No love for the Magnavox Odyssey 2

[SSG]

So I have been looking around the forums for quite awhile know and I have found little to nothing about the Odyssey 2 being discussed on here. Doesn't anyone like/play them here often? I've had mine for about 4 years now and i have manages to get around 10-12 CIB Odyssey 2 games.

 

If anyone has memories, or want to shed some light on this subject please do!

 

Thanks,

SSG

[accousticguitar]

It has some good game. KC's Crazy Chase and Killer Bees are classics.

[CatPix]

There are fans of the O², most of them in Europe (the Videopac (Euro name of the O²) was very successful here, mostly in the Netherlands and France I would say).

But there isn't very much moving around.

There are some homebrews only coming out, multicarts but no flashcarts. There is about 60 official games, counting the Videopac+ ones, so you can quickly check them all.

 

The Videopac get some love even on AA, but it didn't get enough games and love form homebrewers to really stand out, IMO.

[+Darrin9999]

Love that system!!

[akator]

While the Odyssey 2 may not be as popular as the 2600, Intellivision, or ColecoVision it still gets plenty of love around here. It's not a big topic this month, but I recall a lot of active discussion about systems, games, and homebrew over the last several years. My forum search revealed 663 hits for "Maganvox Odyssey." Out of the 27 pages of results, there are hundreds on topic for the O2.

[+save2600]

I had a friend BITD that had an O2. Remember thinking it was the poor mans Atari! Thought KC Munchkin was fun back then though and played that whenever I'd visit.

 

Today, I have more respect for the system (and have owned a few throughout the years), but honestly, outside of a very small handful of games - not much to talk about. It's a very primitive system to be sure. Blocky character graphics that plague most games leave much to be desired as it made most every game look the same. Keyboard severely underutilized too, which was a shame. Had you been able to program your own games and there was more of a fanbase and following (ie: Bally Professional Arcade with its newsletters, etc.) things might have been a little different.

 

Still, a handful of pretty decent games worth playing and collecting I guess. And definitely like the styling and box art too.

[SSG]

There are fans of the O², most of them in Europe (the Videopac (Euro name of the O²) was very successful here, mostly in the Netherlands and France I would say).

But there isn't very much moving around.

There are some homebrews only coming out, multicarts but no flashcarts. There is about 60 official games, counting the Videopac+ ones, so you can quickly check them all.

 

The Videopac get some love even on AA, but it didn't get enough games and love form homebrewers to really stand out, IMO.

 

Heh, Is that why there isn't some brotherhood/group like the Intellivison or Colecovision has?

[roland p]

I have memories, but those are 30 years old... I think it's one of the nicer systems. The whole styling is great (videopac is my reference).

My brother-in-law still has one. It would be cool to try it out again.

[SSG]

Love that system!!

 

Is that all of them?

[+wongojack]

There are tons of threads dedicated to O2 repair, sales, homebrews etc. Search here in the Classic Gaming General area. The only thing missing (besides a dedicated forum) is a HSC, but those are tough to keep going. I bet if you wanted to invest your time in an O2 HSC their would be good participation for a season or two.

 

Vidoepac.nl has an active forum for O2 stuff.

[Tenorman]

It may not be as popular as a lot of the other systems, but I think there is a fair amount of respect for the Odyssey 2 around here.

 

A few examples:

 

Lot's of positive comments in this thread:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/219951-opinions-on-the-odyssey-2/

 

KC Munchkin ported to Atari 7800:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/220324-kc-munchkin/

 

New homebrew being sold in the Marketplace:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/232858-fs-happy-bird-flappy-bird-clone-for-the-for-the-odyssey2-videopac/

[wolfy62]

Love that system!!

Great collection!

 

I just bought a working O2 in Vegas so I could play my son baseball. I have a multi-cart so I need to fire up some other games! Great system for its time, but yes graphically and great games limited.

 

I had it when I was a teenager and moved on to the Intellivision. Time to play War of Nerves!

[+atari2600land]

I made some homebrew games and have almost a complete collection for it. I'm only missing 3 of the 4 Parker Bros. games. Oh, and 2 of the 3 board/video games, but I don't care about those. I even made a Christmas homebrew about Santa. I love the system, and it's a great one to program for. In fact, tomorrow, I am planning to reveal my latest work. I think the link to a page of all my homebrew Odyssey 2 games is in my signature.

