Bentley Pong is one of the great franchises. Such great memories -- Super Bentley Pong, Bentley Mobile Pong, Bentley Pong 3D, Bentley's Ocarina of Pong ...
We had a portable black and white TV made by Bentley when I was a kid. I remember watching Star Wars on it in my room and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. We also had a battery charger and tester from them, that I still have and it still works.
This was based on the AY-8500 which was one of many "pong chips" that were made by General Instruments and Texas Instruments starting around the mid 70's. It contained all the fixed function circuits that were needed to build a pong clone. These pong systems did not have CPUs or run program code, instead they were state machines that used circuits to perform specific functions of a small handful of variations on the same game. There were also tank game chips and breakout chips and like the pong chips they were state machines not CPUs that ran program code.
What's interesting to me is that by the end of the 1970s, there were way more advanced pong chips than the AY-8500: chips that offered color video, 2D paddle motion and shooting games. But here they are releasing a relatively simple pong so late that the first great wave of cartridge-based consoles was already in the process of crashing. It seems like the copy on the box is trying to market it to tech-phobic people who want something really simple.
Ah now this is a great bit of nostalgia. I remember this from a long time back and will always have fond memories of this gem from days past. The old CGR theme tune.
The poor kid unwrapping a present for christmas 1983. Hoping for a Colecovision, but got a Bentley Compu-Vision instead. At least the vision part was right.
+Nigaromia Better yet, think about the poor kid opening his chrismas present wishing for a Playstation... and instead he got a Polystation D: Happened to me back in 2001...
TheMamaluigi300 No, I couldnt, Gameboy and Gamaboy Advance (heck, even Nintendo 64) were NEVER sold in this city, even today is impossible to buy an N3DS or even a Playstation 4 because they are so fucking expensive. To buy one of those things I have to either buy it outside the country, or, make a travel to the other side of the country and pay the over expensive price and return home. D: After a critical thinking about it, I stayed with Emulation, but I wish to get my hands on a Sega Genesis Model 1.
I had one of these! Picked it up for £5, never got it to function though :( the rf modulator was shot. Good to see one working though, you truly are making good progress on the road to reviewing everything ^_^
I had a Bentley. We didn't have money for a real console, so after a couple of days mowing yard, I got this from a pawn shop for like $15 in 1986 I think.
I'd like to know how many of these sold back in 1983 because as you said it would have been very outdated by then. You could probably find pong consoles at yard sales by 83. I like how you looked up the Bentley company. One time at goodwill they had a portable TV that was branded Bentley. It was only $5 and I almost bought it because I thought it was the same as the car company, but nope turns out it isn't the automotive bentley it is the compuvision bentley.
Never knew they made a video game system. They made portable tvs back in the day. Picked one up last yr never used in the box for ten bucks. Black and white 5" portable tv. Same box design as the one here for the game system. It'd be cool to hook em up together.
1983? Dang. The outer box made me think Atari took inspiration from Bentley for its 1979-1984 computer lines, but thats before i heard that magical year of "1983". By 1983, Pong was 6 centuries out of date. Maybe 5 if you compare it against the Atari 5200... or its controllers only, the 5200 console was actually awesome.
An old electrician/electronic engineer friend of mine told me the reason old electronics are much more durable than current stuff is because they used to solder PCB joints with lead on it. Considering that so many of the computer, TV and videogame failures I had always have something to do with re-soldering something, it makes me think.
***** It was here, because I remember watching it on my phone waiting at the doctor's office, but I think with the copyright BS last year, it was taken down, and he's now just putting it back up.
I had a similar Pong ripoff console, but I don't remember the name. It was something "Ranger" and had a light gun. We played it occasionally when we were tired of the 2600, but when the NES came to town that thing magically disappeared.
I had this system. Or a pretty similar one. I'm pretty sure it is the same, cause I remember the silver box and the game titles. Doesn't it come with a light gun and a game where you have to shoot a square bouncing all over the screen?
+TheCrimsonDuelist To it's credit it does have a built in screen which saves you the trouble of having to hook it up to a TV set. Something that can be a problem with vintage video game consoles. Also the vectrex looks like a mini arcade machine. It was a neat little console for it's time.
I don't know if not having carts in 83 was seen as bad when you consider how many bad games had come out on the Atari 2600 and others in the few years before.
"They knew this was a complete piece of shit!" LOL. I'm surprised it came out in 1983. I guess there was a market for it at drugstores or the really cheap discount houses like Gibsons or Howards. I had a Coleco Telstar Ranger (with lightgun) in 1977 which was much cooler.
