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Excalibur Electronics games and where can you get'em?
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Doc Kaotic
Coleco Pac Man


Joined: 10 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 09 Feb 2007
Posts: 31
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 8:39 am    Post subject: Excalibur Electronics games and where can you get'em? Reply with quote

http://tinyurl.com/7r8fc

Besides Spencers online. Anybody know if there are more than 2 and where to get them? (In Canada if possible)
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NE146
Entex Crazy Climber


Joined: 16 Nov 2005
Last Visit: 30 Dec 2022
Posts: 56

PostPosted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pretty nice looking! Although that Space Invaders by the screen looks like the same Space Invaders game that's been released over the past few years on keychains, Radio Shack, etc.

That Frogger though.. hmmm. I might have to check that out! Smile
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Mr. Mod
Tomy Blip


Joined: 25 Nov 2005
Last Visit: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 5:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

More Frogger:

From High Quality Games

From JC Penney

More Space Invaders:

From JC Penney

Still no manufacturer info or word on Canadian availability, so I guess the answers to the original questions are Confused and Confused. In that order.


Last edited by Mr. Mod on Mon Dec 12, 2005 2:09 pm; edited 2 times in total
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number6
Microvision


Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 28 Apr 2020
Posts: 26
Location: The Village

PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I picked up both the Frogger and Space Invaders games today at Spencers. The box clearly shows "Excalibur" which makes a lot of the newer handhelds today. Here is the link to the Frogger game on Excalibur's website:

http://tinyurl.com/bj2ut
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Last edited by number6 on Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Mr. Mod
Tomy Blip


Joined: 25 Nov 2005
Last Visit: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah. This explains why the Space Invaders gameplay resembles so many previous versions, so that's one mystery solved. The answers to the other two questions, then, are "Excalibur" and Confused . For the Doc's sake, if I find a Canadian retailer carrying these games, I'll post all about it right here. Until then, we're both out-of-luck Canucks.
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Rik
Site Admin


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 16 Mar 2024
Posts: 1932
Location: California

PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

These do look kinda cool, I'm going to hit my local Spencer's tonight... If they have these in stock, I can probably grab a couple for people that can't get them locally... If there's that much interest, let me know...

Rik
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Rik
Site Admin


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 16 Mar 2024
Posts: 1932
Location: California

PostPosted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just got them last night.. They also make a Pinball one using the characters from Family Guy. They are a little stubbier than the Coleco's, I'll take some pics of them side-by-side so you can see the difference.

Obvisouly, they are colored LCD, and they use backlighting to light the display (like the Nintendo tabletops). No playing in a dark room. Very Happy

Haven't played with them in detail yet... The Spencer's I went to had a few more of each, so if a couple of you want one, I can get them and ship them to you (they are $24.99 + tax). I can probably get away with really cheap shipping (even overseas) through the company I work at, so it won't cost a fortune to ship them... Let me know if you can't live without them...

Rik
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Rik
Site Admin


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 16 Mar 2024
Posts: 1932
Location: California

PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Updates: Only Frogger requires a back light, the other two have their own backlights (probably LEDs). Here's the pages I put up on the website:

Frogger:
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Misc/ExcaliburFrogger.htm

Space Invaders:
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Misc/ExcaliburSpaceInvaders.htm

Stewie Electronic Talking Pinball:
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Misc/ExcaliburStewiePinball.htm

Rik
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Goldie
Entex Crazy Climber


Joined: 02 Nov 2005
Last Visit: 10 Nov 2009
Posts: 50
Location: Toronto

PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 6:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Picked them both up just before x mas. There are more about the design then the game, but decent nevertheless....I would be surprised if they released any new ones, but correct me if I am wrong.

Mike
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Rik
Site Admin


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 16 Mar 2024
Posts: 1932
Location: California

PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just got back from CES this weekend, and Excalibur was there showing off all kinds of (cheap) electronic devices they make... Smile They had a small table for handheld games with a HUGE styrofoam mock-up of one of these Coleco-ish style games. Check out the Exaclibur links in my previous post for pictures of it, it is kind of cool... (And, no, they wouldn't give it to me. Mr. Green )

