Summary
The Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy (Japanese: TV ボーイ, Hepburn: TV bōi) is a second generation home video game console developed by Gakken and released in Japan in 1983 for a price of ¥8,800.[1]
 | |
 A Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy | |
| Developer | Gakken |
|---|---|
| Type | Home video game console |
| Generation | Second generation |
| Release date |
|
| Introductory price | ¥8,800 |
| Media | ROM cartridge |
| CPU | Motorola MC6801 (inside cartridge) |
| Memory | 2k RAM |
| Display | 128 × 192 pixels, 4 colors |
| Graphics | Motorola MC6847 video processor |
The system was made to compete with the Epoch Cassette Vision, which had a market dominance of 70% in Japan.
The console was released months after the Nintendo Famicom and Sega SG-1000 which, although more expensive at ¥15,000, were more advanced and had more features as well as bigger games libraries; furthermore, Epoch had just launched the Cassette Vision Jr. revision for ¥5,000. These factors made the system obsolete from the start, with a high price tag, very few and comparably rudimentary games, and a strange form factor, leading to poor sales. As a result, it is now a very rare collector's item among some retro gamers.
Technical specifications edit
- Internal Graphics: Motorola MC6847[1]
- RAM: 2 Kb[1]
- CPU (cartridge): Motorola MC6801 (8-bit)[1][2] clocked at 4 MHz
- Image: 128 × 192 pixel; 9 colors, 4 of the can be shown at the same time[2]
Games edit
There were only 6 games officially released for the system, each being sold for ¥3,800;[1]
- 'Excite Invader
- Mr. Bomb
- Robotan Wars
- Chitaikū Daisakusen (Japanese: 地対空大作戦, 'Big operation of surface-to-air') - A port of Super Cobra
- Frogger
- Shigaisen 200X-nen (Japanese: 市街戦200X年, Hepburn: shigaisen nisen-ekkusu-nen, 'Urban warfare year 200X')
Each of the games is designed for one player only.[3]