Skip to main content
Tech Radar TechRadar the technology experts
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
RSS
Asia
flag of Singapore
Singapore
Europe
flag of Danmark
Danmark
flag of Suomi
Suomi
flag of Norge
Norge
flag of Sverige
Sverige
flag of UK
UK
flag of Italia
Italia
flag of Nederland
Nederland
flag of België (Nederlands)
België (Nederlands)
flag of France
France
flag of Deutschland
Deutschland
flag of España
España
North America
flag of US (English)
US (English)
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of México
México
Australasia
flag of Australia
Australia
flag of New Zealand
New Zealand
  • Phones
  • Computing
  • TVs
  • AI
  • Streaming
  • Health
  • Audio
  • VPN
  • More
    • Cameras
    • Home
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Opinion
    • How to
    • Versus
    • Deals
    • Coupons
    • Best
Tech Radar Pro
Tech Radar Gaming
Trending
  • Amazon Prime Day
  • Smart Home Week
  • Nintendo Switch 2
  • Best VPN
  • ChatGPT
  • Best web hosting
  • NYT Wordle today
  • Best laptop

Recommended reading

Xbox Antstream Arcade Retro Classics library
Gaming Play vintage titles like Pitfall and Kaboom with Xbox Game Pass's new Retro Classics suite
The Super Pocket handheld games console on a pale green background.
Consoles & PC Best handheld games consoles in 2025: the top systems we've tried
Best gaming console
Consoles & PC Best gaming console in 2025: every major system tested and ranked
arkhive Business Limited
Pro Beige is beautiful: Retro 1980s PC hides a GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and even has fake 5.25-inch bay covers, because why not
Art for Sargon jumping through time in Prince of Persia the lost crown
Nintendo Switch Underrated Switch games 2025
JBL Flip 7, Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF, and Retro-Bit Sega Saturn Wireless Pro Controller on blue, pink, and purple background, with Reviews Recap written in top-right corner
Tech 5 blistering reviews of the week: Cutting-edge monitor tech, a throwback for Sega Saturn fans, and one of the best portable Bluetooth speakers around
A purple Game Boy Advance against a red background
Consoles & PC The best GBA games to play in 2025
  1. Gaming
  2. Consoles & PC

12 retro games consoles you probably forgot exist

News
By Kane Fulton published 11 August 2015

Phillips CD-i, anyone?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Introduction

Introduction

Gamescom 2015 has closed its doors for another year, and we're still not over it. Bethesda's Fallout 4 preview made our palms sweaty, we checked out some awesome gaming headsets and even found a PC that looks like a tank. What we didn't expect to get our currywurst-covered hands on was some of the most awesome retro games consoles to have ever existed.

Old school gaming was out in force in Cologne, with tons of fully-working playable consoles restored to their former glory. Naturally we took some time out to hop into our zeitmaschine (time machine to me and you) and check the plethora of systems, which dated back to the late '70s. How many can you remember? Award yourself an extra 10 points per system before 1990.

Page 1 of 13
Page 1 of 13
1. Video-Sports Skylark-124 - Sunkyong (1977)

1. Video-Sports Skylark-124 - Sunkyong (1977)

It's unlikely you'll recognise Sunkyong's Video-Sports console as it was sold primarily in Germany and Austria. Manufactured in Korea, it was a variation of the classic pong-like sports games from that era. It featured two paddles, each with a dial used to control a bat on the screen. One or two players could go head-to-head at Tennis, Hockey and Squash, and if you were a lonely kid in the 70s, you could hone your skills in Practice mode.

Page 2 of 13
Page 2 of 13
2. VC4000 - Intervon (1978)

2. VC4000 - Intervon (1978)

We couldn't help but check out the odd-looking VC 4000, which never made its way out of Germany. The console had two controllers, each with 12 keys, two fire buttons and an analog joystick. Powered by a Signetics 2650A processor clocked at 0.887 MHz (don't laugh, now), it featured a library of 40 games that came on cassettes, all of which were first-party titles.

Page 3 of 13
Page 3 of 13
3. Intellivision - Mattel (1979)

3. Intellivision - Mattel (1979)

A portmanteau of "intelligent television", Mattel's Intellivision sold millions on the back of its faithful arcade ports and impressive range of exclusives. Despite its weird-looking controllers that resembled telephones, games such as Q*bert, Major League Baseball and Donkey Kong Jr helped the system hold its own against its rival, the Atari 2600.

