Showdown in 2100 A.D.

Also known as: Confrontation en 2100 Aprés J.-C.! (Canada), Duel (Europe), Duelo no Velho Oeste! (South America), Gunfighter (Europe)

Developer: Magnavox

Getting rid of the exclamation point in this game's title isn't the only thing that makes Showdown in 2100 A.D. stand out - it's one of the best games on the Odyssey 2, and one of the best overall games for its time, period. Whether you're playing single player or against a friend, this game can be incredibly fun. According to the manual, this is a game of two android gunfighters battling it out…though, if you didn't have a manual or a box that came with the cartridge, you may just think that the year 2100 has a bunch of cowboys that shoot each other in forests full of giant mushrooms. According to the manual, those mushrooms are trees, by the way. Basically, your goal here is to shoot the other android on the screen. Each time your bullet lands a hit and drops the other android, you gain a point. The catch is that your bullets ricochet off of trees and the top and bottoms of the screen. As a result, if you're not careful, it is possible to shoot yourself and award your opponent a free point. Likewise, if you're not smart with your cover you both may end up shooting each other. If you're close enough to a tree, however, the game DOES allow you to shoot through the "branches" and possibly hit your opponent. But, if you're not butted right up against the tree and fire, the tree will plug up your gun with one of your branches and it'll blow up on you like you're Elmer Fudd…okay, a bullet will just ricochet back at you, but I like to pretend that the android get s a Looney Tunes death. Adding to the strategy is that each android only has a certain number of bullets. After they're used up, it takes a while for the gun to be reloaded, so if you've wasted all of your bullets, then you've got no offense for a while as your opponent fires upon you. Adding even more to the strategy is how the bullets ricochet…you can only fire straight forward, but by using the randomized environment to your advantage, you can still hit an opponent that believes that they're safely out of the line of fire. Overall, I really enjoy playing this game. For its time, it was a very good take on the gameplay found in games like Gun Fight or Boot Hill in the arcades, and it may be the best variation of the formula on home consoles.

Review added: 12/04/2025

Smithereens!

Also known as: Batalha Medieval! (South America), Catapulte (Europe), Stone Sling (Europe)

Developer: Magnavox

Smithereens is a pretty basic, but also a pretty enjoyable 2-player game. The concept is simple - you and a friend each control a catapult and the first person to destroy the wall in front of the other is the winner. What makes Smithereens is so fun is that you're probably not going to always hit your target, neither is your opponent. But, once you get the hang of how to get your catapult to fire the distance that you desire, you'll also have the option of slowing down your opponent if the battle of wall destruction is neck and neck. If you manage to hit your opponent, there will be a delay before they can shoot again. If you can hit your opponent's catapult, then there's an even longer delay. That kind of dirty tactic can sometimes mean the difference between a victory and a loss. Smithereens probably isn't going to show up on anyone's "Greatest Games of All-Time" list, but for what it is, it's good, solid fun if you've got a friend around (or enough friends to have a Smithereens tournament) and you don't mind slinging trash talk at each other to go with the catapults.

Review added: 12/28/2022

Speedway! / Spin-Out! / Crypto-Logic!

Also known as: Course de Voitures (Europe), Fórmula 1! / Interlagos! / Crypto-Logic! (Brazil), La Course Folle! / Tête-À-Queue! / Crypto-Logic! (Canada), Race / Spinout / Cryptogram (Europe), Supiidouei / Rannabauto / Angou Kaidoku (Japan)

Developer: Magnavox

Well, it's difficult to take a cartridge seriously that combines two poor racing games with a poor logic-based strategy game. Then again, I suppose it did take some poor logic to think that putting these three awful games together was something worth doing, eh? Maybe they go together after all. Anyway, let's start explaining these games. First up is Speedway! This game has two speeds. Press 1 for a slow speed, which is about as fun as having a dentist scrape your teeth with a dental pick. Or you can press 2 for a faster speed, which is about as fun as…well, I guess when the dentist sprays water in your mouth after scraping your teeth and then they put that vacuum hose in your mouth and have you close your mouth to have all that water get sucked in….so a better experience, but you'd probably rather be doing just about anything else. In Speedway! You simply control a car from a top-down perspective and weave in and out of traffic for the duration of the time limit. It sounds easy, but you'll be fighting off the desire to take a nap while you play. Next is Spin-Out! Playing Spin-Out solo is about as boring as Speedway! is. If you've got a friend to share some boredom with, though, then Spin-Out! can be mildly more fun. You've got four different options for Spin-Out! Options 1 and 2 are the same track, but 1 is slow speed and 2 is faster speed. Options 3 and 4 put barriers in the track, with 3 being slow speed and 4 being faster speed. Trying to out-maneuver the other player without crashing into a wall, or each other, can be somewhat entertaining for one or two races. Just keep the volume down - the annoying sound when a car crashes will make you want to sheer a sheep so you can jam the wool in your ears. Last is Crypto-Logic! This is about as useless of a video game that I can think of - this can easily just be done with pen and paper. The reason I say that is that there is no computer logic here. You need a second player. One person types in a word and presses enter. That word will get scrambled, then it's up to the next player (who better have been keeping their eyes closed) to unscramble the word to try to figure out what it was. That's it. That's the entire game. They should have called this Dripped-o-Logic instead, since this game is absolutely dripping with the developer's lack of caring. Yes, that was a stretch, but yes, I also put more effort into that poor comment than the developer put into this poor game. All in all, this is an awful trilogy of games. The real racing, in regards to this trilogy, is when players race to pop this out of their Odyssey2 so they can dump it in the trash.

Speedway!

My Score

2.5

Avg Score

4.5

Placement on the List

Spin-Out!

My Score

4.0

Avg Score

5.1

Placement on the List

Crypto-Logic!

My Score

1.0

Avg Score

4.1

Placement on the List

Review added: 12/04/2025