Clay Pigeon + Is Coming!

Videopac collector Nico "sap1" Sapin of France, who spearheaded the effort to release Interpol, has announced another new release, this time for the Videopac G7400 "Plus" console (and compatibles)! The game is Clay Pigeon +. You may know the game as the rare skeet-shooting title that was exclusively sold in Brazil. That version does not contain any enhanced G7400 background graphics. Not too long ago, however, a prototype was found in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, which does contain enhanced backgrounds. Documentation found with the prototype indicates it would have been game #56. Since it never actually came out, Nico is releasing it as #62+.

An extremely limited number of Clay Pigeon + cartridges will be produced, complete with authentic looking boxes and manuals. Nico is giving one away through a contest, and will be selling the remaining copies later this month, but only at a specific time to those who follow VERY specific instructions. Visit Nico's Clay Pigeon + page for more information about how to purchase (or win!) the game.

The Voices Are Getting Clearer...

Brazilan gamer BooTMaker has discovered that a number of Brazilian Odyssey cartridges won't function when played through The Voice module. What's odd is that certain cartridges do function, while other cartridges -- of the same game -- don't. So, BooTMaker bravely opened up some of his carts and discovered that the fault was in the circuit boards. In the nonfunctional games, a certain two pins are shorted together, while in the functional games, they aren't. BooTMaker has prepared a detailed web page about his discoveries that is complete with pictures and tips for fixing the nonfunctional carts. His fixes should even eliminate the "buzzing" noises certain American games make when played through the Voice. The site is in Portuguese, but the pictures are quite clear, and you can always translate the text at web sites like Dictionary.com if you desire.

CCC: Now Packed with Videopac!

The Classic Consoles Center has just launched a really nice Videopac page that contains box scans and screenshots of every Videopac game! Wondering what the "Plus" version of Helicopter Rescue looks like? Now you can find out!

Comando Noturno... in English!

Thanks to an English translation provided by Raquel Winter Kreischer, and scans sent in by Simon Scudder and Matt Pritchard, the complete manual for the rare and unique Brazilian game Comando Noturno! is now available in English! I've recreated the entire manual, keeping as close to the original format as possible. A plain text version of the manual is also available, as is a new Database entry for the game. Hopefully this will be the first of many "recreated" manuals.

Odyssey² Adventure #1 Online!

Phosphor Dot Fossils, a cool site for classic game reviews and information, has scanned the first issue of Odyssey Adventure magazine, the Odyssey² fan club publication. You absolutely must check this out -- the whole unabashedly pro-O2 issue is there and ripe for the reading! Phosphor Dot Fossils has promised to publish more Adventure issues as they become available.

Kicking Off the New Year

Happy New Year to one and all! May your 2003 be filled with rich, vivid colors and, of course, sync-sound action.

As for me, I'm celebrating the Earth's latest revolution around the Sun by announcing a whole slew of site updates. First off, I recently came acoss a couple of Wall Street Journal articles from 1984 that describe a rumored collaboration between Philips and Atari, which, had it actually happened, might have produced a new console – maybe even with a laserdisc module. I found it all interesting, so I wrote an article summarizing the information. Definitely a fascinating tidbit of video game history.

Also new to the site:

• Added some information about "Renewed" (factory serviced) consoles to the Hardware page.
• Added some screenshots to the Database entry for Trans American Rally, along with a really nifty RealPlayer format gameplay video. Thanks to René van den Enden for this one!
• Added pages 2-3 of the Brazilian Master Strategy brochure, sent in by Victor Vicente.
• Added a Database entry, with box scan, for the Japanese version of Baseball. I also scanned the ENTIRE Japanese manual, which can be viewed here.
• And since I was on a baseball kick already, I added box and cart scans for the American version of Baseball!.
• Added a photo of the very rare Continental Edison/SABA JO 1450 console, as well as photos of one of its joysticks and its box. Thanks to Moonbeam for the box scan.
• Added a Database entry for Turtles that includes a couple of Easter Eggs.
• Added a scan of an AB9429 Quest for the Rings cart. Hooray for label variations! Thanks to Victor Vicente for reminding me about this one.

A Winner Is You!

My e-mail cleanup continues, and I've a few more updates to report, the most interesting of which is this story sent to me by "Arcade" Ron, who entered and won an Odyssey² contest back in the '80s. The contest was sponsored by KROQ, a popular Los Angeles-area radio station, and from reading Ron's story, it sounds like nobody ever took the O2 seriously, even back then. Check it out!

