V.Smile - The Console

The Console

A V.Smile generally has an on and an off button on the console itself and two joystick ports, and a compartment for keeping the cartridges in addition to the cartridge slot. Originally only available in Orange/Purple and bundled with a Winnie the Pooh game, a pink/purple colored console was shipped later, targeting girls and bundled with a Cinderella game. Much later, a Red/Blue and Red/Silver model was introduced and bundled with a Scooby Doo game.

The buttons on the game system and controllers are large to accommodate small children's less developed manual dexterity. The default controller consists of an analog stick, four colored buttons, a large enter button, a button (dubbed the "Learning Zone" button) that immediately takes the player to a minigame section of the software, an Exit button (that either brings up an option to end the game or to keep playing, or to exit out of any menu that the player is in) and a Help button (which repeats the spoken instructions or hint provided by the game to the player).

A second generation V.Smile console was launched in 2007. The console is now bundled with a microphone, and a redesigned controller was shipped, which now comes with a graphics tablet built in. However, the design of the console is still the same as the first generation console apart from the presence of a microphone holder. The internals of the system also appears to be based upon the design of the first generation console, as software meant for the first generation console is playable on the second generation console, and vice-versa, although software that takes advantage of the microphone feature will disable the sections of the software that requires the use of the microphone if played on the first generation console.

In 2008 a limited edition translucent V.Smile TV Learning System console was released including two joysticks, and the Alphabet Park Adventure game cartridge.