Consoles of the '80s

Console: Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2 - UK
Manufacturer: Amstrad
Discontinued: 1990
After Amstrad bought the Sinclair range, they released the Spectrum +2 under their Sinclair banner. This new console was pretty much the same as the last one, except it had dual joystick ports and a built-in cassette recorder. That’s it.

Console: Atari XE
Manufacturer: Atari
Discontinued: Relatively quickly
Now that Nintendo was raking in cash, Atari was throwing out computers and game consoles left and right trying to snag some of that market. The XE was a repackaged 65XE (part of their home computer line) and came bundled with a keyboard, joystick and light gun. Too bad they couldn’t really market the damn thing and didn’t end up selling very many units.

Console: Commodore Amiga A500
Manufacturer: Commodore
Discontinued: 1991
Commodore’s best-selling model in the Amiga line, the A500 was the first low-end Amiga PC. The A500 was extremely popular for its use as a gaming machine and not as another boring computer.

Console: Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 - UK
Manufacturer: Amstrad
Discontinued: 1990
Looking remarkably similar to the +2, the +3 had a black case and featured a built-in floppy disk drive. Also, a bunch of small hardware changes were made that enabled you to do slightly better things. Like most hardware upgrades.

Console: PC Engine
Manufacturer: NEC
Discontinued in: 1999
NEC's popular-in-Japan console that actually fended off the Famicom but was a non-issue in the US and Europe. Technically superior and later enhanced by a CD-ROM drive, the PC Engine hit US shelves as the TurboGrafx-16. It used game cards (called HuCards) instead of carts, and ended up being remodeled and tinkered with so many times that we're kind of glad it never took off over here. At least the TurboDuo had some quality games...