Actually, the odyssey (the first one) was not a pong console. It was actually made a few months before pong came out. Nolan Bushnell (founder of atari and creator of pong) actually BASED on the odyssey to make pong.
Turai12 It's from early-2014 when CGR was "banished" from RUclips or something and all the reviews were being uploaded to Dailymo,,, er, I mean, ClassicGameRoom Dot Com at the time.
Ah, first generation game consoles. Heaven for the Pong enthusiast. Though this came out while the second generation was in full swing... so bad job Bentley. Bad job.
Well, since you put it that way, I do feel like something is missing in my life. That something... could very well be a Vectrex. Possibly with a Bentley Compu-Vision duct taped to the back. I can dream...
I can't believe that this console was released in 1983, am mean common, at the time the technology was allready outdated, also the design of it with it'd wooden finish along with it's hardwired controllers & rf adaptor looks more like a 70's style console ,woth typical standards from that era, jist insane, even the atari 2600 was more advanced this this thing.
as for the 2014 comments, I'm sure mark has since misplaced this thing or had it stolen by space pirates, so he had to go back in time a year to do this review
Bentley Pong is one of the great franchises. Such great memories -- Super Bentley Pong, Bentley Mobile Pong, Bentley Pong 3D, Bentley's Ocarina of Pong ...
It IS the same company. My dad bought one of our first Bentleys back in '83 and they gave you this video game system FREE with the car.
+godfatherNYC makes sense, they should stick to car making.
Mark is just too amazing for words. I can't get enough of him.
We had a portable black and white TV made by Bentley when I was a kid. I remember watching Star Wars on it in my room and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. We also had a battery charger and tester from them, that I still have and it still works.
We need this intro back, Mark. It encapsulated the crazy joy that is CGR.
I've missed this intro so much!!
Obscure crappy game consoles are always interesting.
+temujin1234 Interesting to look at and perhaps talk about but I would not bother with owning one. Only worth it if you are a die hard collector.
This was based on the AY-8500 which was one of many "pong chips" that were made by General Instruments and Texas Instruments starting around the mid 70's. It contained all the fixed function circuits that were needed to build a pong clone. These pong systems did not have CPUs or run program code, instead they were state machines that used circuits to perform specific functions of a small handful of variations on the same game.
There were also tank game chips and breakout chips and like the pong chips they were state machines not CPUs that ran program code.
What's interesting to me is that by the end of the 1970s, there were way more advanced pong chips than the AY-8500: chips that offered color video, 2D paddle motion and shooting games. But here they are releasing a relatively simple pong so late that the first great wave of cartridge-based consoles was already in the process of crashing. It seems like the copy on the box is trying to market it to tech-phobic people who want something really simple.
watching this in 2022. Miss you Mark. I want more gaming videos with you in them.
Ah now this is a great bit of nostalgia. I remember this from a long time back and will always have fond memories of this gem from days past. The old CGR theme tune.
The poor kid unwrapping a present for christmas 1983. Hoping for a Colecovision, but got a Bentley Compu-Vision instead. At least the vision part was right.
+Nigaromia
Better yet, think about the poor kid opening his chrismas present wishing for a Playstation... and instead he got a Polystation D:
Happened to me back in 2001...
*****
Oh, No!! Sorry to hear about that. I forgot about those crappy Chinese ripoffs.
+Fury Rage NOOOOOOOO!!!!!
You could have got a gameboy!
TheMamaluigi300
No, I couldnt, Gameboy and Gamaboy Advance (heck, even Nintendo 64) were NEVER sold in this city, even today is impossible to buy an N3DS or even a Playstation 4 because they are so fucking expensive.
To buy one of those things I have to either buy it outside the country, or, make a travel to the other side of the country and pay the over expensive price and return home. D:
After a critical thinking about it, I stayed with Emulation, but I wish to get my hands on a Sega Genesis Model 1.
+Fury Rage
where do you live? space? ARE YOU IN THE SPACE ARCADE?
I had one of these! Picked it up for £5, never got it to function though :( the rf modulator was shot. Good to see one working though, you truly are making good progress on the road to reviewing everything ^_^
OH YES, THE OLD INTRO SONG!!! Such eargasm
Edit: Oh...this is an old episode.
I had a Bentley. We didn't have money for a real console, so after a couple of days mowing yard, I got this from a pawn shop for like $15 in 1986 I think.
I am certain this console was the first one my parents bought for me when i was 6 or 7? Brings back some fond memories
I'd like to know how many of these sold back in 1983 because as you said it would have been very outdated by then. You could probably find pong consoles at yard sales by 83. I like how you looked up the Bentley company. One time at goodwill they had a portable TV that was branded Bentley. It was only $5 and I almost bought it because I thought it was the same as the car company, but nope turns out it isn't the automotive bentley it is the compuvision bentley.
