[img width=300 align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-026/bf/U-026-H-00010-A.jpg[/img]In 1982,
Emerson Radio Corporation decided to enter the video game hardware arena with their release of the
Arcadia 2001. Better known for their development of affordable electronic products, this move was not entirely a big surprise.
Emerson was always looking for market niches to penetrate to utilize their existing electronics manufacturing team. As with their previous releases of low-end, price friendly electrical component ventures, the
Arcadia 2001 would eventually suffer the same fate.
The
Arcadia 2001 is not necessarily a bad looking machine. The sturdy, brown plastic housing has a nice accent of wood grain trimming (which was very popular at that time). The console sports a very clean user interface, located in the front and center of the unit. Soft, rounded, gold colored buttons provide easy access to the main systems functions (Reset, Select, Option, Start). The square shaped Power button that flanks these buttons to the right does not really quite fit into the scheme - almost as if this was an afterthought of the chassis design team. The two, non-detachable keypads (
Intellivision-type clone) rest in cradles to the left and right, though do not truly fit visually into the design of the console (maybe another afterthought). The
Arcadia 2001 does sport one of the longest video RF cables I have seen - 12' long. The plug for the 12 Volt external power supply and a channel 3/4 switch adorn the back side of this system. There are two (2) screw 'holes' on the back as well. I have no idea what these are used for.
Underneath the hood, the
Arcadia 2001 was powered by
Signetics 2650 CPU running at 3.58 MHz which produced games in 8 colors and at a screen resolution of 208 x 108. The best way to describe games for the
Arcadia 2001 is to think of an
Atari 2600 release and inject it with a heavy does of steroids. The
Arcadia 2001 was a more powerful machine that the console it was intended to dethrone, but
Emerson lacked a critical component for success in the console wars - third party support.
[img width=300 align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-026/bb/U-026-H-00010-A.jpg[/img]Cartridges came in two different sizes and are black in color (USA) with well rendered artwork adorning the front of the cart (almost like a mini water color painting) and game instructions on the back. The title is displayed along the 'spine' of the cartridge in easy to read 'rainbow' lettering. The silver colored boxes are similar in size to the
Atari 2600, but much more sturdy and are handsomely numbered. Many games come packaged with a controller overlay identical to the same concept used by
Intellivision. A number of popular games were developed for the
Arcadia 2001, including
Pacman,
Galaxian and
Defender.
Atari successfully sued
Emerson, and other companies, claiming they had exclusive rights to these game franchises. These games never saw the light of day and resulted in a waste of a great deal of capital. This left
Emerson scrambling for suitor(s) to develop game software. With the Atari 5200 and the Coleco Colecovision about to be released, both being superior systems, development for the
Arcadia 2001 was non existent. A total of 35 games (most arcade clones) were released for this system. Surprising, this console was manufactured and released in many different countries outside of the USA. All are basically the same, but differ in one significant way - cartridge size. Games are not necessarily compatible with all systems.
Development for the
Arcadia 2001 ceased about one year after it's debut. Unable to compete with technologically superior consoles that were released at virtually the same time (
Atari 5200 and
Coleco ColecoVision) coupled with the lack of third party software support sealed this system's fate.
Prices seem to fluctuate greatly on this system and appear to be dependant on the respective model. Though this console was a relative failure and a mere blip on the radar, it is not that rare and can be easily obtained.
The link to the full review of this system (including ratings, pictures and video):
http://www.videogameconso...rary.com/pg80-arcadia.htmThanks all.
Terry (a.k.a. Marriott_Guy)
The Video Game Console Library
http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com
