#Handheld Electronic LCD

[humor-y-videojuegos]

Smash T.V. 🏢 Williams 📅 1990 🖥 Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Arcade, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Gear, Handheld Electronic LCD, Master System, Mega Drive, NES... #videogames

[frogshunnedshadows]

Ad for the Tiger Electronics handheld Jurassic Park game.

[genustoys]

Zhero Microrobot and Alien Visitor handheld LCD generic games

[arconinternet]

Skeleton Warriors: The Dark Crusade (Handheld, Tiger Electronics, 1994)

Electronic handheld LCD game based on the cult classic failed cartoon. You can play it in your browser here (controls in the description), watch the first episode of the cartoon here (warning: annoying interlacing), and watch a video about the cartoon here. There's also a good article here.

[alljamesbondgames]

James Bond Jr (Tiger LCD)

Original Release: 1993

Developer: Tiger

Publisher: Tiger

Platform: Electronic Handheld

Not played: Extremely Rare

This basic electronic handheld LCD game is a basic side scrolling action game. You run to the right, punching enemies. The objective of the game is to collect Q briefcases.

[mechanical-creature]

Another 2022-present portable computer thing. This is a 1991 Corvallis Microtechnologies PC5-L. It's a ruggedized, waterproof handheld MS-DOS computer meant for industrial applications. It ran on Ni-Cd batteries and they died so now it runs on AA's I got two of them for $50 on eBay during one of those months when i impulse buy obscure electronics as a form of escapism This thing is an absolute brick. You could murder someone by hitting them on the head with this, and it would work fine afterwards. Here's pictures of its organs for anyone curious:

That thick red wire around the screen PCB is a heater. Yep there's a setting to heat up the LCD so it doesn't get sluggish or shatter when you decide to leave it in the freezer. The thing runs on a little system-on-chip thing, which is interesting to see coming from the early 90's. Iirc the datasheet says it's capable of analog video out as well as driving the LCD, but I haven't poked around enough to enable it. Might be cool to hook it up to a TV. I did, however, open those 512k storage modules and I saw some unpopulated footprints on the boards. So I ordered some of the same chips, and at some point I'mma try soldering them on and see if it recognizes the extra space. They came with two voltmeter modules, which I couldn't get to work, so I took one of the casings and made it into a USB and WiFi adapter using an ESP32 running Zimodem, since this thing has RS232 ports on the top. I also made my own charging adapter, since they didn't come with one. I see that internal PCMCIA slot, and I tried putting a CF card adapter in, and tried installing the drivers, but it didn't work. I'm not good at DOS tbh, and I know nothing of what this slot is for. I might come back to it later. I did all of this in 2022-23 and haven't messed with it since. Except to use it to talk to my Kaypro 4 '84:

More on that one later. I love portable computers !!!!!

[noiselandco]

Star Trek LCD games in your holodeck browser

I collaborated with the amazing developer Itizso to bring a couple of handheld LCD Star Trek games to browser screens! Itizso did all the development and I added in some assets and testing.

(May be relevant to your interests @trekcore?)

[vintage-tech]

Today's vintage handheld game: Super Password

Was out thrifting and for cheap found this complete minus instructions handheld Tiger Electronics 'Super Password' game from 2000, which is based on the TV gameshow "Password" that in its heyday (1961-1975) featured Betty White's husband Allan Ludden as the host... and she was a guest 186 times. (Yes, I am aware Jimmy Fallon has brought a new iteration of the game back to TV in the present tense but does anyone really care?)

A fascinating post hides below.

It was in pretty good condition other than how the previous owner didn't wash his/her hands before playing, so I had to do a bunch of scrubbing with window cleaner, paper towels, and a tiny screwdriver to get in the crevices. Now if only I had some good AA batteries (3) I'd really be enjoying it, the ones I have make the print on the LCD rather faded, but the beast does work.

One of the promotional bits about this handheld was that it uses cartridges so you can expand the question base. The back of the package even showed two more cartridges:

But here's the kicker: When I was trying it out with batteries after all that cleaning, I forgot to put the cartridge back in... but it played anyway! There is a proper jack on the game unit, but there are no 'fingers' on the cartridge which comes with the unit that the jack would be connecting to. On a hunch I pulled out the four screws on the cartridge and two on the PC board and...

IT'S A DUMMY PCB. All questions are coming from internal memory, but it is built for expandability. A websearch though has not revealed any of those cartridges shown on the package as existing!!