The sales guy seemed to think they were going to make a Pitfall game in the same design, but he didn't have any proof to show me (he might have just been thinking of the little handheld version).
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mummrah2006
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 2:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I picked both of them up Friday at Spencer gifts. Froggers graphics are much better than the old coleco version but was wierd I checked out the old coleco commercial for the arcade handhelds and Frogger was the same music and sound effects as the new Frogger game and Space Invaders was never released as a classic arcade game that's what makes these very collectible. I wish they would do Donkey Kong,Ms Pac-man,Pac-man and Galaxian over with better graphics the coleco Pac-man ones especially the ghosts are too big and look dumb with a Pac-man on thier head. Very Happy
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Mr. Mod
Tomy Blip


Joined: 25 Nov 2005
Last Visit: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

But that's how you know they've eaten Pac-Man; it looks like they've swallowed him whole! Razz Actually, the MGA Color FX version looks like one of the best renderings. I'm kinda surprised, given what they've done with their B&W versions, that they haven't made tabletops out of the Color FX series yet. Anyway, dumb question time:

- How is it that, aside from the obscure Ramtex version, there never was a Space Invaders made in the 80's? How did Entex and Gakken avoid litigation just by dropping the "s" at the end?

- Doesn't Hasbro own Coleco's assets? Funny they haven't gotten in on the retro craze themselves.

- Who actually manufactured the Space Invaders game that's been floating around for a few years? I've seen both MGA and Excalibur release the game. Are they sister companies, or even the same company? Am I asking too many questions?
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Neil UK
Atari Cosmos


Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 04 Jul 2023
Posts: 767
Location: South Wales.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What about this 1982 Tiger version? It must have one of the most authentic looking screens.

http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Tiger/SpaceInvaders.htm

Neil.
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Rik
Site Admin


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 16 Mar 2024
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Location: California

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 3:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Mod wrote:
- How is it that, aside from the obscure Ramtex version, there never was a Space Invaders made in the 80's? How did Entex and Gakken avoid litigation just by dropping the "s" at the end?


Heh, that's something I really need to get on the website... I got the whole story of the Entex lawsuits, etc regarding these games... Basically, Entex just got gutsy and released Space Invader without even contacting the copyright holder (who is that, Bally?). Well, Bally sued them, naturally, but the judge decided that the copyright Bally had was for large arcade games that cost money to play, and that it didn't necessarily cover other markets (like handheld games), so Entex got away with it.

Coleco then decided to officially license some games from Bally (and others) and proceded to develop Pac Man. Entex got cocky an decided to make a Pac Man and release it first, which they did (Pac Man 2). This time, Coleco sued becuase they had a license for a Pac Man handheld game, and this time Coleco won. This was about summer-ish of 1981 I think, and Entex had thousands (probably 100,000s) of Pac Man 2s in production, and would be pretty screwed if they just had to scrap it all, so they worked out a deal with Coleco that they would be allowed to sell the remaining Pac Man 2s up until about Oct 1981 (thus the reason a lot of Pac Man 2 games/boxes have a copyright sticker added to them, since during this time their game was legit). The catch was that they had to fork over 100% of the profits from the game to Coleco. In Oct, all Entex Pac Mans were yanked from the shelves, and conveniently replaced with Coleco's Pac Man game. (The added benefit for Coleco was that they barely had to advertise to have a hit game becuase Entex had been advertising the hell out of a hand held Pac Man so they could sell as much of their inventory as possible.)

After that, everyone decided to do it legitimately by properly licensing the games.

Mr. Mod wrote:
- Doesn't Hasbro own Coleco's assets? Funny they haven't gotten in on the retro craze themselves.


I don't think Hasbro has it... The Coleco brand name is owned by River West Brands (and they are releasing re-makes of the old Coleco sports games: www.coleco.com). The licenses for the arcade games probably expired by now, so they'd have to be re-licensed to make the arcade games again. They spoke to me about what I'd love to see re-released, and I told them they should try to make any of the handhelds using a real VFD display, if it's not too expensive... Haven't seen one yet though. Cool

Mr. Mod wrote:
- Who actually manufactured the Space Invaders game that's been floating around for a few years?


I don't know who makes that game, but I've seen it in MANY incarnations over the last few years, and it's always exactly the same (the only difference being size and whether it's color or B&W). Probably some company in China just making a generic 'Invader' game for anyone that want's to build a game around it... Even if you were to actually license the Space Invaders name, there's no point in re-inventing the game hardware itself unless you really wanted to impress people (but that costs money...).

Rik
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Mr. Mod
Tomy Blip


Joined: 25 Nov 2005
Last Visit: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 10:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the info. Also thanks to Neil for redirecting me to the Tiger version(s) of Space Invaders. I totally forgot about those. The one in the link looks like a great translation, even in B&W.
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