Fun fact: the Intellivision port of arcade Donkey Kong (the first one) was so bad that Coleco, the studio behind it, was accused of a deliberate botch-job. Coleco bundled the game as a launch title with its own ColecoVision system that launched as a rival console in 1982, which does sound pretty suspicious, but the claim was never found to be true.

Page 4 of 13
Page 4 of 13
4. VIC-20 - Commodore (1980)

4. VIC-20 - Commodore (1980)

Commodore's VIC-20 predated the C64 by a few years and was intended to be an affordable computer that could run both games and business applications. Boasting a number of "firsts" in the industry, it was the first computer to sell more than 1 million units, and was also the first to sell for under $300. Popular games on the system included Omega Race, Pirate Cove Adventure and Sword of Fargoal.

Page 5 of 13
Page 5 of 13
5. C64 - Commodore (1982)

5. C64 - Commodore (1982)

Commodore's C64 was a hugely popular system and remains the highest-selling computer of all time (around 17 million, if you were wondering). Similar in appearance to Commodore's VIC-20, it was more powerful and excelled in graphics and sound thanks to five colour "models", 384 x 272 pixel-resolution and ability to handle eight hardware sprites.

It produced more classic games than you can shake a joystick at, including Turrican, Mayhem in Monster Land, Bubble Bobble and IK+.

Page 6 of 13
Page 6 of 13
6. MSX Standard - Microsoft (1983)

6. MSX Standard - Microsoft (1983)

The MS X Standard (MicroSoft eXtended BASIC) was a cassette-based system co-produced by Microsoft and ASCII Corp. of Japan. As a low-end 8-bit computer, this system used cartridges and was powered by a 4MHz Zilog Z80A processor. Microsoft wanted to use the MS X Standard to - you guessed it - establish a single standard for home computers, just as VHS did for video at that time.

The company licensed the tech to Japan-based consumer electronics and computer manufacturers including Sony, Pioneer, Toshiba and Hitachi. Despite its library of more than 350 games, the system achieved little success as the 8-bit era gave way to 16-bit machines.

Page 7 of 13
Page 7 of 13
7. ST - Atari (1985)

7. ST - Atari (1985)

The Atari ST was a musician's dream, and like the Amiga 500 also from its era, it was adored by gamers. The computer introduced the world to games including Populous, Double Dragon and Lemmings. Dungeon Master, which made its first outing on the Atari ST, became the system's best-selling game of all time. If you ever need reminding of the Atari's influence, just check out its iconic black-and-red joystick - it'll all come flooding back.

Page 8 of 13
Page 8 of 13
8. PWC - Amstrad (1985)

8. PWC - Amstrad (1985)

Popular in Britain, Alan Sugar's Amstrad launched the PCW as part of a package that included a computer monitor, the PWC itself and a printer. Although primarily intended to be a dedicated word processing machine (PCW is an acronym for Personal Computer Wordprocessor), its ability to display 32 lines of 90 characters made it a good fit for text-based adventures. It was also capable of running graphical titles such as Batman, Head Over Heels and Bounder.

Page 9 of 13
Page 9 of 13
9. EX - Atari (1987)

9. EX - Atari (1987)

The short-lived Atari EX featured an 8-bit MOS 6502 processor clocked at 1.79MHz, came with a keyboard and a floppy drive and was sold in basic and advanced versions. The former was deemed too expensive, hardly advertised and had little third-party development. The advanced variant, however, struggled going up against Sega's and Nintendo's consoles emerging at that time. Popular games included Star Raiders (1979), Frogger (1981), Pitfall! (1982) and Ballblazer (1984).

Page 10 of 13
Page 10 of 13
10. CD-i - Phillips (1991)

10. CD-i - Phillips (1991)

Interestingly, the CD-i featured games from Nintendo franchises Mario and Zelda, but the games weren't developed by the Japanese company. They included Hotel Mario, and three Legend of Zelda titles: Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's adventure.

As a 16-bit console that used CD-ROMs, the CD-i wasn't initially marketed as a video games platform until 1994. Ultimately, Phillips had missed the boat, and the CD-i faded into obscurity after Sega and Sony launched their respective Saturn and PlayStation systems.

