> DESCRIPTION
It is not clear if the Emerson Arcadia 2001 system was the first of this "group" to appear, but it is the best known for sure ! The Arcadia was launched in 1982 in the United States. It's a middle range system as the graphics and games are hardly better than those of the VCS 2600 or Intellivision back in 78.
Many clones and compatibles systems were found all around the world. Some look like the Arcadia 2001 and can use the same carts (Leisure Vision, Advision, Leonardo, Schmid, etc...), and others are completly different in shape (MPT-03 systems, Telefever, etc...) and are not "physically" compatible with the previous systems, i.e. carts are not the same.
But for all these systems, the games are absolutly identicals.
> HOW TO RECOGNISE THEM ?
- There are at least 12 keys (4 x 3) on each joystick keyboard plus at least 1 fire button on each joystick too. This fire button is sometimes on both sides of the controller (Arcadia 2001 for example) or on the keyboard (MPT-03). When there are more than 2 of these fire buttons, they usually have the same function.
- Most of the times there are 5 buttons on the control panel (Reset, Select, Option, Start, Power on/off). But the most important it's that there are always SELECT and OPTION buttons. There are sometimes called SELECT A and SELECT B, but are always 2 of them to make selection within the games. This is quite typical of these systems.
- Inside, the CPU is a Signetics 2650 (sometimes 2650A), and the video-chipset a Signetics 2637.
> THE GAMES
There are more than 30 games known for these systems. The Emerson Arcadia 2001 has the most complete list of games but other systems like the MPT-03 has games that were not available for the Arcadia like Auto Race, Basketball, Circus, etc...
Name of the game (Emerson Arcadia) | |
3D-Bowling |
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Alien Invaders |
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American Football |
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Auto Race (MPT-03 only) |
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Baseball |
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Basketball (MPT-03 only) |
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Brain Quizz |
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Breakaway |
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Capture |
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Cat Trax |
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Circus (MPT-03 only) |
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Combat (MPT-03 only) |
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Crazy Climber (MPT-03 only) | |
Crazy Gobbler |
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Escape |
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Golf (MPT-03 only) |
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Grand Slam Tennis | |
Hobo |
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Jump Bug |
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Jungler |
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Math Logic (MPT-03 only) |
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Missile War |
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Ocean Battle |
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Pleiades | |
Red Clash |
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Robot Killer |
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Route 16 |
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Soccer |
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Space Attack |
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Space Mission |
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Space Raiders |
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Space Squadron |
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Space Vultures |
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Spiders |
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Star Chess |
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Tanks a lot |
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Turtles / Turpin |
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> THE SYSTEMS
Name | Brand | Country | ||||
Arcadia 2001 | Advision | U.S.A. |
| |||
Leisure Vision | ??? | Canada |
| |||
Hanimex HMG-2650 | Hanimex | Europe / Australia |
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Leonardo | ??? | Italy |
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Arcadia | Bandaï | Japan |
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Home Arcade | Advision | France |
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TVG-2000 | Schmid | Germany |
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XL-2000 | Intercord | ??? |
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Prestige MPT-03 | Prestige ? | France |
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Rowtron MPT-03 | Rowtron | ??? |
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Tryom MPT-03 | Tryom | ??? |
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Video Computer Game | Poppy | ??? |
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Video Computer Game | Soundic | Europe | MPT03 | |||
Tele-Fever | Eduscho | Germany |
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|
| |
Intervision 2001 | Intervision | Northern Europe |
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Video Computer Game | Palladium | Germany ? |
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> LINKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Emerson Arcadia 2001 :
Emerson Arcadia 2001 emulator
The Emerson Arcadia 2001 FAQ
Arcadia 2001 Museum
Digital Archeology / Emerson Arcadia 2001
General :
The Video Game Consoles F.A.Q.
Obscure Pixels (pictures and infos)
