[ Retro Scan of the Week ] APF Imagination Machine
July 13th, 2015 by Benj Edwards
I’m not sure I’m ready to take such a big step, APF.
I once did a slideshow of game console-to-computer upgrades, and the APF Imagination Machine figured prominently in the list. That’s because it was a combination of the APF-M1000 home video game system and the “IM-1,” which was a large keyboard/speaker dock with a built-in cassette tape player (for program storage and retrieval).
What an odd machine. To my knowledge, the M1000 was the only video game system based on the Motorola 6800 CPU, which is one of the grand-daddies in the microprocessor world (first released in 1974).
While neither the console nor the computer fared well commercially, this distinctive advertisement leaves a positive impression. It was brilliantly playful and colorful for a computer ad of the time (1979; this particular scan of the ad comes from 1980).
Discussion Topic of the Week: Best console add-on of all time?
July 14th, 2015 at 9:47 am
My favorite console add-on has to be the Super Game Boy for the SNES. It was awesome being able to play Game Boy games on a big screen, in color.
July 16th, 2015 at 7:20 pm
Going waaaaay back to the early 80’s, it’s gotta be the ColecoVision expansion pack that allowed you to play Atari 2600 games. In 1982, nothing could match ColecoVision. It had Game Carts from Arcade Games I hadn’t even heard of… (Space Fury, MouseTrap, Ladybuy,
July 16th, 2015 at 7:24 pm
sorry, Ladybug), etc,etc, etc… And then suddenly, you can play ALL the 2600 games too??? Best Expansion Pack/Add-on EVER!!
July 27th, 2015 at 4:04 pm
Gotta say the Coleco Adam was one of the most ambitious add ons. I never personally had one, but I remember a friend having one as a kid. Not only was there a keyboard, but also a printer and a tape drive too.
As far as add ons that we had, the Atari 2600 adapter for the Atari 5200 was a pretty cool one. One console and both Atari 2600 and 5200 games. Of course at the time, I didn’t realize that the adapter was really just an Atari 2600 stuffed into a box with an Atari 5200 cart connector. It didn’t use anything from the 5200, other than the power supply.