The Odyssey3 was introduced at the 1983 Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which was held from the 6th of January to the 9th of January.

To the left you can see a picture from the CES. I don't think that this is a real photo from the fair, but it probably is a photo from a Magnavox press release. The Odyssey3 on this photo is a little different from my prototype.

First of all the cases of the controllers are in a very light colour, probably silver to fit the case of the console. The controllers which came with my prototype have a black case. Also the sticks look a little different from mine.

Second, the keyboard layout of the two machines is different. Some keys are on an other place, and my prototype has 60 keys, where as the O3 on the CES photo has only 57 keys. I have unfortunately no better photo from the CES machine, so I cannot see the detailled differences in the keyboard layout.

Due to the bad photo, I cannot read the writing on the cartridge. At least the case of the cartridge is pretty different from the known Odyssey2/Videopac cartridges, as it has no handle grip.

If anyone has better CES photos, please contact us by eMail.

Magnavox also presented some "new" games on the CES. Pictures of them are shown to the right, allthough those are not really screenshots, but they look like hand drawn pictures.

The first one is also known as "Stone Sling" (Videopac) or "Smithereens" (Odyssey2). The gameplay stays the same, but there is additional background graphics. This game was later released in Europe as Videopac 20+ for the Philips Videopac G7400 and Jopac game computers, but the background graphics of the released version look different.

The second picture is from "Killer Bees" and the story is almost the same as above. The game was released for the Odyssey2 and, only as a "Plus" version, for the Philips Videopac series, but the background graphics of the released Videopac version looks a little different from the CES picture.

The third picture is from "Attack Of The Timelord" (Odyssey2), also known as "Terrahawks" on the Videopac system. Another title that was released only as "Plus" version in Europe, and the background graphics of the released version are pretty similar to the CES photo, allthough some colours a different.

The last photo is from "Freedom Fighters", which was released for the Odyssey2 as well as for the Videopac computers in two versions: Standard and Plus. But the background graphics of the released Plus version is very different from the background on the CES photo.

Anyway, those four planned games for the Odyssey3 were never released, I do not know if prototypes do exist. It is also unknown what happened to the O3-only games that were in development. "Flash Point" by Rex Battenberg for example was almost finished! So a prototype should exist. Fortunately I got Rex' eMail address some time ago and hopefully I will get an interview with him. This probably could bring some light into the mysterious story of the Odyssey3 Command Center.

Addendum: More CES pictures and info!

Nicolas Sapin was so kind to send me some more pictures of the Odyssey3 at the '83 Winter CES which he found in the French video games magazine "Tilt", issue April 1983. Make sure to check out Nico's website too, there is also some info about his Odyssey3 among others.

In this mag, first of all there are the same pictures that I found in my German mag (see above): The b/w photo of the O3 Command Center and the "screenshots" (note that those are not really screenshots, but they are artist drawings, see above). So it is pretty sure that those photos are taken from a Magnavox press map.

The photo of the console in Nico's magazine is a bit better than mine, so you can read "Freedom Fighters" on the inserted cart. As there also exists a "screenshot" of this game (see above), it seems that there really existed a version with background graphics of this game for the Odyssey3. Still it is not sure if the Freedom Fighters cartridge on the photo contains a working game or if it's just a dummie. Also we do not know if the O3 version of this game would have had the background graphics like in the "screenshot" above or if the background graphics would have been the same as in the Videopac release version "Freedom Fighters Plus" (Videopac 39+).

But in Nico's magazine there are three more photos which are very interesting!

First of all there is this photo of a stand showing two Odyssey2 machines with attached Voice units. There are some further stands  behind them but we cannot see the consoles there. First interesting fact: In Las Vegas it is warm in January too - some of the people are wearing short-sleeved T-shirts ;-)

The cartridges both don't have the standard labels, so they are in all probability show carts. The game right in the front is Killer Bees, which was probably introduced at the '83 Winter CES. The game behind it is not recognizable for sure. As it plays on a console with attached Voice I presume it is a voice game. The only voice game with green background is Turtles. As this game and Killer Bees were released about the same time, it is quite possible that they are side by side here. In Europe both games were released in fall 1983.

The next picture is very interesting as it shows at least four Odyssey3 machines, probably five or more! Funny that maybe one of those machines is in my closet now :-) ... Umm, ant let's hope that the drinking-cup didn't tip over and flood the O3!!!

The machine right in the front plays the Odyssey3 version of Smithereens. The background graphics seem to be very close to the released Videopac version "Stone Sling Plus" (Videopac 20+), but I am missing the two knights in the front which are watching the fight in the Videopac game. Anyway the background graphics look by far closer to the Videopac Plus version than to the artist-drawn "screenshot". Note that on the drawn screenshot there is a scoring like in the O2 version of Smithereens, but on this photo there is no scoring - like in the Videopac version of the game. Confusing, isn't it? And we have three versions of the background graphics for this game now: The released Videopac Plus background, the similar background of the unreleased O3 version (no clue why they altered the background for the Videopac Plus version a bit) and the artist-drawn background.

I cannot recognice the game on the second machine for sure, but it "might" be the O3 version of "Attack Of The Timelord", allthough the screen looks different from the artist-drawn and Videopac Plus screen, so I am not sure about this.

The last photo is the most interesting one, as it shows a display stand with an Odyssey3 machine playing a game that was never released with background graphics and of that we know very little.

Another interesting fact is that the Odyssey3 on this photo looks equal to mine but different to the one in the b/w picture in the Magnavox press map (see picture on top of this page)! So the Command Center in the b/w picture was probably a very early prototype and we do not know yet if it's a fully working one or just a dummie. But the working machines on the CES look equal to Nico's and mine.

Some time ago (in 2000?) there was a posting in a newsgroup that an Odyssey3 has been found which looks a little different to the known prototypes. Maybe this machine is the one from the b/w picture? Any help appreciated here!

But back to the O3 Baseball game: This is the only O3 game with background graphics that was NOT released as European version, neither as Videopac nor as Jopac, probably due to Baseball's lack of popularity in Europe. There is a standard Videopac version (hey, I learned the Baseball rules with this game back in 83 or 84 ;-), but they didn't see a market for a Plus version in Europe probably. The background graphics show the field bounds in the back, the playfield with bases, and two tents. Looks pretty good, at least as good as the Intellvision version, except for the players maybe ...

Result: There must be at least O3 prototypes of Smithereens and Baseball out there, probably also O3 prototypes of Attack Of The Timelord, Killer Bees and Flash Point, and maybe more. I am wondering if any collector will find them or where they are now - hope we will be told ...

If you have more info or photos regarding the Odyssey3, especially at the '83 Winter CES, please contact us by eMail! Thanks!

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Erstellt am 05.08.01. Zuletzt bearbeitet am 05.08.06.