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The graphics chip of the TI99/4A (TMS9918A) was turned into a separate product line for other computer manufacturers, and became hugely influential in the 1980s
by 0xcde4c3db 2y ago
The graphics chip of the TI99/4A (TMS9918A) was turned into a separate product line for other computer manufacturers, and became hugely influential in the 1980s. Sega used it in the SG-1000 and SC-3000, which led to enhanced clones being used in the Master System, Game Gear, and Genesis. It also became part of the MSX computer standard, which spawned another lineage from Yamaha. The overall design of the graphics hardware of the NES, Game Boy, and TurboGrafx-16 are also strikingly similar despite none of those systems being descended from anything that used the TI chips.
- wslh 2y agoGreat insight! I always saw the TI99/4A as one of the "zillions" of "microcomputers" in the 70s/80s but from your comment I now learnt that it was not so simple regarding Texas Instruments, one of the leaders (if I remember well) of the semiconductor industry at that time. Also the ColecoVision [2] used a variant of that chip. The ColecoVision had the best version of Donkey Kong [3] available in game consoles. Reading about the TMS9918A[1] now. Thank you very much. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS9918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS9918 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision [3] https://archive.org/details/donkey-kong-game-manual-coleco-vision-1982_202105/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/donkey-kong-game-manual-coleco-v...