Gooday Gaming Guests - Magnavox & Intellivison with a Splash of Philips Videopac G7400

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

The Intellivison had better games and Visuals then the Atari 2600

Okay, so today was a busy day all around. I worked on PC Engine, my PC Engine Duo, the PSC Engine Core, and the CD System Suitcase. So I've got a nice long video of that if you guys want to take a look at it. It's pretty fun. I ordered a lens for my Duo. My Core no longer works. I'm not sure why. The CD I bought, not working. So that's all now up for sale as a little lot. Except for the Duo. I'm keeping the Duo. And I added one game.

Original power supply for the Core. PC Engine. They're really expensive, so it's not cheap. But if you want to look for something like that, it just needs to be fixed. The PC Engine Core worked fine. And just just i don't know something happened but i was luckily my my turbo graphics uh turbo everdrive works i got works on my uh duo so i'm going to keep the duo with the with that and then i'm selling all the rest in a a lot it's up for sale now you is a little link right on my last video that I just did about an hour video but I had about two hours of

livestream of it I do two different angles overview of the video and then I have a pretty good live view it has to be vertical with a phone for the most views I can get so that's the view it comes in. So you can look at it either way. Sounds about the same. All right, so tomorrow, I mean, today we're going to do, still stick with early cartridges. Magnavox cartridge. Vangnavox Odyssey. Magnavox Odyssey.

I always spell that wrong. Odyssey. So Magnavox Odyssey. Odyssey 2. First cartridges. I found a box. I've got my Magnavox stuff. They've all been taken apart out of the...

So, I've got the motherboards. There's two different powers. So the Magnifox Odyssey 2 came out in 1978. So again, we're still on the old stuff. I'm going to try to finish with cartridges before I go to CDs and all that. I always learn something new here. Pack-in game. Speedway, Spinout,

Cryptologic, a multi-cartridge game, including I've got a nice little library of Magnifant's two games. Computer Golf, Bowling, Basketball, Baseball, Matchmaker, Armored,

Encounter, Dual Games, Armored, Encounter, Games Armored Encounter Sub Chase Las Vegas Football Casey Munchkin Later released often compared to Pac-Man These games were designed to show off Alright so let's do a

Cartridge Code Process cartridge code process. Try to pick things that are relative to gaming. And I can kind of learn. We're going to do the cartridge code process for the

Magnavox Odyssey 2. Loading games to a ROM chip. I wonder what kind of a ROM chip each Odyssey cartridge contained a read-all memory. So the chip was stored on the game code. Stored on the game

code written in a machine language. And graphed all of that on a form of console process. Pin connections. The cartridge had edge connectors that interface with the console's cartridge slot.

Inserting the cartridge. So the Odyssey only had an 8-bit Intel 8048 microcontroller as a CPU. So it was 8-bit Intel 8048 microcontroller as a CPU. So it was 8-bit Intel 8048.

When powered on, the console initiated memory mapping. The system addressed the ROM chip in the cartridge, treating it as an extension of its own memory. So these are really just cartridge... A lot of these old ones are all just cartridge driven everything is in them basically program code instructions for gameplay written for the 8048 assembly language graphics data patterns and tiles simple tone instructions for audio game execution once that was heard the cpu process logic, use a video display

controller, generated graphics, sound generator, keyboard controller, those really silly keyboards, the Odyssey cartridge was small, typically 2 kilobytes or 8 kilobytes in size, this limited requirement, efficient programming to fit the entire game into one space. Example of cartridge code execution. For a game like Speedway, the ROM would load the car sprite data into the VDC for rendering.

So a sprite is a combination of little dots to make a character of some kind or an object. Or an explosion could be a sprite too. Continuously checking control inputs to update the car's position, track lap times, and player performance. Output sounds like engine noises via audio system the simple simple process are between games seamlessly and then in the 1970s all right it's kind of that so let's go to in television to tell it um, television, um, cartridge, television cartridge, first cartridge games, let's see if there's any rare, I want to find out if there's any rare games for the, um, yesterday I did Sega, I got three games coming in. They're not the

originals but they're rare. I don't know. Some guy at a pawn shop had them on eBay. Splatterhouse 2 and 3 and the game that's supposed to be like Zelda but on

Genesis. I forget what that's called. They were going for like $400-$500 but this guy had them for like $15. Alright, so the Mattel was in 1979. It was a direct competitor for the

2600. So I'm afraid you remember we had the Mattel Intellivision and then the small one, the Intellivision 2. I actually have both still, and I have them all apart. I've done lots of videos with those. And I'm going to be listing some other boards, working or not. I'll have either or.

