I was born at a time when the original, gigantic, battery-guzzling gray Game Boy was a status symbol. As I never belonged to a rich family, I contented myself with borrowing Game Boys from friends until I was ten years old. At that age, one of my aunts bought me a Game Boy Pocket as a reward for my hard work and academic excellence. Although I enjoyed reading about the newer handhelds, I learned to be content with PC gaming as it was more affordable, and we already had a PC at home.

It was only when I had already started university and had already saved enough money that I started dabbling on eBay. I initially bid for inexpensive vintage video games, starting with the huge Space Invaders handheld game. It was during this time that I read about and discovered the Atari Lynx, which was the first handheld console with true color resolution. As I proceeded down the rabbit hole, I read more and more about the obscure handhelds that were as transient as shooting stars. I eventually realized that my interest was in handheld consoles, and read up on them even more.


It was at this point in time that I discovered the Palmtex Super Micro. There were a lot of other handhelds during this time (early 1980s), as it was the peak of the video game boom. Inexplicably, I gravitated toward this system. The system looks like a flip cellphone twice the length and breadth of a usual one, and it possesses a miniature computer feel to it. I looked for opportunities toward obtaining it, but it took me at least three years before I was able to find a seller who gave me a discount after knowing that I was not merely a reseller but a true vintage video game aficionado.

The game included in my system then was called Outflank. It played similar to the board game Othello; surprisingly, the computer opponent was quite challenging at higher levels. The game ended when the board was filled and the victor was the one who had the most pieces at the game’s end. It was a simple strategy game, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.


I was content with that game and my system, but about a year later I was able to broker a deal with someone who had one of the system’s two other tapes. I was able to purchase Aladdin’s Adventures from him. Sadly, it was a disappointing game. Since I had a Mario’s Cement Factory tabletop given as an heirloom from my aunt, I was unimpressed with the derivative gameplay: the cement was just changed to a different item, and instead of the flute-like pipes in Mario’s Cement Factory Aladdin had to move across flying carpets.

The Super Micro would indisputably be forgettable if only these two games were released for the system. As an update of the Microvision, which was the first handheld console with interchangeable cartridges, the system really wasn’t special.


But because of its third game, however, the Super Micro is one of the most valuable handheld gaming consoles to me – and not merely because of its history. It is, indeed, the world’s first palm-sized programmable game system (as its art claims below, especially because the Microvision was even larger than the PSP), and it does fit into one of my palms.


Most importantly, however, the creators of the system released React Attack.



And React Attack is a great, avant-garde video game. Why?

I think it undeniably is the first handheld video game that has a definitive ending. The Microvision that came before it featured games that never ended: all that really mattered were the scores when the time came that all of one’s lives were used up.


React Attack was different. Sure, the game had rudimentary graphics even when compared to games in its era. (The video of React Attack’s gameplay may be seen below.)

But there were no other games before it on any other handheld console that possessed such a limpid objective in order for the game to end: the aim of the game was to deactivate the reactor core before the end of fifteen real-time minutes. When one did that, the game ended. There weren’t any lengthy credits, or massive explosions, of course: when the reactor core was defused, the rotating red LCD that patrolled the reactor core froze, and the score would appear on the right side of the screen. The game wouldn’t start again from the beginning, with faster moving enemies. It actually just ends.


(I focused on the immobile red box at the left side of the screen. This is the game’s ending screen.)


Sadly, due to the poor marketing of the game (even fewer people have heard of the Super Micro than the Epoch Game Pocket Computer) and the lack of appeal of strategy games toward children, the Palmtex Super Micro had a rapid obsolescence. It was, nevertheless, a great system with one brilliant game, and people shouldn’t forget that: after all, React Attack was the first handheld game that ended with the completion of an objective.



The game, having done that in 1983, was definitely special.