THE MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY 2 - Erin Plays

[@phreakazoith2237]

"take the money and run" was very popular among Ferengis

[@JohnnyParrotJoe]

I had one when I was a kid! I loved a game called "The Quest for The Rings". The art was incredible.

[@mccallosone4903]

quest for the rings was dope

[@luvmenow33]

The booklet had a TON of cool art.

[@videogameboutique2196]

KC's Krazy chase was my 1st video game i fell in love with as a 10 year old kid. The odyssey 2 has a special place in my heart. ^_^

[@SgtMajorSkull]

Yes, for me as well. Me and my brothers got an Odyssey 2 for Christmas when I was a little kid and we had a lot of fun with it. KC Munchkin was what we had and that was a lot of fun! We got KC's Krazy Chase a couple of years later and I liked that even more. One of, if not, The best and really fun games for the 🤗Odyssey 2 - Ahh.. the memories

[@shakatak0128]

I had an Odyssey 2 as a kid also. Turtles, PT Barnum's Acrobats, and Smithereens were my favorite games back then

[@thegrays3303]

Got to love the days when your parents took you the store and you bought a video game, and you could not wait to get home to open it up and play it. Just like PC games on Floppy Disks and CD and DVD.

[@facilitypro]

I still remember my dad buying this in 1979!

[@jcneverquits]

"You are retired in disgrace!" lol

[@josealqueres]

My first video game ever. My dad used to rent this video game in the 80's for me and my brothers to play.

[@ErinPlays]

That's awesome :)

[@canadiandeplorable2087]

My first video game also. Got it in 1980. I still think it had better games than Atari

[@jonniefast]

i didn't have this system until last year, i got it for very cheap in a trade (CiB) very happy to have this one

[@TheWaynelds]

Your dad used to rent that game for me too; tell him I said thanks next time you see him.

[@modelcitizen1977]

That was a pretty solid neck animation for the time.

[@johnkapcoe8861]

I have to say that this really brings back some memories! I remember being totally excited to play these games as a kid.

[@Asterra2]

I grew up with the Odyssey2 and we didn't get an Atari until basically the crash when everything got real cheap real quick. We only owned 7 games for all that time, and Take the Money and Run was one of the only titles in our library that offered something akin to legitimate fun, even though you effectively had to ignore the existence of player 2. I vaguely recall playing it long enough to get 1,000,000 when I was like 6, and then doing it for a final time much later when I was maybe 11 (I remember the second time because I forgot it was even a thing-it plays a special tune). I literally never knew the game had its very own lore. That's kind of neat. As I earlier intimated, you can play the game just fine as a single player. The pink robots will head for their predetermined targets; white robots will try to avoid everyone; you can pick up *both* white robots (including the one intended for player 2) and that's actually part of the strategy, as is trying to maneuver the pink robots into the other player. A pro (six year old) strategy is to figure out how to get the pink robots stuck in a loop so the money counter runs completely out before they can reach you. Managing this depends on the shape of the maze, but ideally it works out just like the safe spot in Pac-Man. The video here is the only one I've seen where the player understands the need to press the button to duck their head. (And it's really not as difficult as it seems here. According to my six year old past self.) Every other video is painful to watch because they run around bumping their head on everything, totally oblivious. Intuition should have led them to understand that there's no way the game was really intended to be played like that.

[@luvmenow33]

Most of those Odyssey 2 games had deep backstories in the manuals actually. Alot of great art as well

[@SgtMajorSkull]

Really cool artwork

[@photon_EARTH]

That was really great, Erin!! Thanks for doing these type of videos on classic gear. I may not have ever seen any of these without your awesome channel! 🙃

[@MegaMacaronie]

You’re wonderful Erin! Thank you for all the videos you do to entertain us!

[@ErinPlays]

Thank you so much!

[@MegaMacaronie]

Erin Plays you’re welcome and thank you! It’s definitely a great thing learning about a console to keep our minds off of what’s going on in the world.

[@scotty-smith]

When most all the kids in my neighborhood had Atari 2600 or intellivision, there was that one kid who wound up with an Odyssey 2. I played it with him once or twice, but it was pretty boring. Now, it would be great to have as part of gaming history. Luckily I still have my favorite console - The Colecovision.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Great video, I really liked the system history and overview.

