Today is the birthday of an oddly specific video game console most people have probably never heard of. The V-Tech V-Smile was a cartridge based game console that came out in 2004 and was intended for children aged younger than seven. The console was an odd little thing at the time, and the main advantage it had was its price of $60, with $20 games. That console price is equal in value to most individual triple-A games today, and even then it was a home console cheaper than a Game Boy Advance.
The other appeal to the console was that about any character a five year old in the 2000's would care about had a game on the V-Smile. Barney, Cinderella, Dora, Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob, Superman, Spider-Man, and more. The V-Smile was weak enough of a console that a handheld version came out a year later that ran the games exactly the same as the TV did, and if anything the sprites looked better on a smaller screen. They also had a drawing tablet for some reason.
I got one for Christmas a kid but I was a little too old for it in my own mind so I didn't play it much save for one of the "zayzoo" games. It had an alien in it.
You were right! I've never heard of this before, sounds interesting.