[BillyHW]

I never saw the Odyssey2 back in the day. It just wasn't big in my area (Ontario, Canada), which was dominated by Intellivision/Colecovision/C64 during the early 80s. But it's obvious that KC Munchkin was a better Pac-Man than Pac-Man on the 2600. There are certainly some worthy games for that system.

[Seob]

What system are we talking about?

[+LS650]

I bought an O2 a year ago. It's a very affordable system with a few really great games, and a surprisingly healthy homebrew scene. I can sit and play UFO or the KC games for hours.

[Omega-TI]

I heard there is guy currently making a limited run of a carts that you could load yourself, but I had to pass since I've dumped so much into another system this year and quite frankly my poor little O2 gets very little love. Sadly the most attention it gets is when I dust it.

 

 

[LS_Dracon]

I've released Death Race homebrew this year and have plans to release another homebrew next year.

[Seob]

Yes, Rene is making flashcarts for the system. He also made a menu driven multicart. Really love that cart.

There is an other guy that showed a flash cart with voice built in. Hope he gets it ready for production love to own one.

Also check out the games released by revival studios,he can really pull of some great stuff on the system, no one would think was possible.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Seob

[Blazing Lazers]

The Odyssey 2 does get attention, sometimes in surprising places. For example, Racketboy has an entire article up on various shooter for the system:

 

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-odyssey-2-shooters-library

[gamecat80]

I have mentioned the O2 in my last couple posts on here. I've actually been playing my O2 quite a bit the last couple weeks.

 

Today, I have more respect for the system (and have owned a few throughout the years), but honestly, outside of a very small handful of games - not much to talk about. It's a very primitive system to be sure. Blocky character graphics that plague most games leave much to be desired as it made most every game look the same. Keyboard severely underutilized too, which was a shame. Had you been able to program your own games and there was more of a fanbase and following (ie: Bally Professional Arcade with its newsletters, etc.) things might have been a little different.

 

You could argue that all home systems from the 70s had low-res blocky graphics. IMO, O2 games look better than early Atari VCS games. But later Atari VCS games from the mid-late 80s look better and surpass Odyssey 2 games.

There is no flickering in O2 games, and it seems to be able to handle a decent amount of moving objects on screen, and the animation is usually fantastic and smooth. Pick Axe Pete is a very good example of great animation and lots of moving objects (boulders) with no flicker. The colors are clear and vibrant and the rf picture is very good, like early-model Atari VCS'. The O2 may have simple sound and graphics, but they are clean and clear. Now that I'm using the proper power adapter with my Odyssey 2, I am enjoying it more and have more respect for it. I agree that the keyboard should have been used more in games.

[CatPix]

I think the bigegst problem with the "blocky character graphics" is that the O2 include a library of build-in sprites, in order to save space on carts. The problem being that many games relied on those characters alot. So when it was new in 1978 it was fine, but much later in 83 those were too blocky to be acceptable.

Yet homebrew prove that the Videopac was more able than what was done. But this is very true of many systems... Even the first programmable one!

[+save2600]

I think the bigegst problem with the "blocky character graphics" is that the O2 include a library of build-in sprites, in order to save space on carts. The problem being that many games relied on those characters alot. So when it was new in 1978 it was fine, but much later in 83 those were too blocky to be acceptable.

Exactly.

[Uppy]

I love the Odyssey 2. I own 5 of them and 2 of The Voice. I have every US title CIB including Demon Attack and Atlantis NIB. I also have NOS of a boxed controller with instructions as well as an O2 Wico Trackball(which is very tough to get). And 3 wico adapters(one CIB) that let you play atari controllers on the system. So there is my love for the system. To be honest the best time I've had playing the O2 was with my mom a few years back. She was 70 at the time and we played P.T. Barnum's Acrobats! and we both had fun while laughing our asses off the entire time. It was a good time having a 30 year old competing with a 70 year old.

[CatPix]

I hope you played it with the Voice!

 

"TURKEY!" "INCREDIBLE" "OH NO!"

 

That vocal chip is amazing, it put the Intellivision one to shame.