Friends, you thought it never existed. You thought it never materialised. BUT HERE, in
the flesh is a Konix MultiSystem. The legendary yet bizarre looking console from the 80s that
promised to be so much to so many, but failed to ever materialise. But before we look closer
at this device. We need to dive deep into the history of this remarkable console;
Konix. A Welsh company which 80s UK computer owners will almost certainly be familiar with,
mainly because they made incredible joysticks. Who can forget handheld delights such as the
Konix Speedking and Konix Navigator. These chunky appendaged items might seem clunky
today, but when all you had was this... One of these could really enhance your gaming
experience, especially if you didn't have a table to balance a joystick on.
But Konix didn't want to be known as an accessory manufacturer forever, they had grander ambitions,
and it was this drive, combined with their existing technical knowledge that led them
to create one of the greatest game consoles that could have been...
Look at this place... Looks bleak doesn't it? Corrugated metal, brick, concrete, you
could almost be forgiven for thinking this was soviet Russia. But here, on the 3rd of
March 1986, in Cherry Hinton, just outside Cambridge, and underneath that sheet metal,
is where the heart of Konix's new console began. To be precise, this is where Flare
Technology began. Made up of three ex-Sinclair employees, Martin Brennan, Ben Cheese and
John Mathieson; Flare Technology was to be their vessel for a project they strived to
create at Sinclair research, and which would have become the Spectrum 128K successor, but
was eaten up by Amstrad's acquisition of the Sinclair brand and IP. The project was called
Loki, and these design sketches by Rick Dickinson show a design that looks almost like a PS3
fused with an industrial warehouse, outlandish to say the least. But Amstrad wasn't the place
for early outlandish ideas, and nor was it the place for most of Sinclair's employees.
So, this then, would be their place, taking the basis of their idea with them.
And that idea remained simple: Combine the best components available, to create the greatest
entertainment orientated computer that could exist at the time for around £200. Just now,
without any of the ROM IP now owned by Amstrad. Of course, being a new company, Flare would
have to create an income stream before embarking on such a colossal project, and so calling
on their existing knowledge, worked with RAM Electronics to create the "RAM Music Machine"
for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Released in 1986, this is a hardware accessory that
could play samples, drum patterns and even connect to synthesisers via MIDI. At £50
it actually turned the Spectrum into a viable music creation system. Flare also created
a ZX Spectrum clone for a Spanish company, which annoyed Alan Sugar, but actually also
led to them creating a fax machine and hard disk controllers for Sugar's PC1512 range.
All of this got Flare off to a good start, allowing them to now shift focus back to their
computer project. Documents show that the plan for this machine
was originally to be MSX2 like, but now with a bit more added "Flare", if you will. This
of course, meant full colour graphics, a floppy disk drive, MIDI capability and to be based
around a powerful set of processors. This included an 8 bit Blitter processor for rapid
data shifting and a 6MHz Digital Signal Processor that would do algorithmic processing, both
taking load off the 7MHz Z80 CPU. It was john Mathieson who designed the chipset ((#1)),
and in an unpublished Retro Gamer interview with the prolific Craig Vaughan, he stated;
"The key to the technology was twofold: a blitter that could move pixels around, being
limited only by how fast the memory ran, and a DSP to generate synthesized sounds of previously
unheard quality. The blitter idea was not new, but ours was far more flexible and game-orientated
than earlier blitters." In line with other computer manufacturer conventions,
the name for this machine was to be the Flare One, and through simplified engineering it
was intended to, if not beat, at least go head to head with the Amiga, at less than
half the cost. Outlandish was apparently, still flavour of the day.
By the first quarter of 1988, Flare had completed their hardware prototypes, the only problem
was, they weren't geared up for production. Just like their earlier projects, their business
was in designing hardware, not shipping it. So they decided to talk to the press, and
it was ACE magazine who picked up their story with the most interest; a magazine that liked
to focus on hardware much more than their rivals.
