In the 1970s, Magnavox took home entertainment by storm when they released the first home video game console ‒ the Magnavox Odyssey. And though they would do a variety of little updates to that system over the course of several years, it wasn’t until 1978 that they released a true successor to the original with the Odyssey².

By the time it arrived to create a wholly new console, Magnavox had become a subsidiary of Phillips; accordingly, the system is either referred to as the “Magnavox Odyssey²” or the “Phillips Odyssey²,” though it’s the same system regardless.

The Odyssey² had the fairly standard joystick-button controllers of the time, but it did have one thing built in that really made it stand out, in the form of a full alphanumeric keyboard. The keyboard was used for a number of different things ‒ mainly educational games and in-game menu navigation, but the company also produced a cartridge called Computer Intro! which taught basic programming skills.

The system struggled in terms of games, though. It wouldn’t receive any third-party software titles until 1983, meaning that its first five years on the market were spent with only first-party games offered. However, its first-party titles included the Master Strategy Series, which intended to be a fusion of board gaming and video games. The best-known game from this series was Quest For The Rings!, which had gameplay that clearly took some cues from Dungeons & Dragons. The two third party developers of note that would eventually make some successful games for the Odyssey² included Parker Brothers (with Frogger and Popeye, among others), and Imagic (with Atlantis and Demon Attack).

Despite having a lot of unique features and some genuinely decent games, the Odyssey² couldn’t catch up to the other big names on the home console market at the time, and was in a clear third place behind the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision. It’d eventually move more than 2 million units worldwide, but the system was discontinued in 1984.