REPORT BY ALIEN WORKSHOP A’can “Super Color†It’s hard enough to find information about the A’can itself, but this thing is in a league of its own. The only information I have about this mysterious machine is a picture on the back of the A’can System box, and the scarce details that go along with it, so I’ll start with a list of “specsâ€: “1. Enhanced Graphics Processing Ability §[font="] [/font]Lets you use up to 10 separate backgrounds §[font="] [/font]Simultaneous enlargement, reduction, rotation, and crystal ball effects on two backgrounds. §[font="] [/font]Character definition up to 640 animation units §[font="] [/font]Texture mapping and shadow drawing capability 2. Enhanced Operating System High speed DSP: 28MHz (14Mps) System VRAM increased to 256 bytes 3. Enhanced Geometrical Processing 3-D triangular flat-image paster (sic) for greater depth-of-field Maximum calculation up to 2.25 million (750,000 polygonall / districts) 4. Enhanced Sound and Language Functions Additional set of stereo ADPCM language capability†Some of the areas can be a little unclear, because of the engrish, but I can be sure of one thing, it enhanced the capabilities of the already powerful A’can in a similar fashion to the 32X, and it even resembles Sega’s ill-fated and unutilized system. As for any Super Color units actually existing, I don’t know. I don’t even know if “Super Color†is actual name of the unit. I’m just going on what I have, and in the picture of the unit, the words “Super Color†are printed above the cartridge slot, so that’s what I’m calling it. However, the unit on the back of the A’can box looks pretty real, but it’s probably just a mock-up. Even if there were working prototypes they were probably destroyed when Funtech hit rock bottom. One thing is for certain though, if there are any surviving A’can Super Color units, they are among the rarest (if not the rarest) unreleased videogame items ever. In terms of rarity, this thing blows even the SNES CD out of the water. Read on for better pictures.
Just for comparison this is the spec for Psone 360,000 Flat-Shaded Polygons per second 180,000 texture mapped and light-sourced polygons per second
I would just like to give a big thanks to max for ordering the system for me, and I would like to thank ASSEMbler for posting my little article. Respect, AWS (if anyone would like some unmarked images, just send me a PM)
A friend of a friend of mine working in Taiwan as a teacher bought one there thinking it was an SNES clone, until he showed it to me. He paid the equivalent of $13 for it and a wierd street fighter like game. Nice article!!
so this is like the holy grail of the game community? Seems like they could have made some intressting things with this thing. and as madhatter says.. Nice article!!
I usually just lurk, because I don't have anything informative to say (and still don't) but this is an awesome find, congragulations.
I imagined that Funtech may have experimented with CD technology at some point, as it seems a logical extension for a console. But I never, ever considered anything along the lines of Super Color. Discovery of the year I think (and yes, I am including Sonic Xtreme in that statement).
The actual A'can unit does have an expansion port on the side, so I'm guessing that some sort of add-on to implement that was being developed. Who knows.
I could make a snide remark about this complete, utter, and total lack of contribution, but instead I will say this: Super Color > Black belt Why? The Black Belt is "well known" as far as collectors and game historians go. The Super Color, on the other hand, is very obscure. Both systems have "questionable existence", but one is well known and one is not. I think the Super Color would make for a better story, plus anything marked A'can is going to be obscure. Take into consideration the rarity AND obscurity. If it's rare AND obscure, then you've got a real prize item on your hands.
the goat store has A'can's for sale if anyone's interested... Uh, no super colors tho. www.goatstore.com
Thanks for the pics on the A'can Super Color :thumbsup:! The only thing close to it I've heard of was the Super A'can, but never really knew much about it. It was one of the 3 codenames and a discontinued prototype unit for the Sega Dreamcast; Blackbelt, Dural, and the well known Katana.
Correct. I bought one off of him.... Which brings me to my question...has anybody with an A'can opened up the controller? Is there any logic in it? I'm curious whether its possible to adapt another controller to it easily...and for that matter I'm curious if there is anyone who can get games/controllers/whatever for one. Edit: Alien Workshop...are you the one who bought the boxed A'can from awhile back? I assume so because the pictures come from the A'can box...
I got an A'can from Dan, which was pretty useless since it doesn't come with anything, but it was cheap so I got it, and just recently I got a boxed system and games from Taiwan. Though, I'm going to elaborate a little more on the A'can units Dan is selling. Remember a while back when NFG said something like "If you were in the right place at the right time, you could get A'can systems for $2 a piece", well there you go. There's a catch though, you're ONLY getting the system and it has been stripped of its screws. For the most part, it's pretty useless. Those units were scrap, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them don't even work. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the scrap units that Funtech tried to dump on the US market were either destroyed or thrown out. Who knows? It would be impossible to tell how many A'cans have survived, and the only way to get a CIB unit is from Taiwan, where they were distributed properly.
what's up with that "no screw"system? a conspiration to conquer the world? :crying: more seriously, why don't they have any screws ?
