Fairchild Channel F Review

[@VeganRashad]

I had no idea this as designed by a black man. Gerald Anderson "Jerry" Lawson (December 1, 1940 - April 9, 2011) He also designed items games for Atari.By 1977, the Fairchild Channel F had sold 250,000 units and trailed behind the VCS. He also founded and ran Videosoft, a video game development company which made software for the Atari 2600 in the early 1980s, as the 2600 had displaced the Channel F as the top system in the market. In March 2011, Lawson was honored as an industry pioneer by the International Game Developers Association. One month later, he died of complications from diabetes. At the time of his death, he resided in Santa Clara, California. This is more motivation for me to take my programming ideas to the next level.

[@mikemanners1069]

WHY bring Race into this? MLK said he wanted his children to be judged on the "content of their character" and not on skin color. What does it matter what skin color the man who invented this had? This should be celebrated as an example of American ingenuity and know how - not a lesson on Racial History. How many more decades are we going to see each other through the prism of skin color?

[@Rigicai05]

May he rest in peace.

[@Kanjilearner]

I _love_ the _Thunderbirds_ series of the 1960s, and I'm glad you made that reference!

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks for the kind words, and its nice to know i'm not the only one who thinks it looks that bit sharper

[@Kain5th]

those shelves behind him hold a lot of video game history. its a vision to behold!

[@tonstad39]

My mother had a fairchild growing up

[@michaelkaminski84]

glad to see another review, it's always a treat when you post videos.

[@Righthandruben]

Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into this show. It has sparked my enthusiasm for the classic gaming again and I have you to thank for the 2600 on my shelf. Keep it up good sir.

[@awwrelic]

Very good video and presentation. I'm of that "certain generation" that remembers 8-Tracks, and I also had a Channel F back in the mid-80s, as well as several carts. Unfortunately, I could never get it to work (bought it used), and when we moved to another state in 1986, it didn't come with me. Always regretted that, since with the Internet, perhaps I could have dug up enough info to fix it.

[@ReplayRetro]

always good to inspire someone else to help preserve these fantastic machines, have fun collecting

[@DLiberator78]

Great review. Many thanks for reviewing this system. I have seen other reviews here on YT and I have always found the Channel F an interesting and innovative video console. I agree with you to me this was the first true console with truly interchangeable games on ROM cartridges. Keep up the great reviews.

[@TheFrenchy82]

oh well.... I was born in the 70ies and I never played this machine... but we can see the extraordinary evolution of video games here !... it's a prehistorical piece of hardware.... But I guess we had to use more our imagination, back in the days...

[@toonbat]

I'd love to give those Fairchild controllers a try! One major point that keeps me from appreciating the second console generation is the controllers, which either tried to emulate arcades with a big clunky joystick which forces you to use one hand to hold it, and another to operate it, or phones/remote controls, with a square array of buttons with no regards to ergonomics. This controller looks like it can do far more while maintaining elegant simplicity and ease of use.

[@HerrBjork]

Absolutely wonderful review! I love it when I find reviews about this console, and this is the best one by far! I own the little bit odd "Luxor Video Entertainment Computer", later called "Luxor TV3", that was the Swedish version of Channel F. I can recommend the game "Schach" for SABA Videoplay, it was only, as far as I know, released in Germany. P.S. You've earned a new subscriber.

[@e5frog]

Nä... den hette inte Luxor TV3... There was Luxor Video Entertainment System (box says Luxor TV-datorspel) and Luxor Video Entertainment Computer (box says Luxor TV-datorspel Video Entertainment). The former has the same case as the original buth with Luxor logos and the other is a small black machine (no wood grain stickers) that only Luxor used. Luckily the game Schach (Chess) is also on the Multi-Cart, but who wants to loose in chess against a 1976 videogame? Problem is there's no CPU in the chess cart so originally it lights up an LED to show that it's working out its next move - it can take a LOOOOOONG time to play a game of Chess there.

[@grimmah1978]

Nice to finally see another review from you Matt. Excellent work as ever.

[@someinterwebguy]

I really appreciate this review. The information you provide was very in depth, which is of particular importance since this is such a relatively obscure system. The sound reminds me of a PC Speaker and the graphics are kind of a no-man's-land between 4 color CGA and 16 EGA computer graphics (I was lucky enough to have an IBM PC growing up in the 80's). Although not as technically impressive as the VCS, it's an interesting piece that looks like a lot of fun to play. Cheers!

[@mogrady2006]

I love your reviews. Glad to see a new episode. Keep up the good work.

