View-Master Interactive Vision
View-Master—yes, the company famous for those 3D slide viewers that were extremely popular in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s—dabbled in gaming in 1988 with the View-Master Interactive Vision: a console that looked like a piece of modern art. What was more bizarre than the included joystick controller was that the Interactive Vision worked alongside a VCR. The VCR would play VHS tapes that provided video and audio, while the console itself overlaid interactive computer graphics atop the video feed. Just seven games were ever released for the system (given the added complexity of the accompanying video material), and while they featured kid favorite characters from Sesame Street, the Muppets, and Disney, it wasn’t enough to save this console from the discount bin.
