Classic Game Room - FAIRCHILD CHANNEL F console review 

My sister has one of those Fairchild Channel F controllers in her room. She seemed embarrassed when I found it.

It seemingly has the same sound-chip as the barcode scanner in supermarkets

My dad worked on that project as well as the watches. Led and liquid Chrystal. I have a couple of of the consoles and all the original cartridges

This game console was also being used for TV stations where they used to ran segments during the afternoon blocks under the title "TV Powww" which was a game show where young viewers can call the station where you can win prizes as you can play the game where a caller can shout "POW!" as you can shoot for points. After you rack all of your points, you get a prize. Many TV stations like WGN-TV, KTXL-TV, KTVH-TV and others ran "TV Powww". But in New York City, WPIX-TV (channel 11) ran a similar version of "TV Powww" called "TV Pixxx" where you can call the station and play a game and win a prize by shouting out "Pixxx" as you can shoot to rack up with score. Both "TV Powww" and "TV Pixxx" ran a short life until it ended by 1982.

Now imagine the PS4 in a retro woodgrain design.

Brandon, where you alive in 1976? - I was not. ... He's guarantee to loose.

I think the Fairchild Channel F is an underrated console. Many people say the 2600 was the "first" console to use cartridges, yet even though the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey didn't actually use them, the Fairchild did before the 2600. If I ever get a chance to play one of these, I will. Also, it has the worlds most epic Pong game ever.

I'm impressed - back when it was first released, this thing must have blown minds. The "graphics" look much more crisp and colorful than those of most VCS games, IMO. Also, I kinda like the horrible sound effects. There's a definite PC speaker vibe to them :D

I had one and it was amazing. Thanks for the trip back in time.

I remember playing a cousin's Channel F back when they were new. I was amazed at how cool that thing was.

Groovy Wood Grain sounds like a classic Rock Band that went Gold in 1972 XD Their #1 hit song "Wavy Gravy Oh Baby" could be heard across world even onboard Huey Helicopters over the jungles of North Vietnam.

I was alive when these came out. They sold them at JC Penney in my area. They were hella expensive like $300 in 1978 do the math on that with inflation it probably cost as much as a used '05 Mustang. Bad sounds, maybe but consider the TV shows out at the time weren't much better. I remember an Armor Battle game of some sort that JCP had running in the demo unit and it was the bomb. I drooled over that system but alas Santa never brought one. I did get a Pong game though. :)

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite console review that you guys have done.

Love it when Brandon is in the reviews. He looks like he enjoys it as well.

Grand Theft Auto 5? Screw that, I'm playing Videocart-5!

4:20 that sweet sweet 70's first gen sound of victory

OMG! MY Dad was an engineer at FairChild in the early 70's helped develop this system and we had it before it hit the market. Was fun, i love cat and mouse maze games. These youngster don't even know how far gaming has come! LOL!

@ 3:12 RIP David Bowie... :(

Rebranded as the Adman Grandstand Video Entertainment Computer in the UK. They still show up on ebay at sensible prices, which is nice.

Graphics actually look pretty impressive. Nice to see the Fairchild Channel F in action. Thanks for the vid!

Hell yeah! A green screen with "G?" on it is my favorite game!

The same company that made the A-10 Warthog made this system - when I found that out I thought "of course!" It may not be exactly the same team that worked on aircraft, but it definately has the feeling of that straight forward and sturdy design you'd see in a military aircraft's cockpit. And maybe the control stick design choice was simply a coincidence that they are a facsimile of a flight stick, but still.

I had one of those! The department store Robinson's sold them at the Puente Hills Mall in California ( where they filmed the scene in Back To The Future where Marty first drives the Delorean ). I'd call the store to see if they had any new games before I rode my bicycle the 3-4 miles to the mall. I think got tired of me calling.

I still have one of these, the original with hardwired controllers, power adapter, and coax, almost as retro as you can get in gaming and it's older than me. Originally found it in the backroom of my Dad's old house carelessly stored with a bunch of 8-track carts, thought the 2 games were 8-tracks as well. I feel...privileged to own such a machine! Made in the USA too!