A note to the guy trying to sell the pack-in pretend cartridge for $5 on eBay, which is more than what I paid for the game: Nice, but it's cosmetic.

[muppet-facts]

Muppet Fact #984

Tiger Electronics made two LCD handheld games for the Muppets: Coach Kermit and Street Surfin'.

Sources:

Street Surfin'. Tiger Electronics. 1990.

Coach Kermit. Tiger Electronics. 1994.

[antiques-for-geeks]

Game Review: Gauntlet

Handheld Game, Tiger, 1988

The 3D Gauntlet you've all been waiting for.

Tiger handhelds were not a significant feature of my childhood. Despite this fact, many people seem to have a love / hate relationship with them. There’s a preponderance of ‘angry gamer’ reaction videos on one hand, a recent physical re-release of a selection of units on the other. They're certainly a part of the modern retro nostalgia factory, and remembered as a gateway to video gaming for a certain generation.

One of the particularly noteworthy things about Tiger and their range of LCD games was their willingness to license the hell out of almost anything (and I mean ANYTHING) that might help shift some units. Sonic the Hedgehog, Afterburner, Outrun, Golden Axe, Street Fighter 2. Double Dragon…. M.C. Hammer?

My outsiders opinion on many of these handhelds is that they seem pretty poor even within the arena of LCD games. I can’t imagine how an attempt at a 1-on-1 or scrolling fighting game could be expected to work on such primitive electronics, and attaching the name of some hot new arcade license to these is just inviting disappointment from anyone familiar with the original game.

Despite this poor reputation, I do own a single Tiger LCD game - a licensed version of Gauntlet, the super popular 1985 Atari arcade game.

The first thing I need to state is that, obviously, this isn’t anything like playing Gauntlet in the arcade. In Tiger’s version of the game you can choose between 2 of the 4 arcade characters, the barbarian or the valkyrie. There’s a cosmetic difference to the choice, with some small LCD elements changed between each character (actually pretty clever!) and a slightly less aggressive bleeping noise when moving and firing as the valkyrie. Less superficially the barbarian starts with more health, but his attack is slower.

Upon pressing the start button you head off into a maze, which unlike the arcade is shown from a fixed perspective behind and slightly above your chosen character. Fairly simple lines are shown to represent the maze walls, and you can move in any of the 4 compass directions, as long as it doesn’t take you through a wall. The maze is populated with two different types of monster, a lizard man and some sort of hooded troll thing. These enemies move around the maze, and you can hit them once they’re next to you using the fire button. Too slow off the mark and they’ll score a hit on you, taking off a larger chunk of your health score, which is displayed as a number in the top right corner of the screen.

Just like real Gauntlet, your health continuously ticks down, and you use a little bit up every time you swing your weapon, which is a gameplay element I flat out dislike.

To aid you in your quest there items scattered throughout the maze:

Keys allow you to walk though one of the walls.

Potions (which the makers have labelled ‘bombs’ here because they didn’t trouble themselves with actually playing Gauntlet) kill all the monsters visible on the screen.

Health restoring flasks which ..restore health.. and look like potions with keys inside them because that's the best they could do with the fixed elements of the LCD screen. 

The adventure is split into a series of distinct levels, and you appear to progress between them by walking a certain distance through the maze in any direction, rather than navigating to a specific point.

There are 4 areas you progress though, with a few levels set in each:

The Castle

The basic maze with no twists. You’ll only encounter lizard men here.

Dark Forest

The elements of the maze itself are unchanged from the castle, but now you face both lizard men and hooded trolls.

The Lost Caverns

The maze walls start moving about, making everything confusing and chaotic.

The Unseen

The maze walls are now invisible, making things an exercise in pure frustration as you helplessly try to find a path.

The last level in every location contains only health flasks, and you can dash about trying to refill as much as possible before moving to the next. Once you’ve completed the last level of The Unseen you simply loop back to The Castle.

History

Somebody told me one of the other kids at school had a Gauntlet handheld game. Since I’d never seen such a thing in the shops I assumed it was bullshit. When I found out as an adult that there actually was a Gauntlet LCD game I was intrigued enough to try and get one. There are various other handhelds that have a maze theme, and Tiger themselves have an earlier game ‘Mouse Maze’ that uses the same basic perspective. They also produced a Robin Hood game, released in the same year as Gauntlet, but that appears to be exactly the same game with altered graphical elements.

