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Bandai Super Vision 8000

The Bandai Super Vision 8000 (also known as the TV Jack 8000 or “TV-Jack Micro Computer System”) is a home video game console manufactured by Bandai and released in December 1979 exclusively in Japan. It holds the distinction of being the very first programmable cartridge-based video game console released in Japan, predating even the Japanese release of the Atari 2600.

It was the final entry in Bandai's TV Jack console series. While all prior TV Jack models were dedicated Pong-style consoles using discrete logic circuits, the Super Vision 8000 represented a radical departure by using a proper CPU (Z80-compatible NEC D780C-1 at ~1.79 MHz) and interchangeable ROM cartridges.

The system features an AY-3-8910 sound chip providing 3 channels plus a noise generator, and an AMI S68047P video chip (Motorola MC6847 clone) capable of resolutions up to 256×192 pixels. Two controllers with directional pads and numeric keypads are built into the console's flanking sides, predating the visually similar Intellivision controller design.

The console was priced at a steep 59,800 yen (approximately $560 USD in 1979), roughly double the cost of competing systems, which limited its commercial success. Only seven games were ever released before the system was discontinued by 1982. An eighth title, “Super Tank”, was cancelled. The Super Vision 8000 is considered a “holy grail” amongst console collectors due to its extreme rarity.

This system scrapes metadata for the “sv8000” group(s) and loads the sv8000 set from the currently selected theme, if available.

Quick reference

BIOS

No BIOS files are required. The Super Vision 8000 has no internal system ROM — it boots directly from cartridge.

ROMs

Place your Bandai Super Vision 8000 ROMs in /userdata/roms/sv8000.

Cartridge ROM dumps are up to 4 KB in size. Only seven games were released:

  1. Missile Vader — Space Invaders clone (bundled with the console)
  2. Space Fire — Space shooter
  3. Othello — Board game adaptation
  4. Gun Professional — Shooting game
  5. PacPacBird — Action game
  6. Submarine — Naval combat
  7. Beam Galaxian — Galaxian clone

Emulators

MAME

MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is the primary emulator for the Super Vision 8000. The MAME driver (sv8000) provides full emulation of the system.

RetroArch

RetroArch (formerly SSNES), is a ubiquitous frontend that can run multiple “cores”, which are essentially the emulators themselves. The most common cores use the libretro API, so that's why cores run in RetroArch in Batocera are referred to as “libretro: (core name)”. RetroArch aims to unify the feature set of all libretro cores and offer a universal, familiar interface independent of platform.

RetroArch configuration

RetroArch offers a Quick Menu accessed by pressing [HOTKEY] + South button (B SNES) which can be used to alter various things like RetroArch and core options, and controller mapping. Most RetroArch related settings can be altered from Batocera's EmulationStation.

libretro: MAME

The libretro version of MAME can be used to emulate the Super Vision 8000. It uses the same ROM sets as the standalone version.

Controls

The original Super Vision 8000 featured two controllers built into the console, each with a directional pad and a numeric keypad (similar in appearance to the later Intellivision controllers).

See also

Troubleshooting

Game won't load

Make sure the ROM file matches the MAME software list for sv8000. ROM dumps should be plain binary (.bin) or MAME-format zips. The ROM version must match the MAME version used in Batocera.

Further troubleshooting

For further troubleshooting, refer to the generic support pages.