The Story of: 5 Cancelled Console Expansions

In this video I tell the stories behind 5 expansion add-ons for home consoles that were ultimately cancelled and left unreleased.
Video Links:
5 Unreleased Nintendo Consoles - • The Story Of: 5 Unrele...
Atari Jaguar VR - • A Quick Look At The At...
M-Network Atari 2600 Games - • Every Atari 2600 Matte...
Atari 7800 Laser Disc - • The Story of the Atari...
10 Amazing ColecoVision Facts - • 10 Amazing ColecoVisio...
10 Amazing Atari 7800 Facts - • 10 Amazing Atari 7800 ...
Support my creative work on Patreon - / lairdslair
#sega #nintendo #atari

[@mgabrysSF]

It's pretty funny that Atari would release 64k cartridges at the end of life for the 2600 - without needing a module. I met Jerry btw before he passed away. Insanely brilliant not only at tech but dealing with the Fairchild corp in getting his ideas out the door with massive pushback internally. He made the expo rounds for decades after the fact, and was always very open to excellent Q&A sessions during his appearances. Still miss him.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Atari did it with an extra chip on the cartridge solution, as Mattel then intended to after their module was cancelled. That's awesome, I would have loved to have spoken to him, very interesting career he had. I've spoken to Nolan Bushnell several times and was awestruck by him, could talk to him all day long.

[@johnathanstevens8436]

I got to meet Curt in person and see his awesome Atari Demonstration display at VCF about a year before he passed away .. RIP

[@Wallyworld30]

ADAM computer was released in fall of 1983 for $700! By Christmas of 1984 the price had already been dropped to $200 which is when my Father bought one for the family. My dad bought it because getting a proper word processor for $200 was an incredible deal. Especially since the ADAM used a real daisy wheel printer not dot matrix printer like most computers of the time. He used it to type business letters and to apply for patents. For us 4 kids (3 boys 1 girl) we loved that it played Colecovision Games and came with a pack in game of Donkey Kong which was so much nicer than 2600 and Intellivision versions. I was the oldest boy in the family and learned to code simple programs on it. ADAM computer also had it's exclusive games on cassette tapes. The most amazing IMO was Family Feud because we played it for days and never got repeat questions/answers. On the NES trivia games like this would start repeating questions within first hour of play and you could memorize every question with a couple days while the cassette tape held so much data it had what seemed like unlimited questions. So in 1985 my house had an Intellivision, Atari 2600, ADAM and a Radio Shack Pong Clone. The ADAM Computer was our main entertainment machine until my grandmother bought the family a NES in 1987. Once my 10 year old self got my hands on an NES I rarely looked back at the ADAM since it Toy's R Us didn't carry games/software for it anymore. I recall trips to Toys R Us to pick out a game for one of us 3 boys as a magical experience! They had dozens of NES games with papers in sleeves and if you wanted to buy a certain game you would grab a paper from the sleeve and take it to the cage up front to get it. It was quite sad when the game you wanted most was out of the paper coupons to buy your game. Kids today will never experience the thrill of that trip to Toys R Us to get us a new NES and later SNES and Genesis games. I took my kids to Toys R Us in it's last days and it was more of a sad experience then magical.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yeah, I really miss Toys R Us, I bought games for my 2600, ZX Spectrum, Lynx, Atari ST, Mega Drive and Sega Saturn there. I have particularly fond memories of getting 2600 games there in particular, as they always had the best selection locally.

[@Wallyworld30]

@@TheLairdsLair I recall playing the Demo machine of Saturn at Toys R Us and it had a FPS dungeon crawling type of game to play and I just remember being unimpressed by it compared to PSX. My brother and I split the price and bought a PS1 instead. (We also did same with (Jaguar, Sega CD and SNES) By then we were both teenagers and could buy a game a week. We ended up buying like 20+ Big Box PS1 games. During the Big Box Era these were our top 3 games we played most. 1. Ridge Racer got the most play by far. My brother and I always trying to one up each other for the best saved record times. We mastered this game. 2. Mortal Kombat My brother and I being competitive gamers loved fighting games and for Playstation MK3 was the fastest fun fighting game. 3. Battle arena Toshinden for an early 3D fighter this was probably the best available in 1995 at least on Playstation.

