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History
Not much is known about why Konami decided to release the Picno.
Release
The Picno was released in October 1992. Targeting a young audience, the Picno was a hybrid between a tablet and an educational video game console. The tablet would connect to a normal TV set and allowed to use 160 colors on screen. At the time of release, only a few cartridges were released with the promise of new ones before the end of the year. But Konami was not the only company that wanted to occupy this space as Sega announced the release of the Sega Pico, an educational video game system that was set to release in June 1993 at a target price of ¥13,440. Konami had to reduce their cost if they wanted to have a fighting chance against Sega.
This is why, in 1993, Konami released the Picno2 at the price of ¥15,800. The Picno2 had almost no improvement over the original Picno, aside very few esthetic changes and cheaper manufacturing cost.
Demise
The Sega Pico immediately took a huge share of the market, sending Konami as a distant second. Konami continued to market the Picno2 and released new activity cartridges until 1995, but the console was never able to recover from the Pico’s competition.
Games
There are 21 activity cartridges each costing ¥3,800 released for the system. A save cartridge was also available for the price of ¥5,800.
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| RX101 – セーブカード Save Card 1992 | RX102 – モンタージュ Montage 1992 | RX103 – ふしぎの国のアリス Alice in wonderland 1992 | |||
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| RX105 – ピクノでABC Picno de A B C 1993 | RX106 – アニメ絵日記 Anime Picture Diary 1993 | RX107 – ピクノであいうえお Picno de A I U E O 1993 | |||
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| RX108 – ピクノで123 Picno de 1 2 3 1993 | RX109 – ピクノアートパズル Picno Art Puzzle 1993 | RX110 – リアルモンタージュ Real Montage 1994 | |||
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| RX111 – きいろい恐竜くん パラサのオバケ退治 – パラサ&ディンキーダイノス Parasa & Dinky Dinos 1994 | RX112 – アニメボックス Anime Box 1992 | RX113 – PICNO de にほんちず PICNO de Map of Japan | |||
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| RX115 – どっきん心理ゲーム Dokkin psychological game | RX116 – 漢字倶楽部 Kanji Club | RX117 – ピクノで九九 Picno de kuku | |||
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| RX118 – しらゆきひめ物語 Shira Yuki Hime Story | RX119 – ノンタンといっしょ アニメスタンプ Nontan and Issho Anime Stamp | RX120 – マンフィーのふしぎなぼうけん Manfi’s Mysterious Adventure | |||
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| RX121 – ハローキティの英会話 Hello Kitty’s English Conversation | RX122 – そんごくうの冒険 Songoku’s adventure | RX123 – シンデレラ物語 Cinderella Story 1995 | |||
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| RX124 – ちびまる子ちゃんのたしざんひきざん Chibi Maruko-chan’s Tashizan Hikizan |