LCD Handhelds
Electronic
Monopoly
Excalibur
Space Invaders
MGA
Entertainment LCD Centipede Upright
MGA's
LCD Pac-Man
Radica
Tetris
Spectra
Electronics Tessella LCD game walkman
Tiger
Electronics Baseball
Tiger
Electronics Bowling
Tiger
Electronics Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
LCD games were all the rage
in the era before the GameBoy but continued to sell well even after portable
gaming grew into the powerhouse it is now. The Pac-Man game by Micro
Games of America was released in the mid 1990's and the Baseball game in
the mid 1980's. I remember when a friend gave me the baseball game
for Christmas years before the Gameboy release and it was a big deal since
pocket LCD games were relatively new, it still works fine to this day.
The Tessella LCD walkman is an interesting device. It's basically
a cheaply made cassette walkman with a Columns style LCD game on the front.
The problem is that when listening to a cassette there isn't enough power
to run the game as brightly as it should be. The Centipede game was
released by MGA Entertainment (formerly Micro Games of America) in 2005
and is shaped somewhat like an arcade cabinet of the 1980's, it looks nice
on a shelf but not much else.
Nintendo Game
& Watch Handhelds
Donkey
Kong Jr.
Mario
Bros. multiscreen (closed)
Mario
Bros. multiscreen (open)
Mario's
Cement Factory
Back before Nintendo released
the NES the genius that was Gunpei Yokoi (who also developed the Virtual
Boy among other things) created the Game & Watch series. Game
& Watch handhelds are known for being better designed, having better
gameplay, and were higher quality than the other pocket games of the day
- which is why they cost a bit more than other handheld games at the time.
Some Game & Watch games sell for hundreds of dollars now days as they
are extremely collectible. I've been lucky to pick up a few Game
& Watch handhelds locally for pocket change, the cheapest being my
Mario's Cement Factory for a dollar. It also came with the foam insert
which is in decent condition but the box is in terrible shape. It's
probably the worst condition Game & Watch box anyone will ever see.
It's bumpy and warped the whole way through from moisture and heat damage
- good thing the game inside was pristine.
Tabletop Arcade
Games
Coleco
- Pac-Man
Coleco
- Pac-Man (close up of controls)
Coleco
- Pac-Man (side art)
Coleco
- Pac-Man (close up of bezel)
Coleco
- Pac-Man (close up of playfield)
Coleco
- Pac-Man (unit running)
Coleco
- Pac-Man (front of unit)
Coleco
- Pac-Man (instructions on battery door)
Epoch
- Astro Command
Epoch
- Astro Command (close up of controls)
Epoch
- Astro Command (close up of playfield)
Epoch
- Astro Command (close up of boss stage in attract mode)
Radio
Shack / Tandy - Caveman
Radio
Shack / Tandy - Caveman (close up of playfield)
Radio
Shack / Tandy - Caveman (close up of controls)
Radio
Shack / Tandy - Caveman (unit running)
Radio
Shack / Tandy - Caveman (close up of dinosaur)
Radio
Shack / Tandy - Caveman (close up of caveman)
Radio
Shack / Tandy - Caveman (instructions on battery door)
Tomy
- Cosmic Clash
Tomy
- Cosmic Clash (side art)
Tomy
- Cosmic Clash (close up of controls)
Tomy
- Cosmic Clash (unit front)
Tomy
- Cosmic Clash (unit running)
Tomy
- Cosmic Clash (close up of beam being shot at an alien ship)
Tomy
- Cosmic Clash (close up of an alien ship exploding)
Tomy
- Cosmic Clash (battery door)
Tomy
- Scramble
Tomy
- Scramble (close up of controls)
Tomy
- Scramble (close up of playfield)
Tomy
- Scramble (close up of player rocket)
Tomy
- Scramble (close up of display)
Tomy
- Scramble (unit running)
Tomy
- Scramble (instructions on battery door)
Another really cool gaming collectable are mini arcade tabletop games from the 1970's and 1980's. I've just begun to collect these as they command a good amount of money especially when they are complete. There are a number of different technologies at work used to operate these games. Many of the miniature tabletop arcade games of the 1980's use Vacuum Fluorescent Displays or VFD's. VFD's glow from the inside and produce sharp, beautiful graphics that really go the extra step to make the handhelds appear to be small arcade cabinets. If you've never seen a VFD game in action then you don't know what you're missing. They're strangely retro and modern at the same time. VFD's were expensive to develop and construct then and that hasn't changed much to this day. For that reason many handheld games into the 1990's switched to using Liquid Crystal Displays, or LCD's, which are the same type of displays used in most digital wristwatches. Cheap to make but no where as nice looking as a glowing VFD. Also each tabletop has its own case design and control style, just as one would find with real full size arcade cabinets. Different yet familiar, with unique sets of controls, make these mini arcade cabinets feel just that way - like they're miniature versions of arcade classics.
