My friend used to love these types of games back in the day, he had loads of them, the one I remember the most was Invader 1000 I think it was called, it came in a yellow and black case.
@paradoxstate5018 yes I know the one , a slightly coffin type shaped thing..yes we used to be able to plug in a power pack (with the more lead ends the better and more expensive, ones that could connect to any game) at home and play or pop in batteries to take it car on journeys. Back then no charging just power and batteries..early ones had battery only..but it was that special of being able to play arcade anywhere and tho it's was no where near arcade experience it gave the feel and theme of the arcade experience, and without having to put coins in we felt that a fair trade off. Happy times.
Giving Tron a transparent case and putting theatrically designed extra traces on the board to represent the "World of Tron" inside the device was pretty clever.
I use to develop assembly code for National Semiconductor's COPS 4-bit microprocessors in the early 80's. We used them in TV cable converter boxes. I was sent to a training seminar once and everyone else there was pretty evenly split between toy companies (mostly from Mattel) and car manufacturers.
Very cool! I've never heard from anyone who worked with them. I'd love to hear about the tools and process you used; did you have special development boards? I assume you did the programming on a fairly powerful desktop computer (or maybe a mini?) and then did you have to burn ROMs to test the code, or was there some serial link? What did you use for your display while testing, before the production VFDs (or LCDs or whatever) were made? That kind of thing. Sorry for the nerdy questions, I'm just very curious :)
@@8_BitProgram development was much lower tech than you might imagine. We were using standard seven-segment led displays, so no cool VFD screens. You prototyped with a ROM-less version of your target micro-controller. The development system, supplied by National, used a single 8-inch floppy to store all your source and assembled files. It was connected to a terminal, printer, and PROM programmer. You used an O-scope for all your circuit/code debugging. We were generally only dealing with 1k of memory. But, it was amazing how much you could shoehorn into it.
4:12 - minor correction - the cheaper Atari games weren't because they weren't "name brand" like Space Invaders; $30 was pretty standard for a new game; the first few cheaper games in that 1981 catalog were all older games. Baseball was a launch title (1977) and Football was from 1978. Race was so expensive because it included racing paddle controllers.
I had Tron as a kid, thanks for bringing back old memories. Kids these days will never know how much imagination was necessary for handheld gaming back in the days.
I had Scramble when I was a kid and I loved it. After the batteries died on in I tried a neat trick where you can supply voltage to the battery terminals directly and skip the batteries altogether. I was 7 (or maybe 8?) when I learned that volts are NOT volts. 110V from the wall straight to it's little 6V circuits. That was the exact moment I learned to fear/respect electricity. Never told my parents.
I honestly expected these to be terrible but they seriously did everything they could with what they had I mean four freaking games with that wacky LCD thing? That's genius I guess it makes sense that it would be a vfd.
It's interesting to see that the label on the bottom of the Lupin game doesn't have the instructions for how to play the game, but are rather just cautions on how to handle the machine. Basically: 1) Only use an AC adapter intended for use with Tomy products. 2) When the screen fails to light up properly it's time to replace all of your batteries. 3) Don't leave in places of static electricity such as on top of a TV or microwave. 4) Take care not to let drink or crumbs get inside the machine as it can cause it to break. 5) When the screen is dirty use a dry cloth to wipe it (don't use thinner or nail polish remover).
I'm amazed at the vibrant colours and how the designers cleverly made the display segments work so well for the graphics - VFDs were such an under-rated display tech, at a time when LCD and LED were so bland by comparison. My first CD changer and home cinema amp in the mid-90s both had VFD displays, with an option to turn it off that was intended to improve sound quality (presumably VFDs are electrically noisy?) but I loved the bright turquoise/blue they put out.
I wonder if anyone has managed to dump the ROMs of these games. This is an under-preserved part of gaming history and while this old hardware is pretty durable it won't last forever.
I had Caveman and Scramble! No blocky pixels with these lol! I always thought the gameplay was actually pretty good for what they were. Better than most lcd game watches. Going to see what emulation options are available…
Thank you for bringing back this childhood memory. I bought "Lupin" in Germany around 1982 or 1983 for 99 Deutsche Mark. It was my first computer game in color. The "blue guys" were described as "ghosts" in the manual. I also remember that there were other languages in the manual, such as Dutch, so it was sold on some other European markets as well. Usually, the ghosts move around randomly, but when the alarm goes off, they head more directly towards the player. I also the remember that the paint on the screen came off after a while when touching it too much with your finger, so be careful with that.
As soon as I saw the Lupin one I was like "oh I bet it's based on the anime, I wonder if he's aware of it"...and then the answer turned out to be so much more interesting than I could have possibly imagined.
31:00 -- You gotta hear the original Lupin The 3rd jazz theme from 1978 / 2002 by Yuji Ohno! I loved when Adult Swim had re-runs of it. Such a fun show! Fun music!
I've always loved these VFD games. My friend Paul had a Scramble he got for his birthday. I remember how jealous I was of it! I currently have "Frisky Tom" and "Puck Man" which are both games I played in the 80's. Great stuff.
My parents bought Scramble for me for Christmas of 1982. My friend somehow got it in his head that my parents would buy him a Scramble game too. He was very upset when they didn't buy it for him. He should've known they wouldn't buy it for him.
Fantastic memories. For my birthday I got the frogger game, that I played to death My cousin had the double players pac man game and I really was jealous at it. 20 years later I asked him if he could give me and he did. On a flea market I found caveman (boxed). And I also have the DK game. Thanks for bringing back memories of a fantastic and unique era, with extremely creative people behind these vfd's (clever segments reuse)
I first saw that Tron game at my cousin's house when I was about three or four. The translucent plastic, the glowing VFD display, and the high-pitched piezo beeper sound made it seem ultra-futuristic and almost magical in a way. I never did get past the first disk level but the sights and sounds were firmly etched in my memory ever since. Thanks for sharing your collection of these handheld games.