[@ErinPlays]

Thanks!

[@thingsiplay]

Hey Pam, it's you! I watched some of your videos too and to be honest, I thought this is you too lol But this video from Erin is also really nice to watch. Good to see some girls doing good classic gaming video content too.

[@Xeelia]

I loved the not so subtle "Hi Mike" when showing the "The Voice" box! Adorable!

[@pnvgordinho]

That was my first game console. It was release in Europe with the name Philips videopac. My favorite game was the Alien Invaders. I had a lot of fun with that system.

[@nostartia]

Hey Erin! I've been into gaming content in youtube since the Nerd began, and just started watching your videos as a regular basis. Seeing you play and talk about this relic is just pure gold during the long nights of confinement and insomnia. Thank you so much for all the love you put in your content. It really shows. And that Gradius tune in the end I'm just listening right now as I write this is just icing on the cake.

[@ErinPlays]

Hey! Thank you so much for the kind words. very nice of you :)

[@ioannisdenton]

Your videos and commentary are really enjoyable to me. Thanks Erin, you re awesome!

[@totemlordreviews7242]

Oh my God! The game over in that last space ship game is BRUTAL! I mean, it's one thing to lose but to be called a disgrace is just adding a kick in the nuts to it! Loved the video!

[@frankschneider6156]

There was a time, when honesty was still a thing and people had to learn to cope with the realities of life, instead of trying to dream them away.

[@ErinPlays]

Haha, right? And thanks!

[@aionboogie1252]

I'm very old and this was a very heart-warming video to watch and relive my first experience playing a video game! You helped me remember my thoughts I had about playing these very games, thank you!

[@ErinPlays]

I’m so happy to hear that! This comment touched my heart. Thanks for watching!

[@shawn_530]

I remember playing Crypto-Logic when we were in middle school. We’d enter the stupidest words and laugh our asses off... STIH - SSHELOA - TEOILT - ALLBS - SKDIC

[@1UpJose]

Sounds like a good time with a side of curly fries 🙂

[@shawn_530]

Everything should be accompanied by a side of curly fries! Hope you are doing well, my friend!

[@jonniefast]

its an underrated one for multiplayer/ its a riot 😅

[@mikematei]

Nimble Numbers Ned vs Pickaxe Pete 🪓

[@ErinPlays]

Nimble Numbers Ned seems like a sneaky fellow.

[@supergeoff]

@@ErinPlays like Muttley

[@EricDarrell]

I loved Pick Axe Pete so much. I guess I was about 8 yrs old when I played that. The Odyssey 2 was so much fun back then. I had the voice module too, and it worked. :)

[@docseraph5169]

Beautiful , informative, and entertaining! A+

[@ErinPlays]

Much appreciated!

[@rvfiasco]

Whoa...this is super old-school. I don't think I could go there these days! Thanks for taking one for the team. 😆

[@frankschneider6156]

It already looked quite outdated in the early 80s, while some 2600 games of that time are still playable today (eg Berserk, Frogger, Hero etc).

[@JRthepyroguy]

I had one when I was a kid. Definitely getting another one. At least is affordable on ebay. Great video.

[@paulpalace6292]

My favorite game from that generation of games is "Venture" on the Coleco-Vision. It was winnable, and it also made (sort of) sense. Also, it was the first game in history to have an "Easter Egg." If you got to the last room in the game, then ran to the first room in the game, one could access a secret room that gave the player access to the "true ending." Who could possibly know that? lol

[@JustMe99999]

Adventure on the 2600 came out in 1980 (a year before Venture on the Coleco) and had an Easter Egg. It's regarded as the first game to ever have one.

[@marccaselle8108]

Fun review Erin, it looks like your having lots of fun with these old games.

[@TELEDRMUNDO]

You put a ton of effort into this video! Just wanted to make sure that was said. Great job as always.

[@ErinPlays]

Thanks so much! I appreciate that :)

[@ericwilliams9440]

I actually flipped the score on Pick ⛏️ Pete. Took a pics of the screen at 999999...