ACE issue 10, published in June 1988 ran a two page article entitled PLAYPOWER, giving
us a tantalising glimpse of this new hardware. "The Flare One is a 1MB machine with 128K
of ROM, 128K of video RAM and 768K of system RAM.... if it reaches the market place it
will certainly give both the Amiga and ST a run for their money... the Flare draws its
power from four custom chips designed by the company with the specific intention of providing
some very powerful graphics" Now before this point, it would have been
incredibly expensive for a company to create these custom chips, but a new electron gun
pattern cutting technique pioneered by Cambridge firm called Qudos, meant each design cost
10% of it's usual price; just £2,000 ((#2)). This process was so impressive that the Department
of Trade and Industry got involved, like they did, to encourage more manufacturers to use
custom silicon as a way of increasing efficiency. And as it happens, here I've got those very
chips. In fact, I've got what's known as the Flare AVP Chipset, which is a spin off of
the prototype board you can see in that issue of ACE magazine. You see Flare weren't stupid,
they still needed cashflow, and had actually tied up a deal with Bellfruit, manufacturers
of arcade machines, to integrate this hardware with their cabinets. You can see the four
custom chips here, they're actually each Texas Instrument ASICs in an 84pin PLCC package,
and all controlled by a Z80 processor over there; now if that kind of setup sounds familiar
to you, you'll understand why later. But, one of the machines you'd find this AVP hardware
in was Question of Sport; a gambling machine where the player answers questions based on
visual and audible queues. Now I don't have an entire machine, but I do have an engineers
manual for one. This was important, because this was brand new hardware, running a brand
new game, and it needed to be brand new, because the graphics and sound on these machines were
impressive; designed to pull in the punter, and therefore, an early indication of how
potent this hardware could be. But Flare still needed to realise their dream
of a stand alone system, and therefore, it was handy that the ACE magazine feature also
mentioned the following; "The company has spent 2 years developing
Flare One, and they're now ready to go into production - but there's just one problem:
so far, no major company has signed on the dotted line, despite keen interest from at
least two major players in the home computer market"
Those two major players were Atari and Amstrad, although a deal was anything but firm. But
it was this very article which caught the eye of a certain Wyn Holloway, the founder
and chairman of Konix. In an interview with Mark from konimxmultisystem.co.uk he said;
"I read Ace magazine and the Flare one was in it and I thought Hmmm. I always believed
if you had a clever enough brain and a good enough engineer you could design specific
chips for graphics, you know make the game better, and when I saw the Flare one I was
pretty impressed. I thought that's good, and Atari was going to use their technology for
their next machine.... So I got in touch with him, he came down, we were talking, he loved
the idea of the chair. So we then sat down and decided on a Flare two, we designed the
next generation" Wait... chair? What chair?..... "This is a
chair" Well, actually it's this chair. But we'll come back to that in a second. Because
before the chair came a controller;
....and before a controller, came sponsor Readly. Now, magazines are referenced a lot
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"At the time, all the joysticks up until then were just stuck on the table, nobody had any
tactile feedback, it was just a "There it is, get on with it" type of thing, do you
know what I mean? It was the same with light guns, they were just rubbish. They expected
the player to use their imagination too much. I felt that any peripheral should stimulate
the imagination, and that's where the whole idea came from"
Wyn envisaged a controller that could start out a steering wheel, but easily convert into
bike handlebars and even a flight yolk. So began mocking something up through Konix's
R&D branch, Creative Devices Research Ltd... the same Creative Devices Research who had
helped Hasbro with their doomed Control Vision control. But this was Konix's strength, peripherals,
and Wyn had concluded that the next logical accessory for a home computer should be a
simulator setup.. which kinda made sense. He had read an article stating that arcade
simulators, such a driving or flying, were now accounting for 60% of the market, which
sounds highly probable. It was around this time when cabinets like Hard Drivin', After
Burner and Outrun were dominating arcades, so why not make a home version?
So that's what they did. These are the initial concepts by Level Six Designers (later called
Product Partners) of the then called, Slipstream controller. You can tell they've taken the
lead from sci-fi films, such as Alien, Star Wars, even Star Trek. These all look pretty
cool and futuristic, but clearly were deemed to be a step too far to manufacture, and so
this original patent is the design they settled upon.
And here it is in the flesh. This is.... the SlipStream controller, and it's actually a
pretty nifty device. You start off with this steering wheel configuration, with everything
locked in place. But using this clutch release knob, you can unlock the centre column, pop
the steering wheel off, and suddenly transform into a flight yoke. Then if you lock it in
the down position, and twist these handgrips, you've got a
handlebar for motorbike games. There was even supposed to be another accessory which then
sat on top, giving you helicopter controls. We've got built in fire triggers, select & start
buttons, and even a gear or throttle stick to the side. Plus this stick has a built in
"judder-er" to provide tactile feedback. Pretty much every eventuality is catered for. Of
course we also get pedals as well, which change in function depending on what you're playing.