"The ROM code is actually included in the microprocessor." Oh wow, so these would be some of the very first systems-on-a-chip (SOCs), huh? Interesting!
AFAIK It was actually factory-preprogrammed(the actual chip's silicon-wafer had fixed memory contents by design). The original Intel 8051 microprocessor(the AVR's grandpa) had the same kind of memory built-in, however it also had an external memory bus which allowed to store the program in a seperate EPROM chip or such.
Tomy was infamous for its reliance on interchangeable parts with its physical toys and electromechanical games like hit and missile, atomic arcade pinball and digital derby. Given the mold costs, there is a lot of clever cost-cutting in these games.
@@eekee6034 Most people think of the bad aspects of cost-cutting, where shortcuts make the thing inferior. But when it's done right, it makes it better and cheaper. Tomy mostly did it right.
As someone who has spent his life in the plastic molding business it is insane how much some of the mold costs just to make a plastic cap, a company could easily go out of business if something happened to one of its higher dollar molds and were lost/stolen with the cavities in them in transport.
I had almost all of these electronic games before we got a binatone and then a Atari 2600,god bless my parents because my mother spoiled me at Xmas and birthdays and got me a mass of games for my Atari over the months/years and then let me swop it for a zx81 with couple cassettes , mags and tape recorder..all my cartridges and Atari..then I got my spectrum..beautiful times 77 onwards
I received Scramble for an early Christmas gift in 1982. It has always been my favorite VFD game. It worked for over 30 years but stopped working several years ago. Fortunately, I bought two extra ones on ebay. In 1982, my late cousin started thinking that my parents would buy him a Scramble game too. I don't know why he thought that because nobody told him that. He got real upset when he didn't get a Scramble game. I love these kind of games.
I never expected those VDFs to be so detailed. The Tron one shows such a great usage of the technology with the re-using and the different colors, I've never seen this before.
CPU has 8x12 GPIO lines which can drive matrix. Also 4 lines are bit accessed and I guess they are for keyboard scan mostly. Rest of the screen must come from Patterns that Robin mentioned when walking through PDFs. But I agree that authors were very creative on colors and clever segment reuse.
Really cool video here! I remember a childhood friend of mine lending me his TRON game for a day or two. I was lucky to have a power supply at home that was compatible with it so I didn't have to use batteries with it. I also bought my very first LCD game called SPACE CRUSHER by Radio Shack with was basically the same as Scramble. I still have that little game and it's in near mint condition. Such great memories of such a simple but very rich childhood due to toys that really inspired you to use your imagination or that captured your attention in a whole new way despite being very simplistic by today's standards. Again, great video here! Nostalgic and fun _(and slightly bittersweet)_ blast from the past...
Wow, we had the Caveman game as a kid (and probably drove our parents nuts with the music it plays). I didn't realize that there were other similar games, but I guess it shouldn't surprise me. Thanks for the vid!
Thank you for making this great video. As a kid in the 80s I went down the other Wishbook path to the Atari VCS, but I've always been fascinated by these VFD games. The Tomy ones, especially. It's really ingenious how they worked around the limitations of the technology (and the price point.)
These are really great nostalgia trips back to the early 80s, I literally get flashbacks everytime you fire up the old Tomy and Tiger games... 12 year old me thanks you.
I remember Tron and Scramble from my childhood (I never owned either but saw them in some stores). I did not know about Caveman or Lupin. I would love to have any or all of these games now as they remind me of my youth. I appreciate the time you took to film this review and playthrough of each of these games. I have subscribed to your channel. Thanks for sharing!
Omg, i'm once have that Scramble when i was i kid. When i see your video i suddenly recall that opening melody. So wonder it still stuck on my head this long. Can't remember what happen to it.
I had Caveman! Super fun for the time. Also, around the same time had a racing game shaped like space-age binoculars, and it was 3D! I think that was a Tomy.
I had Scramble when I was a kid. I played that thing for hours and hours. Totally forgot the name of it until I watched this video. Thanks for the refreshing my memory.
One other fun thing is that there was an unlicensed quasi-crossover with Sherlock Holmes in the form of a character called Herlock Sholmès, who also kind of crops up in the Ace Attorney games!
The Lupin novels had Sherlock Holmes in French but the author was sued so the English version have Herlock Sholmes or Homeock Shears, depending on the translation.
The funny thing is Doyle's brother in law created a character who was inspired by Lupin as a counterpoint to Sherlock Holmes. :) He had nothing like the same name, he was Raffles the amateur cracksman.
Scramble has a visual grid is 4x8 = 32 words. Each word is able to represent 4 bits, so it is what we are seeing at least in Scramble, the line at the bottom, the square at the top, the bullet, the wings and the rocket (I think they allowed some combinations of them instead of one-byte one symbol). The player has 4 positions = 1 word but it is always at the left. Each missile should have a position x,y (X uses 2 words and Y uses a word), or using an index (2 words). Each enemy uses 2 words or 3 words (I think it could hold up to 4-5 enemies, 5 x 3 = 15). 32 + 1 + 3 + 15 = 51 words out of 160, so there is room for other things such as the boss, the level, the lives, the score, the program, music and level are in the ROM, so there is enough RAM for more stuff, Lupin uses a 5x9 grid so it is a waste of more resources. So, what I am talking about, the CPU is slow but it is enough for even more. The RAM was the main constraint. The Atari 2600 has 128 bytes of ram but it was 8 bytes, so it was almost the same as this 4-bit chips.
NOT THE LCDS!!! NOOOOOOOOO (great video though :D) EDIT: Wow, the Tron game was super innovative. I was expecting Game & Watch style stuff. Also, great camerawork!
I wasn't aware that 4 bit processors were used for things like this after 8 bit ones were available. But it makes sense that 4 bit chips would be repurposed for handhelds when 8 bit chips were still relatively new and expensive.
