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General discussionWhat was this early 90's console called?(62 posts)(62 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted June 02, 2015
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DennisLaursen89: Then I was a child in the 90's (I'm born in 1989), I remember that we had a old gaming console, with a lot of fun games (I think back then). The console was connected to our TV, and we had both a joystick and a keyboard connected to the console. The games for the console was gigantic floppy disks. Slightly thinner than PC floppy disks, but the area was about four times bigger. Most of the games was in colour.
I remember a bit of some of the games:
One of the games was a platformer (with "screen" shift between the areas), shared in four "worlds". One of the words was characterised by blue "rocks", and the last world was almost utterly red.
One of the other games was a game version of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Fortune_(U.S._game_show)]Wheel of Fortune[/url] (we had a Danish version).
And an other of the games was a line, which should collapse a lot of other lines to complete the "map". Some kind of puzzle game.

Someone knows the name of the console, based on my sparse description, and/or the games?
Question:

What was the exact year and were you in Denmark at the time?

This will help narrow it down by looking a regional console or PC engine releases.
Posted June 02, 2015
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ScotchMonkey: Question:

What was the exact year and were you in Denmark at the time?

This will help narrow it down by looking a regional console or PC engine releases.
the pc engine was never really released in europe only on a small scale in france and the benelux
Posted June 02, 2015
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snowkatt: i can think of 1 and 1 only

the famicom

it had the famicom disk drive which took 3 inch floppies
and famicom basic which turned the famicom in a very basic home computer with a keyboard

if it was a console the OP could have meant a copy box which do take floppies
You're right, but I discounted it as unlikely given the OP is Danish and even less likely given that he speaks of Danish language software on it.
Posted June 02, 2015
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snowkatt: it still blows my mind that there are so many variations on the same game produced in about 4 5 years before the 2600 coleco vision intellivision mark 1000 and famicom hit
That was possible because it was literally the same game, i.e. the same chip and circuitry, just in hundreds of different cases.

After the first Pong consoles had been created, and before the Atari 2600 came about, General Instrument produced chips that contained the entire game (Pong, or some variation, a bit later also different games). Hundreds of small companies around the globe ordered those chips from General Instrument, and fitted them in a case with controllers, power supply, and a TV connector. That was all that's needed, and voilà, any small electronics company could release their own video game console.
Posted June 02, 2015
Still this thing had most likely a 5.25" diskette drive and a joystick, so for me its more an old homecomputer. Most consoles of that time already had joypads and the Atari 2600 and such are a bit too old and didnt have a keyboard afaik.

The third game could be a Qix clone with picture in the background. There were alot out for different platforms.
Posted June 02, 2015
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hohiro: Still this thing had most likely a 5.25" diskette drive and a joystick, so for me its more an old homecomputer. Most consoles of that time already had joypads and the Atari 2600 and such are a bit too old and didnt have a keyboard afaik.
Yes. From the data we have so far, everything points to an IBM PC (286 or 386) that the OP may have mistaken for a console when he was a kid.

Particularly:

- 5.25" floppies were a typical medium for IBM PCs of the 80s (and into the 90s, for compatibility). While there have been consoles that used such floppies, they would have been extremely exotic in Central Europe at this time.

- Keyboards, especially as separate devices which had to be connected to the main machine, were typical for IBM PCs. Almost all home computers had their keyboards as a part of the machine's case. Consoles of the time usually did not have keyboards at all. There were exceptions to both of my last statements, but again, having those in a Central European household in the 90s would have been very unusual.

- A game like a Danish version of "Wheel of Fortune" would not have been produced for a machine that was exotic in Denmark at that time. That rules out the exotic alternatives and leaves an IBM PC as the most likely option. (Note: I searched the net for 'Lykkehjulet' and 'Computerspil', but did not find anything worth mentioning. My search abilities are limited because I don't speak Danish.)

Caveats:

- I have very little knowledge about the state of Apple computers at that time, so I can't tell if that's a possibility too. If I remember correctly, then most non-IBM personal computers at that time were using 3.5" floppies though.

- It would be unusual for an IBM PC to be connected to a TV instead of a monitor. I suppose that TV adapters for IBM PCs did exist, and may have been an option for users who did not want to spend money on a monitor, but it would have been unusual.
Some searching shows that there _were_ so-called RF modulators which allowed users to connect an Apple II to a TV, and the Apple II also used a 5.25" floppy. The keyboard was on the case, though, so unless the OP mistook the floppy drive for the "console", and the Apple II case for the "keyboard", then this is not a perfect fit either.
Post edited June 02, 2015 by Psyringe
Posted June 02, 2015
Actually ... how about this little baby?

