The Arcadia 2001

The Arcadia 2001 featured joysticks you could unscrew

Arcadia 2001 and its huge cartridges

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. 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.

Games for the Arcadia 2001 and Clones

Super Dimension Fortress Macross goes down in history as the first video game based on the popular Macross anime series, produced for the Bandai Arcadia, a Japanese licensed version of the Arcadia 2001 (1983)

Space Squadron for the Arcadia 2001 was such a slavish clone of the smash hit Williams Electronics arcade game Defender that it was only released overseas, and a "safe" version with gameplay elements added released in NA titled Space Raiders (Space Squadron released in 1982)

Space Vultures for the Arcadia 2001 has an apropos title, as it scavenged gameplay from two different, but interestingly connected, games: Phoenix and Demon Attack. Funny, because Atari, owner of the home game license of the Centuri arcade game Phoenix, sued Imagic over the similar Demon Attack! (1982)

You might not have heard of the obscure arcade game Spiders, but the Arcadia 2001 adaptation is the only one done for the coin-op, and is also considered one of the top games for the home console (1982)

Star Chess for the Arcadia 2001 replaces traditional chess pieces with space ships, and grants them abilities not found in any traditional chess book (1982)

Super Bug for the Arcadia was not an adaptation of the B&W Kee Games arcade game, but a kind of combat version of the classic game snake, only here you tried to shoot other snakes in the arena down to nothing (1982)

Super Gobbler for the Arcadia 2001 was a slavish copy of the arcade wunderkind Pac-Man, so much so that Emerson never released it in NA, and reskinned the game and released it domestically as Cat Trax (1982)

In the superbly-named Tanks A Lot for the Arcadia 2001, you played Bazooka Man, blowing up tanks in a maze with a rocket launcher (1982)

The End for the Arcadia 2001 was a Galaxian-type shooter, with the added twist of trying to keep the swooping aliens from grabbing the bricks of your defensive shield and carrying up to the top of the screen and spelling THE END... immediately ending the game if they accomplish this (1982)

Turtles for the Arcadia 2001 was a licensed version of the Turtles arcade game by Konami, but changed the enemies from beetles to delivery trucks! (1982)

Parashooter for the Arcadia 2001 was a clone of a popular game type found on home computers, like Sabotage for the Apple II or Paratrooper for people on IBM compatibles. In it you controlled a fixed gun emplacement, trying to shoot falling paratroopers and prevent them from overrunning your defenses (1982)

Robot Killer for the Arcadia 2001 wasn't released in North America due to it being a direct copy of Stern Electronics' hit arcade game Berzerk. The humanoid robot character assets were then converted into monsters and the game released domestically as Escape (Robot Killer released in 1982)

Yet another Arcadia 2001 game that cribs liberally from a successful arcade game, in this case Galaxian... although there is the new game mechanic here of a power meter on screen that acts as a fuel gauge that will destroy you if it runs out, requiring that you play more aggressively during a round (1982)

Space Mission is an original game for the Arcadia 2001, where players use a drone to collect space station parts to assemble, and then switch to a mothership cockpit view to destroy attacking aliens (1982)

Space Raiders for the Arcadia 2001 is a Defender game without the defending part, with the humanoids to be rescued stripped out of the game before release to avoid having to defend the game in court (1982)

In the arcades, Pleiades was the lesser-known sequel to hit coin-op Phoenix, and Pleiades on the Arcadia 2001 is the only officially licensed version of the game for home consoles! (1983)

Another obscure arcade title rolling onto the Arcadia 2001, R2D Tank was a coin-op made by Japanese gamemaker Sigma. It's an interesting twist on the maze-game genre, where gamers roll their tanks over ammo to load themselves to fight enemy tanks (1982)

Another Arcadia 2001 adaptation of an obscure arcade game, and a rather faithful one at that (1983)

Yet another obscure arcade game driving its way onto the Arcadia 2001 (1983)

Doraemon was a popular Japanese character from the genre known as kawaii (cute), and his appearance on the Bandai Arcadia variant of the Arcadia 2001 was the very first home video game version of the character (1983)

Dr. Slump for the Bandai Arcadia, a Japanese variant of the Arcadia 2001, is a highly-polished game based on the manga and anime series created by Akira Toriyama, who would go on to create Dragon Ball! (Dr. Slump released in 1983)

3D Attack is a spectacular clone of the graphics powerhouse arcade game Zaxxon by Sega, even including the pseudo-3D isometric view, something the Atari 2600 version didn't do! Unfortunately, the game was only released on the Italian variant of the Arcadia 2001, called Leonardo (1983)

Plastering "3D" on the box of 3D Bowling for the Arcadia 2001 is a pretty huge stretch, as the throwing view of the bowler has a slight isometric view, along with the closeup of the pins at the top of the screen (1982)

