K.C. Munchkin (Magnavox 1981)

This game was the system-seller for the Odyssey2 console... until Atari sued their ass.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• classic
• video
• games
• console
• Odyssey2
• Odyssey
• 2
• k.c.
• munchkin

[Blaketoberfest]

"...until Atari sued their ass."

Don't you mean Namco? Namco owns the rights to Pac-Man, not Atari.

[Umma6umma]

@Blaketoberfest Atari had the rights to produce a home video game version of Pac-Man.

[FrumpyShakes]

Would of been a snowballs chance in hell for magnivox to win the lawsuit, it really is pac man right down to the goddamn bowtie on the head.

[Umma6umma]

Magnavox actually won the initial lawsuit, which determined that the differences were enough that the game could be sold. Magnavox lost on appeal, and had to pull the game.

[hombretopito]

damm music is awesome, which chip does this machine used to use?

[Umma6umma]

The O2 used a pretty versatile Intel chip that served both as the video and audio chip. It was only 1-channel mono but I guess the shift register was pretty awesome and let them really manipulate the audio nicely.

The guy who programmed this game (and the majority of all the other games for the O2), Ed Averett, moved from Intel to Magnavox to make games and thereby sell more systems and Intel chips!

[sonick808]

god i love this game. we would sit for hours in my friend's basement in the early eighties and play this. I had the 2600, another friend the atari 400, yet another the intellevision and of course another the odyssey2. OH, and we also had a C64 in the "circle of nerds".

Man, nothing can top these old games, so soulful compared to today's stuff. I'm building a woodgrain/shag/rain lamp/orange and brown 70's room to put all my old consoles in to recreate the experience. second childhood ?

[DeathLock420]

Looks more fun then pac-man.

[funkyflights]

This game is awesome... I had and oddysey as a kid and used to play this all the time... It's better than pacman because of the moving pieces... very challenging .

[superaaronreview98]

THIS GAME COPIED PACMAN!

[Commentman4887]

the second k.c. is so much better.................. I love this system, the footbsll game for this system is better than madden lol

[Halpin2006]

KC Munchkin was very popular up to 1982, and a lot of video game fans were bummed that it was no longer for sale after the lawsuit. I remember playing it myself. After he ate up all of the centipede's body, he gleefully laughed "Incredible!":

[bassmajor]

@hombretopito

I don't really think that's supposed to be music, it's just a recreation of the sound that pac man made going around the maze :D

[StephensStuff]

Well, its better than Atari did with Pac-Man...seriously

[ToddSweeneyOnce]

I'd still rather play pinball machines.

[DavidFullam]

Tons better than the 2600 Pac Man.

[jcrowley1985]

So atari sued magnavox over this issue, but didn't magnavox sue atari a few years earlier when atari suposedly copied the Odyssey 1?

[UglySean]

@Blaketoberfest Blake was right. Atari bought the rrights to the home version and challenged all opponents. Some say it's a shame as reviews have often quoted KC Munchkin as superior to the Atari VCS/2600 Pac Man. The 8 bit computer version was close to the arcade version, I've had a hacked version that played and sounded virtually identical to the arcade. But Atari did apparently force this off the market.