I told my wife as I was opening the latest box of Odyssey^2 games, "It would be better if I could say, 'I was only 12 games away from having the complete, regular US released set of arcade cabs.'"
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8429/7756426372_e9b8e98393_b.jpg[/img]For the last year or so I've been putting effort into getting a complete set of Odyssey^2 games. It's not a huge effort, but I am having fun. Most of my general game collecting revolves around the fun of "The Hunt" and seeing what I can get for about $1 per item on average. The O^2 collecting has become a sort of subset of the regular acquiring of games.
Why the Odyssey? I'm not sure. Because I have one? I think it's mostly because it is cheap, probably one of the least costly systems to get a complete set for. And maybe because it is sort of an esoteric thing to do. It's always fun to tell people I have an O^2 system, and they are like, "what?"
There isn't anything wrong with the random person I meet not knowing what the O^2 is. I think it would be weird if 4 out of 5 people started making jokes about carts with handles and asking how the price of "The Voice" module was tracking. What I have found in my search for O^2 games is something much weirder, much more dark and sinister....
Now that I have you hooked for at least one more paragraph: Most of my buying for this system has been on the ol' ebay. There just isn't a big market for these games, remember the part about them being cheap? So unlike the rest of my collection, must of the O^2 stuff is from online. It's sort of funny, my wife and I just use one ebay account and over the last 12 years or so we've had it, there have been 9 purchases. 5 of those 9 were Odyssey items.
I've put the "dark and sinister" part off for a paragraph now. Is that a writing flaw?
Making the rounds of the used game stores in my state is something I do from time to time. For general game buying they are mostly priced out of my range, I go for the $1 average, right? But since a faint effort is being put in to some specific collecting, I am willing to spend more. Anyways, used game stores....there are a few around here which actually carry Odyssey stuff. Not too many, 3 I know of always have some stuff, a couple more sometimes have it in.
Regardless of the game store I go into, I always ask if they have any Odyssey^2 stuff. I don't expect most of them to have any, and if the person looks under 20 I don't expect them to know what crazy thing I am talking about. But I do expect someone that looks like they have pasted their mid 30's
and has been a long time employee of a store which sells things like Atari and Intellivision games to at least have
heard of the Odyssey. This is not the case. Two stores in particular that had Odyssey stuff
in their display case didn't know what it was when asked. I have had to point it out to them. And remember, I am not talking about some random gamer, or even an employee at a large chain game store. These are places that specialize in old games and regularly have O^2 stuff.
At one store I asked the guy if he had any Odyssey stuff and he says, "what?" I describe it. He says, "no, we don't have any." I say, "You have an Odyssey Pong machine right here (right in front of him.)" He comes around the counter to look at it from the front..."I didn't know we had that, what is it?" I further inquire about O^2 games specifically, he says, "no, we don't have any, we mostly sell 360 and PS3 games." That may be true, but this store is filled, literally, floor-to-ceiling, with very neat, tightly packed NES, SNES, Genesis, Boxed Atari, Coleco, Master System games. Thousands of games before 1995 are there. Hundreds before '84. I decide to look around, sure enough, at the other end of the counter, Odyssey^2 stuff! It turned out to be nothing I needed, but there is was.
I don't want to sound like this is upsetting to me, I really do find it pretty funny. Also, this just confirms my wish to collect something so esoteric or obscure, I can get that, "what?" response from most everyone.
There is another odd thing I've found. Um, don't tell anyone though. If the word get out, it's more work for everyone around here. The common thinking is there are 49 regularly released, US, original O^2 carts with one more obvious variant, which brings it up to 50 different carts. If you look at the Collection Checklist here on RFGen, you can see them, along with some of the "homebrews." Now remember, don't tell, but I have seen, and have, some label variants. For example look at the bottom of the label on Type & Tell! above and look at the one here:
http://www.rfgeneration.c...009-S-00460-A&type=gsOh, and one more thing. I bet you are wondering what 3/4ths of a complete O^2 game collection would look like if some of them were loose and some boxed and then all stuffed into one small shelf....
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8426/7761512654_a06c302c6b_b.jpg[/img]
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I know whatcha mean about the appeal of trying to complete a collection for an esoteric system.
For me, it's the Atari Lynx.
Ever since I found one, and bought a few games for it, it's the go-to quasi-obscure system I like to play. Especially when I'm burned out on Skylanders... which has been quite often lately.
I also find the challenge of collecting the games a bit of a thrill. Along with Virtual Boy games, I've yet to find any Lynx games for sale at yard sales or thrifts. Fortunately, I know a few online places that sell them fairly cheaply, so I at least have that option if I really need my fix...
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I like picking up O^2 games for basically the same reasons. I'll only go CIB though since games that dont have end labels kill me inside.
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Yay, another O^2 fan!! I've had a blast with this thing. Killer Bees! is my favorite, especially with The Voice. Speaking of which, my friends and I have spent way, way too much time typing random phrases into Type & Tell! to hear the often hilarious speech pattern and inflection. Smithereens! is another we kick around for the 2 player versus.
What the...37 out of my 40 O^2 carts end in exclamation marks!!! That's...interesting!
Done.
And Zag, I'm a fan of the Lynx too, though I find that I've convinced myself that I enjoy that system far more than I actually do. I've put many hours into California Games, Qix, Roadblasters, and Rygar, but I just don't enjoy playing most of the library as much as I used to think I did. And yet I'm always delighted to pick up another game for it that I don't have. Ninja Gaiden III was the last pickup that I actually played for a bit. Again, interesting for what it was, but in the end I just didn't enjoy it enough to prefer it to other versions. Still, such a neat system.
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And Zag, I'm a fan of the Lynx too, though I find that I've convinced myself that I enjoy that system far more than I actually do. I've put many hours into California Games, Qix, Roadblasters, and Rygar, but I just don't enjoy playing most of the library as much as I used to think I did.
That might happen to me some day...
...but not quite yet.
So far, I've been playing Xybots almost exclusively.
I tried my hand at Kung Food for a little while, but that one's fairly dumb.
I am looking forward to getting Chip's Challenge.
But, let's get back to the subject at hand: Does Mr. Nupoile have a "must-play" list of Od-Squared game?
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BTW I like that the game carts have carry-handles. And it's not because they're (allegedly) functional; I just really dig the look.
I think subsequent cartridge systems really missed out by excluding this feature.
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@Zagnorch: Does Mr. Nupoile have a "must-play" list of Od-Squared game?
I think you are putting me on the spot. Since I've gotten the last half of the games in this collection I haven't played it too much. My other project has been getting a second game room together were the O hat two will be all set up and ready to play. I figure then will be a good time to get down and play some games to come up with a solid list.
There is a homebrew game that looked pretty good, I don't know I'll ever end up with one but the video on the site makes it look like a fun game. It's called Mayhem by Revival Studios:
http://www.revival-studios.com/?page=125
And speaking of handles on games, you would think this would've been a great idea for neo-geo carts.
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