Who Owned An "Unpopular" System?

[Tempest]

I vividly remember how tough it was trying to find ADAM software in computer stores back then. That's why I'll never buy an Apple.

 

You mean a modern Apple or an Apple II? I never had trouble getting software for my Applie IIe back in the day. You had to go to computer stores rather than toy stores however.

 

 

It used some odd language ALF, ALP, something like that. I'm really stretching my memory now.

 

It used APL. Here's a little blurb from my unpublished VideoBrain section I did.

 

APL stands for "A Programming Language." APL was created by IBM in the 1960’s as a powerful executable notation for mathematical algorithms. It’s unknown why VideoBrain decided to go with APL instead of the more popular and easier to use BASIC, but this may have been one of the downfalls of the system. Programs can be saved onto a standard cassette using Expander 1.

 

 

Tempest

[spongebue]

I never had an unpopular system for its day, but I bought a Timex Sinclair 1000, kind of repaired a master system at work, and borrowed a CD-i recently.

[+davidcalgary29]

Given the early release and power of the machine the XE line was really

a dud compared to what the Apple II and C=64 had sold. You need only

look at old catalogs from companies like SSI. Those two were the main

release platforms and the XE was lucky to get ports of only the most

popular games. But that old quote really puts a good light on the XEGS

line's inception. In the sense of getting new retailers it was quite a sly

move.

 

I quite disagree. SSI was a very early A8 supporter, and it started to port titles to the C64 only in '83. It's true that quite that SSI shifted emphasis to the C64 after '85, but that was also true of most other software developers.

 

It appears that, from all accounts, the XEGS was designed by Atari to take advantage of its extremely large stock of component A8 parts; it was opportunistic, not planned.

I think a fair comparison of the success of the XEGS is with the 64GS; the 64GS was, quite literally, a total bomb, and sold only a few thousand units. It's now extremely rare outside of the UK and, perhaps, the Netherlands, while XEGS units can be found everywhere.

 

And, finally, while I'm pleased to blame the Tramiels where they were at fault, it must be remembered that the majority of A8 machines were sold when they owned Atari. I've often wondered why Time Warner did squat to market the 800 when it had a virtual monopoly on the home computer -- entertainment market from '79 to late '82.

[desiv]

I've often wondered why Time Warner did squat to market the 800 when it had a virtual monopoly on the home computer -- entertainment market from '79 to late '82.

 

You might be overstating that a tad..

 

 

"The first VIC-20s ended up on store shelves in 1981. During that time, the peak production rate hit 9000 units per day -- impressive even now. In 1982, sales reached $305 million."

 

I'm not taking anything away fro the A8's, but when Commodore hit, it was big.

 

Must have been William Shatner in the ads that did it.. :-)

 

desiv

 

p.s. Interesting history page: Vic-20 History

[holygrailvideogames.com]

As a kid I owned an Atari 2600, 5200, Intellivision, Colecovision, Vectrex, Astrocade (2, the first one was the white unit and it didn't work), a PCJR, and several Adam computers (none of them ever worked).

[Kialan]

Dang I had gotten on my Playstation rant and I totally forgot!!

 

I got a Virtual Boy when they came out because I thought it was such a unique and innovative idea. I managed to get 5 games before the stores stopped carrying them: Wario Land (it's not called Wario Cruise), Mario Clash, Galactic Pinball, Panic Bomber, and the pack in Mario's Tennis. I also got the ac adapter tap because I hate batteries. Someday I'd really like to complete my virtual boy collection.

 

Game Gear also wasn't popular but I got it..

 

I can't really say I got any more unpopular systems when they were still being made, because you know I'm 16 so many of them were before my time. But I do have them now.

[PaulEMoz]

The Saturn. I loved it then, moved countries, bought one off eBay and I love it now. And when I move back to England, I'll buy another one and love it then too. In fact, I'll be having a blast on a few Saturn classics in just a few minutes!

[icbrkr]

All you Timex/Sinclair owners. See' date=' if you had grown up in the UK' date=' you would have been at the top of the pecking order. The Spectrum was the undisputed king of the playground (mainly because it was really cheap and the tapes were really easy to copy )[/quote'']

 

Uh, the Timex/Sinclair 1000 is NOT the same as the Sinclair Spectrum; it's actually based on the Spectrum's predecessor, the Sinclair ZX81, just with 2K RAM memory under the hood rather than 1K that the ZX81 had. An American version of the Spectrum, the Timex/Sinclair 2068, was released, but it never was well-known enough for me to even locate it, and also it was incompatible with the Spectrum machines.

