PV-1000
A short-lived Casio console with only thirteen games.
The Casio PV-1000 is a third-generation home video game console that Casio manufactured and released exclusively in Japan in 1983. It was discontinued less than a year after launch.
The system went on sale in October 1983 for 14,800 yen. Casio failed to capture a significant share of the market, and according to retrogames.co.uk, the console was pulled from shelves after only a few weeks due to poor sales.
Internally, the PV-1000 uses a Zilog Z80 CPU and 2 KB of RAM, which is shared between the processor and the video generator. Video and sound output are handled by a NEC D65010G031 chip. The console displays graphics using 8 × 8 pixel tiles arranged in a 32 × 24 grid, though the two leftmost and two rightmost columns are not shown on screen. This results in a visible resolution of 224 × 192 pixels with eight colors (3-bit RGB). For audio, it provides three square-wave voices, each with six bits to control the pitch. The primary controller is a joystick.
Only thirteen games were officially released for the PV-1000. The full list, by catalog number, is: GPA-101 Pooyan, GPA-102 Super Cobra, GPA-103 Tutankham, GPA-104 Amidar, GPA-105 Dig Dug, GPA-106 Warp & Warp, GPA-107 Turpin, GPA-109 Pachinko UFO, GPA-110 Fighting Bug (also known as Lady Bug), GPA-111 Space Panic, GPA-112 Naughty Boy, GPA-114 Dirty Chameleon, and GPA-115 Excite Mahjong. Although fifteen cartridge slots were allocated, GPA-108 and GPA-113 were never released; they are often rumored to have been Galaga and Front Line, which later appeared on the Casio PV-2000.
Quick Facts
- Manufacturer
- Casio
- Generation
- Third
- Release Date
- JP · October 1983
- Price
- 14,800¥
- Lifespan
- 1983-1984
- Media
- ROM cartridge
- Input
- Joystick
- Cpu
- Zilog Z80 @ 3.579 MHz
- Memory
- 2 KB RAM
- Display
- 240 x 192 resolution, 8 colours
- Successor
- Casio Loopy
- Graphics
- NEC D65010G031
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The PV-1000 was released in October 1983, sold only in Japan for 14,800 yen. Casio failed to achieve a significant market share, and the console was pulled after several weeks due to low sales. The system is powered by a Zilog Z80 CPU with 2 KB RAM shared between the CPU and video generator. It uses a NEC D65010G031 chip for video and sound output, generating 8×8 pixel tiles in a 32×24 array with the two left and two right columns not displayed, resulting in a resolution of 224×192 pixels with 8 colors (3-bit RGB). It has three square wave voices with 6 bits to control the period. The main controller was a joystick. Only thirteen games were released, including titles such as Pooyan, Super Cobra, Tutankham, Amidar, Dig Dug, Warp & Warp, Turpin, Pachinko UFO, Fighting Bug (also known as Lady Bug), Space Panic, Naughty Boy, Dirty Chameleon, and Excite Mahjong. Two catalog numbers, GPA-108 and GPA-113, were never released and are often rumored to be Galaga and Front Line, which were released on the Casio PV-2000.
Reader's Guide
The Casio PV-1000 is notable primarily for its extreme rarity and commercial failure. With only thirteen games released and a market life measured in weeks, it represents one of the least successful consoles of the third generation. Its technical specifications were modest for the era, with limited color palette and resolution. The system's obscurity is compounded by the two unreleased cartridges (GPA-108 and GPA-113), which are often speculated to be ports of Galaga and Front Line—games that did appear on Casio's later PV-2000. The PV-1000's legacy is largely as a collector's curiosity and a footnote in Casio's brief foray into the home console market, which also included the PV-2000 and the later Casio Loopy. Its failure underscores the difficulty of competing in the Japanese console market of the early 1980s, dominated by Nintendo and Sega.
More in Video Game Consoles by Generation, Part 6 1-24
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