Anyone try the new versions of classic Mattel LED sports games?

[+wongojack]

I thought these pictures looked a little different. The white version of football is from 1977

 

I have the 1978 Football 2 version, but my front label is missing and I never knew that there was a different version.

 

I don't like the version with the 3 movement buttons. Isn't that the version that the player can't move backwards?

 

This is what mine looks like (minus the nameplate label):

 

That is the one I grew up with too. I actually still had it in High School, but it is now lost to oblivion. Does the fact that the "Pass" button is missing mean that the remake does not allow passing?

[+fdr4prez]

I never played the other version, hopefully someone that's played the other version can chime in.

[Lentzquest]

I bought the baseball one a couple months ago. I like it, it's pretty authentic.

 

I really want the Hockey one, but I'm not sure if it's currently being reproduced.

[goldenegg]

Unfortunately, Hockey isn't part of the re-released set. It's only Baseball, Football and Basketball. Would be nice if Soccer and Hockey would be released as well. Then someone needs to get to work on a re-release of Coleco's Bowlatronic!

[Rik1138]

These new ones found at BB&B and the like are actually different than the ones released about 14 years ago (as seen in the Racketboy link a few messages back)... Mattel re-released several of them in 2001-2003 that were found at Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, etc... And they were, mostly, fairly accurate to the original LED games (all the new ones use LCD screens). They released Football, Football II, Baseball abd Basketball. (Hockey and Soccer were also released as tiny keychain games). The body styles of them looked almost exactly like the originals, and even say Mattel on them (but have the word 'Classic' on them as well). They even made a weird one that could plug into a TV and play the games on a TV screen...

 

These new ones that came out last year are still licensed from Mattel, but made by some other company and have been re-designed again. The body is slightly different than the originals, but similar enough that you recognize them instantly. The most obvious difference is the audio- they actually sampled real whistles, audience roars and someone yelling 'Touchdown!', among other things, that you hear when you play the game... To me that completely changes the 'vintage' feel of playing them, but's still kind of fun to hand them to a kid today with the standard 'When I was a kid, I had to look at this and imagine it was football' line...

Edited November 26, 2015 by Rik1138

[goldenegg]

I don't mind the updated sounds, as they kept them at a fairly low quality to keep the feel of a game that was made years ago. It's very tastefully done.

 

The games I got definitely do not have an LCD screen. They are LEDs, like the originals.

Edited November 26, 2015 by goldenegg

[CrazyChris]

D'oh!

Edited November 27, 2015 by CrazyChris

[schuwalker]

I had this guy growing up.

 

I remember getting at some flea market when I was a kid. I found it a couple years ago sorting stuff out from a move recently - damn thing still worked albeit didnt have batteries in there (whew)!

 

I looked up prices for one one Ebay recently and didn't realize how rare they were... A boxed one came up a while ago; I put in a nice bid (which I thought I would've won) and was completely blown out of the water. Ugh!

 

 

[Keatah]

Reminds me I want to go dig out my Wildfire Pinball. I still have my Autoracing handheld from back in the day.

[Master Phruby]

What's the difference between Ski Salom and Auto Racing? They look like the same game to me. I had the Auto Racing one.

[chuckwalla]

I've wondered about them.

I have the original Mattel handhelds and the 2001 remakes and am curious about these new versions, may pick up the football version.

 

[schuwalker]

What's the difference between Ski Salom and Auto Racing? They look like the same game to me. I had the Auto Racing one.

My understanding is Ski Slalom does a top to bottom trajectory while Auto Racing is reverse.

[simbalion]

I have seen the recent remakes, but I've already got the Mattel remakes and some originals, so I will pass. Why remakes? Well, have you ever tried to find decent examples of the originals? One thing I do agree with is: Where is Auto Race and such? I'd gladly buy remakes of those if made.