Also new to the site:

• A K.C. Munchkin! database entry, including some info on the Atari court case and some gameplay glitches submitted by Aaron Howald.
• Some Brazilian taglines submitted by Justin the Almighty.
• Monkeyshines! and UFO! cheats submitted by Jon Hunter and Jeff Sockwell.
• A Balão Travesso! box scan sent by L.Henricky S.Cruz.
• A database entry for the Japanese version of Dynasty!, including a box scan.
• A photo of Radiola Jet 47
• Screenshots for the ColecoVision version of Power Lords

M.E.S.S. Odyssey² Developments

Justin the Almighty informs me that the 0.62 release of MESS (the Multi-Emulator Super System) has a partially functional Odyssey² driver. O2 development for MESS has been rumored for a long time; unfortunately, this incomplete driver may be where it ends unless some enterprising programmer steps in to lend a hand. This message from Justin explains everything:

The 0.62 release of MESS (www.mess.org) includes a partially working O2 driver. Currently only the Windows version is at 0.62, although Mac and Linux ports should come soon. The driver has basic sound (albeit a bit crackly) and currently Crypto-Logic!, Spin-Out!, Baseball!, Basketball!, and Computer Golf! are fully playable. None of the Challenge Series games currently work. The bulk of the work was done by PeT with information from Dan Boris and the O2EM sources; trandor added sound and yours truly contributed several fixes that made it presentable. Click here for more details.

The driver's original author has moved on, no one else on the MESS team seems interested in picking it up, and I don't really have the expertise to finish it, so it would be really great if someone knowledgeable from the O2 community would be willing to lend a helping hand.

There you have it. Head on over to the MESS Home Page to check out version 0.62, and check out the MESS message boards if you want to contribute. Thanks to Justin for the news.

Video Game Festival Coming to Mall of America

Walter Day of Twin Galaxies asked me to publish this press release about the 3rd Annual Twin Galaxies Video Game Festival, which has been scheduled to take place at the Mall of America on July 18-20, 2003. Read it, and make plans to attend -- it sounds like a blast. And hey, you can't say I didn't give you enough advance notice. :)

Lord of the Dungeon Review, and More

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past few weeks, but I've been busy. I'm making a serious attempt to catch up on my woefully large e-mail backlog, attending to the various site submissions buried within. I'm starting to make a little progress and get some things added to the site, starting with a review of Lord of the Dungeon by Aswald, the world's #1 LotD fan who also wrote the unofficial instruction manual for the game. Lord of the Dungeon is a prototype Probe 2000 title for the ColecoVision that never saw the light of day until it was discovered a couple years ago. Check out this informative review!

By the way, I'm looking for a Lord of the Dungeon cart scan and a real screenshot (the screenshot included with the review is a recreation from a 1983 Philips flyer). If you can provide either of these images, please e-mail me.

Other updates include new box scans of the Brazilian games Comando Noturno!, Buraco Negro!, Serpente do Poder, and Super Bee!, sent in by Simon Scudder. Also, Rafael Cardoso submitted some game cheats for Power Lords and Comando Noturno!.

Macintosh Odyssey² Emulator

This news has been around for a while, but somehow I didn't hear about it until this week. O2EM has been ported to the Mac by emulator author Richard Bannister. It's called O2EM/MacOS, and it runs a respectable number of games, although it is a few versions behind the most recent PC version of O2EM. Although O2EM/MacOS development is currently halted, you can still visit the O2EM/MacOS web page for more information and downloads.

Miscellaneous Updates

Several more small updates over the past few days...

1. Redid the database scripts again, which hopefully will eliminate an intermittent problem that was sometimes popping up on the pages powered by the Games Database.
2. Added a brief article, submitted by Jon Hunter, that offers a few tips for making your Odyssey² joysticks last longer.
3. Revamped the In-Depth Reviews for Showdown in 2100 A.D. and I've Got Your Number! to bring them in line with the new site design.
4. Added a lot more box scans submitted by Marcello Iannuzzi, including Crazy Chase, Jumping Acrobats, Labyrinth Game/Supermind, Pickaxe Pete, and the elusive Japanese version of UFO!.

A Little Here, a Little There

Three weeks without an update? Actually, I've been adding a few things here and there, I just haven't posted any news about it. First, there's a new Brazilian Odyssey Games Poster courtesy of Simon Scudder. Next, I added the "localized" European versions of Quest for the Rings and Conquest of the World to the Games Database. Then, I added a whole bunch of rare G7000 and G7400 box scans submitted by René van den Enden and Marcello Iannuzzi. Here's a partial list of what's new:

• Air Battle
• Freedom Fighters Plus
• Neutron Star
• Norseman
• Pickaxe Pete Plus
• Trans American Rally
• Kinder im Verkehr 1
• Blobbers
• Super Bee
• Chez Maxime

Finally! A G7400 Emulator!!

