Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: TwilightOdyssey on December 17, 2007, 05:17:37 PM
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Taken from the web site of NYC's ultimate independent video game store, Video Games New York. Looking for a Colecovision? Go here. Looking for a cartridge for your Magnavox Odyssey? Go here! http://www.videogamesnewyork.com/?cat=8
Here is a brief but complete history of home console video games, a little tribute of who we are and why a store like us exist.
1972 MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY designed by Ralph Baer, Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch of Sanders Associates on a idea of Ralph Baer who had a working prototype in 1968. In the 3 years of his existence Odyssey sold more than 200,000 units. The system works with batteries and had not sound. They were 12 games available sold with the console in 6 cartridges plus other 10 that could be bought separately, Percepts that could be got just by mail and an extra Soccer game released just in Europe. It was released at the advertised price of $99.95
1 Cartridges #1 (Table Tennis)
2 Cartridges #2 (Ski, Simon Says)
3 Cartridges #3 (Tennis, Analogic, Hockey, Football - for passing and kicking- )
4 Cartridges #4 (Cat and Mouse, Football for running -, Haunted House)
5 Cartridges #5 (Submarine)
6 Cartridges #6 (Roulette, States)
7 Fun Zoo
8 Baseball
9 Invasion
10 Volleyball
11 Handball
12 Wipeout
13 W.I.N.
14 Interplanetary Voyage
15 Basketball
16 Brain Wave
17 Shootout, Dogfight and Prehistoric Safari
18 Shooting Gallery
19 Percepts
20 Soccer (IMPORT, not originally available in US)
Around the world have been released at list 3 more modified version of the Odyssey:
In Spain the OVERKAl, in Argentina the TELEMATCH de Panoramic and in Sweden the KANAL-34
A very complete description and FAQ about the odyssey can be found at
http://www.pong-story.com/o1faq.txt
1975 ATARI PONG - the home version of the successful arcade game. Designed by Al Alcorn, Bob Brown, and Harold Lee. It sold at $100.
Atari Pong contains one game for up to two players.
The commercial success of Atari Pong was incredible and n the few years following its release it would be produced up to 500 clone machines from the most different companies. Here is the list of some of them:
- APF TV Fun (1977)
- Coleco Telstar (1976) Three PONG variants (hockey, handball, tennis), two paddle controllers fixed on console.
- Coleco Telstar Classic (1976) Same as the Telstar, wood grain case.
- Coleco Telstar Deluxe (1977), same as the Telstar but brown pedestal case with wood panel.
- Coleco Telstar Ranger (1977) Four PONG variants (hockey, handball, tennis, jai alai) and two gun games (target, skeet) includes revolver-style light gun and separate paddle controllers.
- Coleco Telsar Alpha (1977)
- Coleco Telstar Colormatic (1977) Same as the Telstar Alpha but with detached wired paddles and color graphics.
- Coleco Telstar Regent (1977) Same as the Telstar Colormatic but no color and black and white case.
- Coleco Telstar Combat (1977) Four variations on Kee Games Tank, four fixed joysticks (two per player
- Coleco Telstar Sportsman (1978)
- Coleco Telstar Colortron (1978) In color, built in sound, fixed paddles.
- Coleco Telstar Marksman -1978) Four PONG variants and two gun games in color.
- Coleco Telstar Galaxy (1978)
- Coleco Telstar Gemini - (1978) Four pinball games and two light-gun games in color, light gun.
- Epoch TV Baseball (1978)
- Microelectric Systems Ricochet, (1976)
- Nintendos Color TV Game 6 (1977)
- Nintendos Color TV Game 15 (1978)
- Nintendo racing 112 (1978) a car racing console with a total of 112 game combinations.
- Nintendo Color TV Block Kusure (1979)
- Nintendo Computer TV Game (1980)
- Ridgewood Gamatic 7600
- Stella Electronique Combat Lunaire (1978)
1975 MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY 100 Replace the first Odyssey and didnt use cartridges. It plays 2 games: Tennis and Hockey and it was sold at $99.
1975 MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY 200 It adds few features compared with the 100 model. A new game: Smash and an option for 2 or 4 players. The first-generation was sold at $129 on Christmas 1975.
1975 PHILIPS TELE-SPIEL ES-2201 Its one of the first European console. There was no game built-in, and it was sold with a Tennis game cartridge. Four more cartridges were available (Pelota, Skeet shooting, Racing and Ghostchaser). Black and White. Release price around $70
1976 MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY 300 - The first Odyssey to offer digital on-screen. 3 Games as the previous model.
1976 MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY 400 It plays the same games of the Odyssey 200 but it adds on-screen digital scoring.
