Emerson Arcadia 2001 vs. Bally Astrocade: A comparison

[fishsandwich]

http://pp.pchome.net/attachments/2005/03/26/11833608.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/Astrocade.jpg

This is a not very in-depth comparison of two systems that came out during the original "8-bit" era (pre-crash)



I bought Ward Shrake's fine multicarts for these two systems a while back (2 years ago?), but I've never had any systems to try them on.

I recently won a couple of auctions for both systems and spent a total of about $70 (shipping included) to get both consoles. I've been watching auctions for awhile, but these two were the first ones where I bid and actually won with a good deal. The Astrocade's a bit rough but came in a box, while the Arcadia came loose but in fine shape.

As fate would have it, one of the sellers was very slow in shipping... both systems arrived on the same day! How very nice to come home to two big boxes.

I was always under the impression that the Bally Astrocade (or Professional Arcade... or whatever you call it) was more powerful than the Emerson Arcadia 2001, but it seems I was incorrect. The Astrocade came out in 1978 and is comparable to the 2600, while the Arcadia came out in the early 1982 and is closer to the Intellivision (too bad none of the games used all of the available memory.)

History shows that the Colecovision and 5200 came out shortly after the Arcadia and blew away most of the competition with their superior graphics, sound, and arcade conversions.


EMERSON ARCADIA 2001

The Arcadia is truly a tiny console...

http://pp.pchome.net/attachments/2005/03/26/11833608.jpg

The carts, on the other hand, are huge! Almost 8-track tape in size. The controllers are like the Intellivision with little sticks that screw into the disks to make maze games control better.

I tried this one first and was actually pretty impressed with the graphics. Certainly better than the 2600, especially the isometric game HOBO, a game with FIVE SCREENS and several different styles of gameplay. Lots of Arcadia games were rip-offs of established arcade games


Alien Invaders/Space Invaders
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/arcadia/alieninvaders.gif


Crazy Gobbler/Pac-Man
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/arcadia/crazygobbler.gif


Escape/Bezerk
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/arcadia/escape.gif


Space Vultures/Phoenix
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/arcadia/spacevultures.gif



Baseball
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/arcadia/baseball.gif


Hobo/Frogger,Congo Bongo, several others
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/arcadia/hobo.gif


It's a shame this system was such a bomb. There are countless clones of the system overseas as well as another family of systems that share the same basic chips but are not compatible with the Arcadia.


BALLY ASTROCADE/PROFESSIONAL ARCADE

The Astrocade is much bigger and is much more archaic-looking.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/Astrocade.jpg

The controllers are weird... hand-held pistol grips that had dials on the top that both turn left-to-right and move in directions like a joystick. Hard to get used to, but surprisingly effective when you get the hang of it.


Astrobattle/Space Invaders
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/astrocade/astrobattle.png


Muncher/Pac-Man
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/astrocade/muncher.png


Galactic Invasion/Galaga?
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/astrocade/galacticinvasion.png


Incredible Wizard/Wizard of War
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/astrocade/incrediblewizard.png


Tornado Baseball
http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/astrocade/tornadobaseball.png


WHO'S BETTER?

Console Design: ARCADIA
Controllers: ASTROCADE
Graphics: ASTROCADE (just barely, though)
Sound: ASTROCADE
Durability: ARCADIA
Software: ASTROCADE
Coolness: ARCADIA

WINNER = ASTROCADE

I like the design of the Arcadia. It’s so small and neat! The Arcadia is a more powerful machine than the Astrocade... 3.58mhz and 28k RAM, a pretty amazing amount of memory for the period. Unfortunately, none of the games use more than 8k of the memory. The controllers are just like those of the Intellivision, and I don't like them all that much. I suppose the numerical pad would be helpful in complicated games, but the Arcadia doesn’t seem to have any complicated games that make use of them. Sound is pretty crappy… only one channel. More beeps and boops.


The Astrocade also has a processor running at 3.6mhz (different family of processors, though) but only 4k of RAM. It also has a keyboard, but it’s on the machine itself, not the controller. Speaking of the console itself… it’s big and fairly ugly with a big cover on the back that you can remove and store carts in a row of slots. Handy, but icky. The controllers are weird but effective. The carts are smaller, too… more cassette tape than 8-track.

In the end, it all boils down to SOFTWARE. Both machines didn’t compete well against the 2600, Intellivision, and CV, and neither machine had much software support. But between the two, the Astrocade has a clear advantage over the Arcadia when it comes to software… it’s got more games, and most of them play better and are occasionally better-looking than their Arcadia counterparts. Incredible Wizard and Muncher are particularly well done. The Arcadia should have a clear graphical advantage over the Astrocade due to its memory and larger color palate, but it seems that the Arcadia hardware just wasn't pushed anywhere near its limits. The Astrocade seems to have been pushed a bit more. The screenshots suggest that the Astrocade was the more powerful machine... just look at Muncher! I'd have liked to have seen an Arcadia game that used all 28k RAM. Maybe one day...

The Astrocade certainly has a stronger following... seems you could do some programming on the thing and there was a quarterly (or so) fanzine devoted to the machine that was produced for several years.

I’m not sure I’ll plug up either machine any time soon, but it was fun to see these old consoles in use. The multicarts are awesome, by the way. Thanks, Ward!!!

:D

[NeoZeedeater]

Cool thread. I prefer the Astrocade's library overall.

It never occurred to me until now how much Arcadia games look like Vic 20 games.

[ubersaurus]

Man, this has me so tempted to pick up an Arcadia.

As I understand it, it's pretty cheap since there's almost no market for it.

I don't expect the multicart is still available, is it?

