The speech synthesyzer is probably one of my favorite aspects of this System. It allows the system to taunt you, tease you, or congratulate you. But the Odyssey consists of so much more! Decent graphics, pretty good game control, a really high enjoyability factor... maybe that one kid in 3rd grade was right. Maybe his system was better than my atari.. of course, the only drawback was that he couldn't find any games for it.

Don't forget to check out all the other game systems I have catalogued in my shrine to all games good.

• Attack of the Time Lord!
• Hockey and Soccer
• Baseball
• Speedway / Spinout / Cryptologic
• KC's Krazy Chase
• Conquest of the World
• Keyboard Creations
• Matchmaker / Buzzword / Logix
• KC Munchkin
• Basketball / Bowling
• Alien Invaders Plus!
• Ahowdown in 2100 AD
• Quest for the Rings
• Golf

Attack of the Timelord

A cool Space Invaders meets Galaxian game. You move your ship around on the bottom of the screen, while a worm of spaceships winds its way around the screen. You pluck 'em off, and the bombs they drop get progressively more complex, and harder to avoid. This is a really fun game, but the best part is- it taunts you via the synthesizer! I love it. (one player)

Hockey / Soccer

This is worse than most Atari sports games. Peeeyoo. Think blocks, think poor graphics, think non-existant playability. Then Think about finding a new game to play. (2 players)

Baseball

Well, it's baseball. long, slow, drawn out 9 innings of sheer joy. Truthfully, it is rather amusing. You've got hte prototypical Odyssey people, and a crude diamond, but it's a good way to kill time between buddies.(2 player)

Speedway / Spinout / Cryptologic

This is the the triple pack-in that came with the system, to showcase all its features. Speedway involves moving a blob from left to right, and avoiding a sine wave of cars. Spin out is racing 2 cars around a square track, and cryptologic involves one person typing in a word/phrase, and the other person trying to guess it. Amusement factor is present, although not overwhelming. (2 player)

KC Munchkin

One of the most popular titles for this system- This is a pac-man themed game- you're a small head travelling through a maze (9 playable mazes) that has a number of dots in the 4 corners- a few regular dots, and some 'power pellets', which enable you to munchkin your antagonists. The big catch? Well, the dots move around the maze! Sure, they do it slowly as to not make it too ough, but they don't stand still. There are tunnels linking the left and right sides of the maze together, and in the center square that the baddies emenate from, the walls shift, making the center square look like a 'u' that rotates clockwise. You can dash into one side with baddies chasing you, and if you time it right, the walls will rotate, making it impossible for the baddies to follow. (1 player)

KC's Krazy Chase

This is a groovy Pac-Man ripoff. You run your alter ego around a maze and attempt to eat the body off a moving caterpiller. Best of all, KC tells you to "Watch out!" and compliments you when you finish a level. Have I mentioned that I love the voice synthesizer? (1 player)

conquest of the world!

this game makes combat for the 2600 look ... worse than it is. i tell you. There are a variation of screens, with 3 different vehicles. jet, tank, and sub. the game cycles you and your opponent through various permutations of both (jet vs jet, jet vs tank, etc.) and you try to blow each other to smithereens. the jet is fast, the tank is slow. the jet can crash into trees. the sub has steerable missiles. go sub, go! see the plane crash into the flaming wreckage of the sub. it's fun.(2 player)

keyboard creations

you can create titles, time, messages, etc. all sorts of things with the keyboard. create away! This was made before the Video toaster, so I guess I have to give credit where credit was due. Btu it was also made before the advent (or at least, mass acceptance of) the VCR, so the reason for owning this title seems fairly moot.(1 creator)

matchmaker / buzzword / logix

this is a good 3-way cart.. matchmaker is concentration, for 1 or 2 players, buzzword is hangman, and logix is the old mastermind board game, if you remember that. groovy. (1-2 player matchmaker, 2 player buzzword, 1 player logix)

basketball/bowling

here's a cart where they programmed a round sprite, and decided to milk as much functionality out of it as possible. the bowling is tough, but remotely enjoyable- a ball slides across the screen, and you fire the button to release it, and you can then put a little curve on it. basketball is a joke- two guys fighting over this bowling ball, and you slide them back and forth across the bottom of the screen, and shoot them into these square receptacles. enjoyable for schlock value.(1-2 player bowling, 2 player basketabll)

Quest for the rings

This is one of the favorite games for the platform. Evidentally it comes with a board game, and a bunch of pieces- I don't have any of these, and can't comprehend how one would use them. The game itself is fiendishly hard. It's a two player game, and each player picks a 'character,' akin to D&D. Each character posseses a special ability that is used when the fire button is pressed. The fighter swings a sword which can kill small enemies, the wizard throws a magic missile which stuns small opponents, the changeling turns invisible, and the phantom can travel through walls. The game places both characters in a maze, with a ring located in it somewhere. Both players have to make it to the ring, and touch it, while dodging small annoying critters, and one big honkin' dragon. The dragon spews fire, and will almost certainly bring about your demise. Good luck.(2 player)

alien invaders plus!

i call this game 'space invaders minus.' you're a ship at the bottom of the screen, and there are 3 shields above you. just above those, there's a row of round invincible objects, and then above that, there's two rows of aliens. the first and last row of objects move right to left, and the middle row moves left to right- you have to time your shots to make it through the first row and hit the aliens behind it. and above all this, there's a big octopus looking thing that comes down and tries to eat you. if you lose a ship, your poor defenseless guy is left standing at the bot tom of the screen, and he has to run to a remaining shield, and then that will turn into a new ship. I guess this game is fairly interesting, as it's the only odyssey^2 game i can think of that has multiple lives...(1 player)

showdown in 2100 ad

Two cowboy looking individuals are located in the far corners of a screen populated with trees. they saunter around the screen, and pressing the fire button makes them draw a gun and fire a shot horizontally across the screen. If it hits a tree, the shot will rebound in a horrific manner- it is possible to kill yourself in this manner. Best of 10 kills wins. play versus a 'friend', or if you make one kill without the opponent having moved, the computer takes over- fairly nice feature, it impressed me. (1 or 2 player)

golf

very similar to the atari 2600 version of golf- there's a top view of a hole, with trees and sand traps, and you shoot the ball with a figure carrying a club. angle of the shot is determined by character position relative to the ball, and velocity is determined by the length of time the button is pushed. getting the ball onto the green results in a close up view of the green, and a big black hole to sink it in. slightly touchier than the 2600 version, a very time consuming game to play. the stroke counter goes from 0 to 99, and more shots than that wraps it back to 0. frustrate your opponent by finishing 9 holes in 0 strokes! (1-2 player)