Bandai TV-Jack 1000

Hi folks!

It's been quite a while i haven't posted here (about 8 months) but i haven't closed this blog and neither the others. OK so let's go to the topic: the Bandai (Video Mate) TV-Jack 1000.

I have received 2 days ago some electronic games and game consoles from Japan and since this game
console is going to a long-time friend game collector in the U.S., i thought i would take pictures (and tested it of course) before it hits the road to the "BBQ" state. ;)

It's is quite small and that is understandable as space in Japanese homes is usually small (rather compacted). Even if all the writing is in Japanese, it's really easy to figure out the buttons.

The one on the left top is the "Game Select" (Tennis, Hockey, Squash & Practice", the one on the left bottom is the ON/OFF switch (What gave this away ? LOL!!), the three buttons in the middles are (not in order as i didn't tested those): Ball Angle, Ball Speed and Automatic/Manual Serve aand the big one on the right is the "Reset" button.

The AC adaptor (also tiny) has a 9 volts DC (Direct Current) at 80mA (milliAmpere) with positive tip. 80mA ? That's almost nothing as power consuming and i'll show why later on...Oh and the same AC adaptor can be used on the TV-Jack 1500.

So before i open the beast (the game console)...here's my residential black beast! :P

She is called "Princess" as my daughter loved the Disney Princesses back then, as for me, i call her "Black beast" (when she done something wrong) or "Guidoune!"

This is the PC board of the TV-Jack 1000, not much electronic parts but the "All-in-one Pong chips" back then didn't needed much electronic parts to make it worked.

As you can see in this picture, the chip is a TMS1955NL which is a Texas Instruments "AY-3-8500-1" clone but this chip is almost half size then the generic one (this is the first time i'm seeing a TMS1955NL so small) and that's why the AC adaptor uses so few milliamps!

And here's the chip which colorize the games, the "SN76499N" also made by Texas Instruments, and the big grey thing underneath is the crystal.

And here's the back of the PC board.

And this is where i took the video signal: Pin# 8 of the SN76499N

And here's the screenshots of the games:

 TENNIS

 HOCKEY

 SQUASH

PRACTICE

So that's it for the Bandai TV-Jack 1000, it's a simple 4 game console but can play 6 games as the light gun games are not used (rather not connected) in this game console. So this one will be going to a good home quite soon! =)

"The Invasion" already started....

Hi folks,

Last year i only made one post and hopefully this year, it will be more.

Lee Romanow has made a brand new homebrew for the RCA Studio II called "The Invasion" and release it on January 1st, 2019 (that's what i call starting great the New Year!) Not only you can play it in black & white but also in color either in Emma02 (https://www.emma02.hobby-site.com/) or on a European clone (Soundic Victory, Conic M-1200, Mustang 9016, etc...just to name a few) as well ...err...if you have a RCA Studio II Multicart or made a (ROM or RAM) cartridge yourself.

Here's some screen shots made with Emma02:

So many thanks to Lee Romanow for this great homebrew!

But that's not all, he also released another homebrew on December 12, 2017 called "Fifteen Puzzle" to celebrate the 40th anniversary (1977-2017) of the RCA Studio II, here's some screen shots:

And again, thanks so much for another great game Lee! ;)

And finally, Lee also made in ROM files some of the demos included in the Programming Manual for Studio III on pages 10 to 12, like these:

* move1.st2 (moving a spot around the screen)
* move2.st2 (moving a spot around the screen, continuous, soundless spot motion)
* move3.st2 (moving a spot around the screen, continuous, soundless spot motion, no blinking)
* tone.st2 (generate key selected tone sequence)
* random1.st2 (randomly moving spot)
* showkey.st2 (showing a keyboard digit)
* random2.st2 (showing random bytes)

And as for where to download these rom files, i have just made a page on Archive.org to download the homebrews mentioned here plus also all the others brews made by Lee and Paul Robson. You can get them here: RCA Studio II homebrews (archive.org)

So have fun!! =)

--- Sly DC ---

"No Shaders" for the Studio II

Hi folks!

It's been almost a year i haven't posted on this blog and it's not because of a lack of interest...oh not at all, but because personal and family matters comes first.

So to restart, here's a small news (but a news nontheless) about a Demo made for the RCA Studio II
called "No Shaders" by "realm of illusion". The demo is only 256 bytes and i think it's impressive.