1976 MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY 500 One extra game than the Odyssey 400 (soccer) and color graphics.
1976 FAIRCHILD CHANNEL F Originally sold at $169.95. It was the first cartridge games system ever released. There are 21 games for the system.
It was discontinued in 1978.
List of games:
1 Tic-Tac-Toe/Etc;
2 Desert Fox/Shooting Gallery
3 Video Blackjack
4 Spitfire
5 Space War
6 Math Quiz 1
7 Math Quiz 2
8 Magic Numbers/Mind reader/Nim
9 Drag Strip
10 Maze
11 Backgammon?Acey-Deucey
12 Baseball
13 Robot War/Torpedo Alley
14 Sonar Search
15 Memory Match 1 & 2
16 Dodge It
17 Pinball Challenge
18 Hangman
19 Checkers
20 Video Whizball
21 Bowling
22 Slot Machine (Zircon)
23 Galactic Space Wars/Lunar Lander (Zircon)
24 Pro Football (Zircon)
25 Casino Royale
26 Alien Invasion (Zircon)
Built-in games Hockey, Tennis and 2 drawing programs
Demo Demonstration Cartridge
Demo 2 Demonstration Cartridge 2
1976 RCA STUDIO II Released at a price of $149. It used key pad controllers and was discontinued in 1979.
1977 ATARI 2600 designed by Joe Decure, Harold Lee, and Steve Meyer. Released at an introductory price of $199.95. 128 bytes of RAM Memory.
1977 MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY 2000
1977 MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY 3000
1977 MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY 4000 The last pong type system released by Magnavox. It has 8 different games
1977 MATTEL ELECRONICS FOOTBALL The first hand held system.
1977 ATARI STUNT CYCLE A home arcade derived from the famous Atari arcade coin machine. The game gives the player the feel of riding a real motorcycle. Full of stunts, it feed the player with the exiting of imitating the then famous Evil Knievel.
1978 - COLECO TELSTAR ARCADE - Cartridge-based, triangular case includes light gun, steering wheel with gear shift, and paddles, one on each side.
The Telstar Arcade is maybe one of the most interesting systems made by Coleco, and also the most advanced PONG system released in America, although it played non-PONG games.
Coleco used a very uncommon cartridge format: a silver triangular case.
Coleco released only four cartridges. The first one was sold with the system and the others were available separately for the price of $25. Two flyers came with the system to order cartridges #2 and #3.
1978 INTERTON VC4000 - The Interton VC 4000 was quite popular in Germany. The console is quite obscure outside Germany, but many software compatible systems can be found in many in Europe. About 40 cartridges were released and the console had a price release around $180.
1978 PRINZTRONIC MICRO 5500 - The Prinztronic 5500 was marketed in Europe and Oceania (New Zealand). In Germany it was sold as the SHG Blackpoint (different models exist).There was 7 maybe 8 cartridge released.
1978 BALLY PROFESSIONAL ARCADE In 1975 Bally decided to create a videogame division called Midway (referred to as Bally/Midway) for the purpose of entering this market. In 1978 Bally release the Bally professional Arcade at a high price of $299 includes two games built-in, and a calculator on the console. The console had a lot of problems and most of the units of the first shipment had to be replaced. The never end problems and the lack of experience push bally to stop supporting the system in 1979.
1978 - ODYSSEY 2 Released at a price of $199.95. In Europe released by the mother house Philips as PHILIPS VIDEOPACK G7000. Both system were at the time advertised as the most advanced system on earth. Built in keyboard.
1978 MATTEL ELECTRONICS BASEBALL Led based hand held.
1978 - ATARI TOUCH ME 3 games in 1. The only one of the 3 handheld series produced by the new division, Atari Electronic Games that came out (the other two which never reached the market are Breakout and Space Invaders)
1979 - MATTEL INTELLIVISION released at a price of $300. 159 by 96 pixel background resolution; 16 colors; plays external ROM game cartridges
1979 CHANNEL F SYSTEM II released by Zircon who bought the license from Fairchild at a competitive price of $99. To work the system had to be turned on, the cartridge inserted and finally the reset button pushed. It had removable controllers. Only 6 games released.
1979 MILTON BRADLEY MICROVISION It has the distinction of being the first cartridge-based handheld gaming unit with an LCD display.