Again, Emerson is leaning heavily in its various sports games on an isometric view of the playing field making the game "3D". Still, 3D Soccer for the Arcadia 2001 definitely has one (1982)

Alien Invaders is, of course, the Arcadia 2001 version of arcade classic Space Invaders, with the questionable addition of a hard three real-time minutes timer to clear the screen of enemies or else lose the game (1982)

American Football on the Arcadia 2001 was more like American Foosball, where using the controller moved everyone on your team in the same direction at the same time. But at least it rendered 11 players a side (1982)

Auto Race for the Arcadia 2001 is pretty much the system's unofficial take on the 1980 Atari racing game Monte Carlo (Auto Race released in 1982)

Mobile Soldier Gundam, for the Bandai Arcadia, was the first home video game featuring the famous anime character (1983)

A strange choice that the Arcadia 2001 version of Baseball makes is that there is no ability to play the ball if a hit lands within the infield.... all balls here there are automatic outs (1982)

Basketball on the Arcadia 2001 features a 5-player roster for both teams, and apes the Intellivision's NBA Basketball by using a plastic overlay over the controller keypads for commands like passing and shooting... although it also has the same flaw as the Intellivision version by only having a two-player mode... no solo play (1982)

Black Jack & Poker for the Arcadia 2001 had the same complexity as the Intellivision pack-in game Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack, due to it also using an overlay over the controller keypads. It lacked the personality of the Intellivision game, though, due to no dealer being on screen giving you visual guff over your plays. It did feature a two-player mode, where the other player had to look away from the TV at times. No peeking! (1982)

Brain Quiz for the Arcadia 2001 featured three logic games: Mindbreaker, a version of Mastermind, Maxit which is a grid-based number picking game and the good old game of Hangman (1982)

While Capture for the Arcadia 2001 (its version of grid/piece game Othello) is often cited for having great visual fidelity, it also infuriated players by simply giving the CPU more starting pieces on higher difficulty levels (1982)

Cat Trax on the Arcadia 2001 is the NA version of Crazy Gobbler, a slavish Pac-Man clone, with this game being reskinned with assets related to the arcade game Cat Trax through licensing and released domestically to avoid legal hassles from Atari, owner of the home rights to Pac-Man (1982)

Circus was one of a plethora of unlicensed versions of Exidy's arcade game Circus, where you control a teeter-totter with a dial controller to make clowns bounce up and break balloons. However, since you're stuck with a joystick here, controlling the teeter-totter with any kind of precision is nigh impossible (1983)

Crazy Climber for the Arcadia 2001 was the first adaptation of the popular Nichibutsu arcade original, beating the 1983 Atari 2600 version. However, the Arcadia version also guts the whole play mechanic of the coin-op by having the joystick just move the character around, as opposed to the reach-and-pull mechanic of the original (1982)

Funky Fish for the Arcadia 2001 is a pretty faithful adaptation of the arcade original. The problem being that few people had heard of the Sun Electronics coin-op, and the home version was only released overseas (1983)

Although Golf on the Arcadia 2001 is a top-down blocky affair, it does represent several aspects of the game like mis-timed duffed shots that barely move, a wind mode that blows unaimed shots off track, water hazards and rough that dramatically shortens travel distance (1982)

Grand Slam Tennis for the Arcadia 2001 apes the Tennis game from Activision by rendering the court as a trapezoid for a 3D effect, and using a ball shadow to help players place themselves to hit the ball (1982)

Another Arcadia 2001 official adaptation of an obscure arcade game, this time by Konami (1982)

Another official port of a Konami arcade game, known as Kamikaze in Japan (1982)

Boxing for the Arcadia 2001 featured a side-view of the ring and used a novel method of controlling your pugilist: hitting the left side button threw a left jab, and hitting the right button threw a right jab (1982)

Combat on the Arcadia 2001 is less a top-down maze shooter like Atari's pack-in game for the VCS, and more a complex first-person tank simulation like Atari's Battlezone (1982)

Math Logic for the Arcadia 2001 is the overseas version of Brain Quiz (1982)

You guessed it: Missile War for the Arcadia 2001 was a knock-off of Atari's popular arcade hit Missile Command (1982)

Don't mistake Monaco Grand Prix as some kind of adaptation of the famous Sega racing game of the same name; this weak entry for the Emerson console has nothing to do with it, either in polished gameplay or smooth visuals (1982)

Nibblemen for the Arcadia 2001 is of course this console's Pac-Man clone, so much so that the game was never released in North America in fear of Atari's lawyers. While hardware limitations reduced the number of chasing ghosts to only three, it did feature options to change the nature of the maze (1982)

The Arcadia 2001 aped the Mattel Intellivision in quite a few ways, both hardware and software-wise. Case in point, the game Ocean Battle, which you can tell by the title takes a lot of inspiration from Sea Battle on Mattel's console (1982)