I think I do have one Intellivision 2 motherboard listed. It has a separate power board. Some do work. Some come off, some don't. These titles, first cartridges were test market games, NFL football oh god the trade of sports games back then. NBA, basketball, baseball

armored battle, space battle sea battle, auto racing, soccer triple action. And these always had that overlay for the game pad there. So you know which button to push. Soccer, triple action. Unique features,

controls with overlays. Yeah, there's your overlays. Advanced graphics for the time. Intel wasn't able to render more detailed visuals compared to its competitor, the 2600. the it was better graphics uh what is the uh code code

cartridge code process i spelled that wrong. I use my buddy Zippy here all the time. But mostly when I. I really only do it when I'm doing some sort of podcast. I used to have it talk while I was doing it. But it's just easier.

To do the podcast. In my voice. As opposed to having. Zippy talking as well. So the cartridge cartridge design again another one with the ROM chips on it. Read only memory. So it's completely cartridge

driven. It's the console through a gold plated edge connector. So that's gold in there when the cartridge or the edge connector established electric connection to the motherboard the CPU mapped out the ROM so this one had the Intellivision used a GI

CP1610 CPU it was a 16 bit processor so better than the Mattel I mean than the Mattel. I mean, than the Magnavox. The console had two kilobytes of RAM on it. I believe the other one, the Mattel,

it was only in the cartridge itself. Programming was written in machine language, specifically for CP1610. Graphics data was a bit mapper and character graphics sound data sequence for instructions for the computers program sounds generator it had what a y-3-8 914 the console CPU would read the ROM, load, and then do the games and sound. Graphics rendering. Intel used

the STIC, Standard Television Interface Chip, for video output. The STIC did all the sprites, noise moving objects, background graphics. Sound processing was done by that AY-3-8914.

Let's see, once the magnifier was fully initialized, the CPU ran the game loop constantly, checking for player input, game status, read your generate sounds. Cartridge size, early Intel cartridges were typically 4 kilobytes to 8 kilobytes in size. Larger cartridges, especially the advanced games, expanded to 16 kilobytes or even more, using bank switching.

That's something I've heard a lot about. I've been doing this bank switching and of course i learned about super nintendo was using doing mode 7 as a way to make 2d look like 3d i found that really interesting i don't know exactly how they do it but code examples a hypothetical snippet of a code for instructions for the cpu to load logic to move the Objects output sound key features of the Intel cartridge code process Effective use of resources Optimized to fit within the small ROMs

Interactive with unique hardware the code Interacted directly with the Intellivision special chips, the STIC and sound generator, and used the overlays. So let's go back to the houses. What was the game library? Try to keep it all of Magnavox. Again, I have a whole bunch of them I got. Magnavox. What was the game library of Magnavox. Again, I have a whole bunch of them I got. Magnavox.

What was the game library of Magnavox? And of course, then we'll look for something, anything that's rare. 1972, so the original Magnavox, I have one of those that had no cartridge. Used game cards rather than the

traditional. Oh, so the original Magnavox had game cards rather than the traditional. Also, the original Magnavox had game cards rather than... I forgot to look at that one first. And they also had overlays for the TV. You put something over your TV and it fills in little spots on it.

That's pretty wild. I just have an overlay for your TV back then. I don't remember that. I haven't heard of that. Key games were paddle tennis, skiing, Simon Says, Haunted House. Players moved through a haunted mansion using the overlay to solve problems. Yeah, because the overlay went over the TV. Gameplay relied heavily on overlays placed over the TV screen, dice, cards, and other physical components.

Cat and mouse, football. There were 28 game cards in total, many of which supported multiple games of variations. I didn't hit that one initially, but that's the original Odyssey. I have an Odyssey that don't. That's just a dedicated one.

Pong one. I don't think it has any place for cartridges. That must be a dedicated one. Pong one. I don't think it has any place for cartridges. It must be a different one. So a 1978 game library for the Odyssey 2. Early games. First wave with Speedway. Computer Golf. Baseball.

Football. All the ones I said before. Space Wars. Later editions was K.C. Munchkin. I have that somewhere. Quest of Rings. Ventrican and Blended Board. Mechanics with Gameplay. Conquest of the World. I have that. It's in a little case.

Pretty cool. Odyssey had between 50 and 60 games released worldwide throughout the number of regions. Unique features of libraries is the Odyssey was heavily relying on imagination overlays and physical components. The Odyssey 2 had built-in keyboard more sophisticated games. Library was there any rare?

Any rare games? The funny thing about my Zippy I don't type every single thing I just kind of say quickly yes both Odyssey and Odyssey to have rare and collectible games and then I like to cross-reference I do this now I go over to eBay per set purse percepts why is it the game was offered as a promotional giveaway? Collector's Appeal. Percepts. Soccer.

