Tiger Game.com

[Prometheus]

I was recently reminded of the Tiger Game.com (that's read as "Game Com", by the way - the dot is silent, and Tiger Electronics failed at designing an easy-to-read name and logo) by a review posted online by Dr. Ashen. I've embedded it below.


I must admit that I was actually a launch buyer of one of these monstrosities, because, frankly, I had been suckered by the advertising, which included footage of a bunch of games which were ultimately never released in the UK anyway. I ended up getting a refund when it turned out that the games were all buggy messes and that the system in general didn't work very well.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/7tIBIny4L6E?feature=oembed

One interesting point of note that Dr. Ashen doesn't cover (I assume because he didn't buy one at the time of its release), is that the two included games were not what was advertised on the box. What was included was Lights Out (as per the video), and Wheel of Fortune (which was not localised to match the UK version of the game-show at all, and thus had some very annoying voice-overs that were only relevant to the US audience), along with a note mentioning that the Batman & Robin game had been delayed and that you could send off for it by post, which would get it sent on to you at a later date.


The trouble was, whatever they delayed it for probably wasn't bugs, as the game was eventually released as a buggy mess. Though Dr. Ashen never gets that far because the Game.com's screen is so horrible (it was not at all suited to moving images, so the system's better games, if you can call them that, don't actually involve much movement), Batman & Robin would crash once you reached the next level anyway. (This may well have been fixed in later releases, as I've heard some people say that they enjoyed the game, with no mention of this problem, but the early-run one sent to me after sending off for it had this unavoidable bug.)


The touch-layer was of a lower resolution than the screen itself was, as far as I could tell, and not only did it have a VERY visible grid overlaying the display, but it was oftentimes not as responsive as you would like it to be.


I did always think that the built-in organiser features were kind of cool, but nowadays all of that is done a LOT better by my 3DS (anyone interested in the same would be well-advised to check the current "Little Helpers" feature that's running in at least the European eShop right now). The Game.com's calendar, as you can see from Ashen's video, was a complete joke, though.


I learned much later that there was a second version of the machine (US-only as far as I know) released in 2000, which had only one cartridge slot, and came in bright, original-iMac-style colours, for a much lower price-tag. Ultimately this didn't help it, though, as in the end, the Game.com in both its revisions only sold a total of 300,000 units or so (between 1997 and 2000). I'm frankly amazed that it sold this many.


Before I end this post, I also recall that there was, at one point, a rumour that the Gizmondo (when it was still named the "GameTrak") was a follow-up to the Game.com, which originated from the company behind the Gizmondo naming themselves Tiger Telematics, which confused non-fact-checking "game journalists" everywhere and started the rumour. :lol: The two were, of course, unrelated, although I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Tiger Telematics somehow chose their name so as to try to invoke some sort of recognition for Tiger Electronics' brand.


Anyway, did anyone else have (or still have) one of these? Any thoughts to share?

 

[Gruntfuggly]

I've got one plus 7 games (fighters megamix, jeopardy, mortal kombat trilogy, quiz wiz, resident evil 2, sonic jam and williams arcade classics).


To be honest I opened it up when I got it and tried a couple of games, but they were so poor I put it away and haven't touched it since...

 

[Blue Protoman]

I used to own one of these, then I sold it and each of the games. I got most of the games brand new, too.

 

[Exophase]

Ugh, so much consistently awful music :/

 

[Prometheus]

It's like the whole thing was designed to make your ears bleed, along with your eyes.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Actually, yes, I've heard of all of those. We have a Wonderswan emulator, too, in the form of Mednafen.

 

[Prometheus]

The WonderSwan is an interesting one, in that it cannot be considered a failure. It not only had three revisions (each equivalent to the Game Boy, Game Boy Colour, and Game Boy Advance), but between 1999 and 2003 it snagged 8% of Japan's handheld market from the Game Boy, which was something unheard of at the time.


The key was that it wasn't primarily aimed at the same demographic - the WonderSwan gained its biggest following from young women (this is why the system's only Mega Man game has a graphical style that resembles cute toys, rather than resembling the other games) and other then-mostly-untapped parts of the market. The DS later gained these customers and more.


(The NeoGeo Pocket and NeoGeo Pocket Colour, conversely, did quite poorly in comparison to the WonderSwan, even though it had a worldwide release. This line was only able to sell 2 million units globally, between 1999 and 2007, and most of those were after the machine's cancellation, when the units and games were being sold in pocket-money-priced bargain packs in an attempt to claw back some of the losses. Like the WonderSwan, it was a great machine, though.)

 

[Prometheus]

I don't have anything super-detailed to hand right now, but the Wikipedia entries (I know, I know :rolleyes: ) for the two machines have a bit of info on sales.

