Theory

[zinger]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=47741 (emphasis is mine)

The Odyssey 2 kinda rules. I always thought most of the games on it were just basic stuff like video poker or that memory game, with K.C. Munchkin being one of the few exceptions to the rule. But there's a lot of really interesting stuff on it!

They had some talented game designers who put really neat tweaks on classic formulas. For example, there's the version of Breakout where you're put in competition with people who are trying to repair the wall. And players switch off. U.F.O. is a take on Asteroids with Missile Command influence where you have to strategically manage your ship's energy and can set off chain-reactions when enemies explode, either via shooting or ramming them.

One neat thing too is that you only get one life in a lot of these games. While Nintendo and Atari took the tactic of making home games more forgiving (easier difficulty, or adding lifebars, or dishing out many extra lives), Odyssey went the other way: Why have three tries when you're not paying per play, right? :) It makes me wonder if lives just originated as a way of making the game manageable for people who were new to it.