Is the Videopac 7400+ pretty difficult to find these days?

[courtesi96]

How difficult is it tracking down a Videopac 7400+ these days?

As far as I can tell even in Europe the 7400+ was considered uncommon.

 

 

[VPB---]

Easy to find!

50 to 100$ unboxed

100 to 200$ boxed

[courtesi96]

Really? Where can you buy them?

[BillLoguidice]

I took me quite a while to find one for a decent price, and of course it was shipped from Europe to here in the US. This was a few years back. Unfortunately, the plastic case was a bit brittle and cracked in shipment, but otherwise it works well. I got mine from eBay.

[Flojomojo]

I took me quite a while to find one for a decent price, and of course it was shipped from Europe to here in the US. This was a few years back. Unfortunately, the plastic case was a bit brittle and cracked in shipment, but otherwise it works well. I got mine from eBay.

 

What do you play on it? I remember being very intrigued by the graphics shown in Odyssey 2 Adventure when I was young. Somehow, they don't impress me as much today.

 

[BillLoguidice]

 

What do you play on it? I remember being very intrigued by the graphics shown in Odyssey 2 Adventure when I was young. Somehow, they don't impress me as much today.

 

 

Well, I have multiple Odyssey2's, a Videopac G7200, and a Videopac+ G7401, along with lots of original software and accessories, and at least three different multi-/flash carts. Here's the thing about the Odyssey3/Videopac+ concept... It REALLY didn't do much save for adding in those fancy backgrounds. The same is true today with the countless homebrews that come out. It's more or less the same exact game whether played on a regular Odyssey2/Videopac as it is on a +, just with the latter having that fancy background. So, because I'm mental, I wanted the + so I could have the "optimal" experience, but really that amounts to RGB output and fancy backgrounds.

 

Now, if you ask me why I like Odyssey2/Videopac games, I'll tell you that I admire their relative simplicity, use of color, flicker free graphics, and occasional oddball concept. I'm also a fan of The Voice and the quirky keyboard. The + stuff I have no feelings for one way or the other. In fact, sometimes the backgrounds prove distracting!

 

EDIT: I do want to add that there are a handful of + only titles that do have "proper" sprites to along with the fancy backgrounds, but they still have a certain primitiveness to them. It proved wise I think that the Odyssey3 was never released here, because I don't think it would have been remotely competitive with something like the ColecoVision, let along anything released after it.

Edited February 1, 2017 by BillLoguidice

[carlsson]

Speaking of Videopac+ games, at the Swedish retro gaming event Retrospelsmässan 2015, they had a display of the G7400 and the available games. In order to give people something to talk about, whoever had organized the display had added a spoof game in the glass case. To understand the cover, you must know that Gaminggrannar is a trio of people (DAVE and his girlfriend EKKen, and her brother HirO who used to be neighbours) who run one of the biggest Swedish retro gaming vlogs and visit every retro gaming event in order to make a full coverage. Basically very well known and respected people in the community.

 

So here it is - Gaminggrannar Rescue. I don't know if the cover even origins from a real Videopac game or was entirely made up, but it really made several of us curious.

Edited February 1, 2017 by carlsson

[Flojomojo]

Now, if you ask me why I like Odyssey2/Videopac games, I'll tell you that I admire their relative simplicity, use of color, flicker free graphics, and occasional oddball concept. I'm also a fan of The Voice and the quirky keyboard. The + stuff I have no feelings for one way or the other. In fact, sometimes the backgrounds prove distracting!

I'm with you, it's a (minor) crime that the Challenger series games on Odyssey 2 have been overlooked. If I were Bill Loguidice, I'd demand 16-bit style remakes for the next AtGames Sega Genesis portable.

 

Yeah, leaving the O3 on the drawing board was the right call. Those "high-resolution" backdrops just make the old games harder to see, and the reviews at Phosphor Dot Fossils make me feel better having missed them.

 

Freedom Fighters almost looks better than the original, though.

[courtesi96]

I agree with everything that has been stated. The background graphics do look distracting.

 

However I'm looking to get back into the Odyssey and don't currently have any hardware. One of my favorite games is Killer Bees and while there is a 7400+ version - also with distracting graphics - there was a release of it with the original Odyssey 3 graphics which are far less distracting.