But it's this versatility to switch between control types that was deemed revolutionary,
and really the foundations for the Konix Arcade System.
*pan* And it was whilst sitting at this desk, messing
around with this controller, that Wyn realised the chair he was sitting in, a bog standard
office chair, was taking up about 3 foot square, and thought "You can get a chair to operate
in that space... I could get roll, pitch and yaw. You look at the swivel chair and it's
pivoted on a 1 inch bar. No matter what the weight was, they know at what point they can
move in the seat to get it to tilt back on them, it's all around a pivot point" and so
began the development of an accompanying chair as well.
Aongside Creative Devices engineer Robert Kent, Wyn once again began development in
his garage. But this was eventually assisted by designers Steve Gallichan and Paul Neal,
who were contracted in, again, from Level Six Design Consultants. This is actual footage
of its build. Instead of advanced hydraulics you'd find in the arcade, the core original
components here were electric motors from Bosch electric drills. Facilitating a cheap
and cheerful version of the full simulator experience. In initial testing, they put a
5 degree tilt on it, but this was enough to apparently terrify people, feeling like they
were falling onto the floor, so it was lowered to 3 degrees, with plans to incorporate a
seatbelt for safety, and a control pad to tweak its settings. It was also discussed
as a means of allowing for more advanced simulation inputs.
At this point, we're clearly talking about a product that's somewhat difficult to ship
as a peripheral. I mean, pitching a revolutionary controller is a hard sell, let alone an entire
chair, especially without a bespoke game library to back them up. Can you imagine pitching
that to a school kid using his pocket money to buy budget £1.99 games? Plus, we're talking
multiple systems, meaning bespoke connections and integrations for each.......gaahhh, not
gonna happen.... No, this needed to be it's own platform, and it needed to have it's own
customer base.... And, having had an initial phone call, we return to our conversation
between Wyn and Flare Technologies. John Mathieson: "Our first meeting with Wyn
Holloway of Konix was at the Sheraton Skyline in Heathrow, during August of 1988. He wanted
our technology to go into a project he had nicknamed 'Slipstream' - the famous games
controller that looked revolutionary. The plan was to launch it in January of 1989.
We had to combine the four simple ASICS of 'Flare One' into one LSI Logic chip, change
from an 8-bit Z80 CPU to 8/16-bit 8088, and have all this ready to ship in 5 months! The
excitement was tremendous. Wyn said that he would pay us a royalty of about a pound on
every unit sold, and talked about sales in the tens of millions. He would pay us cash
up front to start development, and could not wait to get started. Wyn is a great salesman
and had us sold on the whole idea. His credibility was strong - Konix had a great name in the
joystick business and it seemed like they could pull it off. We put our heads down and
got to work." Konix were determined to enter the market
strong, with a system that could challenge anything that was about to arrive, and even
though ACE issue 11 promisingly reported "The Flare One is an 8 bit micro. Yes, it can move
sprites and block graphics faster than an ST, and in 256 colours at that. True, it can
draw lines three times faster than an Amiga. Sure enough, it can handle the maths of 3D
structures faster even than the ultra speedy Archimedes can", Konix wanted to move away
from the stigma of an 8-bit processor ((#7)), so had asked Flare to replace the Z80 with
a 16 bit processor... after all bits were the buzzword back then. So with ex-ICL engineer
Chris Green managing the integration between Konix and Flare, an initial prototype model
was produced with an Intel 8088, but would be swapped out for a faster 6MHz 8086 before
production. John Mathieson: "'The Flare One' design was
tweaked a little based on our experience, and some data paths widened to 16bits. By
December we had working silicon, but it wasn't fast enough. We did another spin to move up
to a full 16-bit 8086 and to integrate a floppy disk controller. By using a custom disk format
we even managed to get 880K on a normal 720K floppy disk".
