Editing Magnavox Odyssey 2

{{short description|Second generation home video game console}}
{{Redirect|Odyssey 2|the science fiction novel|2010: Odyssey Two|other uses|Odyssey II (disambiguation){{!}}Odyssey II}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox information appliance
| name = Magnavox Odyssey 2
| title = 
| aka = {{plainlist|
* Philips Odyssey 2 (United States)
* Philips Videopac G7000 (EU)
* Philips Odyssey (Brazil/Peru<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://elcomercio.pe/somos/historias/memorias-de-los-mejores-anos-de-la-feria-del-hogar-la-tradicion-que-acompano-a-los-peruanos-por-decadas-noticia/|title=Memorias de los mejores años de la Feria del Hogar, la tradición que acompañó a los peruanos por décadas {{pipe}} SOMOS|date=13 October 2019}}</ref>)
* Odyssey2 (Japan)
}}
| logo = Magnavox Odyssey 2 logo.svg
| image = Magnavox-Odyssey-2-Console-Set.jpg
| caption = Magnavox Odyssey 2 and its two wired [[joystick]]–based [[game controller]]s
| developer = [[Magnavox]]<br>[[Philips]]
| manufacturer = Magnavox<br>Philips
| family = [[Magnavox Odyssey series]]<br>[[Philips Odyssey series]]
| type = [[Home video game console]]
| generation = [[Second generation of video game consoles|Second generation]]
| releasedate = {{vgrelease|NA|September 1978|EU|December 1978<ref name = "The Next Level">{{cite web|title=The Odyssey<sup>2</sup> Timeline|url=http://www.the-nextlevel.com/odyssey2/articles/timeline/index.php}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZkOsqK-X5AC&dq=%22Videopac%22&pg=PA445 Courtesy titles], New Scientist 10 May 1979, Page 445, ''...The Phillips G7000 Videopac will be on sale in the UK this summer at around...''</ref>|JP|September 1982<ref name = "The Next Level" />|BR|May 1983<ref name = "VGDB">{{cite web|title=The Odyssey<sup>2</sup>|url=http://www.vgdb.com.br/consoles/odyssey-2/}}</ref>}}
| lifespan = 1978–1984
| price = {{USD|179|1978}}
| discontinued = {{End date|df=yes|1984|03|20}}<ref name = "The Next Level" />
| unitssold = 2 million<ref>{{cite book |last=Forster |first=Winnie |title=The encyclopedia of consoles, handhelds & home computers 1972 – 2005 |year=2005 |publisher=GAMEPLAN |isbn=3-00-015359-4|page=30}}</ref>
| media = 
| os = 
| power = 
| soc = 
| cpu = [[Intel MCS-48|Intel 8048]]
| memory = 192 bytes RAM (64 in the CPU, 128 external), 1024 bytes ROM in the CPU
| storage = 
| memory card = [[ROM cartridge]]
| display = Intel 8244
| graphics = 160×200 pixels, 16 colors ([[List_of_monochrome_and_RGB_color_formats#4-bit_RGBI|4-bit RGBI]])
| input = 
| controllers = Joysticks
| connectivity = 
| platform = 
| dimensions = 
| predecessor = [[Magnavox Odyssey]]/[[Philips Odyssey 2100]]
| successor = [[Philips Videopac+ G7400]]
| related = 
| website = <!--{{URL|example.org}}-->
}}
The '''Magnavox Odyssey 2''' (stylized as '''Magnavox Odyssey<sup>2</sup>'''), also known as '''Philips Odyssey 2''', is a [[home video game console]] of the [[Second generation of video game consoles|second generation]] that was released in 1978. It was sold in Europe as the '''Philips Videopac G7000''', in Brazil and Peru as the '''Philips Odyssey''' and in Japan as '''Odyssey2''' (オデッセイ2 ''odessei2''). The Odyssey 2 was one of the five major home consoles prior to the 1983 [[North American video game crash of 1983|video game market crash]], along with [[Atari 2600]], [[Atari 5200]], [[Intellivision]] and [[ColecoVision]].