You can get the rom file here: http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=77744 and you can also watch on Youtube right here:

Hopefully, we may see other demos and games in the future for the RCA Studio II or even the Studio III clones (fingers crossed!).

Unisonic Champion 2711 40th Anniversary!

Hi folks!

I know i've been out of the picture for quite some time as my last post was end of February. Well  my personal life (job, kids, etc...) takes mostly of my free time but i always come back when i have a chance (like this one!).

Remember the post of January 8, 2018 ? Well in the meantime that i went "into the void", decle has released the final two missing games and a bonus: a brand new game for the Unisonic Champion 2711!!

That's right, a new game called "Bottom Gas" which is a port of the Atari 2600 game "Dragster" made by Activision, just go at this link to get the roms: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/273767-lil-bro-ii-a-better-unisonic-champion-simulator-for-the-intellivision/

And if you're curious on how the Unisonic Champion 2711 internally works (hardware & software) then read everything on the top link and also here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/273768-download-lil-bro-ii-digital-game-roms-free

Decle made a hell of a great job and he so much impressed me that my brain went kablewwwyy! LOL!! it's guys like this that i love retro video gaming! =)

Until next post, take care all! =)

--- Sly DC ---

The "boomerang" effect

this is weird...i'm usually the one who makes donations but this time, it's me who gets a donation. I have made donations to the "Imusée" some few years ago as we were partners (i was the president of the CCJVQ back then) of some Pong and standalone consoles (Like a Nintendo Racing 112 or a Bandai TV-Jack 5000 to name a few...).

But it is strange who things can turn around (like a boomerang) as Marc-André Léger (from the Imusée) gave 4 Pong consoles to Éric St-Cyr & Sarah Szefer (from Noir Magnétique and also the ones who replaced me as president after my departure) and they gave me those 4 Pong consoles, which are a K-Mart S4000, a IEA Technology Teletainment, a National Semiconductor Adversary 370 and a Sharp model 2200.

So a huge "Thank You!!" goes to Marc-André, Éric and Sarah for the Pong consoles!! And here,s some pictures of the consoles:

 I'll mod these when i'll find some spare times as i still have two Soundic Victory MPT-03 to fix first (and those are also donations from my "good-old video game collector buddy" Ianoid).

Many Magnavox OdysseyService Manuals and more!

Hi again folks!

I finally had the time this week-end to scan many service manuals and other things and now these are uploaded on Archive.org. So which service manuals did i scanned ? Here's the list:

* Magnavox Odyssey 1TL200 Black & BK12 Service Manual
* Magnavox Odyssey 100 & 200 Service Manual
* Magnavox Odyssey 300 Service Manual
* Magnavox Odyssey 400 Service Manual
* Magnavox Odyssey 500 Service Manual
* Magnavox Odyssey 2000 Service Manual
* Magnavox Odyssey 3000 Service Manual
* Magnavox Odyssey 4000 Service Manual

BTW, all the Service Manuals were scanned at 600 DPI)

Plus:
* Magnavox Odyssey 4000 Games Manual (at 600 DPI)
* Philips Odyssey 2100 Games Manual (at 600 DPI - French/Dutch/German)

And additional files:
* Philips Odyssey 2001 (model G7512) Service Manual & Odyssey 2100 (model G7513) Service Manual (both scanned by Wil Manshande of www.freeservicemanuals.info)
* Magnavox Odyssey 5000 flyer (Yup, Odyssey 5000 and was scanned by David Winter)

You can read and/or download any of these here: https://archive.org/download/MagnavoxOdyssey
or simply go here: https://archive.org/details/MagnavoxOdyssey

Have fun! =)

x2 Basic Fun mini arcade manuals

Hi folks!

Since i have a week-end all to myself (after a few months), i finally scanned many documents which are for one of my other blogs (LOVE M.E.S.S.) and i have x2 manuals i have scanned for this blog:

Basic Fun Centipede Mini Arcade (the color LCD one...NOT the TFT mind you) and also the Basic Fun Pac-Man mini Arcade (also color LCD, not the boring greenish/greyish LCD type).

You can read or download them from the Archive.org web site by simply going here: https://archive.org/download/elecgames

And if you're new to this blog, then you may find other things quite interesting to read and/or to download.

=)