On April 08, 2019, i posted this: (http://discreteconsoles.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-sharp-kjs-tv-game-xg-102.html) and i wrote that i didn't have this console...well it was true until last week as i finally brought one (ARGH...COULD....NOT....RESIST...BUYING.....IT!!!...LOL!!!), so now i have one but still don't know where to put it as this thing is quite huge: 19 5/8" x 15 3/4" x 7 1/4" and weights about 16 pounds...now that's a big console!
Here's a few pictures of this beast:
100 Yens a game, which is the equivalent of $1 USD
Player 2 paddle
The main panel
Player 1 paddle and reset button
Sounds get out by a speaker which is behind the paddle of Player 1
So after i have received it, took some pictures of it and began to open it to see what was inside this thing:
Side panel, which contain the mechanical coin counter
Coin slot and counter and at the bottom, the coin tray
Left side on the console
Top of the console
Err...still haven't translated what's on the sticker.
The back on the console
VHF outpout with Channel select; L-CH is Channel 1 and H-CH is Channel 2. And if you want to play this console in North America (Canada, United States and Mexico), you need to select Channel 95 to be able to play.
Sweet! Can plug a TV or monitor if you ever have both wall plugs used.
After removing the back panel: the inside of the console!
That is only the power supply and the RF modulator, oh and also the timer once you inserted a 100 Yens coin because you have 8 minutes and 20 seconds before the console shuts itself down.
The RF modulator
The timer circuit and power supply
The board of the main panel (with the game module removed)
The back of the coin counter
Now the fun begins! Here's the game module and the dedicated chips it uses:
Front of the Game Module - And as you can see, on all the dedicated game chips, you have right after the General Instrument logo (GI), the year and month when a chip was fabricated so they all start with "78" which means 1978. So this console was either released by the end of 1978 or in the beginning of 1979.
Back of the Game Module
The AY-3-8610-1 dedicated game chip (or PC-501 - Supersportic)
The Football/Soccer game from the 8610 (Sports - Game 1)
The Basketball game from the 8610 (Sports - Game 2)
The AY-3-8606-1 dedicated game chip 9 (or PC-506 - Wipeout)
The "Break-In 1" game from the 8606 (Block - Game 1)
The "Break-In 2" game from the 8606 (Block - Game 2)
The AY-3-8603-1 dedicated game chip (or PC-504 - Grand Prix/Race Car)
The game for 1 player (Car Race - Game 1)
The game for 2 players (Car Race - Game 2)
And the AY-3-8615 Color Converter
So this makes a total of 6 games (not 5 like previously mentioned). But what is strange is that all the games have the same colors. The only game which has the right colors is the Car Race games as they are the same color displayed on a Bandai TV-Jack Add-On 5000, the rest uses different colors which are provided by the AY-3-8615. That will be another story for another time.
And finally (for today), here's a picture of how i hooked up the console with Video & Audio output:
For Audio, i just hook it up on one the the speaker terminals (which i usually never do this but the audio source on the game module is very weak) and for the video, just plug in in the video output of the game module, easy as pie!
And here's a video recorded with an Adesso AV-200 USB gizmo:
The colors are very bright and we see thin static lines, this is what is outputted on the video output of the game module. Next time, i'll go right to the video source (the AY-3-8615 pin #5)
Until next, take care folks!
