Magnavox Odyssey (1972) Core - The 1st console

[KremlingKuthroat19]

There isn't a thread for the original Magnavox Odyssey so I wanted to make one. It's a very interesting console because it uses discrete logic versus ROM cartridges so I assume all 28 games would have to be written in HDL. The Odyssey used paddle controllers, TV screen overlays, and a light gun that looks like a real shotgun. The TV screen overlays can be implemented like they currently are in the Vectrex core, but I wanted to get some opinions on this potential core. What is the likelihood of a Magnavox Odyssey core?

[darksakul]

It's hardly an Console

Its more of having several board games with a electronics gimmick and a basic vanilla electric table tennis (pong) with no score keeping.

A number of the games are unplayable with out the board game pieces and various overlays

[KremlingKuthroat19]

You are right about the board game part. Here's how the console library breaks down:

Traditional games:
Analogic, Basketball, Cat and Mouse, Handball, Hockey, Ski, Soccer, Submarine, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball

Light Gun games:
Dogfight, Prehistoric Safari, Shooting Gallery, Shootout

Board games:
Baseball, Brain Wave, Football. Fun Zoo, Haunted House, Interplanetary Voyage, Invasion, Percepts, Roulette, Simon Says, States, Win, Wipeout.

About half of the library is board games and about half are traditional and light gun games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey

[decrementor]

hi

Supposing one were to attempt an FPGA re-implementation of Ralph Baer's Brown Box aka Magnavox Odyssey, could any experienced FPGA developers share what major obstacles might exist in such an effort?

Thanks!

[djsquare]

This core would be pretty cool. It could have overlays in the same manner that the Vectrex uses them. It doesn't really matter if it's a real game "console" as it is an electronic device you connect to your video display to play games. The idea with FPGA is to preserve original hardware is it not?

[JasonA]

I worked on the overlay for the Arcade Subs core, so overlays are possible I know.
Is there a link somewhere to the schematics for the 200 model? I think that one put the discrete logic into one chip.

[decrementor]

While I am certainly no expert on this hardware, my understanding was that the 200 model uses same fundamental circuitry as the Magnavox Odyssey, using the same chips that Texas Instruments made for Magnavox for the Odyssey 100, which were a direct copy of the Odyssey. However, looking at Wikipedia, I am newly unsure about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey_series

I have access to the original Magnavox Odyssey and the Odyssey 100, but not the Odyssey 200. Nor am I particularly excited to de-cap the chips in the Odyssey 100, as that system is working.

If I recall correctly, according to Videogames in The beginning Magnavox hired TI to convert the Odyssey board to two ICs to save costs. Ralph Baer considered this effort to exactly duplicate the Odyssey as a poor choice, as the techniques for ICs were substantially more advanced by that point than the "old" tech used in the Brown Box and the Magnavox Odyssey. [1]

It may be worth noting that the Magnavox Odyssey was, in turn, a re-implementation (almost a direct copy, sans the color circuitry) of the Brown Box, which is well documented. If you have not yet, I invite you to read about the history of the Magnavox Odyssey at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/VideogamesI ... r/mode/2up Pong-Story is also a good resource: https://www.pong-story.com/

Schematics for the Magnavox Odyssey are available in the service manual: https://www.pong-story.com/1tl200blak_sch.pdf
Here are some good copies of the service manuals: https://archive.org/details/MagnavoxOdy ... %20Manual/

After posting here, I had an email exchange with someone who did a full hardware re-implementation of the Magnavox Odyssey a few years ago, but does not have experience with FPGA development. They indicated that an FPGA re-implementation would likely be possible based on their experience re-implementing the system with modern (SMT) components. They indicated that the re-implementation will necessarily differ from the original in some key ways, but the message is the same: it is likely possible to do in FPGA.

[1] https://archive.org/details/VideogamesI ... r/mode/2up