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The Magnavox Odyssey&2, known in Europe as the '''Philips Videopac G7000''', in Brazil as the '''Philips Odyssey''', and also by many other Names , is a Video Game Console released in 1978 . In the early 1970s , Magnavox was an innovator in the home Video Game Industry . They succeeded in bringing the first home video game system to market, the Odyssey , which was quickly followed by a number of later models, each with a few technological improvements. In 1978 Magnavox, now a subsidiary of North American Philips , released the Odyssey&2, their new second-generation video game console. FEATURES The original Odyssey had a number of removable Circuit Cards that switched between the in-built games, of which there were 10 in Europe and Asia, or 12 in America. The Odyssey&2 followed in the steps of the Fairchild Channel F and Atari 2600 by being designed to play programmable ROM game Cartridge s. With this improvement, each game could be a completely unique experience, with its own background graphics, foreground graphics, gameplay, scoring, and Music . The potential was enormous, as an unlimited number of games could be individually purchased; a game player could purchase a library of videogames tailored to his or her own interest. Unlike any other system at that time, the Odyssey&2 included a full Alphanumeric Membrane Keyboard , which was to be used for Educational Game s, selecting options, or Programming . (Philips also released a game cartridge with the intent of teaching simple computer programming.) The Odyssey&2 was the first home video game console to introduce what was to become the standard Joystick design of the 1970s and 80s : a moderately sized black joystick unit, held in one hand, with an eight-direction stick that was manipulated with the other hand. In the upper corner of the joystick was a single 'Action' button. One of the strongest points of the system was its excellent '', with gameplay somewhat similar to '' Dungeons & Dragons '', and a storyline reminiscent of J. R. R. Tolkien's '' The Lord Of The Rings ''. MARKET LIFE United States
Europe In Europe and Brazil , the Odyssey² did very well on the market. In Europe, the console was most widely known as the Philips Videopac G7000, or just the '''Videopac''', although branded variants were released in some areas of Europe under the names '''Radiola Jet 25''', '''Schneider 7000''', and '''Siera G7000'''. Philips, as Magnavox's European parent company, used their own name rather than Magnavox's for European marketing. A rare model, the '''Philips Videopac G7200''', was only released in Europe; it had a built-in black-and-white Monitor . Videopac game cartridges are mostly compatible with American Odyssey&2 units, although some games have color differences and a few are completely incompatible. A number of additional games were released in Europe that never came out in the US. Brazil In Brazil, the console was released as the Philips Odyssey; the Magnavox Odyssey was never released in Brazil, so there was no need to specify a number. Odyssey became much more popular in Brazil than it ever was in the US; tournaments were even held for popular games like ''K.C.'s Krazy Chase!'' (''Come-Come'' in Brazil). Japan The Odyssey&2 was released in Japan in December 1982 by Kōton Trading Toitarii Enterprise (コートン・トレーディング・トイタリー・エンタープライズ, a division of DINGU Company ) under the name オデッセイ２ (''odessei2''). "Japanese" versions of the Odyssey&2 and its games consisted of the American boxes with Katakana stickers on them and cheaply printed black-and-white Japanese manuals. The initial price for the console was ¥ 49,800. It was apparently not very successful; Japanese Odyssey&2 items are now very difficult to find. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
EMULATION An Open Source Console Emulator for the Odyssey&2 called ''O2EM'' is available. It includes Philips Videopac G7400 emulation among other features. The emulator works on Linux , Mac OS X , Microsoft Windows , DOS and other platforms. ''O2EM'', (originally not open source) was created in 1997 by Computer Programmer Daniel Boris. The open source multi-platform multi-system emulator MESS has rudimentary Odyssey&2 support, although many games have problems and 4KB Challenger Series games are completely unsupported. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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