Some 80s handheld games from England (pics)

[rbudrick]

Hi folks,

A buddy of mine from England was visiting recently and mentioned he had some handhelds I hadn't seen before. He sent me the pics and I thought I'd share. Is the Munchman a bootleg or was he really called that over there? If so, I can't believe I didn't know that, as my friend said that is the case. He said he's got all the original boxes too. They are all from his younger days, as he's not really a collector.

Discuss.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/rbudrick/DSC00055.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/rbudrick/DSC00056.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/rbudrick/DSC00053.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/rbudrick/DSC00054.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/rbudrick/DSC00051.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/rbudrick/DSC00052.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/rbudrick/DSC00049.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/rbudrick/DSC00050.jpg


-Rob

[Cauterize]

Heh all the British classics are here, Rob! Firefox-F7 could be described as a primative Starfox, it's quite impressive considering it's limitations.

Munchman as far as I'm aware was just one of the many unofficial Pac-Man clones.

[c0ldb33r]

I'd love to see some videos in action.

[Nebagram]

Hi folks,

A buddy of mine from England was visiting recently and mentioned he had some handhelds I hadn't seen before. He sent me the pics and I thought I'd share. Is the Munchman a bootleg or was he really called that over there?


-Rob

Ehh, sort-of (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchman_%28tabletop_electronic_game%29). The thing about stuff like that is that they're very collectible- esp. if they still have the boxes- and absolutely packed full of retro nostalgia but carry surprisingly low monetary value because of how pervasive they were in the eighties, and they haven't aged well. For retro enthusiasts though, generally speaking, anything with the 'Grandstand' label on it is worth picking up, particularly if it has Kevin Keegan on the front. Here's a quick selection of further Grandstand goodness (http://video-games.shop.ebay.co.uk/Grandstand-/38598/i.html?_armrs=1&_mdo=Video-Games&_mspp=&_pcats=50219%2C11988%2C1249). You'd be hard-pushed to find a British gamer over the age of 30 who HASN'T played one of those at some point. :)

[evg2000]

In the states they have different names and or manufactures and they may look different:
munchman - pacman
http://evg2000.com/graphics/handhelds/tompacmanyel.jpg
Astro Wars - Galaxy II
http://evg2000.com/graphics/handhelds/epogalaxy2box.jpg
Scramble - scramble
http://evg2000.com/graphics/handhelds/tomscramble.jpg
Caveman - caveman
http://evg2000.com/graphics/handhelds/tancaveman.jpg

these are from my collection, I don't know if there are us version of the others.
charles
www.evg2000.com

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Man, those are awesome. Just plain awesome.

I have the Tomy Tron ... they made a very decent tabletop LED game.

[Mayhem]

Oh, they were all licensed by Grandstand... I had Munchman, Scramble and Astro Wars myself. Part of me wishes they hadn't been sold...

[Greg2600]

Have you contacted Hand Held Museum (http://www.handheldmuseum.com), they might want pictures for their website/list?

[tom]

Whoever wants to buy some can do this here:
http://www.retrogames.co.uk/

[PhoenixUK]

How about this little lot? Been collecting for the last 10 years and have most of the UK launched games.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6447594917_95823aed45_b.jpg

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

How about this little lot? Been collecting for the last 10 years and have most of the UK launched games.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6447594917_95823aed45_b.jpg

That's a brilliant collection.

The appeal of tabletop LCD and VFD games are not at all lost on me. I hope to continue to grow my own modest collection which is mostly Game & Watch (highlights below), but I also have 10 or so tabletop games from Coleco, Entex and Tomy.

* Complete horizontal dual screen Game & Watch units
* Complete vertical dual screen Game & Watch units
* Complete Vs. series Game & Watch units
* Many silver and widescreen Game & Watch units
* 1 Tabletop Game & Watch unit

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/240ac3ae.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/79ce4a9f.jpg

And since every time I post photos of my collection everybody asks, the display stands are Rubbermaid black plastic business card holders. They can be purchased in bulk for less than $1 each from online sources.

http://images.discountofficeitems.com/orig/c88/c37/a46bdf9e7ff1da44c84834653225110f4e.jpg

[Graham Mitchell]

These are all really cool! Thanks for posting!

[treismac]

I'd love to see some videos in action.

I second this.

[Tupin]

This thread makes me so jealous. The only time I ever see these are at MGC, I guess they sold better in the UK?

I have one keychain Game and Watch style one from the late 90's, Super Mario Bros. Still, I wish I had the early VFD/LED tabletops.