The Ultimate Guide to Classic Game Consoles. Kevin Baker

one was just like the Telstar Regent console, but it added the light gun and the two light gun games for skeet and target shooting. In addition to this there were also a few more switches on the console itself to change the settings of the games.

      Telstar Colortron (1978)

      This console may seem really basic, but it does have some cool features. It only has the four pong variations and the paddles are built in. However the way you select the games is done with a push button rather than a switch. Many people had issues with these old consoles where the switch would get really hard to move or in some cases would actually break. The overall console was really small and compact. Also, all the pong variations were in colour. As well as this the Telstar Colortron could make sounds.

      Telstar Marksman (1978)

      Now this is a cool addition to the Coleco Telstar family. The Telstar Marksman came with a light gun, but this one was different from the one that came with the Telstar Sportsman. This gun had a really cool stock and barrel that you could attach and take off. Along with this it also had a sight so that you could aim better.

      It did however still just have the same games that we had seen before with the four pong games and of course the two shooting games. But the addition of this new cool gun was a big selling point for the console. Not to mention that all the games were also in colour.

      Telstar Galaxy (1978)

      This is quite a special addition to the Coleco Telstar family. Can you say that there was four player gaming in 1978? The answer is “yes” - that’s right, the Telstar Galaxy offered four player gaming. In addition to the two paddle controllers built into the system there were another two detachable paddle controllers.

      Telstar Gemini (1978)

      This Coleco Telstar console does not offer any of the four pong games. Instead, what we have here is something very special indeed. It plays shooting games like we had never seen before, but what really makes the Telstar Gemini special is that it also plays pinball games.

      The pinball game was actually incredibly complex for its day. It featured a great scoring system and the pinball controls were built onto the sides of the console as if it were a real pinball table. There was even a big red button on the top of the console that launched the ball, but how hard it launches the ball depends on how hard you push the button.

      Telstar Arcade (1977)

      This is one of the most interesting and famous systems that Coleco made. It looks like no other Coleco Telstar console. It is a triangular console with each side having a different arcade set on it. One side has a steering wheel for racing games, another has regular pong controls, and the last one had a light gun, it also had a cool storage bay for you to put your light gun in.

      If that is not cool enough the Telstar Arcade was one of the first systems that used interchangeable cartridges. There were only four cartridges released with one coming with the console itself. One very interesting note is that the second cartridge had a tennis game that with the addition of two extra controllers could be played in four-player mode.

      9 – APF TV Fun

      APF TV Fun CC Image – Wikipedia – Jeff Keyzer

      Developer: APF Electronics Inc.

      Release Date: 1976

      Origin: United Kingdom

      Initial Price: $125 USD

      CPU: AY-3-8500 from General Instruments

      Built-In Games: 4

      Here we are looking at a more obscure video game console that was released in the late 70s. This console was actually the first serious competition that Atari had. The APF TV Fun console was a Pong clone console and it went head to head with Atari.

      The APF TV Fun started with the APF TV Fun 401 model and then there were a few console variations in the next few years, until APF made the APF Imagination Machine to compete with cartridge based systems in 1979.

      Anyway, let's have a look at the APF TV Fun.

      APF TV Fun 401 & 401a

      This one has your four standard Pong games that you would expect. Tennis, Hockey, Squash and Handball. The actual console itself has that classic 70s and 80s wood grain look to it. The paddle controllers are built onto the actual console much like many other Pong clones were. The switches on the console are a nice silver which let you do things like change the difficulty and select the game and so on. The console does actually look pretty cool and I am sure back in 1976 when it was first released it did not look out of place under people's TVs. You also had the option of using a power cable or some batteries.

      One really cool thing that the APF TV Fun offered was the various options that you had in the games. For example there were different difficulties, amateur and pro. As well as this you could change the size of the bats in the games and the speed of the ball and even the angle that the ball came in at. May not sound like much, but at the time it did offer a great deal of game play variety.

      APF TV Fun 402

      The APF TV Fun 402 or the Sportsarama as it was also known as did add a few cool new features. The most notable one was the inclusion of a pretty awesome looking light gun. This thing is all black and very sleek looking. As well as this, two extra controllers were added making the games four-player.

      These great features did come at a bit of a cost. The great options that were in the games in the 401 model were gone, but new ones were added like having an auto serve button which was really great. As far as the look of the system goes it had the same attractive silver and wood look to it.

      APF TV Fun 405, 406, 442, 444, 500

      These consoles really did not offer any great changes (if any at all!). The most notable of these is probably the 406 which had new round paddle controllers. The APF TV Fun series of consoles actually did put up a good fight against not only Atari’s dominance, but also the vast amount of other Pong clone systems that would be released during this era.

      10 – Philips Odyssey 2001

      Philips Odyssey 2100 CC Image – Wikipedia – Pikkulino

      Developer: Philips

      Release Date: 1976

      Origin: Netherlands

      CPU: National Semiconductor MM-57105 -N

      Built-In Games: 3

      I think that most gamers out there have probably at the very least heard of the Magnavox Odyssey video game console. Well for those of you who have not heard of the Magnavox Odyssey, it was a system that was first released back in 1972 and had many different variations and improvements up until 1978. The Magnavox Odyssey has a very important place in gaming history as it was in fact the very first home video game console. This makes the original Magnavox Odyssey a huge collectors item for gamers. Not because of the quality of the the console, but purely because of its importance in the history of video games.

      Well, Philips also released their own version of the Odyssey system, but instead of being called the Magnavox Odyssey it was simply known as the Philips Odyssey. Philips actually bought Magnavox up at some point during the mid 70s and started to release the consoles under the Philips Odyssey brand. From 1976 until 1978 there were three different Philips Odyssey video game consoles released and here we are going to take a closer look at them.

      Philips Odyssey 200 - 1976 (Europe)

      The Philips Odyssey was released in 1976 and was actually the same console