Emerson risked the ire of Atari again by offering a port of Galaxian to the Arcadia 2001, so once again, again they offered the game for sale overseas, and re-skinned it as Space Attack domestically (1982)

Here's Emerson, testing the outer fringes of intellectual property by initially developing a direct port of Atari's extremely popular arcade and home game Breakout, and then only offering Breakaway as Breakout overseas (1982)

Crazy Gobbler for the Arcadia 2001 was the unauthorized clone of Pac-Man for the console, the legal ramifications of which caused Emerson to reskin the game as a licenced version of Cat Trax, and release the original game only overseas (1982)

While the graphics on the box would lead one to believe Escape for the Arcadia 2001 is their Pac-Man clone, but don't worry, they're not ripping off the Namco/Midway arcade hit. They're ripping off the Stern arcade hit Berzerk! (1982)

Did you long for a video game about living the life of a vagrant trying to ride the rails while avoiding patrolling policeman? Emerson has you covered, with the bizarre Arcadia 2001 Frogger knockoff Hobo (1983)

Horse Racing for the Arcadia 2001 is strictly a betting simulation, with no option to steer a horse during the race like in Horse Racing for the Mattel Intellivision (1983)

Arcade game Jump Bug had players bouncing a VW bug around a platform level, and the Arcadia 2001 version is a fully licensed home version of the game (1982)

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. It can also switch between 75-ohm – 300-ohm, allowing it to be used with a cable-TV box without an adaptor.

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, in Australia and 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 also referred to as the Tempest and in New Zealand it carries the moniker Video Master… all among nearly 40 different worldwide versions of the console. Electronics company Bandai handles the release of the console in Japan in 1982, labelling it simply as the Arcadia.

Ormatu Video Spelcomputer 2001, Netherlands version of the Arcadia 2001

Intervision 2001, Swiss version of the Arcadia 2001

Tempest, the Australian version of the Arcadia 2001

The Hanimex HMG 2550 video game console, sold in Germany, Canada and Australia, 1982

The Bandai Arcadia as released in Japan, 1982

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.

Arcadia 2001 home video game by Emerson, 1982

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.

Sources (Click to view)

Arcade Express newsletter, Vol. One, Number One, Aug. 15 1982 – http://www.digitpress.com/library/newsletters/arcadeexpress/arcade_express_v1n1.pdf
Amigan Software present Emerson Arcadia 2001 Central – amigan.yatho.com
Electronic Games, “Players Guide to Programmable Videogames – Whatever Happened To…”, pg. 82, Nov 1983

Videogames.org – Emerson Arcadia 2001 Information – videogames.org/html/ArcadiaStuff/ArcadiaIndex.html
Image of Arcadia 2001 with TDE watermark taken by William Hunter at the Videogame History Museum exhibit, CGE 2014 in Las Vegas
RetroNi. “Emerson Arcadia 2001 3D Boxes Pack.” EmuMovies, 20 Apr. 2018, emumovies.com/files/file/2466-emerson-arcadia-2001-3d-boxes-pack/. Box art for Tanks A Lot, Baseball, Space Attack and Cat Trax.
Computer Closet Collection – Emerson Arcadia 2001
Index of /Logos_500jpgs/images – Index of /Logos_500jpgs/images
“Emerson launches videogame system.” Merchandising Jun. 1982. 85. Web. Internet Archive 5 Nov. 2022. Upl:yuberus. Retrieved 11 Mar. 2026. The unit [Arcadia 2001] is also cable ready, with 75-ohm or 300-ohm switching built-in, eliminating the need for a special adaptor where cable systems are used.
Argall, Matthew Paul. “Hanimex HMG 2650 video game console.” Web. https://archive.org/details/hanimex-hmg-2650-video-game-console Internet Archive 15 Jul. 2020. Upl:HappySwordsman. Retrieved 11 Mar. 2026. Image of Hanimex video game system.
Image of the Bandai Arcadia from Famitsu 1435 Appendix, included as a supplement to the 30th anniversary Famitsu special, 2016
Amos, Evan. “Emerson Arcadia 2001 (1982)” The Game Console: A Photographic History from Atari to Xbox, William Pollock 2019. 53. Web. Internet Archive 10 Aug. 2024. Upl:betteljuice. Retrieved 10 Mar. 2026. Image of Arcadia 2001, 3/4 perspective facing left with left controller removed from console casing.
Prince, Suzan D. “Game Workout: Arcadia 2001.” Comp. Scottithgames. Electronic Fun with Computers & Games May 1983: 38-41. Internet Archive. 28 May 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2022. Emerson is preparing to roll out an Atari VCS piggy-back unit, the TCI-16, a keyboard which turns the Atari system into a computer and allows playing of Emerson-as well as Atari-campatible software.

Console »
Arcadia 2001 - The Little System That Didn't

Emerson 1982

Arcadia 2001: Small Vision

The Lost Arcadia

Sources (Click to view)