The Arcadia 2001 is a second-generation 8-bit

home video game console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. Home consoles are generally less powerful and customizable than ...

released by

Emerson Radio Emerson Radio Corporation is one of the United States' largest volume consumer electronics distributors and has a recognized trademark in continuous use since 1912. The company designs, markets, and licenses many product lines worldwide, inc ...

in May 1982 for a price of US$ 99, several months before the release of

ColecoVision ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision. The console offered a closer exp ...

. It was discontinued only 18 months later, with a total of 35 games having been released. Emerson licensed the Arcadia 2001 to Bandai, which released it in Japan. Over 30 Arcadia 2001 clones exist. The unrelated Arcadia Corporation, manufacturer of the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocesso ...

Supercharger add-on, was sued by Emerson for trademark infringement. Arcadia Corporation then changed its name to Starpath.

Description

The Arcadia is much smaller than its contemporary competitors and is powered by a standard 12 volt

power supply A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a ...

so it can be used in a boat or a vehicle. It has two headphone jacks on the far left and right sides of the back. The system came with two Intellivision-style controllers with a 12-button keypad and "fire" buttons on the sides. The direction pads have a removable joystick attachment. Most games came with

BoPET BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and ar ...

overlays that can be applied to the controller's keypads. The console itself has five buttons: Power, Start, Reset, Option, and Select. There are at least three different cartridge case styles and artwork, with variations on each. Emerson-family cartridges come in two different lengths (short and long) of black plastic cases.

Technical specifications

*Main Processor:

Signetics 2650 The Signetics 2650 was an 8-bit microprocessor introduced in July 1975. According to Adam Osborne's book ''An Introduction to Microprocessors Vol 2: Some Real Products'', it was "the most minicomputer-like" of the microprocessors available at ...

CPU (some variants run a Signetics 2650A) *RAM: 1 KB *ROM: None *Video display: 128 × 208 / 128 × 104, 8 Colours *

Video display controller A video display controller or VDC (also called a display engine or display interface) is an integrated circuit which is the main component in a video-signal generator, a device responsible for the production of a TV video signal in a computing ...

Signetics Signetics Corporation was an American electronics manufacturer specifically established to make integrated circuits. Founded in 1961, they went on to develop a number of early microprocessors and support chips, as well as the widely used 555 time ...

2637 UVI @ 3.58

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

(NTSC), 3.55 MHz (PAL) *Sound: Single Channel "Beeper" + Single Channel "Noise" *Hardware Sprites: 4 independent, single color *Controllers: 2 × 2 way *Keypads: 2 × 12 button (more buttons on some variants)

Console variants and clones

Many variants and clones of the Arcadia 2001 have been released by various companies in different countries. These systems are mostly compatible with each other. In 1982, the Bandai Arcadia was released only in Japan. Four exclusive games were released for the system.

Bandai Arcadia

In 1982, the Bandai Arcadia, a variant of the Emerson Arcadia 2001, was licensed and distributed to Japan by Bandai for a price of 19,800 yen. There were four Japan-exclusive games released by Bandai. *''Doraemon'' *''Dr. Slump'' *''Mobile Suit Gundam'' *''Super Dimension Fortress Macross''

Reception

After seeing the Arcadia 2001 at the summer 1982 Consumer Electronics Show, Danny Goodman of '' Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games'' reported that its graphics were similar to the Atari 2600's, and that "our overall impression of the game play was favorable for a system in this price range, though no cartridge stands out as being an exciting original creation". He called the controller offering both Intellivision-like disc and joystick functionality "A great idea".

Games

Emerson planned to launch the console with 19 games. Some Arcadia 2001 games are ports of lesser-known arcade games such as ''Route 16'', ''Jungler'', and ''Jump Bug'', which were not available on other home systems. Emerson actually created many popular arcade titles including '' Pac-Man'', ''

Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, wh ...

'' and '' Defender'' for the Arcadia, but never had them manufactured as Atari started to sue its competitor companies for releasing games to which it had exclusive-rights agreements. Early marketing showed popular arcade games, but they were later released as clones. For instance, the Arcadia 2001 game ''Space Raiders'' is a clone of ''Defender'', and ''Breakaway'' is a clone of '' Breakout''.

Released games

There are 47 games known to have been released for the Arcadia 2001 and its clones.