Magnavox Odyssey 2 official thread !

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So here it is, the official Magnavox Odyssey 2 thread !

I've got a question for the experts here... I have a good amount of O2 games in my collection and most of them come in those odd thick plastic cases like the ones at the bottom of this picture :



The thing is, I can't find any info about these boxes, all I do find is stuff about the cardboard boxes and those are the ones that are sold on eBay right now.

Not that I want to sell my O2 games but I do want to put a certain value on my collection. Are these plastic cases more rare ? I live near Montreal so maybe it's a Canadian thing, I don't know.

If someone could give me some info I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

[Hobie-wan]

I've had my O² since I was a kid and I never saw games in plastic cases like that here in the southern US.

You need UFO and Pick Axe Pete.

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These aren't my games, it's just one of the rare pictures I've found that had these cases !

I'll post a picture of my actual O2 collection, I already have UFO but I don't have Pick Axe Pete. :p Maybe I'll grab it when my funds get better.

So that may mean that I have canadian exclusive cases. I do have some games in normal cardboard boxes but most of them have the plastic cases.

[Thierry Henry]

AFAIK, those hinged plastic cases weren't only exclusive to Canada.
I believe in Europe Videopac O² games were also released with similar type of packaging.



BTW, is this what the back of one of your Canadian plastic cases looks like? ("Value Village" sticker and all )







Looks like the artwork on both box and cart is more detailed and colorful on the US based games.
From an aesthetic point of view I definitely prefer those.

[KalessinDB]

Try as I might, I can't get into pre-2600 games. I can barely get into pre-NES games. I have a boxed (no styrofoam, just outer box) O^2 and a handful of games I would let go cheap if anyone's looking...

[Thierry Henry]

Try as I might, I can't get into pre-2600 games. I can barely get into pre-NES games. I have a boxed (no styrofoam, just outer box) O^2 and a handful of games I would let go cheap if anyone's looking...

Aside from collecting purposes and tinkering with the various consoles of that era, I'm not a huge fan (gameplay wise) of that gaming era either.
If you pressed me on a pre-NES system I'd probably opt for the ColecoVision.

An older friend of mine (he was based in the US at that time) had this viewpoint:
(I'm paraphrasing here but this was the gist of it)

"yea we laughed at this junk, and then went to the arcade to play real (Sega) games.
There was no "Video Game Crash", it was just that ppl realized what horrible crap they were tryin' to sell us and we stopped buying!"



Ok that's ultra harsh but the way he said it literally cracked me up.



Anyway,

So back to the thread title,

The way I got into the Odyssey 2 was that I bought it mainly as a type of "novelty" item, that and the fact that it was pretty cheap even for a complete boxed system with games included.

And for the longest time I couldn't get to test it out because I thought I needed one of those "F" to Phono Plug Adapters so the RF cable can be compatible with my TV.
It finally dawned on me that all I had to do was to find my RF lead that I use for my C64, Intellivision, etc, and just plug that in.
It's just a case of removing a hex screw which is holding firm the cord inside the unit, and then literally just a simple process of unplugging the existing cord and fitting in the other one.

When I finally did set everything up I must admit I got a bit of a kick out of that "Voice" add-on module.
I mean for it's time it must have been helluva impressive! It's a vast improvement regarding sound capabilities over the beeps and boops of its contemporaries.

[disrupture]

Here's some pictures of one of the games.







So yeah it's exactly like yours. This means that I've got a mix of US and Canadian games.

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Oh and I also prefer the US games' art, it's much more colorful and attractive.

Edit: I just noticed they made some translation errors, it should read "fait au Canada" instead of "fait en Canada"

[Thierry Henry]

A while back I managed to find locally the European version (Philips Videopac G7000) of the Odyssey² system.

(In decent shape except for a missing cover for one of the joysticks action/fire buttons)







It looks almost exactly the same as my US console. Interestingly though, there's no power button on this Euro version.
I have to admit, I don't think I've previously encountered a console that didn't have at least some semblance of an on-switch - this had me baffled for a while. lol
So it's a case of you just plug the thing in and off you go.

Also, this console came with detachable silver joysticks. My other Odyssey²'s black joysticks are hardwired (though they are not directly soldered to the mainboard).

The "Voice" module works with this system as well though as far as I know none of the PAL released games support it.

[Jagosaurus]

My father in law has a great O2 collection. He kept them all, original owner, prob 20-25 boxed games.

He has the big box Wall Street shown above. He has another oversized box that looks like a board game RPG. Maybe it's Quest for the Rings. I'll snap some photos next time I'm in town.