It wasn’t the only console released in 1982. It certainly wasn’t the best console released in 1982 either. But the Emerson Arcadia 2001 wrapped the state of the home video game console industry up into a tight package of a game console and accompanying cartridge library better than any rival on the market. And if you’ve never heard of it, that has something to do with why.
Emerson Arcadia 2001 contradictions
The Arcadia 2001 only survived on the market for about 18 months, having the historical misfortune of being announced in May 1982, a year before the 1983 video game crash. And it’s a console full of contradictions, not just chips. It had a very short time on the market, didn’t attract a lot of third-party development, was released at arguably the worst possible time, and yet it somehow spawned about three dozen clones internationally. And while it was one of the last second-generation consoles, it wasn’t as advanced as the other consoles released that year.
Emerson had big expectations of $15 million in sales in 1982. But the console didn’t appear at mid-year like they planned, but rather, in the fall. And then it didn’t have licensed titles.
So how did this console find itself in this odd situation?
Emerson’s partner: United Appliances Limited
Emerson’s name was on the Emerson Arcadia 2001 console, but they didn’t design the console or make it. It’s also worth clarifying that Emerson Radio was and is a different and unrelated company from Emerson Electric, the maker of garbage disposals.
The Emerson Arcadia 2001 was the brainchild of United Appliances Limited, a mysterious company in Hong Kong. UAL created the hardware and also wrote most of the games. Some of the games credited the author. Chris Capener, the developer credited on the title Funky Fish, said UAL was based out of Hong Kong and he thought they were a contract manufacturer. He programmed one title for them, then went to work for Starpath, and later, Epyx.
As best anyone can tell, UAL produced a console, a library of around 47 titles, and then they licensed it to companies in local markets to distribute it throughout the world.
The whole thing was a mashup of late ’70s leftovers. UAL somehow acquired the molds for the APF MP1000 console and its cartridges. It used the cartridge shells unmodified, and also used the lower shell of the MP1000 unmodified. How UAL came into possession of the tooling is unclear. APF had manufacturing facilities in Hong Kong. Perhaps UAL acquired the tooling from APF’s operations as they wound down. Or perhaps UAL spun off from APF.
Emerson Arcadia 2001 hardware
For the hardware, UAL didn’t borrow anything from APF. Instead, they chose a Signetics 2650 CPU and Signetics 2637 for video and sound, and equipped it with 1KB of RAM. The 2637 could handle text, sprites, playfield graphics, and rudimentary sound, with a single sound channel plus white noise and volume control. It had four sprites and could create bitmapped graphics at resolutions of 128×208 or 128×104 with 8 colors. The colors had some limitations. Only half of the eight could appear in the foreground and you didn’t get to choose which four. You chose from one of two fixed palettes, similar to how IBM’s CGA graphics worked. The result was similar to, but not quite compatible with an earlier console, or series of consoles. This console, the Radofin 1392, was made in Hong Kong by another contract manufacturer. Radofin happened to be Mattel’s OEM for the Intellivision console and Aquarius home computer.
It was outmoded compared to the Atari 5200 and Colecovision. This was aimed at the low end of the market.
It had a pair of hardwired Intellivision-style controllers with a 12 button keypad and a disc that accepted a screw-in post so you could also use it like a joystick.
The Emerson Arcadia 2001 software library
The game titles were a mix of ports from the Radofin 1392, knockoff versions of popular arcade titles from the early 1980s, and licensed versions of lesser-known arcade titles from the early 1980s.
In the United States, a total of 22 titles saw release. Emerson announced an additional two that do not appear to have been released. Internationally, a total of 47 titles appeared. Not every title was available in every market.
Rumor was that Emerson wanted to produce versions of several big name titles like Pac-Man, Galaxian, and Defender, but overestimated the feasibility of getting the licenses. UAL either had knockoff versions of all the games Emerson wanted, or was working on some.
The eventual release titles
What Emerson ended up going to market with wasn’t what they first envisioned. Unable to secure licenses, they released a library of knockoffs of familiar arcade titles. Space Raiders was a clone of Defender. Breakaway was a clone of Breakout. The games had enough changes to make them more difficult to recognize. But the packaging frequently hinted at each title’s inspiration.
UAL did eventually manage to produce licensed versions of five arcade games, none of them huge hits. Of these, only Jungler and Spiders were released in the United States, and only Jungler was common.
You can tell something about when a system was developed and launched by comparing its titles to the Atari, Mattel and Coleco launch titles. The presence of arcade titles in the Arcadia 2001’s library correctly suggests that it appeared closer in time to the Colecovision than to the Intellivision.
The Pac-Man clone
A very close Pac-Man clone for the Arcadia 2001 exists. It wasn’t released in the United States. But it did see release in some other countries under the title Super Gobbler. In some other markets, the graphics changed a bit and the title became Nibblemen. The maze layout looks how you would expect it to look and the object of the game is unchanged. The two major changes from the original are starting positions and the number of ghosts. I can’t think of any technical reason for the starting position to move from the center of the screen unless they decided that was a big enough change to avoid legal problems. Changing the number of ghosts makes more sense. The Arcadia only had four sprites, and that was only enough for the main character and three ghosts.
Working around the limitation would have been possible, but it was much easier to just go with three ghosts, especially given the threat of legal action. It makes the game easier than the real thing, but even playing one ghost short of the original, it’s still a better implementation of Pac-Man than the 2600 had.
Looking for all the world like a pirate console
Noted video game collector John Hancock said when he reviewed the Arcadia 2001 on his YouTube channel that if he’d seen the Arcadia 2001 and its library in the early 1980s, especially in a venue like a flea market, he would have assumed it was a pirate console. The packaging didn’t just evoke other video games, but it sometimes evoked other pop culture references. One of the space titles was clearly trying to get you to think of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars.
