Well it's the weekend and time for another My 8-Bits.
This will be a forum series where I'll talk about the history and my experience with the gaming consoles I own and this time I'm reviewing a piece of #%@!*!! garbage... AKA the RCA Studio II.
RCA Studio II
History:Released in early 1977, RCA decided to enter the video game market with the Studio II. (I guess the Studio I was so bad it was never released.) lol
How did it do?Horrible, It did so bad RCA had major layoffs from the losses of this thing. It was Discontinued by 1979. (surprised it lasted that long)
Graphics: Black and White only, playing pong style graphics. This system was outdated the second it hit store shelves. The games look and play terrible. All the sound comes out of the system and sounds horrible.
Is this system still fun to play?NO, I'd rather play Pong or Original Odyssey. Playing a game is confusing and boring. The Controllers are a 10 key pad built into the console. Just figuring out how a game works in a pain.
What games are worth playing? Nothing, No games are worth playing on the Studio II. There was only 15 games ever released and five of them where built into the console.
How many versions are there?There can be only ONE!
What do I need to know if I start collecting this system? Know your wasting your money? Okay first of all the system feels broken the second you try to use it. Many consoles have buttons that wont work and if you find this console missing the RF switch it it worthless to try and play. Much like the original Atari 5200's the Adapter plugs into the RF box. (oooo sparks and a fire hazard. Yay!!) These consoles are not easy to find.
My Experience with the ConsoleThe first time I bought this system was from a guy off ebay, he contacted me that his store caught on fire and the system was destroyed. Hmm... wonder if the system caught on fire after he tested it. (lol)
So then I found another and it took me forever to even get this stupid thing to play a damn game. It will not play on my 1080p HDTV, but does work on my 720p HDTV then I had to read manuals and look online just to figure out how to start and play a game. I know there's instructions on the cart but trust me it's not much help. Like the Odyssey, the game starts when you put a cart in then you have to press a button sequence on the keypad to start the game. After about ten minutes this system became real boring and placed on my shelf and I honestly never had any interest to play it again.
Final ThoughtsThis console is only worth buying if your a “must own all consoles” collector. The system is ugly, the controls are beyond terrible and the games look and play like crap. If you insist on hunting this console down just don't pay more then $50 CIB, it is not for someone who want to play games on, it's only for the die hard collector who wants to have people see it and say “Hey, what the heck is that ugly thing on your shelf?” and you want to hook it up for them and torture them.
Let me know what you think, should I continue with more reviews and what console would you like me to do next? I may pick one you guys pick or continue doing them in a somewhat order of how they came out. I don't know yet how often I'll have the time to write one of these but so far I've had one up every weekend, going to try and keep it up.
Leave reply's on your experience with the RCA Studio II, I know it's embarrassing but I still would love to hear them. Also do you know of any game console that's uglier then the Studio II?
By the numbers: On Vgcollect only 3 unlucky souls own this console. (including me) lol
Past Reviews:
Fairchild Channel F
PC-50X
Pong Consoles
Magnavox Odyssey