GamesAnimal - 1982 Emerson Arcadia 2001

# Joysticks of the Past

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## 1982 Emerson Arcadia 2001

Envisioned originally as an Atari 2600 killer, the Emerson Arcadia 2001 was released in 1982 by Emerson Radio Corp. Not a bad machine in itself, the console was unfortunately destined to suffer immediately from a complete lack of third party development, and adopters were forced to live on a meagre diet of arcade clones. In fact, when the console was eventually withdrawn one and-a-half years after launch it still only had a catalogue of some 35 carts.

The system also perpetuated one of the greatest lies in the history of video games by claiming that it had 24K of system RAM. A statement that has since been proved to be a massive bluff at the time in order to boost interest in the machine.

Another interesting fact surrounding the system’s game lore is that the Emerson Arcadia 2001 was capable of running off a 12v DC power source such as a car battery, leading some ‘experts’ to dub it the first portable video game system.

Unfortunately, for the Arcadia 2001, it came out at the same time that other much better systems appeared — like the Atari 5200 and ColecoVision — which condemned it to the bargain-bin almost from day one. Due to a lack of original software support and poor marketing the Arcadia 2001 never really stood a chance against its far more muscular rivals, and for many gamers it’s as if the machine never really existed.

Specifications

Emerson Arcadia 2001
CPU : 8 bit Signetics 2650, 4.43 MHz
Memory : 1K, N/A Video Ram
Resolution : 208 x 108
Colours: 9 colors
Game Media : Cartridge