website/content/museum/philips-videopac-c52.md

---
title: Philips Videopac C52
categories:
- Consoles
params:
  name: Videopac C52
  image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_r-side_s.jpg
  logo: /media/museum/logos/philips_videopac-c52_logo.gif
  company: /companies/philips
  company_name: Philips
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  - hardware
  - software
  - emulators
  - links
  forum_thread: 1033
  photos:
  - title: C52 - FRONT
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_front.jpg
  - title: LEFT SIDE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_l-side.jpg
  - title: RIGHT SIDE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_r-side.jpg
  - title: 'RIGHT SIDE #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_r-side_2.jpg
  - title: REAR
    subtitle: ''
    text: Two controller connectors, and external power supply input.
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_rear.jpg
  - title: FLAT MEMBRANE KEYBOARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_keyboard.jpg
  - title: KEYBOARD DETAIL
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_keyboard_zoom.jpg
  - title: POWER SWITCH
    subtitle: ''
    text: This power switch (push button in fact) is only seen on C52/01 & 02 models. Later versions of the C52 has no power switch at all ! You just plugged the power cord to turn the system on (for cost reduction sake).
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_powerswitch.jpg
  - title: CHANNEL SELECT SWITCH
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_channel-select.jpg
  - title: CHANNEL SELECT
    subtitle: ''
    text: Initial placement ?
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_channel-select_hole.jpg
  - title: CARTRIDGE INSERTED
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_detail.jpg
  - title: JOYSTICK
    subtitle: ''
    text: 8-directions self-centering joystick + one fire button. Extremly robust controller !
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_joystick.jpg
  - title: BOX
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_box.jpg
  - title: 'BOX #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_box_2.jpg
  - title: TOP VIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_box_3.jpg
  - title: OPENED
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/philips_c52_box_4.jpg
  adverts:
  - title: FRENCH ADVERT (DEC.1980)
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/philips_videopac-c52_pub_2.jpg
  - title: FRENCH ADVERT (DEC.1981)
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/philips_videopac-c52_pub_3.jpg
  - title: FRENCH ADVERT (JAN. 1983)
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/philips_c52_pub_1s.jpg
  - title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE
    subtitle: ''
    text: Happy family playing "La quête des anneaux" (Quest for the rings)
    image: /media/museum/pubs/philips_videopac-c52_prm_1.jpg
  - title: BROCHURE
    subtitle: ''
    text: 'This french brochure presented games from #1 to #43'
    image: /media/museum/pubs/philips_videopac-c52_brochure_1.jpg
  hardware:
  - title: VOCAL SYNTHESIZER
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      Extract from [The Odyssey² Homepage](http://www.classicgaming.com/o2home/index.asp) :

