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Bally Professional Arcade/Astrocade

Bally·1977·Console

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About

The Bally Professional Arcade's beginnings date back to the late 1970s when Midway Manufacturing (the video game division on Bally) contracted Dave Nutting Associates to design a video display chip for use in their arcade and video game systems. Powered by a Zilog Z80 processor, the system he developed is still considered one of the most powerful systems in the 8-bit generation and was used in most of Midway's classic arcade games (such as Gorf). This same system was used in the Bally Professional Arcade, although not to the same extent as in the Arcade machines as the Professional Arcade only allowed for the low-resolution mode of the system and not the high- and low-resolution modes available in the Arcade machines. The Bally Professional Arcade itself was designed by a team at Midway, and originally named the "Bally

Specifications

Ram
4K (up to 64K with external modules in the expansion port)
Sound
3 voice + Noise & Vibrato effects

References