The Pioneer LaserActive - Review - Game Sack

Episode 41 - A LaserDisc player that plays Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 games as well as giant, LaserDisc-based games? Yup. Featuring music from Cyberspeed Unleashed by Mark ‘TDK’ Knight: marktdkknight.bandcamp.com/al...
Check out the Game Sack Episode Guide!
www.gamesack.net

[@donjohnson3888]

I always forget how expensive stuff like this used to be. My parents moved recently and there was an old VCR type thing in the rafters of the garage in its original packaging that they had bought in or around 1980 and the tag had it priced at _$1,100.00_. In *1980*. That's about $3,500 in 2017 dollars. Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus.

[@magnumforcemopar402]

Don Johnson they had to lower the price to keep people hooked and brainwashed. Tell-lie-vision. Use only in moderation....

[@carbonbased6315]

Worth every penny... ;)

[@mikedx42]

IMO, Dave being upset at non-terran pyramids is the best gag in the whole Game Sack canon. PS I fucking love you guys

[@jcaseyjones2829]

Nine years later, YES! HAHAHA! Pyramids are for humans only!

[@klax001]

It's 2021 and I watch a lot of retro video game stuff and I am just now learning that this exists. The modules that you can plug in to play cartridges blew my mind. What a weird system.

[@tyleryates8508]

Watching in 2022

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

@@tyleryates8508 2023!

[@scaniatex]

"UUGH!!! JUST THE THOUGHT OF ANOTHER PLANET HAVING A PYRAMID PISSES ME OFF!!" Hahaha!!

[@Walczyk]

lol one of my favorite lines

[@anthonybessel1086]

And this is why Game Sack is great. I had no idea this console even existed. Great job as always guys!

[@TheCheat420]

I'm watching this episode in 2018 and seeing Dave sit on the left and Joe on the right is FREAKING me out man!

[@jw6588]

Yeah, it's unsettling lol.

[@TheMentalRelapse]

LMAO @ Dave getting pissed about the pyramids!

[@FinalBaton]

+TheMentalRelapse It's a great bit

[@AgentDanielCross]

TheMentalRelapse Damn aliens, stealin' our pyramids!

[@LermaBean]

daniel cross Stealin' and makin' pyramids, now I'm mad!

[@jkholtgreve]

Hw should meet Richard C Hoagland

[@IronClawGaming]

What? There's no Flowers of Robert Maplethorp!?!? D: Laser Active owners sure missed out.

[@jkholtgreve]

Always makes me laugh to realize that they took the time to make a Mapplethorpe game and NO PORN...that’s like making an edutainment game about Robert Moses with no buildings.

[@Walczyk]

that was cd-i

[@keynotes8114]

"I'm so oh no, who is gonna help me find....the alpha ozone for me?" LMBO

[@rodrigomolinsky]

10:43 "My name is... (uh?) Roberto... (How TF I spell this?) ... Ba-seti."

[@MegaAnimazing]

Rodrigo Horta what are you Jeff Goblum?

[@marquiennpalmer9175]

what lol!

[@marquiennpalmer9175]

"UUGH!!! JUST THE THOUGHT OF ANOTHER PLANET HAVING A PYRAMID PISSES ME OFF!!" "UUGH!!! J "UUGH!!! JUST THE THOUGHT OF ANOTHER PLANET HAVING A PYRAMID PISSES ME OFF!!" "UUGH!!! J

[@Vriess123]

I'm impressed at how good the video looks at 240p

[@ShitboxXx360]

I really like that your videos are lengthy and you actually play the games for longer than 5 minutes before you move on to the next one. Real effort goes into these

[@Heroinedown]

A massive disc needs a massive sound effect. You provided big time on this vid and I love this kind of small detail that makes everything coherent. Good work.

[@DiGiTyDarKMaN]

I've watched all these episodes so many times. They never get old. My LaserActive is still my favorite system to show off as most people have no clue what it is. Everyone is always very intrigued.

[@MrChuckGrape]

For being 11 years old, this video looks pretty good. That said, the lighting has significantly improved.

[@GameSack]

Haha thanks. I had fun making this one and I did kind of go hardcore on the contrast. This is one of those episodes I'd like to remake because I want to talk about the games more in depth. Alas the LaserActive was borrowed so it might not be an easy task.

[@tetrisdave]

@valgalder I agree. The only place I remember seeing it was an add in EGM. Basically it was giving away a bunch of gaming stuff and a hi fi audio system if you entered their contest. This was part of it.

