|
|
|
History
The story of the Super Micro begins in the early 1980s, when Esmail Amid-Hozour arrived in the United States. With strong business acumen, he quickly made connections in the import/export business and soon found himself in Japan searching for the next big product. It wasn’t long before he discovered the new craze of the moment in Japan: the Nintendo Game & Watch. Esmail managed to convince Nintendo to let him import the Game & Watch into North America. He began by importing a small test lot of 300 units. The response was excelle
nt, and he sold them all without difficulty. Seeing the potential, Esmail founded Palmtex on March 22, 1982. In doing so, Palmtex became the first company to import Nintendo video game products into North America.
Esmail opened his offices at 1167 Chess Drive in the heart of Silicon Valley, near major players of the era such as Apple, Atari, IBM, and Intel.
The Game & Watch systems proved popular, and Palmtex also began importing other portable consoles, including models from VTech. By the end of 1982, demand for handheld video game systems was at its peak, and Palmtex decided to create its own portable system: the Palmtex Video System (PVS).
The Palmtex
Video System (PVS) was officially registered on January 19, 1983, along with the titles of five planned games: Spellbound, Star Trooper, Mayday, Minefield, and Crystals of Morga. The initial design of the PVS was contracted to an external California firm for $400,000. Esmail assembled a strong team, with Glenn Helton handling marketing and Barry Becker overseeing sales, but the company still needed a chief engineer to manage the design subcontractors. He found that person in Robert F. Sagarino.
Born on Long Island, Bob was an extremely inventive engineer. Although he did not hold a formal engineering degree, he had an impressive career, having served as head of research and development at Bulova and head of engineering at Timex, among other positions.
After joining the team, Bob reviewed the work of the external design firm. He quickly determined that the subcontractor was making little progress and decided to terminate the contract, bringing the design and engineering work in-house. He hired three engineers to handle the industrial design and electronics of the PVS. He also signed a contract with Home Computer Software (HCS), a company founded by Jon Tedesco, to develop the games. HCS had already created titles for the Atari and Commodore 64 and quickly proved itself a capable partner. The company was given considerable latitude in choosing which games to develop. Lead designer Dan Shafer hired Chuck Blanchard specifically to work on the PVS. While Dan handled design, Chuck programmed both React Attack and Aladdin’s Adventures; an outside consultant was brought in to work on Outflank. With this new partnership in place, development of the console and games pro
gressed smoothly.
At the time, the PVS received almost no marketing. A few magazine articles promoted the upcoming console. One piece in the May 1983 issue of Video Games included a sketch of the planned design, but consumers did not get their first real look at the system until September 1983 at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA).
The IFA was the world’s largest consumer electronics trade fair, and Palmtex wanted to showcase its product. The console itself was not yet complete, so a functional breadboard prototype was hidden under the counter and connected to the display unit via an external cable. The housing was made of transparent plastic to highlight the internal components. The PVS attracted considerable attention at the show, and Palmtex left feeling confident about its prospects.
After returning from the IFA, Palmtex finalized the design. By the end of 1983, Bob used his contacts at National Electronics & Watch Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong to begin production of the first 30,000 units. The first systems arrived just in time to be shown at the January 1984 CES in Las Vegas. That year’s CES set an attendance record with more than 100,000 visitors. However, the video game industry was already beginning to crash, and the overall lineup of games and software at the show was underwhelming. Many observers felt that the era of video games was coming to an end.
It was in this difficult climate that the PVS was first offered to distributors. Although the system offered several improvements over contemporary handhelds (it was smaller and more powerful), it also had one major flaw: the screen was transparent and required strong backlighting to be visible. This seriously limited the console’s portability, as players always needed a strong light source behind the unit. The problem was not insoluble, but in a collapsing market no distributor was willing to take on a new and flawed product.
With no orders coming from CES, Palmtex sought venture capital to continue the project. Given the state of the industry, the response was cold. It became clear that there would be no funding to improve the PVS, and the device appeared to be dead. At this point many employees left the company.
Release
Palmtex had invested heavily in the PVS and eventually defaulted on a bank loan. The bank seized the remaining inventory and contacted Home Computer Software to see whether it could help dispose of the repossessed stock.
To make the product viable, HCS first had to solve the dim-screen problem. Jon Tedesco devised a simple workaround: a light box (the “LightPak”) that attached to the back of the console to provide additional illumination when needed. The second major change was the name. HCS wanted to distance the product as much as possible from the now-bankrupt Palmtex, so it rebranded the system as the Super Micro in the hope of appealing to the still-growing microcomputer market of 1984. Associating the product with the HCS name rather than Palmtex was seen as a way to improve its chances of success.
Because the bank needed to finance the production of the LightPak, packaging, and marketing materials, it agreed to a limited test-market launch. An initial run of 10,000 LightPaks and boxes was produced. The Super Micro was finally made available by mail order in the Bay Area for $39.95. The LightPak sold for $19.95 and individual games for $14.95. A “Deluxe Pack” containing the console, a LightPak, and one game of the buyer’s choice was offered for $59.95. Because of this packaging approach, three different Deluxe Pack boxes exist—one for each available game.
Demise
Unfortunately, only about 5,000 units were sold, which was insufficient for the bank to continue the project. The remaining stock is rumored to have been destroyed. Additional games were still in development, but once the bank shut down the Super Micro, HCS stopped all further work on the system.
Home Computer Software continued making games for a time. Bob Sagarino connected the company with Timex, which was developing a home computer. HCS eventually contracted to create almost all of Timex’s gaming and educational software on a joint-venture basis (receiving payment based on sales rather than development fees). Shortly after launch, however, Timex withdrew from the business, and the substantial investment HCS had made in the software never generated a return. This forced Home Computer Software to close its doors.
Games
Only 3 games were ever released for the console. Each game is available either in stand-alone or as a pack-in with the Deluxe Pack.
 |
 |
 |
|||
| Aladdin’s Adventures [Watch] |
Outflank [Watch] |
React Attack [Watch] |
Technical / hardware detai
- Model numbers: 9000-R1 (console) / R-1001-P (packaging)
- Display: 32 × 16 monochrome LCD (the LCD itself is in the console; cartridges contain the graphic overlay + diffuser)
- Power: 4 × AA batteries for the console + 2 × AA for the LightPak
- Clamshell design with hinges and a flexible flat cable connecting the two halves
- The LightPak uses six small bulbs behind a translucent panel
F.A.Q
- Only 5,000 units have been sold. See this tracking sheet.
- Over time the plastic shell can shrink slightly, making it almost impossible to remove the battery compartment cover when batteries are installed. To avoid this, simply leave the cover off. If you acquire a unit already in this condition, you can unscrew the bottom of the console and remove the control panel to gain direct access to the batteries without damaging the shell or the cover.
Disclaimer
The information in this article is primarily based on discussions with former employees and associates of Palmtex and Home Computer Software. Although the details provided were given to the best of their recollection, more than 35 years had passed since the PVS was first conceived at the time of the interviews, so some specifics may not be 100% accurate.