The Tomy Tutor was first sold in Japan as the Pyūta (ぴゅう太) and in the UK as the Grandstand Tutor. It is a home computer made by the Japanese company Tomy. The Tomy Tutor looks and works similarly to the TI-99/4A, and both use the same type of special computer chip called the Texas Instruments TMS9900. The computer was introduced in Japan in 1982 and later released in the UK and the United States in 1983.
History
Produced by Matsushita, the computer was released in Japan in 1982 under the name Pyūta.
Tomy described the Tutor, which had 16K RAM, as suitable for games and education. The company said that its instructions were simple enough for an eight-year-old child to use the computer without help from an adult.
A major problem with the Tutor was not its hardware, but how it was marketed. The Tutor was advertised as a children’s computer, but it was actually a less expensive, improved version of the TI-99/4A. It had a similar 16-bit CPU (the TMS9995, closely related to the TI-99/4A’s TMS 9900). Other computers in its price range still used 8-bit microprocessors.
The Pyūta Jr. was a console version of the Pyūta, released in April 1983. It was sold only in Japan.
In Japan, Tomy aimed to sell about 90,000 units and earn ¥5 billion in its first year by selling the Pyūta to elementary and junior high school students as a “drawing computer.” Nearly 40,000 units were shipped in the first four months, starting in August 1982. However, sales dropped sharply after Nintendo released the Family Computer (later known as the Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1983 as a more affordable option. In February 1985, Tomy stopped making the Pyūta and left the market. By May 1984, a total of 120,000 units had been shipped for use in Japan and for export.
The Tutor did not sell well compared to the ZX Spectrum in the UK or the Commodore 64 in other countries outside Japan. It was quickly removed from the market and replaced the next year by the Pyūta mk2, which had a standard mechanical keyboard instead of the original “Chiclet”-style keyboard. However, the new model was sold only in Japan and remained on the market for a short time.
Technical specifications
- CPU: Texas Instruments TMS9995
- Video: TMS9918 VDP (Video Display Processor). The screen displays 256 x 192 pixels, with 16 colors. Up to 2 colors can be shown in each group of 8 horizontal dots. The system supports 32 simple black-and-white images (sprites) that are 8 pixels wide and 8 pixels tall. No more than 4 sprites can appear on each horizontal line. The system does not have a feature to move the screen smoothly.
- Memory: 20 kilobytes (KB) of built-in ROM and 16 KB of RAM. The CPU also has 256 bytes of its own RAM.
- Keyboard: 56 keys that follow Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS).
- Sounds: SN76489AN DCSG (Digital Complex Sound Generator).
- Weight: 1.7 kilograms (3.7 pounds).
- Media: Uses ROM cartridges and cassette tapes.
- Expansion: Optional accessories include a data recorder and a game adapter.
List of games
- Baseball 3D: Available only in Japan
- Battle Fighter 3D: Available only in Japan
- Bomb Man: Available only in Japan
- Car-azy Racer: Available only in the USA; developed by Wordwright
- Cave Crawlers: Available in the USA; Maze Patrol: Available in Japan
- Deep Six: Available in the USA; Marine Adventure: Available in Japan
- Donpan: Available only in Japan
- Frogger: Available only in Japan; a version of the 1981 Konami arcade game
- Hyperspace: Available in the USA; Tron: Available in Japan
- Jungler: Available in the USA and Japan; a version of the 1981 Konami arcade game
- Loco-Motion: Available in the USA; Guttang Gottong: Available in Japan; a version of the 1982 Konami arcade game
- Mickey Athletic Land: Available only in Japan
- Mission Attack: Available only in Japan
- Monster Inn: Available only in Japan
- Mr. Do!: Available only in Japan; a version of the 1982 Universal arcade game
- Mystery Gold: Available only in Japan
- Night Flight: Available only in Japan
- Pooyan: Available in the USA and Japan; a version of the 1982 Konami arcade game
- Rescue Copter: Available only in Japan
- Saurus Land: Available only in Japan
- Scramble: Available in the USA and Japan; a version of the 1981 Konami arcade game
- Super Bike: Available only in Japan
- Torpedo Terror: Available in the USA; Bermuda Triangle: Available in Japan
- Traffic Jam: Available in the USA and Japan
- Triple Command: Available only in Japan
- Turpin: Available only in Japan; a version of the 1981 Konami arcade game
- Yonin Mahjong: Available only in Japan