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The Epoch Cassette Vision: Has Games
Oops, that last Cassette Vision post was supposed to be a review of some games for it. This is a fairly historically important console, but not a huge seller; video games didn’t really boom in Japan until the Famicom. Not a flop by any means, but maybe keep that in mind. What’s the difference between the titles on the Famicom and the titles here? Not just the giant pixels. Enjoy a whirlwind tour of randomly selected games!
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Is the Twin Famicom Flawed? The Case of Guardic Gaiden
So recently I’ve been binge-watching RandomStranger’s Famidaily project and came across his video on Guardic Gaiden, the game we know in the west as The Guardian Legend. In it, he said that the Twin Famicom has slowdown on this game that the regular model doesn’t. Now, I’ve been a big fan of the Sharp Twin Famicom– it’s got no lockout chip, a built-in Disk System, standard AV output, and the Famicom microphone, so it has a lot going for it. But is it true that this “hidden gem” is it’s “Achilles’ heel”?
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Japan's Real First Console? Bandai's TV Jack 5000
The Epoch Cassette Vision is often reported as the first Japanese cartridge-based game console. But reality is always a bit more complicated. In 1978, years before the Cassette Vision, two Japanese companies put together cartridge-based game consoles that were unique to Japan, but relied on technology and chips licensed from American firms. And hey, despite my whirlwind tour of Pong consoles, I never looked at GI chips.
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The Bare Minimum Beats: Panasonic's RD-9844 Rhythm Machine
Recently I’ve had a bit of a fascination with rhythm machines. Not the computerized digital ones like that built into my old Yamaha organ, but fully analog ones. There’s something quite appealing about producing drum-like sounds with just discrete circuits of transistors, capacitors, and resistors. Let’s take a glimpse into a realm so analog that even discrete logic isn’t discrete enough.
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The RCA Studio II in Living Monochrome
Remember the RCA Studio II? A chipset with a fascinating history and enthusiast cred put into the service of the most disappointing game console of 1977. But mine didn’t work at all– well, that hasn’t changed. But thanks to partlyhuman (Roger Braunstein), creator of the Floopy Drive, I now have two RCA Studios II. One of them might even work, so now we can try out the games here.
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The Epoch Cassette Vision: Definitely Not a Pong Console in a Trenchcoat
The evolution of consoles from single-game systems like the Magnavox Odyssey 100 to cartridge-based systems like the NES wasn’t a simple process. The original console, the Magnavox Odyssey, had something kind of cartridge-like despite having no CPU, ROM, or RAM. And the original Japanese cartridge-based console had more in common with the single-game TV Vader than you might think. It’s cassette time, with no magnetic tape reader required.
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Apple II graphics: More than you wanted to know
The Apple ][ is one of the most iconic vintage computers of all time. But since Wozniak’s monster lasted all the way until 1993 (1995 if you could the IIe card, which I won’t count until I get one), it can be easy to forget that in 1977, it was a video extravaganza. The competitors– even much bigger and established companies like Commodore and Tandy– generally only had text modes, let alone pixel-addressable graphics, and they certainly didn’t have sixteen colors. (Gray and grey are different colors, right?)
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