[@1sibbo]

Hi Mat, great video ,as always, That is a great system and the picture is great as well as the defined colours.Keep up the good work mate

[@impaler_7425]

Nice Review! Dodge It is one of my favorite Channel F games too. ^^

[@corelpo]

Great Video, and I must say, your videos are the only ones that can be 24 minutes long, and they don't lose my attention.

[@sa3270]

I was around 6 years old when this came out. I remember seeing it on display in department stores. A lot of times they had the Dodgeball cartridge in the Fairchild and I remember those big colored squares it draws on the screen. Back in those days, a lot of people really thought the cartridges were tapes.

[@lxPhilxl]

Yet another excellent review! Totally love your research, presentation and overall production. Thanks! ;^)

[@exodia9817]

This was my first Replay Retro video. God bless England and all of Europe.

[@exodia9817]

The Gmork I actually would love to visit England. Probably see if I can meet The Royal Family.

[@augustwest5356]

Justin Blystone What a downright word ass thing to say

[@augustwest5356]

Justin Blystone again. weird. it's not gonna happen. no chance in hell unless you are super famous

[@exodia9817]

August West True. I always wanted to have the chance to see, and maybe bow, to a king or queen. I have a fascination with royalty, you know.

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks for the comment and the praise. Yeah i see where you're coming from with the PC connection, great system and i'm glad to be introducing so many people to it

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks, i hope you continue to enjoy them

[@rbmc1983]

About the rotation of the joystick knob, is it digital or analogic?

[@muzboz]

Great video, I'd never even heard of this machine!

[@johanbengtsson7646]

Glad to see another console review, as good as they've always been. And the console itself look really cool, I never knew much about it since I never knew anyone who owned one. The controller and that hockey game it made possible look like a must play though.

[@ReplayRetro]

i'll take a look when i get some free time, glad you enjoyed the video

[@ReplayRetro]

glad you like it, thanks for the comment

[@RetroNintendo247]

I love your videos! Please keep posting!

[@ReplayRetro]

always nice to get such positive feedback

[@TeamIcoGamer]

This was thoroughly entertaining and informative. Channel F is such an elusive system.

[@googaagoogaa12345678]

great videos also i would love to see an RCA studio II review if you could

[@LawWonderTV9]

I also found out via Oddity Archive that in the late '70s, early '80 that there was TV Powww!. A game show where the host called up a viewer at random, and the viewer would say "Pow!", and hit as many targets as possible for some rather cheap prizes. And the system used for TV Powww! was, you guessed it. Fairchild Channel F.

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks for the support and i'll do my best :)

[@ReplayRetro]

the collection has definitely grown, a few interesting new bits and pieces, not really got room for them though anymore lol

[@ReplayRetro]

cheers for the support, it took a while but i hope it was worth it

[@arun_gaming1426]

now im seeeing this videos 9 years later !!

[@johneygd]

Ahhh no wonder that first i alway's tout that the atari 2600 was the first programmeble cartride system, until now.

[@ReplayRetro]

this video has actually been in production for ages but things kept going wrong, the intro and outro were done around a month or so ago but then the fairchild broke so i couldn't do gameplay, then part of the footage corrupted etc etc, so its taken a while but i hope you enjoyed it

[@shockz16]

Good to see you back with another review mate, it's been a while. I think I may have briefly played on one of these as a very young child although until this video would never have been able to tell you what the system was, However after watching I'm pretty sure it was a Channel F. Classic 70's woodgrain finish, Woodgrain was like the carbon fiber of the 70's lol. How much would one of these systems set you back now days then? *without me scouring ebay*

[@JakalairVG]

I love the fact that games are still numbered they just have special little codes hidden on them. It is nice to know where some of this legacy stuff comes from. I agree with you on the Channel F looking crisper than the Atari VCS. A very nice video on a legendary console lost to history.

[@ReplayRetro]

wonder where that machine is now? probably long gone i imagine, thanks for the comment

[@duked19]

Great review! I got a Channel-F (Luxor Video Entertainment System here in Sweden) from my parents as kid. Loved it (although it of course couldn't compare to the Atari VCS). Regarding your version of the console, doesn't the cartridge door make it resemble a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A computer more than a hangar? =) As for the pinball cartridge, #17, you can get the ball at the top and make it bounce.

[@Salamanderman117]

Excellent video. So much great information!

