Konix Multisystem

[sunteam_paul]

I came across this promo video for the ill-fated Konix: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6779095719483582803#

It's interesting to compare the Afterburner clone with the PC Engine version. Bear in mind the Konix was planned for a 1989 release, then pushed to 1990. PCE Afterburner came out late 1990.

[shonenx]

you know ive seen this system in retro gamer but dont remember it as a kid . was it a UK only system?

[TheClash603]

The Konix looks pretty damn ACE!!!!

First of all, 32-bits!  Like Atari says...  do the math!

Secondly, there is a sheet that will cover the moving chair!  I love how they don't show this item, as it obviously was embarasing.

Lastly, with all of those easily lost attachments, I am sure that the system would've been reasonably priced at under $10,000.00.

I was hooked with the first echo effect (let you know it was the future), and sold when they did it again.  Konix-ix-ix-ix...

[nectarsis]

It def had some "ahead of it's time" ideas, but damn what did/would that chair setup have cost?!?!?

[Tatsujin]

It def had some "ahead of it's time" ideas, but damn what did/would that chair setup have cost?!?!?

almost as much as it would cost now, if you could find one

[BlackandBlue]

How do you get CD sound out of a "cost effective floppy disk"?

[guyjin]

you know ive seen this system in retro gamer but dont remember it as a kid . was it a UK only system?

It was a nowhere only system.

How do you get CD sound out of a "cost effective floppy disk"?

Hype and lots of it.

[sunteam_paul]

It's supposed to have 25 channel sound. I'm guessing that it would use samples similar to the Amiga but higher quality perhaps. But reports were that getting great sound out of it was a problem because it had so little internal RAM that it left little room for anything else.

[CMcK]

I remember the hype for that system here in the UK. IIRC it was to be manufactured in Wales and most of the top UK software houses at the time were developing software for it.

It used old style 880kb floppies so it would have needed to load everything into the internal RAM to negate the slow access times of the disk drive. Not ideal versus the cart based systems of the day. It would probably have been better suited to old school polygon style games like Driller and Carrier Command.

For some reason I seem to recall the infamous Mega-CD game Night Trap and it's FMV siblings like Sewer Shark were originally produced for the Konix system but how that would have worked without loads of disk swapping is beyond me.

Konix made good joysticks for the Speccy, I always favoured the Speedking over the Quickshot 2.

[ccovell]

FMV games weren't on the Multi-System;  They were on the NEMO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMO

[esteban]

I watched this Konix video before, but it was totally fun to see it again.

Plus, I just watched some Konix demos I never saw before:

Konix Vektor Man

Starray (a Defender "clone"?)

Konix  Bikerz (no collision detection?)

Konix Cube Demo -- This one is hilarious, listening to how they want to use the tech specs for marketing. Plus, at the end, there is a short glimpse of a "Multi-lingual" demo (but you can't read anything in the video, unfortunately).
-- Check out HAMMERFIST (you can switch between male/female players on-the-fly, and progressing requires some strategy--the male is "too heavy" for the platforms, for example). The last 5 minutes document the drawing/audio tools for developers.
-- Part 1 of 3

[td741]

Hmm... I remember playing Starray on the Amiga.

[esteban]

Hmm... I remember playing Starray on the Amiga.

Oh, damn, I thought it was a completely original title for the Konix.

So, was Starray similar to Defender? I suppose I should investigate further...

[sunteam_paul]

Hmm... I remember playing Starray on the Amiga.

Oh, damn, I thought it was a completely original title for the Konix.

So, was Starray similar to Defender? I suppose I should investigate further...

Yep, it's a kind of Defender clone from what I've seen of it.

[td741]

I seem to remember the title music having someone saying "Star Ray" with bad echo effects/revert in it.

As for the game, yeah, it was pretty much a defender clone with a rather noisy background making it sometime hard to see enemies, etc...

I don't seem to remember being too impressed at the time to be honest. I didn't play it very much...