Three games, one cart! This is getting out of hand . . .Before I talk about the individual games on this cart, I should point out that this entire cartridge uses the keyboard and nothing but the keyboard. I don't know why, but I find that admirable. This console actually uses its keyboards while other consoles only have half-hearted attempts at keyboards (Atari, Bally).
Match Maker! Odyssey^2, 1978
This is one of those "deja vu" games, we've seen it on other
Two games, one cart! Again!
Bowling! Odyssey^2, 1978
First off, in my book at least, ANY game in the 1970s that allows for four players gets my thumbs up. Not necessarily WAY up, but definitely "up".
Bowling! allows for up to four players. It uses a similar bowling formula that we've seen before on both the RCA Studio II and the APF MP1000: Oscillating ball at the bottom of the alley, press the button to send it and then use the controller for a one shot chanc
Cosmic Conflict! Odyssey^2, 1978
Okay, as I said in a previous entry: for flavor I'm trying to include close-up photos of the player-controlled avatars in these games. It doesn't really work for something like Blackjack, and honestly, it doesn't really work for something like this game, never-the-less, here's what you control in this universe:
That's your targeting reticle in Cosmic Conflict! The game consists of you "piloting" that reticle (1st person piloti
Before I do the Odyssey^2 thing, I must report another chronogamer!
Xagar's Game reviews
Go and enjoy his blog, too, for a glimpse of . . . the future! While you're at it, start a chronogaming blog of your own. It's easy! Simply pick a system, research all the release dates, and play them in order! Okay, it's not that simple, assembling the roms/carts hardware etc can be a bit time consuming (not to mention expensive), and in some cases, figuring out the release dates is
Tele-Games Electronic Games Motocross Sports Center IV (Atari, 1977)
I kinda "get it" now but back in the late 70s I had no clue what was going on between Atari and Sears. It seemed like Atari stuff in other department stores was labeled "Atari" but Sears was a parallel universe where every Atari item was called something else. Combat was called Tank Plus; Air-Sea Battle was called Target Fun. The Atari Video Computer System was called the Sears Video Arcade, etc.
Suspicions of conspirac
Coleco Telstar Combat (Coleco, 1977)
I lost my battle with Coleco Combat!
As described in this thread I have a Coleco Combat unit with crappy stickers and a single broken joystick. I took the thing apart (using the "hair dryer" trick) and discovered a snapped "eye-hook" style leaf switch. After putting it off for a few months, I finally took the thing into a local arcade cab repair shop (S&B Amusements in Austin, TX near Northcross Mall) and they looked a
Thanks for all of the nice comments and PMs. You have no idea how much they push me forward on this project, not that I've ever considered abandoning it, I just get slow sometimes.
See, now we're "retro-chronogaming" -- playing the old games that we missed the first time we tried playing all those old games! I've got a few movies this time, so sorry to those on 56k lines.
(EDIT 2021: None of the video links work and I totally should have put everything on YouTube back the
Technically, the APF doesn't "end" until 1979.
Space Destroyers, a Space Invaders clone for the APF MP1000, comes out in 1979. While I've seen Space Destroyers on eBay a few times in the past, it's been over a year. Even on collecting forums it seems to turn up rarely in "wanted" and even less rarely in "for sale."
I'm going to count this title in with Bingo for the RCA Studio II, I'd play it if I could find it. According to the rarity guides it's as scarce as APF Blackja
Okay, we've been here before.
Last time we were in 1978 was back in October of 2005 or so and I'd finished doing all the APF carts I had. I ended with Brickdown/Shooting Gallery. At the time my copy didn't work. Now it does.
Brickdown/Shooting Gallery (APF M1000, 1978)
Brickdown is a sideways version of Breakout. If I recall correctly, it's similar to the version The Woz did for the Apple II in terms of sideways.
The game
Backgammon (APF M1000, 1978)
Backgammon is an ancient and respectable game. My experience with it, prior to chronogaming, is limited to wondering what the design on the back of my checkerboard was when I was in grade school. Remember those? You'd have a checker board (or chess board) and on the other side there'd be these two dozen triangles and we'd be like "what the heck is this design?" and some other kid would always say it was backgammon but nobody knew how to play
Okay, I'm back with all my chronogaming equipment and ready to do this whole chronogaming thing again. Yes, time in general has moved forward in my absence, but I'm still stuck in good 'ol 1979, looking at the APF games from 1978 that I missed the first time through. (Or was it my second time, since technically I lived through 1978 before)
Today, we're looking at the one I thought I might never see and regret for the rest of my life. I'm fairly prone to "stress" and "regret" dreams.
Baseball, APF, 1978
Is there a system anywhere in the universe of programmable game consoles that doesn't have Baseball on it? I guess I'll find out sooner or later.
Another "green"-ish game. The controls are similar to other Baseball games. The outfielders are moved with the joystick, though you can't move them after the ball is pitched. They're spaced a little oddly, so there's usually a gap in right field that the computer player manages to hit to more oft
Bowling / Micro-Matchup, APF, 1978
Bowling didn't suck. It's good for very young children or really smart dogs. This beats the RCA Studio II's built-in game of Bowling, in that APF's is a) In Color and b) actually has the ability to perform the complicated math calculations involved in spares and strikes.