 

*Mostly* incompatible. There is a cartridge, however, that plugs into the front cartridge slot that allows you to play most Spectrum games (I'm still looking for it!).

[DeV0]

I owned some crappy Hanimex cartridge based console around the early 2600 day, I had a few carts for it and one with ten variations of pong. The joysticks where crap and I bent then within a few weeks. The graphics werent as good as the arcadia so i dont know what it was. An Odessey or whatever they are called??

 

I also had a Dick Smith Wizard which was like an intellivision, It had a knock off rally x on it and a few other games. The graphics seemed a little bit better then the 2600 but the games blew goats.

 

The best unpoular system I had was a vectrex, It wasnt all that poular here to the best of my knowledge. I had scramble, a berserk clone and the rest i cant remember, The built in game was mine ???

[Tempest]

I owned some crappy Hanimex cartridge based console around the early 2600 day, I had a few carts for it and one with ten variations of pong. The joysticks where crap and I bent then within a few weeks. The graphics werent as good as the arcadia so i dont know what it was. An Odessey or whatever they are called??

 

There was an Arcadia clone called the Hanimex HMG-2650. There was also a lint of Hanimex systems that were clones of something not released in the US. I forget what that family is called.

 

Tempest

[Fellow Atari Man]

The best unpoular system I had was a vectrex' date=' It wasnt all that poular here to the best of my knowledge. I had scramble, a berserk clone and the rest i cant remember, The built in game was mine ???[/quote']

 

That game WAS Berzerk, unless it was some pirate cart over there.

 

And the built in game is Mine Storm.

[DeV0]

I owned some crappy Hanimex cartridge based console around the early 2600 day' date=' I had a few carts for it and one with ten variations of pong. The joysticks where crap and I bent then within a few weeks. The graphics werent as good as the arcadia so i dont know what it was. An Odessey or whatever they are called?? [/quote']

 

There was an Arcadia clone called the Hanimex HMG-2650. There was also a lint of Hanimex systems that were clones of something not released in the US. I forget what that family is called.

 

Tempest

 

Ive got the hanimex arcadia, The one I was talking about was earlier then that. No keypads, just a stick and button,

[BigFairy321]

The best unpoular system I had was a vectrex, It wasnt all that poular here to the best of my knowledge. I had scramble, a berserk clone and the rest i cant remember, The built in game was mine ???

 

 

i would kill to play on a vectrex now...

 

one of my mates had one when i was young and i remember spending huge amounts of time playing minestorm........... ahhhh

 

theyare pretty expensive to buy on ebay and there aint much of them here in aus....i really want on though............

[Vic George 2K3]

Uh' date=' the Timex/Sinclair 1000 is NOT the same as the Sinclair Spectrum; it's actually based on the Spectrum's predecessor, the Sinclair ZX81, just with 2K RAM memory under the hood rather than 1K that the ZX81 had. An American version of the Spectrum, the Timex/Sinclair 2068, was released, but it never was well-known enough for me to even locate it, and also it was incompatible with the Spectrum machines.[/quote']

 

*Mostly* incompatible. There is a cartridge' date=' however, that plugs into the front cartridge slot that allows you to play most Spectrum games (I'm still looking for it!).[/quote']

 

Thanks for the clarification.

[jhd]

It wasn't a video game system but I owned a Tandy Coco 2 and 3 back when everyone else had the Commodore 64.

 

They used to throw 5 1/4 disks at me in Data Processing class in High School. I'm still in therapy

 

Almost the same situation here. I had an original Coco. I met like two other people who had one and with whorm I could "trade" games.

 

That said, when I got to High School, the computer lab was equiped with Coco systems -- I rapidly became the "uber geek".

 

My first job was just after graduation; the Principal hired me to maintain the computer lab part-time. I was the only person who understood how the network setup worked

[DeV0]

The best unpoular system I had was a vectrex' date=' It wasnt all that poular here to the best of my knowledge. I had scramble, a berserk clone and the rest i cant remember, The built in game was mine ???[/quote']

 

That game WAS Berzerk, unless it was some pirate cart over there.

 

And the built in game is Mine Storm.

 

 

Yes! Minestorm, That was a pretty cool game. The berserk wasnt a pirate so must be the real thing.

 

BTW, My Vectrex still exists today, It is in a friends mothers garage 1000 Km's away

[DracIsBack]

Do the Tandy Computers count?

I bought 1 for Dungeons Of Daggorath.

 

After about 5 minutes' date=' I asked myself....WHY?[/quote']

 

Heh heh - I did the same - except I got Daggorath for $2.

 

Castle Of Tharrogad (its sequel) wasn't any more fun, really.

