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freefall
Mattel Football
Joined: 26 Jan 2010
Last Visit: 29 Aug 2016
Posts: 11
Location: East of Raleigh, NC
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 Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 2:58 pm Post subject: The very first and the very last handheld.... |
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Greetings to the board! My apologies if this has been discussed before. I guess my question really pertains to "handheld" games, all though table top games could be included. Also, must be battery operated. I think we can all agree that Mattel's "Auto Race" hitting the department stores in 1976 was the first battery operated hand held game, mass produced. So what was the very last game to be produced say, before GameBoy, and the Nintendos, and the Playstations took over, and the battery operated games became "out of flavor." I realize that there will be some variations. L.E.D. games, V.F.D games, liquid crystal games, etc. Please feel free to post any and all answers! Maybe we can all learn something of each other. I thank you for your time. Very kind regards, Freefall  |
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Rik
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 27 Apr 2025
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Location: California
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| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, Auto Race is the first all-electronic handheld game (there were electro-mechanical and all mechanical games years before that though).
As for last, well, they are still being made, so there is no 'last one' yet. LED are still used in them occasionally.
But the last VFD game is probably something we could try to narrow down, but it would likely be a list of games in the last year they were made since down-to-the-day release dates aren't known for any of these... I've honestly never looked into it myself though, but someone here may have some idea, if even just by sorting a list by year to get an idea of the last few... |
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RATH
Coleco Pac Man
Joined: 20 Nov 2009
Last Visit: 08 Jun 2024
Posts: 33
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| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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| In Japan, the space hurricane put on the market in August, 1985 is the last VFD game. |
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blanka
Atari Cosmos
Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Last Visit: 12 Mar 2025
Posts: 562
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
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| Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 9:34 am Post subject: |
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| I consider Bandai's Last One from 85 the last one. It is a nice symbolic end to an era. For VFD Bandai's Space hurricane is the last one brought to the market, although there might be later batches of Grandstand Star Force, a way more popular game. |
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freefall
Mattel Football
Joined: 26 Jan 2010
Last Visit: 29 Aug 2016
Posts: 11
Location: East of Raleigh, NC
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| Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks to all the replies! Very interesting. So, I wonder what the very last V.F.D. game that was made in the U.S. was....? Just trying to keep the wheels turning on this topic. Kind regards... |
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Rik
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 27 Apr 2025
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Location: California
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| Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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| RATH wrote: | | In Japan, the space hurricane put on the market in August, 1985 is the last VFD game. |
Ahh, good to know... Completely overlooked that game.
The only other VFD from 1985 I found in a quick search was Hokuto vs Nanto Taiketsu 5 (not sure if that's translated correctly...)
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Bandai/Hokuto5.htm
Do you know when that one actually came out? |
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RATH
Coleco Pac Man
Joined: 20 Nov 2009
Last Visit: 08 Jun 2024
Posts: 33
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| Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Rik wrote: | | RATH wrote: | | In Japan, the space hurricane put on the market in August, 1985 is the last VFD game. |
Ahh, good to know... Completely overlooked that game.
The only other VFD from 1985 I found in a quick search was Hokuto vs Nanto Taiketsu 5 (not sure if that's translated correctly...)
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Bandai/Hokuto5.htm
Do you know when that one actually came out? |
Hokuto vs Nanto Taiketsu 5 was put on the market in May, 1985. |
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blanka
Atari Cosmos
Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Last Visit: 12 Mar 2025
Posts: 562
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
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| Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 8:51 pm Post subject: |
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| freefall wrote: | | Thanks to all the replies! Very interesting. So, I wonder what the very last V.F.D. game that was made in the U.S. was....? |
I wonder if there's any U.S.A. built VFD game überhaupt? Most games considered to be USA designed, already had the important VFD design/software coding done by Japanese as they controlled the complete VFD + VFD driving microcontroller production. Also LED games from the USA are very rare, and LCD games from the USA probably don't exist as well. |
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freefall
Mattel Football
Joined: 26 Jan 2010
Last Visit: 29 Aug 2016
Posts: 11
Location: East of Raleigh, NC
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| Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:57 am Post subject: |
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| All very interesting info..... Thx! So, maybe to further clarify, what was the last handheld and or table top from a well known U.S. company such as Coleco, Mattel, Entex, Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, Kenner, Tandy, etc. ? Thanks again! |
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Rik
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 27 Apr 2025
Posts: 1933
Location: California
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| Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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| blanka wrote: | | freefall wrote: | | Thanks to all the replies! Very interesting. So, I wonder what the very last V.F.D. game that was made in the U.S. was....? |
I wonder if there's any U.S.A. built VFD game überhaupt? Most games considered to be USA designed, already had the important VFD design/software coding done by Japanese as they controlled the complete VFD + VFD driving microcontroller production. Also LED games from the USA are very rare, and LCD games from the USA probably don't exist as well. |
I know Coleco's Donkey Kong was designed in-house in California. I spoke with the woman who actually drew up what the VFD display would look like and the 'programming' team was located in the same offices. (I say 'programming' because it is possible they explained how it should work to another company (possibly foreign) and they did the actual programming. But it was completely designed, prototyped and tested in California.) Frogger, Pac-Man and Galaxian where basically either licensed or partnered with a foreign company (probably Japanese). Ms Pac-Man I think was a joint-design between Coleco and whoever they got Pac-Man from. Gakken probably...
