EPOCH/YENO SUPER CASSETTE VISION

[sprazzi]

News flash: Multicart for super cassette vision is on its way!

 

One shortly available from user TeamE and another one from user Rolo: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/127752-flashcart-and-multicart-list-all-systems/page-93.

 

Super happy to be able to play the games without spending hundreds of euros or importing from Japan.

 

The games seem pretty decent too.

[carlsson]

I never got around to measure the lid... However I see a lot of loose SCV:s from Japan missing it so it must easily break or get lost.

[sprazzi]

sorry double post

Edited May 11, 2019 by sprazzi

[sprazzi]

Just received the multicart.

 

They were well shipped from Austria.

 

They seem well crafted and working as said, i.e. two games (notably pole position 2) won't work because of extra ram missing.

 

However I tried some of the games and they work perfectly.

 

Just what was needed for this little fun system, hoping that maybe the prices will go down a little!

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by sprazzi

[Yosikuma]

On 5/3/2019 at 3:16 AM, carlsson said:

I never got around to measure the lid... However I see a lot of loose SCV:s from Japan missing it so it must easily break or get lost.

Oh? Might this be for possible replacements?

 

Some guy on YT had a friend 3D print a new lid so ...

[carlsson]

If there is a drawing for the cover, perhaps there is money to be made to print new ones.

[CatPix]

Mine still have it although 9/10th broken.I think one improvement would be, instead of usign the original design, to put holes where the plastic "hinges" would be, and use a small metal bar as hinges, that way whe you open the lid as intented (by the middle of it) the efforts goes to the metal bar and given the diameter, it would flex and absorb the effort.

[Yosikuma]

Well, if anyone has any ideas of a source for replacements -- even if they are redesigns like CatPix has suggested, or 3D files, or whatever, I would love to know. 

[carlsson]

On 3/12/2020 at 7:39 PM, Yosikuma said:

Some guy on YT had a friend 3D print a new lid so ...

Perhaps I misunderstood this. I thought you had seen someone posting on YouTube how they had a friend 3D print a Super Cassette Vision lid, but of course if the drawing or files are not publically available, it is status quo.

 

By the way, I've seen that Yamatoku has a "junk" console with intact lid out now. Actually I got a notification about it a few days ago and now again today but I think it is the same auction.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Cassette-Vision-9000013022984/313032104417

[carlsson]

By the way, it struck me today that Nebula probably borrowed more than "four bars" from the arcade game Cosmic Avenger. Sure, they say if you have seen one shoot 'em up, you have seen them all but there are quite a few elements that match. In the world of horizontal scrolling shooters, if you copy an existing game perhaps there are less distinct (and colourful) games to replicate with a few small differences, unless you can license the original (like Boulder Dash and Miner 2049er).

 

Cosmic Avenger (arcade version):

 

Nebula:

 

[carlsson]

Since we have several Epoch threads, I didn't know which one to post in but I figured this is as good as any else.

 

Leonard Herman (rolenta) posted on Facebook about an article published in June regarding the Epoch history, from the beginning to the end. I wasn't aware (or possibly had forgotten) that they early on tried to import the Atari 2600 before the Epoch Cassette Vision and the Super Cassette Vision.

 

https://thegamescholar.com/2020/06/10/the-forgotten-epic/

Edited October 1, 2020 by carlsson

[CatPix]

Sadly the history of video gaming in Japan prior to the Famicom and also on all the computer side is heavily ignored in the West. I didn't knew Epoch was involved in, but I knew a few Atari 2600 were gray-imported before Atari officiall stepped in.

 

Interestingly, so far the only Cassette vision gameplay picture were in black and white, so I assumed it was a black and white console. It appears to be in colors!

I still can't help thinking the Hanimex HMG 7800 is related to the Cassette Vision, but the games aren't exactly the same. Still, it is said that the Cassette Vision use a NEC D777C CPU, and the HMG seems to be using a NEC D779C.

Graphisms looks very close, but it's probably a byproduct of the limited resolution and colors.

The game does looks different tho :

 

 

 

Maybe the game were altered to avoid Epoch sueing Hanimex/Soundic. I wonder if Epoch could have done something through ITMC/Yeno, their French partner that ended up distributing the Super Cassette Vision.