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Action Max

Action Max with light gun
Manufacturer	Worlds of Wonder
Type	Home video game console
Generation	Third generation
Release date	1987
Media	VHS tape
CPU	HD401010
Display	2 character, 7 segment LED score display

The Action Max is a home video game console using VHS tapes for games. It was manufactured in 1987 by Worlds of Wonder. The system had a limited release outside the U.S.

Gameplay

The Action Max system requires the player to also have a VCR, as the console has no way to play the requisite VHS tapes itself. Using light guns, players shoot at the screen. The gaming is strictly point-based and dependent on shot accuracy, and as a result, players can't truly win or lose a game. The system's post-launch appeal was limited by this and by the fact that the only real genre on the system were light gun games that played exactly the same way every time, leading to its quick market decline.

Games

Five VHS cassettes were released for the system:

• .38 Ambush Alley, a police target range
• Blue Thunder, based on the eponymous 1983 motion picture
• Hydrosub: 2021, a futuristic underwater voyage
• The Rescue of Pops Ghostly, a comic haunted-house adventure
• Sonic Fury, aerial combat, bundled with the system

Technical specifications

• CPU: HD401010
• Internal Speaker
• TV mounted "Score Signal"
• 2 character, 7 segment LED score display

See also

• Control-Vision, a prototypical VHS video game console
• View-Master Interactive Vision, another VHS-based console

References

1. "Action Max". OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum. 2011-03-22. Archived from the original on 2011-03-22. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
2. ^ James, Adam (2017-11-21). "The Most Bizarre Console Flops In Gaming History". SVG. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
3. Slaven, Andy (2002). Video game Bible, 1985-2002. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford. p. 352. ISBN 1553697316.
4. Gellene, Denise (14 December 1987). "BIG TROUBLE IN TOYLAND: Debt-Ridden Worlds of Wonder, the Maker of Teddy Ruxpin, Is Looking for Way Out of Woods". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
5. Plunkett, Luke (March 28, 2011). "Only In The 80's Would They Put Video Games On A VHS Tape". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 13, 2024. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
6. Meston, Zach (2007). "Rare Systems". Video Game Collector Magazine. No. 9. p. 10.
7. Rozenkrantz, Jonathan (1 June 2017). "Action Max: Notes on a Deictic Dispositif". residual media depot. Milieux Institute of Concordia University. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.

External links

• Action Max Calibration Screen
• Action Max Emulator

• Home video game consoles
• Third-generation video game consoles
• Products introduced in 1987
• 1980s toys
• Worlds of Wonder (toy company) products
• Light guns
• VHS
• Discontinued video game consoles