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks for the kind words :)

[@madcommodore]

What most people forget is......in 1980 you walked to the shop, bought your Atari 2600, got home, unpacked it, powered it up.......and the bundled game Combat was TWO PLAYER ONLY lol

[@dave4shmups]

Excellent review, as always! I agree with you; the colors look fantastic! And this is definitely a console that I'd love to own. Is Hockey a two-player only game, or is there a one-player mode?

[@lynchie137]

That dodge Em game looks like it's a lot of fun to play. Same with the hockey/pong hybrid. I can see some people totally losing their shit while playing these games back in the day.

[@googaagoogaa12345678]

The hockey and dogem game are quite fun two of my favorite channel f games they are

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks for the support

[@adam5904]

Awesome, a new episode. totally enjoyed it.

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks, glad you enjoyed the show, the Channel F certainly is a fantastic system which was way ahead of the time (in theory at least)

[@sanctanox]

You pronunciation of Nordmende is quite impressing. Thumbs up from a German native speaker :-)

[@1300l]

Cool you are back!

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks, it feels good to get one done

[@jathbr4113]

Looks like you improved your collection, or you put movies there, idk. Great video as always, wish to see more.

[@productions4452]

How much games (cartitage) does the channel f have?

[@ReplayRetro]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@e5frog]

When you revisit System Fairchild - do a bit on Easter Eggs, there's one in the Demonstration Cartridge (which surprised Mr. Lawson when he was told about it) and the two games that Brad Reid from Redi-Selth made, #20 Video Whizball and #26 Alien Invasion. The E.E. in the D.C. could very well have been the first in a video game, and not that other one on the Atari - if you consider it a game, well it's an interactive learning game. You get to learn how to use the console and then play hockey. ;-)

[@ReplayRetro]

yeah the games aren't easy to come by and i imagine some are very difficult to get hold of, controllers are fantastic they really are. Glad to make a difference to your day :)

[@Spookybacon]

Well done review. Only one comment. I suspect the console is slightly different internally to accommodate British PAL tv format.

[@e5frog]

Clock frequency is a little bit slower compared to a US machine and it has PAL RF circuitry of course. The amount of pixels on screen seems to be the same though. The RF color clock is what messes things up between them 3.58MHz for NTSC and 4.43 for PAL - the US machine clocks the CPU at half that frequency and the PAL folks had to solve it some other way, 2.2 something MHz was possibly too fast for some reason. ;-) As a side note the first version of Luxor V.E.S. uses a separate 2MHz crystal for the CPU clock - so it's the fastest version of the System Fairchild out there. ;-)

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks, hope it was worth the wait

[@ReplayRetro]

definitely a must play for anyone serious about vintage games yeah, a fantastic variant of the pong format

[@exodia9817]

Actually the numbers on the cartridges are there so you can tell which ones you have and which ones you don't.

[@1sibbo]

Excellent, but why no new content?

[@RamadityaAdikara]

Your audio is better on this one. Keep it up!

[@ReplayRetro]

the 2 built in games Hockey & Tennis are both 2 player only, i assume the AI wasn't up to the task of providing a worthwhile opponent or perhaps they just didn't try for some other reason

[@Antwilliams1974]

How do I connect it to a modern LCD TV thanks

[@ReplayRetro]

i imagine the camera is losing it

[@cemaxit]

Great Review!

[@mnightshyamalan.]

your shelf's are tilted... im concerned

[@Funk2929]

Did you get the last point in Pong at the end?!

[@MegaAstroFan18]

Are you going to make any more?

[@ReplayRetro]

not enough has really changed since my last room tour, there's only a few new systems so its not quite worth it just yet

[@ReplayRetro]

really? i don't think i changed any settings but i'll look in to it and see if i can continue to do it for you

[@Devr0ss]

At the time I think the company was called Fairchild Camera and Instrument

[@acetrip4510]

The Fairchild Channel F was invented by an African American game designer by the name of Jerry Lawson. He revolutionized the gaming industry so all props go to this wonderful man.

[@Dios67]

There is a bit more to it than that www.fastcompany.com/3040889/the-untold-story-of-the-invention-of-the-game-cartridge

[@emojo1990]

haha, is it wrong that i was just focused on the wonderswan underneath the virtualboy throughout the entire video? XD

[@ReplayRetro]

What a fantastic video clip, thanks for showing me that! brilliant! yeah its technically possible to break throught he wall but the skill required is far beyond me and would take lots of practice

[@1300l]

Cool, i did. Hope to watch the next one soon but i know life can be bussy so wait is fine too, hehe.