[@nicholasbullock1709]

"Triad Stone" is also called "Strahl" on the Saturn and 3DO

[@Takato2527]

I remember this "console" back in my grandpa-in-law's house sent from my uncle, but the module it had was karaoke one instead of all of those game modules. watching you guys video make me wanna go back in time and ask my grandpa-in-law to give me when he was no longer interested.

[@walidalomari160]

Pioneer LaserActive is one of my favorite electronics that were manufactured by Pioneer.

[@StopDropandLOL]

This is one of my favourite episodes of Gamesack. Has awesome replay ability.

[@sdewey4152]

G'damn Martians building our pyramids, next they'll be takin' er jerbs.

[@emmastarr5242]

This is probably what Trump has actually been worrying about this whole time he's been in office. He was just using Mexicans as an example to the aliens on how he plans to treat aliens who build pyramids. Coincidentally, this also explains his Space Force initiative.

[@StarInbound]

I love the outro music you guys used for this video. I recognized it immediately from Final Fantasy III.

[@atticusfalcon7144]

This video has 143,226 views, the LaserActive sold over 10,000 unitsWow

[@camulodunon]

It actually sold like 400,000 or something.

[@DanielBMS]

Many of us wanted one. Few could afford one.

[@RoomerJ]

Like 1.2 million units..

[@RoomerJ]

Someone just looked at wiki mistake lol

[@AnArchyRulzz]

That black guy who looks like Morgan Freeman sounds like Ben Carson.

[@xx_dizzy_xx8031]

I remember my school had one when i was in 1st grade they used for teaching math with educational movies and games lol

[@gzoolong]

my 1st time to see gaming runs on LD disc system~ so great!

[@Bunnellius]

What a kooky system, with all the modules... (but at least they do play cartridges as well).

[@GameSack]

Go to the Game Sack Episode Guide linked in the description, find the "RPGs - Part 1" episode. Pretty much the entire second half is Phantasy Star 1-4.

[@WHATISUTUBE]

I *STILL* cannot believe Sarah killed herself

[@UltimatePerfection]

8 years too late, but I think you have a faulty eject button. I know someone who was lucky enough to obtain "old new" Laseractive (as in, never opened since production, probably was stored in a warehouse somewhere and only recently put on sale) and the eject button for the modules is easy to press and ejects much further (about 1/3 to a half of the module's depth).

[@Enchurito]

Probably just needs cleaning

[@UltimatePerfection]

@@Enchurito Maybe, but I heard that those eject buttons sometimes just snap inside, so replacing it might be the only option.

[@typetwelve]

This was one of those systems that I saw in the early 1990's that I always wanted to try. i finally got my hands on one with the Genesis pack in the early 2000's and it didn't take long to figure out how horrible the thing really was. I cannot imagine how furious someone would be had they bought one for full price. I landed up selling the thing as there was really no reason to keep the thing.

[@stevethefishdotnet]

Oh man, I was hoping to see Time Gal. Apparently 20 other people did too, except I'm gonna give a thumbs up.

[@FinalBaton]

An RGB modded CLD-A100 would be pretty neat. Then get the Sega Pac and the NEC Pac and you've got THE TRUE KING OF EARLY 90'S ENTERTAINMENT! A SINGLE-DEVICE TO ENTERTAIN YOU AND YOUR GUEST WITH THE HIGHEST QUALITY VISUALS AND SOUND. GAMES! MOVIES! ALL IN ONE MASTERFUL PACKAGE! ONE MACHINE TO RULE THEM ALL!!!!!

[@TheNewFakk28]

Actually, there are s-video modded and RGB modded LaserActive's, and they DO play the Sega 32X as well once RGB modified, and they also look and sound far better than the consoles that they play on the LA. The RGB modded LA's Sega CD/Genesis and Turbo Grafx /Duo games look simply amazing, as do they sound amazing. Just remember to recap the pac's before using them, and make sure to install new super cap for the saving in the TG16 PAC, and a new battery for game saving in the Sega PAC since they are all dying just like the real consoles are. ;)

[@71dembonesTV]

TheNewFakk28 How does an RGB mod make the 32x compatible? It needs more than the cartridge slot to work. Even if it did, it looks like it blocked the controller ports anyways

[@exchangediary968]

Those girls are below average? ( looks at Joe ) uhu

[@GameSack]

You did indeed! That was the only one I was able to purchase, though I rented Mind's Eye and Beyond the Mind's Eye on LD and recorded them to S-VHS.

[@FIXTREME]

Hey, what's that song that plays during the part about the history of the laserdisc format?

[@loganjorgensen]

13:22 Wow that is the most hilariously bad acting I've seen in a while. :D Thank you.

