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History of video games/Platforms/Action Max

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  • The Action Max system with headphones, light gun, and red light.
    The Action Max system with headphones, light gun, and red light.

History

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Development

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The Action Max was developed by Worlds of Wonder, a company founded by former Atari Employees who helped Nintendo distribute the NES in America.[1]

Launch

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Action Max logotype.

Worlds of Wonder had a limited launch of the Action Max in 1987.[2] The system was a poor seller due to needing a VCR,[3] and unable to bail out the company from it's massive debts. Worlds of Wonder went bankrupt in 1988, with many employees going on to join Nintendo.[4][1]

Technology

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The Action Max ran lightgun games off of VHS tapes.[5] A small seven segment display on the unit displayed the player score.[2][6]

Compute

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The Action Max CPU is an an 8-bit Hitachi HD401010 clocked at 4MHz.[2][4][7] The Action Max has 32 bytes of RAM.[4]

Notable games

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Five games were released for the Action Max.[4]

  • The Rescue of Pops Ghostly
  • Blue Thunder - Based on the film
  • Hydrosub: 2021
  • Sonic Fury - Pack in game
  • .38 Ambush Alley
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Console

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    Headphone and light gun jacks are located on the console front.
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    Switches, dials, and the segmented display are on the top of the unit. Note that the top is not smooth, but slightly textured.
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    Rear IO ports are on the back of the console.
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    The power jack is in the bottom right.

Accessories

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    The Action Max gun controller. Note the lack of an orange tip on the barrel or other indicators to clearly indicate that this is not a real firearm.
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    This red light was used to indicate successful hits.
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    Action Max Stereo Headphones.
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    Sonic Fury PAL VHS tape for Action Max.

Internals

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    Much of the console internals are empty.
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    Action Max has a main board and two daughterboards, as well as an internal speaker.
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    The casing top is spartan.
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    A ring is used to hold the speaker.
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    The motherboard bottom.
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    The motherboard top, with a two character 7 segment display.
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    Note the custom WOW chip, as well as the large number of discrete components compared to integrated circuits.

References

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Wikipedia has related information at Action Max

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Action Max

Parts of this page are based on materials from:
 Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia.
  1. ↑ a b "System Overview: System Overview - Worlds of Wonder Action Max - Beyond the Mind's Eye - Thoughts & Insights from Marriott_Guy". www.rfgeneration.com. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c "ActionMax - Game Console - Computing History". www.computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  3. ↑ "BIG TROUBLE IN TOYLAND : Debt-Ridden Worlds of Wonder, the Maker of Teddy Ruxpin, Is Looking for Way Out of Woods". Los Angeles Times. 14 December 1987. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  4. ↑ a b c d "Home Page". Video Game Console Library. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "Only In The 80's Would They Put Video Games On A VHS Tape" (in en-us). Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/only-in-the-80s-would-they-put-video-games-on-a-vhs-tap-5786220. Retrieved 26 October 2020. 
  6. ↑ "Action Max". thegamesdb.net. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "About - WoW Action Max - Games Database". www.gamesdatabase.org. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
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