January 1989 had arrived, but as yet, no final physical product was in sight. But that certainly
didn't stop the press from getting excited. Published in early February, this is March
1989's edition of Advanced Computer Entertainment, and as you can see it's on the front cover;
"What looks better than an Amiga, costs less than an ST and has more Rock and Roll than
Afterburner?"... the Konix Arcade System, of course, now rebranded as the somewhat less
exciting "Konix MultiSystem". But at it's heart it was still a machine designed for
fun. Here was a system then that wasn't built in
any way for business applications. It couldn't even manage an 80 column text screen. In fact
it was trimmed down in other ways too, the MIDI ports were gone, the RAM was reduced.
But it could still belt out 10 channel stereo sound with FM synthesis. It could display
256 on screen colours at 256x200 (with a maximum of 512x200) from a palette of 4,096. It could
chuck sprites about too, and it could certainly draw vectors, far quicker than even the Acorn
Archimedes, and throw them about too. This was thanks to the upgraded 12MHz RISC based
DSP -which could multiply at 50 times faster than an Amiga's 68000- working in conjunction
with the now 16-bit blitter which could shift data at 5MB a second and even handle hardware
collision detection. It was that blitter combined with the 1 byte per pixel screen which meant
two entire screens could be drawn in the 128K video RAM ((#4)) at one time, with the video
chip drawing the first, whilst the blitter took care of the second, and allowing them
to rapidly be swapped back and forth to create full screen fluid movement. This was an absolute
war horse, and given the machine now had 2 separate 16 bit data paths, it also led some
overly keen types to argue it was 32-bit, another story that might sound familiar to
you. Either way, this was a system, built for gaming that was well ahead of the 3D curve.
But surely there's a problem. If we compare the size of this board to the Multisystem,
how in the world of holy hell were they supposed so fit all that into this tiny plastic space??
Well, as John Mathieson mentioned earlier, the solution was to integrate all these custom
chips into one single ASIC unit, using ultra large scale integration techniques to mesh
them together. Software could then be loaded through an external 3.5" disk drive plugged
into the expansion port at the rear. A video out would be placed on the right hand side,
and a din socket on the left hand side allowing peripherals such this Konix navigator to be
connected up for more traditional games, as well as any extras the customer wanted, including
a light gun, the mighty moving chair and even another Multisystem ((#4)), allowing for multiplayer
scenarios. This really was intended to be an all-in-one system.
Just look at some of these light gun designs too. Straight out of Captain Kirk's accessory
bag. The physical prototype ended up being this blue affair, which is really quite nice,
and even featured real recoil action like Operation Wolf. There are a few images of
it in use with the £200 chair accessory, including this one with Llamasoft founder
and superlative game developer Jeff Minter (can you imagine the health and safety implications
of that TV stand). Because, of course, this system needed games from the go, not just
peripherals. By March '89 Konix promised "the freebie game that comes as part of the package
is a major licence" ((#3)) and had reportedly agreed deals with 35 software houses, including
big names like Gremlin, Ocean and US Gold. Not only that, orders were coming in for their
systems too; Rushware, in Germany, had apparently already put an order in for 100,000 units,
and a revised launch date of August 1989 had been set. Even LucasArts were interested,
and tried to cut a deal to sell the Multisystem in America with Star Wars branding, however
because they declined to put any money up front, Wyn backed out of the deal. In fact,
it's claimed there were several potential investors and partners who simply wanted to
take away too much, but Wyn was determined that this would be a British success story.
Konix needed something to show the public, and it down to project manager John Dean to
make that happen. He decided to bring on board a new software house, Attention to Detail,
and they had created the software development kit for the Programmers Development Systems.
Apparently, they were the right team for the job, because they also created some pretty
impressive demos, including a 17fps 4 sided rotating cube, which had text and games running
on each side. But the SDK ensured there was also a raft of new software in the works,
including the much anticipated Logotron's StarRay ((#5)) and Last Ninja 2 by System