| freefall wrote: | | All very interesting info..... Thx! So, maybe to further clarify, what was the last handheld and or table top from a well known U.S. company such as Coleco, Mattel, Entex, Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, Kenner, Tandy, etc. ? Thanks again! |
That's a little easier to figure out when you narrow it down to company.
Coleco's last game I believe was the huge Zaxxon tabletop (based on copyrights, anyway). Berzerk and Omega Race would have followed in late 1982, but they never happened...
Mattel only made a few VFD games, Star Hawk being the last I believe. Their last games were the small LCD Arcade Series like Armor Attack, Burgertime, Masters of the Universe, etc. (Not counting the LCD re-releases in 2000s of the sports games..)
Entex made a bunch of games for release in 1982, some of which are very hard to find (like the two '3-D' games), and that was the end of them... Based on rarity, I'd say the 3-D games and Black Knight Pinball where probably the last ones they put on the market. |
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Rik
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 27 Apr 2025
Posts: 1933
Location: California
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| Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| RATH wrote: | | Rik wrote: | | RATH wrote: | | In Japan, the space hurricane put on the market in August, 1985 is the last VFD game. |
Ahh, good to know... Completely overlooked that game.
The only other VFD from 1985 I found in a quick search was Hokuto vs Nanto Taiketsu 5 (not sure if that's translated correctly...)
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Bandai/Hokuto5.htm
Do you know when that one actually came out? |
Hokuto vs Nanto Taiketsu 5 was put on the market in May, 1985. |
Is there an easy way to find out when games were released in Japan? Or is this just from years of collecting and researching them? |
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RATH
Coleco Pac Man
Joined: 20 Nov 2009
Last Visit: 08 Jun 2024
Posts: 33
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| Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Rik wrote: | | RATH wrote: | | Rik wrote: | | RATH wrote: | | In Japan, the space hurricane put on the market in August, 1985 is the last VFD game. |
Ahh, good to know... Completely overlooked that game.
The only other VFD from 1985 I found in a quick search was Hokuto vs Nanto Taiketsu 5 (not sure if that's translated correctly...)
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Bandai/Hokuto5.htm
Do you know when that one actually came out? |
Hokuto vs Nanto Taiketsu 5 was put on the market in May, 1985. |
Is there an easy way to find out when games were released in Japan? Or is this just from years of collecting and researching them? |
There is no method of investigating a release date easily even in Japan.
The release date was known this time because the release date was published at the catalog included in a game.
This information was very helpful to making a rule for collecting electronic games.
After discovering this information, in Japan, the electronic game put on the market before 1985 was set up as a target of collection as a fundamental rule. |
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blanka
Atari Cosmos
Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Last Visit: 12 Mar 2025
Posts: 562
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
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| Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 10:14 pm Post subject: |
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| RATH wrote: | | There is no method of investigating a release date easily even in Japan. |
There is. You can check production dates. They don't lie. |
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RATH
Coleco Pac Man
Joined: 20 Nov 2009
Last Visit: 08 Jun 2024
Posts: 33
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| Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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| blanka wrote: | | RATH wrote: | | There is no method of investigating a release date easily even in Japan. |
There is. You can check production dates. They don't lie. |
I do not learn truly the method which a release date can check clearly.
Where can a release date be investigated?
Supposing you know, please tell me. |
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blanka
Atari Cosmos
Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Last Visit: 12 Mar 2025
Posts: 562
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
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| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2014 10:05 am Post subject: |
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| they are usually on the microcontrollor. |
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