[@spaztekwarrior]

This was my first console and I bought it in 1979. I had about ten games for it. I still have the console but most games are missing. I liked the console but always regretted not buying the Atari 2600. I just wanted something different. :)

[@buickboy92]

Great fun Erin! I really like how creative the cover art is for each game. 👍

[@genghisbunny]

This was great fun to watch. My friend had an Intellivision and nobody had an Odyssey 2 so this was interesting to watch.

[@johncourtney6006]

The Odyssey2 was my first system. ❤️Thanks for the memories.

[@ronniefeess4836]

This was my first game system, we played this thing constantly until we got the Atari 2600. Great video, so cool to see these games again.

[@jamesandalotofgames9211]

I’m so digging the pink Disney tv. There was one in my house like 14 years aho

[@jonniefast]

we use ours for RF systems i lost the remote & cant switch to AV 😅

[@totallynotabot151]

Most important part that you didn't mention: there was a programming cartridge that allowed you to write machine code to create your own Odyssey2 games. That was probably the starting point of my game dev career. Also there was a short-lived sequel to the Odyssey2 that retained backwards compatibility but added more colors for backgrounds.

[@Nintendofan-yk4cd]

Awesome video as usual Erin! Take the Money and Run is one I need to try! KC Munchkin looks fun too!

[@boilerfan18]

I like how they got in trouble for the K.C. Munchkin game but not Krazy Chase. Yeah, he's eating a worm now. It's totally different from Pac-Man.

[@spiffywonderboy]

I had one of these when I was a kid. My favorite game among the few I had was Alien Invaders Plus. I liked Crypto Logic too.

[@andy2more475]

Oh Erin, this is my first console I can remember. I thought the keyboard was way bigger than that, but I was just way smaller back then. I remember going into the hallway while my mom typed in a word before it was jumbled up. Thank you!

[@mattmyers9351]

Looks like your having fun with that first game while scratching your head at the same time about the plotline of the game. Lol! I love every minute of it! Keep up the good work Erin!

[@davidallen8891]

The Odyssey 2 was my system back in the day! Thanks for this review, it's like travelling back in time. "Can it be that it was all so simple then?"

[@primus103]

My first console. Loved it!

[@CultureFusionSite]

I think I'll have them carve "You are retired in disgrace" on my tombstone.

[@gtssage]

My first video game console. KC munchkin, KC crazy chase, pick axe Pete, UFO, MONKEY SHINES, SHOWDOWN IN 2100 AD. Oh the memories. I’m old.

[@NeverbeGoodat]

Here in germany the console was called the Philips Videopac G7000.

[@Lilolordinaryme]

Excellent job presenting the overview and highlighting some of the games on this system. I was intellivision/nes freak, but I played this system at an aunt's house. Never forgot kc munchkin, speedway, billiards or bowling. Just picked up a dusty, beat up odyssey 2 at a garage sale for $10 with a bunch of games with all the hookups and power cord. It still works. Been playing all the games you highlighted, (and I can tell you did far better than I do.) I think this system would have done better if they had more 1 player games instead of 2. But thanks for the excellent video.

[@ErinPlays]

Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment! That’s cool you got to experience this system back in the day :)

[@blinddog44]

It wasn’t a system I owned but I do remember playing it at the kiosk at sears. Later on I was friends with someone whose dad worked at Phillips. His dad had brought home copies of the games, no manuals or anything just the cart circuit boards. He got me into the system and nowI have one of my own. Krazy chase and Killer Bees are my favorite games.

[@frankschneider6156]

Killer Bees is a good contender for being the best game on the system. Any experience with Demon attack on that system ?

[@blinddog44]

Frank Schneider Demon Attack is a good title. I tend to forget about the 3rd party games for the system since they are so rare. I’ve only played it on a multicart. I remember being impressed by it.

[@fododude]

So much fun, revisiting the past.

[@jakobole]

I had a Odd-2 back in the day. Didn't know this game existed - that is HILARIOUS!

[@natemarx4999]

If the world ends, we all have to watch Erin's videos.

[@desiv1170]

Nice! Our first cartridge based system growing up... (Really, the only one, as we went to computer gaming after that...) Loved some of those games... Both the KCs! Pick Axe Pete! U.F.O.! Fun system...

