Good video. It was pretty wild that you tracked me down. And at work! Dad remembered the Robot and that he was talking to people. Everyone was extremely impressed until they saw a guy in the corner with a microphone. Spent a lot of time with the Odyssey 2. Age 12-14. Couldn’t drive yet and there were really cool games.
This was my first video game console. Got it for Christmas 1979. I currently own 3 of them and 1 "Voice" add-on. A Mult-Cart with all games. All 3 Master Strategy Series games complete in box.
Ahh, maybe something to revisit on a future episode would be the one game that made creative utilization of the keyboard: Quest for the Rings. Extremely novel and ambitious concept for the time that, among consoles, *really* couldn't have existed on anything other than the Odyssey 2.
KC Munchkin was not an original release title, but came later. The important thing is that it came out BEFORE PacMan for the 2600. There was only one life per game. It was also capable of being rolled over on the score as the score reel was a fixed size. Many Odyssey 2 games were like that. One of the mazes required you to use the bad guys respawn point to access all of the maze (and therefore the dots) One side factor in that is that it would take a revolution of the door to that point for a ghost to respawn. If you timed things right, you could safely be in there with them.
You can’t talk about Odyssey 2 without talking about Ed Averett. Ed programmed almost the entire Odyssey 2 library by himself; 24 games over four years. Whatever patterns you see across games are probably just there because they were the personal preference of the only guy bothering to make games for the thing.
Ghat model with those 2 9 pin controller ports builtin is definitely a must have. Also games such as popeye,frogger, pick axe pete and munchkin etc… are a must have for it😁
The Sun sphere? You mean the wig sphere. That keyboard was designed to make it look _way_ more useful than it was with large separations and big labels describing each group of buttons. That was _very_ 80s in the US. Make things huge and make things look way more technical than they were. Those companies were really reinforcing that "American man" thing in their design/marketing. Could've traded some of that excess plastic for a better keyboard. A Spectrum user would scoff at it!
What an awesome story. Really captures the excitement of those early console years.
Good video. It was pretty wild that you tracked me down. And at work! Dad remembered the Robot and that he was talking to people. Everyone was extremely impressed until they saw a guy in the corner with a microphone.
Spent a lot of time with the Odyssey 2. Age 12-14. Couldn’t drive yet and there were really cool games.
This was my first video game console. Got it for Christmas 1979. I currently own 3 of them and 1 "Voice" add-on. A Mult-Cart with all games. All 3 Master Strategy Series games complete in box.
Didn't realize you were based in Knoxville! Definitely going to try and visit the museum next time I'm in town seeing in-laws. 🎉
Ahh, maybe something to revisit on a future episode would be the one game that made creative utilization of the keyboard: Quest for the Rings. Extremely novel and ambitious concept for the time that, among consoles, *really* couldn't have existed on anything other than the Odyssey 2.
What a piece of history for your museum. Neatly done!
Great video! I moved to Knoxville about a decade after the fair ended but I wish I could’ve visited it at the time. Can’t wait to see the new exhibit.
KC Munchkin was not an original release title, but came later. The important thing is that it came out BEFORE PacMan for the 2600. There was only one life per game. It was also capable of being rolled over on the score as the score reel was a fixed size. Many Odyssey 2 games were like that. One of the mazes required you to use the bad guys respawn point to access all of the maze (and therefore the dots) One side factor in that is that it would take a revolution of the door to that point for a ghost to respawn. If you timed things right, you could safely be in there with them.
That’s great additional info, thanks so much for watching!
Had one of these when I was a kid - in Europe where I live, these where sold as a Philips Videopac G7000 - cool to see this again..
The glory of the membrane keyboard.
I remember seeing it there.
Am I the only one who heard the "Oh" in the Killer Bees game at 11:02 with George Takei's voice and expected a "Myyyy" to follow?
You can’t talk about Odyssey 2 without talking about Ed Averett. Ed programmed almost the entire Odyssey 2 library by himself; 24 games over four years. Whatever patterns you see across games are probably just there because they were the personal preference of the only guy bothering to make games for the thing.
Ghat model with those 2 9 pin controller ports builtin is definitely a must have.
Also games such as popeye,frogger, pick axe pete and munchkin etc… are a must have for it😁
About 15 years ago I got an complete set for $25 in a pawn shop.
The Sun sphere? You mean the wig sphere.
That keyboard was designed to make it look _way_ more useful than it was with large separations and big labels describing each group of buttons. That was _very_ 80s in the US. Make things huge and make things look way more technical than they were. Those companies were really reinforcing that "American man" thing in their design/marketing. Could've traded some of that excess plastic for a better keyboard. A Spectrum user would scoff at it!
Didn't Philips own Magnavox already when the Odyssey came out? As far as I know they already owned it, when they invented the Laserdisc.
You are correct, Philips acquired Magnavox in 1974, but they branded the Odyssey under the Magnavox name in the US. Thanks for watching!
@ it was just an old memory about the laserdisc that let me think about it 😊
Atari had something better: the Atari 400