Each of the grey keys could produce any of five inputs: Upper and lower-case letters (or numbers and symbols), two graphic characters (similar to the graphic symbols of PETSCII), and a BASIC keyword.
Two keys, ALPHA and GRAPH, are used to switch back and forth between character and graphics modes.
A version of the JR-200 called the Panasonic JR-200U was developed for the North American and European markets and was announced in January 1983.
JR-BASIC was a greatly extended BASIC, with, (for example) graphical commands such as COLOR, (which selected character color, background color and display mode) and PLOT which permitted direct addressing of the low resolution graphics mode (64×48, using text semigraphics characters, which represented pixel blocks that used one-quarter of each character).
Eight colors were available for the background and foreground use: blue, red, magenta, green, cyan, yellow, white and black.
Clever use of the three square wave voices could be used to generate a range of other sounds, such as explosions.
On the back of the device you could also find an eight-pin DIN connector for a cassette recorder with which you could load programs at 2400 bit/s.
In contrast to most other home computers of the time the JR-200 did not use an external transformer unit but had a built-in, completely contained, power supply.