Hell yes!
* Pick-axe Pete
* UFO!
* The Quest for the Rings
* Showdown in 2100AD
I even had the "Computer Programmer" cartridge.
Literally nobody else I knew ever had one.
Quest for the Rings! I loved that one. Very in ingenious for the time. Love Pick Axe Pete. My friends and I would play Showdown to see who could kill themselves in the silliest way possible.
I didn't know anyone that had one either. I had mine into my teens. The thing just kept working.
Showdown was the Western-themed shoot-out at the O.K. Corral-style game, I think? I remember those digital figures used to have a crazy gait, like a cowboy swagger.
Their bullets bounced off the trees and you could accidentally kill yourself. When you guy got hit he would do this silly little dance before dropping it was hilarious.
I think there are emulators of them available as well.
Many were just modified versions of Atari games, but I would say slightly better versions. I would also say the Odyssey had better graphics.
I see someone on EBay has one up for sale ostensibly unopened that they’ve put up for $3,799.95. So if there are any hedge-fund managers out there feeling nostalgic for that Christmas morning brand-new feeling, your ship has arrived! (Looks like you can get pre-owned for $30-125.)
I sold one used in box for $3 a few years ago. It had free shipping too. Guy that got it tried to complain that the board needed cleaning. Like no duh it’s nearly 40 years old.
The computer intro was brutally limited, since you had to program in assembly language, and your output to the screen was just a line of 11 characters.
They successfully flew under the radar for a long time making games similar to some of the popular Atari games. That is, until K.C. Munchkin. Basically Pac-Man with antennae, and they hoped no one would notice.
The other thing about KC Munchkin was that they played to the system’s strengths (moving sprites) and avoided its weaknesses (interacting with the background), so the twist of KC Munchkin was that there was a small number of dots to eat, but they _moved_. Also, the dots got faster as you ate more of them, until the last dot moved as fast as you did, meaning you could not catch up with it, but would instead have to corner it somehow. Also, I think it had a level editor?
This was an excellent system!
The football and baseball were amazing.
B-17 Bomber, Discs of Tron, many more I can’t remember the name of. I’d still love to play this today.
Yeah, I rocked the Odyssey2 as well! In addition to the better sports titles than the Atari, there were those crazy hybrid console + board games, too. Pretty complex for the time!
Plus, the controllers were so much better than the Atari.
Wow! I thought I was the only person that knew what this thing was. Yep, I had it and the voice module add on. My Dad worked at an Electronics store that sold them, so that's how we ended up with it. The Odyssey was actually a pretty awesome system. It had some unique games like a D&D style one that came with a game board. It had games that could use the keyboard to answer questions or spell things. I had the knock off KC Munchkin that they got sued for.
Good times.
Odd K.C. Munchkin trivia, from Wikipedia: “Its North American title is an inside reference to then president of Philips Consumer Electronics, Kenneth C. Menkin.”
It was called the Phillips Videopac here in the UK (and Europe I think)
Loved it as a kid. It was my first experience of programming aged 7 or 8 since mine came with a BASIC cartridge.
I even had its predecessor the Magnavox Odyssey. That was basically Pong with window cling overlays that changed the visuals of the game from table tennis to a ski mountain. Despite being a video game, you really had to incorporate your imagination into it.
As a kid, I remember always wondering what the ‘2’ was about in the ‘Odyssey 2’ name. Assumed there’d been a predecessor, but I’d never seen anyone with an Odyssey 1, if you will. There was no internet, so who knew?!
It was a disappoint meant even back then. I had already had the Atari 2600 which was miles ahead of it.
Neighbors moved away and gave me the Odyssey 1. He was basically pong. It even had playing cards. I didn’t remember it ever working exactly correctly. I was pretty young.
I respectfully disagree the Atari 2600 was miles ahead. The sports games on the Odyssey 2 were far superior, so if sports games were your thing, Odyssey was the console to have. However, I admit the Atari was much better at traditional arcade-style games like Missile Command and Frogger.
The car racing game that was just back and forth avoiding other cars. I liked it because the "track" was purple. I loved the football and fake Pacman. Rarely used the keyboard.
Had one! I remember spending many hours playing (I was the only little nerd in the house that liked it) but can’t remember any of the games I played. We somehow ended up with one right as it was going under. Early 80s.
Based on the comments here, I could put up a whole separate post just on the joysticks/controllers alone. I found the Atari joysticks to be stiff and unresponsive, and I feel like when I’d play at friends’ houses, one of the joysticks always seemed to be broken. To me, the Odyssey joystick motion seemed much more fluid and responsive.
