Emerson Arcadia 2001

[Jaruff]

I haven't posted here in a while (busy with life, you know the routine) but I went out today and stopped at a yard sale with a lot of games/systems/etc. I ended up with several things for $20 total including an Emerson Arcadia 2001.

1. What the hell is this thing?
2. How much is it worth (not in the best condition, I'll post pictures tonight)?
3. Anything special about it?

Only picked it up because I've never seen one before and I thought it was some kind of Intellivision clone (got one of those in the same lot).

[BenG76]

Those are kinda harder to find. Did it come with any games?

[Jaruff]

Those are kinda harder to find. Did it come with any games?

No, it is the bare system. I looked through everything he had but the only pre-NES carts he had were a bag full of common Atari games for $10 that I passed on.

Edit: Here's a picture.

http://i55.tinypic.com/i6xeup.jpg

I'm pretty sure the joysticks are broken but that's something I can fix. Like I said, it's not pretty, but I couldn't pass up on it.

[Steve W]

The Emerson Arcadia was an interesting system. It was more or less like the 3DO concept, license out the rights to make the console to loads of manufacturers in countries all over the planet, then supply them with games. The Emerson Arcadia 2001 was the US version, in Canada it was called the Leisurevision and it had all sorts of different names all across Europe. I've read that Germany had three different manufacturers of the console there. Sadly, many companies that made the system designed their cartridges differently (wide, thin, many pins or very few) so not all games are interchangeable.

As far as the system goes, it was a decent little machine, probably just as powerful as the Atari 2600 but not as flexible. There weren't a whole lot of games made for it, and fewer that were really any good. A few interesting clones of then popular arcade games, and a few genuine arcade licenses of mega-super-ultra obscure arcade games like Cat-Trax and Jungler.

Our own Phosphor Dot Fossils gave me his boxed system at the end of the Oklahoma Video Game Expo this year, and as I was walking out with it several people stopped me and commented on it. It turns out that it's a fairly obscure system that a whole lot of collectors would like to get their hands on, but many don't put out the effort because the 'fun factor' isn't all that high. There are some decent games, but there's no "killer app". Just an odd library of clone games and a few arcade titles nobody had ever heard of before. It's just one of those systems collectors want to have in their collections only to own it but not to play it.

By the way, your controllers are clearly broken. If you were planning on playing it, I suggest looking up some wiring schematics online and doing some repairs on them.

[Jaruff]

The Emerson Arcadia was an interesting system. It was more or less like the 3DO concept, license out the rights to make the console to loads of manufacturers in countries all over the planet, then supply them with games. The Emerson Arcadia 2001 was the US version, in Canada it was called the Leisurevision and it had all sorts of different names all across Europe. I've read that Germany had three different manufacturers of the console there. Sadly, many companies that made the system designed their cartridges differently (wide, thin, many pins or very few) so not all games are interchangeable.

As far as the system goes, it was a decent little machine, probably just as powerful as the Atari 2600 but not as flexible. There weren't a whole lot of games made for it, and fewer that were really any good. A few interesting clones of then popular arcade games, and a few genuine arcade licenses of mega-super-ultra obscure arcade games like Cat-Trax and Jungler.

Our own Phosphor Dot Fossils gave me his boxed system at the end of the Oklahoma Video Game Expo this year, and as I was walking out with it several people stopped me and commented on it. It turns out that it's a fairly obscure system that a whole lot of collectors would like to get their hands on, but many don't put out the effort because the 'fun factor' isn't all that high. There are some decent games, but there's no "killer app". Just an odd library of clone games and a few arcade titles nobody had ever heard of before. It's just one of those systems collectors want to have in their collections only to own it but not to play it.

By the way, your controllers are clearly broken. If you were planning on playing it, I suggest looking up some wiring schematics online and doing some repairs on them.

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it. As far as the controllers go:

I disassembled the controllers yesterday. I'll post pics later today but it looks like glue will fix the problem. Going to look at them one more time to double check but the actual circuits look fine. The broken pieces, from the looks of it, do not actually connect to a circuit.

I had originally thought about selling it but I think I'm going to keep it. As you said, it's an obscure system that looks nice in a collection. It'll make a nice discussion piece and I'll end up with virtually no money in it (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1836299&postcount=171) once I sell some of the things I got with it.