[@BoozyBeggar]

We had one, and I didn't even know it was called an Odyssey II, every adult around me just called it the Odyssey. I didn't learn about the II in the title til I was like 20 and looked it up online.

[@richardb.7054]

I was 13 years old when I got that game system for Christmas. Ahhh, the good ol days, lol. Me and my younger brother would fight a lot when playing "take the $$ and run"

[@PapaSeriaMikeRIP]

Thanks for the great overview and education of a system I've never seen.

[@scifyry]

At the beginning, I really enjoyed the violin in the background. Nice touch.

[@neonsponge37]

I have the UK version, named something like Video Pac 9000 or something. One of my fave games was the two player dueling game where your shots bounce off randomly placed trees on the "map" which could take yourself out by accident. Ahhh, fun times .. fun times.

[@TheBruningee]

i had 2 of these systems up until last yr sooo glad i sold them, with only 5 games total i like on it, they were not worth keeping and the space it opened in my storage made me happy :)

[@TheDaggerman30]

Wow! I remember that machine!!!

[@OriginalGrasshopper]

So glad you liked the Odyssey 2. K.C.’s Krazy Chase was indeed their best game.

[@pattrell5257]

If I was 6 in 78 as I was when the NES launched, I would definitely be happy with this over the A2600! There was an airplane shueting game that looked really nice for that era! You could shute forwards and reverse yourself and shuet, too, on that game! This console probably beats the A2600!

[@fododude]

Watching you play with this game from my youth is like watching an alien evaluate a new discovery on her trip to earth.

[@liwowoli]

Fun video! Take the Money and Run sounds hilarious. A video game based on Keynesian economics sounds like my wet dream. That character's neck move is definitely a dance -- Mick Jagger to be precise. Though probably to a Steve Miller Band song. Also, at 6:05, that's what she said.

[@MCastleberry1980]

My first console. Well, technically my parents' console, but still. Spent a LOT of time as a kid playing Alien Invaders Plus! (gotta love all the exclamation points in titles for the system) My Grandparents also had one, so I played the KC Munchkin games over there, and UFO!, which was probably my favorite on the system, or tied w/ KC's Crazy Chase.

[@luvmenow33]

My introduction into the Wonderful World of Video Games. K.C. MUNCHKIN & K.C. Crazy Chase were so fun.

[@MicrobiusBlue]

This was my first console, although it was called the Phillips Videopac g7000 here in the UK

[@Chordonblue]

Sorry if this is excessive, but man, this brings back some memories! First of all, you are seeing these games as a single package - these games took YEARS to arrive - very few were around at launch. The system was released in 1978 and continued selling until 1983. Much like the Atari 2600, as the Odyssey 2 aged, Magnavox's programmer of the games (yeah, it was pretty much ONE GUY!), got better and better and learned certain 'tricks' to produce better results with the system. You can see this with the 2600, where it went from simple games like Breakout and Tanks, to Yar's Revenge, Asteroids, Space Invaders, and Ms. Pac Man. Most of the early games were incredibly simplistic with 'high' or winning scores being no more than 10 points. Later games included bigger scores, programmable character sets that created more than just the standard 'guy' or blocks. The first time I saw the latter was in 'Alien Invaders Plus' - that monstroth was mesmerizing. Later games like K.C. Munchkin and Pick Axe Pete, while not being especially showy, had WAY more playability than the games before it, for the most part. This was likely due to the larger cartridge sizes, allowing more room for graphics and gameplay. But it also involved familiarity with the system's components. To this day, there are homebrew games that take these systems well beyond what they were actually designed for. But to fully understand this, you have to think of the times. We got ours early in 1978 and my parents barely scraped up enough money to get it and a couple games. The Atari 2600 was the main competitor to the Odyssey 2, and until 'Adventure', there wasn't much difference between the two systems, really. All the fancy box graphics really cost you, these carts were EXPENSIVE, often priced around $50 each and for a while, the ONLY place you could buy them in the States was at Magnavox dealers. Yes, Magnavox dealers. That was a 'thing' at one time. $50. Doesn't sound like much, does it? I mean most games today STILL hover around $50, right? Right, except that when you account for the inflation of the dollar, that would be more like $200 today! (you kids don't know how good you have it, etc.) I mowed lawns for most of a summer just so I could afford the Thunderball game (pinball was my first gaming love), and I still remember how much it cost: $49.99 at the dealer. You showed a brief clip of it here - no, it wasn't that special. But back then, all you had was the box art to go by. You crossed your fingers and hoped that your game was worth it (in that case, it really wasn't). And these games were incredibly primitive - especially the 1 player variety. You'd get bored of them pretty quick. 'Cosmic Conflict' was interesting for about an hour or so - and at the time, I LOVED space games. The real joy in the games were the two player ones - which most of them were. There simply wasn't enough memory, either in the cart, or in the system to do more than set up a playfield with a few sprites, a few rules for the sprites and background, and that's it. The rest was up to the players. You had to have a HUGE imagination and I have to hand it to the manual writers - that stuff was GOLD! Take a look at Block Out/Breakdown as an excellent example of a fun two player game. These two-in-one games were similar, but had very different play mechanics. One of them was like breakout, but the other let another player REBUILD the blocks as you tried to break them down. That meant the guy controlling the 'paddle' wasn't just trying to hit the blocks - he was also trying to hit your characters up there! That was some fantastic and frenetic gameplay - probably underrated today, but again, you really had to have two players to fully appreciate what the game offered. Later games like Killer Bees or Turtles really pushed the system to the max. They hardly looked like the initial games that came with the system. You can thank this guy for most of the best games: www.the-nextlevel.com/odyssey2/articles/edaverett/ Ed Averett was an independent programmer who actually worked for Intel at the time. The interview above is fascinating and NO ONE knew any of this at the time. Ed might have been the first games programmer to have made royalties instead of a salary (as things were initially at Atari).

