R-Zone

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Tiger R-Zone


Manufacturer	Tiger Electronics
Type	Handheld game console
Generation	Fourth generation
First available	1995
Media	R-Zone cartridges

The R-Zone is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Tiger Electronics, released in 1995. The R-Zone was a largely unsuccessful handheld console and would only be manufactured for a short period of time. Although the R-Zone was not designed to compete directly with any other handhelds, it marked Tiger Electronics first entry into the portable gaming industry. The R-Zone is also known as "R-Zone X.P.G. Xtreme Pocket Game" but the full name never stuck and the console was rarely referred to as anything other than "R-Zone", even within game/system manufacturing facilities. The longer name and acronym was originally thought to give the console a more cutting edge feel. The original unit (which was manufactured continuously for the life of the R-Zone series) was sometimes referred to as the "R-Zone Extreme Pocket Gear", this article focuses on this particular unit. See the 'Variations' section for specific details on the other R-Zone units.

1 Features
2 Sales and Competition
3 Variations
4 See Also

[edit] Features

[edit] Games

The front face and right side of two R-Zone game cartridges. Primary game shown is Virtua Fighter (1995).

R-Zone games varied only in title and subject, gameplay was almost identical from title to title.
Popular franchises released one or more games on the R-Zone: Star Wars, Virtua Fighter, Men In Black, Jurassic Park, etc.

[edit] Controls

The R-Zone's controls are located on the lower top front face of its body and are positioned on the left, right, and bottom sides.

The R-Zone has ten face buttons. The buttons on the right are labeled "A", "B", "C", and "D". The functions of these face buttons vary from game to game but typically the buttons correspond to a four-direction attack scheme (whereas the "C" button would attack to the left, the "D" button would attack up, the "B" button would attack right, and the "A" button would attack down" or do nothing at all. The buttons on the bottom are labeled "ON", "START", "SELECT", "SOUND", "PAUSE", and "OFF". The functions of these face buttons are universal and do not vary from game-to-game. The "ON" button simply turned on the console but was largely obsolete as inserting a game cartridge would automatically turn the unit on. The "START" button was required to begin all games. The "SOUND" button turned the audio from on-to-off and visa-versa. The "PAUSE" button would allow for any game to be stopped at the exact point in which gameplay was taking place. Pressing this button again resumed gameplay. The "OFF" button was used to turn the console off.
The R-Zone also features a Directional Pad, allowing four directions of movement in its games.

[edit] Display

R-Zone displaying in-game footage of Virtua Fighter (1995).

The R-Zone game cartridges were transparent in the center. - This allowed light to pass through and reflect off of a specialized mirror to the gamer's eyes.
The mirror had minor tilt adjustment and could be pushed up against the unit for protection and storage.
The games only displayed a dark red color.

[edit] Input/Output

The R-Zone contains the following input/output connectors:

The bottom side of the console shows two ports (one on the left side, the other on the right). Each port was accessible with a screwdriver and held two AAA batteries or two AA batteries. The units manufactured from 1995 to late 1996 held a total of four AA batteries whereas the units manufactured there after utilized a total of four AAA batteries.
A single speaker allowed for mono audio output.
An input for R-Zone cartridges is situated on top of the R-Zone.

[edit] Sales and Competition

The R-Zone did not see much success in sales. With other successful and popular handhelds (such as the Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Light, Game Boy Color, and Game Gear), the R-Zone was often overlooked. Games did not allow users to save their data, link to other gamers, adjust audio levels, play a true variety of games, or connect accessories/peripherals (whereas other handheld consoles in the market did).

[edit] Variations

A few variations of the R-Zone were produced. Both variations dropped the name "X.P.G. Xtreme Pocket Game" from the consoles themselves but packaging and/or print material included with the units referred to the handheld consoles as such.

The R-Zone Headgear (originally manufactured in 1996) was largely different from the original unit in that the game cartridge was inserted into a device that was strapped onto the users head. The user would flip down a transparent lens that was designed to reflect the game images into the users right eye. The head unit held the game being played and was connected to a controller with a cable approximately 2.5 feet long. The controller had the same basic controls as the original R-Zone, with a slightly modified layout. The controller required 4 AAAA batteries, sported a cartridge storage slot (for keeping an additional game protected at available), volume adjustment dial, and brightness adjustment dial. This unit as a whole is sometimes thought to have been designed to compete against the Virtual Boy.
The R-Zone Super Screen (originally manufactured in 1996) allowed R-Zone games to have color for the first time. Some games allowed for a special lens to be used with this particular R-Zone and simply provided the user with a non-animated color background. Game movement on screen was black. The screen was considerably larger than the other R-Zone models, because of this and the fact that the user was not required to look at a mirror (at a precise angle) to see the gameplay, other people could also see gameplay. Because of its size, the R-Zone Super Screen was often not considered a handheld at all. The unit changed the layout yet again and required 4C batteries to run. In this model the d-pad was swapped out for four directional buttons (up, down, left, and right).