In the early 1970s, [[Magnavox]] pioneered the home video game industry by successfully bringing the first home console to market, the [[Magnavox Odyssey|Odyssey]], which was quickly followed by a number of later models, each with a few technological improvements (''see [[Magnavox Odyssey series]]''). In 1978, Magnavox, now a subsidiary of [[Philips#North America|North American Philips]], decided to release an all-new successor, Odyssey 2.

In 2009, the video game website [[IGN]] named the Odyssey 2 the 21st greatest video game console, out of its list of 25.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/top-25-consoles/21.html |title=Magnavox Odyssey 2 is number 21 |website=IGN |access-date=2012-07-28}}</ref>

==Design==
[[File:Philips Videopac G7200 with integrated monitor (RetroMadrid 2017).jpg|thumb|The Videopac G7200, unlike Videopac G7000, had a 9" (23 cm) black & white display built in.]]
The original [[Magnavox Odyssey|Odyssey]] had a number of removable [[printed circuit board|circuit cards]] that switched between the built-in games. With the Odyssey 2, each game could be a unique experience, with its own foreground graphics, gameplay, scoring, and [[video game music|music]] (some Odyssey 2 games were later re-released for the [[Philips Videopac+ G7400|G7400]] with added background and updated foreground graphics that the Odyssey 2 was not capable of displaying). The potential was enormous, as an unlimited number of games could be individually purchased; a game player could purchase a library of video games tailored to their own interest. Unlike any other system at that time, the Odyssey 2 included a full [[alphanumeric]] [[membrane keyboard]], which was to be used for [[educational game]]s, selecting options, or programming (Magnavox released a cartridge called ''Computer Intro!'' with the intent of teaching simple [[computer programming]]).

The Odyssey 2 used the standard [[joystick]] design of the 1970s and early [[1980s in video gaming|1980s]]: the original console had a moderately sized silver controller, held in one hand, with a square housing for its eight-direction stick that was manipulated with the other hand. Later releases had a similar black controller, with an 8-pointed star-shaped housing for its eight-direction joystick. In the upper corner of the joystick was a single 'Action' button, silver on the original controllers and red on the black controllers. The games, graphics and packaging were designed by Ron Bradford and Steve Lehner.<ref>[http://odyssey2.classicgaming.gamespy.com/articles/bradford/article.php Electronic Game Wizards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308053639/http://odyssey2.classicgaming.gamespy.com/articles/bradford/article.php |date=8 March 2008 }}</ref>

During the time of Odyssey 2's manufacturing, some came with controllers that could be plugged and unplugged from the back of the unit via their DB9 connector, while others had their controllers hardwired into the rear of the base unit itself.

One of the strongest points of the system was its [[speech synthesis]] unit, which was released as an add-on for speech, music, and sound effects enhancement. The area that the Odyssey 2 may be best remembered for was its pioneering fusion of [[board game|board]] and video games: ''The Master Strategy Series''. The first game released was ''[[Quest for the Rings|Quest for the Rings!]]'', with gameplay somewhat similar to ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', and a storyline reminiscent of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Later, two other games were released in this series, ''Conquest of the World'' and ''The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt'', each with its own gameboard.

Its graphics and few color choices, compared to its biggest competitors at the time—the [[Atari 2600]], Mattel's [[Intellivision]] and the [[Bally Astrocade]]—were its "weakest point".<ref>"The Complete Guide to Conquering Video Games" by Jeff Rovin, [[Collier Books]], 1982</ref> Of these systems, the Odyssey 2 was listed by [[Jeff Rovin]] as being the third in total of sales, and one of the seven major video game suppliers.