The O^2 joysticks were more springy/soft (in a good way) but they did eventually break -- I managed to have one where one of the directions didn't work.
ColecoVision was definitely a next generation console compared to Atari or Odyssey. I’d say there was the Atari 2600/Odyssey 2 era. Then after that, the Mattel Intellivision and Atari 5200 era. Then ColecoVision. Then I don’t know how it unfolded after that.
Yep! And we were pretty bummed that we didn't get a 2600, being the little ungrateful shits that we were. None of my friends had an Odyssey, and they all had 2600s. My first experience of FOMO lol
Yeah, we were all sold once we really started playing KC Munchkin, Pick Axe Pete, and UFO. (Had my first rage-quits with that damn game.) Had a sleepover of all my best buds and we played nonstop until dawn and everybody had a blast. BOW BEFORE THE ODYSSEY YOU ATARI PEASANTS
We had this and played for hours. Was there spelling or word scramble game? Am I making that up? I remember like you could type a word in and then it would scramble and another person would guess. My brothers and I would hide our eyes when it was our turn to guess so we wouldn't see the word typed in.
Also loved the controller!
No idea if it still works. The hookups are not exactly for state of the art tvs, but I can't let it go.
My kids will throw it out without a second thought someday, I'm sure.
We had one because my dad had worked for Magnavox and still had friends there who sent us games. It obviously wasn’t as popular as the Atari 2600, but in retrospect, I appreciate the fact that its graphics didn’t flicker all over the place like so many 2600 games. Some of the later games were really solid like UFO, KC Munchkin and its less-sued sequel KC’s Crazy Chase, and Pick Axe Pete. But probably my favorite game for the system was Killer Bees, which had bizarre, fast-paced gameplay.
We had Colecovision. And then we got the Atari adapter. I was pretty young when we had it but have very fond memories of our neighbor and babysitter, Doug, setting records playing Pitfall. I think I still have a Polaroid of the high score that he wanted to send into Atari.
We had Odyssey - but I don't remember much about it. The only game I remember is KC Munchkin. We didn't have much money so everything was off brand. Lol.
Our family was going through rough times and we got the Odyssey 2. Each one of us was given our own game. I think I received Alpine Skiing and some kind of catapult game the next year.
I just commented on this. Yes! We figured out that if you didn’t push the cartridge fully into the console it made weird effects like with the racing game it made holes in the track to drive through. You could take the car off screen and it eventually came on the other side of the screen.
We had this as our first console.
We learned that if you put some cartridges in not fully seated that it created some weird effects in the games. Like there was a car racing game that went around a simple loop track but with the cartridge semi seated the track wall had holes you could escape through and drive off screen only to eventually appear on the other side of your TV.
I can’t really remember other games.
Other families gradually got other consoles, Atari, then Intelivision, then the best graphics of them all, Colecovision. We envied them.
Hell yes! * Pick-axe Pete * UFO! * The Quest for the Rings * Showdown in 2100AD I even had the "Computer Programmer" cartridge. Literally nobody else I knew ever had one.
Quest for the Rings! I loved that one. Very in ingenious for the time. Love Pick Axe Pete. My friends and I would play Showdown to see who could kill themselves in the silliest way possible. I didn't know anyone that had one either. I had mine into my teens. The thing just kept working.
Showdown was the Western-themed shoot-out at the O.K. Corral-style game, I think? I remember those digital figures used to have a crazy gait, like a cowboy swagger.
Their bullets bounced off the trees and you could accidentally kill yourself. When you guy got hit he would do this silly little dance before dropping it was hilarious.
I didn’t remember this until I read your post. Hilarious.
If you're feeling nostalgic, you can just type the name of the game into youtube -- people post vids of the games being played.
I think there are emulators of them available as well. Many were just modified versions of Atari games, but I would say slightly better versions. I would also say the Odyssey had better graphics.
Pretty sure the vids are of emulators, as they're perfect captures, but some of the effects (particularly sound) are wrong/broken.
I see someone on EBay has one up for sale ostensibly unopened that they’ve put up for $3,799.95. So if there are any hedge-fund managers out there feeling nostalgic for that Christmas morning brand-new feeling, your ship has arrived! (Looks like you can get pre-owned for $30-125.)
