Why Does The Arcadia Suck?

[NovaXpress]

I've been playing through the Aradia library on MESS and its shockingly bad, maybe the worst overall lineup for any system outside of the primitive Channel F. The specs on the system look impressive, so why are the results so bad. The sysyem looks like it should be weaker than the 2600. Compare the games created for both systems by Universal and the 2600 versions will look and play far better (Cat Trax is a wash). And why in hell did so many of their games use the Channel F-style white background? Nasty.

[MCHufnagel]

I've been playing through the Aradia library on MESS and its shockingly bad, maybe the worst overall lineup for any system outside of the primitive Channel F. The specs on the system look impressive, so why are the results so bad. The sysyem looks like it should be weaker than the 2600. Compare the games created for both systems by Universal and the 2600 versions will look and play far better (Cat Trax is a wash). And why in hell did so many of their games use the Channel F-style white background? Nasty.

I picked one up this summer at a garage sale boxed with 10 boxed games for the amazing price of $10! It still wasn't worth it. I should have used that money for beer instead. The buzz would have lasted longer than the fun I got from that purchase.

[Tempest]

The Arcadia is a mixed bag. Some of the graphics look quite nice, but the gameplay is usually unpolished. Most of the games feel like a rush job, and if they took a little more time with them they could be really good. The US library is pretty much trash, but the overseas library is pretty good. Try Pleadies, Turtles, Route 16, The End, R2D Tank, Red Clash, and Jump Bug if you want to see some decent games (all obscure arcade ports). Hobo, Robot Killer, Spiders, and Funky Fish aren't too bad either, but none of the games really compare to the mid to later 2600 stuff.

 

The sound has got to be the weakest area of the Arcadia. Some of the game sounds are actually painful! The Arcadia isn't for most people, but some of us like those obscure arcade games.

 

Tempest

[NovaXpress]

I found Route 16 and R2D Tank to be the most playable (I ended up MESSing around with all the available roms). Route 16 should have been a 2600 game, kind of a multi-screen Rally X.

 

The systems seems to be a bad idea all around, poor at just about everyhting it's supposed to do. There's no way it ever could have competed with the CV or 5200, the other new systems of fall 82.

[joeybastard]

The Arcadia games aren't too good but they still are better than 95% of stuff on the O2. IMHO, the Arcadia games fall somewhere between the O2 and the VCS for fun value.

[Dusk2600]

I've been playing through the Aradia library on MESS and its shockingly bad, maybe the worst overall lineup for any system outside of the primitive Channel F. The specs on the system look impressive, so why are the results so bad. The sysyem looks like it should be weaker than the 2600. Compare the games created for both systems by Universal and the 2600 versions will look and play far better (Cat Trax is a wash). And why in hell did so many of their games use the Channel F-style white background? Nasty.

I picked one up this summer at a garage sale boxed with 10 boxed games for the amazing price of $10! It still wasn't worth it. I should have used that money for beer instead. The buzz would have lasted longer than the fun I got from that purchase.

 

ill give you the 10 you spent on it!

[MCHufnagel]

I've been playing through the Aradia library on MESS and its shockingly bad, maybe the worst overall lineup for any system outside of the primitive Channel F. The specs on the system look impressive, so why are the results so bad. The sysyem looks like it should be weaker than the 2600. Compare the games created for both systems by Universal and the 2600 versions will look and play far better (Cat Trax is a wash). And why in hell did so many of their games use the Channel F-style white background? Nasty.

I picked one up this summer at a garage sale boxed with 10 boxed games for the amazing price of $10! It still wasn't worth it. I should have used that money for beer instead. The buzz would have lasted longer than the fun I got from that purchase.

 

ill give you the 10 you spent on it!

Already sold it to a bigger geek than me. It was good for one thing, I made some money off of it.

[Jess Ragan]

Man, you guys are poseurs! I've been hating on the Emer-suck Ass-cadia for over ten years now!

 

http://www.lakupo.com/grblitz/emerson.htm

 

You're all right, though. The Arcadia is a rotten system, especially when you consider the year it was released. What should have been a competitor to the 5200 and ColecoVision is actually a step behind 70's consoles like the Atari 2600 in overall performance. The characters are tiny and poorly animated, the colors are garish, and the sound... oh, the horrible, horrible sound!

 

For reasons beyond my comprehension, someone released a BASIC compiler for the Arcadia last year. I was actually thinking about using it to make an Emerson version of Solar Plexus. At least on that system, nobody could complain about it because all the OTHER Emerson games are so bad.

 

JR

[Atarifever]

The Arcadia games aren't too good but they still are better than 95% of stuff on the O2. IMHO, the Arcadia games fall somewhere between the O2 and the VCS for fun value.

 

Geez, what'd an O2 flip you off in traffic lately or something?

[NovaXpress]

Why do the system specs look descent? Is it just bad programming or a bad system uner all those numbers?

[Jess Ragan]

In case you're wondering, these are the stats:

 

* Main Processor: Signetics 2650 CPU running at 3.58 MHz

o Some variants run a Signetics 2650A

* RAM: 512 bytes (originally promised 28K)

* ROM: None

* Video Display: 8 Colours

* Video Controller: Signetics 2637 UVI

* Sound: Single Channel "Beeper" + Single Channel "Noise"

* Hardware Sprites: 4 independent, single color

* Controllers: 2 x 2 way

* Keypads: 2 x 12 button (more buttons on some variants)

 

The processor's pretty fast, but that's all that seems to be going for it. Eight colors is just plain weak in comparison to the 256 color palette offered by the Atari 2600, and the system can only handle four sprites at once (tiny monochrome sprites, no less). I'm not seeing much that's impressive about these tech specs, even compared to the primitive technology available in the 1980's.