==Market life==

===United States===
The console sold moderately well in the U.S. Prior to the nationwide release of the [[Mattel]] [[Intellivision]] in 1980, the console video game market was dominated by the competition between the Odyssey 2 and [[Atari 2600]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Video Game Timeline |magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |issue=102|publisher=[[Ziff Davis]]|date=January 1998 |page=120}}</ref> It remained one of the three primary consoles from 1980 to mid-[[1982 in video gaming|1982]], though a distant third behind the Atari 2600 and Mattel Intellivision.

To sell would-be customers on its resemblance to a [[home computer]], the Odyssey 2 was marketed with phrases such as "The Ultimate Computer Video Game System", "Sync-Sound Action", "True-Reality Synthesization", "On-Screen Digital Readouts" and "a serious educational tool" on the packaging for the console and its game cartridges. All games, aside from Showdown in 2100 AD, produced by Magnavox/Philips ended with an exclamation point, such as ''[[K.C. Munchkin!]]'' and ''[[Killer Bees!]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=HYPE! |author=William from The Odyssey 2 Homepage |url=http://www.the-nextlevel.com/odyssey2/articles/hype/index.php |access-date=2 February 2010}}</ref>

No [[third-party developer|third-party]] game appeared for the Odyssey 2 in the United States until [[Imagic]]'s ''[[Demon Attack]]'' in 1983.<ref name="eg198306">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/electronic-games-magazine-1983-06/Electronic_Games_Issue_16_Vol_02_04_1983_Jun#page/n37/mode/2up | title=Programmable Arcade | work=Electronic Games | date=June 1983 | access-date=6 January 2015 |author1=Katz, Arnie |author2=Kunkel, Bill | pages=38–42}}</ref> The lack of third-party support kept the number of new games very limited, but the success of the Philips Videopac G7000 overseas led to two other companies producing games for it: [[Parker Brothers]] released ''[[Popeye (video game)|Popeye]]'', ''[[Frogger]]'', ''[[Q*bert]]'' and ''[[Super Cobra]]'', while [[Imagic]] also released ''[[Atlantis (video game)|Atlantis]]''.

===Europe===
[[Image:Videopac-pete-screen-800px.jpg|right|thumb|European models had no power button, and black action buttons]]

In [[Europe]], the Odyssey 2 did very well on the market. The console was most widely known as the '''Philips Videopac G7000''', or just the '''Videopac''', although branded variants were released in some areas of Europe under the names '''Philips Videopac C52''', '''Radiola Jet 25''', '''Schneider 7000''', and '''Siera G7000'''. [[Philips]] used their own name rather than Magnavox's for European marketing. A rare model, the '''Philips Videopac G7200''', was only released in Europe; it had a built-in black-and-white [[computer display|monitor]]. Videopac game cartridges are mostly compatible with American Odyssey 2 units, although some games have color differences and a few are completely incompatible, such as [[Frogger]] on the European console, being unable to show the second half of the playing field, and Chess on the American model, as the extra hardware module could not work with the console. A number of additional games were released in Europe that never came out in the U.S.

===Brazil===
In Brazil, the console was released simply as '''Philips Odyssey''' (since the [[Magnavox Odyssey|original Odyssey]] had had only a limited release by a local company, Planil Comércio, under license<ref>{{cite web |title=Bojogá - Odyssey |url=https://bojoga.com.br/acervo/consoles/geracao-1/odyssey/ |website=Bojogá |date=5 January 2016 |publisher=Museu Bojogá}}</ref>). The Odyssey 2 became much more popular in Brazil than it ever was in the U.S.;<ref>{{cite news |title=Gerações se confrontam em consoles de videogames antigos |work=[[O Globo]] |date=July 3, 2006}}</ref> tournaments were even held for popular games like ''K.C.'s Krazy Chase!'' (''Come-Come!'' in Brazil). Titles of games were translated into Portuguese, sometimes creating a new story, like ''Pick-axe Pete!'', that became ''Didi na Mina Encantada!'' (Didi in the Enchanted Mine) referring to [[Renato Aragão]]'s comedy character, and was one of the most famous Odyssey games in Brazil.