3. But were these titles, and indeed the system going to be a victim of their own hype?
"In amongst the My Little Ponies and cuddly toys of the Earl's Court Toy Fair, Konix unveiled
their Multi System console. The occasion was also the first public showing of the rock
and roll arcade chair that will be available as an add on. Obviously it was not the final
production version but a rather noisy prototype that drew the crowds to the Konix stand"
In late January 1989, among eager crowds and captivated children, the Konix Multisystem
made it's first public appearance at the British Toy and Hobby Fair in London; the same one
that the Lion safety mark was promoted, heavily. The problem was, the hardware was nowhere
near ready, and the chair was somewhat dangerous. Fred Gill, co-founder of Attention to Detail
reported in issue 8 of Retro Gamer Magazine; "The hardware wasn't ready. In fact we didn't
have any to create demos with. Finally, at 6pm the day before the show, a small number
of hand built systems appeared in London. We spent until 4am integrating them with the
code, and then we spent another two hours hiding the Flare One units away in cupboards,
so nobody could move them and discover they weren't the real final hardware"
What's worse is that 5 minutes into a demonstration, sparks began flying out of the Power Chair,
and it had to be turned off. The main attraction was now dead weight, and nothing more than
a fancy butt parking device. One which wasn't going to be getting the Lion
safety mark anytime soon... However, this apparently didn't dull expectations
or excitement, and game development continued chugging forward. In fact, in September 1989
Konix announced their own Software Publishing Division, Creative Design Software, specifically
to publish games for their new system, including "Revenge of Starglider" by Argonaut Software
and "ROTOX" by Binary Design. The press released also announced the bundled game would be called
"Bikers"... perhaps not the major licenced game we were promised.
In September's ACE magazine, Chris Walsh from Argonaught said; "Polygon based games like
Starglider II are going to be easy to program. The machine is geared up to rotating masses
of vertices and incredible rates. It's as though the designers of the machine were obsessed
with producing something that could shift polygons quickly". **Starglider II would actually
go on to be the foundation for StarFox on the Super Nintendo.**
Nick Speakman of Binary Design commented "There's no question that the custom chips are very
powerful, but they require a lot of programming talent to get anything out of then. The screen
handling isn't as fast as we anticipated it to be. But then when something is hyped out
of all proportion it never is as good as you expect it to be - take Batman, for example"
Well, I'm not sure about his verdict on Batman; it's an exceptional movie, but it does perhaps
cast a foreboding shadow on the reality of a system, where everything was managed in
one single ASIC package. Sure the specs individually are incredible, but working together, perhaps
the Multisystem would start to buckle under the strain. There were also claims its novel
architecture tricky to develop for, or at least, quite different to what programmers
were used to. At least Konix were listening to those developers however, and decided to
ask Flare to double the system RAM, cutting profit margins, but giving software more room
to flex and putting it closer to the original Flare One specs.
But with the video footage we have of the system, combined with this demonstration of
Jeff Minter's Attack of the Mutant Camels 1989; one of of the games poised to launch
with the console, you can see it could certainly handle itself. This is actually running on
an emulator created by Savoury SnaX who worked backwards from game source code... a remarkable
feat, but you can see we've got incredibly smooth motion, an array of eye grabbing colours,
and that parallax scrolling is top notch. In a Computer & Video Games issue 94 preview
they said "Onlookers gasped at the speed and abundance of the sprites and the riot of sound
that was issuing from Jeff's Hi-fi speakers, he nonchalantly commented that the machine
was capable of much better.. the blitter's hardly sweating here". These games, whether
from the ropey VHS video footage or emulation provide a mouth watering glimpse of what we
could have expected. In that same magazine, ACE magazine announced
"The Konix console is here. Is this the ultimate games machine we've all been waiting for?"
Well they certainly hoped so, and they had a few screenshots to back up their opinions.
Apparently the retail price was now going to be slightly over £200, but for what you
got, surely that was still an absolute bargain. "The Konix is British, superbly designed,
and extremely powerful. Provided the software base shapes up, we have no hesitation in recommending
it. The company expect demand to outstrip supply before Christmas, so if you see one
on the shelf, think twice before passing it by"
KONIX---- In the search for the definitive simulator
game. One name is clearly emerging.... KONIX, Multisystem. Experience, the reality. "Get
behind the wheel of the new Konix Multisystem and you'll really appreciate the power of
that custom 32-bit processor! This is real state of the art graphic performance, and
even at these speeds, it handles beautifully"..... (posh RAF) "and this is a display of a lifetime,
perfect control over every manoeuvre, and with over 4,000 different colours to choose
from, we're looking at a dazzling graphic display.".... "Well, have you ever seen anything
quite like this. What a powerful machine this is. We're getting the ultimate performance
from that 16 bit processor, and just listen to that. There's CD quality sound from the
Konix Multisystem... unbeatable!"..... Seeing and hearing the Konix Multisystem is one thing,
feeling it is another. The control unit gives full tactile feedback, so you can feel it
as you drive. Feel the wind as you pull back on the controls. Sense the fight of the tyres
as you corner left into that sharp left hander. The Knox Multisystem, it's car, it's a plane,
it's a bike, in one system. Not only that, but there's a gearstick mounted on the side
of the unit., and unique dual foot pedals are really responsive for maximum realism.