[@ErinPlays]

It's funny- I was putting off making this video until I had Killer Bees. So I finally got the game, but totally forgot to include it in this video 😅 And wow, I can't believe these games were around $50 at some point! Thanks for the fun information and for watching!

[@blackmanjrpg17]

"When you get rolled over by a boulder, it starts you over" HIP HOP SKILLZ😂😂

[@spiffywonderboy]

Erin Playzzzzz

[@iana6713]

I have never seen one of these in real life - I bet it would be fun. That neat "Odyssey 2" logo looks like the title of a late '70's sci-fi show or something.

[@robdiaz7363]

Just here to show some support! Great video!

[@ErinPlays]

Thanks :)

[@RetrofIex]

Now thats some sophisticated AI there

[@TheImperialCommunique]

I had one of those! Pick-Axe Pete was my hands down favorite.

[@thegroove5099]

Although my beloved O2 is currently in a box until I can get it fixed, back when it was working I made a concerted effort to try to score over 1,000 on Ed Averett's Challenger series of games. My final outcome(more or less): Pick Axe Pete - about 1200 K.C. Munchkin - about 3000 U.F.O. - about 700 Attack of the Timelord - about 2700 K.C.'s Crazy Chase - about 400 Freedom Fighters - about 400 Check out the Tedfoolery's homebrew games for the system! Mr. Roboto, Puzzle Piece Panic, and Planet Lander are all really good.

[@anthonywheeler2082]

This the first videogame system I ever owned! We got it from a rumage sale. I can't remember the name but my favorite game for the system had you control a mommy turtle. You had to pick up your babies from houses and take them back the exit. They rode on your back! However you also had to avoid these ball-like beetles that could kill you and your baby instantly! It was like Pac-Man meets Metal Gear Solid. It was fun but super hard!

[@frankschneider6156]

That was the game "Turtles", it's a port of the Arcade game of the same name, made by Konami somewhere around 1979 or 1980 (was one of their first arcade games, even before they made it big by releasing Scramble and Super Cobra).

[@anthonywheeler2082]

@@frankschneider6156 Thanks! I haven't played it in forever so I couldn't remember the title.

[@frankschneider6156]

​@@anthonywheeler2082 I thought so. So now you know the title and could play it again if you want to relive some parts of your childhood memories or show your kids what you did, when you were young. Have fun :-)

[@itsjustagamechannel]

This console is one of the Crown Jewels of my console collection.

