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The Tomy Tutor, originally sold in Japan as the and in the UK as the
CPU (the TMS9995, closely related to the TI-99/4's TMS 9900); other competitors in its price range still used 
On the other hand, the Tutor did not sell well against the
Tomy Tutor
at Floodgap.com
Review of Tomy Tutor
from '' Your Computer'' magazine, October 1983
Tomy Tutor/Pyūta page
at Old-computers.com
Home computers Takara Tomy Computer-related introductions in 1982
The Tomy Tutor, originally sold in Japan as the and in the UK as the Grandstand
A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...
Tutor, is a home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...
produced by the Japanese toymaker Tomy
(trade name, trading as Takara Tomy in Asia and Tomy elsewhere) is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as , became known for creating popular toys like the B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pi ...
. It is architecturally similar, but not identical, to the TI-99/4A
The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are home computers released by Texas Instruments (TI) in 1979 and 1981, respectively.
Based on TI's own TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. The assoc ...
, and uses a similar Texas Instruments TMS9900
The TMS9900 was one of the first commercially available single-chip 16-bit microprocessors. Introduced in June 1976, it implemented Texas Instruments's TI-990 minicomputer architecture in a single-chip format, and was initially used for low-end ...
16-bit CPU.16-bit
16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors.
A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...8-bit
In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data bu ...
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...
s.
The Pyūta Jr. was a console version of the Pyūta, released in April 1983, and similarly was only sold in Japan.
In Japan, Tomy set a sales target of about 90,000 units and ¥5 billion revenue for the first year by selling Pyūta to elementary and junior high school students as a "drawing computer", having nearly 40,000 units shipped in its first 4 months as of August 1982. However, sales fell sharply when Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
released Family Computer (later deployed as Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
) in 1983 as a cost-effective option. In February 1985, Tomy ceased its production and withdrew from the market. As of May 1984, a total of 120,000 units were shipped for domestic and export use in Japan.
On the other hand, the Tutor did not sell well against the ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...
in the UK and the Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
in other countries outside Japan. It ended up being removed quickly from the market and replaced the following year by the Pyūta mk2 with a standard mechanical keyboard instead of the original " Chiclet"-style keyboard. However, the new model seems to have been sold only in Japan, and even then only for a short period of time.
Technical specifications
*CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...
: Texas Instruments TMS9995
* Video: TMS9918
IMAGE:TMS9918A 01.jpg, VDP TMS9918A
IMAGE:TMS9918A 02.jpg, VDP TMS9918A
The TMS9918 is a video display controller (VDC) manufactured by Texas Instruments, in manuals referenced as "Video Display Processor" (VDP) and introduced in 1979. The TMS9918 ...
VDP (Video Display Processor)
** Resolution: 256 x 192 pixels
** 16 colors, up to 2 colors out of 8 horizontal dots
** Up to 32 monochrome sprites of 8 x 8 pixels, max 4 per horizontal line
** No hardware scrolling function
* Memory: 20 KB ROM built-in, 16 KB RAM (with 256 bytes CPU RAM built-in)
* Keyboard: 56 keys, JIS compliant
* Sounds: SN76489AN DCSG "Digital Complex Sound Generator"
* Weight:
* Media: ROM cartridge
A ROM cartridge, usually referred to in context simply as a cartridge, cart, cassette, or card, is a replaceable part designed to be connected to a consumer electronics device such as a home computer, video game console or, to a lesser extent, ...
, cassette
* Expansion: data recorder (optional), game adapter
List of games
* ''Baseball 3D'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Battle Fighter 3D'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Bomb Man'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Car-azy Racer'' (USA-exclusive, developed by Wordwright) * ''Cave Crawlers'' (USA)/''Maze Patrol'' (Japan) * ''Deep Six'' (USA)/''Marine Adventure'' (Japan) * ''Donpan'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Frogger
is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and published by Sega. In North America, it was distributed by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct five frogs to their homes by dodging traffic on a busy road, then crossing a ri ...
'' (Japan-exclusive port of the 1981 Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
arcade game)
* ''Hyperspace'' (USA)/''Tron
''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer ...
'' (Japan)
* '' Jungler'' (USA/Japan, port of the 1981 Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
arcade game)
* '' Loco-Motion'' (USA)/''Guttang Gottong'' (Japan) (port of the 1982 Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
arcade game)
* ''Mickey Athletic Land'' (Japan-exclusive)
* ''Mission Attack'' (Japan-exclusive)
* ''Monster Inn'' (Japan-exclusive)
* '' Mr. Do!'' (Japan-exclusive port of the 1982 Universal arcade game)
* ''Mystery Gold'' (Japan-exclusive)
* ''Night Flight'' (Japan-exclusive)
* ''Pooyan
is a fixed shooter arcade video game released by Konami in Japan in 1982. It was manufactured in North America by Stern (game company), Stern Electronics. The player controls "Mama", a pig whose babies have been kidnapped by a group of wolves.
...
'' (USA/Japan, port of the 1982 Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
arcade game)
* ''Rescue Copter'' (Japan-exclusive)
* ''Saurus Land'' (Japan-exclusive)
* '' Scramble'' (USA/Japan, port of the 1981 Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
arcade game)
* ''Super Bike'' (Japan-exclusive)
* ''Torpedo Terror'' (USA)/''Bermuda Triangle'' (Japan)
* ''Traffic Jam'' (USA/Japan)
* ''Triple Command'' (Japan-exclusive)
* '' Turpin'' (Japan-exclusive port of the 1981 Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
arcade game)
* ''Yonin Mahjong'' (Japan-exclusive)
References
{{reflist, refs= {{cite magazine, url=http://www.gondolin.org.uk/hchof/reviews/yc-tutor, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215155544/http://www.gondolin.org.uk/hchof/reviews/yc-tutor, date=October 1983, author=Simon Beesley, magazine= Your Computer Kquote=Simon Beesley looks at .the Tomy Tutor, to be sold in this country as the Grandstand Tutor., archive-date=2018-12-15, access-date=2019-07-19, title=Japan's Latest Contender itle visible on printed version}External links
Tomy Tutor
at Floodgap.com
Review of Tomy Tutor
from '' Your Computer'' magazine, October 1983
Tomy Tutor/Pyūta page
at Old-computers.com
Home computers Takara Tomy Computer-related introductions in 1982