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I had a pretty hard time finding an Arcadia, and only just got my first cart for it at CGE. Sweet lookin' little machine though.

I'm still in the market for an Astrocade though. The last of the second-string vintage consoles that I don't have in my collection yet. A friend of mine had one when we were both in grade school, and it was always a pretty fun machine.

[fishsandwich]

I don't expect the multicart is still available, is it?

No, I don't think the multicarts are available anymore for either system. There have to be a few floating out there somewhere. I hope Ward comes back sometime and makes some more carts and contributions to the hobby... I hear he got seriously burned out researching the data for both systems, especially the Arcadia... it has clones, cousins, and distant relatives all over the world under a variety of names.

@_@

[Captain Wrong]

This is the best thread I've seen around here in a while. Thanks, a fine job as always.

[bigdaddychester]

This is the best thread I've seen around here in a while. Thanks, a fine job as always.

I second that Cap'n!


and to think back a few years ago, I was looking for some info about my Astrocade (that I have owned for around 20 years) that led me to the Digital Press. I was days away from throwing it out because I didn't think it worked. Did some google searching, found DP and a close knit group of people who actually knew what an Astrocade was. I continued to dig around in some posts and was able to get some helpful information that got it back into a playing condition; it just needed a bit of TLC.

Even though I've had to thin out a lot of my collection (shameless plug in my signature) due to a new addition to our family, this is one console that will never find itself on the chopping block.

best thread indeed!

[fishsandwich]

This is the best thread I've seen around here in a while. Thanks, a fine job as always.

I second that Cap'n!


and to think back a few years ago, I was looking for some info about my Astrocade (that I have owned for around 20 years) that led me to the Digital Press. I was days away from throwing it out because I didn't think it worked. Did some google searching, found DP and a close knit group of people who actually knew what an Astrocade was. I continued to dig around in some posts and was able to get some helpful information that got it back into a playing condition; it just needed a bit of TLC.

Even though I've had to thin out a lot of my collection (shameless plug in my signature) due to a new addition to our family, this is one console that will never find itself on the chopping block.

best thread indeed!

My Astrocade is acting fishy now... it plays the built-in games just fine, but it has stopped playing all other games. It just resets itself when I play a cart game, whether it be the multicart of one of the carts that came with it. I've tried cleaning it, and I'm being very careful to keep it cool and off the carpet. Where can I get this technical help you speak of, kind sir?

:help:

[vintagegamecrazy]

I also agree that this is the best thread in a while, I just got a boxed Astrocade in excellent condition, I just need a few controllers and I'm good to go, if I win the auction on ebay I will have a complete Arcadia 2001 collection in a few days, I have to dig it out and play it again. It is a bad system game wise but it does have a few greats like Cat Trax and Hobo and still is one of my favorite systems to collect for. I will have to write a few reviews for some of the games and submit them here for the site.

Keep this thread alive.

PS is anyone has Astrocade controllers for sale or trade I will buy them. PM me.

[bigdaddychester]

My Astrocade is acting fishy now... it plays the built-in games just fine, but it has stopped playing all other games. It just resets itself when I play a cart game, whether it be the multicart of one of the carts that came with it. I've tried cleaning it, and I'm being very careful to keep it cool and off the carpet. Where can I get this technical help you speak of, kind sir?

:help:

There was a repair / service manual that I found on the net. It may be on the Bally Alley website metioned earlier. I'll see if I can find a link to it again. If I cant, I do have a copy that I printed out for reference.

Of course, after I took mine apart and cleaned out nearly 20 years of dust, things seemed to work a lot better.

I'll edit this post when I find something.


edit: a link for a bevy of information - http://www.ballyalley.com/misc_docs/misc_docs.html

.pdf file for the service manual - http://www.ballyalley.com/misc_docs/bally_service_manual.pdf

[MegaManFan]

I have yet to even see a working Astrocade. Every con I've been to where someone brought one for display it was busted, or "it worked right before I got here" - heard that 4 or 5 times. I keep being told that if I ever saw one working it would blow the 2600 out of the water, but this thing is so fragile I'd rather stick with my VCS.

[Lord Thag]

Another interesting tid-bit: The Arcadia was BILLED as having 28k, but this was a marketing gimick (i.e a flat out lie). In actuality, it has 1k, which explains why the systems are so close in graphics and gameplay.

I scored an Arcadia a couple of months back. I like it, but it's not a daily player by any means

Still looking for an Astrocade, though...

[ClubNinja]

This thread almost made me really miss my Arcadia and Multicart (sold both months ago). Almost.

[fishsandwich]

My Astrocade is acting fishy now... it plays the built-in games just fine, but it has stopped playing all other games. It just resets itself when I play a cart game, whether it be the multicart of one of the carts that came with it. I've tried cleaning it, and I'm being very careful to keep it cool and off the carpet. Where can I get this technical help you speak of, kind sir?

:help:

There was a repair / service manual that I found on the net. It may be on the Bally Alley website metioned earlier. I'll see if I can find a link to it again. If I cant, I do have a copy that I printed out for reference.

Of course, after I took mine apart and cleaned out nearly 20 years of dust, things seemed to work a lot better.

I'll edit this post when I find something.


edit: a link for a bevy of information - http://www.ballyalley.com/misc_docs/misc_docs.html

.pdf file for the service manual - http://www.ballyalley.com/misc_docs/bally_service_manual.pdf

Thanks for the link, BigDaddyChester! I printed the thing out, and I'm gonna take this Ascrocade apart. THIS BITCH IS GOING DOWN! (And will hopefully come back up working properly!)

Wish me luck!

:D

[bigdaddychester]

I've got my fingers crossed for ya!