[@sean.durham999]

Yea I remember this ungodly priced behemoth machine. Never got to see the games excusive to it till now. Space Berserker and Hyperion actually look pretty cool. For their time of corse.

[@X2FileWrightonite]

While I have a Laserdisc player and about 500 movies, I've never seen any of the games that were designed for this system, until now. Thanks for the video guys. That was nicely done. Now I'm glad that I never invested any of my hard earned cash into that. I didn't realize they were that bad.

[@aziz_light]

Now this is what game sack is all about! Thanks for another informative and funny show!

[@fonkyman]

so quick time events did exist in the stone ages... good to know i guess...

[@rat9625]

10:27 "What are we, some kind of suicide club?"

[@GameSack]

the Legendary Axe!

[@MyNamesNotLars1]

I forget just how long Game Sack has been on KZbin

[@n2locarz1]

Laughed the entire video! You guys are awesome! Only took 11 years for me to find this video

[@Jayce_Alexander]

In the early 90s this was one of the golden rules of gaming: if your system costs more than a SNES, but isn't a Neo Geo, it's trash.

[@almostliterally593]

Jayce what if it was a PC

[@almostliterally593]

Or a Turbo Duo

[@almostliterally593]

Or a Sharp X68000

[@stepheng8061]

LOVE the obscure console videos you guys rule nobody covers this at all anywhere on KZbin you are awesome and unique

[@VivaTorf]

What a unique video! This episode is for sure one of my favourites. Nice job guys!

[@urbanmidnight1]

I really enjoy these hardware videos, some of the best I've seen. Please talk more about the specs of the machines.

[@dogmd7]

I really can't get over how unnecessarily huge laserdiscs were lol

[@Nanofuture87]

Legendary Chop Chop It wasn't really unnecessary (and were roughly the size of vinyl records). Even at that size, they often had to use multiple laserdiscs for movies.

[@doctorlight]

just the thought of another planet having a pyramid just pisses me the hell off

[@Peeps7468]

Thank you for this video. I cannot imagine how expensive it would have been back in the day to get this system to play Genesis, Master System, or TG16 games!! This is amazing lore.

[@KaskelotenZebbe]

"Unique game with crosshair and FMV backgrounds" - very funny! :). Good job!

[@wojiaobill]

oh god i cant stand it when other planets have pyramids

[@luiscanamarvega]

ah.. time to relax and have dinner while i let my gamesack playlist run :)

[@GameSack]

We want to. Neither of us have one any more. So we're gonna need to get one again before we can really talk about it.

[@carlopton]

I remember seeing that thing in the store in the Audio/Video dept. back in the day. I found it interesting, then I found out about the price. My interest evaporated faster than a pan of water over a nuclear explosion. I also saw the Phillips CD-I in the store when it came out, and I was not impressed. Although the price did impress me. I never bought either one. I would have had to sell my wife.

[@lurkerrekrul]

"Your main goal is to shoot the enemy shots to defend yourself. Your secondary objective is to shoot down the enemies if you find the time." That pretty much describes every rail shooter ever made.

[@MyHumanLife]

Wow, I had never heard of this system before at all! This was cool to learn about!

[@GameSack]

@Heroelime Actually the system and games were on loan.

[@Ubersnuber]

I like the way you presented this stale platform. I found some bits of new information as well. Job well done!

[@ItsTheFizz]

Well you managed to find a console I've never heard of... Impressive...

[@matthewlane518]

Is your thumbnail Jim Cornette?

[@dezm101]

you guys always have stuff I have never heard of! Now I want one of these sooo bad!

[@Ukk1eB]

was that English professor played by Tommy Wiseau? His acting style looks the same

[@TheMentalRelapse]

Your tearing me apaart lazeractive!

[@AustinofEarth]

I collect Laser Discs simply for the awesome cover art. Someday I hope to actually view one. I imagine I will be blown away by the quality.

[@AustinofEarth]

I do have movie posters as well, most of the time the Laser Disc art is vastly different from any poster, and they aren't little pieces of cardboard they are rather large. They turn out to be better conversation pieces compared to posters.

[@MrWolfSnack]

Stoned Video Game Nerd You can't watch a poster,open it up, interact with it...idiot.

[@carpal08]

AustinofEarth so i can imagine your mom coming into the basement has quite the conversation for your laser discs? amazing.

[@AustinofEarth]

Yeah mom loves those discs brah.

[@rideroundandstuff]

I think you would be more like "Okay, well, that’s pretty much like watching a DVD. Alright."

