Tiger R-Zone
Release Date: 1995
Discontinued: 1997
Manufacturer: Tiger Electronics
The R-Zone is a portable game console (originally head-worn, later handheld) developed and manufactured by Tiger Electronics. The R-Zone was shown at the American International Toy Fair in 1995, and was released later that year. The R-Zone was largely unsuccessful and would only be manufactured for a short period, before being discontinued in 1997. Although the R-Zone was not designed to compete directly with any other handhelds, it marked Tiger Electronics' first multi-game entry into the portable electronic game market. The original R-Zone unit consists of a headset and a separate controller containing batteries. Each game cartridge has its own transparent LCD display screen which is projected onto a mirrored surface held in front of the player's eye. It is thought that this original design, including the red color scheme, was designed to capitalize on popular buzz for the Nintendo Virtual Boy at the time. Three additional versions of the R-Zone were subsequently released: the R-Zone Super Screen, the X.P.G. Xtreme Pocket Game, and the R-Zone "DataZone".