[@tivvy2vs21]

Toys r us never closed here in Canada, they even gave everyone 5 bucks in store credit when the us division went down

[@10p6]

One of the biggest add on screwups was the Atari XEP80 80 column expansion. Back when the 800XL came out, and especially the 130XE, Atari should have included the simple and Cheap CRT Controller chip like used in Amstrad CPC and computers for adding 80 column text mode. With cheaper ROMs by then, Atari could have sold a whole lot of Atari Writer 80 Carts.

[@ridiculous_gaming]

80 column support also invites more serious business applications as found on Apple II.

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

Coleco's original Expansion Module #3, the Super Game Module, is indeed my pick for a console expansion that should have been released.

[@KatriceMetaluna]

I think the tape drive on it would have been prone to failing quite often. Given Coleco's track record for making cheap toys.

[@straingedays]

I still have a V-Doctor for Nintendo 64, it's a CD ROM player that allowed any brand of game to be played on Nintendo. Was pretty much illegal then, obtaining pirated CDs for it was extremely difficult (now impossible as few to nobody remembers it, let alone still owns one)

[@TheLairdsLair]

I featured that briefly in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWW3ZX6Nqa16j7c

[@skywarp727]

I loved my coleco vision, and having some add-on action would have been awesome. Great video

[@robintst]

A real shame that the Super Game Module never came to be, the ColecoVision was my first console.

[@awanderer5446]

Are you sure the 32FX actually was a thing and not just something invented by the press? Even for the most obscure and/or secretive Nintendo project of the era, prototype hardware or at least a photo or two eventually turned up (e.g. the Nintendo Playstation, the Game Processor Ram Cassette etc). If Nintendo actually worked on this, there would at the very least be a patent or a developer who remembers working on it. Something that does fit the timeframe if not the specs mentioned is the Super Accelerator System, which essentially was the SA-1 co-processor that was put into a number of games and intended to prolong the lifespan of the console. I think Nintendo made a wise choice in putting expansion hardware into individual game cartridges instead of external add-ons.

[@grinbrothers]

I imagine most, if not all of these expansion ideas, are going to be in the realm of retro gaming. After stuff like the Sega 32X and N64DD, I can't imagine many game companies looking to the idea of console expansions and thinking they are a good idea. 0:53 - "Failing to live up to it's promise" Yeah, that fits the Mega CD well. I understand it's creation and do feel it had additional benefits such as allowing Sega to experiment with the CD format at an early point but it's also true that it's percentage of sales was a huge contrast with it's base Mega Drive sales. I would personally blame the insanely high price; the add-on shouldn't be more expensive than the console it is adding onto. 2:59 - Those "Wafer" tapes look adorable. Given the timing of 1983, I'm unsurprised the American company veered the 3rd console expansion towards making a home computer instead. Shame that most their game plans seemed to be just complete versions of prexisting games on the system. 7:02 - Funny enough, Gaming Historian just did a video about the history of the Fairchild Channel F, which naturally included plenty about Jerry Lawson. 8:30 - Whilst I would still consider it a bad idea, Nintendo releasing a 32-bit add on for the SNES would have made more sense than Sega with the Mega Drive, given the delays of the N64 release compared to the Saturn arriving early. 9:56 - I do wonder if, had Nintendo released it, they'd have carried on through with Star Fox 2's release to show support for the system even if said system was likely to be a failing one. To think Nintendo avoided this add-on mistake... only to later make the same mistake with the 64DD.

[@tsiefhtes]

Nintendo have been flirting with describes all the way back to it's famicom days. There is a reason original model NES and SNES have a expansion port on the bottom. We don't hear much about these as nintendo would test the waters in Japan then decide to back out wack time. I think the WII is the first console Nintendo did not ship with a expansion port on the bottom.

