Epoch Cassette Vision

The Cassette Vision is a home video game console made by Epoch Co. and released in Japan on July 30, 1981. The Cassette Vision has unusual controls: four knobs built into the console itself, two for each player (one for horizontal, one for vertical); plus two buttons per player. The system originally retailed for 13,500 yen, with games priced at 4,000. The Cassette Vision sold around 400,000 units, and was the best selling video game console in Japan before Nintendo's Family Computer. The console's name comes from the Japanese synonym for ROM cartridge. As the country's home console market possessed few "major" competitors, the Cassette Vision quickly rose in popularity and sales, becoming the best-selling game console in Japan at the time. It claimed 70% of the market by 1982, surpassing the Cassette TV Game and Bandai's import of the Intellivision. Horie believes part of the console's success lay in its accessibility and appeal towards consumers.