 

So given the fact that Odyssey 2 console prices are a bit high right now I figured well if I'm going to pay that much money anyway I might as well pay a little extra and try to locate a 7400 which may have RGB as an added bonus. Yes I would need to get a power converter/etc. but it would be kind of cool to get something that exotic.

 

I think on my "want" list I've got:

Killer Bees+ (O^3 edit), Killer Bees std, KC Munchkin, Turtles, Pick Axe Pete, UFO ... and I think that's it.

[CatPix]

The Videopac+ is uncommon, but is also in very low demand, so it's not too hard to find.

 

Easy to find!

50 to 100$ unboxed

100 to 200$ boxed

Wow.

Where do you got those prices?

 

I can find Videopac+ unboxed for between 30 and 60€, and boxed ones can cranck the price up to 100€, but 200€, unless you get a stack of games with it is a silly price to pay.

 

For RGB, I have no solid proof but observations; there are two models, the G7400+ and G7401+.

 

The G7401+ should always have RGB out, but the G7400 can have or not have RGB out.

 

Edited February 1, 2017 by CatPix

[VPB---]

French G7400 has always RGB output. (no AV output)

European G7400 has only RF UHF output. You can mod an AV PAL output)

G7401 is always a french console (with RGB).

Sometimes the keyboard dooesn't work. You must change a IC.

The power button must be always replaced. Hard to find.

Sometimes the controllers doesn't work, You must replace one or two IC.

Or the controllers or cable are not working well.

Or the main 8048 is dead.

The console works from 120V to 240V without adapter

[Flojomojo]

VPB--- you remind me of something

[courtesi96]

French G7400 has always RGB output. (no AV output)

European G7400 has only RF UHF output. You can mod an AV PAL output)

G7401 is always a french console (with RGB).

Sometimes the keyboard dooesn't work. You must change a IC.

The power button must be always replaced. Hard to find.

Sometimes the controllers doesn't work, You must replace one or two IC.

Or the controllers or cable are not working well.

Or the main 8048 is dead.

The console works from 120V to 240V without adapter

 

Ok you cured my desire for a 7400. O^2 it is!

[CatPix]

French G7400 has always RGB output. (no AV output)

European G7400 has only RF UHF output. You can mod an AV PAL output)

G7401 is always a french console (with RGB).

The console works from 120V to 240V without adapter

 

Interesting

It's fun to see how France is such an odd market sometime.

Like when I saw peopel complaining about the SMS2 lacking RGB out

 

Tho, when you say, "no A/V" it's not totally true. The G7401 have RGB and RF out, so there is A/V as RF and internally as SECAM composite inside.

I don't know if the G7400 have RF out or not. I don't even know if there is a difference in fact between a French G7400 and a G7401 ?

[VPB---]

I think the french G7400 and the G7401 are the same except the keyboard. They have both RGB and RF Secam outputs

The french consoles have a RF SECAM output but it's obsolete for our TV.

Inside the RGB output, the synchro signal is NOT a video composite signal but a sync0 sign in B/W.

[CatPix]

Ah, keyboard. Make sense.

For the sync signal, theyre might not even be luma signal in.

Most consoles of the era made in RGB had no luma - the Yeno Super Cassette Vision, the Colecovision, Atari 7800, NES, SMS Model 1 and Megadrive 1 - no luma signal, it's RGB or GTFO

[alex_79]

French G740x only output sync, not composite. You can modify them to have PAL composite instead of sync on the RGB connector:

http://videopac.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1769.0

 

All PAL G7400 can be modified to add the RGB output, as they have the exact same board as the French versions, only with some areas unpopulated (So the mod only consists in soldering the components back on the main PCB; no extra wires or boards needed).

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/odyssey2/articles/g7400guide/rgbmod.php

[CatPix]

Thanks for confirming.

8 bits computers usually had luma, for monitors, but as I mentionned, RGB-modified consoles for the French market, up to the SNES and the Megadrive and SMS models II had neither PAL, SECAM or luma output. It would have been odd for the Videopac to have it; tho not impossible as SECAM signl was inside it already.

[carlsson]

Would you say that the G7400 and associated models, have more of those annoying problems than other contemporary consoles? More common errors on the G7400 than on the G7000, or other brands alltogether?