Was there ever a game the used a video tape?

I owned 2 Action Max "consoles." You had to have your own VCR, and stick a suction cup to the upper right corner of the TV screen. It uses the same basic concept as Hogan's Alley (the white flicker in the screen) but once you lear that the suction cup is the sync for the flicker you can play all the games simply by shooting the stationary target under the suction cup. For the time it was neat to have a "game" that had "such good graphics" but since tapes are linear it had very little reply value at all.
 
Likely none as video tape would be too slow, doesn't have random access and is slow to rewind.

How many games used cassette tape at all ? As far as I know:
DECO cassette system games
Pacific Novelty games: Thief, Shark Attack and NATO Defense (for dialogue)
Midway's Journey (for music)
Atari's Quiz Show

Also Ramtek's Trivia.
 
the Action Max console was (AFAIK) the only one to have ever been VHS-based.

I have one of those in box with 2 or 3 of the original tapes. Haven't looked at it since the mid 90's when I stumbled on one.

How many games used cassette tape at all ? As far as I know:
DECO cassette system games
Pacific Novelty games: Thief, Shark Attack and NATO Defense (for dialogue)
Midway's Journey (for music)
Atari's Quiz Show

Though not for data, but background music: Journey



I actually have a couple DECO cassette systems in boxes. One powered up but never could finish loading by the time the counter hit 0 but otherwise 'worked' in that it had no graphic issues and tried to load. I really should dig those out again and mess with them.
 
There was a Jukebox circa 1988 that had about 160 regular vinyl music selections and 20 music videos, running off a controlled Video Cassette Player. If you purchased a music video (1.00 instead of .25) you would get to hear a random record for as long as it took to cue the tape. I cannot remember the manufacturer otherwise I'd have more info. Pioneer? AMI? It wasn't Seeburg. It was in one of the bigger local arcades out here and got removed after just a few months, but the damn thing existed. I am not senile yet.

Are you thinking of the scopitone? there also was the ami/rowe R-88 V/mec?
 
Are you thinking of the scopitone? there also was the ami/rowe R-88 V/mec?

Yes, the "V/MEC" was the terminology!
I only wish I got to see a working Scopitone...

Here's the beast!

dfde728f7bd3ad54bbfce0ab15d8a0db.jpg


That brings back memories. 40 music video selections! 200 regular songs.
 
Not exactly on topic, but a whole lot of video board game players are in for a rough ride when the last VHS player breaks down.

Then again, YouTube might save the day.



Fast forward to around the 50 second mark for the Nightmare to begin.

"So...you want to play the game...MY game..."
 
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Yes, the "V/MEC" was the terminology!
I only wish I got to see a working Scopitone...

Here's the beast!

dfde728f7bd3ad54bbfce0ab15d8a0db.jpg


That brings back memories. 40 music video selections! 200 regular songs.
I had one of these back in the day..I want the last model they made..The R94 video jukebox cause it used beta hifi decks!!!
 
Again I don't know what they were thinking with that design, they already had a resin encased security dongle that they could have easily included the ROM data on in an EPROM, it would have been 100% more reliable and fast booting, the way it's designed now it can take over a minute to boot.

It had to be cost. Cassette tape probably cost a $1 to make. How much was a 32K Eprom back in 1982? $20 maybe?
 
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