Bandai RX-78

The Bandai RX-78 is a Japanese 8-bit microcomputer manufactured by Bandai.[2] Its name comes from the RX-78-2 Gundam. It was released in July 1983,[3][1] and employed a SHARP LH0080A (Zilog Z80A clone) CPU. It ran at a clock speed of 4.1 MHz,[4][5] and shipped with 30 KB of RAM and 8KB of ROM.[6][5] It had two joystick ports in a proprietary format[7] using 8-pin DIN connectors.

Bandai RX-78
ManufacturerBandai
TypeHome computer
Release dateJuly 1983 (1983-07)
Introductory price¥59,800 (Japan) [1]
MediaCartridges, Compact Cassette
Operating systemBS-BASIC
CPUSHARP LH0080A (Z80A) @ 4.1 MHz
Memory30KB RAM; 4KB ROM
Graphics192 × 184, 27 colors
SoundSN76489 (3× voices (4 octaves) with 1 noise generator)
Connectivity2× Joystick, 1× RF, 1× RCA, 2× ROM cartridge
Power10W
PredecessorBandai Arcadia
SuccessorPlaydia

The computer can generate 27 colors, created from 3 levels of intensity of each RGB channel, arranged into VRAM video planes,[8] with a maximum resolution of 192×184 pixels, and is capable of displaying 30 x 23 text characters using a 6x8 pixel font.[5] Sound was generated by the Texas Instruments SN76489 chip, providing 3 voices in four octaves and noise generator.[9] Software was available on cartridges[10] or cassettes.

The RX-78 had a release cost of 59,800 yen,[3] and was sold with a dozen of games and software, including a BASIC interpreter cartridge featuring a cassette tape interface .[1][5]

Games

The Bandai RX-78 was primarily a gaming machine, with two joysticks included. Software was released on ROM cartridges ("Sen'you Soft Cartridge")[11] and compact cassettes ("Sen'you Tape Cassette").

20 games for the Bandai RX-78 were released, along with a smaller number of non-gaming titles.

  • Cannon Ball (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Card World (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Challenge Golf (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Champion Racer (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[12]
  • Donjara (Sen'you Tape Cassette)
  • Excite Baseball (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[13]
  • Excite Tennis (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Hamburger Shop (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[14]
  • Hitsuji Yaai (Sen'you Tape Cassette)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Luna Two no Tatakai (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[15]
  • Perfect Mah-jongg (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[16]
  • The Pro-Wrestling (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[17]
  • Rengo Kantai (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Sekigahara (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[18]
  • Space Capsule (Sen'you Tape Cassette)
  • Space Enemy (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[19]
  • Super Motocross (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[20]
  • Tatakae! Ultraman (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)[21]
  • Yellow Cab (Sen'you Tape Cassette)
  • Zerosen (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)

Educational (Education Series)
  • ABC Tangou Game (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Graphic Sugaku (Sen'you Tape Cassette)[22]
  • Keisan Enshuu Drill (Sen'you Tape Cassette)
  • Sansu Tsuma Zuki

Applications (Culture Series)
  • 3-Dimension Graphics (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Animation Graphics (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • BS BASIC Ver.1.0 (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Creative Graphics (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Healthy Life Plan (Sen'you Tape Cassette)
  • Kanji Word Processor
  • Music Master (Sen'you Soft Cartridge)
  • Z80 Assembler

References
  1. "Bandai RX-78 Gundam Computer Games Preserved! – Gaming Alexandria". www.gamingalexandria.com.
  2. "Bandai RX-78 Gundam Computer - Manual and Warranty Card Scans (600DPI) : Bandai : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive".
  3. "Bandai RX-78 Gundam - Computer - Computing History". www.computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  4. "1000 BiT - Computer's description". www.1000bit.it.
  5. "Bandai RX-78 Gundam Computer - Manual and Warranty Card Scans (600DPI) : Bandai : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive".
  6. "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  7. Blanchard, Jonn (October 15, 2018). "Bandai RX-78 Gundam Personal Computer Joystick Pinout".
  8. "eRX-78 謎WIPページ". takeda-toshiya.my.coocan.jp.
  9. "Platform Bandai RX 78 · z88dk/z88dk Wiki". GitHub. 14 December 2022.
  10. Blanchard, Jonn (March 7, 2019). "RX-78 Cartridge Information".
  11. "Bandai Rx 78 Games - Newest First". Ocean of Games.
  12. "Champion Racer [0201005] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  13. "Excite Baseball [0201007] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  14. "Hamburger Shop [0201011] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  15. "Mobile Suit Gundam - Luna Two No Tatakai [0201004] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  16. "Perfect Mah-Jongg [0201008] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  17. "The Pro Wrestling [0201013] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  18. "Sekigahara [0201027] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  19. "Space Enemy [0201019] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  20. "Super Motocross [0201024] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  21. "Tatakae! Ultraman [0201012] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  22. "Graphic Sugaku [0201035] (Bandai RX-78 Gundam) Box, Manual, Cart Scans (1200DPI)". September 10, 1983 – via Internet Archive.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.