Amstrad GX4000

The GX4000 was Amstrad's short-lived attempt to enter the games console market. The console was released in 1990 and was based on the still-popular CPC technology. The GX4000 was actually a modified CPC6128+ computer. This allowed The GX4000 to be compatible with a majority of CPC+ computer line software.

Initial reviews were favourable - the console had impressive enhanced graphics and sound, a huge colour palette of 4096 (more than the 16 bit Sega Megadrive), hardware sprites and hardware scrolling. The console itself had a sleek curved design (reminiscent of Nintendo N64, which came out six years later). It retailed for £99 and came bundled with driving game Burnin' Rubber. GX4000 game cartridges could also be used by the new 464+ and 6128+ computers released at the same time.

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In all, less than 40 games were produced for the GX4000, of which only half were original and unique to the console. The games were made by UK based companies Ocean (now Infogrames UK) and US Gold (now Eidos). Notable GX4000 games were Burnin' Rubber, RoboCop 2, Pang, Plotting, Navy Seals and Switchblade. The latter was later released for the CPC range with only minor concessions, mainly colour. The GX4000 was only manufactured for a matter of months before it was discontinued.

The GX4000 was a commercial flop and is one of the least successful games consoles ever made. This was in part due to the GX4000 being powered by 8 bit technology and almost immediately being superseded by the 16 bit Sega Megadrive, (released in November 1990 in Europe), and eventually the Nintendo SNES. There was little available software at launch, with some games being released months late or cancelled entirely.

To make matters worse, several GX4000 games were simply CPC games from previous years re-released onto a cartridge. This was not inspiring and users were not prepared to pay £25 for a cartridge game that they could buy for £3.99 on cassette instead. Within a few weeks of the initial launch, the system could be bought at discounted prices. Popular UK videogame magazines marked the system as "the worst system of the month" as voted by readers.

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