 

There was one Co Co 3 game that I was addicted to ... a little known game called A MAZING WORLD OF MALCOLM MORTAR. I used to stay glued to that title.

[DracIsBack]

Given the early release and power of the machine the XE line was really

a dud compared to what the Apple II and C=64 had sold. You need only

look at old catalogs from companies like SSI. Those two were the main

release platforms and the XE was lucky to get ports of only the most

popular games. But that old quote really puts a good light on the XEGS

line's inception. In the sense of getting new retailers it was quite a sly

move.

 

The theory was cool, too bad it didn't work in practice.

 

I think a lot of consumers and store sales people were confused by what the thing was. I remember the one store I knew of that sold the XEGS in town had sales people who didn't even know you could add a disk drive or anything.

 

Plus, the games were dated compared to Nintendo and Sega's offerings and it competed for resources with the 2600 and 7800.

[Saikyo]

Well I used to have a Dragon 32' date=' that is until the tape deck broke

Ill have to try and find another one of these days! [/quote']

 

I've got 2 Dragon 32's and they are still working fine. One of my favourite systems of all time.

 

Yes it's one of my favourites too! also the strangest thing is you have 2

and I had 2! I got them both at the same time as each other

 

One worked better than the other but the games were sweet! (Even though there were only certain colors available on the screen at the same time! )

[NintendoDieScreaming]

Chalk up another Saturn gamer.

 

Whilst America and Japan were high on Playsta, I was the only one at my school that had a Saturn.

 

Again, there werent many Genesis gamers in Elementary school either, everyone (But me.) had a Super NES. I, on the other hand, still do NOT own a Super NES.

 

I have an X-box, which is the least of the popular systems down in Georgia. Everyone's still estatic about the PS2. Not many people had a Dreamcast, now that I think of it. But more DC gamers than Saturn gamers.

 

 

Of course, whenever people come over, they question as to what the wooden box with joysticks coming out of it is. Of course, in the ost monotone voice possible, I reply: ATARI.

[SteveW]

All the talk about the Sinclair ZX81 and Timex Sinclair 1000 has jogged my memory. I remember seeing advertisements in magazines before Timex brought the Sinclair line to America, that you could get a Sinclair ZX80 by mail order for around $150. There was one catch, though. It came completely disassembled. They sold it as a computer kit. You got all the circuits and chips, and had to hand build it yourself. I always wanted to get one, but I was just a kid, and didn't have the technical skills to build it. It would be cool to do nowadays, though.

[onkyo_emu]

I remember my parents bringing home a Commodore Plus 4 with the Commodore 64. I guess it was buy one get one free!

 

At the time I couldn't figure out why the sleeker Plus 4 wasn't as popular as the C64.

 

Hmmm.

[Clock]

Well I used to have a Dragon 32, that is until the tape deck broke  

Ill have to try and find another one of these days!

 

I've got 2 Dragon 32's and they are still working fine. One of my favourite systems of all time.

 

Yes it's one of my favourites too! also the strangest thing is you have 2

and I had 2! I got them both at the same time as each other

 

One worked better than the other but the games were sweet! (Even though there were only certain colors available on the screen at the same time! )

 

Yeah some Microdeal games had a colour option at the start and I always choose Black & White (PMODE4) because it was a higher resolution

 

I fired them up a few months back just for the nostalgia - and time has been very cruel to the Dragon The games are still great to play though.

[Shannon]

I had an oddysey 2 system (although I also owned the 2600)

 

Sega game gear was the other.

 

If they count then also the dreamcast, N64, and gamecube.

 

I do not remember the N64 being very popular. Most people were into the playstation.

[Cootster]

I owned some crappy Hanimex cartridge based console around the early 2600 day, I had a few carts for it and one with ten variations of pong. The joysticks where crap and I bent then within a few weeks. The graphics werent as good as the arcadia so i dont know what it was. An Odessey or whatever they are called??

 

They're called PC-50X systems after the chipset, and they were designed apparently by the same firm as the Arcadia . . . Unlike it, they don't exist in NTSC format for NA/Japan . . .

 

I also had a Dick Smith Wizard which was like an intellivision, It had a knock off rally x on it and a few other games. The graphics seemed a little bit better then the 2600 but the games blew goats.

 

It's a knockoff of the VTech Creativision, which is actually a Colecovision clone (The European version even had an available adapter). Not sure whether the adapter actually adds to the hardware or just changes pins a la the Master Gear . . .

 

Plenty of info on both of them at http://www.hawanja.com/ . . .

 

I wouldn't mind stumbling across a Creativision in the wild . . . It's probably the rarest US system, don't even think they get eBayed that often.