For other combat games there are fire buttons places in just the the right position... we
even include a free Konix Navigator joystick with every Multisystem, and all games are
on standard 3.5" disk drive for full cost effectiveness. Experience the reality today"
The problem was, no one was seeing it on any shelves, in ANY stores. In publishing this
story, ACE had presumed that the slightly delayed launch at London's PCW Show from the
27th to 29th September had gone without a hitch. But Konix's positive front was hiding
some serious issues. All this refinement, all this development. It was bloody expensive,
and for the Welsh peripheral manufacturer, funds were getting pretty tight.
In August, the month the system was originally due to launch, Konix had distributed this
paper to potential investors, in an attempt to get more funding, as quickly as possible.
It details how the Multisystem is a revolution in gaming, how a slew of peripherals will
be available, and how it could dominate the competition. But investors weren't so sure.
Wyn states "When they don't want it, they don't want it. Our bankers just all of a sudden
said "No we can't support you any more" [even though] we had letters of credit and guaranteed
money... Toys'r'us in the UK wanted 50 thousand units."
"[But] what you've got to remember is that the Japanese were very powerful. One of the
top banking groups were bought out by a large Japanese company so they disappeared. Another
backer was going to be Ferranti. We met and he said "Sorry Wyn I'm going to have to withdraw,
we have too many Japanese customers" It seems that, according to Wyn, the threat
of the Multisystem to Japanese consoles such as the Mega Drive and SNES was too great,
and that, in part was behind their funding drying up. It's unclear how much validity
resides here, but what was clear is outside of the company, no-one was really aware of
any problems, and so, both reporters and the public queued up outside the Earl's Court
1989 Personal Computer show, hoping to get a glimpse of the retail ready Multisystem.....
However, when they got inside, Konix's stand was empty. Rumours quickly circulated that
they had been delayed by high winds on the Severn Bridge and they they would definitely
be there the next day. ((#5)) But the 28th came, and again Konix's stand
was largely vacant. By the 29th, there was a glimmer of hope as
Konix arrived, but still only occupying half of their stand. This technology report from
the Swedish show Bit by Bit managed to get a glimpse when they arrived, but it was clear
there were issues. The Guardian reported; "Konix did show its innovative 8086-based
console running several games; Hammerfist, Star-ray and Llamasoft's Mutant Camels 89.
The even more innovative powered chair was on display though not in use when I was around.
The trade and press launch is not now expected until the end of November."
John Mathieson recalls "We were paid for our development work, but Konix ran out of money.
When they failed to turn up at the trade show they were supposed to be launching the system
at we knew the project had died. Although matters fizzled on for a while, nothing of
substance ever happened - very much a case of so near and yet so far."
The number 1 Christmas gift for 1989 was now just a fantasy. Promises of a console continued
through the early 90s, but sadly, it never materialised. ((#6))
Konix would shortly after sell their joystick range to Spectravideo, and the once great
peripheral company as we knew it ceased to exist. So then, how did I end up with this?
I mean, this is to all intents and purposes the Konix Multisystem right? It even says
it on the steering wheel. Well, yes, and no. It's the remnants of the Multisystem, but
it's not a console. There is no Flare technology within this. This is simply a controller for
IBM PC Compatibles, and although it's quite rare, it's nowhere near as rare as a true
Multisystem prototype might be. This then, is the full circle evolution of a system that
promised so much, generated so much excitement and then disappeared almost without a trace.
The Konix Multisystem was so very close to launching. So close, but ended just like it
had started, as a peripheral for other systems, rather than an iconic system in its own right.
A company called Multi System China rose up specifically to rejig and sell off the MultiSystem
shells as the Super MS-200E, mainly throughout America. As you can see from this publicity
shot of the packaging behind Jeff Minter, not only is the controller the same, they
even used practically the same box design that had been intended for the Multisystem.