Why towards the end of the Odyssey's life had a limited production run? Interplanetary Voyager. Why is it rare part Why is it rare? Part of the Shooting Gallery expansion. Less common. And win.

This was a promotional release for Magnavox. So those are kind of rare games. And then for the Odyssey 2. 1978. We have Power Lords. At least only in limited quantities. Atlantis. I think I've seen.

I might have that actually. Published by iMagic. So iMagic also has lots of better Atari 26 games. iMagic. The graphics were like the better. Shooter were

players defended underwater. Quest for the Rings. While not extremely compared box sets. Attack for the Rings. While not extremely, I compared box sets. Attack of the Time Lords. Time Lord. A late release shooter. A voice enhanced games.

Games like Type Intel. Sid the Spellbinder. Use the voice module. And then it looks like Rare European releases. Philips Video Pack was rebranded.

So Odyssey 2 was rebranded as Philips Video Pack. See, now I've got to go look on eBay for this. Really? I can't afford to buy anything else anymore. But little things I could probably get. So we're going to look under Philips Video Pack.

Because I've tried to, in the last four or five years, collect one of every system ever made. I don't have them anymore, but I've got many videos. videos and I started a new video category that says hidden unwanted in hidden systems so now I'm looking under the Philips video pack for games here pretty cool it still looks exactly like an Odyssey although although it says Philip's Video Pack Computer G7 Video Game Console. It's just renamed. There's definitely games for it. Systems run about a

buck and a half. Oh, that one's cool. Oh, there's a different one here that's different. I like that one. Which one? The other one looked just like Magnavox, which is the G7000. But then there's a Philips VideoPack G7400. That looks really cool, actually.

Oh, I'd get something like that, but I can't afford it. So, pretty neat. That one actually looks pretty neat. So, let's go back to my chat, GBT. So, under that, there is a few rare games. Video pack number 44 was Helicopter Rescue. Video pack 53 was Transamerica Rally. Factors affecting rarity, limited production runs, regional complete sets.

So that's my new system today to talk about. The Philips, I'll make a pod, I try to pick one image for my, this podcast, so that's what I'll do. I'll do the Philips VideoPack G7400. Yeah, we'll do that one. Maybe I can just use this right here. I don't know. All right, so that's... Let's go back now. Let's go to Intellivision.

What was the Intellivision? They must must have a lot of games in that game library see we get here for this are we doing here? Oh, we're doing pretty good. Alright. Released in 1997. It was a competitor for the 2600. And it said it had the better games. It says the games were categorized into theme networks.

A marketing gimmick resembling TV channels. Hmm. Action Network was Astro Mash, Shark Shark, Snafu, Night Stalker, Tron, Deadly Discs. Oh, I see the network. So Sports Network was NFL football, baseball, and all that yucky sports stuff. Then Space Network was Space Battle, Star Strike, Space Spartans, which used a voice modular compatible, and Bomb Squad, voice module compatible. Then there was a strategy network, which used C Battle,

Utopia, and the Treasure of Tarmin. That sounds cool, the Treasure of Tarmin. And then there was a learning network, Learn Fun 1 and 2, Math, Word, Memory. Third party library,

there's that in Magic again. Atlas, Demon Attack. I think I have those for the 2600. Beauty and the Beast, Microsurgeon, Dragon's Fire. Activision had Pitfall. I'm sorry. Dread, Not Factor, River Raid, Chopper Command. And then there's the Parker titles. frogger cubert uh popeye super cobra unique in notable games fans dungeon games cloudy mountain Mountain, B-17 Bomber, Utopia, Tron, Educational Games, Spell Challenge, Electric Company, Body Slam, Learning Fun Series,

Hardware Dependent, some games require additional hardware, Intel Voice Module, and Entertainment Computer System Games, Voice module. And entertainment computer system games. The ESC module. Expanding the capabilities to introduce the game. So you had to add a module. So rare games. Super Pro Decathlon. Stadium Mud Buggies. Spiker.

Super Pro Volleyball. Kong Bongo. Third Party Sega Title., Fun 1 and 2. Total libraries. Intellivision had 125 games, at least in North America. Expanding count to around 150 to 200 worldwide. Legacy. So let's see now so there was 125 i mean i think we said magnavox it was not as many i can't remember so but i was really interested in the uh phillips video pack

all right so those are the systems for those. It takes care of Intellivision. Intellivision 2. And Magnavox. I'll pick some other. I'm going to do Super Fancom and Fancom next. Although it is basically like a Super Nintendo. And Nintendo.

But it's still a little bit different. And the Fancom has those cool disc things. I've got one for i've got uh zelda one and two they're really neatly designed um so those are fun all right so we're gonna go just put that for today and then tomorrow i will pick up with some some fancom stuff all right you guys have a good night talk to you later bye