gx4000

[playgeneration]

i finally got one of these consoles today, after having several games for it doing nothing for years
And oh dear, its just sooo crappy. The screenshots on the back of the boxes look good, but once you pop in the cartridge the truth is revealed, the graphics are massivly pixelated, choppy, and with stupidly massive borders on ALL sides. The controls are completely unreponsive too, making it overly difficult to play the pathetic games. I cant see how it was supposed to complete with the megadrive, when even the master system is vastly superior, just compare Burning rubber on gx to outrun europa on sms for proof.

Are there any half decent games for this thing? something to make me like it a bit better, or is just going to gather dust with the other unplayable console i own, the Game.com

And i also now have a spare mint and complete Robocop2 available to trade, if anyone feels like torturing themselves.

[Phil]

I like Burning Rubber, the enging sounds a lawnmower but it's got pretty ok graphics and the controls are easy to get to grips with. Not an amazing launch title but still quite a fun and addictive game.

Navy Seals is ace, check out Switch Blade and a great version of Pang exists too.

One thing that I've noticed is you don't get any sprite flicker on the GX4000, when compared to the MS and NES. I also like the tiny carts......

Avoid games like Barbarian, No Exit and Tin Tin On The Moon. Most of the games, if you can find any cheap are pretty mediocre. I know of 2 places (apart from Ebay) where you can get games for it:

www.highstreetmicro.co.uk and

www.tradeinpost.com/index2005.html

I hardly play on mine, but it's worth owning and it's great that you can use a normal scart lead with it!

[RetroReserve]

I got Robocop 2 delivered this week and wasn't disapointed so much by the graphics but by it being so hard. Although I was drunk when I played it so maybe that has something to do with it.

Still can't get over the size of the cart boxes though. In the auction and internet pics they seem to be about the size of a DS box but they are huge. They are not much smaller than the console itself.

[chaoticjelly]

This is an absolute wank console

[Phil]

It's a shame they didn't release more games for it. Probably the most unsuccesful console of all time and the controllers hurt my fingers and thumbs..........

[playgeneration]

it really deserves to be the least succesful console, and im glad no more games were made for it. Its completely under-powered and badly designed. To put things in perspective, the gx was released in the same year as the Neo Geo, just compare a few screenshots to see how much of a joke this system was and still is

[anagrama]

I think it's more a case of Amstrad completely underestimating the potential of the console market, rather than them seriously planning a to challenge the MegaDrive - the GX4000 was launched a few months prior to the PAL MD, and before that the home computer market still ruled the roost in the UK. They probably saw it more as an alternative upgrade route for CPC users who didn't want or need the functionality of a computer.
It's still a colossal rubber duck-up from start tpo finish, mind, bred from the same clueless mentality as the C64 GS or Atari XEGS.

Oh, and there were almost 30 titles released for it, so by that yardstick, it was still more sucessful than the Virtual Boy, game.com or R-zone

[playgeneration]

you cant really class how succesful a system was by how many games were released for it. Just try getting all 30 gx4000 games, if there even is that many, several are unconfirmed as they have only been seen in old magazine mail order company adverts. Virtually nobody bought a gx4000 when it came out for £99, nearly all the consoles were bought from those bargain shops that sell new old stock, for £9.99. So it is the least sucesfull console ever, because no-one was prepared to buy untill it was been virtually given away, whereas vb and game.com sold plenty of machines and games at full price, you can tell from how much easier it is to get games for them.

[anagrama]

There's 26 titles I can confirm by having seen scans or seen them on eBay. There's another 4-5 rumoured releases, but I doubt any of those exist (except possibly Gazza II).

[Phil]

Which are these consoles would you throw into room 101?


Amstrad GX4000?
Konix Multisystem?
Tin Of Spam?

[chaoticjelly]

This is an absolute wank console

[jimim]

Pang was a good game on the gx4000.

[Phil]

Has anyone got the official version of pang with the box and manual where you can select your starting level? All the versions I've seen on Ebay have been the cart only copies. With my 2 copies you can't select anything which makes the game too hard for a crap Pang player like me.

I've also noticed that you can die without the bubble actually hitting you, it gets close but you still die!

But you can't beat the original arcade version, I played that game to death as a kid!