The Color TV-Game series has the highest sales figures of all the first generation of video game consoles.

By the late 1970s, Nintendo began moving away from toys and playing cards and into the rapidly-growing video game market.

This decision was based on the smash success of the arcade video game Space Invaders (1978) by Taito and the 1973 oil crisis making toys expensive to produce.

[6] The home console market also rose in popularity, particularly in North America with the release of Atari's Pong system in 1972.

[8][9] Nintendo had no prior experience in manufacturing electronics, and had previously contracted Mitsubishi for production of EVR Race, so this continued.

[12] Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi specified that the consoles be produced quickly and with cheaper parts to reduce production costs.

Nintendo produced a second model of the TV-Game 15 with a reddish-orange casing, which had a longer production run and are more common.

[17] Variations include a smaller screen width and opponents that move faster, with all possible game combinations totaling to 112.

[20] Nintendo held competitions in department stores to promote the Block Kuzushi, where winners received a congratulatory note and a medal.

Because dedicated consoles were decreasing in popularity, the Computer TV Game was only produced in limited quantities, making it extremely rare.

[21] The entire Color TV-Game series was discontinued in favor of the Family Computer in 1983, a cartridge-based system with a library of hundreds of games.

Erik Voskuil, writing for his blog Before Mario, believes that part of the reason for the success of the Color TV-Game series was its low price point, far below the competition.

[7] He wrote: "Almost thirty-five years and multiple generations of ever improving, multi-million selling Nintendo video game consoles on, we can reflect on this moment as the beginning of something very, very big.

[24] Luke Plunkett of Kotaku acknowledged the consoles for their importance as Nintendo's first foray into the market, and for it being influential for its next system.

Plunkett also said the series was successful for their low price, as it established Nintendo's "consoles must be sold at a profit" attitude that continued onward.

[27] Jeremy Parish said that Alleyway is a throwback to Block Kuzushi, due to it having been cemented in Nintendo's corporate roots.

[29] When summoned, it spawns a pair of paddles that launch a ball across the stage, which will inflict damage on fighters that touch it.