Ed Averett programmed 24 of the initial games for the system, for one person to do this back then and for the games in question to even be moderatly good is a huge accomplishment.
Although the 'Pac was simple and primitive, it appeared in a timespan which meant it was still part of the general excitement of the emerging console market. Some of those games look quite fun and playable even if they're a level behind the VCS in terms of complexity, graphics and even sound.
I know this is an older video,but I just found it. If I remember correctly back in 80'-81' I had a friend who ran a TV repair shop. In his shop there was a 19" Magnavox TV that had a built in Odyssey2, like the sharp Famicom TV. I wish I had more information on it but it was a neat design. The carts plugged into the top and the controller ports were on the front under the screen
Was given a Videopac with scads of games from my cousin in the late 80s, between a 48k rubber key spectrum and a NES. The only console I’ve ever seen catch fire - went to switch it on one morning and a jet of blue flame came out the back and it never worked again. Alas, it was fun while it lasted.
I was born in 77 and my first gaming memory is Quest for the Rings and the 'board game' that came with it. I seem to remember it just being some magnetic tiles or something similar that you stuck together. I also remember ruining a controller by chewing through the cable while my dad was in the middle of a game of something 😁
I would love to see an Odyssey 2 / Videopac mini console! Despite its primitive graphics and sound, I always loved this system. So many of the games are quite addictive, and that’s a good thing for us retro gamers!
I was given a broken Videopac G7000, it looked in good condition. The boards inside though, looked like they had been kept in a dirty puddle. LOL. I was beyond repair. I put standard Atari compatible plugs on the joystics, I still use them for the A1200, Speccy and ZX81. :)
I had so much fun with Odyssey 2. I will maintain to my dying day that K.C. Munchkin, and K.C.'s Crazy Chase are the better maze chase games. Best game; Conquest Of The World.
My elementary shool library received an Odyssey 2 on its release. We only had 4 or 5 games for it and most of them sucked. I think the donors figured that its keyboard delivered more on the educational promises of emerging consumer electronics and PCs. We even got the voice synthesis module but we weren't allowed to turn up the sound because we were in the library. Go figure :/
Actually the most popular video game from the second generation in Brazil was the Atari 2600. The Philips Odyssey came in second place. Here a documentary about that (in portuguese): th-cam.com/video/BpYfeR7p8yw/w-d-xo.html
@@TheLairdsLair I understand, but that gives the wrong notion that Odssey was more popular here than it really was, 2006 had a much larger installed base in Brazil. 2006 also had an official launch in Brazil, both 2006 and Odssey were officially launched here in 1983, at least that year 2006 surpassed Odssey in sales.
To be fair Ralph once said that Nolan should get the credit for creating an industry around them and Nolan did create the very first arcade video game too of course.
@@TheLairdsLair True. Pong wasn't an original idea but it was the very first coin-up. Thanks for this interesting and very well-researched piece of video game history.
Well, it was not Atari but better than nothing. When I was a kid back in the 70's and early 80's I could be happy with this if i had nothing else..I do now have one of these and it is obviously inferior to the 2600 but there are some decent games that can be entertaining.
Too bad there were berally any arcade games for it except frogger and popeye for it etc,,, The spects are beyond primitive,even the atari 2600 seems to be a more advanced system then the oddysey 2.
This isn't a video about games though, so I'm not sure why you would be confused! This is a video about facts/trivia and relevant images are shown on the screen for all of them, the gameplay is just background visuals.
It would have been nice if you had actually showed the graphics on the screen of the systems you were talking about. I stopped when you were showing a color game on the screen talking about a built in black and white monitor.
But the video isn't about games so that would make absolutely no sense at all! For 90% of the video I'm talking about hardware or other things, as you just mentioned, so what would you expect in the background then? Nothing?
There I changed it to systems. It would have been better to show the graphics produced by the hardware of the systems you were talking about. @@TheLairdsLair
Erm, ALL the gameplay footage is of Videopac games, nothing else. The model you refer to is just a standard Videopac with a built-in black and white screen, you can still connect it up to a TV and play the games in colour. So yeah . . . . .
Born in 74, my brother-in-law had one and would bring it round some weekends. Loved every minute and miss him more than he could ever know.
I had an Odyssey2 as a kid; it catalyzed my current love of video games. Pickaxe Pete was my favorite game.
Very informative video indeed, I knew almost nothing about the Videopac but I do now!
An interesting video, I would like to see a mini version, as I threw out the full console.
Ed Averett programmed 24 of the initial games for the system, for one person to do this back then and for the games in question to even be moderatly good is a huge accomplishment.
Yeah, totally agree, incredible accomplishment.
Brazilian here. No, Odyssey was not the dominant system in Brazil. It never got close it that. Atari 2600 was.
Although the 'Pac was simple and primitive, it appeared in a timespan which meant it was still part of the general excitement of the emerging console market. Some of those games look quite fun and playable even if they're a level behind the VCS in terms of complexity, graphics and even sound.
