TV Boy

TV Boy 1 (with power and TV leads attached)

The TV Boy and its successor TV Boy 2 were video game consoles of the 1990s produced by many different companies including systema, akor, NICS and a few others based upon an unlicensed clone of the Atari 2600 hardware. Resembling a large handheld pad, the system plugged into a TV and running from either 4 AA batteries or a 6v power supply could play any one of 127 built in games.

They were widely available across Europe. In the UK they were most visibly available through Argos. An improved version of the TV Boy 2, the Super TV-Boy was made by Akor in 1995.

Hardware

The only difference between a TV Boy and TV Boy 2 is that the former has two 9pin Atari type joystick connectors for the optional use of external Atari-type joysticks.

The TV Boy 2 has no capacity for the addition of external joysticks so only a single player may play at once, using the built in pad.

The system has a jumper labelled NTSC/PAL on its motherboard so the underlying Atari 2600 clone presumably may be configured to play in either region. Doing so would require a replacement of the games ROM however, as on an Atari 2600 the game software controls vertical synchronisation timings.

There is no slot for additional games.

Games

The system contains a single 512kb ROM housing 128 programs. One of those is the program that enables the others to be selected, so only 127 games are included and none of them use any sort of paged ROM scheme.

All 127 are original commercial Atari 2600 games by companies such as Atari, Activision, Mattel and Atari hacked so that all copyright notices and other assets demonstrating ownership of exclusive rights in a game are removed. The coloured bars to the left of the A in the Activision logo remain on some games but the company name is entirely excised.

False and ambiguous names - such as "Mad Kong" (for Donkey Kong) and the rather amusing "The Flying Man" (for a Superman game) - were printed on the back-of-the-box game list, and in the instruction manual.

Some of the games have slight graphical alterations over their originals. All play with altered colours - for example, Pitfall! (known here as "The Jungle", according to the box and manual) is now set in a blue forest. This is because the game ROMS included in the package are usually the NTSC versions, but are played on a PAL console, much the same as when American cartridges are played on a real PAL format Atari 2600.

List of included games

The following is a complete list of the original Atari 2600 games that were modified for inclusion in the TV Boy 1, listed according to the game number given on that device with the original game name listed beside:

