Dedicated console
A
dedicated console is a
video game console that is dedicated to a built in game or games, and is not equipped for additional games, via
cartridges or other media.
Most of the earliest home video game systems were dedicated consoles, most popularly
Pong and its many imitators. Unlike almost all later consoles, these systems were typically not
computers (in which a
CPU is running a piece of
software), but contained a
hardwired game logic.
By the end of the 1970s cartridge based systems had risen to prominence, and continued their lead until CD-based systems gained prominence in the mid to late 1990s.
Dedicated consoles have appeared for fishing games, with controllers in the form of a
rod and reel. Other dedicated consoles have been released with light guns, for hunting, shooting, and even archery games.
Most modern dedicated home game systems are popularly referred to as "
plug and play," because they are based on modern technology which enables the hardware and software of the entire game to be within a single controller, with no separate console at all. Some of these are clones of old games, and are produced in China or Southeast Asia (i.e.
Power Player Super Joy III), while others contain licensed games and are distributed in mainstream stores in the West. Of the latter,
Jakks Pacific's line of
TV Games is among the most famous, which includes re-releases of many vintage games, from arcade classics to Atari 2600 games, as well as games based on currently-popular characters, such as
SpongeBob SquarePants (see also:
SpongeBob joystick game).
Konami has also released a line of their classic arcade games, including
Frogger, on "plug and play" dedicated systems.
The
Pelican VG Pocket was an attempt to make a TV game with a backlit
color LCD. Dedicated consoles and handheld electronic games with LCD screens that only have one game are rather distinct devices, but the release of the Pelican VG Pocket has blurred the categorization between the 2.
Dedicated systems have appeal, especially as they often have several games on one system for less than the cost of a single game for a popular console system, the popular system itself costing many times as much, which makes the dedicated console far more economical to purchase. These games suffer in reputation, however, as
quality control is often thought not to be as high as it ought to be.
In Brazil,
Tec Toy, the Brazilian Sega distributor, has rereleased the
Sega Master System with numerous games built in. These are not strictly-speaking, dedicated consoles, however, as they also support cartridge-based games.
In the United States, a miniaturized version of the
Atari home consoles has been released. It is a dedicated console, having no cartridge support, and is actually based on a clone of the
NES hardware, but running Atari software. A newer version,
Atari Flashback 2, is based on actual Atari hardware, and includes some new games developed by modern hobbyist
Atari 2600 programmers, as well as old favorite games. It is reported that, while the new console has no cartridge slot, it is designed such that a knowledgeable person can add one.
For people who like to play games whose CPU is entirely located in the play controller,
handheld game consoles with full homebrew support are descending their way into the market. In
2001, the
GP32 was released, but not to a major audience. years after that, the
GP2X was released, and the GP2X can play games on emulators that dedicated consoles would play along with games that were previously not playable on handheld TV-OUT systems. since a 1GB
secure digital card can hold lots of ROM images, it serves as a replacement of dedicated memory containing a compilation of classic and original games. Since the
Pelican VG Pocket was marketed as a TV-OUT/
color LCD system with dedicated memory and a compilation of games, it has been poorly received on the market since the GP2X has an interchangeable, editable SD card that can double as a compilation of games.
