Microvision

[Paul Humbug]

I didnt know there was a Gameboy before the Gameboy

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microvision

 

Anyone played it back then? Anyone owning one?

 

How does it play?

Edited August 7, 2007 by Paul Humbug

[+else]

Had one a while back. The Blockout game (i.e. Breakout) for it is very good, I thought.

 

I can't imagine the other games being as good though. I think a major limitation of the system was having a paddle controller instead of a joystick controller. A paddle is well suited for a game like Breakout, but I can't imagine it working very well for many other types of games....

[Classic Pac]

I played it once but that was a long time ago. It did have some good games but it never attracted me to buy one.

[FastRobPlus]

Not only was there a Gameboy before the gameboy; There was a Japanese gameboy before the Gameboy

Epoch PoketCon

 

It plays fun games too!

[Paul Humbug]

Not only was there a Gameboy before the gameboy; There was a Japanese gameboy before the Gameboy

Epoch PoketCon

 

It plays fun games too!

 

 

Interesting. I guess it wasnt a commercial success then.

[Atari5200]

i've wanted to get one of these, but it seems all you see on Ebay is ones but the screens are defective and I haven't been lucky enough to come across one in the wild.

[jimid2]

I've got one of these little monsters in our handhelds cabinet.

 

_{(ignore the Atari ref - the cabinet is painted with all kinds of characters and company names on the back, and systems can land on any shelf)}

 

Anyway, it's a very simple system - the LCD is 16x16, and the "pixels" are rather large LCD blocks (squares). You need good lighting to see the screen well, and the ghosting is a real issue, but that being said, many of the games are quite fun (if simple). Most use the mylar buttons in the facing "cartridge" as well as the paddle knob for control, and due to the fact that the LCD is so limited, most have a graphics overlay on the screen as well. I know that it's hard to find one in good shape - they suffer from LCD rot due to impurities introduced during the manufacturing process used back then, and they are really sensitive to ESD. I'm lucky, mine's in excellent condition; I picked it up NOS on Ebay. I can tell you that I think they're well worth having if you love handhelds - they're historically important (the first handheld with changable cartridges) and they are a lot of fun in a retro-arcade way...

[Crazy Climber]

i've wanted to get one of these, but it seems all you see on Ebay is ones but the screens are defective and I haven't been lucky enough to come across one in the wild.

Atari2600.com has a lot of games at a good price, they sell the systems pretty cheap also but it looks like he doesn't have any right now

I myself am going to pick up a Wonderswan one of these days, now they look cool

[+else]

LCD is 16x16, and the "pixels" are rather large LCD blocks (squares)

 

Yep. When you get down to it, the resolution isn't a whole lot better than the old Mattel handheld LED sports games. I don't know what the Mattel games were -- maybe 8x4? So it's an improvement, but not a huge one. The LCD display sure looks a lot nicer though. Something to keep in mind....

Edited August 9, 2007 by else

[Paul Humbug]

I've got one of these little monsters in our handhelds cabinet.

 

_{(ignore the Atari ref - the cabinet is painted with all kinds of characters and company names on the back, and systems can land on any shelf)}

 

Anyway, it's a very simple system - the LCD is 16x16, and the "pixels" are rather large LCD blocks (squares). You need good lighting to see the screen well, and the ghosting is a real issue, but that being said, many of the games are quite fun (if simple). Most use the mylar buttons in the facing "cartridge" as well as the paddle knob for control, and due to the fact that the LCD is so limited, most have a graphics overlay on the screen as well. I know that it's hard to find one in good shape - they suffer from LCD rot due to impurities introduced during the manufacturing process used back then, and they are really sensitive to ESD. I'm lucky, mine's in excellent condition; I picked it up NOS on Ebay. I can tell you that I think they're well worth having if you love handhelds - they're historically important (the first handheld with changable cartridges) and they are a lot of fun in a retro-arcade way...

 

Nice pic. Nice device. Maybe I should get one. One day.

[Atari5200]

i've wanted to get one of these, but it seems all you see on Ebay is ones but the screens are defective and I haven't been lucky enough to come across one in the wild.

Atari2600.com has a lot of games at a good price, they sell the systems pretty cheap also but it looks like he doesn't have any right now

I myself am going to pick up a Wonderswan one of these days, now they look cool

 

I'll ask you a one question to know if you'll enjoy your wonderswan or not if you get one.

 

Are you a big guy or little guy?

 

This thing HURTS the hands with how it's laid out, if you have i would say medium to large hands. The battery cover and just the over all design make it for one extreme hand cramping experience. I put mine down about 15 minutes after first getting it and i've never used it since. But mine is a 20th anniversary Gundam collector edition, so it stays pretty much in it's boxing, but still, even if i had good games for it, that i could understand or play, it's all Jap. I still couldn't play the damn thing for more than 15 minutes, extremely uncomfortable.

Edited August 9, 2007 by Atari5200

[+SpiceWare]

I didnt know there was a Gameboy before the Gameboy

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microvision

 

Anyone played it back then? Anyone owning one?

 

How does it play?

Got one for my birthday 14th birthday back in 1980, one of the 2nd revision that only needed one 9 volt battery.

 

It was a neat system for back then, had a lot of fun playing with it. I had most of the games for it. Don't know what happened to it, probably disappeared during one of our many moves(I'd lived 25 places by the time I was 25).

Edited August 15, 2007 by SpiceWare

[DrLove0378]

When I think "Microvision", I think of one of my portable TVs, which has a 5cm B&W screen (yes, you read that correctly, a five-centimeter CRT.)

 

As for this game system, I guess I was born too late, to have enjoyed anything like that. If I had one, I would just as soon leave it in the box, as from what I've read, these things can get "killed" easily...

[jimid2]

When I think "Microvision", I think of one of my portable TVs, which has a 5cm B&W screen (yes, you read that correctly, a five-centimeter CRT.)

 

As for this game system, I guess I was born too late, to have enjoyed anything like that. If I had one, I would just as soon leave it in the box, as from what I've read, these things can get "killed" easily...

The Microvision TV was a Sir Clive Sinclair invention, wasn't it? I always thought those little things looked so cool... I'd love to see what a TV picture looks like on a tube that small...

 

As for the Microvision, I handle mine all the time - anyone with the least experience handling computer equipment who understands the risks associated with ESD shouldn't have any trouble dealing with their Microvision without blowing it up...

[R.Cade]

Yeah, I've got two of them with bad screens. I think almost all of them suffer that fate.

 

You can see the game, but barely.

[Uzumaki]

Didn't Sony have a tiny walkman type TV that is like 4 or 3 cm? Looked like the CRT but with the display at about 45 degree to reflect the image out.

 

The smallest CRT I have seen however is the one for early video camera. They are usually smaller than 1" (around 2cm) and I could probably hack them onto a game console if I wanted a headache.