Micro-Retro 4: Milton Bradley Microvision

Micro-Retro 4: Milton Bradley MicrovisionLet’s turn back the clock all the way to the firstWaterproof tarphandheld game system with interchangeable cartridges. Nope, that one’s too recent!TarpsRewind ten years before the GameBoy and you’ll come to Milton Bradley’s Microvision, an ambitious, nearly pocked-sized console which first debuted in 1979. This machine laid the groundwork for future portable game systems, relying on a battery as its power source and featuring its own LCD display. The Microvision also had a dynamic control scheme, with a dial and up to twelve buttons on the face of the unit. Each game doubled as a system overlay that determined the number of buttons the player could access, along with the function of each.

The Microvision was ahead of its time… perhaps too far ahead of its time, if its construction and the quality of its games are any indication. The technology was bulkier than dedicated handhelds like Nintendo’s Game & Watch series, so kids who wanted to sneak in a few games during class were going to have a heck of a time trying to hide it behind their books. The liquid crystal display was also manufactured in less than ideal conditions, giving the system a short shelf life. While most handhelds from the early 1980s still have sharp, clear images thirty years later, it’s nearly impossibleWaterproof tarpto find a Microvision with a screen that hasn’t turned into an inky black mess.

Also, the games were lackluster, to put it kindly. Remember how when the GameBoy first debuted, most of the titles that launched with it were pale imitations of popular franchises on the Nintendo Entertainment System? The same thing happened with the Microvision ten years earlier. Since home video games were already barebones experiences in 1979, they were stripped to the bone marrow when ported to the GameBoy’s prehistoric ancestor.

Take the Microvision pack-in Block Buster, for instance. This Breakout clone gave the player scant few options and just one wall to break in comparison to the more robust Super Breakout, released one year earlier for the Atari 2600. Pinball actually was the same game with just four onscreen targets… the ball would madly bounce between a quartet of bumpers until finally returning to your paddle, making even Video Pinball for the 2600 seem like a faithful simulation by comparison. Star Trek: Phaser Strike was a shooting galley with a crudely drawn cannon firing at shapeless targets. So vague was its design that Milton BradleyTarpsstripped the game of its licenseWaterproof tarpwhile changing absolutely nothing else.