I know this is an older video,but I just found it. If I remember correctly back in 80'-81' I had a friend who ran a TV repair shop. In his shop there was a 19" Magnavox TV that had a built in Odyssey2, like the sharp Famicom TV. I wish I had more information on it but it was a neat design. The carts plugged into the top and the controller ports were on the front under the screen
Interesting, I'll have to research that!
Loved the Pinball variant, as it was so weird!
Miss mine......
Was given a Videopac with scads of games from my cousin in the late 80s, between a 48k rubber key spectrum and a NES.
The only console I’ve ever seen catch fire - went to switch it on one morning and a jet of blue flame came out the back and it never worked again. Alas, it was fun while it lasted.
I was born in 77 and my first gaming memory is Quest for the Rings and the 'board game' that came with it. I seem to remember it just being some magnetic tiles or something similar that you stuck together. I also remember ruining a controller by chewing through the cable while my dad was in the middle of a game of something 😁
I was born in 77 too :-)
@@TheLairdsLair twas a good year 😁👍
I would love to see an Odyssey 2 / Videopac mini console! Despite its primitive graphics and sound, I always loved this system. So many of the games are quite addictive, and that’s a good thing for us retro gamers!
I was given a broken Videopac G7000, it looked in good condition. The boards inside though, looked like they had been kept in a dirty puddle. LOL.
I was beyond repair. I put standard Atari compatible plugs on the joystics, I still use them for the A1200, Speccy and ZX81. :)
I have a sealed edition of Q Bert for the Videopac
I vague memories that a school friend had one of these, didn't know much about it until today.
They made many versions of it with a joystick ports or mainly joystick Wired to the unit
I had so much fun with Odyssey 2. I will maintain to my dying day that K.C. Munchkin, and K.C.'s Crazy Chase are the better maze chase games. Best game; Conquest Of The World.
My elementary shool library received an Odyssey 2 on its release. We only had 4 or 5 games for it and most of them sucked.
I think the donors figured that its keyboard delivered more on the educational promises of emerging consumer electronics and PCs. We even got the voice synthesis module but we weren't allowed to turn up the sound because we were in the library.
Go figure :/
I read that a videopac was in development but not a mini version. It was in some flyer I had from pax east Boston I'll try to find it
The people who did the C64 Mini already have all the rights to do a Videopac Mini but have been dragging their heels on it sadly.
They were very comparable to the old Atari from the perspective of a kid whos friend had a Videopac.
Actually the most popular video game from the second generation in Brazil was the Atari 2600. The Philips Odyssey came in second place. Here a documentary about that (in portuguese): th-cam.com/video/BpYfeR7p8yw/w-d-xo.html
From what I understand, that is only true if you are counting illegal clones, which would never be considered on official sales figures.
@@TheLairdsLair I understand, but that gives the wrong notion that Odssey was more popular here than it really was, 2006 had a much larger installed base in Brazil. 2006 also had an official launch in Brazil, both 2006 and Odssey were officially launched here in 1983, at least that year 2006 surpassed Odssey in sales.
I have an Odyssey 2 with 20 games. Its in very good condition. I really like the system and games. I collect old systems I have alot of em.
I did a presentation in high school on the history of video games and credited Nolan Bushnell as the creator of video games. Sorry Ralph.
To be fair Ralph once said that Nolan should get the credit for creating an industry around them and Nolan did create the very first arcade video game too of course.
@@TheLairdsLair True. Pong wasn't an original idea but it was the very first coin-up. Thanks for this interesting and very well-researched piece of video game history.
Actually it wasn't Pong, it was Computer Space. But Pong was the first successful one.
@@TheLairdsLair Right! I forgot about that one.
Just wow!
Well, it was not Atari but better than nothing. When I was a kid back in the 70's and early 80's I could be happy with this if i had nothing else..I do now have one of these and it is obviously inferior to the 2600 but there are some decent games that can be entertaining.
Too bad there were berally any arcade games for it except frogger and popeye for it etc,,,
The spects are beyond primitive,even the atari 2600 seems to be a more advanced system then the oddysey 2.
talking about one game, but showing a totally different game/feature, i found this confusing to watch
This isn't a video about games though, so I'm not sure why you would be confused!
This is a video about facts/trivia and relevant images are shown on the screen for all of them, the gameplay is just background visuals.
It would have been nice if you had actually showed the graphics on the screen of the systems you were talking about. I stopped when you were showing a color game on the screen talking about a built in black and white monitor.
But the video isn't about games so that would make absolutely no sense at all!
For 90% of the video I'm talking about hardware or other things, as you just mentioned, so what would you expect in the background then? Nothing?
There I changed it to systems. It would have been better to show the graphics produced by the hardware of the systems you were talking about. @@TheLairdsLair
Erm, ALL the gameplay footage is of Videopac games, nothing else. The model you refer to is just a standard Videopac with a built-in black and white screen, you can still connect it up to a TV and play the games in colour. So yeah . . . . .
What's so amazing about this system? In my experience, nothing.