Thank you for joining me for another Hardware Retrospective. Last month, I went over a console that few people have heard about, despite being produced by a well-known company. This month, we’re going at a console that is even more obscure: The Interton VC4000. However, just because it’s obscure doesn’t mean it wasn’t a milestone. This was the first video game console to be created solely for the European audience… sorta.

Pretty fancy looking for the late 70s

The Interton VC4000 is actually the German clone of the 1292 Programmable Computer System, first produced by Radofin in 1978 (though there are reports of it being test marketed as early as 1976). While companies such as Grandstand had already brought the Atari 2600 over to Europe, Radofin introduced a machine that was made in Europe and sold only in Europe. It, too, was cloned, and by over 13 other companies. However, some clones are special. The Interton VC4000 added a second controller for two player games, a feature the original Radofin machine didn’t have. As a result, the VC4000 is actually more capable than its original, but also needed its own set of games. The VC4000 is incompatible with the original machine’s games, in spite running identical hardware (though, in theory, a cartridge adapter could fix that, but none is known to exist).

Not only did it beat the Atari 5200’s analog controller to the market, but these don’t break down after 5 months, either.

The console itself is very traditional of early 80s hardware. From the keypads and thumb-stick on the controllers to the controller carriers built right into the system, it contains a lot of features that would lay the groundwork for early 80s console design. Not too bad for a console nobody has ever heard of.

As progressive as the design is, the same can’t be said for the internals, however. The hardware is barely better than the Atari 2600. In one way, it’s significantly worse.

No, that isn’t a rewind button.

See the second button from the left there? That’s a load button. The console didn’t actually have the power to automatically read the cartridge and load the game when you turn the game on, so you have to press that button before you can even get to the title screen. A minor annoyance to be sure, but it speaks volumes of the technical prowess.

Like the Atari 7800, the art is in grayscale, indicating that they really didn’t want to spend a lot of money.

Here is a game for the VC4000, a typical cartridge of that era. Radofin carts are slightly wider. Similar to the Fairchild Channel F, the games are numbered to make it easy to collect for… if you can find them. All told, only 40 games are known to exist for the system.

And did I mention the RF cable is hardwired into the system?

Overall, the Interton VC4000 is an oddity, featuring a surprisingly futuristic designed married to hardware that was too old to compete. The European market was more content with the cloned hardware brought from across the pond and the growing personal computer market. The 1292 “family” faded into obscurity.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s Hardware Retrospective. Tune in next month, for something a little more modern.