[@ReplayRetro]

i actually got it right then? excellent! thanks for letting me know

[@JOlsakovsky]

I had a Channel F way back when (before I convinced my mom that it was a PoS and I needed an Atari 2600!). It sucked. We're talking black hole levels of suck. The controller was horrible, despite the attempt at innovation. The BEST game titles for Channel F were mediocre compared to other systems' games. As an aside... I think I had mine hooked up to the same TV in your title graphic!!!!!

[@Phenom98]

John The Race Fan Lol. When did you get an Atari? I imagine it was awful buying this thing just before the Atari came out lol

[@e5frog]

I'm sure it seemed like crap if you compared it to a later machine - like the Atari VCS. If going from Pong in black and white to this - that was really nice. I guess not everyone can handle the lightsaber joystick, the force is not with everyone. ;-) There's original titles I still like very much, especially when playing two players.

[@Aryetis]

Why does the ball disappears sometimes while playing "breakout" ? Is it because of the camera ? Or just glitches ?

[@e5frog]

I haven't noticed when playing, I assumed it was the recording. I know the ball disappears in bowling off and on, I also know that they in the bowling code have a very short latency for the graphics to be output on the ports - which is the reason for it disappearing - as the RAM in the console (or associated chips) aren't fast enough to handle it. Get's even worse on the 2MHz version (Luxor Video Entertainment System) if you try to update the graphics too fast.

[@googaagoogaa12345678]

so the joystick was an 8 way controller a paddle and had two independent buttons is that correct

[@e5frog]

Twist motion isn't really a paddle - it could have been though. Just a button functionality. So functions could be replaced with a game pad with four buttons.

[@ReplayRetro]

hope it was worth the wait

[@jacobstephenmcconnell323]

How the hell do I connect this to my TV with an aerial?!

[@wesleythomas7125]

Amazing how cartridges went from the size of a book to slightly larger than your thumb...

[@e5frog]

There's cork feet on that model actually. The "hooks" should be fastened to a plastic pin with a metal retaining ring - it's not uncommon that it has been torn of the very short pin. Pinball what? Pinball Challenge... 22:27 Yeaah... my keyboard, mouse mat, mouse and two controllers! Should you ever feel the need for Pac-Man or a Multi-Cart, let me know. Nice review, a bit crappy sound level and image quality, I see that hasn't improved much in your 2018 recordings - but at least you have gotten a beard. ;-) How about start using a lavalier or clip-on microphone, that would improve sound a lot, there's nothing wrong with the quality of what you say, it would be nice to better hear what you're saying. ;-)

[@jeffrey44]

You mention that Pinball Wiz would have seemed new and exciting at the time. For perfect proof of that, take a look at this video... ?v=Nxq4JOy0AMs&t=15m52s It shows the game being played on ITV gameshow 3-2-1 in 1981 complete with the studio audience getting very excited indeed. Ted Rogers claims that if you break through the wall "you really will build up your score". You say you believe this isn't possible. Ted Rogers seems like an honest man so I really don't know who to believe. Thanks.

[@davidfox8791]

If very hard to use I had one There was a planned To introduce keypad And special games To use with-it But were cancelledWould like to see a video of cancel game

[@DawsonsMemes]

Fair review

[@omarfederick5809]

Please tell me who created this console?

[@e5frog]

Depends on the game, usually one of buttons 1-4 on the console starts a game and selects variations of it. On the Multi-Cart you select the game with controller and a couple of alternative ways.

[@ReplayRetro]

cheers mate

[@philv2529]

I see that you have a Vectrex in the bacground. Woot

[@augustwest5356]

Phil V vectrex was an awesome little console. to this day I still love that thing

[@ReplayRetro]

Interesting that you played one as a kid, i don't think they were massively common, you're looking at no more than around £20, so not bad at all really, i do have another one & spare games but it only works intermittently and doesn't have a power supply

[@ReplayRetro]

thanks, glad i'm not too boring :)

[@omarfederick5809]

Anybody know who created this console?

[@chargermaster8740]

omar federick i dont know to the top of my head but the industry Fairchild conductor is still around today but games were only made back n the day to make a buck so some of these games and consoles from those days go un recognized today with out knowing the creator's

[@davidfox8791]

Love this game all mode had the complete set

[@tylarjones9281]

Interesting fact: Someone made Pacman on this console.

[@pferreira1983]

As he shows at the end or were you not watching?

[@jaimecss]

Yeahhhh! You are back!!! :D