The TV-Boy is a
modern day (well released in 1995 which is still fairly modern)
Atari 2600 clone. It looks basically like a first generation
Nintendo game paddle with an antenna. The entire Atari emulator is actually built into the game paddle (no faux woodgrain anywhere on this unit). The
antenna broadcasts the game video to your TV. Your TV has to be tuned to Channel 13. There’s no actual cartridge port, however. So put that sick copy of
Custer's Revenge away. There are 127 hacked games contained in the unit’s ROM and are accessible by an on-screen menu. As you might have guessed by now, this is a highly unauthorized product. It was manufactured in China and was popular in Europe.
Most of the hacked games have the original copyright notices removed and many of the sprites have been altered, in some lame attempt to avoid
copyright infringement. Many of the games are
Activision and
Imagic games. Of course none of the games use their original names.
Missile Command is called “Sky Destroyer”.
Pitfall is called “Forest Walk”. Atari
Pac-Man is called “Pill Munching Fiend Who Runs from Ghosts and Really Tests the Limits of 4K
Bank Switching Techniques”. Okay I made that last one up.
If you prefer not to use TV-Boy’s lame
Nintendo-style control pad, the paddle also has two connectors for standard
Atari joysticks.
TV Boy runs off of four AA batteries.