Retro|Spective 218: Hardware

[Neon Ignition]

We've covered a lot of gaming history over the hundreds of threads, thousands of games and near decade that Retro|Spective threads have been running for. None of that is possible however, without the devices that make it all possible. Here, we celebrate the designs and memories of the machines themselves.


Retro|Spective 218: Hardware

Numerous companies have produced generations of consoles, some takign traditional approaches and some using a range of unique ideas to try to appeal to the masses. Some have been beloved but died regardless, some are less enthused over but were sustained by other factors. Each will have delivered their own experiences to gamers and each also carry their own design philosophies.

What are your memories of each as we begin our journey through time, and did they make use of good designs?



Hardware 01 - Vectrex



The vector display home console, released in the early 80's, is a hardware release that few may have actually played with. It is however an early and distinct home console that holds its own unique place in gaming history.

What are/were your thoughts on the Vectrex?

[Asura]

I had always wondered about them until I got to try one in ~2012, and I'll admit, they're a pretty cool device. As the analog display uses vector graphics, you get diagonal lines of any sort and angle which are completely smooth, and I could imagine that being pretty mesmerising at the time.

[wakka]

I recently got to try a Vectrex for the first time, at the Science Museum. It's never been a machine that held a huge amount of fascination for me, but trying it in person enabled me to see understand its cult status much better. The screen really is totally unique. The glowing lines look kind of self-emissive against the black backdrop, and it has a very 'high frame rate' feel. As Asura says, quite a mesmerising effect.

Even putting the vector display to one side, the overall form factor is very distinctive. I can't think of another desktop-style console with in-built display. The PSone with its official screen attachment, I suppose.

[CMcK]

The Vectrex was my holy grail system and I finally picked one up locally about three years ago. It's just so different from any other home system. I suppose because I'm old enough to remember vector display based arcades I had a nostalgia for that kind of thing. But the comparatively small Vectrex library is full of shooters which is right up my street. And the homebrew scene is surprisingly strong given the relatively limited userbase.
The system itself is has a strangely modern look to it with little in the way of design flourishes and the all in one form factor is gives it a small footprint when not in use. The screen really is central to its appeal. The smooth motion of the vectors and that almost eerie glow is so unlike what we all experienced with CRTs and laterly flat panels.
It really is a system everyone should try.

[QualityChimp]

When I was 10, I went to Holland with my swimming team and I stayed at a Dutch family's house.

I remember them having Nutella spread and a Vectrex system.

I swam in an outdoor pool and we went to a big park with a few rides in it.

Those are my memories of the Vectrex.

[Mayhem]

We are starting with the Vectrex huh?

Heard about them during the 80s, didn’t get to play one until the late 90s and got my first console in 1999. So I’ve been in the scene for over 25 years thoroughly enjoying the system and all the new unbelievable stuff being made for it.

[Neon Ignition]

I've seen one at a Manchester Expo once but never played on one, one fo the few machines to slip away from me

[Neon Ignition]

Hardware 02 - Magnavox Odyssey
Ground zero for the console, the Odyssey launched in 1972 and established the ever constant model of a console under your TV with controllers leading off it for players. With games that played on popular arcade released of the time such as a Pong clone, the system established itself as an early first generation leader.



What are/were your thoughts on the Odyssey?

[Asura]

I don't think I've ever actually used one. Wasn't it the first console with interchangeable cartridges?

[Nu-Eclipse]

I don't think I've ever actually used one. Wasn't it the first console with interchangeable cartridges?

It was the first console, period.

I've never used one before, either.

RIP (and thank you) Ralph H. Baer.

[Neon Ignition]

Hardware 03 - Philips CD-i
Released in several forms, it was the 450/550/750 that shared the most recognisable and console like forms. Famously host to the most un-Nintendo like Nintendo ip exclusives, the CD based system never attained success but is famous none the less.



What are/were your thoughts on the CD-i?

