The is a
second-generation handheld game console
A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the cons ...
released by
Epoch Co.
is a Japanese toy and computer games company founded in 1958 which is best known for manufacturing Barcode Battler and ''Doraemon'' video games, and the Sylvanian Families series of toys. Its current Representative President is Michihiro Maeda.
...
in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in 1984 for 12,800
Japanese yen
The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the ...
.
It is also known as ''Pokekon''
and was one of the very few truly handheld systems to be released in the early 1980s, preceding the
Game Boy
The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...
by 5 years.
The system was a commercial failure in Japan,
and as a result, only 5 games were made for it. A puzzle game and a paint program were built into the system. It was powered by 4
AA batteries, and screen's contrast could be adjusted by the user. Input and output controls included four buttons, an 8-way
joypad, a
contrast dial, and a
sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
on-off switch.
Because the Game Pocket Computer failed in Japan, and was never released internationally,
the device is extremely rare, and units on
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
can go for hundreds of US dollars.
Technical specifications
*LC display: monochrome, 75 × 64 pixels
*
*Power supply: 4
AA batteries
*Battery life: Not clear; >70 hours
or 60 hours
*CPU: NEC uPD78c06 clocked at 6 MHz
*RAM: 2 KB
*ROM (cartridges): 8 or 16 KB
*Sound: 1 sound channel
Games
There were a total of 7 different games released for the system.
2 were built into the system.
The cartridge included with the system only serves as instructions and to occupy the cartridge slot, containing no game data, as it doesn't need to be inserted into the system to play the games;
*, an 11 tile version of
Fifteen puzzle
The 15 puzzle (also called Gem Puzzle, Boss Puzzle, Game of Fifteen, Mystic Square and many others) is a sliding puzzle having 15 square tiles numbered 1–15 in a frame that is 4 tiles high and 4 tiles wide, leaving one unoccupied tile position ...
.
*, a
Raster graphics editor
A raster graphics editor is a computer program that allows users to create and edit images interactively on the computer screen and save them in one of many raster graphics file formats (also known as bitmap images) such as JPEG, PNG, and GI ...
paint program.
The other 5 were released separately
for 2,980
Japanese yen
The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the ...
each, excluding ''Pocket Computer Mahjong'' which was 3,800 yen;
*
*
*
*
*
See also
*
Barcode Battler
The is a handheld game console released by Epoch Co. in March 1991.
The console at retail was supplied with a number of cards, each of which had a barcode. Upon starting the game, the player must swipe a barcode representing a player. The game ...
, another handheld game console released by Epoch Co.
References
External links
Other handheld games made by Epoch
Handheld game consoles
Monochrome video game consoles
Products introduced in 1984
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