vespertillio
01-08-2005, 10:28 PM
Ok, I have seen pics of these things but I have not seen one (at least for many years) in person; until today. I was out with my son, checking our haunts and saw these things on the shelf. He had a bunch of them, 13 in total and all different. They were all priced at $20.00, but we haggled down to a more reasonable price for the lot. I have to say, didn't know they made so many styles. Of the ones I bought I notice 5 distinct styles of which I will try to explain below.
1. Widescreen non-clamshell. These are almost exactly the same width and height as Nintendo Famicom carts. They all 5 buttons (1 left, 1 right, Game A, Game B and Time) The ones in this bunch were called Fire, Parachute and Turtle Bridge.
2. Multiscreen Clamshell. These guys are definitely the precursor to the DS. They are almost exactly the same as width, height and depth as a Famicom cart. Open one of these guys up and you get dual screen goodness. The button layout on most is an X pad, 1 Action button and the Game A,B and Time buttons like the Widescreen versions. Of these I picked up Donkey Kong, Donkey King II, Green House (definitely where DKIII got it's roots from) and Mickey and Donald (Yep Disney and the big N in cahoots)
3. Multiscreen Atari Sized Clamshell. These are like the ones above, except instead of having the hinge on top, it's on the side. When it's folded it looks like the size of a 2600 cart. Dual screen like the above ones as well except the screens are side-by-side. Of these I got Mario Brothers and Lifeboat.
4. The Panoramas. These have screens that fold up to make a tent like triangle. The screen projects an image which bounces off a mirror to the screen you look at. (Very Funky) Any one with Nintendo’s bigger watch game Popeye will know what I'm talking about. Think that, except smaller. They are the same length and height and about half the width of an original GameBoy. Of these I got Snoopy, Mario's Bombs Away and the baby brother to my larger Popeye, the smaller Popeye.
5. The Micro VS System. Ok this thing looks like an eyeglass case. It has a very wide LCD screen on the outside with the case opening up like a clamshell. However, in the clamshell are 2 (count em 2) wired controllers. The wires roll out of the controllers as you pull the away to play the game. In this case, Boxing. When you are finished you reel them back up like a tape measure. (Again, very funky)
Anyway, I learned a bunch today I didn't know about these things. Thanks for letting me share what I found. Carry on...
V
:D
1. Widescreen non-clamshell. These are almost exactly the same width and height as Nintendo Famicom carts. They all 5 buttons (1 left, 1 right, Game A, Game B and Time) The ones in this bunch were called Fire, Parachute and Turtle Bridge.
2. Multiscreen Clamshell. These guys are definitely the precursor to the DS. They are almost exactly the same as width, height and depth as a Famicom cart. Open one of these guys up and you get dual screen goodness. The button layout on most is an X pad, 1 Action button and the Game A,B and Time buttons like the Widescreen versions. Of these I picked up Donkey Kong, Donkey King II, Green House (definitely where DKIII got it's roots from) and Mickey and Donald (Yep Disney and the big N in cahoots)
3. Multiscreen Atari Sized Clamshell. These are like the ones above, except instead of having the hinge on top, it's on the side. When it's folded it looks like the size of a 2600 cart. Dual screen like the above ones as well except the screens are side-by-side. Of these I got Mario Brothers and Lifeboat.
4. The Panoramas. These have screens that fold up to make a tent like triangle. The screen projects an image which bounces off a mirror to the screen you look at. (Very Funky) Any one with Nintendo’s bigger watch game Popeye will know what I'm talking about. Think that, except smaller. They are the same length and height and about half the width of an original GameBoy. Of these I got Snoopy, Mario's Bombs Away and the baby brother to my larger Popeye, the smaller Popeye.
5. The Micro VS System. Ok this thing looks like an eyeglass case. It has a very wide LCD screen on the outside with the case opening up like a clamshell. However, in the clamshell are 2 (count em 2) wired controllers. The wires roll out of the controllers as you pull the away to play the game. In this case, Boxing. When you are finished you reel them back up like a tape measure. (Again, very funky)
Anyway, I learned a bunch today I didn't know about these things. Thanks for letting me share what I found. Carry on...
V
:D