The 8-bit processors of the time couldn't drive high-voltage VFD's and tended to require external support chips (memory, ROM, timers, transistors for the VFD drive and so on). So it wasn't just the processor, the support circuits could easily cost as much as the cpu itself. In comparison the 4-bit calculator chip used had all that integrated to make the cheapest possible VFD based calculators, they were close to being the first modern "SOC" (complete system) in comparison and was cheap because calculators used a LOT of these and was extremely price sensitive. AFAIK most pocket calculators still use 4-bit CPUs to this day (obviously driving LCDs instead). Best guess, using 8-bit processor would have made them totally non-viable (as in "massively increase production cost"). As mentioned these were priced similar to higher end cartridge games which pretty much only has a few dirt cheap ROMs in them. Basically these only exist BECAUSE of those 4-bit calculator chips was already there and someone figured out a secondary market for them.
It took me a while but I briefly went through HMCS44A data sheet. 2176 words is a total ROM size. First 2048 words can contain both code and pattern, latter only patterns. P instruction takes 2 cycles and loads constant to A and B regs or output 8 bits through R30-R43 pins. Program Counter loops within a page and goes in wierd polynomial sequence. Instruction clock is 100 kHz.
The Caveman theme at 16:40 sounds suspiciously like Henry Mancini's iconic Pink Panther theme. (Seems to me the "gentleman thief" theme of Lupin would have been more in keeping with that music, since the first Pink Panther film had a character like that.)
I still have my Tomy Tron (in perfect condition, with original box, instructions and packing!) and my brother's Tomy Scramble. Bought them both on the same day from Kay-Bee Toys in 1983, on clearance for US$13.99 (marked down from $55.95!). I remember them stacked in a pile and people were grabbing them up fast...we got some of the last ones! Love the glow of Vacuum Florence Display, a rather unique visual display, much like my Vectrex! Scramble is my favorite of the two games, which also happens to be one of my favorite Vectrex games! (has a unique glow and look too!). Thanks for making this video, I had NO IDEA Caveman or Lupin existed until watching this, or that these games used a 4-bit calculator microcontroller with integrated custom ROM and RAM. I think Tron and Scramble were likely more popular, having the movie & arcade game tie ins. Not sure I would've liked Caveman back in the day, but Lupin seems like it could be an interesting game. Had LED and LCD handhelds too in the early 80's, but these VFD were the coolest!
I got my Tron at the Kay-Bee Toys too; I don't remember how much it was marked down but I suspect it was $20 or less or I couldn't have justified (or afforded) it.
Interesting these Tomy games got marked down so quickly, barely a year old (by contrast, my Mattel Electronics Baseball I got around 1982 on mark down, had probably been sitting around the store since '78!). Maybe these got caught up in the video game crash that same year?
Oh man, I love these old VFD games! They were so creative with how they incorporated multiple game modes, using a single, non-overlapping grid. I've been developing a Tiger Electronics styled game for fun, but I do want to try making a simpler VFD styled game, eventually.
And the memories come flooding back, mainly of the Scramble one, sneaking goes under my bed covers in the night, hahaha. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the screens of these presented so well, before, btw.
Pretty darn awesome what they could do with those VFD displays, especially in Scramble. The same could have been done in Game & Watch, but they never had anything like scrolling.
I had Caveman! Mine had a green surround on the screen rather than your blue and, despite having the "TOMY" emblem on the case it was distributed by Grandstand here in the UK (the Grandstand logo was printed on the screen surround). I put a lot of hours into that game back in the day. Thanks for memories!
Had never seen Caveman before, looks awesome. Never seen Lupin gameplay before, looks great too, Lupin is possibly the best one of this type of game overall! Would love for that to come to RA emulation. These games were actually really good. Astro Wars really holds up today i think. Thanks for the video 🎉
I was pretty sure I never owned one of these, and even that I never played one of these. But when I saw the Caveman gameplay, something in my brain clicked. It´s amazing how after 35-40years, your memory tells you: I´ve seen that before! I have no clue when and where, but I know I have played this as a young child. Of course without appreciating it back then. In Germany that is...Thanks for the spark!
16:40 - Is that a knockoff of the Pink Panther theme? Could be...was common for video games of the 80's and 90's. Also, cute collection. In an age when Tiger-style handhelds were black and white, it's refreshing to see.
I have been trying to remember the game I had and loved so much. As soon as you started up Scramble, I was back in my childhood! I wish I had seen this video 2 years ago. Now I hope I can find Scramble online somewhere that's not too expensive.
If you set up a saved search on eBay for Tomy Scramble you'll eventually find one for about $50-$60 US. Right now there's a couple that would cost around $100 shipped but you should be able to do better than that if you watch and wait.
"Translucent shell..." It actually _transparent_ and shaded. When something is translucent that means that it lets light through but is textured/scrambled so you can't see the detail on the other side.
I can't even recall how many hours of Tron I played back in the day. It was my second experience with a computerized electronic device, next to Merlin, and thankfully I still have both of those games. I remember playing Scramble back then, too, but I don't seem to have it anymore.
This gave me such a warm feeling of nostalgia. Lupin looks and sounds the best of the bunch. I suspect it's probably the most expensive of all of them too, both now and back then. I can just about remember Scramble, possibly because i had another version called Super Cobra, which was another Arcade conversion to electronic game. It had a bigger playing field and had more adjustable parameters in real time, including the speed and level start. I also had one of the tomytronic 3D ones as well, which i think had stereo sound. Some sort of dogfight game, which was astounding to me back then. As you mentioned in your video, the consoles and home computers were expensive by comparison. Thanks for uploading & doing such a stellar job on the visuals, audio and research on the chipsets too.
Excellent to see these together and have you completely play through them. I've also been looking for a Lupin since I first found out about it about nearly a decade ago.