[@dallase1]

I can't believe Atari tried to scam people by saying the lie that the 7800 had superior sound effects when it used the same sucky sound chip as the VCS.

[@bitset3741]

Great video and a really cool topic. One thing though - the SuperFX chip was not a RISC chip. It was a 10 or 21 mhz 65816 based chip - same cpu in the SNES but much faster, with its own local ram. The 65816 was a 16bit upgrade to a 6502.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Pretty much all the info online about it says its a RISC chip. Here's Wikipedia for example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_FX "This custom-made RISC processor is typically programmed to act like a graphics accelerator chip that draws polygons to a frame buffer in the RAM that sits adjacent to it."

[@bitset3741]

@@TheLairdsLair Yup, I stand corrected. It was the SA1 chip I was thinking of. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_NES_enhancement_chips has a lot of info on all of the enhancement chips.

[@dazsly]

The Coleco was way ahead of the Atari consoles! I remember wanting one in my local game shop, but they were expensive and I was poor 😆 😆

[@andrewkaye2108]

I love that commercial for the 7800 at the end. 😂

[@madmax2069]

17:04 lmao superb sound effects, not with the TIA, only with the addition of the Pokey chip in the cart and even then by then it was debatable.

[@STR82DVD]

Brilliant stuff. Congratulations on the new book by the way. Keep it up young lad.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Much appreciated!

[@Shinobi33]

Thanks for telling me about Jerry Lawson. I didn't know anything about him. Great story

[@TheLairdsLair]

No problem!

[@unconbentional2044]

Great content, as always! Thank you. Please let us know if you hear any more news about the 7800 expansion module project.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I haven't heard anything new for a while, but will do!

[@jbanks979]

Not to go too far in the weeds with the Adam but Coleco if anyone was no where near as poor shape as Atari in 1983. I believe the Coleco remained profitable through the end of the year. It was Atari who largely made the craziest of the supply chain decisions, making more disappointing games than systems existed in the world. The Coleco also had the benefit of being the best looking console till the NES while the 2600 looked ancient at the crash If the Coleco had partnered with say……..a Japanese counterpart in Sega who were releasing an upgrade to their nearly identical Sg-1000 instead of a computer add on…….

[@TheLairdsLair]

What Coleco should have done is made the ADAM a full MSX compatible computer, whilst retaining the ColecoVision backwards compatibility, and then adopted the new MSX2 standard for a Super ColecoVision and and an Adam 2 - a lot like Daewoo did in Korea with the Zemmix range.

[@gavinisdie]

Coleco kind of had a Partnership with Nintendo at this time, though it was only limited to Coleco Porting thier games to Consoles at the time

[@NickTaylor-Phantom-Works2]

Virtuality was the product I believe - the company behind it was W Industries. I worked with one of their machines at a shop in meadowhall in Sheffield in the early 90s. F***ing hated that thing!!

[@retrojoe85]

@17:04 Sorry dude, I laughed so hard when I heard "superb sound FX" related to a 7800 commercial! Great job as always.

[@DuckAvenger]

I don’t what it says about me that I saw the title and was like yep that’s the video for me.

[@mattalan6618]

the SNES CD addon comes to mind. but we all know that SONY turned it into the PS1 we all know and love and in my mind the best console of tat generation

[@TheLairdsLair]

I would have included that had I not already done so in another video focused on Nintendo, which I have linked in the description.

[@onkelnb]

The Nintendo 32FX would have made sense. As the Super FX Chip was expensive, it was not very smart to include it in every cartridge. On the other hand, a true SNES expansion would have needed a better, larger lineup of FX games.

[@neilthomas8070]

Interesting video, it shows what could have been. Don't regret them not being released.

[@Ares_0926]

My friend had the Colecovision with expansion module 1 & 2 and we had a brochure for 3 and always wanted to grt it.

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

Had the Sega VR been released, people could've called it the "Virtua Reality".

[@TheLairdsLair]

I like that!

