Unheard of or odd gaming systems/computers!


The Sharp X68000 I knew. The Pandora too (duh). Not the watches though.

Ever heard of the Panasonic M2 ? That thing was about 2 times more powerful than a SEGA Model 3 arcade board, and would come right into your living room. But then, the Dreamcast chimed in, saying it was 4-5 more powerful than the Model 2 and about 2 times more than the M2. The end.

It is said that it now powers some of your japanese coffee vending machines...  :p
 
Is the Tapwave Zodiac obscure enough to count?  I'm not sure how many units it sold - I suspect many times more than the Pandora.
 
I think many of the things we are familiar with would be obscure, unheard of, and odd to most people.  Look at what this forum is about, and where those things came from.  Most mainstream gamers would not know about most of these things.  Depending on their age, even some things that were widely marketed (in the US, at least) and in many stores, such as the N-Gage.  I don't think I have ever personally seen a TurboExpress in the wild (and I still really want one after all this time).  The N-Gage supposedly sold around 3 million units, while the TurboExpress sold about half that.  I have no clue how many Zodiacs sold, and I don't think I have personally seen one of them in person either.  Then there are tons of other handhelds that didn't sell so well (yet we have emus for them that were ported to the Pandora), and all the stuff coming out of China.  My guess is some computers, especially some older ones would be the same.  There might be some consoles out there as well.  I want to mention Dendy, but which one?  Plenty of other clones are out there as well, and there are a couple that I hope to add to my collection eventually, although I can't remember names right now.  There are many electronic devices from the Soviet Union I find interesting, mainly because I never had access to them, and some look (and sound, since some are synthesizers) different than what I am used to. 

A lot of the things Nintendo makes are a bit odd, even if they are a bit like other things that are out there, and are eventually copied.  The N64 controller, Wii Remote, Wii U Gamepad, DS and 3DS are some examples.  I even remember thinking the GBA SP was a bit odd when it came out...brilliant, but odd (that you folded it in half).
 
And Pyra :)

Also my favored EDC Console now: The Revo K101 Plus, a Chinese GBA Hardware Clone, works great, and i enjoi it a lot but its something, nobody knows..
 
I still love mine, but it doesn't work anymore :(

Hopefully, my Pandora does nearly everything it did and does it better. My phone handles the rest (being pocketable and handling my calendar and stuff). But it still looks and feels so cool.
 
Entex Adventure Vision: http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Entex/AV.html

I actually got a chance to finally play one last year, and it was actually better than I thought it would have been. I would still love to own one, but unless I find this "hidden" at a swap meet or discount store, the chances of buying one are pretty slim. Prices are normally well over $1000, and that can be for a near trashed unit. Boxed and complete units and games go for much more. Very cool tech for the time.

Chris
 
Acetronic MPU-1000

acetronic_mpu1000_1.jpg


Despite the photo, it does actually have two controllers attached to the machine.

I had one of these as a kid. It ws a really neat machine. Most of the games had multiple versions on the cart. IIRC the "Olympics" game seen in the picture had 60 variants of Pong style games.

I only ever knew of one person with one. Which was OK as we both had half a dozen different carts that we would swap from time to time.
 
Acetronic MPU-1000

acetronic_mpu1000_1.jpg


Despite the photo, it does actually have two controllers attached to the machine.

I had one of these as a kid. It ws a really neat machine. Most of the games had multiple versions on the cart. IIRC the "Olympics" game seen in the picture had 60 variants of Pong style games.

I only ever knew of one person with one. Which was OK as we both had half a dozen different carts that we would swap from time to time.
Was this, or something like it, in some of the GamesCom pictures from this year?  I saw something that seemed to resemble it and didn't know what it was so I asked someone else and they also couldn't tell.  I can look for the picture in a little while.

edit:  sixth picture here: http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/18377-some-pictures-from-the-gamescom-2015/?p=395244
 
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