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History of video games/Platforms/Action Gamemaster

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History

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Miami, Florida in 1991.

Development

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The Action Gamemaster was a vaporware handheld system developed by Active Enterprises of Miami, Florida.[1] The company was famous for developing the Cheetahman IP and the Action 52 game multipack.[1]

The system was announced by January 5th, 1993.[1][2]

The system was shown at the CES 1994 trade show.[3]

Legacy

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Wikipedia has related information at Action 52

While contemporary sources seemed warm to the device,[1] later sources are skeptical that the console as advertised was technically feasible.[4][5] The mid to late 2000's would see handhelds capable of playing NES, SNES, and Genesis games via emulation or hardware clone chips, realizing the stated capabilities of the Gamemaster, though not its ambitious goals of playing current generation home console games on a portable device.

Technology

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Compute

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The console was simply said to be "16-bit".[5] This provides little real technical information, though it does show the importance of the label during the "Bit wars" of the era. A more meaningful indication of the compute power of the system is found in the stated capabilities of the system, which would put it on par with, or superior to, common home consoles of the time. Portable consoles able to match the capabilities of the SNES or Genesis would not find widespread popularity till around the end of the 1990s or early 2000s.

Display

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The LCD screen used by the console was 3.2 inches (8.1 cm).[4] At the time this would have been a comparatively large display for a portable console.

Expandability

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The device was said to have supported add ons such as an external CD-ROM drive, TV tuner, and car power adapter.[6] While other contemporary portable systems could be found with support for car adapters[7] or even TV tuners,[8] the ability for a external CD-ROM drive to be used with a portable console was far more unusual and distinctive.

Games

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The device was said to run its own games, as well as NES, SNES, and Genesis games via adaptors.[5]

References

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  1. ↑ a b c d "VIDEO DESIGNER PACKS IN THE GAMES" (in en). Sun Sentinel. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1993-01-05-9301010856-story.html. 
  2. ↑ Possibly before this date, but definitely by this date.
  3. ↑ Smith, Ernie (13 December 2016). "The Video Game That Promised to Contain 52 Video Games And Failed Miserably" (in en). Atlas Obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-video-game-that-promised-to-contain-52-video-games-and-failed-miserably. 
  4. ↑ a b "Active Enterprises exposed". www.atarihq.com. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  5. ↑ a b c "Active Enterprises Action Gamemaster Console Information" (in en). Console Database. https://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/actiongamemaster/. 
  6. ↑ "The top 15 vaporware products of all time - PC World Australia". www.pcworld.idg.com.au. https://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/214642/top_15_vaporware_products_all_time/?pp=3. 
  7. ↑ Such as the adapter for the Atari Lynx or the Sega Game Gear
  8. ↑ TurboVision for the NEC TurboExpress or the tuner for the Sega Game Gear


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