Who Owned An "Unpopular" System?

[AtariDude]

Don't worry about it. A lot of people have thrown away or sold things that would eventually be valuable at some future point. If someone would have told me that there would have been people still collecting Atari 2600 items in the new century, I would have thought that they were nuts

 

I think that is part of the appeal of getting these classic systems because you don't see them as often as you did back in the day and there is a feeling of nostaglia when you first get a new "old" game or a system.

[DracIsBack]

Awesome thread.

 

My first console was the Coleco Gemini - that Atari 2600 clone (my friends all had real Ataris) with the horrid joystick ports that never worked quite right.

 

I went to go get an NES in Christmas 1988 when they were really popular (and really sold out) and came home with an Atari 7800 ... the graphics seemed similar and it could play my old games.

 

Next console: A Sega Master System 2 around 1990 or so. Alex Kidd was awesome and I had lots of fun.

 

Next up: Atari Lynx II around 1994 - when they came with Pit Fighter, Shadow of The Beast, Pinball Jam and one other title that I can't remember.

 

Replaced with: Atari Jaguar in 1995, the same week the PSX came out.

 

I also had a Tandy Co Co III (which I still love except all 3 that I've owned burned their GIME chips after prolonged use).

 

The market has changed and grown so that even "unpopular" consoles sell more than 10 million units. I have a Dreamcast, X-Box and GameCube .... all of which trail the PS2 by a wide margin. But all are also far ahead of stuff like the Atari Jaguar - by a wide margin.

[Hydian]

We had an Oddyssey2 that my parents got us long after they were done on the market (warehouse sale special.) We were the uncool kids who never had the new or popular gear.

 

My first computer was a TRS-80 Coco (when everyone else had C-64's, Atari's or Apples naturally.)

 

I guess that's why I still have an aversion to the popular stuff.

[Fellow Atari Man]

the most obscure system i ever owned was in 1985 and it was a laser 310 computer

 

What the heck is that?

 

I had the Microvision. Actually it was fairly popular with the tv commercials and all, but it didn't last long, and will probably go down in video game history as to being the only video game system that was discontinued while it was still making a profit. The reason being was that Atari and all were getting popular and there was no way for the system to expand (you couldn't even hook it up to a tv or anything).

 

I also have a Vectrex, which most people in general knew what it was, due to seeing them displayed in stores, but I hardly knew anyone else that actually had one. Plus I have a 7800.

[Tempest]

Here you go: http://www.homecomputer.de/pages/f_vtech.h..._Laser_310.html

 

Tempest

[MattyXB]

I own many consols, here some which I think they are Unpopular:

 

Atari 2600 VCS: I buy this again in the 90th, so a bit late.

 

Atari 7800: Too very late buy from me.

 

Atari Lynx: Was never popular in germany. And it was hard to get and games too not easy to get. Years later I have found in an Electronic Shop the official Power Supplie for this handheld.

 

Nomad: Never sold in germany. So unpopular here.

 

PC-Engine: Great console, but never sold in Germany. So for me a very unpopular console. And very Rare for me too.

 

Virtual Boy: Too never sold in germany. Very Unpopular here.

 

WonderSwan Color: Only sold in Japan. And I own the 2 Final Fantasy Editions, which was sold with the 1 & 2 game from Final Fantasy. Great Handheld, but all only in japanese.

[Trip_Cannon]

I had an Atari XE.

 

Hahahahaha!! So straight to the point and funny, yet tragic at the same time!!!

[VidGameKing]

I had a 2600jr. when all my friends had a NES

[chairmonkey4406]

i had a nintendo 64 when everyone else had playstation. I guess we thought that the PS1 was a much more hard ass system than N64. Funny, the exact same thing is happening today with the Gamecube. I fear Nintendo is going to go out of business.

[Chickybaby]

My first system was a game gear that I got from my neighbor - I was 14? at the time. He had 6 games for it, never played it at the time and I fell in love with the system. No one had those around here and you couldn't even find games. Everyone had gameboy stuff. (I also got a gameboy shortly later w/ 2 games tetris and castlevania - those were the only ones I needed) Now the 78 games I have for the game gear aren't even enough.

[VidGameKing]

i had a nintendo 64 when everyone else had playstation.

 

Techinacally speaking, the N64 had more power than the Playstation.

 

By the specs of course

[Zeus]

The first two sytems I ever had were the Leisure Vision (Canadian equivalent to the Arcadia 2001) and an ADAM computer. I'm pretty sure my dad must have bought them in some clearance sale. I think the ADAM was purchased in 1985 if that helps. It was the store display model and didn't even come with a box!

