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History
Epoch Company, Ltd. was founded in May 1958 by Taketora Maeda and three others, in the Kikuyabashi area of Taito ward, Tokyo. Maeda became president and began planning, manufacturing and selling games. The company started with a capital of 1 million yen, and eleven months later it had increased its capital to 2.5 million yen. Its first products were plastic baseball boards, and it then moved on to toys, board games and playing cards. Epoch became one of Japan’s biggest toy companies in the 1960s and 1970s, partly because it was a family-run business.
Epoch took part in the first Japanese international toy trade fair in 1962 and moved to its current headquarters in Tokyo in 1963. In 1970, it exhibited at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair in West Germany and has participated every year since. After 20 years, in 1978, its capital had grown to 200 million yen, 200 times the original startup cost.
Epoch entered electronics in the mid-1970s. In 1975, the company released the TV Tennis Electrotennis, the first video game console released in Japan. It was made in cooperation with Magnavox. Epoch then released a series of dedicated consoles, including the TV Baseball (1978), the TV Block and the TV Vader (1980). In 1979, Epoch released Atari’s console in Japan as the Cassette TV Game. Epoch’s own cartridge-based console, the Cassette Vision.
Starting in 1981, Epoch dominated the video game console market in Japan with the Epoch Cassette Vision. Although very limited compared to its North American rivals, the Cassette Vision had virtually no competition in Japan until 1983. At that time, the Japanese Console War started, and seven consoles battled for domination. With the release of the Nintendo Famicom, most companies were forced to drop support for their consoles, as the Famicom quickly dominated the market. Although Epoch had nothing to compete against Nintendo, it decided to fight fire with fire. To give itself time to finish its upcoming 8-bit console, Epoch released a trimmed-down version of the Cassette Vision, called the Cassette Vision Jr., on July 19, 1983, at a price of ¥5,000, a third of the price of the Nintendo console. Meanwhile, it worked tirelessly to create its new console: the Super Cassette Vision.
Release
On July 17, 1984, Epoch finally released the Super Cassette Vision. The problem was that Nintendo had already claimed most of the market, leaving Sega and the others fighting for scraps. Epoch had a lot to do to convince customers to adopt its platform. It tried to create a community called the SCV (Super Cassette Vision) Friendship Association, which you could join for free by returning the postcard included with the console. This would allow you to receive information on upcoming games and events. From a game perspective, it relied heavily on popular anime licenses and even tried to import Western games under its brand “From U.S.A.”
In 1984, Epoch reached a deal with ITMC, a French electronics company, to bring the Super Cassette Vision to Europe. Renamed the Yeno Super Cassette Vision, the console was distributed in Europe, especially in France. Only about half of the titles were sold by ITMC. At least 16 games were brought over from Japan for the European release.
In 1985, Epoch tried to attract female gamers with the release of the Super Lady Cassette Vision, a very limited edition of the Super Cassette Vision that was entirely pink and came in a matching case with the game Milky Princess.
Demise
By 1986, it was clear to Epoch that it couldn’t compete with Nintendo. Having tried every trick in the book, it decided to stop manufacturing the Super Cassette Vision. In the end, the console did a bit worse than its predecessor, the Cassette Vision, but the Cassette Vision is not considered a failure, as it was the most popular console of its time, granted, in a very small market. While the Famicom managed to grow the Japanese customer base exponentially, the Super Cassette Vision failed to make a dent in Nintendo’s domination.
Games
A total of 30 games were released for the console, with at least two games having an alternate cover. The alternate cover for Super Baseball is a later version endorsed by Tatsunori Hara, a player for the Giants and a very famous baseball player of the time.
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| #1 – Astro Wars – Invaders from Space 1984 ¥2,980 |
#2 – Astro Wars II – Battle in Galaxy 1984 ¥2,980 |
#3 – Super Golf 1984 ¥3,800 |
#4 – Super Mahjong 1984 ¥3,800 |
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| #5 – Super Base Ball 1984 ¥3,800 |
#5 – Super Base Ball (Alternate Cover) 1984 ¥3,800 |
#6 – Punch Boy 1984 ¥3,800 |
#7 – Elevator Fight 1984 ¥3,800 |
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| #8 – Lupin III 1984 ¥3,800 |
#9 – Nebula 1984 ¥3,800 |
#9 – Nebula (Alternate Cover) 1984 ¥3,800 |
#10 – Wheelie Racer 1985 ¥3,800 |
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| #11 – Boulder Dash 1985 ¥4,500 |
#12 – Miner 2049er 1984 ¥4,500 |
#13 – Super Soccer 1985 ¥3,800 |
#14 – Comic Circus 1985 ¥3,800 |
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| #15 – Milky Princess 1985 ¥4,500 |
#16 – Pop and Chips 1985 ¥3,800 |
#17 – Nekketsu Kung-Fu Road 1985 ¥4,800 |
#18 – Star Speeder 1985 ¥4,800 |
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| #19 – TonTon Ball 1985 ¥3,800 |
#20 – Sansupyuta 1985 ¥4,500 |
#21 – Shougi Nyuumon 1985 ¥4,800 |
#22 – Doraemon December 1985 ¥4,800 |
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| #23 – BASIC Nyuumon 1985 ¥5,500 |
#24 – Dragon Slayer 1986 ¥4,800 |
#25 – Rantou Pro-Wrestling 1986 ¥4,800 |
#26 – WaiWai Monster Land 1986 ¥4,800 |
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| #27 – Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyō 1986 ¥4,800 |
#28 – Mappy 1986 ¥4,800 |
#29 – Sky Kid 1986 ¥5,200 |
#30 – Pole Position II 1986 ¥5,200 |
Unreleased Games
- Black Hole
- Super Derby
- Super Rugby
Technical Specifications
- Media: ROM cartridge
- CPU: 8-bit NEC µPD7801G microcontroller running at 4 MHz
- RAM: 128 bytes (internal to the CPU)
- ROM: 4 KB (internal to the CPU)
- Video processor: EPOCH TV-1 running at 14 MHz
- VRAM: 4 KB (2 × µPD4016C-2) + 2 KB (inside the EPOCH TV-1)
- Colors: 16
- Sprites: 128
- Display: 309 × 246
- Sound processor: µPD1771C running at 6 MHz
- Sound: 1 channel (tone, noise or 1-bit PCM)
- Video output: RF and native RGB, selected with a switch on the back of the console
- Controllers: 2 hard-wired joysticks
Super Cassette Vision Ads