Consoles of the 70s, 80s, 90s & 2000s

[JP]

GamesRadar have an article running on the different decades of console gaming.

They have them in four chapters:

• Consoles of the '70s
• Consoles of the '80s
• Consoles of the '90s
• Consoles of the 2000s

Some of them are completely new to me while others are consoles I've owned and I'm sure that I've played others but I'm really not sure how I would have.

These are some of the favourites that I've definately not played. I really had no idea that there was a SNES 2

RCA Studio II (1977)
Already obsolete by the time it hit stores; the Studio II?s games were in black and white and made simple beeping sounds. Five games were built in and utilized key pads as the controllers. Completely killed off once the Atari 2600 was released.



Nintendo Color TV-Block Busters (1979)
Featuring a similar design to the Color TV Game 6, this design featured one dial for use on included game, Breakout. This system holds the honor of being one of Shigeru Miyamoto?s first videogaming projects after joining up with Nintendo a few years prior. Undeniably, he would have a great effect on Nintendo. But that?s a story for another day.



Console: Sharp Twin Famicom - Japan (1986)
Manufacturer: Sharp
Discontinued: 1992
Sharp released a combined console of both Famicom and the disk system under a licensed agreement. La-dee-da.

Console: Super NES 2 (1997)
Manufacturer: Nintendo
Discontinued in: 2000
A smaller Super NES/Super Famicom, now with no eject button or expansion slot.

Console: Genesis 3 (1998)
Manufacturer: Majesco
Discontinued in: 1998
A third, even tinier alt of the Genesis released at a huge discount (nearing $20 at its end) that stripped everything but the most basic cart-playing functionality. And yes, it was indeed released by Majesco, who also trotted out the Game Gear well after its prime.

I'm sure most of the consoles mention have been discussed here before but I thought it would be a good idea to get a general thread about the older ones.

Perhaps there is a console that you remember from years ago that is still your favourite or maybe one of these is completely new to you and you'd love to find out more.

I'm seriously thinking about starting up a hand held collection as I've had a few over the years but after reading this there are probably quite a few that I've heard of before.

Any thoughts on any of these consoles?

[yesteryeargames]

Only thought I have is that I have 2 SNES 2 consoles - AKA the SNES MINI - and I love em!
There was also a Japanese Super famicom 2 called the Super Famicom Jr - Looks the same as the SNES 2 but with different colour buttons.

[MattyD]

Majesco put out a hell of a lot of Sega knock-offs* etc like that Genesis 3. They were still selling Master System games and consoles in Brazil, and making good sales, up until very recently.

Those Sharp Famicom Twins are dead expensive now as well. Sharp also released a few other interesting Famicoms like a bedroom TV / Famicom combo.

* Yes I know they were licensed but yeah whatever

[KusoGaki]

I have an SFC JR, the image/sound quality isn't as good as it's bigger brother.

Console looks nice though, and i do like how tiny it is.

[JP]

Did anybody here have either of these two?

Console: NeoGeo Pocket (1998)
Manufacturer: SNK
Discontinued in: 1999
A decent attempt at attacking Game Boy, but lack of color and dismal software support meant this one was dead within a year. It was quickly replaced by the Pocket Color in 1999, which played all the B&W games too. Mostly known for its surprisingly fun fighting games (Match of the Millennium) and a not-too-shabby Sonic game. All it took was the suggestion that a new, more powerful Game Boy was on its way to put both regular and Color out of the race.



Console: Zodiac (2003)
Manufacturer: Tapwave
Discontinued: 2005
Designed to run off an updated version of the Palm OS, the Zodiac received all kinds of awards from tech magazines for merging PDAs with gaming. However, due to pressure from its direct competitor, the DS, Tapwave decided to stop developing for it.

I don't know much about the Zodiac really but my girlfriend at the time had a NeoGeo. I'm tempted to pick up one of the NeoGeo colours now as I seem to remember that they didn't have many games but what they had were really good.

[JammyD]

GamesRadar's got pretty spammy these days.

Anyway, there's no Panasonic Q or PSX listed although there's a whole load of variations on the NES/Master System/SNES/MD I hadn't known about.

[AllYourBase]

Philips Videopac G7000 - Europe
Literally the same exact thing as the Magnavox Odyssey 2. Philips - parent company to Magnavox - released it as such in Europe.


This was my first console, and what a turd! I would have received this much later than 1978 when Kays Catalogue were pushing them at a discount price, which made it look attractive against the Atari 2600. Sadly the few games it did have were horribly overpriced at ?30 each and because no one else I knew had one you couldn't do swops. Unlike the Atari games there were no big brands, all the games were generic clones based on Atari games. Awful !!

[t-bone-retro]

Yeah when I got one of those GX7000 from a car boot sale for a fiver I was not impressed with the Atari clones that came with it!

I really like that smaller version of the snes and the megadrive

[CMcK]

Did anybody here have either of these two?
I don't know much about the Zodiac really but my girlfriend at the time had a NeoGeo. I'm tempted to pick up one of the NeoGeo colours now as I seem to remember that they didn't have many games but what they had were really good.

The NGP colour is a corker. Best d-pad of any system ever. Great battery life as well.

Interesting articles there but I wonder how many of those systems were actually available in the UK? I remeber the Ataris, the Philips G7000 and Intellivision but can't say I've seen many of the other 70's systems.

[^Katsu]

I have one of these myself, beautiful and tiny MD

[MattyD]

Didn't the SNES Jnr only have RF output or something? I could be getting it mixed up with the NES Jnr. I noticed they didn't include the Famicom AV either which is a real oversight as it's a lovely machine.

I know the Colecovision was released in the UK too as it was my first console. My favourite games were Donkey Kong, Subroc, Zaxxon and Cosmic Avenger. I'm not sure but I reckon the Colecovision must be the only console to have featured games from both Nintendo and Sega as third-parties?

Also, Kats, what's the compatibility like on the min Genesis? Is it region free? Also what video outputs does it have? Play Asia have them for about £20 so I might get one if they have full compatibility etc.

[Mayhem]

The NGP colour is a corker. Best d-pad of any system ever. Great battery life as well.

He really means the original b/w unit, and yes I have a couple of them here in addition to a few colour units.

I've actually had my hands on most of those listed in the 70s and 80s, but yes you are right, a lot of them were US only. That Coleco Combat one for instance, just woah when you see it. And the Telstar Arcade, with its strange triangle design.

Though they missed out the Vectrex! Blimey, best get ranting to them heh... and the Entex Adventurevision, but that one's a bit obscure. No Radofin or its clones either...?

[JP]

I do like the look of the Genesis 3, well apart from the big 3 on it.

With the NeoGeo Color, is there any reason to import or not import or are you getting the same everywhere? Is there any reason to go for the standard version over the colour version? There seems to be quite a few different colours of console available but was there any rare/unusual versions released that are worth looking out for?

[CMcK]

Personally I think the carbon fibre look pocket was the best looking. IIRC they were region free so a UK supplied model would be a good bet.

[Cauterize]

I do like the look of the Genesis 3, well apart from the big 3 on it.

With the NeoGeo Color, is there any reason to import or not import or are you getting the same everywhere? Is there any reason to go for the standard version over the colour version? There seems to be quite a few different colours of console available but was there any rare/unusual versions released that are worth looking out for?

There is a really awesome Clear Yellow version avaliable, not sure which region it was released in thou but i have some memory of it being Japanese only