masschamber Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 So while on my pursuit of consoles with the most tiny consoles (seemingly a bizarre Ukrainian consolized spectrum clone) So which hardware has the most geographically limited release (no clones this time) I know Japan had a few exclusives, gakken tv boy, cassette vision, and bunch of stupid stuff from casio (pv 1000, 2000 and loopy) and bandai (tv jack 5000, 8000 and playdia). As well as some interesting oddities like the pc fx. The US/North America seems to have very few for how many consoles came out from the US, only the atari 5200 seems to be a north american exclusive. the apf m1000 seems to have inexplicably came out in other regions, as did other poor performs like the astrocade, studio 2, and channel f. Does anyone know if the Astrocade saw a release outside of North America? The zeebo was Brazil only right? that's pretty good in terms of limited release Any Europeans have any really oddball stuff that might be even only one country, especially if that country has a small population (limited market is what I'm going for) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 It's more likely to be something you've never heard of, or something with a bad reputation. Maybe Gizmondo, Tapwave Zodiac, Apple Pippin, Amiga CD32, etc? I dunno, it's hard to guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masschamber Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 It's more likely to be something you've never heard of, or something with a bad reputation. Maybe Gizmondo, Tapwave Zodiac, Apple Pippin, Amiga CD32, etc? I dunno, it's hard to guess. gizmondo saw both US and European release, the zodiac might have been US only (any Europeans know if it had a release anywhere in Europe), but loads of russians seem to have them. Pippin was release in Japan the US, and Europe. The cd32 was released in Europe and Canada (I've read legal issues kept it out of the US) Oh yeah the dumpster fire that was the Phillips in2it was Netherlands only, but it is trash tier beyond trash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Yeah, that's my point // anything we are likely to have heard of, let alone enjoyed, probably saw wide release. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Astrocade was North America only, and if you count the cassette games released through mail order newsletters by third parties it has a couple hundred games, I would wager. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Technically I guess you can count the Sega SG-1000 through Mark III, because when the Master System was finally released worldwide, it had a physical lockout for those cartridges. (It was technically compatible but used a different physical cartridge in NA and EU, so you couldn't just buy a Japanese SG-1000 game and plug it in to your American Master System.) And there are a ton of games for that system. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masschamber Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 Technically I guess you can count the Sega SG-1000 through Mark III, because when the Master System was finally released worldwide, it had a physical lockout for those cartridges. (It was technically compatible but used a different physical cartridge in NA and EU, so you couldn't just buy a Japanese SG-1000 game and plug it in to your American Master System.) And there are a ton of games for that system. And it was released in Australia and new Zealand as well as a few places in Europe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 From an European horizon, did the Interton VC-4000 get released on other continents? I suppose other consoles in the 1292 family might've. How about the Amstrad GX-4000, was it launched outside Europe? I understand you're specifically asking about consoles (video games), not home computers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Nintendo's iQue Player was a (failed) China only release of an N64 like machine. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metarog Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 (edited) The Tapwave Zodiac was also released in the UK. Edited October 16, 2018 by metarog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masschamber Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 From an European horizon, did the Interton VC-4000 get released on other continents? I suppose other consoles in the 1292 family might've. How about the Amstrad GX-4000, was it launched outside Europe? I understand you're specifically asking about consoles (video games), not home computers. I don't think any of the 1292 family saw release in north america, the only signetics derived console in North America was the Emerson Arcadia and clones family as far as I know. the gx 4000 is definitely a good one, was it even available outside of the UK and France? any game heavy oddball computers are definitely welcome here. Nintendo's iQue Player was a (failed) China only release of an N64 like machine. that's a good one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punisher5.0 Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Hyperscan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 (edited) The Hyperscan was sold in the US and Europe, no? The GX-4000 was only sold in the UK and France as far as I'm aware. I suppose that Belgians and Swiss people could ave gotten one by mail-order as some companies distributed their catalog in those countries, but that wouldn't be "official". If computer counts... My best guess for the "one country larger library" would be hte Soviet Vector 06C, at rather powerful 8 bits computer. Library is hard to list, as it was all "bedroom written" software, but the count easily goes into the hundreds. Fun fact : the Vector is often described as having a "PC-Speaker" as a sound chip. While it's true, it hide the fact that the original Intel chip have three timed outputs : in PC, two were used as clocks, leaving one for the PC speaker. in the Vector, all 3 outputs are dedicaced to sound, explaining why several games sounds much better than your regular "PC-Speaker" - tho, most games assumed that the owner would mofify the computer by adding a classic AY-3-8910. Edited October 16, 2018 by CatPix 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masschamber Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 The Hyperscan was sold in the US and Europe, no? The GX-4000 was only sold in the UK and France as far as I'm aware. I suppose that Belgians and Swiss people could ave gotten one by mail-order as some companies distributed their catalog in those countries, but that wouldn't be "official". If computer counts... My best guess for the "one country larger library" would be hte Soviet Vector 06C, at rather powerful 8 bits computer. Library is hard to list, as it was all "bedroom written" software, but the count easily goes into the hundreds. Fun fact : the Vector is often described as having a "PC-Speaker" as a sound chip. While it's true, it hide the fact that the original Intel chip have three timed outputs : in PC, two were used as clocks, leaving one for the PC speaker. in the Vector, all 3 outputs are dedicaced to sound, explaining why several games sounds much better than your regular "PC-Speaker" - tho, most games assumed that the owner would mofify the computer by adding a classic AY-3-8910. Now that's what I'm talking, nice and obscure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 (edited) Home computers: While the Beeb had a short lived apperance in the US, was its little brother the Electron ever sold outside of European territories? How about the Oric line? I know the Bulgarians made an Oric clone in Pravetz but Bulgaria still is part of Europe. I would presume several of the French micros qualify as well. I suppose models only released within one country but having a good sized library that isn't directly compatible with something else would win in the end. Edited October 17, 2018 by carlsson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Yep. Some Thomson computers were sold in Arabic-speaking countries, so they are out Even tho if technically they probably were sold only to schools or as "test market sales". Another contender would be the Elektronika BK, but given that it's a PDP-11 clone (able to run DEC's FOCAL language) I'm not sure it qualifies? I mean, we ruled out the ZX Spectrum; but, on the other hand, the PDP-11 were never sold to consumers in the West, whereas the Elektronika BK was targeted at consumers, there were even adverts for it (Yes, the Soviet Union did had TV adverts) Also, I'm pretty sure it was sold in satellites countries of the USSR, being an official product ( other Soviet computers were (supposedly) made by either universities or "companies" for internal use, but during the Perestroika, they were allowed to sell those for extra money.) so, does it count as well or not? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masschamber Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 I'm lovin the ultra obscure eastern bloc stuff. Consumer pdp-11 yeah, that's really awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 A pretty cool machine. Beefy raw power (about the same than a 286) but early BK models were hampered by a mere 32 Ko of RAM. Later models are boosted up to 128 Ko. Video is kinda like 286 computers of the era, too, with only red, green and blue available (on earlier models). At least it wasn't cyan and pink? Sound is Spectrum-level : one piezo that goes beep. As you can see, programmers made clever us of dithering to simulate more colors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intymike Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 The GX-4000 was only sold in the UK and France as far as I'm aware. I suppose that Belgians and Swiss people could ave gotten one by mail-order as some companies distributed their catalog in those countries, but that wouldn't be "official. The GX 4000 had a limited release in Germany. The Aquarius also (Radofin Version). I own an Aquarius with complete German instructions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derFunkenstein Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 The WonderSwan and WonderSwan Color had relatively large libraries for something that never left Japan. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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