(Yes, I'm still taking cheap shots at the RCA Studio II. It's part of the healing process.)
To Bowl, one must hit the fire button when the ball
Sorry for the long absence. In setting up our Christmas living room my Bally Pro Arcade was trapped underneath a table. To get to it we would've had to move a large sofa bed and we just weren't up to it. Now the holidays are over . . . let the chronogaming continue!
Brickyard / Clowns - Bally Pro Arcade 1978
Brickyard is essentially Breakout. The only variation from Atari's Breakout is that there is some music and a stunningly good brick busting sound effect. I might have
For those of you who don't know. Nim is a game where you start with a quantity of piles of items. You and your opponent take turns removing any number of items from any pile, including the whole pile. The idea is to be the one to take the last item left. In this port of the ancient game, the piles are represented by numbers in blue squares. The controller works well for this one, too. Move the joystick in a direction to choose the pile, twist the stick to add or subtract from the pile, push the
It is now January 1977.
1977 is a year of extremes in the home videogame universe. On the one extreme, call it the "bright side", we will see the birth of a mighty system which will bring joy to literally millions of people. On the other extreme, call it the "dark-as-the-inside-of-a-cow's-butt side", we will see an ugly little system that will bring pain and misery to the select few brave enough to purchase it and gaze upon its grotesque and deformed offerings.
Okay, enough with the hype
Videocart-2 for the VES is perplexing.
It contains two games: Desert Fox and Shooting Gallery.
But wait, didn't Videocart-1 also contain Shooting Gallery? Is this a sequel?
No, it's the same damn Shooting Gallery. Yesterday, I rated it a "Good". Today I'm going to rate it a "Good, WTF?"
The other game is Desert Fox.
I consider Desert Fox a lame attempt at imitating the Tank arcade games which had opened up new possibilities in the arcade market by stepping away from the
Welcome to the era of the dedicated Pong machine. It's a mercifully short era, over most of which I shall skip.
Before we talk about the first 1975 Odyssey, I must tell you there is another 1975 Odyssey: The Magnavox Odyssey 200. Apparently it is a different color than the one we are about to discuss. Dang, I guess I'll have to find one of those now, too.
The Magnavox Odyssey 100 is a garishly orange, slightly sleeker looking version of the original Magnavox Odyssey. (The original is pic
THERE ARE NONE!
Zip! Zilch! Zippo! The Big Goose Egg! Empty City! ZERO!
Since this blog is just dealing with HOME videogames, specifically, games one plays on their TV, in their home, I've really got very little to say about 1974 as no new home videogames come out in 1974.
Let's imagine that for a few minutes shall we?
Do you remember, towards the end of the last millenium, what Summertime used to be like for our dear hobby/lifestyle?
Dead. Very few games came out in the Summ
Breaking format before I start talking about each of the 1973 games.
There's a really excellent thread over at the Digital Press forums and I highly recommend it to anyone who is remotely interested in the original Odyssey.
Go to it here.
The discussion was started by a man named Don Emry and, according to him, he was the designer for three of the 1973 Odyssey games. (not that I don't believe him, I just thought I should be specific about my source.) Here are some of what I consider
Wipeout was the first home video game racing simulation. I'm pretty certain of this.
Player Spot One, the Driver, races around while the other player spot sits perched on that left icon which looks like a clock. While The Driver follows the convoluted path of the Überlay track, Player Two, The Timer, is hitting the reset button on the Driver's controller to send the Ball Spot from the right side to the left side to bounce off the Player Spot on the clock icon. This oscillating Ball Spot acts
October, 1977
(EDIT: Apparently the original shipping date was scheduled for October of 1977, but somewhere in the years since 2005, I seem to remember hearing it didn't actually ship until November. I don't recall the source and I'm too lazy to look but I thought I'd mention it.)
The Atari VCS is born!
The system that started a lifelong habit for most (edit: many) of us.
I can't say anything about this system that hasn't already been said. Serious
I'm going to resort to my old pal MESS for the screenshots again. Yeah, I actually have all of the Fairchild VES carts for 1977, but it's easier to just rip it from MESS.
How to describe Spitfire when the game to which it would be easiest to compare doesn't yet exist? (*cough*Combat*cough*)
Here's three pictures (worth 1000 words each).
Just before take off.
The Hunt
The Kill
Hmmm... actually "The Kill" looks closer to the beginning of a match than the picture "The
Here is a scan of both TV School House I and II for scale comparisons. (In case you've never seen one of the RCA "longboxes".)
I didn't even try to coax my son to play this one because it isn't a game and it requires knowledge that he does not yet posess.
Remember your SATs? If you are not old enough to have taken them yet, then try to remember any standardized test you've ever taken. This game pack is like those tests -- except the questions are a lot less interesting.
The main co
Hey! Where are Dick and Jane? Ah, I understand. They are -in- the moonships.
I have included an "as requested" screenshot with a special subliminal bonus of ME in my UNDERWEAR! (caught by my reflection on the TV) I'll expect a lot more female comments after this entry. *nudge-nudge**wink-wink*.
Moonship Battle uses the graphics you see above, in a special advanced shot of the screen. (who coined the phrase "screenshot" and when?) Players battle each other using "moonships" that look li
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