The Top 28 Magnavox Odyssey Games

[tom]

1: Interplanetary Voyage
2: W.I.N.
3: Invasion
4: Cat and Mouse
5: Simon Says
6: Ski
7: Brainwave
8: Wipeout
9: Fun Zoo
10: Percepts
11: Shooting Gallery
12: Prehistoric Safari
13: Table Tennis
14: Haunted House
15: Submarine
16: Roulette
17: Analogic
18: Tennis
19: Volleyball
20: States
21: Shootout
22: Dogfight
23: Hockey
24: Football
25: Basketball
26: Handball
27: Baseball
28: Soccer (European game only)

That just shows: I hate sports games

[mezrabad]

!!!!

Okay, Interplanetary Voyage at #1, no argument there.

W.I.N. at #2? While I really like the design I found gameplay to be rather annoying. The idea of moving something one can't see in a videogame bothers me. I'd rank this in the twenties.

#3, Invasion. I really wanted to like Invasion. Really. I'd rank it in the teens for effort.

#4, Cat and Mouse. We were only able to have fun with this after changing the game to Pikachu and Meowth. I'd rank it in the mid-teens.

#5, Simon Says, I'd put in the low teens. My daughter and I had fun with it.

#6, Ski definitely deserves a spot in the top 10.

#7, Brainwave is definitely top 10 material, though I might even put it in the top 5.

#8, Wipeout. Ah, the first home videogame with emergent gameplay. (It's not just a lap timer, it's a big gun!) Absolutely worthy of top 10.

#9, Fun Zoo. My daughter and I liked this one, too. I'd keep it in the top 10 as well.

#10, Percepts. Not crazy about this myself. mid-teens.

#11,12 I'd probably put the whole Shooting Gallery set on the cusp of the top ten and lower teens with Prehistoric Safari as my favorite (Sounds like thunder! tastes like chicken!)

#13 Table Tennis, I'd probably bump this into the higher teens. Closer to it's spiritual sibling Tennis.

#14 Haunted House at 14!!! Outrageous! I'd have this in my top 10.

#15 Technically the first shooter but not too great. I'd probably keep it right here where it is.

#16 Roulette! Merde! This would be ranked last for me, below even Soccer though I haven't even played Soccer.

#17 Analogic. Yeah, 17 is about right. I wanted to like this "Basic Math" game disguised as Sci-Fi puzzler game but I just couldn't.

#18, Tennis. Yeah, that's about right.

#19, Hockey, Ditto.

#20. States. Hmm, I would probably put this in the low teens probably having to do with this information actually being relevant to my children.

#21: Shootout "You'll never git me, Sheriiff!" I'd put this around 10 or 11.

#22 Dogfight. Ditto.

#23. Football. Blech. Perfect place for this overcomplicated mess of a game.

#24 Basketball. !!! Wow, I'm at the opposite end for this one. This'd be in my top 5, maybe even top 3.

#25. Handball. Yeah, 25 is fine.

#26. Baseball. I actually liked the idea of this baseball game. I'd rank this in the mid to upper teens.

#27. Soccer. Never played it, but I'm thinking it should go here.

Hey, you forgot Volleyball!!! Which I would rank in the High Teens. Hey did you ever notice? Six players in Odyssey Volleyball, six players in Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball? Coincidence? I think not!

Yeah, I'll actually go through and make my own list based on my comments and see if it adds up. In the mean time my general impressions of all of them are in my blog. One at a time.

Great list, Tom!

[mezrabad]

Whew. My. First. List of Rankings For a System. Ever.

01:Interplanetary Voyage
02:Brainwave
03:Basketball
04:Haunted House
05:Ski
06:Wipeout
07:Fun Zoo
08:Prehistoric Safari
09:Shootout
10:Shooting Gallery
11ogfight
12:Simon Says
13:States
14:Submarine
15:Invasion
16:Baseball
17:Cat and Mouse
18:Percepts
19:Analogic
20:Table Tennis
21:Tennis
22:W.I.N.
23:Volleyball
24:Handball
25:Hockey
26:Soccer
27:Football
28:Roulette

We really disagree on W.I.N. and Basketball, don't we?

[mezrabad]

Oops. Double Post.

[tom]

How could I miss Volleyball?......corrected.

I read your blog too, mezrabad
it is very entertaining.
Anyway, great comments from you.

Maybe I should like the Basketball game better, I'd give it a go this weekend again.

[mezrabad]

Maybe I should like the Basketball game better, I'd give it a go this weekend again.

We really had a great time with Basketball, honest, and neither of us (neither my son, nor I) are into videogame sports. We found it to be the most fast paced and "modern" of the games. Sure, it's only yet another version of pong, but we liked it.

[kirin jensen]

Man.

Would it be possible to create a new program card for the Odyssey?

That would be a total mindfuck.

[mezrabad]

Man.

Would it be possible to create a new program card for the Odyssey?

That would be a total mindfuck.

It's not impossible, in fact, I think David Winter homebrewed a sort of "multi cart" with switches on it to allow a user to configure a card so that it would match the connections for any of the cards.

I wanted to do a sequel to Interplanetary Voyage, called Interstellar Voyage that had updated astronomy questions and used similar answer code system to the old one (except the answers would be something to do with star types). I realized I couldn't be bothered to manufacture a bunch of cart #12s (no idea how) and making a homebrew set of question cards and an overlay for something that only a handful of people might play could be expensive.

Still, it would be a really cool game . . .