Liked

I’ve seen various modern opinions that this game is laughable rubbish, but to my eyes it’s a really impressive effort ...if you’re being objective about the limitations of the format. This game has very clever use of screen elements in order to create a 3D maze populated with different creatures. It has multiple different locations. You can play as multiple characters, and the choice affects the graphics, gameplay and sound. I’m pretty sure I’d have loved this if I’d played it in the 80’s.

Disliked

The physical feel of the controls, at least in my copy of this game, is really cheap and horrible to use. That may be partly down to its age - I don’t have another Tiger handheld to compare it to. Even though I just admitted to finding this quite an impressive effort, it was released only a year before the Gameboy was first introduced in Japan, and you’d be crazy to play Tiger Gauntlet if you had the choice of playing Super Mario Land.

🙉

Annoying sound. As ever.

[humor-y-videojuegos]

Ms. Pac-Man 🏢 General Computer Corporation (GCC) 📅 1982 🖥 Apple II, Arcade, Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx, Commodore 64, Commodore VIC-20, DOS... #videogames

[tithsokphanny31]

Does anyone remember Tiger electronics handheld games?

[piratesexmachine420]

It's honestly crazy that Nintendo has been making video game consoles since literally the first generation. Like, in competition with the Magnavox Odyssey/Brown Box.

Color TV-Game series: Color TV-Game 6, Color TV-Game 15, Color TV-Game Racing 112, Color TV-Game Block Breaker, and Computer TV Game.

First half of the Game & Watch handheld line. In addition, Nintendo developed three arcade ports for the Atari 2600. (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Mario Bros.)

Famicom, NES, and the latter half of Game & Watch series. (And in Japan the Computer Mah-Jong Yakuman portable mahjong LCD electronic game)

Super Famicom, SNES, Game Boy, and the very last of the Game & Watches.

Nintendo 64 (arguably including the iQue Player), Virtual Boy, and Game Boy Color. If we're willing to stretch our definition of "handheld" and "game", the Pokémon Pikachu and Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS pedometer/virtual pets. (No, not the ones that looked like pokéballs, you're thinking of the Pokéwalker.)

GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Pokémon Mini. (Another weird Pokémon handheld)

Wii, DS, DSi. (Also the Pokéwalker.)

Wii U, 3DS, New 3DS, NES and Super NES Classic Editions (arguably), and the Switch.

Switch 2

[jedwardsmedia1970]

Vintage Nintendo Game & Watch Ad (1984)

Game & Watch is a series of handheld electronic games developed by Nintendo. Designed by Gunpei Yokoi, the first game, Ball was released in 1980 and the original production run of the devices continued until 1991. The name Game & Watch reflects their dual functionality: a single game paired with a digital clock on a segmented liquid-crystal display (LCD) screen. The Game & Watch series proved a monumental success, selling a total of 43.4 million units globally, marking Nintendo's first major worldwide success with a video game console.

[alljamesbondgames]

James Bond Jr (Systema LCD)

Original Release: 1992

Developer: Systema

Publisher: Systema

Platform: Electronic Handheld

Not played: Extremely Rare

An LCD game based on James Bond Jr. This game is vehicle-based where you shoot enemies and avoid obstacles.

[retrogamingloft]

Bucky O'Hare is a handheld game released by Tiger Electronics in the early 1990s, based on the popular animated series and comic book of the same name. Like other Tiger handhelds, it features simple LCD gameplay designed for portability and accessibility. Players take control of Bucky, the green rabbit captain of the spaceship Righteous Indignation, as he battles the villainous Toad Empire.

The gameplay revolves around navigating preset challenges, dodging projectiles, defeating enemies, and advancing through levels to save the day. Players use basic directional inputs and action buttons to control Bucky, focusing on timing and precision to avoid hazards and shoot at toad enemies. The static LCD screen provides a backdrop for Bucky’s adventures, with lit-up animations representing his movements and actions.

The device itself is adorned with colorful artwork of Bucky O'Hare and his crew, appealing to fans of the franchise. Despite its simplicity, the game captures the spirit of the Bucky O'Hare universe, offering an engaging, albeit limited, experience for fans of the era.

As with most Tiger Electronics games, Bucky O'Hare relies on straightforward mechanics and repetitive gameplay. The game alternates between two stages with increasing difficulty, culminating in a final boss battle during the third stage, which is a more challenging reprise of the first. Though its design is limited, the handheld embodies the charm of a bygone era, serving as an affordable way for fans to connect with the franchise during the 1990s handheld gaming boom. It stands as a nostalgic reminder of simpler gaming times, cementing its place in the era’s history.