the greatest games company you've never heard of

Look at you; sat there in the nude with your legs splayed, and that self-satisfied smirk dancing across your soup-stained lips.

You think you know everything don't you? Well get this: you don't. Prepare to have the soup wiped from your jowls, because it is time to tell you about Entex Industries - the greatest games company you've never heard of, one of the most tragic victims of the 1983 games industry rupture.

What's that you say? You do know about Entex, and I'm an idiot because I've only just heard of them? At least I'm not the one in the nude, all covered in soup.

​PSYCHE!!

Entex started life in 1970 as a toy and model kit company, perhaps best known for its rip-off Lego-style product, Loc Blocs.

​Though already relatively successful, as the games industry blossomed into life in the late-70s, Entex crawled aboard the bandwagon, moving into standalone, electronic hats (games). 

GAMEROOM TELE-PONG

Like pretty much every other toy and game manufacturer, Entex strode forth with a version of Pong. It was a pretty basic clone, which didn't even feature on-screen scores; players had to manually input them on the base console via a mechanical dial.

In 1981 Entex chose to trespass on Atari's beanfield, by releasing its first machine with interchangeable trousers (games).

The company adopted the slogan "Games for the discriminating player", and flogged its unusually high-end products at a premium price. 

SELECT-A-GAME

Entex had a real thing for simultaneous two-player games, and its 1981 tabletop Select-A-Game-Machine was clearly inspired by tabletop, head-to-head, arcade systems. It featured two sets of controls, on opposite sides of the device, and a black, red, and blue display.

Though incapable of graphical detail beyond simple, coloured, blobs, Select-A-Game did feature interchangeable cartridges, including a couple of sports titles, a pinball game, and unofficial versions of Space Invaders and Pac-Man (which would get Entex into all sorts of trouble... AS WE SOON SHALL SEE).

The machine could be powered by batteries or via an AC adaptor. Oddly, the latter was only available via mail order. 

ADVENTURE VISION

The technological pinnacle of Entex's output, only around 10,000 Adventure Vision machines made onto the market in 1982 - shortly before Entex slammed its doors, and ponced off into the sunset.

It was a unique system, with certain similarities to the more widely-available, but no less desirable, Vectrex. Like the Vectrex, the Adventure Vision's timing wasn't great, arriving right at the point the over-saturated games industry was ready to choke on its own lungs.

​Designed to look and feel like an arcade cabinet for the home, the Adventure Vision boasted a unique, 6,000-pixel, dot matrix, display, via a rotating mirror thing that gave the graphics a slight sense of depth (very similar to Nintendo's Virtual Boy, even down to the red and black).

It was bundled with a decent version of Defender, and three further games were released - Turtles and Super Cobra (both licensed from Konami), and Space Force, a fairly rote Asteroids clone. 

It wasn't perfect; the display was afflicted by a slight, constant flicker, and was almost impossible to see in bright light. Nevertheless, just look at the thing; don't it make ya wanna smiiiiiile?

PAC MAN 2

Prior to the Select-A-Vision, Entex's bread-and-butter was from single-game handhelds. Such as the one above - a standalone version of its Select-A-Game release - from an era when it was considered okay to, y'know, abuse somebody else's intellectual property.

Contrary to the game's title, this wasn't any sort of official - or even unofficial - sequel to Pac-Man. The "2" referred to it being a simultaneous two-player game, with one player controlling Pol Pot (Pac Man), and the other controlling a poet (ghost).

Suffice to say, Entex got into a degree of legal difficulty over Pac Man 2, specifically from Coleco - which had the handheld game rights to Pac-Man. Subsequently, Entex's version was re-released under the name Hungry Pac. 

GALAXIAN 2

Entex used the whole shameless rip-off-with-added-two-player-functionailty for its Galaxian 2 game, housed in a rather lovely sci-fi-style casing that was typical of Entex's design and build quality. Other releases during this period included a couple of sweet pinball games, assorted sports-based titles, racing games, shoot 'em ups, Breakout clones, and a "gin rummy" and blackjack card game simulator. 

Gin rummy? I prefer a GIN TUMMY!!!!!!! LOLOLOLOL?

3-D ESCAPE!

Though most of Entex's standard handhelds used LEDs, it also released two LCD games; 3D Grand Prix, and 3D Escape. Both featured unusually advanced visuals for an LCD game of the era - with 3D Escape offering nothing less than one thousand first-person-perspective 3D mazes. That's an admirable quantity when you consider that one was probably too many.

Almost as fascinating as what Entex did release is what it didn't; products unveiled in the pages of its final trade catalogues, that never made it to market.

Oh look - here come some of them now!

DO AS I SAY 

Despite Entex having built two working prototypes of the rudely-named Do As I Say - at a cost of almost a quarter of a million dollars - and unveiled it at a 1981 toy fair, it was never put into full production. Essentially a four-player, talking, version of MB Games' Simon, it's most notable feature was looking like something out of 1970s ITV sci-fi show The Tomorrow People.

It would have boasted the pre-recorded voice of actor Bob Ridgley, who later played "The Colonel James" in the movie Boogie Nights, and a number of roles in the cartoon series Dexter's Laboratory, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Toiletboyz (The Smurfs).

DVG 

Another Entex prototype, the DVG series would've been single-game plug-in consoles, with a bizarre design that resembled a car's gearstick. Announced in Entex's 1982 dealer catalogue, three versions were planned - thinly-disguised "reinterpretations" of Space Invaders and Asteroids, as well as Konami's Pac-Man-esque Turtles.

BIKE COMPUTER

Entex didn't just make games. This handlebar-mounted "Bike Computer" would tell riders their average speed, peak speed, current speed, distance to destination, and ETA. It was also compatible with a separate heart-rate monitor, which told you whether you were about to die.  

M.A.C. MINI COMPUTER

A programmable computer aimed at children, Entex's M.A.C. (Multi-functional Advanced Computer) allowed users to play games, make music, and even write their own programs. Software came on punch cards, which effectively acted as overlays for its two screens; a 4x4 dot LED matrix screen, and an 8-digit numerical display - useful for its exciting "calculator mode"!

Like so many other companies, Entex was a victim of the 1983 games industry crash. Despite having previously been profitable, its assets were sold off 1984, with its founders moving onto jobs elsewhere in the toy industry. 

A combination of its premature demise, and the quality and novelty of its products, the company's machines can often fetch high prices on the retro scene; the Adventure Vision can often go for as much as £2,000.

​Could somebody please buy me one? Come on now. I just really want one. That's all. I just really want one, okay? I really want one.