Pinning down a proper "first" in video game history can be a challenging proposition. The medium didn't evolve in rigid steps with clearly defined milestones; it shifted gradually, in strange and hard-to-classify fits and starts. But I feel confident in dropping a pin here, with the Epoch Cassette Vision, as the "first" proper console to emerge from Japan. Several Japanese manufacturers had produced dedicated consoles for years before Cassette Vision came along, and Bandai even manufactured one that accepted cartridges that worked like the jumper cards Magnavox included with the original Odyssey. However, with Cassette Vision, Epoch produced the first game system to have been built from the ground-up in Japan that offered distinct software on standalone carts. It arrived a full two years before Nintendo's Famicom and Sega's SG-1000, and it presented a compelling mix of dated-but-entertaining games at a highly competitive price. The Japanese console games industry got its true start h