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History
The history of the Copera started with the Pico, an educational video game console, released on June 6, 1993 by Sega Toys. While it is unclear if Yamaha was already planning to develop an educational console or if the success of the Pico gave the idea to Yamaha afterwards, but it wasn’t long after the Pico release that Yamaha signed a deal with Sega Toy to release an updated version of the Pico under the Yamaha brand.
Called the Mixt Book Player Copera, the Yamaha console would be a Pico on steroids with the inclusion of a Yamaha YMF262 sound chip to provide FM quality sound, stereo output (the Pico is by default just mono), two MIDI ports (input/output), a microphone port which could be used for Karaoke and voice recognition) and a control port which can be used to connect a Mega Drive pad, mouse, etc.
Release
The Copera released on December 1st, 1993, about 6 months after the release of the Pico, but with a price tag of ¥35,000, which was more than twice the retail price of the Pico (¥16,000). The Copera seems to have targeted wealthier family, they ran a modest television ad campaign (making sure not to mention the price), but they mostly promoted the device in music stores. But while the Copera was vastly superior to the Pico, it was still an educational video game console and the price difference seems to be excessive for most customers. The Copera was compatible with the Pico title which at least helped boosted their library, which had only a few titles at launch.
Copera software would fit in a Pico, but as the Pico wouldn’t have the proper hardware to run it, the result would be unexpected. Depending on the game, this would vary from a error message, to missing sound or features.
Demise
Yahama adventure only lasted a few months. After releasing the 9th titles for the Copera, it was clear that the sales number wouldn’t justify the development of new software. And without new software to attract customers, the Copera just disappear from the store shelves.