Closed Videomaster Database games

A long shot but does anyone have any Videomaster Database carts for sale or know where I can source some?

I've managed to get a console again after 30 years but it has no games

Thanks

I have Alien Invasion but would need £15 as I paid more than that myself for it. Let me know if interested and I will send you some pics.

BB

Was that by any chance the almost brand new looking one that sold on EBay recently? If so I had my eye on that too, and it went cheap. These systems are mega unreliable (I am sure I read somewhere that the build quality of the Chinese produced systems was mega poor) - I have bought 3 in the past (which came bundled with games carts) and only 1 works.

FYI:

1 Air Sea Battle
2 Black Jack
3 Bat & Ball
4 Road Race
5 Tank & Plane
6 Mathematice 1
7 Mathematics 2
8 Shooting Gallery
9 Brain Drain
10 Maze
11 Horse Racing
12 Circus
13 Boxing
14 Four-in-a-Row
15 Space Battle
16 Alien Invasion
17 Golf
18 Box Clever
19 Treasure Hunt
20 Arcade
21 Musical Memory
22 Draughts
23 Backgammon
24 Munch & Crunch
25 Leapfrog
26 Chess
27 DazRAM
28 Starship Protector
29 Crazy Crab

27 and 28 were never released (confirmed). Its possible 19 and 26 were not released either (unconfirmed). 24 and 25 were exclusives for the system and rare. 29 was also unique for the system and rare, but possibly just a Sprite Hack of Spider's Web (released for other VC4000 systems). 24, 25 and 29 have not been archived yet.

Regarding 24 and 25, this is worth a read: http://www.old-computers.com/magazine/view.asp?r=1&a=15 and this: http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Pong/database.php

There was also an adaptor released which allowed carts from the Database to be played on the VC4000 and Acetronic MPU1000 (The games are compatible but the cart sizes and connectors are different). I guess there may have also been adaptors allows other carts to be played on the Database. I have never ever seen one for sale, and probably never will. Gold dust!



I own 24 and 25, but have been looking for 29 for years and never found one.

This website is the best guide I have come across for VC4000 released games:
http://amigan.1emu.net/igg/

Sorry I do not have any Doubles I could sell you, but hope this information helps you a bit.

Hi,

Thanks for your replies guys.

@BluesBrothers: I believe I had Alien Invasion back in the day. Space Invaders clone, right? It had the neat swerve shot mode. I'm tempted but after what StarshipUK said I'm concerned the thing might be duff. If I can confirm the console works some other way I'll come back to you.

@StarshipUK: Yes, it was off the other 'bay. I got the second chance offer and wondered if I was being scammed at first. It was boxed although the outer cardboard was torn and the guy had kindly 'repaired' it with silver duct tape... icard
There's another one on there still at the starting price which has been relisted a couple of times.
I'm between houses at the moment so not had a chance to check it works and I'm not sure I can do that without a cart. Would it display some kind of picture if there was no cart inserted? It smells a bit of warm electronics if you know what I mean. No idea whether that's a good or bad thing. I take it they aren't that repairable if you've had to buy a few?

Cheers

robin-elvin said:

Hi,

Thanks for your replies guys.

@BluesBrothers: I believe I had Alien Invasion back in the day. Space Invaders clone, right? It had the neat swerve shot mode. I'm tempted but after what StarshipUK said I'm concerned the thing might be duff. If I can confirm the console works some other way I'll come back to you.

@StarshipUK: Yes, it was off the other 'bay. I got the second chance offer and wondered if I was being scammed at first. It was boxed although the outer cardboard was torn and the guy had kindly 'repaired' it with silver duct tape... icard
There's another one on there still at the starting price which has been relisted a couple of times.
I'm between houses at the moment so not had a chance to check it works and I'm not sure I can do that without a cart. Would it display some kind of picture if there was no cart inserted? It smells a bit of warm electronics if you know what I mean. No idea whether that's a good or bad thing. I take it they aren't that repairable if you've had to buy a few?

Cheers

Click to expand...

No worries, I've had 4 of these machines through my doors though and never seen one fail yet.

I see you are in Lancs,.... Anywhere near Oldham perhaps? If so you are more than welcome to come and test your system works if that is all you require the cart for.

Up to you fella

That's really kind, mate. TBH I'm pretty busy up until Xmas so might be a while before I can get to you - I live near Wigan so a reasonable trek. Definitely would like to meet a fellow enthusiast if nothing else!

No problem, your welcome anytime mate.

BB

I expect they are repairable to someone who knows what they are doing. Perhaps I have just been unlucky but defo remember reading an article about these somewhere which mentioned the ones made in China had a huge amount of failures/returns as they were lower quality.

The system will not display anything without a cart - perhaps it might display an interference screen if you are lucky. The only way to test is with a cart (and make sure you shove it in really hard).

Forgot to update this thread. I got hold of a couple of carts and sadly the console is not working. It just shows a sort of sprite the whole height of the screen made of garbage if you can picture that. Also the sound seems to initialise ok as it makes a brief filtered white noise sound then silence which is what I remember it does.

I've whipped the lid off and none of the components look damaged. I wonder if there's a repair guru out there who can advise.