(History) Magnavox was one of the first, if not the first company to release a home video game console. The console they created was called the Magnavox Odyssey. It was a huge innovation in video gaming history. What were the games like? You know the game Pong? Yeah it was more primitive then Pong. It took a lot of imagination to play the Odyssey but it was a huge step in the right direction. After the success of their first console and their Pong consoles they released the Odyssey 2.  

The Magnavox Odyssey 2 (known by many other names outside the U.S.) is a second generation released in 1978. The Odyssey 2 did sell alright in the U.S., definitely not as well as the Atari 2600 but sold a respectful one million sold by 1983. It was much more popular in Europe.

Only around 81 games were made for the Odyssey 2. It had almost no third party support. That is one of the main down falls of the console. Atari had a ton of people working for and with Atari, they could pump out games like a machine gun. The Magnavox Odyssey 2 could not keep up, only a few people made games for the console.

The Odyssey 2 has been all but forgotten over the years, and it is a darn shame! It is a great console, but you will find out more about why  it is great later on.

Overview- Almost no third party support, Magnavox was a founder for home video games, Odyssey 2 was a relatively strong console in the early video game market.
 
(Console design/features) The Odyssey 2 looks like a giant calculator! It can be used as a calculator, think about lugging around your Odyssey 2 to school with your calculator game, yeah you would be the coolest kid in school!

It has numeric and alphabetical keys on the face of the console along with some other keys you might find on a computer. They made it to look like a home computer and some people at the time even thought it was one. Now the keys are really only used for a handful of games. Some for the calculator game and some for the word games for it. Really you are only going to use them to select your game.

Some models of the Odyssey 2 (the one I own) have the av cord wired to the console and two controllers wired to the console. It is a good and bad thing. Good, you can't lose your controllers or ac. Bad, they get tangled up sooooo bad! Also if one of cords breaks you would have to open up the console and try to fix it. From what I have read other models did not have the av and controllers wired to the console but I have only seen the ones that do.

The controller looks somewhat like the Atari 2600 joystick. It is square with a large red button and a thin joystick. The joystick works much better then that Atari 2600 joystick. Atari controllers just doesn't seem to hold up good after all these years.

The Odyssey 2 had a voice module, much like the Colecovision's, that makes your games talk to you!!! At the time it was almost unheard of for a video game to talk.

Overview- The Magnavox Odyssey 2 had a lot of really cool and interesting features like a calculator and a voice module.

   (Games) The Odyssey 2, like all the other home consoles of the time had a bout load of clones. If you don't know what a clone is, it is a copy of a popular game. A good example of this is the Odyssey 2 game K.C. Munchkin. It is a clone of the ever popular Pac-Man. Atari sued Magnavox because they owned the rights to Pac-Man for home console use and won in the first patent rights case over a video game.

Most of the Odyssey 2 games were made by a few people so a lot of them share the same style or feel. I think that Magnavox had a better eye for quality then Atari. The Odyssey only had around 81 games but most of them are ether alright or pretty good. The worst game I have played on the console is Alien Invasion, a Space Invaders clone. It is an interesting game but just not as fun as the original.

From what I can tell the Odyssey 2 and its competitors were almost equally matched. I think the Odyssey 2 had the upper hand when it came to graphics. They always seem to look brighter and crisper compared to other second generation consoles.

Overview- a limited amount of games, a lot of clones, overall good games.

   (Ending) The Magnavox Odyssey 2 was a cool console for its time but oh so overlooked. I will not say that it is better then the Atari 2600 because its not, but it is one of the best second generation consoles and voted one of the top 25 video game consoles ever made. 

Anyone that has the ability to play an Odyssey 2 game or get one of the consoles, do it! It is worth the money, trust me.


The main point of this review is to make people aware of this console and I hope I have done that. If you enjoyed the review (or have some constructive criticism) please post!

Sorry to double post. I always forget to add an image lol.







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Great work here, man. I know now that I would like to have one of these, and more so than an A26. Thanks for sharing this!

Eirinn : No, thank you for posting Eirinn.

I really just wanted to make people more aware of this great console that seems to be almost unknown. Its a great console and most of the games are pretty cheap. I got my O2 from a pawn shop for 40 bucks with original box (the box is in a pretty bad condition though).

Regarding the main set, the computer/calculator looking object, how was it used for gaming? Was it like computer games today, like W-A-S-D (not specifically that, but like computer key movement, and etc). Sorry if that's a little confusing. 

And do you use the joysticks (both) and the computer at the same time? Seems a little hard lol...a third arm coming outta your stomach or something. Jk. 

Ya know, even it does have spin-offs, it still is similar to the original games, and so if it has better quality, I'd go with the O2. I didn't know about all those clones, I thought there were a few, in addition to some original games, but apparently there were more clones than I expected. 

And thanks for sharing this man, I 100% know that most, if not all my friends, do not even know about this (irl, and maybe even some peeps here!), and many of my teachers are fairly young, but they may know it though. 

One more question (sorry). How rare are these? Would you find an abundance of O2's on the internet/pawn shops, or are these relics? It would be cool to own one.

Sidewinder : They keypad is really only used from what I have seen to select a game, calculator, and to play hang man style games. You use the controllers for all the other kind of games. It was made to look like a home computer. You only use one joystick onless you are playing a two player game.

Its not a rare console but you probably aren't going to see alot of them out in the wild. There were two of them at the pawn shop I got mine from. You can find them pretty cheap or really pricey depending on who is selling it. Most of the games are really cheap though.

GenesisJunkie : Great review. i think you could not have gone in to more detail for a console released back in the day. I have the same in my reviews for old games i want to go in detail (please dont read my old reviews) I have played a bit of the oddysey at my uncle's home. The games were primitve but actually pretty good for its time. There is no comparisopn to the A2600 in my opinion. A2600 rocks it there.