I have ones od these. I lived near a fairchild chip waffer making factory and after it failed the people that worked there in the neighborhood andcity was handing them out like candy for free or next to nothing.

Fun fact, Fairchild started out making airplanes before it got in the semiconductor biz. That's epic.

Happy 82nd Birthday, Gerald "Jerry" Lawson (1940-2011) (Creator of the Fairchild Channel F)

The Fairchild Channel F IS the first cartridge based system.

The sounds from the Channel F sounded awesome with that spacey reverb you put on everything :D

After watching this I feel like my 2600 is modern. My lovely smooth sounding TIA chip. And Genesis controller! "The killer must have Atari device."

I had the original that was featured with Milton Berle doing the commercial. It was the first cartridge game. The first version had the controllers on the top under a dark plastic panel. Also one button was yellow.

"An elegant controller for a more civilized age" ROFL

Nice, a new system review!

3:52 to answer your question Mark, it was JCPenny who sold The Fairchild Channel F in 1977.

Looks like one of those 70's modular analog synthesizer keyboards, really nice.

I have the first version of the Channel F. I believe the main differences are one, on the old one the sounds come out of the console itself (it just sort of beeps and boops) instead of coming out of the tv speakers and two, the first version hooks up with a built-in coax cable instead of having an av port. If you are ever looking to buy one of these the second version is probably the way to go.

Hell yeah, this console is awesome. Its probably my most wanted console at the moment.

Thank you so much for this video. Now I can truly appreciate what I have missed out on. They should have kept it in development a while longer.

every Since I started Watching This Guy I LOVE WOODGRAIN YEAH!

Whoever knew space was gray?! LOL! I never even heard of or saw this system before. I love this channel. I knew there were quite a few consoles back in the day, but clearly I was not as geeked on games as I thought I was . I knew of Atari 2600/5200/7800, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Vectrex, Magnavox Odyssey, and even one from Bally, which, if I recall correctly, had keypads on their controllers, like Intellivsion did, and much like the latter Atari consoles would. I'm gonna have to delve deeper into this channel. :) Thank you again, for sharing. Sorry this comment is 5 years too late.

I begin to imagine this 1st gen console is more enjoyable than PS4 and XBOX One at this point.

I saw a Digital Press sticker!!! I love that store

This is a great channel karnage has reviewing lots of great game consoles that most of the youtubers just make fun of qnd not really going indept of how great the consoles are, glad i found you karnage keep up the great work

holy crap this thing is old but still cool maybe I'll run into one of these days

The Model 1 Channel F had a plastic cover on top for controller storage purposes.

The first console my household had when I was a kid.

I used to play Space War on our Fairchild original system. That brings back some memories. That sweet "wood" trim went along with console televisions that were quite popular at the time. Strange thing though...my toaster has "wood" trim. Not sure if I would put that on a console television.

This thing cost $169.95 in 1976 Equivalent to $700 in 2014

My PS3 super slim has wood grain finish! I added it the day after I got it, looks really nice and makes me wonder why it didn't come with it.

I really want one of these.

Best sounds in video game history, I want to use that thing to make angry techno. Also best game review ever.

WOW! 1976, I am impressed. I can't believe this was around or conceptualized in '76.

I love my Fairchild system. I got most of the games but its very hard to find anything for it here in Sweden.

R.I.P bowie. Resting in star dust 🌠

The glorious wood grain finish :)

Someone might have pointed out the difference in the comments since this is an old video. But the system II version Simply sends the audio through the TV speaker. Previously the sound came out of the console itself similar to pong consoles of the time. I myself have only learned this recently.

great video, very funny, made me laugh, thumbs up!

Man that sound is better than anything I have ever heard. That has to be Blue Ray quality!

I got lucky and got both the system 1 and 2 and games all CIB from people cleaning out their attics back in the late 90's. I just wish I wonder what happened to the demo kiosk that was at the Montgomery Wards (where I got to first play it).

The sound FX remind me of my old ZX Spectrum, sounds jut like it!

the woodgrain and stuff I'd like this console just to have on my shelf idk looks super cool haha

that one maze game sounded like the check out computers at Boscov's where the cashier scans the price tags.

