Homo

Arcade Video game kit published 38 years ago:

Homo (c) 1987 Homo Sapiens.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 6 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound Chips : YM2203 (@ 2 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 224 x 256 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette Colors : 256

Players : 2
Control : dial
Buttons : 2

- TRIVIA -

It was 1987 and SunA had just released a hot new "Arkanoid" clone named "Goindol". It was a ball and paddle game with a prehistoric theme. Soon after the first "Goindol" unit shipped, pirate game manufacturer ALSFTW decided that they were going to make a bootleg version of the game to sell to the rich American and European market. Now the first thing you do when creating a bootleg game is to change the name, and set up a front company. So they saw the little caveman that was on all the game screens, and decided to name their game 'Homo,' and their front company 'Homo Sapiens'. All these decisions were made by people with little experience with the English language, so they had little idea that Homo also meant 'A rude abbreviation for homosexual. Used more often by children than by adults'.

They went ahead and created thousands of 'Homo conversion kits', and then tried to sell them to the English speaking market. Bootleg conversion kits usually sell fast, because they are priced so much cheaper than the games they copy. But, they had a hard time selling their 'Homo conversion kits' to anyone, the thirteen year old mentality was just too prevalent among distributors, and arcade operators. So most of these 'Homo conversion kits' just languished unsold in warehouses, a few were actually sold and installed, but not many. The conversion kit consisted of a marquee (very plain, just said 'Homo' on it), a PCB, and an instruction manual. You were expected to supply your own spinner and buttons. The game itself ran on a boardset nearly identical to the original "Goindol" (of course the components were much lower in quality).

- CONTRIBUTE -

Edit this entry: https://www.arcade-history.com/?&page=detail&id=1138&o=2