#### Back to index | # Info for astrocde

#### Bally Professional Arcade/Astrocade

Usage:
Loading the Astrocade driver without a cassetridge image will allow you to use the four
built-in programs.

Known Issues:
To the best of our knowledge, full compatibility, aside from Bally Basic tape support.

History and Trivia:
The game console commonly known as the "Bally Astrocade" was never officially sold by that
name, having originally been released by Bally Manufacturing in 1978 as the Bally Professional
Arcade. It was withdrawn rather quickly though, due to the success of the competing Atari VCS.
A group of Pro Arcade enthusiasts under the name Astrovision Inc., bought the rights to the
Pro Arcade and reintroduced it as the Bally Computer System, including the Basic casettrige as
a pack-in. In 1982, the system and company was renamed Astrocade, once again trying to market
it as a video game system. The system didn't last much longer, though; it was a product with a
limited interest base even before the video game slump of the next few years.

created on Thu Aug 16 22:55:01 2001