Adventure Vision by ENTEX... almost the arcade @ home in 1982 ?

[DarthNuno]

Remember this one? 



The Adventure Vision is a self-contained (no external monitor is required) cartridge-based video game console released by Entex Industries in 1982.

One particular feature of the Adventure Vision is its "monitor." 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. This allows for a screen resolution of 150 x 40 pixels.

I didn't have that system but a friend of mine had it. I remember played Defender & Turtles.

See the video review right here.

Here's the 'Arcade Life Style' anecdote about this system  

One day my friend called me and said : "Ahhh! The joystick on my adventure vision is broken...  I've tried to fix it with super glue, but now it's worst! All is broken... can you ask your brother to fix that?". At the time, we were something like 10 or 12 years old... and my brother had something like 17 or 19 years old, and he was doing electronic studies... and guess what? Few months before the 'incident' I got from this guy 


(see this topic for the full story behind this guy )

...an real arcade joystick!

Yes, in short I got old 'REAL ARCADE JOYSTICK' (maybe working?) from the hands of that arcade operator! The Holy Graal for a kid in 83' ...even if you can't do anything with a simple joystick without 'the rest'  ...but I was very happy to own a real arcade thing 

...So my brother had to idea to hook that real arcade joystick onto the Adventure Vision system  Of course, that joystick wasn't fixed directly on the Adventure System, but a small box in wood was done for that 'external' but working joystick! 
Too bad I do not have a picture of that, but in short my brother replaced the joystick here 



...by an external 'Original Arcade Joystick' in a custom wood box 

I don't think my friend has still have this system, I'll ask him asap if he can check his attic for me 

By the way, see the price now for this rare system   



Man! I hope he still have it... but ... with that joystick modification, I do not think he'll try to sell it 

[Sonic 1992]

I had one of these, actually 2 of them. The first broke, so I returned it and got another. The second one broke when i plugged in an ac adapter.

 Sadly, The AdventureVision was a very fragile game, The very reason for it's rarity.

 I was mad when I was a kid, so I didn't get another for fear of it breaking again.  I only had Defender, the bundled game. If you ever played a Virtual Boy, this is similiar to what it looked like.

[Belike]

I love this game, it's too big for a handheld, but too small for an arcade cabinet!

[Blanka]

There's a broken one on marktplaats. But I don't get the guy who sels it. He's changing prices like russian wheat prices. But the Entex AV is steady around 100 euro.
On the other hand, he's trying to sell a Mario Bros handheld (they are 30 euro max, as they are VERY common) with a Japanese drink brand on it (Pokka). Guess that is rarer than normal, but hey, he needs 1000 euro for that. Last week it was open for bidding, and they only went to 60 euro or so.

[level42]

Defender during an earthquake !

That can't have cost much back in the day. The video is nonsense about the mirror. Ever checked how a laser printer works, and you can bet your ass those mirror mechanics are reliable and precise, but yeah, I bet the one in that game is a bit cheaper built.

It looks like it's just spinning at a certain speed and nothing more. The mirror is probably el-cheapo too.

(by the way, go to a modern cinema these days, and what you see is reflected light from thousands of tiny mirrors, and boy does it look good)

[DarthNuno]

Well, I didn't remember that video display was as bad as the one on the youtube link  Maybe at the time, because the system was new and perfectly working, it was better for my eyes? I was very impressed comparing to the other handheld games available.
Anyway, it reminds me good memories ... and I also remember I was very jealous regarding my friend who owned this 'dream machine' 

[Etienne MacGyver]

(by the way, go to a modern cinema these days, and what you see is reflected light from thousands of tiny mirrors, and boy does it look good)

Beamers nowdays use the same technique, its called DLP

I repaired beamers between my last two IT jobs 

[DarthNuno]

And an other one, gone for ... $1431  (link)

I'll seriously insist to visit the attic of my friend who had it!

[Blanka]

You can also play it in MESS for 0$, including wobbly OpenGL effects.