[The Eidolon]

Oh, I forgot! We had an HP 150 home computer. It had a touch

screen and a 15 meg hard drive. The only games for it were the

Infocom ones plus a few card and puzzle games and maybe a couple

other text adventures. I don't think that was a very popular line--

I can't think of any one else I knew who had one.

 

As for the 5200, I never though of it as an unpopular system. At

the time it came out, people would probably have pretty envious

if you had one. Of course, it didn't last long, with the video game

crash and whatnot. But it's not like you'd lake a lot of mocking on the

playground for having a 5200...

 

--The Eidolon

[DracIsBack]

I had an Atari XE.

 

Hahahahaha!! So straight to the point and funny, yet tragic at the same time!!!

 

I had one too, but only after they were discontinued. I wanted one when they were alive though ... mostly because I wanted a computer in my room.

[Tempest]

The first two sytems I ever had were the Leisure Vision (Canadian equivalent to the Arcadia 2001)

 

Great system. The Arcadia is really underrated. The Leisure Vision in particular had alot of very nice games that were never released in the US.

 

Tempest

[+davidcalgary29]

I had an Atari XE.

 

Hahahahaha!! So straight to the point and funny, yet tragic at the same time!!!

 

I had one too, but only after they were discontinued. I wanted one when they were alive though ... mostly because I wanted a computer in my room.

 

I'm not quite sure why everyone seems to think that the XE line was a failure, or that it was even "unpopular". Atari sold millions of the things, and it extended the commercial life of the 8-bits up until the early '90s. Not too bad for a computer line that had its first commercial release in 1979.

[AtariLeaf]

 

I also had a Tandy Co Co III (which I still love except all 3 that I've owned burned their GIME chips after prolonged use).

 

 

That happened to two of my Coco 3's. Not a very well built chip I guess.

I used to LOVE Mega-bug on that thing as well as Color Baseball with the hand-written "Homerun" that was drawn on the screen. Ah, good times. . .

 

One of the worst things about them were those horrible, tiny joysticks with the thin metal stick that didn't autocenter.

[Cassidy Nolen]

Seems the unpopular system was all I ever had after the 2600....

 

I wanted a C64, but I got the VIC-20. It had some decent games, but in a year or so, I was getting the .99 cent games at Best company for it.

 

The family wanted a computer, so we bought whatever Zayre's was selling: that year it was the ADAM. My grandparents bought it for my Mom to do work on. For some reason, as they were all setting it up, I can remember Yentel was on HBO. Bizarre. I thought Buck Rogers was cool (still remember those horrid load times!). Only cart I ever had was Burgertime (still have it today!!).

 

I did get an NES for Christmas of 87, but then fell in love with Turbo Grafx soon after. I had no idea you had to buy all the stuff separately (back then it all sorta "came" with the system (light gun, paddles, etc). TG was a bummer that it only had 1 joystick port (I was an adult before I ever knew there was a multi-tap). Again, buying game for .99 soon after.

 

 

Of course now I look for the obscure systems to collect. Back then it was different; they seemed to look for me

 

Cassidy

[DracIsBack]

I'm not quite sure why everyone seems to think that the XE line was a failure, or that it was even "unpopular". Atari sold millions of the things, and it extended the commercial life of the 8-bits up until the early '90s. Not too bad for a computer line that had its first commercial release in 1979.

 

The Atari XE Game System (which is what I meant) wasn't popular. :-)

 

Also, here's an interesting article from Neil Harris (old Atari dude) on the reason for the XEGS - courtesy of usenet past!:

 

We come again to that perpetual question: is Atari intent on killing the

8-bits?

 

One way to answer that would be to give you a tour of our warehouse.  If you could see the number of 8-bit computers and software in inventory, you'd know we are highly motivated to keep the line going.

 

Regarding the new XE Game System, which on the first glance is a slap in

the face to those who know how powerful the 8-bitters are -- this system is purely a strategic move on our part.  In order to keep the 8-bit line going, we must do two things:

 

1. Get the computers available in more stores, and

2. Get new software developed for them.

 

Software is not being developed by and large because of problem #1.  So

which stores do we go to?  The mass merchants, who sold the bulk of the

hundreds of thousands (not, unfortunately, millions) of Atari 8-bit

computers out there, are currently retreating from the computer business.

K-Mart carries NO computers.  Ditto for Montgomery Wards.  And for J.C.

Penney's.

 

On the other hand, these same stores are doing a fabulous business in game systems like Nintendo, Sega, and, of course, Atari.

