Electronic series

From Sega Retro

Note: One day each LCD game will need its own separate page.

The "Electronic series", for lack of a better name, is a range of LCD handhelds manufactured by Tiger Electronics in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For many years, this series was a staple in Tiger Electronics's product range, giving the company worldwide recognition and being its primary focus for almost a decade.

The Electronic series consists of any Tiger LCD game with "Electronic" printed (usually) on the top left of the unit. Initial releases incoporated the "electronic" name into the game's title (e.g. "Electronic Bowling", "Electronic Basketball" etc.), although by 1988 this practise had stopped. Games were made relatively cheaply, with all games in the series sharing shells and hardware but having different LCD screens and logic flashed onto the chips (as well as differing colours and stickers).

Tiger signed contracts involving multiple big intellectual property licenses, involving TV shows and movies as well as video games based on Sega licenses (as well as those by Capcom, Konami and others). There are roughly three "generations" of Electronic games identified by the shape of the device - Sega games were produced during the most popular "second generation" phase. By 1996/1997, Tiger ceased production of its Electronic series and moved on to its Premiere series, as well as failed experiments such as the R-Zone and Game.com and its Furby and Gigapets toy ranges.

During the early years of this series, Tiger Electronics was unable to distribute its products worldwide on its own. Grandstand produced units in the UK, Yeno distributed units in France, Linea GIG in Italy, Nobel Toys in Greece, Brio in Scandinavia, Tec Toy in Brazil and perhaps most curiously, Sega brought several of these units to Japan, distributing them under the Game Vision (ゲームビジョン) brand. Sega's endeavours are perhaps the most interesting as the company produced its own units, possibly re-branded versions of unrelated Tiger games.

List of Games

The large volume of these handhelds combined with the multitude of distributors makes documenting their history quite difficult. The list is likely incomplete and may be inaccurate. Release dates and model numbers are also not known - the shells were designed in 1988, but games were being created as late as 1995. Furthremore, many of these games were recycled for use in the Pocket Arcade series, as well as for other purposes. In Grandstand and Tectoy's case, the Tiger logo was replaced on the handheld's stickers - no changes were made in other regions.

Tiger (US)

LCD, US (After Burner)

AfterBurner TigerLCD.jpg
LCD
LCD, US (Altered Beast)

AlteredBeast TigerLCD.jpg
LCD
LCD, US (Golden Axe)

GoldenAxe TigerLCD.jpg
LCD
LCD, US (Hang-On)

HangOn TigerLCD.jpg
LCD
LCD, US (OutRun)

OutRun TigerLCD.jpg
LCD
LCD, US (Shinobi)

Shinobi TigerLCD.jpg
LCD
LCD, US (Sonic Spinball)

LCD, US (Sonic the Hedgehog)

LCD, US (Sonic the Hedgehog 2)

LCD, US (Sonic the Hedgehog 3)

LCD, US (Space Harrier II)

SpaceHarrierII TigerLCD.jpg
LCD
LCD, US (Thunder Blade)

ThunderBlade TigerLCD.jpg
LCD
LCD, US (Virtua Fighter)

VirtuaFighter TigerLCD.jpg
LCD


Grandstand (??)

LCD, ?? (After Burner)

AfterBurner TigerLCD Grandstand.jpg
LCD
LCD, ?? (OutRun)

OutRun TigerLCD Grandstand.jpg
LCD

Sega (Game Vision)

LCD, JP ()
(903-0001)

LCD, JP ()
(903-0002)

LCD, JP ()
(903-0003)

LCD, JP (SDI)
(903-0004)

SDI LCD JP.jpg
LCD
LCD, JP (OutRun F-1)
(903-0005)
OutRunF1 TigerLCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
OutRunF1 TigerLCD.jpg
LCD
LCD, JP (Submarine Wars)
(903-0006)
SubmarineWars LCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
SubmarineWars LCD JP.jpg
LCD
LCD, JP (Castlevania II: Simon's Quest)
(903-0007)
CastlevaniaII TigerLCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
LCD, JP (Thunder Blade)
(903-0008)
ThunderBlade TigerLCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
LCD, JP ()
(903-0009)

LCD, JP (Karnov)
(903-0010)
Karnov TigherLCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
LCD, JP (Gauntlet)
(903-0011)
Gauntlet TigerLCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
LCD, JP (Batman)
(903-0012)

LCD, JP ("Baseball")
(903-0013)
Baseball LCD JP Box Back.jpgNospine-small.pngBaseball LCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
LCD, JP ()
(903-0014)

LCD, JP ()
(903-0015)
SkeetShoot TigerLCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
LCD, JP (Altered Beast)
(???-????)
AlteredBeast LCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
LCD, JP (Hang-On)
(???-????)
HangOn LCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
LCD, JP (Space Harrier II)
(???-????)
SpaceHarrierII LCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
  • Shinobi
  • Heavy Barrel
  • Batman
  • Grand Prix Racer 500
  • Table Stadium
  • After Burner