A truly forgotten console: the Apple Pippin

Prospero

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Wikipedia link

The Apple Pippin was a games console technology designed by Apple Computer in the mid-1990s. It was based around a 66 MHz PowerPC 603e processor, and ran a cut-down version of the Mac OS. The goal was to create an inexpensive computer aimed mostly at playing games, but also functioning as a network computer. It featured a 4x CD-ROM drive and a video output that could connect to a standard television monitor.

Apple never intended to release their own Pippin. Instead they intended to license the technology out to third parties, a model similar to that of the ill-fated 3DO. However the only Pippin licensee to release a product to market was Bandai.

By the time the Bandai Pippin was released, (1995 for Japan, 1996 for the United States) the market was already dominated by the Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn, machines which were much more powerful as game machines than the more general purpose Pippin. In addition, there was little ready-to-go software for it, the only major publisher being Bandai itself. It was also expensive: though touted as a "cheap" computer, this was only true if compared to the Macintosh; it was, for instance, far more expensive than a PlayStation, costing US$599 on launch.

Ultimately the Pippin as a technology suffered because it was a late starter in the 3D generation of consoles, and was under-powered as a gaming machine and personal computer. Bandai's version died a quick death, only ever having a relatively limited release in the United States and Japan.

Pippin Museum Archive

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link

This system, due to its obvious rarity, has become a collectors “Holy Grail" of gaming console hardware. Even if you were lucky enough to buy one, the software is even more difficult to find. If you buy a system, it may remain on the shelf, unused for years, until you can locate any games for it. Since Bandai had a stake in the system, two Dragon Ball Z games were made for it. These games are obviously the rarest versions of the game available.
 
Holy shit, I have NEVER heard of such a thing ever before.............

Are you five years old?

Though I do admit to being under the impression that the Pippin was an earlier endeavor than it actually is. I didn't realize it was a N64 or PSX-era machine.
 
I remember this. Vaguely.

I always thought it would be cool if Apple attempted a console/set-top box. I guess they don't really care to get into that market, considering this incident.
 
Never heard of it. 95-96 was about the time I stopped reading comic books and EGM and started getting heavily interested in music, so I completely missed it.
 
After looking at some more of the marketing material, I don't know if the console was ahead of its time, terribly conceived, or a mixture of both. (Though 1995-1996 was around the time when Apple's upper management was crap, if I remember my Apple corporate history well enough. Spindler? Wasn't he the CEO then?).

From a Pippin FAQ that was apparently released by Apple:

Question: How will Pippin be positioned in the market?

Answer: If all a family wants is the least expensive video game player and does not want to be able to use their purchase for other uses they will probably be better off buying the upcoming new platforms being introduced by the video game giants Nintendo and Sega. Other new platforms such as Atari Jaguar, Sony Playstation and 3DO are all video game players and cannot be useful for much else. It remains to be seen how these platforms will hold up against the two mainstay players, Nintendo and Sega.

Apple believes that families are looking for more than video game players today. Certainly they want to be able to play their favorite games, but they also want to communicate, learn, play interactive music, access information and much more. Pippin provides them this capability. In addition it provides them a high level of compatibility with a mainstream personal computer technology. This will provide them the knowledge that their investment in CD-ROM titles and experience will not go to waste.
 
Look at those buttons. It's just like a PC. It even has the binary 1 in 0 power button.

Pippin? Is that an acronym for something? Crazy Apple.

Nintendo and Apple should partner and release the Pippin Longstocking 2.
 
ironichaos said:
It's just like a PC.

That reminds me of what I said the first time I saw an Xbox. And, oddly enough, a (much more advanced) version of the PowerPC chip in the Pippin now runs the Gamecube.

Pippin? Is that an acronym for something? Crazy Apple.

Pippin is a kind of apple, just like MacIntosh (I think Pippins are greenish). Maybe the console would have sold better if it had been called Red Delicious.
 
I've known about this system from day one. And since then, I've yet to see a screen shot. I'm most interesting in seeing the system's version of the Mac OS.
 
apt_rear.JPG


Egad - a console with a FUCKING VGA OUTPUT. Do you see this Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo? DO YOU SEE THIS?!!!11??!

Wow, had no idea this existed. Neat, thanks.
 
Never heard of this before, heh. Of course, the concept of an apple product playing games gets the hilarity high into the atmosphere, though.
 
Matlock said:
Never heard of this before, heh. Of course, the concept of an apple product playing games gets the hilarity high into the atmosphere, though.

Bah, you know you want to get your hands on Apple Puzzle, Apple Puzzle II, Apple Puzzle II Hyber Turbo Puzzlin'...and...um...Photoshop? :D
 
Matlock said:
Never heard of this before, heh. Of course, the concept of an apple product playing games gets the hilarity high into the atmosphere, though.

Why is it that people think Apple machines don't have any games? There's obviously far less titles released on current Macs than PCs, but it isn't like Macs are devoid of games either. You don't see reviews of Mac games on major gaming sites, but there's plenty of Mac gaming sites out there.
 
I just searched eBay for Apple Pippin and I can only find hardware... no games...

Did any games come out for it? Or is it like an Apple computer?
 