It has been 10 months since my reply, but I received my Lupin in the mail today! It required quite the cleaning but is otherwise in really good shape. Like you noticed, I haven't figured out what the Alarm indication going off on occasion means in the game if anything.
The Caveman game looks pretty awesome, especially for it's time. With multiple, changing, levels these games were far more advanced than play 'n watch style handhelds.
I don't remember if I ever bought Scramble. I had lots of handhelds over those years. Some stick out more than others. But I do remember trying it out at the toy store at Puente Hills mall. (Back To The Future) It was great that they had all the handhelds behind a display you could ask to try. Saved me lots of money.
Scramble! As a kid visiting my younger cousin in the 80s I would always try to sneak in a few games of this when my family visited his. I still want to track down a working copy for myself at some point, just for the nostalgia. Was aware of Tron and Caveman, but did just learn that there was one of Lupin. neat.
I'm not in the habit of using the word "visceral" often, but that's what this Tron game is for me. It's amazing: the intense sound and the glow of the VFD bring me back to my childhood maybe more than anything else.
@@8_Bit My desire to relive this experience was so intense "visceral" is apt -- I immediately went looking for one on eBay. Sadly at $100 (the cheapest option) I just couldn't justify pulling the trigger.
In the Tron game, those names are all motorcycles on the fake pcb.. Probably to reference the lightcycle. CB is Honda, XS and YZ are Yamaha, not sure who TS is though..
great video and very informative! i used to have tron and loved it! can't believe how creative they were with the three levels. don't know if i just discovered it, because i don't remember for sure, but, when you play against Sark, the more rings you keep, the more you have as a timer for defeating the MCP cone. very clever!
Lupin was unlikely to be released in the US since the original novels Lupin the 3rd were an unofficial sequel to were not in the pubic domain in the US yet. In the 80s when Lupin the 3rD media was released here his name was changed to Thief or Wolf, if the game was released over here it was most likely rebranded to one of those names or a US cartoon. Very interesting video, thanks for making it.
Nice collection! I own the Tron and Scramble units. I actually fired up my Tron unit the other day for the first time in about a year. It still works great!
Great video and great memories from the 80's. We also played with this at a friends house. He also had a digital wrist-watch with a UFO-game, which i also found extremly fascinating...
The game was renamed in the UK as there was already a VFD game called Scramble with the same form factor on the market, by Granstand, no idea if they got a license for it. I got it for Christmas in 1982 as I loved Scramble in the Arcade, wish I got your version much closer to the arcade game.
I had scramble, fire fox F7, and Munchman. Also had a couple of Tomy tronic games. You had to play these like a pair of binoculars. I don’t remember the name of the games I had. One was a car game and the other was like a ww2 fighter plane. I loved them.
I've still got one of mine from when I was a kid in the UK. It's the grey Alien Attack one (same game as scramble) I also had caveman later on, but it was in a red case.
I doubt modern viewers will understand just how special and magical these games felt.
Nor the magic of arcade games and pinball games and pool tables everywhere.
These were like handheld arcades.
My friend used to love these types of games back in the day, he had loads of them, the one I remember the most was Invader 1000 I think it was called, it came in a yellow and black case.
@paradoxstate5018 yes I know the one , a slightly coffin type shaped thing..yes we used to be able to plug in a power pack (with the more lead ends the better and more expensive, ones that could connect to any game) at home and play or pop in batteries to take it car on journeys. Back then no charging just power and batteries..early ones had battery only..but it was that special of being able to play arcade anywhere and tho it's was no where near arcade experience it gave the feel and theme of the arcade experience, and without having to put coins in we felt that a fair trade off. Happy times.
@@Sol-Cutta yes thats the one :) Galaxy Invader 1000 (i looked it up :) ) and he also had Astro Wars. Happy Times indeed :)
Got the TRON game for Christmas 1982, still have it and it still works.
Giving Tron a transparent case and putting theatrically designed extra traces on the board to represent the "World of Tron" inside the device was pretty clever.
Was it?
@@alkohallick2901 yes
I use to develop assembly code for National Semiconductor's COPS 4-bit microprocessors in the early 80's. We used them in TV cable converter boxes. I was sent to a training seminar once and everyone else there was pretty evenly split between toy companies (mostly from Mattel) and car manufacturers.
Very cool! I've never heard from anyone who worked with them. I'd love to hear about the tools and process you used; did you have special development boards? I assume you did the programming on a fairly powerful desktop computer (or maybe a mini?) and then did you have to burn ROMs to test the code, or was there some serial link? What did you use for your display while testing, before the production VFDs (or LCDs or whatever) were made? That kind of thing. Sorry for the nerdy questions, I'm just very curious :)
@@8_BitProgram development was much lower tech than you might imagine. We were using standard seven-segment led displays, so no cool VFD screens. You prototyped with a ROM-less version of your target micro-controller. The development system, supplied by National, used a single 8-inch floppy to store all your source and assembled files. It was connected to a terminal, printer, and PROM programmer. You used an O-scope for all your circuit/code debugging. We were generally only dealing with 1k of memory. But, it was amazing how much you could shoehorn into it.
Awesome, thanks for the info. I sometimes think that sort of thing would have been my dream job had I been born 10 years earlier!
4:12 - minor correction - the cheaper Atari games weren't because they weren't "name brand" like Space Invaders; $30 was pretty standard for a new game; the first few cheaper games in that 1981 catalog were all older games. Baseball was a launch title (1977) and Football was from 1978. Race was so expensive because it included racing paddle controllers.
We never know the production cost this is a important factor.
I had Tron as a kid, thanks for bringing back old memories. Kids these days will never know how much imagination was necessary for handheld gaming back in the days.
