Odyssey

[marshalldylan1]

I read in an article a while ago that this was the 1st video game system. Is this true?

[Hovoc]

yes

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Indeed it was, all the way back in 1972. All solid state analog under the hood, not a single chip anywhere in it. It was also the first system to come with a light gun, the Odyssey Shooting Gallery.

It's fun in a weird and novel way.

[Querjek]

I was going to start a new topic about this, but I had might as well ask here: What did Magnavox do wrong that ended up letting Atari sell more 2600s?

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

The Magnavox Odyssey - white box with wood paneling around the edges and two honkin' huge paddle controllers attached by cables that would trip an elephant - had come and gone by the 1973 Christmas buying season. The 2600 didn't show up until about four years later - 1977 in some markets, '78 before it really caught on. The two never directly competed.

If you're thinking about the Odyssey2 - great looking streamlined silver thing of beauty with a shiny flat keyboard - I couldn't answer you there. I'd have to say lack of taste on the consumers' part. ;) The Odyssey2 was introduced in 1978, so it would've been up against the 2600, rather than the original Odyssey being up against the 2600. I'd argue that the original Odyssey had come and gone before Atari's first home Pong units even hit.

Or maybe I misunderstood the question. It's way past my bedtime, y'know.

[SoulBlazer]

Atari had the games that people wanted to play, more games, better games in most people's mind, and was cheaper.

[NoahsMyBro]

Obviously people have differnet opinions about these sorts of things, but one of the main reasons the Odyssey 2 competed so poorly against the Atari VCS (2600) is probably due to the fact that PDF was likely the only O2 fan in his zip code, and if you extrapolate that level of popularity worldwide, the answer is plain to see.

I grew up during the prime Atari/Intellivision/O2 years, and according to my recollection, kids everywhere - camp, schoolbus, during recess, little league practice, etc... - would hold very intense, heated debates comparing the merits of the Intellviision vs. the 2600. It was simlar to the longstanding Ford vs. Chevy rivalry. Each kid had his (or, very rarely, her) preference, and had many facts to back up his stand. Generally, the kid with the O2 would shamefully keep silent and try to fade into the woodwork. When kids congregated, and wanted to go to somebody's house to play videogames, they would choose the Intv or the 2600. The O2 was seldom the first choice.

I must admit, I prefer the 2600. I did not play the Odyssey much, but aside from K.C. Munchkin I don't think there was much worthwhile on the system. PDF of course disagrees, and is undoubtedly more knowledgeable about the O2 than I am. He also probably could name more than one decent game on the system.

But from my viewpoint, being 9 or 10 when the VCS came out, and becoming a teenager and growing up through the VCS/Intv/O2 years, the games on the O2 were almost all lousy, the controllers were the worst of the 3, and the graphics weren't so hot either.

Just my opinion.

-- Steve

[marshalldylan1]

Does anyone here have an Odyssey? Also, I'd like to see a picture if there is one floating around out there.

Thanks

[tholly]

The Magnavox Odyssey - white box with wood paneling around the edges and two honkin' huge paddle controllers attached by cables that would trip an elephant - had come and gone by the 1973 Christmas buying season. The 2600 didn't show up until about four years later - 1977 in some markets, '78 before it really caught on. The two never directly competed.

If you're thinking about the Odyssey2 - great looking streamlined silver thing of beauty with a shiny flat keyboard - I couldn't answer you there. I'd have to say lack of taste on the consumers' part. ;) The Odyssey2 was introduced in 1978, so it would've been up against the 2600, rather than the original Odyssey being up against the 2600. I'd argue that the original Odyssey had come and gone before Atari's first home Pong units even hit.

Or maybe I misunderstood the question. It's way past my bedtime, y'know.



odyssey 2....now there is a great little system
first video game system that was in my house, although i played the NES first
i later learned that this thing was in our basement and i had to hook it up and try it.
now, it proudly sits with the rest of my systems and is right along side my PS2

im actively working on getting a complete odyssey 2 cart set, so, if you have one complete in box with instructions that i dont have (check my signature) let me know

[wufners]

Does anyone here have an Odyssey? Also, I'd like to see a picture if there is one floating around out there.

Yup, I've got one and I'd imagine you'll find a reasonable amount of folks on this site who have one as well.

Here's a pic . . .

http://www.vidgame.net/PONG/odyssey.html

If you scroll about half way down you'll find a picture of a controller. You can't quite get a good feel for the afore mentioned elephant tripping cord, but they are indeed long, fat, and unwieldly. The game cards slid into the slot you see right in front.

