philadelphia Daily News said likewise, also including LJN's own Gotcha! paintball game.

The console was mostly panned by critics. On December 2, 1987 USA Today negatively reviewed a list of toys that "deserve to be dumped", calling Video Art "A costly color Etch-a-Sketch for your TV set that's much harder to work and not much fun. The results don't look nearly as lush and well-defined as those shown on the TV ads." On December 6, 1987, Newsday reviewed a variety of educational and artistic electronic toys, saying of Video Art that "The toy's most innovative feature is its animation potential. You can make cartoons by recording your drawings one at a time on your VCR, then playing them back." Roger Ebert, in the Siskel & Ebert Holiday Video Gift Guide for 1987, remarked that "this is a very hard toy or program. I tried to use it [the day before the show was taped] and even if you get good at it, the results look crummy. The joystick is a crude instrument to draw with [...] and there is no way that any kid is ever going to draw a picture that looks even half as good as the one on the box." In 1989, Catherine Cella of the Entertainment News Service reviewed the Video Art, saying that "the slightest touch sends the cursor all over the screen, making even the simplest drawing impossible" and found the included Video Art Activity Cartridge to be capable of only "video scribbling". She said the Video Art was one of the less successful interactive video machines compared to View-Master Interactive Vision and VideoSmarts.

It became more widely known when it dethroned the R-Zone as the worst console the Angry Video Game Nerd ever played, when he reviewed it during his 12 Days of Shitsmas series on December 22nd, 2014. Many collectors consider it to be the worst console of all time.

Videos

Commercial of LJN Video Art

The Angry Video Game Nerd's review

Gamester81's review

Mike Matei's review

Comments

Loading comments...