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Strange and forgotten consoles

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{{Consoles}}
{{outdated}}
Beneath the clean and successful exterior of gaming giants like the [[Super Nintendo emulators|Super Nintendo]] and [[PlayStation emulators|PlayStation]] lies the '''Gap of Vidya''': a realm populated by unwanted and forgotten consoles of old, immortal in their plasticity. Here we may receive knowledge of their eternal fate. Not everything on this page can or will be emulated.
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
|VHS tape console released in 1987 by Worlds of Wonder. It relied on a light gun and score counter for all of its 5 games, which could not really be lost. There's an add-on for the multi-[[Arcade LaserDisc emulators|arcade LaserDisc emulator]] [[DAPHNE]] called [https://web.archive.org/web/20150512114240/http://www.singeengine.com/cms/node/6 SINGE], which can possibly be able to emulate the console.] We're in murky waters here, so run this at your own risk.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj498-wkOz4 Cinemassacre Demonstration]
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|Hybrid clone of both the [[SG-1000 emulators|SG-1000]] and [[ColecoVision emulators|ColecoVision]]. Sold by Telegames as the Telegames Personal Arcade, allegedly with permission from Coleco themselves. The console's build quality leaves a lot to be desired, not to mention that games for the aforementioned platforms can be played on most [[ColecoVision emulators]] anyway.
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|[https://muppetsegaretro.fandom.comorg/wiki/Video_Buddy Video_Driver Family Driver]/[https://segaretro.org/Video_Driver Video Driver]
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
|Sega also had a go with the VHS-Based console market with the Family Driver/Video Driver from 1988 and unlike most of these type of consoles, this did not play Light-gun games but instead played driving games. Only three games were released for the system; it's unknown when Sega discontinued it.
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|Funsation
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|No
|Released circa 1989 by European company, Funsation (The Exact Origin is Unknown).This Projector based console somehow sold worse and is even rarer then the "Mega Video Game" (A similar console that also flopped). It's unknown how many games were made for it, how many units sold or when it was discontinued.
It was also released in France (and Germany?) by French toy company, Savie as the [https://imgur.com/gallery/ZawKz "Projector Jeu Électronique LCD"]
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|[[wikipedia:Control-Vision|Hasbro Control Vision]]
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
|A console Hasbro was going to release in 1989 before being abandoned and was going to use VHS Content instead of ROM Cartridges. it led to the creation of CD-ROM Games which were more advanced. two of it's planned Games, Night Trap and Sewer Shark, were later released on the [[Sega CD]], with the former being controversial and started the ESRB, With the latter being a launch title for the Sega CD. currently no emulators support it as the console and all of it's games are Undumped.
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|[[wikipedia:My Vision|My Vision]]
|style="background:palegreen;"|[http://wwwadb.progettoemmaarcadeitalia.net/mess/systemdettaglio_mame.php?machinegame_name=myvision Good]
|No
|Arcade Manufacturer Nichibutsu's Attempt to Jump to the Console Market, Released in 1983, It Was Notable for Having the Buttons on the Console, and only having six games, all of which are table games. It is Emulated by ares, as well as having fairly good support in MAME.
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|[[wikipedia:Philips_Videopac%2B_G7400|Philips Videopac+ G7400]]
|style="background:skyblue;"|[http://wwwadb.progettoemmaarcadeitalia.net/mess/systemdettaglio_mame.php?machinegame_name=g7400 videopacp Decent]
|[https://mega.co.nz/#!MRMCGKSJ!x8Mk78ClxL5y2Js3IdRts0GiY8U9TS46JcuXbTx9S1c No-intro]
|A rare Europe-only console, first released in early 1983. Philips designed the Videopac+ to be a backwards-compatible successor to the [[Magnavox Odyssey² emulators|Videopac/Odyssey²]], and was even planning to release an American version called the "Odyssey³", but they reconsidered after a poor showing at that year's CES. Then the 1983 crash happened, and Philips quickly axed the whole thing. Limited support in some Odyssey² emulators.
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|No
|A terrifying machine based on HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, featuring voice-recognition and AI learning. Its failure led it to being unreleased, and bankrupted RDI. There are currently no known emulators for the Halcyon, as mankind has yet to fully comprehend its awesome power.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeI5zKeGELA Demonstration]
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|style="background:skyblue;"|Decent
|[https://archive.org/details/Epoch_Super_Cassette_Vision_TOSEC_2012_04_23 TOSEC]/[https://archive.org/details/supercassettevision_library ✓]
|1984 successor to the original Cassette Vision. Much easier to emulate as the hardware is similar to some other obscure systems. There's an emulator for it called [http://takeda-toshiya.my.coocan.jp/ eSCV]. The graphical quality is somewhere between the ColecoVision and NES. Was actually fairly successful in Japan until the Famicom came along and kicked its assbutt. Then [http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/11/117006/1757950-ladycassettevision.jpg this] [https://www.svg.com/94780/bizarre-console-flops-gaming-history/ happened]. It has a homebrew scene that is still alive with some cool stuff like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MudYEDUK3Nw a port of Super Mario Bros] and was the first console with a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWPapt33UgQ Dragon Ball] videogame.
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|[http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=2&c=1294 Soundic SD-290]
|style="background:skyblue;"|Decent
|[https://archive.org/download/TOSEC_V2017-04-23/Cybiko/ TOSEC]
|The Cybiko is a Russian handheld computer introduced in the U.S. by David Yang's company Cybiko Inc. as a retail test market in New York on April 2000, and rolled out nationwide in May 2000. It is was designed for teens, featuring its own two-way radio text messaging systemthat could send and receive over ad-hoc Cybiko networks, and was actually quite successful for a couple of years before its target market switched to just using cellphones instead. It had over 430 "official" freeware games and applications.[https://youtu.be/38VEBOseAzM LGR Review]
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|[[wikipedia:Gamate|Gamate]]
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|[[Watara Supervision emulators|Watara Supervision]]
|style="background:palegreen;"|Good
|No-intro // [https://archive.org/download/TOSEC_V2017-04-23/Watara/ TOSEC]
|No
|Released in 2022 by Panic Inc, The Playdate uses a monochrome screen, and along with standard controls (A & B Buttons, D-Pad) there is a Crank on the side of the console, giving the system a unique way of controlling games. Game development is aimed mainly at indie studios. Since the console is still being sold, it unknown how games will be made for it, when it well be discontinued or how many units of this system will sell.
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=Toy aisle consoles =
The toy aisle console started showing up in the 1990s, they orignally appealed to parents looking for something similar to the NES, SNES or Genesis but with a bigger focus on content safe for a younger audience. These systems are usually not designed to compete with the bigger names in the industry but to serve a niche audience.
 
