The is a

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 ...

made by Epoch Co. and released in Japan on July 17, 1984, and in Europe, specifically France, later in 1984. A successor to the

Cassette Vision The is a home video game console made by Epoch Co. and released in Japan on July 30, 1981. A redesigned model called the Cassette Vision Jr. was released afterwards. The term ''cassette'' is a contemporary Japanese synonym for ROM cartridge, ...

, it competed with Nintendo's

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

and Sega's

SG-1000 The is a home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was Sega's first entry into the home video game hardware business. Developed in response to a downturn in arcades starting in 1982, the SG-1000 was created on the advice of Hayao Nak ...

line in Japan.

History

Epoch's original Cassette Vision was introduced in Japan by Epoch in 1981, which had steady sales and took over 70% of the Japanese home console market at the time, with around 400,000 units sold. However, the introduction of next-generation systems from Nintendo, Casio and Sega quickly pushed back the original Cassette Vision, leading Epoch to quickly develop a successor. The Super Cassette Vision was released in 1984 at a cost of ¥14,800 yen, featuring an 8-bit processor and better performance more in line with its competitors. It was later released in France by ITMC under the Yeno branding. At least 16 games were brought over from Japan for a European release. A version of the system targeted the young female market, the Super Lady Cassette Vision. The console came packed in a pink carrying case, alongside the game Milky Princess. The system did not take off, and was unable to match the massive popularity of the Nintendo Famicom, leading Epoch to drop out of the console market by 1987.

Technical specifications

Epoch-Super-Cassette-Vision-Motherboard-FL

* CPU: 8-bit

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

µPD7801G microcontroller @ 4 Mhz * RAM: 128 bytes (internal to CPU) * ROM: 4 KB (internal to CPU) * Video processor: EPOCH TV-1 @ 14 Mhz * VRAM: 4 KB (2 × µPD4016C-2) + 2 KB (EPOCH TV-1 internal) * Colors: 16 * Sprites: 128 * Display: 309×246 * Sound processor: µPD1771C @ 6 MHz * Sound: 1 channel (tone, noise or 1-bit PCM) * Controllers: 2 × hard-wired joysticks

Games

* 1. ''Astro Wars - Invaders from Space'' * 2. ''Astro Wars II - Battle in Galaxy'' * 3. ''Super Golf'' * 4. ''Super Mahjong'' * 5. ''Super Base Ball'' ** ''Giants Hara Tatsunori no Super Base Ball'' * 6. ''Punch Boy'' * 7. ''Elevator Fight'' * 8. ''

Lupin III , also written as ''Lupin the Third'', ''Lupin the 3rd'', or ''Lupin the IIIrd'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It follows the endeavors of master thief Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsèn ...

'' * 9. ''Nebula'' * 10. ''Wheelie Racer'' * 11. ''

Boulder Dash ''Boulder Dash'' is a 2D maze-puzzle video game released in 1984 by First Star Software for Atari 8-bit computers. It was created by Canadian developers Peter Liepa and Chris Gray. The player controls Rockford, who collects treasures while e ...

'' * 12. ''

Miner 2049er ''Miner 2049er'' is a platform game created by Bill Hogue that was released in 1982 by Big Five Software. It was developed for the Atari 8-bit family and widely converted to other systems. The title "Miner 2049er" evokes a 21st-century take on t ...

'' * 13. ''Super Soccer'' * 14. ''Comic Circus'' * 15. ''Milky Princess'' * 16. ''Pop and Chips'' * 17. ''Nekketsu Kung-Fu Road'' * 18. ''Star Speeder'' * 19 ''TonTon Ball'' * 20. ''Super Sansu-Puter'' * 21. ''Shogi Nyuumon'' * 22. ''

Doraemon ''Doraemon'' ( ja, ドラえもん ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. The manga was first serialized in December 1969, with its 1,345 individual chapters compiled into 45 ''tankōbon'' volumes and ...

'' * 23. ''BASIC Nyuumon (included four basic games)'' * 24. ''

Dragon Slayer A dragonslayer is a person or being that slays dragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been popular in traditional stories from around the world: they are a type of story classified as type 300 in the Aarne–Thompson classifica ...

'' * 25. ''Rantou Pro-Wrestling'' * 26. ''WaiWai(Y2) Monster Land'' * 27. '' Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyō'' * 28. ''

Mappy is an arcade game by Namco, introduced in 1983 in video gaming, 1983 and distributed in the United States by Bally Midway. A side-scrolling platform game featuring a mouse protagonist and cat antagonists, it runs on Super Pac-Man, Namco Super ...

'' * 29. ''

Sky Kid is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game released by Namco in 1985. It runs on Namco Pac-Land hardware but with a video system like that used in ''Dragon Buster''. It is also the first game from Namco to allow two players to play si ...

'' * 30. '' Pole Position II''

Unreleased games

* ''Black Hole'' * ''Super Derby'' * ''Super Rugby''

External links

Super Cassette Vision at www.old-computers.com

References

{{Home video game consoles Products introduced in 1983 Home video game consoles Third-generation video game consoles