And you thought "blast processing" was bonkers…
Okay, so, here’s the deal. The Konix Multisystem. Ever heard of it? Yeah, me neither, until now. Most of us gaming folk probably missed this odd British console that never really saw the light of day. And boy, the more you dig into it, the more it feels like some wild fever dream.
Honestly, it’s understandable if you’re raising a brow right now. GX—he loves emailing me, total gaming nerd—says this thing looks like it wandered out of The Simpsons, which is just chef’s kiss spot on.
Konix, mainly known for their not-so-great accessories, had this trailer. You know, with the whole moving chair thing. It’s like a peek into a time not so long ago, when we weren’t glued to the internet 24/7. Kind of nostalgic, right?
Anyway, their whole marketing spiel screamed "hey, home computers are king!" Think Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Sinclair. Heck, even whatever Amstrad was cooking up back then. In the UK, gaming was more about these computers than consoles. Japan and North America? They were all about Nintendo and Sega, making waves with Mario and Sonic.
And Konix wasn’t alone. Remember the Atari XEGS? It was like everyone back then thought, "Hey, let’s turn our computers into consoles!" Amiga CD32, Atari Jaguar, Amstrad GX 4000—not to mention, the Jaguar was just Konix in new clothes.
Oddly enough, a lot of these companies were American, dealing with the aftermath of the Video Game Crash, while Nintendo was busy reviving everything with the NES. The UK, luckily or not, kind of missed that console craze boom from the 70s. They had their own unique space.
The world was shrinking, ideas were spreading, and with it the gaming scene was evolving. Sega was all over Europe while Microsoft was taking over home computing. Speaking of which, ever heard of Galapagos Syndrome? It’s usually about Japan, but here we are.
Jumping ship a bit—maybe this connects, maybe it doesn’t—Greg and James are deep into Donkey Kong Bananza. They’re diving into some serious analysis, tying it to Ultimate Play The Game’s Rare days. Remember them? Yeah, before they went all Knight Lore on us.
James takes a breather and hands over to Guillaume, who’s still doing his Mario Kart World thing. He’s not a fan of the idea of a Mario Kart 8 in 4K. He’s unwinding with Balatro (strange game), and instead of diving back into Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster, he’s snagged Atari’s Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story. Yep, another playable museum tour.
Jon’s keeping it old school with Gaiares on the Sega Genesis. And as if the gaming gods weren’t busy enough, he’s mourning the abrupt end of the Movies and TV store on Xbox. Weird times.
