Entex Adventure Vision Explained

Manufacturer:Entex Industries
Type:Video game console
Generation:Second generation
Discontinued:1983[1]
Cpu:Intel 8048 @ 733 kHz
Media:ROM cartridge
Unitssold:50,757
Predecessor:Entex Select-A-Game
Sound:National Semiconductor COP411L @ 52.6 kHz
Memory:64 bytes, 1K
Display:150 x 40 monochrome oscillating red LED display
Dimensions:13.25x
Baseprice:$79.95

Adventure Vision is a cartridge-based video game console released by Entex Industries in either August or October 1982. The launch price of the system was $79.95.[2] The monitor, game controls, and computer hardware are all contained within a single portable unit. The LED monitor can only display red pixels. Four games were released, all of which are arcade ports. Approximately 10,000 were produced.[3] [2]

Adventure Vision was Entex's second-generation system following the Entex Select-A-Game, released a year earlier in 1981.

Description

Control is through a single multi-position joystick and two sets of four buttons, one on each side of the joystick, for ease of play by both left- and right-handed players. Rather than using an LCD screen or an external television set like other systems of the time, the Adventure Vision uses a single vertical line of 40 red LEDs combined with a spinning mirror inside the casing.[2] This allows for an effective screen resolution of 150 × 40 pixels.[2] The mirror motor draws a great deal of power from the batteries, which can be avoided by using the built-in AC adapter.[4]

Games

Entex released four Adventure Vision games, all of them ported from arcades:

Technical specifications

Legacy

A similar display technique combining red LEDs with a moving mirror was used by Nintendo in the 1995 Virtual Boy.

Because of the moving parts used by the system, many units no longer work, with an estimated 100 known operational units left.[7]

On March 31, 2013 at the Revision demoparty, the first-ever homebrew/demo ROM for the system was demonstrated[8] by MEGA - Museum of Electronic Games & Art. MEGA also released[9] the source code for the demo as well as all development tools.

The system is supported by the MESS emulator and AdViEmulator.[10]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Forster, Winnie . The encyclopedia of consoles, handhelds & home computers 1972 - 2005 . 2005. GAMEPLAN . 3-00-015359-4. 53.
  2. Web site: Adventure Vision by Entex – The Video Game Kraken . 24 May 2022.
  3. Web site: Entex Adventure Vision . 2022-05-24 . www.handheldmuseum.com.
  4. News: Gechter . Frédéric . Entex Adventure Vision - tu es si fragile ! . 29 May 2022 . www.rom-game.fr . December 22, 2016 . fr.
  5. News: Combs . Jim . ADVENTURE VISION: A History of Entex and the rarest Tabletop system . 24 May 2022 . 2 . February 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110717200042/http://www.videogametrader.com/archives/features/adventure_vision.htm . 17 July 2011 . dead.
  6. Web site: Entex Adventure Vision . Video Game Console Library . 24 May 2022.
  7. News: Bit Museum #4: what the hell is an Entex Adventure Vision? . 24 May 2022 . Destructoid . 16 July 2009 . en-CA.
  8. http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=61201 Revision 2013 demoparty entry on pouet.net
  9. Web site: Open Source Adventure Vision development kit including demo source code . 2014-05-01 . 2021-09-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210903200940/https://mega.folderflex.com/sharefolder/MEGA/Adventure+Vision/id/51896 . dead .
  10. https://web.archive.org/web/20180422063011/https://mega.folderflex.com/sharefolder/MEGA/Adventure+Vision/id/80892 AdViEmulator, a specialized Open Source Adventure Vision emulator