The cartrages were extremely susceptible to damage from static discharge, making it very impopular. A total of 13 titles were released between 1979 and 1981, including the Block Buster pack-in cartridge. Discontinued in 1981
- Complete list of Microvision game releases
Block Buster (1979)
Bowling (1979)
Connect Four (1979)
Mindbuster (1979)
Pinball (1979)
Star Trek Phaser Strike (1979)
Vegas Slots (1979)
Baseball (1980)
Sea Duel (1980)
Alien Raiders (1981)
Cosmic Hunter (1981)
Barrage (1982)
Super Blockbuster (1982)
1981 EMERSON ARCADIA 2001
1981- BALLY COMPUTER SYSTEM
1982 - ASTROCADE
1982 - COLECO CLECOVISION released at the price of $199.95. 48kb of RAM.
1982 ATARI 5200. 16kb of RAM 320Χ192 resolution with 16 colors from a 256 color palette. 4 Controllers port.
1982 MILTON BRADLEY GCE VECTREX released at the price of $199. It incorporate a 9 inch monitor. Vectrex exited the market in 1984.
- List of game titles
3D Crazy Coaster
3D MineStorm
3D Narrow Escape
AnimAction (requires light pen)
Armor Attack
Art Master (requires light pen)
Bedlam
Berzerk
Berzerk II
Blitz! Action Football
Clean Sweep (aka Mr. Boston)
Cosmic Chasm
Cube Quest
Debris (new title developed in 2005)
Dark Tower
Engine Analyzer (requires light pen)
Flipper Pinball (aka Spinball)
Fortress of Narzod
Gravitrex (new title developed in 2002, based on Gravitar)
Heads Up Action Soccer
Hyperchase Auto Race
I, Cyborg (new title developed in 2004)
Mail Plane (requires light pen)
Melody Master (requires light pen)
Melody Master II
Mine Storm
Moon Lander (new title developed in 2000, based on Lunar Lander)
Nebula Commander (new title developed in 2005)
Polar Rescue
Pole Position
Protector (new title developed in 2003)
Revector (new title developed in 2004)
Rip Off
Scramble
Soccer Football
Solar Quest
Space Wars (adaptation of Computer Space)
Spike
Star Castle
Star Ship
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Starhawk
Thrust (new title developed in 2004)
Tour De France
Vec Sports Boxing
Vecmania
War of the Robots (new title developed in 2003)
Web Warp (aka Web Wars)
Yasi (new title developed in 2003)
1984 ATARI 7800
1985 NINTENDO NES Designed by Masayuki Uemura. Probably the most successful video game console ever made. (NIntendo claim to have sold more than 60 millions unit worldwide).
The NES has 671 officially licensed games List of nes games in pdf format by Nintendo plus 87 unlicensed.
To that we should add few prototypes and the Grey and Gold Nintendo World Championship 1990, the holy grail of video games.
1987 ATARI XEGS
1988 NEC TURBOGRAFX 16 released in Japan in 1988 as the PC Engine, the system was renamed the Turbografx-16 when it reached North America in 1989. Although it was advertised as a 16-bit game machine, it actually had an 8-bit CPU, 65802 @ 16 MHz. It did contain a separate 16-bit graphics chip however. The Turbografx-16 became the first system to have a CD-player attachment.
1989 SEGA GENESIS- Retailed at $199 was capable of 320Χ448 resolution and 61 simultaneous colors from a palette of 512.
1989 NINTENDO GAME BOY Released at a price of $100. It used black and green LCD screen with interchangeable cartridges.
1989 ATARI LYNX Introduced at a price of $149 was the first portable color system.
1990 SUPER NINTENDO (SNES) 16 bit CPU 128 kb RAM and 64 Kb of video RAM. 256 Simultaneous color from a palette of 32768.
1990 SNK NEO-GEO
1990 SEGA GAME GEAR
1991 SEGA CD
1991 NEC TURBO DUO
1992 PHILIPS CD-I
1993 - PANASONIC 3DO Release at a price of $699.95.
1993 - ATARI JAGUAR
1995 SEGA SATURN
1995 SONY PLAYSTATION
1995 NINTENDO VIRTUAL BOY Priced at 179.99 when released.
1996 NINTENDO 64
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Jesus....
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Was the Atari 2600 called the 2600 when it was released? I have a feeling my woody was just called a VCS.
For those who want to play the golden age of games - download MAME32
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Was the Atari 2600 called the 2600 when it was released? I have a feeling my woody was just called a VCS.
Splitting hairs; they are the same system, doesn't matter what you refer to it as.
According to the Arari Museum ( http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/ ):
"Atari Videogame consoles (as opposed to Atari's earlier standalone single function consoles) got their start in 1977 with the introduction of Atari's VCS (Video Computer System). The VCS was originally ready to ship in 1976, however due to a legal clause in an earlier settlement between Atari and Magnavox over the release of PONG in 1972, Magnavox would own the rights to anything Atari produced for 1 year, so Atari delayed the VCS release so that Magnavox would not own the rights to it.
