The Video Game Critic

Sanford and Son for the Odyssey 2

Original Cost: $30 on cartridge
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Programmer: Paul Munsey
Release year: 1982
Current Cost: $10

20th Century Fox waded deeply into the waters before the ’83 crash, putting licenses on games that seem to have little to do with the actual licensed property. For the Odyssey 2, they decided to make a driving game and matched it with the 1970s sit-com, Sanford and Son. Don't expect to see Fred Sanford, or Lamont, or even Grady for that matter. The closest we get is a long car that is supposed to be the red truck seen in the opening credits. Its not even really red, or my O2 needs serious color tuning. Maybe its not got the right Wattage. I suppose Lamont is in the truck, out collecting junk.

Break out the Beaujolais, and put yourself behind the wheel of that long junk truck. The gameplay is simple. Avoid other cars, while collecting junk, called ‘antiques’ in the manual. The graphics, such as the cars and antiques are as ugly as Aunt Esther in bright light. The police car adds a twist on what otherwise would utter boredom of a game. If your speed is in the red when you pass a police car, there will an ugly sound, and you’ll lose 20 seconds for speeding. Why 20 seconds? I guess its Smitty and Hoppy in there, who just see its Lamont and let him go. Let’s hope Rollo isn’t in the car with Lamont, or it would be game over. You pull back to brake, and forward to go faster, and the red action button does…nothing. Even with the police car, there still isn’t that much game here.



We don’t even get a bad version of the classic theme song, but maybe that’s for the best. It wouldn’t be too hard to say the game is junk, or should we say “antique”.

Clever review, especially since it's on a system nobody would expect it to be on. You got a chuckle out of me, thanks! xD

I so wanted to buy this Seeing the date made me laugh harder. Nice one.

gametime wrote:I so wanted to buy this Seeing the date made me laugh harder. Nice one.

Thanks. If I ever learn assembly, I might even try to put it together.

How did I miss this on April 1??
This review is so true-to-life that even I was about to scour Ebay for a copy!!

It was a great review.

Would be cool see a game like Fast Food except Fred collects junk. The purple pickles, I think they were pickles, could be pictures of Aunt Esther.

Being on the Odyssey 2 a hack of K.C. Munchkin maybe. Fred collecting junk and Aunt Esther and her hen party chasing him to cleanse him of his heathen ways.

Oh, I've been absent from this site for far too long. I'm glad I came back to see this post. Almost 2 years after this was written and I fell for it. I was like "Welp. Gotta buy an Odyssey 2 now."
Scotland, this was brilliant!

nesfan wrote:Oh, I've been absent from this site for far too long. I'm glad I came back to see this post. Almost 2 years after this was written and I fell for it. I was like "Welp. Gotta buy an Odyssey 2 now."
Scotland, this was brilliant!

mi

This made my day - thanks!

The problem with many of the Odyssey 2 games is the minimal amount of actual gameplay available (Possibly from being solo efforts and not having others to playtest or give feedback)

Speedway / Spin-out / Crypto-Logic was the pack-in title, and given the tiny amount of ROM inside, each game is very bare bones. Speedway is basically the video game equivalent those little electronic handheld driving games with a loop track and a little plastic car you can move back and forth endlessly.

I thought you could take Speedway and hack in something to spice it up.

That was one of the best videogame reviews ever written, even if there's no game to accompany it. But it drove me mad - how would they render the junk/antiques with Odyssey 2 graphics? The idea that someone in 1981 would even try to make an Odyssey collect-a-thon was so exciting, that my mind simply refused to accept the lazy bag with a dollar sign as canon in that universe.

I was even going to complain that the difference between picture and text gave away the joke. But then I realized...ridiculous anticipation, followed by a feeling of overwhelming "I refuse to live in this reality" disappointment? It completely captures all the thrills of finding a game by the publisher in the wild, long before the internet solved every mystery. The best part was always the sticker on the cartridge, and the long ride home.

So, thanks for that ride on your time machine. Sadist.