Telegames Personal Arcade (1986)

Features

CPU: Z80A 3.58 MHz
Co-Processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A (Video display unit), Texas Instruments SN76489AN (Sound generator)
RAM: 8 KB
VRAM: 16 KB (8 x 4116 memory chips)
Graphics Modes: 259 x 192
Colors: 16
Sound: 3 tone channels, 1 noise (Texas Instruments SN76489AN)
I/O Ports: Power in, 2x Cartridge slot, Video output, Expansion connector, 2 x controller connectors
Controllers: 2 controllers with pad and two fire buttons; 12 numeric buttons and a Pause button are present on the unit (the former mimic the Coleco keypad buttons, the latter can be used with SG-1000 games)
Media: Cartridges (8K/16K/24K/32K)
Peripherals: Atari VCS 2600 adapter

Usage

These systems support cart dumps in .rom, .col and .bin format, in the “cartridge” (cart) device.

Controls

These systems feature controller with a 4-way pad and two fire button (NES shaped). Additional 12-keys are present on the system with the following layout

1    2    3    4    5    *

6    7    8    9    0    #

Known Issues

These systems only support Coleco carts in MESS. SG-1000 carts support has still to be added

History and Trivia

Following the success of the ColecoVision, Bit Corporation produced a clone system featuring a second cartridge slot which made the system compatible with Sega SG-1000 carts, the Chuang Zao Zhe 50.

Later, Telegames imported the system in the USA selling it as the Personal Arcade system (actually, until 1988 units had the name Dina 2-in-1 on the system, which probably was simply a Bit Corporation redesign of the original Chuang Zao Zhe 50).

While the compatibility with both ColecoVision and SG-1000 cartridge was for sure appealing, the system design had some flaw: while two controllers were available, only one set of numeric key was present (on the console itself), making some Coleco 2-players game impossible to be used.

Also, the compatibility with SG-1000 was not advertised at all by Telegames, which only sold the system as a Coleco compatible machine. Of course, the presence of a Pause button which was not working with Coleco games and of a second cart slot might have puzzled many of the owner.