I had Scramble when I was a kid and I loved it. After the batteries died on in I tried a neat trick where you can supply voltage to the battery terminals directly and skip the batteries altogether. I was 7 (or maybe 8?) when I learned that volts are NOT volts. 110V from the wall straight to it's little 6V circuits. That was the exact moment I learned to fear/respect electricity. Never told my parents.
I got zapped in 88, I was 9 years old. I don't do anything that has to do with electricity anymore. That hurt!!
Let the magic smoke out.
I honestly expected these to be terrible but they seriously did everything they could with what they had I mean four freaking games with that wacky LCD thing? That's genius
I guess it makes sense that it would be a vfd.
It's interesting to see that the label on the bottom of the Lupin game doesn't have the instructions for how to play the game, but are rather just cautions on how to handle the machine. Basically: 1) Only use an AC adapter intended for use with Tomy products. 2) When the screen fails to light up properly it's time to replace all of your batteries. 3) Don't leave in places of static electricity such as on top of a TV or microwave. 4) Take care not to let drink or crumbs get inside the machine as it can cause it to break. 5) When the screen is dirty use a dry cloth to wipe it (don't use thinner or nail polish remover).
I had that Tron game, it's clever how they put different modes into it.
That game looks fun! Many of those games were kinda lame. But they did look cool for back then!
I'm amazed at the vibrant colours and how the designers cleverly made the display segments work so well for the graphics - VFDs were such an under-rated display tech, at a time when LCD and LED were so bland by comparison.
My first CD changer and home cinema amp in the mid-90s both had VFD displays, with an option to turn it off that was intended to improve sound quality (presumably VFDs are electrically noisy?) but I loved the bright turquoise/blue they put out.
I wonder if anyone has managed to dump the ROMs of these games. This is an under-preserved part of gaming history and while this old hardware is pretty durable it won't last forever.
I just did some searching around, it looks like Kevtris has dumped all them except Lupin.
They're in here:
blog.kevtris.org/blogfiles/Handhelds/VFD%20Games/
@@Cherijo78 Thank you!
I had Caveman and Scramble! No blocky pixels with these lol! I always thought the gameplay was actually pretty good for what they were. Better than most lcd game watches.
Going to see what emulation options are available…
I was playing Tron on my Steam Deck. @@DJFace147
Thank you for bringing back this childhood memory. I bought "Lupin" in Germany around 1982 or 1983 for 99 Deutsche Mark. It was my first computer game in color. The "blue guys" were described as "ghosts" in the manual. I also remember that there were other languages in the manual, such as Dutch, so it was sold on some other European markets as well. Usually, the ghosts move around randomly, but when the alarm goes off, they head more directly towards the player. I also the remember that the paint on the screen came off after a while when touching it too much with your finger, so be careful with that.
As soon as I saw the Lupin one I was like "oh I bet it's based on the anime, I wonder if he's aware of it"...and then the answer turned out to be so much more interesting than I could have possibly imagined.
And it’s still clearly based on Lupin III based on the P-38 handgun on the marquee and the game over music
31:00 -- You gotta hear the original Lupin The 3rd jazz theme from 1978 / 2002 by Yuji Ohno! I loved when Adult Swim had re-runs of it. Such a fun show! Fun music!
Those games are truly amazing pieces of tech.
I grew up with tiger black and white garbage...
Thank you for your demonstration.
When i was child i have Lupin. Tank you. i went back to my childhood.
I've always loved these VFD games. My friend Paul had a Scramble he got for his birthday. I remember how jealous I was of it!
I currently have "Frisky Tom" and "Puck Man" which are both games I played in the 80's. Great stuff.
My parents bought Scramble for me for Christmas of 1982. My friend somehow got it in his head that my parents would buy him a Scramble game too. He was very upset when they didn't buy it for him. He should've known they wouldn't buy it for him.
Nice overview, loved Tron, and thanks to you I know about the μCOM-43!
Fantastic memories.
For my birthday I got the frogger game, that I played to death
My cousin had the double players pac man game and I really was jealous at it.
20 years later I asked him if he could give me and he did.
On a flea market I found caveman (boxed).
And I also have the DK game.
Thanks for bringing back memories of a fantastic and unique era, with extremely creative people behind these vfd's (clever segments reuse)
@6:24 They are real life motorbike model numbers probably meant as an ode to the lightcycles in the movie Tron
I first saw that Tron game at my cousin's house when I was about three or four. The translucent plastic, the glowing VFD display, and the high-pitched piezo beeper sound made it seem ultra-futuristic and almost magical in a way. I never did get past the first disk level but the sights and sounds were firmly etched in my memory ever since. Thanks for sharing your collection of these handheld games.
"The ROM code is actually included in the microprocessor." Oh wow, so these would be some of the very first systems-on-a-chip (SOCs), huh? Interesting!
This was fairly common, then some smart arse decided it needed a new fangled name so SOC came to be.
@@paulstubbs7678: Why do you believe the term "system on a chip" came from what you call a "smart arse"?
AFAIK It was actually factory-preprogrammed(the actual chip's silicon-wafer had fixed memory contents by design). The original Intel 8051 microprocessor(the AVR's grandpa) had the same kind of memory built-in, however it also had an external memory bus which allowed to store the program in a seperate EPROM chip or such.
@@MrKata55: So we're still talking about an SOC.
Technically that probably would have been calculators, of which these were an offshoot.
Tomy was infamous for its reliance on interchangeable parts with its physical toys and electromechanical games like hit and missile, atomic arcade pinball and digital derby. Given the mold costs, there is a lot of clever cost-cutting in these games.
I always loved the interchangable parts. Modularity seemed like a cool trick to me when I was a kid, :) plus I liked cost-saving where it didn't hurt.
@@eekee6034 Most people think of the bad aspects of cost-cutting, where shortcuts make the thing inferior. But when it's done right, it makes it better and cheaper. Tomy mostly did it right.