 

The solution, from a business point of view, was to develop a product that

would be appealing to the mass merchants (and also to the public which buys there), one that also accomplishes the corporate objective of revitalizing the 8-bit line.

 

So what we have with the XE Game System is essentially a 65XE in disguise. Internally it contains 64K of RAM, the standard OS and BASIC in ROM, two joystick ports, SIO port, etc.  It is completely compatible with the current 8-bit line, including software.

 

Physically it is more appealing to those who don't want a computer but who do want to play games.  The main console simply has the 4 console keys from the XE (Start, Select, Option, and Reset), plus the cartridge port and connectors.  The keyboard is a separate unit which plugs into the console.

 

When someone buys the XE Game System, they get the complete package -- console, keyboard, light gun, and 3 programs (including a new version of Sublogic's Flight Simulator including scenery, all on a single cartridge).

 

We expect stores to do a great business in these.  We'll make available the current library of cartridge software, plus we're converting some disk

programs into cartridge format for this system.  As time goes by, we expect to see dramatic increases in sales for 8-bit software -- hopefully, this will also include practical applications as well as games.  This should in

turn encourage developers to create new titles for the 8-bits.

 

Once things get moving again in the mass merchants, the current supply of 8-bit computers should also get moving through the dealers -- after all,

they make a better value than the game systems, and take up less space.

 

So, those few of you out there who are looking at Atari management as the evil group who are plotting to quash the 8-bit line, you have it all wrong. We're trying hard to keep things moving forward.  Without the distribution and the software, no amount of advertising and new hardware development could work.  The XE Game System is our best hope to keep things moving.

[Zaxxon]

I had an ADAM back in the day and a Jaguar. It would've been cool to have had an A8 or C64 as well with all their loads of software. It could've been a lot worse though. The Jag has/had it's own cool little scene. I don't regret either. I vividly remember how tough it was trying to find ADAM software in computer stores back then. That's why I'll never buy an Apple. I remember looking at the walls and walls of cheap Atari 2600 game carts at TRU and then the small CV/ADAM section they had. Now, after playing a bunch of those 2600 games I realize I wasn't missing out on anything.

[Out_of_Gas]

Do the Tandy Computers count?

I bought 1 for Dungeons Of Daggorath.

 

After about 5 minutes, I asked myself....WHY?

[glitch]

You're the first person I know to have actually owned a Video Brain. It's about the most obscure US system I know.  

 

We bought ours shortly after they went bankrupt from the guy who ran the CURSOR> newsletter for the Bally. At the time he bought up a ton of them and was selling them for around $30 dollars or so (not sure of the exact price, have to look through my old newsletters). My Dad wanted a better computer than the Bally and figured it was worth a shot since it looked more like a computer (it has a keyboard, yeah). It used some odd language ALF, ALP, something like that. I'm really stretching my memory now. We only had 3 games for it, Gladiator, BlackJack, and Lemonade Stand (fun game). We didn't use it too much and it was shortly shelved while the Bally stayed out. It disappeared somewhere through the years

[tyranthraxus]

Given the early release and power of the machine the XE line was really

a dud compared to what the Apple II and C=64 had sold. You need only

look at old catalogs from companies like SSI. Those two were the main

release platforms and the XE was lucky to get ports of only the most

popular games. But that old quote really puts a good light on the XEGS

line's inception. In the sense of getting new retailers it was quite a sly

move.

[Clock]

Well I used to have a Dragon 32, that is until the tape deck broke  

Ill have to try and find another one of these days!

 

I've got 2 Dragon 32's and they are still working fine. One of my favourite systems of all time.

[JB Lars]

Another passenger on the CoCo/Dragon "short bus". One summer, my parents asked me what kind of computer I wanted. Naturally, I told them I wanted a C64, as all my pals had one, and there was a mountain of illicit games to be had, even in the hick town we lived in. Well, my stepdad couldn't afford to get a computer unless he got a line of credit at the local appliance store/Radio Shack, so the CoCo2 it was. My cousin had one, and a copy of Mega Bug, AND the Wico Atari joystick adapter. Alas, the local RS no longer had these things, and said they couldn't order them. I did manage to get the floppy drive, a cassette copy of Bedlam (which I LOVED), and a subscription to Rainbow. A typed-in hex dump of some "artillery duel"-type game provided me and my best friend with untold hours of entertainment.

 

::sigh:: All my old CoCo gear vanished to parts unknown, as did my cousin's Wico adapter. Someday, though, I'll get a CoCo3 and more carts. Maybe even that great little monitor/floppy drive shelf they had in the 1987 RS catalog, too.