3. ARCADIA 2001
---------------

Released during the heyday of the Atari 2600 (1982, to be precise),
Emerson's Arcadia 2001 had just 22 titles in its library, and all the
games were published by Emerson and developed by UA Limited. The console's
lack of commercial success in the United States kept such third-party
publishers as Imagic, Activision and Parker Brothers from entering the
fray. The Arcadia 2001 was seen in many circles as nothing more than an
outlet for mediocre arcade clones, but its small base of hardcore
supporters argued differently. Some of the better games for the system
include Cat Trax (a Mouse Trap clone), Spiders (based on a Centipede-like
arcade game), and Tanks a Lot (a fairly elaborate tank shooter).
  The Arcadia 2001 has more power than the Atari 2600 (one kilobyte of RAM
compared to a mere 128 bytes), but it lacked the popular arcade ports of
its day, such as Space Invaders, Missile Command and Pac-Man. Also, the
next generation of systems, ie. the ColecoVision and the Atari 5200, were
released later the same year, making the 2001 all but irrelevant to the
gaming masses. Its shelf life was purportedly two years, but it was sold
at discounted prices almost from the beginning.
  The Arcadia console is small (about the size of an Atari 2600 Jr.), and
its controllers, which have Intellivision-like keypads, a firebutton on
each side, and thin, short, screw-in joysticks, are hardwired into the
system. Most of the games came with plastic keypad overlays. The console's
diminutive size, combined with its 12-volt power supply, make it semi-
portable as it can be plugged into boat and camper batteries and into
portable TV battery packs. Of course, unlike the Vectrex, the Arcadia 2001
isn't equipped with its own monitor.
  Despite its lack of success in the USA, the Arcadia 2001 was released
overseas under a number of different names (including Tele-Fever and
Leisure-Vision), which makes it a chore to be a completist when it comes
to collecting the system and its components. Also complicating matters are
the many label and cartridge variations found within its library of games.

Caption: Arcadia 2001 system with two controllers, each containing a
Football keypad overlay. Released in 1982, the Arcadia couldn't compete
with the ubiquitous Atari 2600 or the next-gen ColecoVision.

Caption: Ten Arcadia game cartridges: American Football, Tanks a Lot,
Jungler, Escape, Cat Trax, 3D Bowling, Baseball, Brain Quiz, Breakaway and
Missile War.

Caption: Two Arcadia 2001 games: Space Raiders (a poor man's Defender) and
Space Attack (a weak Galaxian clone), each with accompanying manual.

Arcadia 2001 Games
------------------

[See http://amigan.classicgaming.gamespy.com/agg/]

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