Once I fix the joysticks and fabricate some covers, I think it'll look really nice.

[Ze_ro]

It's a pretty generic system for the most part. The most interesting thing about it is the history, unfortunately (though it IS quite interesting if you're into that kinda stuff! If you want to get the whole story, you'll also have to look into the history of the Interton VC4000 and the Odyssey^2, as they're somewhat related).

Most of the games, or at least the good ones, are generally ripoffs of popular arcade games at the time. That was sort of the whole point of the system; it was going to be an ultra low-cost system with cheap arcade ports. Once the lawsuits started flying, they had to change their games to make them a bit different, so you get some odd twists on the classics (think KC Munchkin vs. Pac-Man... though usually not nearly as clever).

As Steve mentioned, this family of consoles was widespread across Europe, made by a dozen or so different companies... Emerson's release in the US was actually quite late in the life of the system and crashed soon afterwards, so they missed out on a lot of the better games like Crazy Gobbler, Space Squadron, Turtles, etc. In fact, the Arcadia 2001 had a much smaller library of games (only 22 or so) than most of the other consoles in the family, despite being the best known of them. I'm guessing you're only interested in re-selling, but if you want to actually play some of these games, keep in mind that many of the different variations on this console are actually compatible, so the Arcadia 2001 will gladly play LeisureVision or Hanimex HMG-2650 games (Though some of the other systems use different pinouts, so you can't play MPT-03, Ormatu 2001, or Palladium Telespiel games... it gets complicated).

It's too obscure to generate the nostalgia of systems like the 2600, and doesn't have enough quality games to generate the interest of the ColecoVision and INTV... so don't expect a huge profit off it. The only real appeal of the system is to collectors who like this weird stuff. If you get the controllers into a usable state, you might get around $40 or so.

--Zero

[Steve W]

I remember CPUWIZ on Atari Age made somebody a multi-cart for it years ago, with every game ever made for the system including a couple Japanese exclusives like Macross. Too bad there's so little interest in this console, it'd be nice if there were more multi-carts out there.

[slapdash]

Ward Shrake also produced a multi-cart way back in the day.

[Rickstilwell1]

I actually have interest in the system because I'm in the category of people who like to try out strange systems. Mine is in a bit better shape but one of my cartridge flaps is broken - bent in. I would like to collect for it and see how many complete games I can find.

[NYLatenite]

One thing when you're repairing the controllers - don't replace or use glue to secure the unscrewable sticks - they're supposed to be able to be removed and many people saying that finding a system where the original ones are still there is a bit difficult.

You never know - if the controllers are unrepairable, a collector might still grab it just to get a hold of the sticks.

Also, in reference to the controllers, it looks like the gold discs that sit on the top of the control stick's pad surface were pulled off and the "right/left" stickers on the bottoms were removed.

Here's a pic of mine to give you an idea of what the controllers should look like.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/NYLatenite/arcadiatop.jpg

[Jaruff]

One thing when you're repairing the controllers - don't replace or use glue to secure the unscrewable sticks - they're supposed to be able to be removed and many people saying that finding a system where the original ones are still there is a bit difficult.

You never know - if the controllers are unrepairable, a collector might still grab it just to get a hold of the sticks.

Also, in reference to the controllers, it looks like the gold discs that sit on the top of the control stick's pad surface were pulled off and the "right/left" stickers on the bottoms were removed.

Here's a pic of mine to give you an idea of what the controllers should look like.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/NYLatenite/arcadiatop.jpg

Thanks for the reference.

Yea, the joysticks can be removed easily on this one. The base that the joysticks screw into is the broken part (you can see dried glue on my picture). I plan on repairing both controllers tomorrow if I can find some decent glue. From my first look, I didn't see any circuit damage on either controller.

Can you tell me the material of the gold disc cover? Is it just a sticker or a plastic/metal cover? I'm thinking about fabricating some replacements.

[NYLatenite]

Definitely not a sticker, but there isn't much to it - it feels like a very thin metal, I would probably guess very easily bendable and such - not very stong at all.

My understanding is that the controllers were designed so the owner could play games either with the sticks in, or remove them and play the system like an Intellivision, so it's probably there to protect the innards of the controller and give the player something smooth to use to control the movements of the pad.