Found my first gaming console

[DaytonaUSA]

A long time ago, before my dad got his (quickly became mine...) NES when I was a young kid, my first video game console was a Philips N20 pong system.

 

It was my dad's, and we played it all the time. Maybe a little too much. The RF adapter burned up, and he was told by a local electronics place that it would be impossible to find a replacement. So in the trash it went. I haven't seen it since before I played Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt for the first time, so my memory was a bit faded.

 

A few years ago, I made a thread on Assembler Games where I described the look of the machine and asked for help in it's identification... where instead I was promptly made fun of for not just buying "any other Pong machine because it's all the same" and was basically chased out of my own thread before I could post a single reply.

 

So I did the homework and found that it was an N20 Philips machine, and I've been looking for one ever since. Once every blue moon I'll find it, but usually the shippers won't send it to the US, as I believe it's a French system and always seems to be coming from Europe. (no, I have no clue why/how my dad found this system in the US back in the 1970s)

 

Well, long story short, I finally got one for a good price... and it's COMPLETE! Woo Hoo! Heck, the one I owned wasn't even complete. Heck, the one I owned was all yellowed, this is in near mint condition, and I couldn't be happier.

 

I now live half a country away, but my dad will be taking a vacation towards the end of the year to see us for the first time since we moved here in AZ earlier this year. It'll be the first time we'll play the system together since I was 5. I plan on keeping it a surprise until he arrives. Can't wait!

 

Here are some pictures!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[high voltage]

Awesome

[CatPix]

If it's a Philips system, it was likely sold in the rest of Europe as well. But yeah, the "Vidéojeu" variant would be for French and French speaking markets (Belgium, Luxembourg, Swiss?).

Maybe Philips sold some in the USA before pulling out?

I mean, up to this year, is was believed that the PC-50* Pong carts games were never sold in the USA, until someone here on AtariAge found one of those.

 

How does the system behave if it's a SECAM L unit? Must be rather hard to tune on an US set?

[Rybags]

I should think this thing is B&W only, so no colour encoding standards to worry about - although of course if intended for Euro usage would have been ~ 50 FPS and ~ 312 scanlines progressive rather than ~ 60 FPS and ~ 262 scanlines as per N America.

[jaybird3rd]

Congratulations! I also recently "rediscovered" a dedicated Pong unit that I played to death many years ago: an "S Four Thousand" manufactured by Radofin and marketed in the US by K-Mart (pictured here). True, it's built around the exact same off-the-shelf GI chip that many other Pong units from 1977 used, but this one had sliding controllers instead of dials, which I thought was interesting. Here's hoping that yours works correctly on televisions in the US!

[CatPix]

I should think this thing is B&W only, so no colour encoding standards to worry about - although of course if intended for Euro usage would have been ~ 50 FPS and ~ 312 scanlines progressive rather than ~ 60 FPS and ~ 262 scanlines as per N America.

It is indeed B&W; but SECAM L use positive modulation video instead of negative modulation like every other systems in the world (including SECAM D/G/K systems - they won't display anything on a L set and vice-versa) (it also use AM sound instead of FM but this doesn't matter here).

[DaytonaUSA]

Yeah, it's black and white. It hasn't come in yet, but I do remember our RF adapter being much different looking than this. Otherwise it's the same system. It looks like it's just an RCA plug. Is it not? I remember my old N20's RF looking kinda ghetto when I was young, so I'm assuming it was a cheapo third party accessory.

 

I've asked my dad many times over the years, even when I was a kid, where he got it. He always says the same thing, that he picked it up when he was younger from a store, but doesn't remember which one. But he did get it new.

[ComputerSpaceFan]

Mine was the Unitrex Video Pro

 

Had a lot of fun on that sucker pre-2600

 

[DaytonaUSA]

Mine was the Unitrex Video Pro

 

Had a lot of fun on that sucker pre-2600

 

 

 

Nice, that looks pretty similar in respects to its features. That must have been odd to have to players controlling their "player" by holding the same piece of hardware.