As someone who has spent his life in the plastic molding business it is insane how much some of the mold costs just to make a plastic cap, a company could easily go out of business if something happened to one of its higher dollar molds and were lost/stolen with the cavities in them in transport.
I had almost all of these electronic games before we got a binatone and then a Atari 2600,god bless my parents because my mother spoiled me at Xmas and birthdays and got me a mass of games for my Atari over the months/years and then let me swop it for a zx81 with couple cassettes , mags and tape recorder..all my cartridges and Atari..then I got my spectrum..beautiful times 77 onwards
Lupin III : The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), was the first film by Miyazaki better known for Studio Ghibli
Secret of Momo was 1st
I received Scramble for an early Christmas gift in 1982. It has always been my favorite VFD game. It worked for over 30 years but stopped working several years ago. Fortunately, I bought two extra ones on ebay. In 1982, my late cousin started thinking that my parents would buy him a Scramble game too. I don't know why he thought that because nobody told him that. He got real upset when he didn't get a Scramble game. I love these kind of games.
I had a friend who had the Tron version in the 80's ... He was very popular 😄 and we all wanted it
I never expected those VDFs to be so detailed. The Tron one shows such a great usage of the technology with the re-using and the different colors, I've never seen this before.
CPU has 8x12 GPIO lines which can drive matrix. Also 4 lines are bit accessed and I guess they are for keyboard scan mostly. Rest of the screen must come from Patterns that Robin mentioned when walking through PDFs. But I agree that authors were very creative on colors and clever segment reuse.
Really cool video here! I remember a childhood friend of mine lending me his TRON game for a day or two. I was lucky to have a power supply at home that was compatible with it so I didn't have to use batteries with it.
I also bought my very first LCD game called SPACE CRUSHER by Radio Shack with was basically the same as Scramble. I still have that little game and it's in near mint condition. Such great memories of such a simple but very rich childhood due to toys that really inspired you to use your imagination or that captured your attention in a whole new way despite being very simplistic by today's standards.
Again, great video here! Nostalgic and fun _(and slightly bittersweet)_ blast from the past...
Wow, we had the Caveman game as a kid (and probably drove our parents nuts with the music it plays). I didn't realize that there were other similar games, but I guess it shouldn't surprise me. Thanks for the vid!
Growing up here in the U.K. I had and loved the Tron game, it’s great to see it working again. Thanks for your time and effort on this 👍🏻
Those games aren't cheap. Been looking for affordable versions for a long time.
Not only that but the technology just wasn’t there yet.
I have Caveman, the funnest one.
Thank you for making this great video. As a kid in the 80s I went down the other Wishbook path to the Atari VCS, but I've always been fascinated by these VFD games. The Tomy ones, especially. It's really ingenious how they worked around the limitations of the technology (and the price point.)
I love the extra details they did on the Tron console
These are really great nostalgia trips back to the early 80s, I literally get flashbacks everytime you fire up the old Tomy and Tiger games...
12 year old me thanks you.
This takes me back. I played that Scramble game so much when I was a kid.
What a memory you’ve released for me. I had caveman as a kid and I adored it. I completely forgot about it until you showed this video.
Scramble! This is awesome. I had this game as a kid. Thank you for putting the nostalgic smile on my face.
I remember Tron and Scramble from my childhood (I never owned either but saw them in some stores). I did not know about Caveman or Lupin. I would love to have any or all of these games now as they remind me of my youth. I appreciate the time you took to film this review and playthrough of each of these games. I have subscribed to your channel. Thanks for sharing!
Omg, i'm once have that Scramble when i was i kid. When i see your video i suddenly recall that opening melody. So wonder it still stuck on my head this long. Can't remember what happen to it.
I had Caveman! Super fun for the time. Also, around the same time had a racing game shaped like space-age binoculars, and it was 3D! I think that was a Tomy.
Yes, they did a series of 3D games with the binocular form factor. Trying to capture that gameplay on video would be really difficult I bet!
I'm impressed by how good these look for the (original) price. The art for the caveman game is really cute too.
$20 in 1981 is the same as $60-$65 today.
I had Scramble when I was a kid. I played that thing for hours and hours. Totally forgot the name of it until I watched this video. Thanks for the refreshing my memory.
One other fun thing is that there was an unlicensed quasi-crossover with Sherlock Holmes in the form of a character called Herlock Sholmès, who also kind of crops up in the Ace Attorney games!
The Lupin novels had Sherlock Holmes in French but the author was sued so the English version have Herlock Sholmes or Homeock Shears, depending on the translation.
The funny thing is Doyle's brother in law created a character who was inspired by Lupin as a counterpoint to Sherlock Holmes. :) He had nothing like the same name, he was Raffles the amateur cracksman.
Scramble has a visual grid is 4x8 = 32 words. Each word is able to represent 4 bits, so it is what we are seeing at least in Scramble, the line at the bottom, the square at the top, the bullet, the wings and the rocket (I think they allowed some combinations of them instead of one-byte one symbol).
The player has 4 positions = 1 word but it is always at the left.
Each missile should have a position x,y (X uses 2 words and Y uses a word), or using an index (2 words).
Each enemy uses 2 words or 3 words (I think it could hold up to 4-5 enemies, 5 x 3 = 15).
32 + 1 + 3 + 15 = 51 words out of 160, so there is room for other things such as the boss, the level, the lives, the score, the program, music and level are in the ROM, so there is enough RAM for more stuff, Lupin uses a 5x9 grid so it is a waste of more resources.
So, what I am talking about, the CPU is slow but it is enough for even more. The RAM was the main constraint. The Atari 2600 has 128 bytes of ram but it was 8 bytes, so it was almost the same as this 4-bit chips.
NOT THE LCDS!!! NOOOOOOOOO (great video though :D)
EDIT: Wow, the Tron game was super innovative. I was expecting Game & Watch style stuff. Also, great camerawork!