As far as I can tell, the only difference between the FC-F model one and two is that the first had an internal speaker for the sound, whereas the model two, shown in the video, passes the sound through the RF cable/adapter to the TV

Ok I was -14 years old in 1976 so I have 0 nostalgia but damn the Channel F look good!

Oh wow what an awesome system! The games seems soooo fun! I definitely want one! It seems waaaaaaaaaay better than the xbox one or ps4!

I miss the different console, cartridge, and controller designs that boasted a unique feel and quirkiness that CD consoles seemed to leave behind in the 1990s. People boast about PC's being more powerful, but I don't think they have the heart.

This console was in the original National Lampoon's Vacation, but I never recognized it until now.

I got one of these at a garage sale in 1992 when I was 5. I wanted a Super Nintendo but my parents didn't have the money. Wish I still had it now, but my cousin broke the joystick on the controller. ugh.

5:02 see the screen where it says G? I saw somewhere if you entered in a reallll long chain of numbers, it would display one of the programmers names...hence, video games first Easter egg! But I don't know how you can enter numbers and I forget the cartridge it was on, let me check google again. Im sure theres button combo or something too to trigger it.

My God that sound is brutal!

Damn, it's actually very nice looking.

Kinda crazy that the old woodgrain look is looking kinda cool now.

Fairchild Semiconducter lives on in AMD and Intel since these companies are considered to be 'Fairchildren' from the Traitorous Eight. And since AMD tech powers all 3 of the current gen consoles, you could say that the Fairchild console lives on even today! Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitorous_eight

Ugh, the legendary beeps!

I wish I had one of these

Good to see Super Dave Osborne again. Very disappointed to not see you explain their joystick. It's really a marvel masterpiece. In it, you can do the following: 1. Push in direction left. 2. Push in direction right. 3. Push in direction up. 4. Push in direction down. 5. Counter-clockwise rotate. 6. Clockwise rotate. 7. Push down on it usually to fire a weapon. 8. Pull up on it to fire a 2ndary weapon. 9. Push the little silver button (at the top) down for a 3rd firing weapon.

very nice

i had one of them i was a kid in the 70s. 1976 I was 11 years old

What is the music that is playing in the background? So good,

It does remind me of the Oddyssey 2. The sounds and the scoring

Fairchild Channel F damn cool name for a console!

Just saw this review. That was hilarious. I still own my original Fairchild with the wood paneling and light sabers. Not sure it still works though.

Re: TV connections. I suspect that the designers of the console assumed that no shelf would be wide enough to fit both the front and the back of the console, so the connections would always stick out of the bottom. Also, the first version of the Channel F had the sound output coming from a built-in speaker in the console, among other drawbacks. Overall, I'd say the second model of the Channel F is what curious folk should go for. I myself have wanted one for a long time.

It had some of the first removable game carts.

The old games were far less forgiving then the games of today. example if you touch a asteroid its instant death, no shield bar or chance of survival. pretty much all those old games were tough and unforgiving like Defender, berserk, joust, and donkey kong, u touch anything bad its instant death

The original Fairchild Channel F came out in 1976. After Zircon international bought the rights to the system, they redesigned it, and came out with the Fairchild Channel II in 1979.

They should've made wood grain 8 tracks

The Minecraft: Wii U edition Mash Up Pack Ad showed up before this video, and I'm totally confused by their use of the Super Mario 64 menu music. Just throwing that out there.

Awesome

RIP my ears

It's hilarious that the name of the video game on the front box art is in some of the smallest font there.

Digital press sticker at 3:05 Mark did you acquire it from Digital press or was it donated from someone?

I like how reverby the sound is lol

when i get some monies i'm gonna get a ps4 or xbone and put wood paneling on it. maybe i should do that to my PC too.

Classic!

That one game with the big red squares you were shooting to deflect them... what was it called? Reminds me of a tabletop game called "Crossfire" from back in the 90s...

I had one when I was a young child..

I still got my 2600. with woodgrain finish.

The Channel F System II was actually sold by Zircon International, best known for their StudSensor tools!

vertical landing. They knew it would catch on.