MiSTer FPGA Forum

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!

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?

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.

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