Arcadia 2001: Small Vision

The diminutive Arcadia 2001 video game console springs from a location you might not immediately identify as a video game development hotbed:  Parsippany, New Jersey, Located there, Emerson Radio Corp. is a manufacturer of low-rent electronic equipment such as televisions, VCRs, radios and microwaves. At the June 1982 CES show in Chicago they debut the Arcadia 2001, later releasing the system and retailing it for 200 dollars U.S.. Inside its compact cabinet is an 8-bit 3.58 MHz Signetics 2650 CPU, powering a eight colour video display allowing four moving sprites onscreen at any one time with a screen resolution of 208 x 108. It sports a paltry 1K internal RAM, with the game cartridges packing 8K. Its graphics capability is a bit better than the Atari VCS, but only on par with the Intellivision, itself already a two year old system. The sound capability is a piddling one tone, accompanied by a noise generator. The Arcadia‘s controls are a clever innovation on the Intellivision; they feature control discs into which plastic sticks can be screwed for that Atari controller feeling. They also ape Mattel and Coleco’s consoles by having a 12 button keypad for use with game overlays, along with two fire buttons. There is space on the top cover to store the controllers when not in use, although no place to put the cords.

The Lost Arcadia

35 carts are eventually produced for the Arcadia 2001, in two different size formats, with names like Tanks A Lot, Baseball, Crazy Gobbler and Space Attack. The larger dimensions of the game cartridge format rivals the size of a Sony Betamax videotape. Despite these rather gargantuan carts, the Arcadia is considered the first portable videogame system not only for its overall diminutive size, but also for the fact it has the capability to run off any 12V DC power supply, like a car battery.

Click button to play Space Attack on the Emerson Arcadia 2001

The Arcadia goes under a number of aliases world-wide; looking at a select few, in Canada it’s known as the Leisure-Vision, Germany the Hanimex HMG-2650 and Tele-Fever, Italy the Leonardo, the Swiss refer to it as the suspiciously fonted and titled Intervision, people in the Netherlands play the Ormatu Video Spelcomputer 2001, in Australia it’s the Tempest and in New Zealand it carries the moniker Video Master. Electronics company Bandai handles the release of the console in Japan in 1982, labelling it simply as the Arcadia.

The release of the Arcadia in the U.S. comes the same year as the graphics powerhouse ColecoVision, and the poor Arcadia is immediately relegated to the fringe, failing to make even a minor dent before the market falls apart in 1983-84. Its most lasting legacy probably results from the legal tussle Emerson engages in with third-party game manufacturer Arcadia, makers of the Supercharger VCS enhancer, over their name. Arcadia the company is eventually renamed Starpath, and ends up folded into Epyx.

Along with the Arcadia 2001, Emerson also promises to join the plethora of companies making computer add-ons for the Atari 2600 with its TCI-16 piggy-back keyboard, which would play Arcadia 2001 games along with Atari carts. It never sees the light of day.