The whole vibe just didn’t inspire confidence. Between the obscure arcade titles and the knockoffs of better-known arcade titles, it was hard to tell what was what. And then a fair bit of the library was filler. If you got unlucky and picked one of those and paid full price for it, you wouldn’t be happy, and might not be too keen to take a chance on another title.
It could have been worse. Nothing in the Arcadia 2001’s library was as hard to play and frustrating as the first five titles that Data Age released for the Atari 2600. But it gave off the impression it might be, and those impressions are everything.
What could have been the Emerson Arcadia 2001’s best game
The best game on the Emerson Arcadia 2001-type consoles was Jump Bug, one of the five licensed arcade titles UAL managed to secure. I actually remember that game in the arcades. It was a horizontal scrolling platform game where you bounced around, shooting enemies and collecting money bags. Jump Bug was a good game. It just wasn’t a hit. It was more like the song on the second side of your favorite record that you ended up liking more than the hits. I discovered it waiting in line for Donkey Kong. I glanced over and saw someone playing Jump Bug. It looked fun, so when he finished, I went over there to see if it was more fun than waiting in line. It was, and I don’t think I ever got back to Donkey Kong.
I don’t think Jump Bug would have been enough to carry the Emerson Arcadia 2001. At least not on its own. But still, not releasing it in the United States seems like a missed opportunity.
Released titles
Emerson announced a total of 24 titles. Of these, 22 saw release.
- Cat Trax
- Space Attack
- Escape
- Funky Fish (not released)
- Space Raiders
- Brain Quiz
- Space Vultures
- Alien Invaders
- Space Mission
- Missile War
- Ocean Battle
- Red Clash
- 3D Bowling
- American Football
- Baseball
- Soccer
- Breakaway
- Star Chess
- Capture
- Tanks a Lot
- Grand Slam Tennis
- Pleiades (unreleased)
- Jungler
- Spiders
Good idea, flawed execution
I think Emerson had the right idea. Here was an inexpensive system that was capable of playing recognizable versions of current arcade games. It wasn’t as good as a Colecovision or Atari 5200, the other two new consoles from that year, but it was better than the Atari 2600. And the price was competitive with the Atari 2600 too.
I think Emerson just didn’t realize how difficult it would be to get the licenses for the best games. In retrospect, Emerson would have been better off approaching Parker Brothers, who owned the rights to produce console versions of Frogger and Popeye, and ask them to produce versions of its titles for the Arcadia. Or maybe they did, and Parker just didn’t want to do it.
A missed opportunity for Emerson and UAL
And in 1983, when Atari might have been amenable to subcontracting production of versions of Defender and Galaxian and even Pac-Man through its Atarisoft label, Emerson probably didn’t know to ask again. That’s a missed opportunity, because Emerson could have had all the titles they allegedly wanted.
Atari wasn’t going to give the Emerson Arcadia 2001 a second look on its own, of course. But Atari didn’t write any of the Atarisoft titles. They subcontracted that work to smaller development houses, then handled the production and distribution. Since UAL had working code for recognizable versions of several Atari games, they could have simply changed the games back and retitled them, agreed to a royalty payment, then had UAL handle production and Emerson handle distribution while Emerson sent Atari royalties. It would have provided Atari a no-effort revenue stream, and a boost to a console that needed it.
Scarcity
The games themselves vary in rarity. The more common titles seem to be easier to find than the console itself. Cat Trax, a Pac-Man rip off that was turned into a cat and mouse game rather than a man and ghost game, is one prominent example. Some of the titles, especially the later titles, are rare and only come up for sale a couple of times per year. Two titles, Funky Fish and Pleiades, are either exceptionally rare or never saw release in the United States.
The console itself isn’t especially rare and there is usually one available on eBay if you are willing to pay a premium. They come up for auction less frequently.
Anecdotally, I have encountered Arcadia 2001 cartridges in the wild, but not the console itself. And I do mean in the wild. I didn’t buy mine at a thrift store. What I have turned up at St Louis area estate sales.
End of the line
Emerson gave up on the Arcadia in early 1984, pulling the plug on it after about 18 months on the market. After two Christmas seasons of missing its sales goals, Emerson wasn’t in the mood to try for a third.
Internationally, UAL found other licensees, which is how the Emerson Arcadia 2001 ended up with about as many clones as it had software titles available for it. The Hanimex HMG-2650 that saw release in Canada, Australia, and Germany, and Hanimex Home Arcade Centre that saw release in the UK are compatible with the Arcadia 2001. But presumably, none of those versions fulfilled UAL’s hopes and dreams either.
UAL’s surrender
In 1983, UAL started porting some of its games to the Atari 2600. We don’t know its motive, but presumably, it was a sign they’d given up on the console and were hoping for better fortune in the Atari ecosystem. None of the games saw release due to Atari’s market imploding that year.
Three of those ports, Pleiades, Cat Trax, and Funky Fish turned up in 1998, with 1983 copyright dates. Three more were dumped in 2024: R2D Tank, Hobo, and Spiders. Hobo in particular helps contrast the Arcadia 2001 with the 2600. In Hobo, you race across the street through heavy traffic a la Frogger or Freeway. But the screen has 45-degree perspective graphics on the 2001 where the 2600 version is straight up and down like Frogger. Having enough memory to draw a screen at a time rather than a line at a time made pulling off a 45-degree perspective much more doable.
The Emerson Arcadia 2001’s legacy
For what it is, Arcadia 2001 is a fun and interesting console. It has an air of mystery, it’s harder to find than the other consoles released that year, and it pretty much represents everything that was right or wrong with the industry in 1982 and 1983. It’s not a great console. But that’s not to say it isn’t any fun.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.