[@tetrisdave]

@Tahnvalas Thanks for that compliment! We have a great time making these videos. Well I do and then I go home and leave all the editing work to Joe. He probably doesn't enjoy it as much as I do. Or maybe he does, who know.

[@Tahnvalas]

I don't normally comment on videos, but you guys are funny, interesting and simply awesome. You always publish vids about rarer products not overly discussed elsewhere. Very nice! Keep up the great work!

[@OriginalMindTrick]

All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.

[@joes248]

blade runner. nice.

[@Realwessharpe]

Hey Dave. I'm an alien from another planet, and we have pyramids.

[@davidv776]

Triad Stone for the Mega LD was relesased under the name "Strahl" for the 3DO player.

[@scott12344454]

*First four games* "We have a cross hair with full motion video and we shoot stuff!" *Sigh*

[@tag4650]

Are those all Crosshair-FMV-Shoot games?

[@willywillyson]

Another good one guys. Audio is good too. That shelving unit is good for that. NICE!

[@cheezmunky1]

"Ooooh, just the thought of another planet having a pyramid pisses me off!!!"

[@societyofsin]

Your acting and sense of humor is great! Keep up the good work!

[@Axedroid]

You guys rock, I would love to see the set and a live recording of the show....amazing!

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Excellent video! I know nothing about this console and this was a cool surprise!

[@micherickpaolodiazsantos961]

One of the earliest known about the laserdisc on KZbin including the miniseries of oddity archive episodes like laserkaraoke and among others like laserdisc and DIVX

[@LermaBean]

Pyramids on other planets are my favorite running joke in all of the GS joke catalog.

[@XaneMyers]

What other videos is this joke mentioned on? I find it funny here, so it'd be funny to hear the anger of a pyramid on another planet in other Game Sack videos.

[@albertnortononymous9020]

Now I know where the Kingdom Hearts II gummi ship stuff came from

[@youtubed3951]

my family had a laser disc player but I never heard of this. Amazing. I kinda wanna get one lol. Those sega/Nec "packs" though. 600?! Crazy

[@tetrisdave]

@cityside75 Cool! Thanks for watching. It's hard to get excited about monday morning when you have a week of work ahead of you.

[@SoundFantasy]

I have a question, do you guys have a US Laseractive or a Japanese one? I'm looking to getting a Japanese imported console and was wondering if it would accept US Sega pacs Thanks and love your in depth videos on these awesome pieces of hardware.

[@goodsquidjapan]

Great review guys!

[@GameSack]

@clays121 It's definitely solid-state.

[@GameSack]

@Zeldaschampion It sure did!

[@EjectedStomach]

Oh man! Rocket Coaster, Pyramid Patrol and Hyperion were my shit back in the day! I understand your criticisms of the console nowadays, but back in the 90's, this thing was the shit!!

[@AdmiralBison]

I don't know why but I LOVE FMV games. Maybe it's the campiness, seeing live action and getting to interact with it. They saddle the line between gaming and movies, but still enjoyable and relaxing.

[@Gecko1993HogheadIncOfficial]

This is really amazing! I wonder if one can play the original arcade laserdiscs on the laseractive...

[@valgalder]

awesome episode guys.. I remember being intrigued by this system back in the day, but no magazines really covered it and only knew of it from small ads and stuff in the back of videogame mags.. Always thought it was really interesting they were able to utilize Genesis and TG16 technology for this.

[@Walczyk]

joe is so chill here

[@The90sGamingGuy]

Interesting games.My grade school had laser disc players in the 90's.I saw a documentary (on laser disc) about under water life i think in history class or something. Only got to see that on laser disc. The school i went to mostly used VHS if we were going to watch an educational program in the class room.

[@marklinstom5145]

Pioneer LaserActive games are so good, they give you pleasure overload.

[@retrostansolo]

I watch other retro so called game reviewers on KZbin but nobody I have seen are as good as you guys. Great show as always.

[@GameSack]

@M4R14NO94 Yes I remember him he was our best student.

[@tyleryates8508]

Just discovered this channel in 2022

[@RySenkari]

This thing had so much potential, it's a shame nobody thought to actually make decent games for it.

[@bland9876]

"slightly below avrege looking japanese girls" so there 9.5/10 on the hot scale then

[@clownprince88]

Very thorough review, i enjoyed it

[@Shorty_Lickens]

Yet another device I vaguely recall hearing about. Never saw one in person. Nobody could afford them. Stores never carried the things anyway.

[@crabcakes448]

Damn, who knew this episode would be all about the Vaj

[@philp7353]

I think this is my favorite gamesack video