Bally Astrocade
Bally Astrocade Specifications
| Manufacturer: | Bally Manufacturing |
| Developer: | Bally Manufacturing |
| CPU: | Zilog Z80 clocked at 1.789 MHz |
| Memory: | 4k-64k (with external modules) RAM, 8k ROM |
| Sound: | 3 × oscillators with noise mixing and hardware global vibrato |
| Medium: | ROM cartridge |
| Display: | 160×102 or 320×204 in 4/8 colors |
The Bally Astrocade, also known as the Bally Professional Arcade (BPA), is a home video game console released by Bally Manufacturing Corporation in 1977. It was designed to compete with the Atari 2600 and Intellivision consoles, and it featured advanced hardware capabilities for its time, including a custom graphics processor and a built-in BASIC programming language.
The Astrocade had a unique controller design that included a numeric keypad, which allowed players to enter and save program code directly into the console's memory. The system also had a cartridge slot for playing games and expansion modules, such as a BASIC programming module and a music synthesizer module.
While it had some notable games, such as "Gunfight" and "Space Fortress", the Astrocade struggled to gain a significant market share due to its high price and lack of third-party support. Bally ceased production of the Astrocade in 1983, and the console remains a curiosity among retro gaming enthusiasts today.
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