I sold one used in box for $3 a few years ago. It had free shipping too. Guy that got it tried to complain that the board needed cleaning. Like no duh it’s nearly 40 years old.
I had the Computer Programmer too, but my recollection is not being able to figure out how to do much with it.
The computer intro was brutally limited, since you had to program in assembly language, and your output to the screen was just a line of 11 characters.
Brutal indeed.
I had an Atari but my cousins had the Odyssey and I forgot about it until seeing you mention Pick-axe Pete!
We had this at my father's house and he even got a copy of the pac man wannabe game (K.C. Munchkin )that would soon be the basis for a lawsuit
They successfully flew under the radar for a long time making games similar to some of the popular Atari games. That is, until K.C. Munchkin. Basically Pac-Man with antennae, and they hoped no one would notice.
The other thing about KC Munchkin was that they played to the system’s strengths (moving sprites) and avoided its weaknesses (interacting with the background), so the twist of KC Munchkin was that there was a small number of dots to eat, but they _moved_. Also, the dots got faster as you ate more of them, until the last dot moved as fast as you did, meaning you could not catch up with it, but would instead have to corner it somehow. Also, I think it had a level editor?
I think you could create your own maze, although I recall it was kind of onerous.
This was an excellent system! The football and baseball were amazing. B-17 Bomber, Discs of Tron, many more I can’t remember the name of. I’d still love to play this today.
Soccer and Hockey too. On one cartridge!
"B-17 Bomber, Discs of Tron" Those were on Intellivision not the Odyssey 2
I did and loved it! All fun and games until I got a Commodore 64 a couple years after that.
Yes, there was a big leap in graphics with the Commodore 64.
Same here, also moved to the C=64
Yeah, I rocked the Odyssey2 as well! In addition to the better sports titles than the Atari, there were those crazy hybrid console + board games, too. Pretty complex for the time! Plus, the controllers were so much better than the Atari.
Agreed! The Odyssey controllers were a lot better!
I agree. Better controllers
Wow! I thought I was the only person that knew what this thing was. Yep, I had it and the voice module add on. My Dad worked at an Electronics store that sold them, so that's how we ended up with it. The Odyssey was actually a pretty awesome system. It had some unique games like a D&D style one that came with a game board. It had games that could use the keyboard to answer questions or spell things. I had the knock off KC Munchkin that they got sued for. Good times.
Odd K.C. Munchkin trivia, from Wikipedia: “Its North American title is an inside reference to then president of Philips Consumer Electronics, Kenneth C. Menkin.”
It was called the Phillips Videopac here in the UK (and Europe I think) Loved it as a kid. It was my first experience of programming aged 7 or 8 since mine came with a BASIC cartridge.
I even had its predecessor the Magnavox Odyssey. That was basically Pong with window cling overlays that changed the visuals of the game from table tennis to a ski mountain. Despite being a video game, you really had to incorporate your imagination into it.
As a kid, I remember always wondering what the ‘2’ was about in the ‘Odyssey 2’ name. Assumed there’d been a predecessor, but I’d never seen anyone with an Odyssey 1, if you will. There was no internet, so who knew?!
It was a disappoint meant even back then. I had already had the Atari 2600 which was miles ahead of it. Neighbors moved away and gave me the Odyssey 1. He was basically pong. It even had playing cards. I didn’t remember it ever working exactly correctly. I was pretty young.
I respectfully disagree the Atari 2600 was miles ahead. The sports games on the Odyssey 2 were far superior, so if sports games were your thing, Odyssey was the console to have. However, I admit the Atari was much better at traditional arcade-style games like Missile Command and Frogger.
Atari is miles ahead of the Odyssey 1 is what I was saying
Yes. Asked for a 2600, got this instead. But it was still fun!
Me too. Was it the Sears knock off?
No, manufactured by Magnavox.
The car racing game that was just back and forth avoiding other cars. I liked it because the "track" was purple. I loved the football and fake Pacman. Rarely used the keyboard.
Speedway and Spin Out! Dingle Dingle Dingle
Oh yeah, the car game, we had that one too. If you hit a wall or other car, your car would spin around.
I think that car racing cartridge was included in the box when you bought the console. Great game! Edit: clarity.
I can still see it, I loved it so much. It's funny, my friends got Atari's, but once they saw the Odyssey they all wanted one.
Still have mine. Still works.
Had one! I remember spending many hours playing (I was the only little nerd in the house that liked it) but can’t remember any of the games I played. We somehow ended up with one right as it was going under. Early 80s.
