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The Terebikko occupies one of the more unusual corners of the fourth generation of home consoles. Released by Bandai in 1988 in Japan and rolled out to North America a year later under the name “See ‘n Say Video Phone,” the system sat alongside the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the NEC TurboGrafx-16, yet it shared almost nothing in common with them. Where those competitors relied on cartridges and CD-ROMs, the Terebikko read standard VHS videotapes, and where they pushed the limits of sprite scaling and 16-bit processing power, the Terebikko made telephone calls.
Despite its modest ambitions, the Terebikko was a notable piece of consumer electronics because of how it married two very different product categories: a VCR-style tape player and a hands-on, button-driven interactive experience. Bandai marketed the unit to families, and the design of the controller, a brightly colored four-button handset, made that target audience obvious. The console’s small but devoted library, drawn heavily from popular Japanese anime and toy properties, gave the Terebikko a character all its own within a generation better known for its arcade-style action games.
The console is best understood as an experiment in interactive children’s entertainment rather than a direct competitor to the 16-bit giants of its day. Its hybrid identity, halfway between a VCR and a video game system, would shape everything from its controller to its marketing to the kind of software released for it.
Quick Facts
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Maker | Bandai |
| Type | Home console |
| Generation | Fourth |
| Released | 1988 (Japan), 1989 (United States) |
| Media | VHS videotape |
History
The Terebikko was developed by Bandai and launched in Japan in 1988, arriving during the peak of the Japanese home console boom and into a market already dominated by Nintendo’s Famicom and Sega’s Mark III / Master System. Bandai chose a different path entirely. Rather than compete on raw horsepower or licensed arcade ports, the company built a system that played VHS tapes containing hidden inaudible signals. Those signals, embedded in the video track, allowed the player to interact with the action unfolding on screen through a chunky, telephone-shaped controller with four colorful buttons.
When Bandai brought the Terebikko to North America in 1989, the console was rebranded as the “See ‘n Say Video Phone” and distributed through Mattel. The four-button telephone controller became the central hook of the marketing campaign: on-screen characters would appear to dial the player’s handset, and children would pick up the phone and press the correct button in response. This simple loop, more akin to an educational toy than a traditional video game, defined the Terebikko experience from the moment the consumer opened the box.
The console remained on store shelves for several years, carving out a small niche in the broader fourth generation market. It was eventually discontinued in 1994, ending its run as one of the very few consumer devices to use VHS as its primary gaming medium. In that time, it earned a reputation not as a technological powerhouse, but as one of the most distinctive family-friendly hardware experiments of its era.
The Game Library
The Terebikko’s library was small and tightly curated, and unlike its cartridge-based peers, every title was distributed on a VHS tape. The system’s catalog leaned heavily into Japanese popular culture, drawing on characters and franchises that were already household names in Japan, several of which were rising in popularity across the Pacific by the late 1980s and early 1990s. The flagship releases included tapes tied to Super Mario World and Dragon Ball Z, alongside long-running children’s properties such as the Anpanman series, Hello Kitty, and Doraemon.
The library also reflected Bandai’s deep ties to tokusatsu and magical girl franchises. Tapes featuring Ultraman and Ultraseven brought the heroes of the Showa-era kaiju series into an interactive format, while Sailor Moon S, by the time of its release, was already one of Japan’s biggest anime exports. The result was a catalog that felt less like a traditional video game lineup and more like a shelf of interactive storybooks.
Because the system relied on VHS rather than cartridges, the “games” were effectively short interactive videos. Players watched the action unfold on screen while the inaudible signals prompted the controller to ring, and pressing the correct colored button advanced the story or triggered the next sequence. The format naturally favored content aimed at younger players, and Bandai’s licensing choices reflected that audience clearly. For more on the broader landscape of systems from this period, the consoles hub at RetroArcade.com collects profiles of the most important hardware in gaming history.
Legacy
The Terebikko left a modest but unmistakable mark on the broader history of consumer gaming hardware. It remains one of the very few consoles ever released with VHS as its primary media format, a decision that placed it in direct conversation with the home video market rather than the arcade and cartridge ecosystem that defined its generation. The phone-shaped controller, with its oversized buttons and handset silhouette, was equally distinctive and stands as one of the more inventive peripheral designs of its era.
In the United States, the console’s identity was shaped by Mattel, which handled distribution under the “See ‘n Say Video Phone” branding. That partnership, linking Bandai’s hardware with a major American toymaker, underscored how far the Terebikko sat from the typical video game aisle of the late 1980s. The system is also remembered as one of Bandai’s experimental gaming hardware ventures, sitting alongside the company’s other unusual consoles and plug-and-play toys of the same period. It had no direct predecessor or successor within Bandai’s lineup, leaving it as a standalone curiosity rather than the opening or closing chapter of a hardware family.
Collecting It Today
Collectors interested in the Terebikko today are chasing one of the more unusual finds in the fourth generation. Original Japanese units are typically identified by the Terebikko name, while North American releases carry the See ‘n Say Video Phone branding. Condition matters more than usual for this console because the system combines three separate pieces: the base unit that plays the VHS tapes, the chunky four-button handset controller, and the tapes themselves. Missing controllers are common, and replacement parts were never widely produced, so a complete-in-box set with the original handset is generally considered harder to source than the console alone.
Because the games were released on VHS rather than a more durable cartridge, tape condition is a practical concern. Tapes from this era can suffer from magnetic degradation, mold, and tracking issues, and a working VCR is required to actually evaluate them. Collectors should also be aware that regional standards differ: Japanese tapes were recorded for the NTSC-J format, while the North American releases were mastered for the regional broadcast standard, and the hardware was typically sold as one or the other rather than as a universal unit. Documentation, original packaging, and any included inserts add to the appeal of a set, particularly for collectors who focus on Bandai’s experimental hardware rather than on playability alone.
For a broader look at the consoles that defined this and other eras of gaming, the consoles hub at RetroArcade.com gathers profiles of the most important systems in gaming history.