IBM PCjr

It had a separate keyboard, a 5.25" floppy drive, and an in-built RF modulator for connecting it to a TV. It was sold between 1984 and 1987. And it would have been compatible with the first "Wheel of Fortune" game for DOS (can't find a trace of a Danish version though).

Alternatively, Tandy computers may be worth a look as well, and they were more common than the PCjr. However, based on the data we have, I think the PCjr is actually the better fit.
Post edited June 02, 2015 by Psyringe
Posted June 02, 2015
I dont think that its an IBM PC, just because the graphics were too bad on them. My guess still is the C128D which had a seperate keyboard and is successor of C64 and compatible, other than that MSX and Atari were quite popular and had 5.25" diskettes, too. The first IBM PCs had 8" diskettes and were VERY expensive compared to the others. Schneider CPC had 3" so doesnt really fit for me.
Posted June 02, 2015
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SirPrimalform: You're right, but I discounted it as unlikely given the OP is Danish and even less likely given that he speaks of Danish language software on it.
it could be a famiclone
those tend to be ...elaborate and there are even more of those then pong consoles
http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/famiclones.htm

like this thing >> http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/famiclones/asder_family_computer.htm
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Psyringe: That was possible because it was literally the same game, i.e. the same chip and circuitry, just in hundreds of different cases.

After the first Pong consoles had been created, and before the Atari 2600 came about, General Instrument produced chips that contained the entire game (Pong, or some variation, a bit later also different games). Hundreds of small companies around the globe ordered those chips from General Instrument, and fitted them in a case with controllers, power supply, and a TV connector. That was all that's needed, and voilà, any small electronics company could release their own video game console.
well let me rephrase that
it blows my mind that there was a market for what is essentially the same game over and over again with minor variations

today it would be like having dedicated cod consoles and each of them having a minor variation
Post edited June 02, 2015 by snowkatt
Posted June 02, 2015
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SirPrimalform: You're right, but I discounted it as unlikely given the OP is Danish and even less likely given that he speaks of Danish language software on it.
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snowkatt: it could be a famiclone
those tend to be ...elaborate and there are even more of those then pong consoles
http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/famiclones.htm

like this thing >> http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/famiclones/asder_family_computer.htm
Not in Denmark, and certainly not with games in Danish.
Posted June 02, 2015
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tinyE: No shit, this is hands down the most educational thread I have ever seen here. I had NO CLUE there were this many consoles.
Watch Lazy Game Reviews on Youtube. He does in depth videos of "oddware".
Posted June 02, 2015
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Psyringe: Actually ... how about this little baby?

IBM PCjr

It had a separate keyboard, a 5.25" floppy drive, and an in-built RF modulator for connecting it to a TV. It was sold between 1984 and 1987. And it would have been compatible with the first "Wheel of Fortune" game for DOS (can't find a trace of a Danish version though).

Alternatively, Tandy computers may be worth a look as well, and they were more common than the PCjr. However, based on the data we have, I think the PCjr is actually the better fit.
i stil think its an atari XEGS personally
Posted June 02, 2015
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DennisLaursen89: One of the other games was a game version of DOS version of it. Look familiar?
Posted June 03, 2015
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Psyringe: - It would be unusual for an IBM PC to be connected to a TV instead of a monitor. I suppose that TV adapters for IBM PCs did exist, and may have been an option for users who did not want to spend money on a monitor, but it would have been unusual.
Some searching shows that there _were_ so-called RF modulators which allowed users to connect an Apple II to a TV, and the Apple II also used a 5.25" floppy. The keyboard was on the case, though, so unless the OP mistook the floppy drive for the "console", and the Apple II case for the "keyboard", then this is not a perfect fit either.
I may be wrong, but I think IBM's CGA card had a composite output.
Posted June 03, 2015
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Psyringe: Caveats:

- I have very little knowledge about the state of Apple computers at that time, so I can't tell if that's a possibility too. If I remember correctly, then most non-IBM personal computers at that time were using 3.5" floppies though.

- Some searching shows that there _were_ so-called RF modulators which allowed users to connect an Apple II to a TV, and the Apple II also used a 5.25" floppy. The keyboard was on the case, though, so unless the OP mistook the floppy drive for the "console", and the Apple II case for the "keyboard", then this is not a perfect fit either.
- There was an Apple branded external MFM 5.25" floppy drive for Macs but they're pretty rare.

- Like the IBM PC family, many Apple II computers were clones. Some of those clones had external keyboards.

Franklin Ace 2000 series
http://oldcomputers.net/ace2100.html

Basis 108
http://www.applefritter.com/content/basis-108-clone
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Community
General discussionWhat was this early 90's console called?(62 posts)(62 posts)
(62 posts)