Quantcast

Consoles of the '70s

Our guide to the grandfathers of gaming

Words: Shane Patterson, GamesRadar US


Coleco Telstar Classic

Tasting way better than Pepsi and RC Cola, the Telstar Classic added a wood grain finish (what the hell?) and enabled three games to be played: tennis, hockey and handball.


Magnavox Odyssey 300

The first system to use a single game chip containing the entire magic of one Pong system. Curiously, it used only one knob per side. Also: it was yellow and contained the three games of the O200.


Magnavox Odyssey 400

The O400 was the exact same as the O200 (three knobs and all), yet this time it included onscreen scoring. And if you somehow lost track of superfluous aspects of the game like who won, a helpful “W” displayed on the victor’s side.


Magnavox Odyssey 500

For all intents and purposes, the 500 was incredibly similar to the 400, except for the stunning inclusion of color graphics. At this time, the four games (Soccer was the newest) were the sharpest they’ve ever been. This was the last three-digit Odyssey entry.


Atari Stunt Cycle

Based on the arcade game and popularized by the Evil Knievel daredevil craze, Atari released a home version of Stunt Cycle that worked remarkably well. The point of the game was to leap over an ever-increasing amount of buses as a motocross rider. The controllers resembled a motorcycle’s handlebars and were used for the bike’s throttle.


RCA Studio II

Already obsolete by the time it hit stores; the Studio II’s games were in black and white and made simple beeping sounds. Five games were built in and utilized key pads as the controllers. Completely killed off once the Atari 2600 was released.


Atari Video Computer System AKA Atari 2600

Wildly successful, the Atari 2600 popularized the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridge-based games, rather than having everything built into the system. Featuring switches for color/B&W graphics, handicap play and game select, the 2600 also cycled through color schemes to avoid images being burned into your TV. A number of third-party developers crapped out worthless third-party games like a horrible port of Pac-Man and ET, thus leading to a waning public interest, which then helped crash the entire industry.


Coleco Telstar Arcade

The last of the Coleco Pong consoles, the Telstar Arcade utilized cartridges even though only four were ever released. Besides tennis variants, the Arcade had a racing game and a shooter. We only know that from looking at the Frankenstein-esque console. If that abomination could talk, it would probably whisper “Shoot me.”


 
12 Comments
Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First
lynx987  - 1 year 2 months ago 
dam there was a a lot of crap..........i only had 7 of them
Spybreak8  - 1 year 2 months ago 
lol wow, we have the Atari 2600, the paddles don't work anymore, was how I got into the love of games though.
ClusterShart  - 1 year 2 months ago 
long before my time
Thequestion 121  - 1 year 2 months ago 
I didn't know there were so many consoles that played Pong. Thank god they moved on to bigger and better things.
Alcyones  - 1 year 2 months ago 
Imagine if it got far enough to....Pong HD!
rockykid19  - 1 year 2 months ago 
i know my family first got the nes, and super mario, i still think its the greatest game ever
MegaGamer1000  - 1 year 2 months ago 
i never knew there were so many systems in the 70's i thought there was only pong
Sukururu  - 1 year 2 months ago 
My first console wa the NES (some of the best games I've played) and there were alot before it. I only Knew About The First Pong.
AQRippinPwner  - 1 year 1 month ago 
omfg! Thank god its not like that today or i would get SOOOO Bored with playing pong!!!
blu2580  - 1 year 1 month ago 
OMFG! the coleco combat was disgusting!
beefandonion  - 1 year 1 month ago 
when do we get the 80's consoles? I used to love my Vectrex and Colecovision!!
ender707  - 1 year 1 month ago 
The Coleco Combat Looks a Lot Like The Halo 3 LE XBOX 360 WTF???
Related Games
PC
PC
Wii
Wii
PSP
PSP
Xbox 360
Xbox 360
Xbox
Xbox
Gamecube
GameCube
Bad Company 2 PC Beta Pushed to Early Next Year N4G
PC News from N4G
Nov 26, 2009
Lucidity patched on PC N4G
PC News from N4G
Nov 26, 2009
Gears Of War MMO-Clone BattleSwarm Has... N4G
PC News from N4G
Nov 26, 2009
Left 4 Dead 2 $29.99 on Dell.com N4G
PC News from N4G
Nov 26, 2009