1. PYRAMID WAR - Chopper Command (Activision)
   
2. RIVER RAID - River Raid (Activision)
   
3. PAC MAN - Pac-Man (Atari)
   
4. MARIANA - Seaquest (Activision)
   
5. TOM BOY - Pitfall (Activision)
   
6. EARTH DEFENCE - Space Invaders (Atari)
   
7. DONKEY KONG - Donkey Kong (Coleco)
   
8. SUPER FERRARI - Enduro (Atari)
   
9. FROG CROSSING - Frogger (Parker Bros.)
   
10. PIN BALL - Video Pinball (Atari)
    
11. BANK HEIST - Keystone Kapers (Activision)
    
12. INVADER - Megamania (Activision)
    
13. SEA WARP - Atlantis (Imagic)
    
14. EXERION JR. - Demon Attack (Imagic)
    
15. SKY DESTROYER - Missile Command (Atari)
    
16. RIVER CROSSING - Frostbite (Activision)
    
17. DOWN TOWN - Berzerk (Atari)
    
18. TUNNEL BATTLE - Laser Gates (Imagic)
    
19. TEETH BRUSH - Jawbreaker (Tigervision)
    
20. PIG FIGHTER - Oink! (Activision)
    
21. LUNAR BALL - Trick Shot (Imagic)
    
22. DIG DUG - Gopher (US Games) - Dig Dug doesn't appear on the TV Boy.
    
23. FAST OFFENSE - Turmoil (20th Century Fox)
    
24. CAR RACING - Grand Prix (Activision)
    
25. FIRE MAN - Fire Fighter (Imagic)
    
26. SPIDER KING - Pac-Kong (RainbowVision) - previously PAL only, graphics altere
    
27. ROBOT CITY - Lock 'n' Chase (M Network)
    
28. CUTTLE FISH - Name This Game (US Games)
    
29. MAZE TOWN - Maze Craze (Atari)
    
30. EVIL CITY - Dodge 'Em (Atari)
    
31. SPIDER FIGHTER - Starmaster X-7 (20th Century Fox) - the Spider Fighter we know is at #38, Evil Attack.
    
32. ASTEROID - Mission 3000 (Puzzy/Bit) previously PAL only.
    
33. ARK LOST ART - Worm War I (Sirius-Fox)
    
34. MACHINE CAMEL - Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back (video game) (Parker Bros.)
    
35. SHRINKAGE - Fantastic Voyage (20th Century Fox)
    
36. CHESS - Video Chess (Atari)
    
37. DRAGON TREASURE - Dragonfire (Imagic)
    
38. EVIL ATTACK - Spider Fighter (Activision)
    
39. ICE POLO - Ice Hockey (Activision)
    
40. TANK CITY - Thunderground (Sega)
    
41. PUZZLE - Hangman (Atari)
    
42. VOLLEY BALL - Realsports Volleyball (Atari)
    
43. DEFENSE - M.A.D. (US Games)
    
44. STAR FORCE - Earth Dies Screaming (20th Century Fox)
    
45. STAR WAR - Tac-Scan (Sega)
    
46. TIME WARP - Plaque Attack (Activision)
    
47. SPACE TUNNEL - Flash Gordon (20th Century Fox)
    
48. FOX FIGHTER - Pooyan (Konami)
    
49. MOON DRIVER - Gas Hog (Spectravision)
    
50. BOOM BANG - Crackpots (Activision)
    
51. SEA-AIR-WAR - Air-Sea-Battle (Atari)
    
52. PIGEON - Barnstorming (Activision)
    
53. DEVIL TOWN - Venture (Coleco)
    
54. UFO SHIP - Assault (Bomb)
    
55. JOURNEY - Mr. Postman (Puzzy/Bit)
    
56. CARNIVAL - Carnival (Coleco)
    
57. CRAZY ATTACK - Dark Cavern (M Network)
    
58. OCEAN CITY - Z-Tack (Bomb)
    
59. FROGGER - Frogs 'N Flies (M Network)
    
60. SEA HUNTER - Sub Scan (Sega)
    
61. KING BUILDING - Robin Hood or Save Our Ship (Technovision) - previously PAL only.
    
62. TREASURE - Criminal Pursuit (Unknown)
    
63. SPIDERMAN - Spider Man (Parker Bros.)
    
64. FAST EDDIE - Fast Eddie (Sirius-Fox) - graphics altered from original.
    
65. ROBOCOP - Space Cavern (Apollo)
    
66. TOP GUN - Air Raiders (M Network)
    
67. UFO SHIP II - Assault (Bomb) - graphics altered from original.
    
68. JAW - Fast Food (Telesys) - colors altered from original.
    
69. WALKER - Walker (Unknown)
    
70. MEGA FORCE - Mega Force (20th Century Fox)
    
71. MOUSE TRAP - Hole Hunter (Unknown) - previously PAL only
    
72. DIMAX - Astro War (Dimax) - previously PAL only.
    
73. ROBOT ATTACK - Space Robot (Dimax) - previously PAL only.
    
74. MAZE CRAZE - Bank Heist (20th Century Fox)
    
75. AIR FORCE - UFO Patrol (Unknown)
    
76. SUPER MAN - Superman (Atari)
    
77. SKY CLIMBER - Master Builder (Spectravision)
    
78. BASE DEFENSES - Commando Raid (Vidtec)
    
79. FOX TRAP - Nuts (Technovision) - previously PAL only.
    
80. SPACE SHIP - Cosmic Ark (Imagic)
    
81. BRAIN GAME - Amidar (Parker Bros.)
    
82. LASER DUCK - Deadly Duck (Sirius-Fox)
    
83. BATTLE - Marauder (Tigervision)
    
84. RUNNING - Mouse Trap (Coleco)
    
85. SPECTRA - Planet Patrol (Spectravision)
    
86. RESCUE - M*A*S*H (20th Century Fox)
    
87. Q-BERT - Q*Bert (Parker Bros.)
    
88. SWEET HOME - Farmyard Fun (Unknown) - previously PAL only.
    
89. TENNIS - Tennis (Activision)
    
90. SQUARE ATTACK - Wall Defender (Bomb)
    
91. COW BOY - Stampede (Activision)
    
92. BOWLING - Bowling (Atari)
    
93. RIVER DRIVER - Raft Rider (US Games)
    
94. GALATIC - Galactic (Suntek)
    
95. LAST ATTACK - Yar's Revenge (Atari)
    
96. SOCCER GAME - Pele's Soccer (Atari)
    
97. FISHING - Fishing Derby (Activision)
    
98. BERMUDA - Bermuda (Suntek) - is in itself a clone of Activision's River Raid.
    
99. EXERION - Condor Attack (Ultravision)
    
100. SEESAW - Circus Atari (Atari)
     
101. CHESS II - Checkers (Activision) - who doesn't know checkers?
     
102. SKI - Skiing (Activision)
     
103. WORD ZAPPER - Word Zapper (Vidtec)
     
104. SEA WAR - Sea War (Unknown)
     
105. ALIEN - Alien (20th Century Fox)
     
106. RETURN BALL - Racquetball (Apollo)
     
107. TIME TUNNEL - Time Tunnel - a clone of Atari's Defender.
     
108. BASEBALL JR. - Super Challenge Baseball (M Network)
     
109. OTTELLO - Othello (Atari)
     
110. MAFIA - Gangster Alley (Spectravision)
     
111. HAPPY KID - Dishaster (Zimag)
     
112. FANCY POT - Snail Against Squirrel (Puzzy/Bit) - previously PAL only.
     
113. LASER SHIP - Cross Force (Spectravision)
     
114. BABY GO HOME - Bobby Is Going Home (Puzzy/Bit) - previously PAL only.
     
115. DUCK PASS - Challenge (Funvision)
     
116. THIRD CONTACT - Cosmic Creeps (Telesys)
     
117. KARATE - Karate (Ultravision)
     
118. LASER - Laser Blast (Activision)
     
119. SNOOPY - Malagai (Answer Software)
     
120. SPACE JOURNEY - Space Jockey (Vidtec)
     
121. SUBMARINE - Submarine (Unknown) - a clone of Fox M*A*S*H.
     
122. UFO ATTACK - Great Escape (Bomb)
     
123. ELE-COP - Room of Doom (Commavid)
     
124. SHOTTING - Squeezebox (US Games)
     
125. ICE CLIMBER - Brick Kick (Unknown)
     
126. 3D SPACE - 3D Tic Tac Toe (Atari)
     
127. ROCKET - Missile Control (Video Gems) - previously PAL only.

See also

• Super TV-Boy