It's SPECTRAVIDEO on ARG PRESENTS! Join us as we take a look at SUPER CROSS FIRE & Frantic Freddy!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ย. 2024
- Welcome to ARG PRESENTS 301! This time out, we'll be taking a look at the Spectravision / Spectravideo computers and games! I'm talking SV 318, 328, AND 728! If you don't know what the heck those are..neither did we! Tune in and find out!
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I hadn't heard of the Spectravideo range of computers, so you're comprehensive overview of the history of the machines was really interesting. I was thinking the games looked similar to MSX titles -- and then you mentioned the MSX is based on the Spectravideo specs. I think the hardware and visual capabilities were pretty good for the time. Both of the chosen games look good and also fun to play. Thanks guys! 🍻
It's funny...the Spectra computer's seem to sit quite nicely between the Colecovision and the MSX lines!
I had not realized the Spectravideo and Colecovision were so similar (and the early MSX model) to each other. The CPU is a beefy NEC 3.58mhz which was twice as fast as the 5200 and 8-bit computers but maybe it wasn't as efficient as MOS or Zilog. Colecovision games were kinda "chunky" to me - playfields chugging across the screen, response not quite there. Intellivision had the same problem.
It's odd that the Spectra and the Coleco and the MSX and a few others are so closely related but not entirely. I suppose that "Standard" was never quite standard.
All of these hybrid computer/videogame systems caused the crash in the USA, imo, eroding consumer confidence. I remember stacks of all of this crappy hardware piled up at Toys 'r Us, Kiddie City, etc. - customers weren't buying them because they were confusing and misleading, imo. Aquarius, Coleco Adam, this thing, then the junky computers like the Sinclair (although that sold over 1 million units here which baffles me). Nonsense like the Commodore Plus 4/C16. The weak 5200 release (awful, faulty controllers). Rebates galore with the TI 99 4/a leading the way. All of this "cheapened" the perception for consumers and made for a very bad experience when expensive hardware like the Adam broke down and had to be returned - what a fiasco.
Consumers adopted a wait-and-see type approach on purchasing hardware except the C64. Against the C64, all of these systems had no chance. I think these companies thought consumers were stupid or something. If that's the case, they got burned on that presumption.
You make some very valid points! I think some of those are good..even great systems...but the market was REALLY crowded!