===Japan===
The Odyssey 2 was released in [[Japan]] in December 1982 by Kōton Trading Toitarii Enterprise (コートン・トレーディング・トイタリー・エンタープライズ, a division of DINGU company) under the name '''オデッセイ2''' (''odessei2''). "Japanese" versions of the Odyssey 2 and its games consisted of the American boxes with [[katakana]] stickers on them and cheaply printed black-and-white [[Japanese language|Japanese]] manuals. The initial price for the console was {{¥|49800|link=yes}}, which is approximately {{US$|200|1982|round=-1|about=yes}}. It was apparently not very successful; Japanese Odyssey 2 items are now very difficult to find.

==Games==
{{Main|List of Odyssey2 games}}

==Technical specifications==
* [[Central processing unit|CPU]]
** [[Intel MCS-48|Intel 8048]] [[8-bit computing|8-bit]] [[microcontroller]] running at 5.37 [[megahertz|MHz]] ([[NTSC]]) or 5.91&nbsp;MHz ([[PAL]])
* Memory:
** CPU-internal [[random-access memory|RAM]]: 64 [[byte]]s
** CPU-external [[random-access memory|RAM]]: 128 [[byte]]s
** Audio/video RAM: 128 bytes
** [[BIOS]] [[read-only memory|ROM]]: 1024 bytes
* Video:
** [[List of Intel microprocessors#Intel 8048|Intel 8244 (NTSC) or 8245 (PAL)]] custom IC
** 160×200 resolution (NTSC)
** 16-color fixed palette (8 basic colors - black, blue, green, cyan, red, magenta, yellow and white - with a half-brightness variation ([[List_of_monochrome_and_RGB_color_formats#4-bit_RGBI|4-bit RGBI]])); sprites may only use 8 of these colors
** 4 8×8 single-color user-defined sprites; each sprite's color may be set independently
** 12 8×8 single-color characters; must be one of the 64 shapes built into the ROM BIOS; can be freely positioned like sprites, but cannot overlap each other; each character's color may be set independently
** 4 quad characters; groups of four characters displayed in a row
** 9×8 background grid; dots, lines, or solid blocks
* Audio:
** Intel 8244/8245 custom IC
** mono
** 24-bit [[shift register]], clockable at 2 frequencies
** noise generator
** NOTE: There is only one 8244/8245 chip in the system, which performs both audio and video functions.
* Input:
** Two 8-way, one-button, digital [[joystick]]s. In the first production runs of the Magnavox Odyssey and the Philips 7000, these were removable and replaceable; in later models, they were permanently attached to the console.
** [[QWERTY]]-layout [[membrane keyboard]]
* Output:
** [[RF modulator|RF Audio/Video connector]]
** Péritel/[[SCART]] connector (France only ''Videopac C52'')
* Media:
** ROM cartridges, typically 2 KB, 4 KB, or 8 KB in size.
[[Image:Videopac with chess module.jpg|right|thumb|Videopac with chess module]]
* Expansion modules:
** The Voice: provides speech synthesis and enhanced sound effects. Unlike [[Intellivoice]], games compatible with The Voice did not require it; [[Danny Goodman]] of ''[[Creative Computing]] Video & Arcade Games'' predicted "that eliminates any incentive to buy the $100 voice module".<ref name="goodman1983spring">{{Cite magazine |last=Goodman |first=Danny |author-link=Danny Goodman |date=Spring 1983 |title=Home Video Games: Video Games Update |url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/cva/v1n1/vgupdate.php |magazine=Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games |page=32}}</ref>
** Chess Module: the Odyssey 2 did not have enough memory and computing power for a decent implementation of [[computer chess|chess]] on its own, so the C7010 chess module contained a secondary NSC800 CPU<ref>{{Cite web|title = Videopac C 7010|url =https://www.chessprogramming.org/Videopac_C_7010|accessdate = 2024-02-06}}</ref> with its own extra memory to run the chess program Gambiet 80<ref>{{Cite web|title = Schaakcomputers van Luuk Hofman|url = https://www.schaakcomputers.nl/schaakcomputers/uitgebreide%20lijst%20alle%20schaakcomputers.pdf|accessdate = 2024-02-05}}</ref>
** [[Philips Videopac + G7400|Videopac+]]/Jopac-compatible only, Microsoft Basic. <small>The rare ''C7420 Home Computer Module'', made available in 1983 by Philips, was a costly extension for the newer Videopac+ and Jopac consoles only. It went with a thick A4 manual, and required an optional external tape recorder to save the programs. This module was the sole valuable justification of the presence of a so-called keyboard, which was supposedly designed to look like a hybrid educational toy, as read in header lines describing earlier this family of pluri-purpose consoles, even in the TV commercials that echoed the slogan written on these brand-new machines: "Video Computer". Unfortunately, this late niche concept, even limited to learning game code contrary to the more professional packaging, could not resist at all the already overwhelming market of the real 8-bit home computers, where the [[Atari 400]] shared the same look in 1979, surprisingly. [The latter was advertised itself: « The affordable home computer that's easy to use even for people who've never used a computer before ».] This expensive module is not to be confused with the cheap cartridge #9: ''Computer Intro!''</small>)