[Keatah]

Awesomesauce!

[darthkur]

That's very cool. Hope you can get it to display on a tv or monitor. Keep us updated when it arrives.

[Omega-TI]

I had to hunt up this image on eBay. This was my first gaming console, an Tele Games Pong clone from Sears. I believe it was on either 1976 or 1977. By today's standards it's a joke, but back then as a kid, I enjoyed it for about 6 months.

 

[CatPix]

Yeah, it's black and white. It hasn't come in yet, but I do remember our RF adapter being much different looking than this. Otherwise it's the same system. It looks like it's just an RCA plug. Is it not? I remember my old N20's RF looking kinda ghetto when I was young, so I'm assuming it was a cheapo third party accessory.

 

I've asked my dad many times over the years, even when I was a kid, where he got it. He always says the same thing, that he picked it up when he was younger from a store, but doesn't remember which one. But he did get it new.

 

If it's an Euro model, there is no silly RF box like on US systems, it's a wire coming straight from the unit and ending by a RCA-looking-but-not-fitting Bailing-Lee connector, more commonly know as a FM connector.

 

There are adapters in both ways so you can plug it on your TV F-connector. (and vice-versa... this info for European owners of an US console )

 

[DaytonaUSA]

Thanks!

 

I'll hunt down one of these connectors so I can play it on my broadcast monitor.

[Colecovision]

Not my first console but I couldn't resist to get this one.

 

Hanimex 888G

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hyperboy]

Nice find!

[Bodyshots]

Very nice! Good for you! I can totally relate to finding the exact kind of system you used to play on. Something 'similar' just does not cut it.

 

It is the same as trying to find a song that brings back some good memories. Just because this 'song' was classified as 'rock' does not mean any rock song will suffice. It definitely has to be that exact one!

[Andromeda Stardust]

Those are sweet! I thought it would be cool to get a PONG console, but isn't it basically the same thing as Video Olympics for the 2600? Not really the same thing but close enough for someone who never had one...

 

If I got a PONG console, it would have to be the Atari or Sears model.

[CatPix]

You can get more than this...

Check out for machines made before 1976 and the AY Pong chip boom.

 

Check out for example this insane machine, released in 1977, but conceived, according to one engineer, in 1973 and developed up to 1976 :

 

 

 

The Pizon-Bros Visiomatic 101, also sold as the Alcatel Visiomat 11.

Plastic case, thick metallic facade, large mechanical selection buttons, and as the picture suggest, it include a "robot" function, making it one of the rare "one player" Pong you can find.

Sure, it's black and white only, and the paddles move up and down only, but it's so stylish, and being able to play alone is more than you can ask for a Pong game.

 

And, there is a difference between Pong and Video Olympics :

Analog controls.

Sure even if Video olympics play with the paddles (I don't know) it's yet not the same as Pong.

Because Video Olympics with still have this "pixel" move, whereas any Pong is analog at heart and know no pixels to move on. Your control on the pad is right at your fingers, and not delayed or corrected by a microprocessor.

Also, it means that glitches are nonexistant.

Really, I can assure you that even if games like Windjammers or Plasma Pong are awesome and renew the concept, nothing can replace the REAL Pong, weither it's a bunch or logic gates like on the Odyssey or other early systems or an AY mass produced chip.

[DaytonaUSA]

I got it in the mail . WOW. It's in "like new" condition. Manual looks new, foam looks new, and the system and controllers look like they were made yesterday, I'm not even kidding you. It's weird, as ours was all yellowed, but to see it again like this is a shock to the system. I doubt this was ever taken out of the box, haha. The cords are even still tied up.

[darthkur]

I got it in the mail . WOW. It's in "like new" condition. Manual looks new, foam looks new, and the system and controllers look like they were made yesterday, I'm not even kidding you. It's weird, as ours was all yellowed, but to see it again like this is a shock to the system. I doubt this was ever taken out of the box, haha. The cords are even still tied up.

 

 

Lets see some pics.