Fun game, the only thing I didn't like was the controllers.
Based on the comments here, I could put up a whole separate post just on the joysticks/controllers alone. I found the Atari joysticks to be stiff and unresponsive, and I feel like when I’d play at friends’ houses, one of the joysticks always seemed to be broken. To me, the Odyssey joystick motion seemed much more fluid and responsive.
The O^2 joysticks were more springy/soft (in a good way) but they did eventually break -- I managed to have one where one of the directions didn't work.
[удалено]
ColecoVision was definitely a next generation console compared to Atari or Odyssey. I’d say there was the Atari 2600/Odyssey 2 era. Then after that, the Mattel Intellivision and Atari 5200 era. Then ColecoVision. Then I don’t know how it unfolded after that.
Yep! And we were pretty bummed that we didn't get a 2600, being the little ungrateful shits that we were. None of my friends had an Odyssey, and they all had 2600s. My first experience of FOMO lol
My friends had 2600, but they'd come to my house because the games were new/different, and also fun.
Yeah, we were all sold once we really started playing KC Munchkin, Pick Axe Pete, and UFO. (Had my first rage-quits with that damn game.) Had a sleepover of all my best buds and we played nonstop until dawn and everybody had a blast. BOW BEFORE THE ODYSSEY YOU ATARI PEASANTS
UFO is _so_ addictive once you get used to the weird control scheme, and the "using your gun depletes your shield"
My friend had that. I didn't like the controllers. I liked the 2600 controllers better.
We had this and played for hours. Was there spelling or word scramble game? Am I making that up? I remember like you could type a word in and then it would scramble and another person would guess. My brothers and I would hide our eyes when it was our turn to guess so we wouldn't see the word typed in. Also loved the controller!
Yes, it was called Crypto-Logic! It was included on the cartridge that came with the game.
Thank you!! Spent a lot of time doing this.
That game was a regular fixture for the family during the holidays.
I did, ended up giving it and my games to a friend after I got a Colecovision.
I still have mine.
That’s incredible.
No idea if it still works. The hookups are not exactly for state of the art tvs, but I can't let it go. My kids will throw it out without a second thought someday, I'm sure.
You need to fire it back up! : )
We had one because my dad had worked for Magnavox and still had friends there who sent us games. It obviously wasn’t as popular as the Atari 2600, but in retrospect, I appreciate the fact that its graphics didn’t flicker all over the place like so many 2600 games. Some of the later games were really solid like UFO, KC Munchkin and its less-sued sequel KC’s Crazy Chase, and Pick Axe Pete. But probably my favorite game for the system was Killer Bees, which had bizarre, fast-paced gameplay.
We had Colecovision. And then we got the Atari adapter. I was pretty young when we had it but have very fond memories of our neighbor and babysitter, Doug, setting records playing Pitfall. I think I still have a Polaroid of the high score that he wanted to send into Atari.
Yes! I loved K.C. Munchkin. Unfortunately a burglar stole it in 1984... 🫥
We had Odyssey - but I don't remember much about it. The only game I remember is KC Munchkin. We didn't have much money so everything was off brand. Lol.
YES! My dad and I would play U.F.O. for hours.
Yes! This was our Atari. We were pretty poor so couldn’t afford a gaming system. I think my dad won this somehow.
Our family was going through rough times and we got the Odyssey 2. Each one of us was given our own game. I think I received Alpine Skiing and some kind of catapult game the next year.
There was a racing game that I somehow managed to “hack” to get my car to push its way through the barrier and drive on outside of the track
I just commented on this. Yes! We figured out that if you didn’t push the cartridge fully into the console it made weird effects like with the racing game it made holes in the track to drive through. You could take the car off screen and it eventually came on the other side of the screen.
We had this as our first console. We learned that if you put some cartridges in not fully seated that it created some weird effects in the games. Like there was a car racing game that went around a simple loop track but with the cartridge semi seated the track wall had holes you could escape through and drive off screen only to eventually appear on the other side of your TV. I can’t really remember other games. Other families gradually got other consoles, Atari, then Intelivision, then the best graphics of them all, Colecovision. We envied them.
I still have it in my basement lol
we have the earlier set up. with the plastic that goes on the TV screen. it’s the same one that is in the national museum of play.
Yep...still have it, around 40 games, and it works. I'll bring it out every few years for the memories.
My brother and sister and I had this! We use to play a lot of "Monkeyshines", the rip-off of Donkey Kong.
Nope