Pre-Famicom Japanese system. The graphics look one step below 1st generation Famicom games. Made by Epoch, a popular manufacturer of handheld LCD games and video game related shit like action figures, etc. The insides are somewhat similar to the Rollet Video Color and other assorted clones, but they are not "clones" of each other. Has a few notable games like Boulderdash and Yosaku (some game where you chop down trees while birds try to poop on you. That's some fun stuff.) The controllers are hard wired into the system, but the later Cassettevision Jr. fixed that problem. Roms work with MAME and are easy to find. Was totally overshadowed by the Famicom and disappeared soon after it's release. Somewhat rare on Ebay (boxed units sell for around $200) but easy to find on Yahoo Auctions Japan, and not to expensive either, the trade off being it's difficult to get a seller to ship internationally.
1/10/05:
So, I got one of these machines and three games (PakPak Monster, Yosaku, and Galaxian) thanks to Yakumo over at Assembler, however I can't get it to work on my American TV (to play older Japanese game systems you need a TV that gets Channel 1 or has a dedicated cable input, neither of which my TV has.) My model seems to be an earlier one where the controls are built right into the console (which strangley consist of a roller-dial and two buttons, plus a left-right switch.) I can hear the sound alright so I know the console works. My TV is a piece of junk anyway.