[@jennyholiday88]

17:29 It's wild that Atari says they "reinvented" the game while showing Ms Pac-Man, a game that's 3 years old, that looks the same as it did everywhere but the 2600

[@Plarndude]

I love the idea of add-ons. Why would I keep buying new machines when I can upgrade what I have?

[@Mrshoujo]

This was borne out of the modular stereo system mentality of the 1970s.

[@Zellio2011]

Number one reason to be a pc gamer

[@desiv1170]

Yeah, too bad about Curt and the XM. Was watching the development, tho I didn't preorder. Was sad because it was/is so close...

[@Anonymous-oh4xw]

Oh come on! How the fuck did I miss this awesome and really interesting video by two fucking days?! Anyway, Sega also planned a floppy disk add-on for the Mega Drive alongside a modem, a printer, a keyboard, and what would eventually become the Mega CD.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I've actually talked about all that in a couple of other videos: Sega Mega Drive Facts - kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5uyh2B6mcupm7c Sega Master Drive - kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3TMmaGqd8mDadU

[@ravager48]

I honestly don't remember the 32FX being a thing. Thanks for the info!

[@pjdolont9012]

More underrated content.

[@NesNyt]

3:50 I realize there's no video degradation in the digital world but this Picture seems to be used so much that the girls jeans are fading away

[@TheLairdsLair]

Word!

[@StageRight123]

12:30 It's very impressive that a game in 1994 was inspired by Hideo Kojima's Snapchat.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Why? Snatcher was first released in 1988 🤦‍♂️

[@plushquasar653]

Underrated channel right here.❤❤

[@NOTLeavingLV]

Thanks for the video. I have an important tip to help you. Pro tip. That part where your logo and patreon are at the front? Move them. I kindly say this but no one cares. Get to the content right away. Ppl that are impatient will leave while your showing your logos. This isn’t mean, I want you to succeed. If you think I have no idea what I’m talking about that’s fine but I do. Trust me.

[@TheLairdsLair]

The intro is 15 seconds long, that's really short by intro standards. I know very successful KZbinrs who have intros that are 3 or 4 times the length, more if they also have sponsorship . . . . . . Also my analytics don't match your conclusions.

[@piccolo1906]

The 32 FX would have been better than better than virtual boy. The virtual boy failed anyway.

[@stevewhitcher6719]

So thats where the rotronics wafadrive for the spectrum came from? I had a rotronics wafadrive ( made by BSR) in the 1980's when they were themselves remaindered I wanted a centronics printer interface for my speccy and this was cheaper, but it had 2 wafer drives which were a bit like microdrives to my eyes but could not work out why someone would make them for an off brand add on ( but since have seen another off brand expansion for the Commodore 64)

[@mohammedganai9636]

Where did you get the info about the 32 FX? Can't find anything on it.

[@TheLairdsLair]

As I said in the video, old magazine scans.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

If ever there was a gaming experience that came to market before the technology was ready, it's VR. Now the tech is more than adequate, it's not catching-on as it should. Shame, really.

[@seamusoblainn4603]

I think the market will tolerate a fad if it's cheap and/or emotionally compelling (tamagochi or other memes), or an expense if there is little choice (Microsoft and PC products for year) or a premium of there is a segment for it (Apple), but without a strong use case or being forced by regulation or pushed by collective sentiment, it's hard to see vr taking off, imo

[@mgabrysSF]

There's a 'slight' chance that Apple's entry into the market 'may' (and that's a big 'may') get it out of the niche. ATM Apple Vision is priced for developers and those with crazy ideas for it. Which kind of makes sense and limits their exposure. 'My' personal take on it - given it's the first 3D wearable camera and immersive sound recording platform (out of the box) it 'may' be able to provide very rich immersive video tours and experiences online via pre-recordings and streaming. KZbin already supports VR so this 'shouldn't' be a problem. The option to headgear or take a ultra-widescreen tour of National Parks, Global destinations, special events, concerts, amusement rides and experiences designed specifically for VR streaming 'may' (huge may again) be a killer use-case. Combined with drone footage inter-cuts - you could make a hell of a ride for a viewer. Who wouldn't want to skydive or power-sail immersively. I certainly would. The price needs to drop - a LOT - but I like the controller free method Apple is putting forth, and the lack of weight with the external power and battery overall. From a content creator standpoint - I'm starting to drool honestly. Who wouldn't want to see at least one song from the perspective of a popular performer on-stage and see everything from their eyes and ears?

