As a videogame enthusiast, wannabe faux-blogger, and overall nerd, I tend to know more about games than most of my friends. I knew, for example, that Nintendo was originally established as a playing card and toy manufacturer before they eventually got into making videogames.

I didn't, however, know that Nintendo cut its teeth making knock-off Pong consoles and generic racing games in the mid-seventies -- a decade before the Famicom was ever imagined.

Thankfully, Jason Cirillo, founder and creative of director of Robotube Games, knows way more about videogame esoterica than you and me combined. In Bit Museum #1, he shows off some of the interesting retro Nintendo consoles he's managed to dig out of Tokyo junk shops -- ever heard of Nintendo's TV Game 15? I didn't think so.

Cirillo started Robotube Games in 1999 in his apartment, and the company specializes in mobile and online games. Interestingly, he also teaches a game production course at Sacred Heart University.

For another Robotube vid -- this one called Peek Poke, about tabletop Coleco arcade machines -- hit the jump, and be sure to check out Robotube Games and Cirillo's own blog.

[Via Jason Cirillo and Robotube Games]