Prototype Discovery: ColecoVision Pink Panther and More
These are photos taken by retoren, who discovered a cache of Philips prototype items in Michigan in 2013. His neighbor is a former Philips salesman. He still had possession of several items that hailed from a 1983 timeframe, the era when Philips was developing the Odyssey3 console and attempting to create games for non-Odyssey² systems under the "Probe 2000" label.
Significant items in the discovery included:
- ColecoVision Pink Panther prototype (in Odyssey² cartridge shell)
- ColecoVision Power Lords: Quest for Volcan prototype (in Odyssey² cartridge shell)
- Prototypes of ColecoVision War Room (in Odyssey² shells): one bearing the early title "Satellite Defense" on its attract screen, and another labeled "Nuke"
- Three tri-fold sales displays for War Room containing commercial carts
- Atari 2600 Power Lords I Show Sample cartridge
- Odyssey3 Command Center console
- Odyssey3 Voice module prototype (labeled # 13)
- Odyssey3 Modem prototype
- Two Odyssey3 Flash Point prototypes (both in Odyssey² cartridge shells)
- Odyssey² prototype labeled "Time Lord"
- Odyssey² prototype labeled "Turtles"
Retroren wishes to thank John and Derrick at Game Changers [Archive link] in Grand Rapids, who provided the hardware necessary to prove that the prototypes still worked. As retroren put it, "These two young guys sold all they had to open their vintage gaming shop and were the only gamers in Michigan that were interested and helped me bring Pink Panther to life." Many of these photos were taken at Game Changers. Unfortunately the lighting conditions weren't the best for photography so the photos are not high quality. I cleaned them up as best I could.