Can we all agree that Compu-vision is a pretty awesome name for such a simple system.
OMG!!!! SIDES till hurting, but you make a Mean review! That's why I love your Channel!
Damn your game room is Awesome! I got like 40 nes and snes games in my collection and I feel great damnit!
Never knew they made a video game system. They made portable tvs back in the day. Picked one up last yr never used in the box for ten bucks. Black and white 5" portable tv. Same box design as the one here for the game system. It'd be cool to hook em up together.
1983? Dang. The outer box made me think Atari took inspiration from Bentley for its 1979-1984 computer lines, but thats before i heard that magical year of "1983". By 1983, Pong was 6 centuries out of date. Maybe 5 if you compare it against the Atari 5200... or its controllers only, the 5200 console was actually awesome.
Paddles were weird in my day :D
I see plugging your portable black and white TV into your plug and play has been around since the days of the am rock station apparently. Nice!
An old electrician/electronic engineer friend of mine told me the reason old electronics are much more durable than current stuff is because they used to solder PCB joints with lead on it. Considering that so many of the computer, TV and videogame failures I had always have something to do with re-soldering something, it makes me think.
White Bloc on the Right? What was the other team, The Eastern Bloc?
heh. this video was made on my birthday. funny thing is that I was thinking about buying one of these a couple years back.
2:28 So it doesn't count after 15 to show that the side won but would it stop counting for the other side which hasn't reach 15 yet too?
Mark, you should include the Bentley pong machine in one of your comics! The Paddle Crazed psychopath that is BENTLEY!
"recording this in 2014"!?!?!?!!!
***** It was here, because I remember watching it on my phone waiting at the doctor's office, but I think with the copyright BS last year, it was taken down, and he's now just putting it back up.
"Why would you want an XBONE when you can have a Vectrex?"
That is an extremely valid question!
This game system reminds me of the Super Color Volley X!
That sound track will probably be the last thing I hear before I die, hooked up to a heart rate monitor.
3:00 holy shit i don't think iv'e ever heard mark cuss before
***** His review of Forza 5 had it. It's rare, but it does happen.
Search *CLASSIC GAME ROOM HEYZOOS RETURNS*. Mark actually drops the
F-Bomb there. Lol
I had a similar Pong ripoff console, but I don't remember the name. It was something "Ranger" and had a light gun. We played it occasionally when we were tired of the 2600, but when the NES came to town that thing magically disappeared.
You misspelled BeNtley on the title, Mark.
Thanks for fixing it. :)
***** How did he originally spelled it?
mbsfaridi
BETLEY XD
***** For some reason in the notification of this comment, I can see the original title "BETLEY" LOL!. Thanks.
mbsfaridi
Yeah, me too! XP
I had this system. Or a pretty similar one. I'm pretty sure it is the same, cause I remember the silver box and the game titles. Doesn't it come with a light gun and a game where you have to shoot a square bouncing all over the screen?
I thought I was the only one that owned one of these! 😂
Shoutout to Vance in my old college town in Iowa lol.
you should review Squash and Solo Handball.
Bentley (the car company) is based in my town! (Crewe in the North-West of England)...no idea where the video games company is based haha
Vectrex>Everything else.
Shockwave YES! THIS IS *TRUE!*
+TheCrimsonDuelist To it's credit it does have a built in screen which saves you the trouble of having to hook it up to a TV set. Something that can be a problem with vintage video game consoles. Also the vectrex looks like a mini arcade machine. It was a neat little console for it's time.
2014??? I've been lied to
googleboughtmee he probably recorded it in 2014 and forgot to upload it
googleboughtmee That or Mark has become completely delusional!
Amy UNTOLD I wasn't around much at that time, can you tell me why he ever left RUclips for?
Time moves at a diffetent rate in space.
Amy UNTOLD
Yeah, I remember seeing this when it was on the site.
Yes girl, I do have a Bentley.
So in other words, it's well worth $2.00.
Yep
+WebVMan Sure.
Im looking at mine sitting on top of my C64 box right now!
Haha yeah!
Love this show!
In 1983 the NES was released in Japan!
26th (because saying "first" is too mainstream)
the king of pong machines is the APF TV fun, my very first console
You know it's good when the words are rainbow.
I don't know if not having carts in 83 was seen as bad when you consider how many bad games had come out on the Atari 2600 and others in the few years before.
Mark: Why have an Xbox One when you can have a Vectrex?