Here's some exciting news: O2EM, the one and only Odyssey² emulator, can now emulate Videopac G7400 "Plus" games! It's the first emulator to do so. Now people outside of Europe can finally see what they've been missing! Here's some more details from O2EM programmer Andre de la Rocha:

With this version I've added complete VP+ emulation and other features. To use the VP+ emulation a VP+ bios file is required. I think that O2EM is mature enough to be called version 1.00. I've also put it in the SourceForge open source network, to speed up releases and to make it easier for other people to send bug reports and patches. The new O2EM home page is: <http://o2em.sourceforge.net/>. There you can find more information about the release and also the sources and binaries for Windows, Linux and DOS.

O2EM 1.00 was actually announced a couple of weeks ago, but I've been waiting to post the news here until some G7400 ROMs became available. And now, they are! Digital Press has a ROM pack right now that contains the G7400 BIOS and a few G7400 game ROMs. Go check it out!

Search, and You Shall Find...

I am pleased to report that the Games Database is now searchable! Just type part of a title into the Search box above and click the GO button to look up a game. It's a simple script and you can only search for game titles (not numbers or anything else), but it does support partial matching, so it should be sufficient to find what you need.

I've also re-coded the scripts that power the GamesDB, which won't matter much to you the reader, but which makes my life happier. However, the pages will probably load a hair faster now. Also, the whole Database section now fits in with the current overall site design. And while I was converting it over, I converted the J.G. Munchkin! section as well, so now every major section of the site has a unified design! I'm not sure, but that may never have happened before. :)

Also, there are now two complete issues of Commander-ROM available for viewing in the Collectibles section. Fun if you can read German! Look for a new scan of a Videopac Cassette Box while you're there.

2002 1K Mini-Game Competition

Alert reader Mark Seelye has pointed out that the 2002 1K or Less Mini-Game Competition is currently underway. Basically, to enter this contest, you must create a playable game for an old computer or console platform. Currently there are several entries, but none for the Odyssey². Aspiring O2 programmers take note! The deadline for entering the contest is Sept. 16.

Console-ation

Thanks to help from readers of the Digital Press Message Board, I've been able to update the North American Odyssey² Console Chart on the Hardware page. Now all the console variations listed are confirmed by eyewitness accounts (you'd almost think it was a murder investigation or something). Thanks to Rob Guernsey, Chris, Trevor H., Shaun Flannery, Dennis Gruchala, and Kevin Bunch for their help! Also thanks to Trevor H. for sending in a photo of a different O2 power supply variation.

Now it seems there may not be a relationship between console model numbers and attributes like hardwired joysticks, power supply types, etc. But I hope to catalog all known types, including model numbers, anyway. If you have a console that is different from the ones listed in the chart, let me know.

New Odyssey² Emulator Version!

Andre de la Rocha has released a MAJOR new revision of the Odyssey² emulator! O2EM v0.90 features too many changes to list here, but below is a quick rundown of important additions:

• Fixed color palette
• Sprites look better in several games
• Fixed audio pitch and implemented white noise emulation
• Enhanced support for European/PAL games. Frogger andDepth Charge are fully playable!

For a more complete list of what's new, read this file. To download O2EM v0.90, click here. A permanent download link, as usual, is available in the Media section.

To go along with this new O2EM release, Andre has updated O2EM Launcher, the O2EM frontend by Heitor Barcellos. Here is a list of what's new. Click here to download O2EM Launcher 4.0.

Robot City Coming to Atari 2600

AtariAge has announced that Thomas Jentzsch is busy creating an Atari 2600 version of the Videopac prototype game Robot City. Thomas is a talented developer who is best known for creating the excellent 2600 version of Thrust. The 2600 port of Robot City is to feature faster gameplay and more mazes than the Videopac proto. Read more about it at AtariAge's Robot City In Development Page.

Remastered Strategy

Huzzah! After what seemed like an eternity in preparation, the new Master Strategy Section is launched! Here's a quick rundown of what's new:

• New page layouts.
• New scans of practically ALL boxes, tokens, manuals, and accessories.
• Cartridge scans.
• Info on European and Brazilian Master Strategy sets.
• Scans of some European carts, boxes, manuals and more.
• Scans of Brazilian boxes and carts, including Wall Street.
• I optimized all the graphics, which took forever.

I owe a huge thanks to BuckyB (and his Retropage) and Matt Pritchard for providing a lot of useful information and TONS of great photos. Thanks guys!

This renovation took far, far longer than I thought it would. It's actually the reason why site updates have been coming so infrequently lately. It really takes a long time to scan all those little playing pieces! Anyway, it's finished now, so please enjoy the expanded-memory goodness.