 

[Prometheus]

The WonderSwan's killer-app, a puzzle game called "Gunpey" was named after him, after he died in 1997. It also got a DS iteration, which is probably a bit easier to find (though seemingly lacking in the visual charm).


Definitely worth a look.

 

[Exophase]

Actually the Neo Geo followed the female power formula by releasing a very popular and kind of rare game to find these days = GAL FIGHTERS.
I had it and it was a fun game.

Maybe releasing a fighting game with exclusively female characters is a way to market to women if you're SNK and you only know how to make fighting games, but in the real world fighting games are going to be played much more by males regardless of their lineup. If anything, female characters in fighting games serve more as fan service, making them even more male oriented (see Dead or Alive series.. not that I'm calling this on a game like Gals' Fighters with SD characters)


Back on topic... have any decent game.com emulators ever been made? I know MESS supports it but I hear it's not so good.

 

[Blue Protoman]

game.commies had one, I believe, but they refuse to release it.

 

[Prometheus]

To my knowledge, Game.com emulation isn't so hot. I can't say I'm entirely surprised by this, of course.


There used to be a great page by a guy called Brian Proviciano, with some interesting technical stuff about the machine (amongst other things, a thorough explanation of how the screen worked and therefore why it was so bad, and information on a device he'd made to capture images from a running Game.com), but it seems to be gone, now.

 

[Exophase]

You can access that page in wayback. There isn't a lot of information useful for emulation, but the LCD description is rather enlightening:


http://web.archive.org/web/20070409071149/http://bripro.com/low/gamecom/index.php?page=lcd


The emulator that game.commies had was an official one developed by/for Tiger for actual development. No idea how well it runs, although I'm sure even computers of that era could handle it fine. Without access to this emulator or official development kits and/or information reverse engineering enough to write an emulator would be a lot of work. But the ROMs were dumped or otherwise made available somehow so it's not as bad as it could be, assuming that it didn't use some completely custom processor.

 

[Prometheus]

assuming that it didn't use some completely custom processor.

According to this page, the CPU was a Sharp SM8521. It also notes where the only/last known existing dev-kit went.


Also, it turns out that I was right about the touch-layer being of a lower resolution. :lol: The Game.com's display is 200x160, but the touch part is 12x10. (Also, even though the photo in the header for that page is quite low-resolution, I love how you can still clearly see the touch-screen's grid. :lol: )


EDIT: Haha! I found the advertisement that was run prior to the UK launch!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/9AFcUA3bdCE?feature=oembed

I particularly love how the claim "SUPERIOR GAME SCREEN" is a complete lie (perhaps that's what was meant by showing this claim being demolished, though? ).

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

I didnt have one but i remember seeing it in a shop window of a toystore once.That ad is bad all the shouting must be from the pain of realisation of how rubbish it was

 

[scaramouche]

I own the 3 different models as well as all the games launched for this system.


The models were :


TIGER GAME.COM- 1996/97 (CLASSIC)

TIGER GAME.COM POCKET PRO- 1997 (BACKLIGHT) - yes, the lighted unit was launched BEFORE the non light version and was called BACKLIGHT but was in fact a front light system made with 10 leds.

TIGER GAME.COM POCKET PRO -1998(NO LIGHT, COLORED CASES) - crystal colored cases, no light.

It was the first touchscreen handheld system as well as the first one with internet connection capabilities.


Tiger previously launched other game systems that may be considered as related with the GAME.COM, a cartridge based system called R-ZONE with 4 models (Head Gear, Superscreen, XPG and Datazone) but was not dot matrix.


Also Tiger launched a series of DOT MATRIX games callwed 99x but were not cartridge based: only one game per unit. I own 2: the RESIDENT EVIL 2 and the WCWnWo.

I love TIGER: all the systems were bizarre and weird

 

[Prometheus]

Wow! I had no idea that there were *three* Game.com models. I thought there were only two.


Tiger made some really interesting oddities. It really is a shame that the time for such things is now long-gone...

 

[craigix]

I wonder how many millions they spent on those licences?

 

[Prometheus]

I wonder that myself. I'm going to guess that at least some of it was covered by their pre-existing licenses to produce handheld LCD games based on the properties of those companies (such as Capcom and Konami), but obviously I don't know that for sure.


I haven't really looked into it.


EDIT: I do know that royalties from sales of the games weren't very high. One guy who worked on software for the system commented that he probably got more money from selling his dev-kit on eBay than he ever did from royalties.

 

[Jourdy288]

The WonderSwan's killer-app, a puzzle game called "Gunpey" was named after him, after he died in 1997. It also got a DS iteration, which is probably a bit easier to find (though seemingly lacking in the visual charm).


Definitely worth a look.

I remember playing that game on a phone my dad brought home from Japan.