      The Voice of Odyssey² was released in 1982, and allows the console to emit realistic voices and sound effects. It is silver, the same color as the console, and fits snugly into the cartridge port. Once installed, an Odyssey² with a Voice looks like a single unit, not two things hooked together. The Voice has a self-contained speaker (the voices do not come out of the television), with a volume control. Regular cartridges will play normally through the Voice unit. Voice modules are uncommon, and every Odyssey² collector wants one, making them somewhat valuable. There is no European version of The Voice. In Brazil, a Voice module was announced but never released (see below).
    image: /media/museum/hardware/magnavox_odyssey2_thevoice_1.jpg
  - title: MOUNTED ON THE SYSTEM
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/hardware/magnavox_odyssey2_thevoice_mounted.jpg
  screenshots:
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g01_box.jpg
  - title: RACE
    subtitle: Screenshot
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g01_1.gif
  - title: SPIN-OUT
    subtitle: Screenshot
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g01_2.gif
  - title: CRYPTOGRAM
    subtitle: Screenshot
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g01_3.gif
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g02_box.jpg
  - title: PAIRS
    subtitle: Screenshot
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g02_1.gif
  - title: SPACE RENDEZ-VOUS
    subtitle: Screenshot
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g02_2.gif
  - title: LOGIC
    subtitle: Screenshot
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g02_3.gif
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g03_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g04_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g06_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g07_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g09_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac_cart-10_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac_cart-11_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac_cart-12_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac_cart-13_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac_cart-14_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac_cart-15_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac_cart-16_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g37_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g38_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g39_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g40_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g43_box.jpg
  - title: BOX ART
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/software/philips_videopac-c52_g44_box.jpg
  emulators:
  - title: Odyssey² Home Page - Emulation Ressource
    url: http://www.classicgaming.com/o2home/media/emulation.asp
    platform: Other platform
    text: This excellent Odyssey² website has a very detailed page about Videopac/Odyssey² emulation
  - title: M.E.S.S.
    url: http://www.mess.org
    platform: Multiplatform
    text: MESS can emulate the Odyssey²
  - title: O2EM
    url: http://o2em.sourceforge.net/
    platform: Multiplatform
    text: Excellent emulator which can play Odyssey²/Videopac as well as Videopac+ games !
  links:
  - title: Classic Consoles Center
    url: http://dieterkoenig.at/ccc/
    text: Excellent site with a lot of interesting info. Very complete Videopac software page too.
  - title: Odyssey 2000
    url: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/3226/ody2000.html
    text: Brazilian website dedicated to videopac, with brazilian box art scans
  - title: Odyssey² FAQ
    url: http://www.digitpress.com/faq/odyssey2.txt
    text: Interesting info
  - title: Odyssey² Home Page
    url: http://www.the-nextlevel.com/odyssey2/
    text: Best Odyssey²/Videopac website ! Everything you wanted to know / see is here !
  - title: Retro Gaming
    url: http://home.wanadoo.nl/naninck/retro/index2.htm
    text: This site explains how to replace your faulty Videopac power switch !
  - title: www.videopac.org
    url: http://www.videopac.org/
    text: Excellent site ! Everything Videopac is here !
  related:
  - /museum/brandt-electronique-ordinateur-de-jeu-jo7400-jopac
  - /museum/continental-edison-saba-ordinateur-video-jeu-jo-1450-jopac
  - /museum/magnavox-odyssey2
  - /museum/philips-videopac-g7000
  - /museum/philips-videopac-g7200
  - /museum/siera-g7000
  oc_id: 1060
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230603211018/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1060
    date: '2023-06-03'
---

Magnavox (which merged with Philips in 1974) released the [Odyssey²](/museum/magnavox-odyssey2/) in 1978 to compete with brand new cartridge based video game systems like the [Atari VCS](/museum/atari-vcs-2600/), [RCA Studio II](/museum/rca-studio-ii/) or [Fair-Child Electronics Channel-F](/museum/fairchild-channel-f/).

The Videopac C52 is the french version of the [Magnavox Odyssey²](/museum/magnavox-odyssey2/). It was sold by Philips and was only available in France. The same system was sold in the rest of Europe as the [Videopac G7000](/museum/philips-videopac-g7000/), both systems being in fact identical apart from the frenchised keyboard...

In fact several C52 models were marketed with minor differences between each others. These systems were labeled C52/01, C52/02, C52/03 or C52/04. 01 and 02 models had a nice power on/off button, detachable controllers, and external power supply with its own connector at the back of the system (system pictured here is a C52/02 model). For cost reduction sake, latest models (04) had no power switch (you plug the system to turn it on!), hard wired controllers and built-in power supply. There were also different packagings, and controllers were sometimes black, sometimes silver...

The system is powered by an Intel 8048 microcontroller and a Video Display Controller (VDC) generating all audio & video. This VDC, which is a custom Intel IC, can generate 4 different types of graphic objects: a background grid, single characters, quad characters (made of 4 single characters) and sprites. A maximum of 4 independent sprites can be displayed. There are monochrome and of 8 x 8 pixels in size. Of course the VDC can detect sprite collisions.

The C52 has 64 pre-defined characters (letters and graphic symbols) in memory. Up to 12 foreground characters can be displayed from this internal character set. Many games (especially early ones) used a lot those pre-defined characters: man walking, right arrow, slopes, tree, ships, plane and a ball.

The flat membrane keyboard of the C52 was a major selling point. It was meant to be used for game selection, educational games, programming, entering its name for hi-scores,etc. Apart from the game selection, it was hardly used.

Though not as popular as the [Atari VCS](/museum/atari-vcs-2600/), or later [Mattel Intellivision](/museum/mattel-electronics-intellivision/) in the USA, the Videopac systems did very well in Europe where it was marketed by several different brands (Philips, Radiola, Schneider, Brandt, Siera, etc.). An enhanced system with high resolution background graphics was released a bit later as the **Philips G7400**.