"The Atari VCS was originally conceived in Grass Valley, California. The second iteration was done in Sunnyvale, CA. The Atari Video Computer System was initially going to be a new multipurpose console chassis with a single multi-programmable motherboard which would have its games installed internally into a ROM slot.
"This design was quickly dropped in favour of selling the same concept except making the ROM slot external and selling the various games in cartridge form that consumers would buy and plug into the console. Originally only 10 games were to be designed for the console since it was designed to play games such as Pong, Tank, Outlaw and various other simple challenge games. However designers had unknowingly created a console who's hidden potential was quickly discovered by programmers who created games far outperforming what the console was original conceived to do. Then came Space Invaders for the Atari VCS, the first licensed arcade title. The VCS took off and no one could stop is popularity and success.
"In 1978 several of the same engineers who had designed the Atari VCS were already laying out plans for a new set of chips with so much power and abilities for graphics and sounds that Atari's next game console would far overshadow its first creation, the VCS. However Atari was now headed by Raymond Kassar who was brought in by Warner Communications, Atari's parent company when it was sold to WCI in 1976 by Nolan Bushnell for $28 Million. Ray Kassar wanted Atari to compete against Apple in the home computer market.
"The new Super Game console chip set was now turned over to Atari's brand new Home Computer Division and became the Atari 8 bit chip set. It would not be until 1982 that Atari's vision of a Super Game console would become a reality. Basically, Atari took the 8 bit chip set and built an all new Super Game System around it. Originally code named PAM, Atari's new Super Game System would almost be called P.A.M. for Personal Arcade Machine, however Atari settled on its model number: 5200. So it was born, the Atari 5200: Super System. "
The VCS and the 2600 are the same model. The name "2600" was given to the VCS after the release of the 5200. (2600 being half the system a 5200 was, of course ;) )
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Urgh I would read it but in the time it takes me to read it all I could learn Ice 9 by Joe Satriani at full speed :P
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Urgh I would read it but in the time it takes me to read it all I could learn Ice 9 by Joe Satriani at full speed :P
Heretic.
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Atari lynx used to love them
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Pre-NES i have no idea what that's all about; but it was very interesting to see the years certain things were released, and why they were released (i.e. who they were competing with). It was also quite interesting to see the various release prices of the consoles.
I'm intrigued that i'd never even heard of the nintendo virtual boy - looks interesting!
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Over here in the UK (maybe europe, not sure), the Sega Genesis is called the Sega MegaDrive 8)
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I've heard of such a new fangled contraption - still, like shred, these modern video games have no soul - not like Defender.
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I've heard of such a new fangled contraption - still, like shred, these modern video games have no soul - not like Defender.
I would argue that Defender II is the superior of the franchise. :)
(Seriously, I have both on the Midway Classics disc, and Defender II is way better)
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Mega Drive has to be my favourite out of those consoles :D
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Mega Drive has to be my favourite out of those consoles :D
Have you played all of em? :roll:
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Can't decide between Super Famicom, Neo Geo and Saturn... Twinbee!
Then again, I can't decide between the various King of Fighters and Street Fighter Zero 2 (or 3)
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Can't decide between Super Famicom
SF, hands down!!!
You would thoroughly enjoy this store, if you're ever in NYC!
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You missed out the other 3DOs:
Goldstar
Panasonic R.E.A.L Interactive multiplayer
Goldstar R.E.A.L. Interactive multiplayer
Panasonic M2 (never completed; Panasonic bought the rights and threw the idea away)
They were made by another manufacturer who's name I don't recall.
The consoles boasted the worst version of Doom ever available (although it is generally considered the one with the best music), Space Hulk, Gex, Alone in the Dark 1+2, Soccer kid, Wing Commander 4, Iron Angel of the Apocalypse 1+2, Slayer and its sequel, Powers Kingdom, etc.
It is notable for not having region coding.
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(http://www.explosm.net/db/files/Comics/Dave/comicfanboy2.png)
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^
That is basically everything on IGN.com summed up
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Pre-NES i have no idea what that's all about; but it was very interesting to see the years certain things were released, and why they were released (i.e. who they were competing with). It was also quite interesting to see the various release prices of the consoles.
I'm intrigued that i'd never even heard of the nintendo virtual boy - looks interesting!
I wouldn't touch the virtual boy, not if you enjoy having eye sight at least ;)
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Yup with feline...game console or girlfriend, girlfriend wins, its why I am far behind in console terms..remember my first comp...which was a amstrad 6128 with Disk drive and colour screen