Magnavox Odyssey²

The Magnavox Odyssey², known in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil as the Philips Odyssey, in the United States as the Magnavox Odyssey² and the Philips Odyssey², and also by many other names, is a video game console released in 1978.

Technical specifications

• CPU
  • Intel 8048 8-bit microcontroller running at 5.37 MHz
• Memory:
  • CPU-internal RAM: 64 bytes
  • Audio/video RAM: 128 bytes
  • BIOS ROM: 1024 bytes

• Video:
  • Intel 8244 custom IC
  • 160×200 resolution (NTSC)
  • 16-color fixed palette; sprites may only use 8 of these colors
  • 4 8×8 single-color user-defined sprites; each sprite's color may be set independently
  • 12 8×7 single-color characters; must be one of the 64 shapes built into the ROM BIOS; can be freely positioned like sprites, but cannot overlap each other; each character's color may be set independently
  • 4 quad characters; groups of four characters displayed in a row
  • 9×8 background grid; dots, lines, or solid blocks

• Audio:
  • Intel 8244 custom IC
  • mono
  • 24-bit shift register, clockable at 2 frequencies
  • noise generator
  • NOTE: There is only one 8244 chip in the system, which performs both audio and video functions.

• Input:
  • Two 8-way, one-button, digital joysticks. In the first production runs of the Magnavox Odyssey and the Philips 7000, these were permanently attached to the console; in later models, they were removable and replaceable.
  • QWERTY-layout membrane keyboard
• Output:
  • RF Audio/Video connector
  • Péritel/SCART connector (France only)
• Media:
  • ROM cartridges, typically 2 KB, 4 KB, or 8 KB in size.

• Expansion modules:
  • The Voice - provides speech synthesis & enhanced sound effects
  • Chess Module - The Odyssey2 didn't have enough memory and computing power for a decent implementation of chess on its own, so the C7010 chess module contained a secondary CPU with its own extra memory to run the chess program.

Odyssey² models and variants

• Kooton Odyssey² - Japan
• Philips Videopac G7000 (Europe) C52 (France)
• Philips Videopac G7200 (Europe) N60 (France)
• Radiola Jet 25 - French
• Radiola Jet 27 -
• Schneider G7000
• Schneider G7200
• Seira G7000

See Also

• Philips Videopac + G7400