[Asura]

Only ever played this within a branch of Currys (Comet? Dixons?). I remember playing through one of the puzzles in The 7th Guest, and something called Escape from Cybercity, which I don't remember so well but I think was like Dragon's Lair?

I don't ever remember being particularly enamoured with it. I've seen YouTubers etc. revisit in the decades since and it really seems like a total misfire. You wonder, sometimes, how some of these things ever got made.

I know hindsight is 2020 but then you get people like Techmoan talking about old, say, movie formats, and explaining "oh yeah, so this VH2000XBeta SuperMax tape format could only store 74 minutes of footage, meaning a complete movie needed to come on two cassette rods", and some of these old platforms really feel like they have fundamental flaws that really should've killed them on the drafting table.

[wakka]

I've not used a CDi personally although I recently used an emulator to play Tetris CDi, which is an extremely cool version of the game with an amazing vaporwave soundtrack and short looping FMV clips of nature (waterfalls, deserts, etc) as backgrounds.

I don't ever remember being particularly enamoured with it. I've seen YouTubers etc. revisit in the decades since and it really seems like a total misfire. You wonder, sometimes, how some of these things ever got made.

I know hindsight is 2020 but then you get people like Techmoan talking about old, say, movie formats, and explaining "oh yeah, so this VH2000XBeta SuperMax tape format could only store 74 minutes of footage, meaning a complete movie needed to come on two cassette rods", and some of these old platforms really feel like they have fundamental flaws that really should've killed them on the drafting table.

I think I can understand the thinking behind the CDi, flawed as it was.

In 1990 I can imagine that it was starting to become clear that informational content would soon be accessed primarily digitally, rather than from a library. With the internet still in its infancy, it made sense that rich content like encyclopedias would be issued on hard copy, but that they would also require some level of interactivity to be usable (which neither video cassette formats or Laserdisc offered). Also known as multimedia.

On top of that, video CDs would have been well under development and coming soon. These would offer obvious advantages over cassette video - lower production cost, no need to rewind, smaller to store in your home, etc.

And on top of all THAT, music CDs were already a thing, had been for some years, and were continually growing in popularity.

You can see how you might perceive that a combined system that could access all of these would be attractive. And once you had built out all of these capabilities, you may as well offer game software too, since it could effectively be a by-product of the rest of these ideas.

Of course the reality is that the 'multimedia' concept never really took off, and was effectively a technological Galapagos since it would be subsumed by improving internet speeds and and increase in sophistication of websites by the mid-to-late 90s. VCD never knocked VHS off its perch, either. And since most people already had a CD player, the CD playback probably wasn't all that much of a draw.

On top of all that, games were really an afterthought for CDi. It wasn't marketed as a games console primarily until around 93 or 94 (after a 1990 launch), by which time competition in the games industry was absolutely red hot and a three year old system that hadn't been primarily designed with games in mind didn't have a hope.

So it's obvious why it failed, but I think the initial rationale for it does make some sense to me in the context of the time.

[Baseley09]

I bought a new old stock cdi a few years back, which I no longer have after the time keeper chip went. If it goes, some games won't start and you can't save anything, you have to dremel it out of a chip and replace with a modern alternative, I couldnt be bothered and got rid, fatal hardware fault

Game wise, there is jank and then there is cdi jank. Some games do impress like burn cycle and the fmv is amazing for the time period even for titles that don't use the expansion cart. But the dross is insane, like pc cover disc clip art games.

[Neon Ignition]

Hardware 04 - Panasonic 3DO
We reach the first point in our journey where multiple distinct models of a console exist and so begin the first stop on our tour of the 3DO with Panasonic's version of the machine which is perhaps the most recognisable. Standing on four pillars, the CD based console was an early attempt at pulling business away from Sega and Nintendo whilst also making consoles a more open platform with multiple munfacturer models.



What are/were your thoughts of the Panasonic 3DO version?