 

JR

[supercat]

The processor's pretty fast, but that's all that seems to be going for it. Eight colors is just plain weak in comparison to the 256 color palette offered by the Atari 2600, and the system can only handle four sprites at once (tiny monochrome sprites, no less). I'm not seeing much that's impressive about these tech specs, even compared to the primitive technology available in the 1980's.

 

What sort of background display resources exist, and what are the resolution specs on the sprites? Can stuff be munged on the fly?

[ZylonBane]

Eight colors is just plain weak in comparison to the 256 color palette offered by the Atari 2600

128.

[NovaXpress]

If you read the old Electronic Games review, they make this system look like God's gift to gaming. More proof that they were paid off just as much or even more so than modern gaming "journalists."

[Jess Ragan]

Sorry, you're right. Half the colors in the palette repeat.

 

JR

[shadow460]

I say it was poor programming. We owned an Arcadia 2001 when I was young.

Many of the games had awesome concepts, IMO, but the execution was just horrid. Cat Trax and Star Chess stick out in my mind. While Cat Trax was indeed a rip off of Pac-Man, I actually liked it. Escape was decent, too, and it would have been better than Berzerk on the 2600 if it had been polished. I also played Space Attack quite a bit, but that game severely needed more play testing. Whoever laid it out didn't realize you had to be superhuman to clear a level before you ran out of fuel.

Ocean Battle (?), I think it was number 6 and I know it had the dual maps and ships, had yet another stellar concept that was crippled by bad programming. Ditto for Breakaway, which does not lend itself to a disc controller.

 

But the biggest piece of crap about the good ol' Arcadia 2001 was the stupid controllers. They were hardwired into ours, and they broke faster that you could say "5200 flex circuits".

 

Even with the controllers, I'd certainly have another Arcadia 2001 around. It would have a place among all the games I grew up with, and it would get played on occasion (when I was feeling masochistic).

It's not a system I'd recommend for a beginning collector or retro gamer.

[jboypacman]

It may suck but if i ever find one of thses cheap am going to get it.I cant help myself am a sucker for these dead systems.

[Atariboy2600]

I got both Arcadia 2001 US model and Leisure-Vision model from Canada send by a friend.

 

But what I also found out that unlike almost all other consoles, the Arcadia 2001 was sold from many different firms under different names:

 

 

Name - Country - Manufacturer

 

Advision Home Arcade - France - Advision

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Bandai Arcadia - Japan - Bandai

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Hanimex Fever 1 - Germany - Hanimex

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Hanimex HMG-2650 - Germany - Hanimex

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Hanimex MPT-03 - France? - Hanimex

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Intercord 2000XL - Germany - ???

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Leisure-Vision - Canada - Leisure-Dynamics

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Leonardo - Italy - GiG

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Palladium - Germany - Palladium?

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Prestige MPT-03 - France - ???

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Rowntron MPT-03 - ?? - Rowntron?

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Schmidt TVG-2000 - Germany - Schmidt

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Soundic MPT-03 - ?? - Soundic?

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Tempest MPT-03 - Australia - Tempest?

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Tele-Fever - Germany - Tchibo

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Tryom - ??? - Tryom?

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Tunix Home Arcade - New Zealand - Monaco Distributors Ltd.

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Video Master - New Zealand - Grand Stand

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For a crappy unit its gone all over the world

Edited December 9, 2006 by Atariboy2600

[Bruce Tomlin]

I got both Arcadia 2001 US model and Leisure-Vision model from Canada send by a friend.

 

But what I also found out that unlike almost all other consoles, the Arcadia 2001 was sold from many different firms under different names:

...and some of them use a different kind of cartridge slot, too!

 

Anyhow, the reason the Arcadia sucks is because it was a 1978-era system released in 1982 (?) and also because the guy who programmed the sound was tone deaf.

[Dusk2600]

i definatly would still like to get 1 of these

[Student Driver]

Yeah. It's not exactly one of my holy grails, but I'd still like one for my collection.

 

And, hey, I play my Channel F, so likely the Arcadia would get some play here as well.

[shadow460]

It's worth playing. I used to have a dedicated emulator for it, as a matter of fact, it is still lying around somehwere. I just got the desire to play some of those old games, so I did.

 

I guess you could turn the volume down on the TV and lose the bad sounds.

[joeybastard]

The Arcadia games aren't too good but they still are better than 95% of stuff on the O2. IMHO, the Arcadia games fall somewhere between the O2 and the VCS for fun value.

 

Geez, what'd an O2 flip you off in traffic lately or something?

 

Nope, it's just popped up in conversation lately. 1 was in an O2 thread so that makes sense and in this case comparing the same era Arcadia to it isn't much of a stretch really. I really consider it to be in the top 3 worst consoles of all time so if we're talking about stuff that stinks, it's kind of natural to mention it. If it makes you happy I'll mention that the O2 is better than the RCA Studio II and the Channel F but only slightly.

[Tempest]

BTW here is an interesting Arcadia page I stumbled upon. It shows alot of the MPT-03 box artwork (which are really rare) and screenshots of all the games. The MPT-03 was an arcadia compatible system that was not released in the US. Although the games are compatible (program-wise), the carts are not as they're a different shape. Sort of like the US and Japanese versions of NES games.

 

http://amigan.classicgaming.gamespy.com/gg/

 

Tempest

[lucifershalo]

well, I am in Belgium, but I have an american ARCADIA model and some games for trade, so if someone have items for trade (5200,7800 or STe games,etc), contact me...