Oh man I had caveman and scramble. Still at my mum and dad's and still working.
Caveman I played a ton. Has surprisingly enjoyable gameplay.
I wasn't aware that 4 bit processors were used for things like this after 8 bit ones were available. But it makes sense that 4 bit chips would be repurposed for handhelds when 8 bit chips were still relatively new and expensive.
The 8-bit processors of the time couldn't drive high-voltage VFD's and tended to require external support chips (memory, ROM, timers, transistors for the VFD drive and so on). So it wasn't just the processor, the support circuits could easily cost as much as the cpu itself.
In comparison the 4-bit calculator chip used had all that integrated to make the cheapest possible VFD based calculators, they were close to being the first modern "SOC" (complete system) in comparison and was cheap because calculators used a LOT of these and was extremely price sensitive.
AFAIK most pocket calculators still use 4-bit CPUs to this day (obviously driving LCDs instead).
Best guess, using 8-bit processor would have made them totally non-viable (as in "massively increase production cost"). As mentioned these were priced similar to higher end cartridge games which pretty much only has a few dirt cheap ROMs in them. Basically these only exist BECAUSE of those 4-bit calculator chips was already there and someone figured out a secondary market for them.
@@Torbjorn.Lindgren Great explanation!
I had the Tron game years back. I got so good at it, I flipped the score. Good memories. Thank you for sharing!
It took me a while but I briefly went through HMCS44A data sheet. 2176 words is a total ROM size. First 2048 words can contain both code and pattern, latter only patterns. P instruction takes 2 cycles and loads constant to A and B regs or output 8 bits through R30-R43 pins. Program Counter loops within a page and goes in wierd polynomial sequence. Instruction clock is 100 kHz.
The Caveman theme at 16:40 sounds suspiciously like Henry Mancini's iconic Pink Panther theme. (Seems to me the "gentleman thief" theme of Lupin would have been more in keeping with that music, since the first Pink Panther film had a character like that.)
3 years later, I realize that Lupin's death music is lifted from the Pink Panther theme too, just a different part.
I still have my Tomy Tron (in perfect condition, with original box, instructions and packing!) and my brother's Tomy Scramble. Bought them both on the same day from Kay-Bee Toys in 1983, on clearance for US$13.99 (marked down from $55.95!). I remember them stacked in a pile and people were grabbing them up fast...we got some of the last ones! Love the glow of Vacuum Florence Display, a rather unique visual display, much like my Vectrex! Scramble is my favorite of the two games, which also happens to be one of my favorite Vectrex games! (has a unique glow and look too!). Thanks for making this video, I had NO IDEA Caveman or Lupin existed until watching this, or that these games used a 4-bit calculator microcontroller with integrated custom ROM and RAM. I think Tron and Scramble were likely more popular, having the movie & arcade game tie ins. Not sure I would've liked Caveman back in the day, but Lupin seems like it could be an interesting game. Had LED and LCD handhelds too in the early 80's, but these VFD were the coolest!
I got my Tron at the Kay-Bee Toys too; I don't remember how much it was marked down but I suspect it was $20 or less or I couldn't have justified (or afforded) it.
Interesting these Tomy games got marked down so quickly, barely a year old (by contrast, my Mattel Electronics Baseball I got around 1982 on mark down, had probably been sitting around the store since '78!). Maybe these got caught up in the video game crash that same year?
Oh man, I love these old VFD games!
They were so creative with how they incorporated multiple game modes, using a single, non-overlapping grid.
I've been developing a Tiger Electronics styled game for fun, but I do want to try making a simpler VFD styled game, eventually.
Thanks so much for the video. I had Scramble as a kid and really loved it, though can't remember being any good at it! Brings back some fond memories.
I remember these as a kid funny how the games went from these, great graphics and highly playable to tiger crap. Tron looks amazing!!
Thanks for taking the time to film for us, never seen these before.
And the memories come flooding back, mainly of the Scramble one, sneaking goes under my bed covers in the night, hahaha. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the screens of these presented so well, before, btw.
9 year old me played Tron in Hamleys, London. Wanted it so much. Thanks for the memberberries ❤
Pretty darn awesome what they could do with those VFD displays, especially in Scramble. The same could have been done in Game & Watch, but they never had anything like scrolling.
Super Mario Bros Game&Watch June 25, 1986 had scrolling.
I had Caveman! Mine had a green surround on the screen rather than your blue and, despite having the "TOMY" emblem on the case it was distributed by Grandstand here in the UK (the Grandstand logo was printed on the screen surround). I put a lot of hours into that game back in the day. Thanks for memories!
Love the look of these games!
You're pretty good at these games! Those VFDs sure are nicer looking than the tiger LCDs, and the games have a lot more effort put into them also.
Had never seen Caveman before, looks awesome. Never seen Lupin gameplay before, looks great too, Lupin is possibly the best one of this type of game overall! Would love for that to come to RA emulation. These games were actually really good. Astro Wars really holds up today i think.
Thanks for the video 🎉
If somebody had one of these in the 80's when were kids in Grade School they were the freaking KINGS on the playground at recess. Fun times. 😊
Thanks Robin, we love your Video's for our beloved C64 but this brought back some great memories
Living in Scotland, we had Astro blaster
I was pretty sure I never owned one of these, and even that I never played one of these. But when I saw the Caveman gameplay, something in my brain clicked. It´s amazing how after 35-40years, your memory tells you: I´ve seen that before! I have no clue when and where, but I know I have played this as a young child. Of course without appreciating it back then.
In Germany that is...Thanks for the spark!
These look awesome, never stumbled on these when I was younger
16:40 - Is that a knockoff of the Pink Panther theme? Could be...was common for video games of the 80's and 90's.
Also, cute collection. In an age when Tiger-style handhelds were black and white, it's refreshing to see.