Me: Why have a Vectrex when you can have an NES?
*****Radness factor. Vectrex is the raddest shit.
Also NES cannot sear your retinas with its built-in particle accelerator.
***** Vector graphics brother!
***** Why have an NES when you can have a game.com?
...never mind, I just answered my own question....
TheBlueSkyRanger A brief pause, with no attempt at communicating can answer that question :-P
"They knew this was a complete piece of shit!" LOL. I'm surprised it came out in 1983. I guess there was a market for it at drugstores or the really cheap discount houses like Gibsons or Howards. I had a Coleco Telstar Ranger (with lightgun) in 1977 which was much cooler.
It's a plug and play it's a freaking plug and play good job bentley! I'm actually being serious.
This certainly needs Jai Alai!
Actually, the odyssey (the first one) was not a pong console. It was actually made a few months before pong came out. Nolan Bushnell (founder of atari and creator of pong) actually BASED on the odyssey to make pong.
2:16 Truer words have never been said.
what is this recorded in 2014 ?
Am I being dumb or is this an old episode?
Turai12 I thought so too ...
Turai12
Well, he says it's 2014 in the video, so maybe it is.
Why would he re-upload it though :-s
Turai12 It's from early-2014 when CGR was "banished" from RUclips or something and all the reviews were being uploaded to Dailymo,,, er, I mean, ClassicGameRoom Dot Com at the time.
DTM's Realm Of Stuff
Oh, thanks, I was afraid that I was going mad or something xD
Maybe in 1977 this would’ve been perfectly acceptable but 1983? What the!!😭
We really use to like wood paneled look
I have one too, but mine and my box is almost like new
In space the year is always 2014. When 1991 was on earth 2014 was in space
The Bentley Compu-Vision runs at a constant 60 frames per second, unlike the XBox One.
Would be nice if it played Crystal Castle!
BETLEY? What is up with your typos recently man? Get it together bro.
supermoe1985 SHIT TYRONE....GET IT TOGETHER!!!
Handsome, sturdy, durable, dependable, tasteful... furniture-styled? (they must mean WOOD-GRAIN).
ALL THIS AND MORE.
Mark, dont forget to Review Mortal Kombat X!!! It will be out tomorrow!
Playing the Bentley Compu-vision on my Mitsubishi TV
Why would you want an Xbox when you can have a Vectrex! Agree completely.
Ah, first generation game consoles. Heaven for the Pong enthusiast.
Though this came out while the second generation was in full swing... so bad job Bentley. Bad job.
I’m rooting for white block on the left
Why didnt you show the rest of the games..?
so mark do you have nasa deliver your games and consoles to outer space?
$2? Where do you find this stuff? Lucky bastard
i found one in box mint for 5 bucks about 2 weeks ago
Well, since you put it that way, I do feel like something is missing in my life. That something... could very well be a Vectrex. Possibly with a Bentley Compu-Vision duct taped to the back.
I can dream...
I BUY THAT FOR ....2 dollar? HA neat "console" I never heard of. Thanks!
Brandon smiled on camera
Is this any relation to Bentley the car manufacturer?
You said you were reviewing this in 2014. Does that mean that you recorded it four months in advance?
Would have much rather had a Bentley automobile in 1983, heh.
WHO IS WATCHING IN 2017
Mark you forgot other consoles like c 64 apple 2 zx spetrum msx and atari 5200 famicom and sg 1000
You know, another reason why this device may have lasted as long as it has is because the people who've owned it probably didn't play it very much.
Super Lançamento ! 😲
OMG LOL i have one of these but mine doesnt work
It's a pong clone so what colour could you actually put into it.
All I can do is stare at Quest for the Rings in the background.
I can't believe that this console was released in 1983, am mean common, at the time the technology was allready outdated, also the design of it with it'd wooden finish along with it's hardwired controllers & rf adaptor looks more like a 70's style console ,woth typical standards from that era, jist insane, even the atari 2600 was more advanced this this thing.
+johneygd It might have been nice in the early 70's but 1983 is not a really good year to release something like that. It's too little way too late.
New Kids on the White Block!
you said you were rveiwing this in 2014
as for the 2014 comments, I'm sure mark has since misplaced this thing or had it stolen by space pirates, so he had to go back in time a year to do this review
Woodgrain makes anything better. I might even eat liver if it came in woodgrain.
Wow i never heard about this
Bitches get wet when I tell 'em I've got Bentley sittin' in my garage B-)
Why would you want an Xbox 1 at all, Mark?
plzz bring back old intro (intro in this video)
Bentley console on a Mitsubishi TV!