Page 11 of 13
Page 11 of 13
11. 3DO - The 3DO Company (1993)

11. 3DO - The 3DO Company (1993)

The Xbox One of its day (in terms of bulky design, anyway), the 3DO was manufactured by Pansonic, Goldstar and Sanyo. The brainchild of Trip Hawkins, one of EA's founders, it used VCDs and was marketed as a multimedia device, allowing owners to play VHS tapes using an (expensively priced) expansion.

Despite boasting a large library filled with third-party titles, it sold poorly, partly due to its whopping $700 price tag. Need for Speed and Gex were two popular franchises that started out on the 3DO before making their way to other platforms.

Page 12 of 13
Page 12 of 13
12. Jaguar - Atari (1993)

12. Jaguar - Atari (1993)

Looking to once again hit the big time with a new games console, Atari launched the Jaguar to a mixed reception. Technically impressive on paper, Atari claimed that it was the first 64-bit home console, something that is often disputed on the grounds that the system's Motorola 68000 was a 32-bit microprocessor.

Regardless, the Jaguar was certainly more powerful than the Super Nintendo and Sega's Genesis (known as the Mega Drive in Europe). It boasted impressive versions of Alien vs Predator, Doom, Tempest 2000 and Wolfenstein 3D.

  • Check out the rest of our Gamescom 2015 coverage
Page 13 of 13
Page 13 of 13
TOPICS
Apple Samsung
Kane Fulton
Kane Fulton
Social Links Navigation
Kane has been fascinated by the endless possibilities of computers since first getting his hands on an Amiga 500+ back in 1991. These days he mostly lives in realm of VR, where he's working his way into the world Paddleball rankings in Rec Room.
Read more
Xbox Antstream Arcade Retro Classics library
Play vintage titles like Pitfall and Kaboom with Xbox Game Pass's new Retro Classics suite
The Super Pocket handheld games console on a pale green background.
Best handheld games consoles in 2025: the top systems we've tried
Best gaming console
Best gaming console in 2025: every major system tested and ranked
arkhive Business Limited
Beige is beautiful: Retro 1980s PC hides a GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and even has fake 5.25-inch bay covers, because why not
Art for Sargon jumping through time in Prince of Persia the lost crown
Underrated Switch games 2025
JBL Flip 7, Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF, and Retro-Bit Sega Saturn Wireless Pro Controller on blue, pink, and purple background, with Reviews Recap written in top-right corner
5 blistering reviews of the week: Cutting-edge monitor tech, a throwback for Sega Saturn fans, and one of the best portable Bluetooth speakers around
Latest in Consoles & PC
Sidestepper taking first place in Mario Kart World
I’ve clocked up more than 60 hours in Mario Kart World – here are my 3 top tips for getting first place
Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller
Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller review: a remarkable improvement
PS5
The Nintendo Switch 2 has arrived, but we still consider the PS5 the best gaming console to buy in 2025 – here are the three reasons why it's number one
Leon S Kennedy, Evelyn Parker, and Isaac Clarke
Steam Summer Sale is even better than I thought – here are the most worthwhile deals
Nintendo Switch 2
Accessory maker Dbrand responds to botched Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con grips, admits its initial reaction to unhappy fans was 'a spectacularly terrible response to the issue at hand'
ROG Ally using Bazzite vs Switch 2
The Switch 2's value has just been diminished significantly due to its poor display - and it's another reason you should opt for a handheld gaming PC
Latest in News
Sony WH-1000XM6 with earcups pointed towards the camera
New leak may have revealed just about every Nothing Headphones 1 spec
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
New and unofficial renders show how thin the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 could be – and we also have hints for when they'll go on sale
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 27: Jake Paul weighs in ahead of his fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr at Honda Center on June 27, 2025 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images)
Jake Paul vs Chavez Jr LIVE: fight replay, cheapest PPV deals for the boxing blockbuster, highlights
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Monday, June 30 (game #1253)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, June 30 (game #484)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, June 30 (game #750)
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. 1
    I tried to make an immersive smart lighting gaming desk setup and failed horribly – here's why
  2. 2
    This app got my kids off YouTube and into learning through play
  3. 3
    Aura Triple Aero 15.6in Pro Max 3-screen portable monitor review
  4. 4
    Forget the S10 - save $400 on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra instead
  5. 5
    My June 2025 streaming picks: 9 of my favorite movies and shows on Netflix, Prime Video and more

TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Web notifications
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...