 
The name "Toy aisle consoles" comes from the fact that a majority of these consoles are sold in the toy aisles of stores, but this is not always the case.
 
(NOTE #1 - Be careful when adding systems; video games were seen as just toys until the end of the [[wikipedia:1993 United States Senate hearings on video games|1993 U.S. Senate video game hearings]])<br/>
(NOTE #2 - Not all educational computers belong here; a large majority of them are clones or reskins not noteworthy enough to be added)
 
{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" style="text-align:left;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|[[MAME]] support
! scope="col"|ROMs
! scope="col"|Description
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|[http://videogamekraken.com/arcadia-skeet-shoot-by-toymax Arcadia Skeet Shoot]
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
|Released in October of 1998 by Toymax (The makers of the Creepy Crawlers and My Pet Monster toys), this Projector-based console, which only [http://kevinisblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/arcadia-electronic-skeet-shoot-game.html played Light-gun games], sold 435,000 units in the first 18 months before being recalled after reports of projectors overheating, melting, smoking and in a few rare cases, causing burn injuries (Faulty cartridges were to blame). After about three revisions, the system was discontinued sometime between 2000 and 2001, with only 5 out of the 9 games advertised known to have been released. It's unknown how many units were sold once the console was relaunched after the recall.
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|BattleVision
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|No
|BattleVision is a VHS console released by Tiger Electronics in 1994.
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|Buzztime Home Trivia System
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|No
|Released around 2004, the system is the result of a partnership between Cadaco Toys and NTN Network (Now known as [[wikipedia:NTN Buzztime|NTN Buzztime]] after 2005), and, as the name implies, the console was designed around playing trivia with family and friends. The console runs on [https://twitter.com/MameHaze/status/1221263600398094337| Elan Hardware]. It's unknown how many games were made for it, how many units were sold, or when it was discontinued.
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|Cube World
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
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|Tomy Data Battle Virtual Simulation
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|No
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|[[Educational consoles]]
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
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|Giga Pets TV Game System
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
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|Giochi Preziosi My Life
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
|Released in Italy in 2007, My Life was marketed towards young girls five to thirteen years of age. A simple life simulator serves as the built-in game and as the main UI. How many units were sold, the number of games released, and when it was discontinued is unknown.
|-
|GoGo TV Video Vision
|style="background: Red;"| Preliminary
|No
|Released sometime between 2005 and 2006 by Manley, the GoGo is Another PS2 Eye-Toy turned into an console, similar to the Hasbro Ion, an [[Educational consoles|Educational console]] released around the same time, and like the Ion, it flopped and has since fallen into obscurity. It's unknown how many games were made for it, how many units were sold, or when it was discontinued.
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|[http://videogamekraken.com/igame-family-by-elonex Elonex iGAME]
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|No
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|[[Mattel Hyperscan]]
|style="background: Red;"| Preliminary
|[https://archive.org/details/MattelHyperscan_Redump_2014-12-14 Redump]
|Something you would expect to see under a bargain bin at Walmart, the Mattel Hyperscan was a card/disc-based system released in 2006 to appeal to some poor child's aunt at Christmas. It ran on a 32-bit Sunplus system-on-a-chip CPU, a successor to the 16-bit CPUs used to run consoles such as the V.Smile, many Jakks Pacific TV games and Vii. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv2-M78m_qI CGR Review].
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|[https://bootleggames.fandom.com/wiki/POP_Station POP Station]
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
|This infamous Game & Watch clone was originally released sometime between late 2004 and 2006 by an Unknown Chinese Manufacturer, the first few models had a selection of four games, and each system only had one built-in game, meaning you would need to buy four of them to get all the games available. Later models used interchangeable cartridges. It's unknown if these later models were made by the same manufacturer that made the original systems or if it's being produced by other companies making clones. It's unknown how many units have been sold so far.
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|[[Pixter]]
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
|Released in 2000 as Fisher-Price's first Video Game Console, the Pixter was one of many consoles from the 2000s sold in the toy aisle and marketed towards children; around 25 to 50 games were released for it before being discontinued in 2007.
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|Pixel Chix
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
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|Sifteo Cubes
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
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|[[VideoNow XP]]
|style="background:gainsboro;"|None
|No
|Released in 2003 and underwent 5 total revisions. An often-forgotten attempt by Hasbro and their subsidiary Tiger Electronics (of Game.com fame) to use the popularity of their VideoNow portable video players to enter the Video Game market.
|}
[[Category:Eighth-generation video game consoles|*]]
[[Category:Ninth-generation video game consoles|*]]
[[Category:Emulated By MAME|*Various Emulation]]
[[Category:Embedded Graphics|*]]
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{{NEL}}
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