*looks over shoulder at Odyssey*

Hmm, looks like it's about the same size as a 2600, perhaps a pinch longer and just a hair less wide. I actually find it to be one of the more unique looking systems and quite frankly doesn't look much like a video game system at all.[/quote]

Incidently, I was offered an Odyssey2 this weekend for only $5. Since I already have 2 of 'em (one of them as a split rf cord that I clumsily repaired) and little room left in the house, I had to pass. Still it pains me not to have given the little guy a home (not so little acutally.) Ah well, you can't buy everything you see, can ya?

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Here's a thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11902) I started when I got my own Odyssey a year or so back, with a pretty good picture of the whole setup.

If anyone's coming to OKGE (see link in my sig), I'll have an original Odyssey (and an Odyssey2!) set up to play at the mighty Phosphor Dot Fossils table!

[TNTPLUST]

As an avid collector of Odyssey systems I think they have taken a bit of a bad publicity hit. I was 6 when I saw the original Odyssey and it was pretty impressive at the time. I laugh now but back then we thought the colored overlays and game pieces were so cool...after all Atari only had B/W Pong LOL

As for the Odyssey II now that I have finished My U.S. collection of games I am now working on Brazilian games and obtaining a French N-60 Videopac (I turned down the chance to get one two years ago for $110).

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/6538/n601.jpg

Anyway I think if you compare the early Atari games against the Odyssey II they compare favorably. In America the Odyssey did not really benefit from third party support (although Imagic ported Demon Attack and Atlantis and Parker Bro. did Frogger. I think they compared well to the Atari versions). Overseas it was a different story though and there are some neat third party titles. Some great Homebrews too. I picked up Plantet Lander from CGE 2K4 from Ted Foolery games and it was quite good and I highly recommend it.

http://www.tedfoolery.com/o2.html

Anyway good system to collect I think. One of the few you can actually complete! Then again I could be wrong....

[ddockery]

Atari sold so many more units tha the O2 because of smart business planning. They bought the rights to all the big games everyone wanted to see. Space Invaders and Pacman alone probably got them more buyers than the O2 had.

[ClubNinja]

If for no other reason, everyone should own an Odyssey 2 for the best party game ever - Smithereens!

Also, I wish to disagree with NoahsMyBro where he says the O2 joysticks are the worst of the VCS/Intv/O2. I am hard pressed to even classify the Intv joystick pad thingies as "controls". O2 sticks beat those suckers out in every way.

[o2william]

Atari sold so many more units tha the O2 because of smart business planning. They bought the rights to all the big games everyone wanted to see. Space Invaders and Pacman alone probably got them more buyers than the O2 had.

You're very correct, and don't forget that Atari had its own coin-op division producing arcade hits they could bring home.

From hearing Ralph Baer talk, and reading various accounts in Phoenix and other places, I have the impression that Magnavox (and Philips) were never really that committed to the Odyssey/Odyssey2. I think they viewed it as a quick fad, not as something that deserved a lot of investment in terms of hiring programmers, buying licenses, doing heavy marketing. Remember half of Magnavox's O2 games were programmed by one guy, and the only reason they got programmed at all was because he saw the potential of videogames, and management let him have his way. I don't think Magnavox really wanted to be very involved in gaming at all, but may have felt compelled to by the easy profits to be had in the early '80s. By the time Philips really realized how profitable videogames could be (when they announced the Odyssey3), it was 1983 and the bottom was falling out of the market.

No management support + limited hardware + no arcade licenses = Limited chance for success, at best.

[vespertillio]

Heres a link to a thread over at AA where there are some pics I took of my Odyssey System and the light gun. Hope it helps.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=55230&highlight=

:D

[rolenta]

Here's a perfect place for a plug! Don't forget, Ralph Baer's book: Videogames: In The Beginning, will be available later this year from Rolenta Press!

[rbudrick]

The Odyssey is so strange. Being the first system, I don't think they really new where to go with it, making board game-like games out of it and all. It was really just an enhanced Pong unit!

The game cards don't even contain the game data. All 12 possible games were inside the system and the cards just determined which game got activated. Opening up an Odyssey is a weird experience. You'll see 12 little analog circuit boards popping up vertically from the main board...I assume these are the game circuitry. It's werid to think that a videogame system was made using absolutely no digital circuitry whatsoever...but the original Pong was, of course, like this too.

-Rob

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Actually, all of the possible game variations of the Odyssey are built-in. Those little circuit cards are more or less just "keys" that activate a certain variation.