Gakken Compact Vision

Gakken Compact Vision Specifications

The Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy (Japanese: TV ボーイ) is a second generation home video game console developed by Gakken and released in Japan in 1983 for a price of ¥8,800.

Gakken Co., Ltd (学研 or 学習研究社) is a Japanese publishing company which also produces educational toys. It released a fair amount of software for the Sega Pico console in Japan.

The company had a very brief stint in the video game console market with the Gakken Compact Vision (or TV Boy). With only six games released for the platform, the Gakken Compact Vision is considered to be one of many systems pushed off the market by the Nintendo Famicom, and to a lesser extent, the SG-1000. The system was made to compete with the Epoch Cassette Vision, which had a market dominance of 70% in Japan.

It was designed as a portable gaming device, powered by four AA batteries, and capable of playing a variety of games. The Gakken Compact Vision used an 8-bit CPU and an LCD screen that displayed black and white graphics. It also had a built-in speaker and a headphone jack for users to enjoy the sound effects of their games. The system used cartridge-based games, including racing, shooting, and puzzle games. Although it didn't achieve the same level of commercial success as the Commodore 64 or Nintendo Entertainment System, the Gakken Compact Vision still attracted a loyal following and became a classic product in the field of portable gaming devices at that time.

The console was released months after the Nintendo Famicom and Sega SG-1000 which, although more expensive at ¥15,000, were more advanced and had more features as well as bigger games libraries; furthermore, Epoch had just launched the Cassette Vision Jr. revision for ¥5,000. These factors made the system obsolete from the start, with a high price tag, very few and comparably rudimentary games, and a strange form factor, leading to poor sales. As a result, it is now a very rare collector's item among some retro gamers.