10 Unreleased Video Game Consoles You Never Knew Existed
1. Konix Multi-System
Ask any UK gamer who grew up in the late eighties about the Konix Multi-System, and just look for the tear in their eye. The KMS reached almost legendary status before it’s incredibly sad demise, and it was all people could talk about.
Put together by a team of ex-Sinclair engineers, the Flare 1, as it was originally known, was a custom 8-bit console based around the Intel 8080 CPU, which was usually found in PCs. The system was picked up by well-known joystick manufacturers Konix, and morphed into the Multi-System.
The console would quickly become famous for its range of controller options. Different attachments would allow you to use a flight stick and steering wheel, as well as standard controls and a fully hydraulic chair that was developed to go alongside them for 'the full experience'.
But the Konix was not just about gimmicks, it also had some very powerful graphics and sound hardware that rivalled the 16-bit computers of the time. It was going to operate with disks instead of cartridges, making the games far less costly than its rivals, too.
A host of UK developers leapt to support it including Ocean, Argonaught, System 3, U.S. Gold and Jeff Minter, before the sudden collapse of Konix and the world around them. The full story can be read online, but is an incredibly interesting tale of woe that even points at rival console companies trying to sabotage the console because they were so worried about its inevitable success.
Almost unbelievably, none of the original consoles that were produced for press and developers have been found, and it’s only in the last few years that a dev machine was discovered, as well as the source code for several games.
Thanks to the work of a dedicated community, you can now emulate the Konix hardware to see exactly what we missed out on all those years ago. The Konix lives!
Which of these consoles would you have snapped up if given the chance? Let us know in the comments!