RCA Studio II

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The RCA Studio II was the second programmable video game system in the world, that debuted in January 1977  following the Fairchild Video Entertainment System released a few months earlier. The graphics of Studio II games were black and white and resembled those of earlier Pong consoles and their clones.

A total of 10 cartridges were released before RCA dropped the system in 1979. The Studio II also came with 5 built in games: Bowling, Freeway (car racing), Patterns, Doodles, and Math. Sadly, the RCA was quickly outdated due to the fast pace that technology was evolving, 9 months later the Atari VCS was released, with color high resolution graphics, custom sound that came through the television, and what was to become one of the largest game libraries of any console to date.

Some years later, color clone systems appeared in Europe. They were clearly marketed as cheap systems for people who couldn't afford more "modern" systems like the ColecoVision or Vectrex.

Technical specifications[edit]

RCA Studio II
[[File:RCA-Studio-II.jpg|230px]]
Manufacturer RCA
Generation Second generation
Release date January 1977
Media type Catridges
  • RCA 1802 microprocessor, 1.78 MHz
  • 2 KB ROM (includes the five built-in games)
  • 512 bytes (normally 256 bytes display RAM, 256 bytes program RAM)
  • RCA CDP 1861 "Pixie" video chip, 64x32, monochrome graphics

Clones[edit]

They are usually called MPT-02 systems because they are software-compatible with the RCA Studio II. Some have modifications from the original RCA Studio II such as detachable controllers or even color graphics. There were also some new cartridges produced for these systems.

  • Conic M-1200
  • Hanimex MPT-02 Jeu TV programmable
  • Sheen 1200 Micro Computer
  • Soundic MPT-02 Victory

Games[edit]

Only 10 games were released by RCA:

  1. 18V400|TV Arcade I: Space War
  2. 18V401|TV Arcade II: Fun with Numbers
  3. 18V402|TV Arcade III: Tennis/Squash
  4. 18V403|TV Arcade IV: Baseball
  5. 18V404|TV Arcade Series: Speedway/Tag
  6. 18V405|TV Arcade Series: Gunfighter/Moonship Battle
  7. 18V500|TV School House I
  8. 18V501|TV School House II: Math Fun
  9. 18V600|TV Casino I: Blackjack
  10. 18V700|TV Mystic Series: Biorhythm

Manuals[edit]