[@chrisc6857]

These two facts are at least partially connected: It's not catching on now because people remember how terrible it was before.

[@5roundsrapid263]

VR reminds me of HDTV; it was talked about endlessly for about 30 years before it finally took hold.

[@ekspatriat]

@@mgabrysSF It's not going to go anywhere fast because of the absolutely ridiculous price! Insane.

[@johnbillings5260]

TIL Tarzan was the original swinger.

[@sonataonmymind]

Where can I find more information about this Nintendo 32FX?

[@TheLairdsLair]

As I said in the video, there is very little info out there other than some old magazine scans

[@kevincooper3834]

It's like Kim Justice, but with soap.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Hahahahahaha! Having met Kim in real life many times . . . . .

[@gblargg]

Surprised this didn't cover the Nintendo PlayStation. EDIT: was mentioned in video and covered in another (see reply)

[@TheLairdsLair]

As I said in the video, I had already covered it in a similar video and didn't want repeat the content: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWW3ZX6Nqa16j7c&ab_channel=TheLaird%27sLair

[@gblargg]

@@TheLairdsLair I admit I skimmed the video. Watching that video now, thanks.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Never skim my videos and comment, you always get caught out! 😝

[@NesNyt]

I saw a wafer at the Texas video game museum....looked silly for 1983 tech

[@johneygd]

I really would like to have to ram module for the colecovision but am also really curious about what the super charger could add to the intelevision, Now about the 32fx chip,eventrough it was sadly scrapped,BUT there was actually a 32bit expansion chip released for the snes wich was called the ST018 chip wich was an 32bit arm based chip wich was only used in 1 snes board game for AI called hayazachi niden shoggy 2, BUT i still do see lots of potential in that chip because if you could connect it to video ram and tell it to generate graphics,who ever knows that you could get low-res ps1 graphics on a snes wich would be a wet dream🤣

[@xmini-ul7je]

If they made that add on for the Coleco, why not for other consoles like NES, Snes, etc?. See ya.

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

Is it true Sega was at one time working on a 64X add-on for the Saturn?

[@TheLairdsLair]

That was just a press rumour.

[@ridiculous_gaming]

The M2 expansion to save the 3DO...it was great hardware, but would enough sell to promote developers? Probably not.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yeah, I thought about including that, I have more than enough to do a follow-up!

[@NesNyt]

Laird for prime minister....see what I did there

[@theshib277]

is this channel affiliated with Löwenbräu Brewery?

[@TheLairdsLair]

No, why?

[@marioluigism64]

Nintendo spacewold 2000 is cancelled

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

One of the more successful add-ons was the Game Boy Player for the Nintendo Game Cube...

[@TheLairdsLair]

Definitely - but it didn't enhance the system in any way, it was more an adapter than an expansion module.

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

@@TheLairdsLair True...

[@NesNyt]

Oh yeah cancel that VR system it's too realistic.....a jack tremeil answer.....if it works so good get the damn military on the phone

[@gjergjaurelius9798]

I think Nintendo had 3 gimmick expansions that are useless. Not needed not wanted and a waste of time and money.

[@brendanroberts1310]

The sega 32x wasnt cancelled but it should of been.

[@jasonhowe1697]

The failure of Atari was the l a lack of games and games that graced 5200, 7800 and the failed 64 bit console were in house port of 2600 games from nes wre could of had dd expansion as we should of had of had on the snes n64 dd was a failure to launch outside japan

[@Johnmightbehere]

This comment will not get likes.

[@Johnmightbehere]

Damn it. Hey, at least it won't get multiple likes.

[@mortenera2294]

@@Johnmightbehere Guess again