There is a bit of a story that accompanies my Coleco Pac-Man tabletop. Originally I bought one, that was missing the battery door and had some acid corrosion in the battery compartment, for $20.00 at a local flea market. Once I got it home and gave it a good look over I noticed the circuit board had terrible acid damage, the screen was severely damaged in some parts (only allowed 2/3rds of the playfield to illuminate, Pac-Man would only show up on 3/4 of it, and the ghosts on only 1/3rd), and over all the unit was a mess. Noting could be salvaged except for the upper portion of the shell which was complete with all its stickers and was in great shape. I salvaged it and set it aside. Over a year later I saw that there was a Pac-Man tabletop for sale in the Digital Press forums for $5.00, untested and missing all it's stickers, but in good shape with the original battery door. I contacted the seller who said that he got it from a flea market and the guy said it was working but he never had a chance to test it himself, it would be $10 shipped - I couldn't get him the money any quicker. A week later the untested unit arrived and it worked perfectly. So I replaced the upper portion of the one I had just purchased with the complete mint one I had before and - now I have a complete mint working Pac-Man tabletop. The left side controls are a tad bit worn but it still works problem free.
The Epoch Astro Command was purchased for $2.00 at the local flea market due to having some leaky batteries inside. I was able to talk the seller down real quick when the batteries began to dump themselves right there on the spot. Thankfully they were just starting to go bad and there was no damage to the game itself. This particular title was released by a few companies but this is the Epoch original. It's almost like Space Invaders except the enemies scroll horizontally and there are a few different modes of play. Really I just like to have this game running as it has a rather long attract mode which is nice to watch.
Caveman was picked up from the local flea market in excellent condition for $20.00. That's about how much it goes for on eBay and right around its street value so I didn't see the need to haggle. It has the distinction of being the very first tabletop arcade game I have ever owned. Amazingly I never owned any of these growing up although I had many other things. My experience with tabletop arcade games in the 1980's was relegated to playing the tabletops of friends and family.
Cosmic Clash is interesting in that it's an electromechanical game that uses colored film reels with lights behind them for graphics. Audio is controlled via a small phonograph record in the front of the unit. It was purchased for $15.00 at the local flea market, needed a bit of work but came out functioning nicely. The only disappointment is that the very first time I came across this particular game it was working perfectly. I had to pass on it then however because the seller was asking for far too much in my opinion. The price only dropped a few weeks later once the game had become damaged, a shame really. I've since come to a better understanding with the seller concerning his merchandise and he now cuts me far more decent prices.
Scramble was picked up at the local flea market as well. On the first Tuesday of 2008 the whole flea market was socked in with fog and moisture and was only operating at about 1/40th usual capacity. One of the junk resellers wasn't even unloading his trailer, just letting people pick through what he had. Scramble was atop one of the piles at the side, covered with filth and contained dead (but not leaky) batteries. He took a quick look at it and only wanted $1.00. I cleaned her up, tested with both fresh batteries and a power adapter and it worked great. Sadly that was the only thing even worth looking at there that day but a $1.00 VFD tabletop was fine by me. Scramble is a pretty faithful recreation of the arcade original, has great sound, and is fun and challenging to play. Any VFD game can easily command $20.00 any day of the week.
Check out MiniArcade.com
and HandheldMuseum.com
for more information on tabletop arcade games.
Tamagotchi
Original
US release Tamagotchi (front)
Original
US release Tamagotchi (open)
Original
US release Tamagotchi (back)
Tamagotchi was a worldwide
phenomenon that single handily began the virtual pet craze of the 1990's.
However none of the competitors (even the new Tamagotchi released in 2003)
could get close to the life stealing entertainment value of the original.
Eventually I'd like to grab a few more of these original US release Tamagotchi
units since the boxes don't show up very often anymore. This one
is mine from years ago and it is totally complete including the box, all
the inserts, instructions, as well as the "pull to activate" tab that cuts
off the battery from the back of the unit.
TV Games All-In-One
Controllers
Activision
Atari 2600 games controller, first release
Atari
2600 games joystick
Atari
2600 games paddles (two player version)
Majesco
TV arcade Frogger joystick
Namco
arcade games Ms. Pac-Man joystick
Namco
arcade games Pac-Man joystick
Star
Wars Episode III Darth Vader joystick
These have become insanely
popular and are basically the LCD games of the 2000's. They are all-in-one
units that plug into the AV ports of any TV and have a small selection
of games built in. The Activision Atari 2600 games one is the first
early release inside of more modern looking controller shell. I haven't
seen many of these and when the instore release came out they changed things
over into a joystick shell. The Ms. Pac-Man joystick is the second
release with a twisting joystick used for analog steering control in Pole
Position. The Namco arcade games Pac-Man joystick is another special
release that came with a Blinky from Pac-Man ghost joystick cover as well
as rewriteable high score vinyl stickers.