Last time I was this early, it was 1982 and I'd had my first glimpse as a 5 year old of a C64 at a family friends house.
Harrr haaaarrrrr! :-D
I had the Tron game back in the day man that thing was a blast thanks for the memories brother
I have been trying to remember the game I had and loved so much. As soon as you started up Scramble, I was back in my childhood! I wish I had seen this video 2 years ago. Now I hope I can find Scramble online somewhere that's not too expensive.
If you set up a saved search on eBay for Tomy Scramble you'll eventually find one for about $50-$60 US. Right now there's a couple that would cost around $100 shipped but you should be able to do better than that if you watch and wait.
"Translucent shell..." It actually _transparent_ and shaded. When something is translucent that means that it lets light through but is textured/scrambled so you can't see the detail on the other side.
This was very interesting and complete. Thank you
Thanks! Oh, I see you have some calculator watch videos, I have to... watch!
I can't even recall how many hours of Tron I played back in the day. It was my second experience with a computerized electronic device, next to Merlin, and thankfully I still have both of those games. I remember playing Scramble back then, too, but I don't seem to have it anymore.
This gave me such a warm feeling of nostalgia. Lupin looks and sounds the best of the bunch. I suspect it's probably the most expensive of all of them too, both now and back then.
I can just about remember Scramble, possibly because i had another version called Super Cobra, which was another Arcade conversion to electronic game. It had a bigger playing field and had more adjustable parameters in real time, including the speed and level start.
I also had one of the tomytronic 3D ones as well, which i think had stereo sound. Some sort of dogfight game, which was astounding to me back then. As you mentioned in your video, the consoles and home computers were expensive by comparison.
Thanks for uploading & doing such a stellar job on the visuals, audio and research on the chipsets too.
Excellent to see these together and have you completely play through them. I've also been looking for a Lupin since I first found out about it about nearly a decade ago.
It has been 10 months since my reply, but I received my Lupin in the mail today! It required quite the cleaning but is otherwise in really good shape. Like you noticed, I haven't figured out what the Alarm indication going off on occasion means in the game if anything.
Ahh, I had all of those except Lupin when I was a kid. I hate to think how many hours I spent playing Scramble in particular! Such good memories.
These videos are both interesting and informative. I love this channel.
Love the video buddy...this brings back memories
The Caveman game looks pretty awesome, especially for it's time. With multiple, changing, levels these games were far more advanced than play 'n watch style handhelds.
Man, these actually look pretty cool!
Great video. I enjoyed watching it. I played the Tandy Scramble game in the 80s when I was a kid. Great game.
I don't remember if I ever bought Scramble. I had lots of handhelds over those years. Some stick out more than others. But I do remember trying it out at the toy store at Puente Hills mall. (Back To The Future) It was great that they had all the handhelds behind a display you could ask to try. Saved me lots of money.
The sound of the D-pad is very distinctive; that's what brings it all back for me.
Scramble! As a kid visiting my younger cousin in the 80s I would always try to sneak in a few games of this when my family visited his. I still want to track down a working copy for myself at some point, just for the nostalgia.
Was aware of Tron and Caveman, but did just learn that there was one of Lupin. neat.
You just evoked a childhood memory of playing that Tron as a kid. I don't know who owned it (I didn't) but I remember all of the sounds and gameplay!
I'm not in the habit of using the word "visceral" often, but that's what this Tron game is for me. It's amazing: the intense sound and the glow of the VFD bring me back to my childhood maybe more than anything else.
@@8_Bit My desire to relive this experience was so intense "visceral" is apt -- I immediately went looking for one on eBay. Sadly at $100 (the cheapest option) I just couldn't justify pulling the trigger.
In the Tron game, those names are all motorcycles on the fake pcb.. Probably to reference the lightcycle. CB is Honda, XS and YZ are Yamaha, not sure who TS is though..
Nice catch!
I'd say TS references to Suzuki TS 400 - same time period.
great video and very informative! i used to have tron and loved it! can't believe how creative they were with the three levels. don't know if i just discovered it, because i don't remember for sure, but, when you play against Sark, the more rings you keep, the more you have as a timer for defeating the MCP cone. very clever!
Lupin was unlikely to be released in the US since the original novels Lupin the 3rd were an unofficial sequel to were not in the pubic domain in the US yet.
In the 80s when Lupin the 3rD media was released here his name was changed to Thief or Wolf, if the game was released over here it was most likely rebranded to one of those names or a US cartoon.
Very interesting video, thanks for making it.
Yeah, the screen capture close-ups of the TRON screen look great!!! I love the MPC graphic "spinning around" look that they did... this is AWESOME!!
They're really rather clever, and the design of the Tron one is fantastic. Scramble looks really good.
Nice collection! I own the Tron and Scramble units. I actually fired up my Tron unit the other day for the first time in about a year. It still works great!
Great video, very informative! As a side note, I didn't know that Lisa Simpson was a prehistoric egg hunter, LOL
Great video and great memories from the 80's. We also played with this at a friends house. He also had a digital wrist-watch with a UFO-game, which i also found extremly fascinating...
The game was renamed in the UK as there was already a VFD game called Scramble with the same form factor on the market, by Granstand, no idea if they got a license for it. I got it for Christmas in 1982 as I loved Scramble in the Arcade, wish I got your version much closer to the arcade game.
I had scramble, fire fox F7, and Munchman. Also had a couple of Tomy tronic games. You had to play these like a pair of binoculars. I don’t remember the name of the games I had. One was a car game and the other was like a ww2 fighter plane. I loved them.
I've still got one of mine from when I was a kid in the UK. It's the grey Alien Attack one (same game as scramble) I also had caveman later on, but it was in a red case.
Just terrific games! I have all 4, even some color variants, in my collection. These vfd mini arcades need more love
thanks. your review shows me how to play on each games. I love it! I had Scamble long long time ago but my cousin borrowed and lost it LOL.