[@Obiter3]

This was my first console, fun memories. Thanks for posting 👍

[@FatMarioHeads]

What I find kind of funny was that Magnavox tried suing Atari years prior over them stealing the idea for Pong and totally lost, yet Magnavox makes a maze game that's somewhat similar to Pac-Man, gets sued by Atari and initially wins but loses when Atari appeals. It's especially kind of dumb when you consider there were other maze games that were even more similar to Pac-Man yet didn't get treated with such hostility, like Clean Sweep for the Vectrex.

[@stblaze6098]

With the voice box my favorite game was smithereens.

[@hexregex8869]

Disney Princess TV put to good use. Bubsy makes an appearance! It's sad your The Voice doesn't work :-( Accounting family fun! Thanks Erin :-)

[@ErinPlays]

Bubsy always seems to sneak in, doesn't he? And thanks!

[@BigArt1970]

My parents would have their friends over and play the Cowboy Robot shootem up game with all of us kids. Too much fun! Especially when the adults would have a few too many beers.

[@luvmenow33]

That Game was awesome. I remember the way the hat & cowboy would spin & fall was so cool.

[@xfaktur2261]

Remember going to my friends house to play his Odyssey because it was more fun than my Atari 2600 and he had more games. Thanks for a cool memory Erin.

[@mrjsv4935]

This video brought similar memories for me too but my friends console was called Philips Videopac :) Then they got Commodore 64's and never saw this console again.

[@Curbjaw]

I think the real draw from Take the Money and Run is that it was doing complex math, That game came out just 6 years after HP made it's first scientific calculator which sold for $400 ($3,000 in todays money... FOR A CALCULATOR), so here we had a game that was doing complex math in an instant.... it had to be blowing minds like CRAZY.

[@MysterionLL-]

You should try Killer Bees, one of the best Ody2 games in my opinion!

[@Zhixalom]

❤ I've got a Philips Videopac G7000, which is the Magnavox Odyssey 2's European twin, sitting up on a shelf... staring down and patiently waiting for me to find the time for it to receive some TLC. In form of a re-cap, a Composite Video or more likely a RGBs mod, probably both easier and better quality, since it's graphics chip is directly outputting the digital RGBi (or CGA) version of that, some ATARI-compatible joystick-port mods, a USB-C 5V power mod... and finally building it a multi game cartridge. - I recall playing these games at my cousins place back in the early '80s, as I never had one myself (until now). However, I only remember them by appearance, not by name. So, you get another ❤ for naming them for me. 😉

[@adamjeremycapps]

I had this system as a kid. Had some kind of frog game where you catch bugs with your tongue.

[@danielespeziari5545]

I really enjoyed this video. The Odyssey 2 (or Videopac, as it was called here in Europe) is pretty much ignored by everybody, but I think it's a cool system. A friend of mine (older than me) seems to have one at his parents' house, since he grew up with it, but I still can't convince him to let me try it.

[@jacob60617]

My dad had one. Thank god I grew up on Super Nintendo time. Lol. But love the video.

[@dustin2dust351]

This was the first video game console I played. I remember hating the racing game that came with it.

[@janPolijan]

This brings back some sweet memories. Love the Odyssey2 (or the Videopac as it was called here in Europe).

[@techx154]

This was my very first console, watched you on John Hancock's channel... Subbed! Great channel Erin! :)

[@ihaveallthecoins2785]

Awesome video. I completely missed out on this system as a kid.

[@9393zach]

Reaganomics in a video game? How 1980's of them! Haha this is such a time piece.

[@jontytran]

“Yay, I got a TIE Fighter” hehe

[@BrettWeissRetroGamer]

Love the O2! Good video!

[@scottbrady7499]

my grandma got the last kc munchkin cartridge in the macys in s.f. i think it was christmas of 78, but i wasn't allowed to "burn in" any good t.v. sets. had to wait a while to try it. one had wizards and ghosts in a castle. had the cosmic as well. i wanted an Atari, but it may have been TWICE the price.

[@frankchiappetta6600]

Cosmic Conflict was one of my favorite games on this system - many Saturday mornings spent on that game! 😎👍

[@davidsimon1324]

My brother and sister and I had the oddessy 2 about 40 years ago. We had a lot of game's.😀