It even has the stamp "European Design" to indicate its origins, and it follows the same
concepts as the original Konix device. But there are differences, the most obvious is
the change from light grey to black, and with it, a change to cheaper, creaky plastic. Where
there was once an edge connector at the rear, and expansion ports, there's now a blank board
and some switches. Where the floppy drive would fit at the front - a feature absent
from original prototypes but incorporated into the final moulds - there are rudder and
trim controls. The front also features a joystick pass through port, rather than the expansion
socket of the original. But it's still literally cast from the same mould, and it still shares
the design principles of the original Multisystem. What it doesn't share is any of the joy....
The bundled game, Race Car, is like Lotus Turbo Challenge after 19 pints and falling
into the gutter. Absolutely unplayable. You also get a setup utility on the disk, and
that's about it. The included manual suggests some games you *could* play, including Doom
apparently, which is as god awful as you can imagine. This incredible console simply ended
up as a controller that didn't even have any worthy games developed for it, which really,
was Konix's original fear had they released it as a simple peripheral. It's adaptability
is made useless, impotent, and a complete waste of in intriguing idea.
It's a bit of a sad fate really, this could have been an incredible, if slightly odd console
produced out of Britain, which just ended up as a piece of gaming tat.
Having raised funds with the sell off of the shell, Wyn and the remainder of Konix did
actually try to continue the project through a new company called Multi System UK, based
around the single chip Flare hardware. This ended up in a machine owned by Taiwanese company
TXC called the TXE Multi-System, which could play Video CDs, games and run interactive
programs such as Karaoke, but fell flat on its face especially in Western regions. However
this did lead some of the team, such as John Mathieson, Richard Miller and Jeff Minter
to work on the Nuon system; an enhanced DVD game system which I hope to cover in the near
future. and my mind continually drifts back to a comment
Wyn made in ACE magazine issue 18 "It's a new concept, we're not even competing with
Sega and Nintendo - the concept goes right through to the peripherals. The whole system
is designed for fun and realism. What we're trying to do is make a family machine that
offers realistic simulations but has still got joystick ports so that you can load up
standard arcade games. If computer users are prepared to queue up for hours for a four
minute go on a flight sim, it doesn't take genius to work out that everyone would have
a go on it if they only had to wait 5 minutes. There's talk of a possible exercise bike,
or maybe other exercise based add-ons which could allow people to have fun working out"
This was the original Nintendo Wii. Just 16 years too early, and without the financial
backing that it perhaps deserved. Projects like the Multisystem really remind me what
an innovative and exciting era this was.... But it wasn't the end of the tale, and in
fact the Flare One, which remained the property of Flare Technology would actually evolve
into a console you may have heard of; You see Atari's interest didn't stop when
Konix got involved, and in fact Flare helped Atari work on (and name) their Atari Panther
console, before it was abandoned, thanks in part to Martin Brennan's insistence that 3D
was the future, for a more capable console; the Atari Jaguar. It was this console, the
Jaguar that is a descendant of the Flare One hardware. In fact, it's technically the Flare
Two. If you noticed the similarities earlier, with a Z80 chip managing a host of custom
chips and a DSP, then you were 100% correct. The Flare Two was schematically very similar
to the Flare One, but clearly more powerful and with the Z80 swapped out for a Motorola
68000. Here was a machine with almost as much hype as the Multisystem, it was also a machine
dogged with the same complaints of having a steep learning curve to develop for, and
the whole palaver about whether it was truly 64 bit or not, due to its split data paths.
Gahhhhh. We're not going to delve into that here of
course. But just think about that. This hardware was close to the Jaguar hardware, but 4 years
earlier. This machine could have blown the 16 bit era out of the water, before it even
began. All you have to do is squint at the Tunnels of Doom footage shown this ATD video
to see it's potential.... No wonder the Japanese were scared of it, even though it does look
a bit like a Fisher Price toy. But it's worth noting that without the Konix Multisystem,
without their investment in Flare, it's unlikely that the Atari Jaguar would have existed as
we knew it at all. And if that's not a legacy. I don't know what
is. club
No, come on, it is actually a good console. DESPITE some of the games made for it.
avp That's better.
Until next time, I've been Nostalgia Nerd. Toodleoo.