krslam Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 So I saw this completed item on ebay: https://m.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-5-Tandy-Memorex-Radio-Shack-VIS-Video-Information-System-/372253087950?nav=SEARCH#vi__app-cvip-panel Five SAVE-IT cards for the Memorex VIS, which, I assume, are for saving game progress. The VIS predates the ps1 and contemporaries by a few years, so does this make it the 1st system (not counting computers) to use removable save memory cards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 I think the Neo Geo predates it (as some games let you save progress on the memory card). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 Neo Geo MVS/AES is from 1990, that Tandy from a quick look up was 1993-4 range pretty much. The MVS memory card while very tiny did allow for both progress by the stage, tracked scores in sports(or innings), and high score save as each game would allow such things or not. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 LOL the Wikipedia entry for VIS said some people took it to stand for "virtually impossible to sell." The thing was a modified Windows OS so it's tricky to have qualifiers like "not limited to computers," which have had disk and tape storage for years. Remember those arcade games that had memory card slots do you could take your progress with you? I wonder if gaming culture could have been different had those come along ten years prior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 I wanted a VIS so badly as a kid... man, I dodged a bullet when my parents wouldn't get me one. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 I wanted a VIS so badly as a kid... man, I dodged a bullet when my parents wouldn't get me one. Where were you exposed to this? Some creep's van? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 I went to Radio Shack A LOT. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keepdreamin Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 (edited) I went to Radio Shack A LOT. No nearby Toys R' Us, huh? Edited May 19, 2018 by keepdreamin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 My local TRU was kind of a pain to get to. I would only be allowed to go there maybe twice a year. Radio Shack, on the other hand, had a location in every shopping complex we went to, so I could always pop in. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 I pity the foo'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 I pity the foo'. If the foo' is me... don't. The flip side of getting rare trips to TRU was that you never went just to look. If I was allowed to go, I was allowed to buy, and usually something REALLY good. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TemplarXB Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 So I saw this completed item on ebay: https://m.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-5-Tandy-Memorex-Radio-Shack-VIS-Video-Information-System-/372253087950?nav=SEARCH#vi__app-cvip-panel Five SAVE-IT cards for the Memorex VIS, which, I assume, are for saving game progress. The VIS predates the ps1 and contemporaries by a few years, so does this make it the 1st system (not counting computers) to use removable save memory cards? Sega CD Backup Cart was my first removable for a console. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 oh, that make me think, the Ten No Koe (ROMRAM) card might be the first save card. I can't find precise infos, but it's not a stretch to think that NEC released them at the same time than their CD-Rom attachement, in 1989 then (late 1988). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 On 5/20/2018 at 5:40 PM, CatPix said: oh, that make me think, the Ten No Koe (ROMRAM) card might be the first save card. I can't find precise infos, but it's not a stretch to think that NEC released them at the same time than their CD-Rom attachement, in 1989 then (late 1988). Yes, the Tennokoe Bank came a bit after the PCE CD launch I think but I’m pretty sure it pre-dated the Mega CD save cart launch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Smith Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 Technically wouldn't the Famicom Disk Drive count then? That predates all the other items listed. It did allow you to save various things (not just your progress in a game, but things like creating and saving courses in Excitebike, etc) and the disks were removable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 Am I misremembering that there were even some cartridges that could save to disk? Then again, the Family Computer was a microcomputer, not a gaming system ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 (edited) There were a couple Famicom games that could send data to save your game to an audio cassette. Castle Excellent, Arkanoid, a few others used it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom_Data_Recorder Came out in 1984 FDS = 1986 so this predated it 2 years. Edited July 21, 2022 by Tanooki 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mr. Video Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 On 5/18/2018 at 10:23 PM, krslam said: The VIS predates the ps1 and contemporaries by a few years, so does this make it the 1st system (not counting computers) to use removable save memory cards? While there were a few earlier devices that could save game data (the Famicom Data Recorder and FDS were mentioned earlier), the first accessory that I know of that saved your position in a game using solid state electronics was the ASCII Turbo File in 1986. It plugged into the Famicom and saved data from supported games to its own battery-backed RAM. It was compatible with games such as Castle Excellent (which also supported the Data Recorder for saving), some of the Wizardry games, and Downtown - Nekketsu Monogatari (japanese version of River City Random). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_File_(ASCII) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 Butttttt I think the VIS is still the first console that had a single standard removable save medium. In a form factor basically identical to the Playstation's. The VIS may be a terrible system but it was forward looking in more than one way. Too early for what they tried to do, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 The Neo Geo AES was released in 1991, the VIS in 1992. So at least the Neo Geo AES beat it to it. It's pretty much a memory card : play your game, it will seamlessly save on it. No need to do tricks or use a save data explorer outside of a game. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Black_Tiger Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 The Intellivision Keyboard Component was released in 1980 and could write save data and voice clips to "audio"/Compact cassete tape software. I don't know which software might have the option of saving to additional audio cassettes. The Intellivision ECS was released in 1983 abd definitely allows you to record save data to regular audio cassettes and is supported by games like World Series Major League Baseball. The PC Engine Tennokoe Bank was released in August of 1989 and pre-dates the Neo Geo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 None of those were a standard external memory unit supported by all games that supported save support. The Tennekoe Bank in particular is the most convoluted memory management tool I’ve ever used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 Yes, I mentionned it before but didn't mentionned it again for the earliest one that works like a memory card, as despite being older than the Neo Geo Memory card, it isn't a memory card in the traditionnal sense. It isn't so convoluted once you understand that the Ten No Koe Bank doesn't copy your gave saves, but simply makes a dump of the CD-ROM (Or the Ten No Koe PC-Engine back attachement) whole memory. AKA It's more like a memory card copier than a memory card itself. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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