==Emulation==<!-- This section is linked from [[O2EM]] -->
An [[open source software|open source]] [[console emulator]] for the Odyssey 2 called ''O2EM'' is available. It includes [[Philips Videopac G7400]] emulation among other features. The emulator works on [[Linux]], [[Microsoft Windows]], [[DOS]] and other platforms, and is included within [[OpenEmu]] for [[Mac OS X]]. ''O2EM'' (originally not open source) was created in 1997 by [[computer programming|computer programmer]] Daniel Boris and further enhanced by André Rodrigues de la Rocha.

The open source multi-platform multi-system emulator [[MAME]] has Odyssey 2 support, and is the only emulator to emulate The Voice expansion module without using sound samples.

==See also==
* [[Magnavox Odyssey Series]]
* [[Magnavox Odyssey]]
* [[Philips Videopac + G7400]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Magnavox Odyssey<sup>2</sup>}}
* [https://kcmunchkin.com/about/ Ed Averett] – Programmer of 24 game titles for the Odyssey 2.
* [http://www.the-nextlevel.com/odyssey2/ The Odyssey2 Homepage!] – William Cassidy's Odyssey 2 site.
* [http://www.atarihq.com/danb/o2.shtml Dan Boris's Odyssey 2 Tech Page] – technical documents on the Odyssey 2's hardware by the author of O2EM
* [http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg70-odyssey2.htm Video Game Console Library entry] on the Magnavox Odyssey2 / Philips Videopac
* [http://thedoteaters.com/?p=5870 The Dot Eaters article] on the history of the Odyssey 2 ("Taking a Journey With the Odyssey<sup>2</sup>". 9 December 2013.)
* [https://www.hardwaresecrets.com/inside-the-magnavox-odyssey2/ Inside the Magnavox Odyssey<sup>2</sup>] (By Gabriel Torres –  30 April 2012. 8-page feature.)

{{Second generation game consoles}}
{{Home video game consoles}}
{{Philips}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnavox Odyssey2}}
[[Category:Magnavox consoles|Odyssey2]]
[[Category:Home video game consoles]]
[[Category:Philips products]]
[[Category:Second-generation video game consoles]]
[[Category:1970s in video gaming]]
[[Category:1980s in video gaming]]
[[Category:1978 in video gaming]]
<!--introduction-->
[[Category:Computer-related introductions in 1978]]
[[Category:Products introduced in 1978]]
[[Category:Products and services discontinued in 1984]]
[[Category:Discontinued video game consoles]]
[[Category:1970s toys]]
[[Category:1980s toys]]