Lyte Edge said:
Why is it that people think Apple machines don't have any games? There's obviously far less titles released on current Macs than PCs, but it isn't like Macs are devoid of games either. You don't see reviews of Mac games on major gaming sites, but there's plenty of Mac gaming sites out there.

So, when's the next Mac game coming out, 2006?
 
tedtropy said:
Bah, you know you want to get your hands on Apple Puzzle, Apple Puzzle II, Apple Puzzle II Hyber Turbo Puzzlin'...and...um...Photoshop? :D

To think... we're missing out on Adobe vs Capcom.

Gaussian Blur vs Ryu. FIGHT!
 
goodcow said:
I just searched eBay for Apple Pippin and I can only find hardware... no games...

Did any games come out for it? Or is it like an Apple computer?

This page has some info about the software, along with a link to some boxart.
 
Goodcow, there was a Dragonball Z game released for the system. What I want to know is if that means those game made it Stateside, which would be several years before the manga and anime did. I remember seeing pics of the game in magazines that appeared to be anime stills, so I think the game was FMV-based.

EDIT: Wow, it got a racing game and a Gundam game too. :)

goodcow said:
So, when's the next Mac game coming out, 2006?

Well smartass, I have a PC now and don't keep up with Mac gaming, but it appears that the next few releases are The Incredibles, WoW, Rainbow Six 3 Athena Sword, and first KOTOR. Mac gaming is generally months behind PC gaming, save for Blizzard's games. Doom 3 just got announced for release early next year.

I am curious if Half-Life 2 will see Mac release...would Valve bother making Steam for Mac, or would they just let it be ported and released by another company? (Half-Life 1 and Counter-Strike NEVER saw a Mac release, which I never understood given how massively popular those games were)
 
Prospero said:
After looking at some more of the marketing material, I don't know if the console was ahead of its time, terribly conceived, or a mixture of both. (Though 1995-1996 was around the time when Apple's upper management was crap, if I remember my Apple corporate history well enough. Spindler? Wasn't he the CEO then?).

Either him or Gil Amelio, I think.
 
The Pipin was actually a kick ass piece of hardware that came out when Apple was wounded, beaten, almost broke and with no name recognition. Couple this with MUCH cheaper consoles out there with games from developers that people cared about and a name that was just beyond stupid (would have done better with Pimp'n) and what you get as a result is one of the worst console disasters EVER.
 
I remember a store near me carrying Racing Days and a bunch of other Pippin games. I always meant to pick up Racing Days on the cheap (since it worked on Power Macs), but as usual never got around to it and the chance was gone.
 
Pippin is more like a CD-I , i think.

the Pippin had absolutely ZERO 3D hardware, so therefore it could not compete with the PS1, N64, or even the Saturn for that matter.

if Pippin had contained a 3D chipset it might have been interesting.


there was a Pippin2, or at least one was planned.


Subject: Yet another M2 killer in the works; Pippin2!

if PSX2, due out by the end of 1997 with 60% greater performence than M2,
wasn't bad enough, there is yet another machine under development that will
smoke M2; it is Pippin2.

goto http://www.macweek.com/mw_1037/news_pippin.html

It will be powered by a 120Mhz PPC603E, with MPEG2, 2D and 3D acceleration,
and a DVD drive(optional). Spec wise, it blows M2 away. Plus, sinec it can
use most of MacOS and services, developing for it would be a piece of cake
if you have some experience with Mac development.

Add NEC's rumored PowerVR machine and Sega's Lockheed machine to the round
up, and there is no way M2 can survive in this crowded market place.

Matsushita better give up now and forget about M2. $100 million Matsushita
spent is a goner.

Pippin2 with dedicated 3D hardware would've competed with M2 and Dreamcast
 
"Holy Grail"? I don't think it was that rare. Maybe the US version, although I remember the US version was getting liquidated for blowout prices back around '97 (when Apple was in deep shit trouble). I was tempted to pick one up back then because I was heavily into Macs and the price was right, but there was no software. I remember the racing game, and there was also a Gundam game for it. The Gundam game was also released for the regular MacOS. One of the reasons I even considered buying a Pippin was to try the Gundam game (this was long before Bandai brought over Gundam to the US), but since a MacOS version was released there was no point. The game sucked BTW :lol
 
Unison said:
HOLY FUCK! That's InuYasha is it not? Wow! :D

I heard about the Pippin once, in Ultra Game Players (Or was it Game Players back then) and they showed it as the "Power Rangers' console", and never heard of it again until Bandai and Sega nearly merged.
 
Ah yeah, I still have a few magazine articles on the Pippin...

Strange machine...

Funny that MS basically ended up doing something similar with XBOX (though the Pippin had a whole lot more in common with an actual computer, from the end user standpoint).
 
The mass market for high-end portables has been elusive, but Apple has been among the few to tap it with their portable music-playing iPods. They should capitalize on that by extending the brand into high-end portable gaming and trying to capture the emerging sector in its infancy.

Apple would need an established gaming partner, and that role would be fit perfectly by Sega Sammy who already have an infrastructure for hardware R&D and the desire for a proprietary platform.
 
Lazy8s said:
Apple would need an established gaming partner, and that role would be fit perfectly by Sega Sammy who already have an infrastructure for hardware R&D and the desire for a proprietary platform.

And a hardware curse that would doom Apple to bankruptcy 2 weeks after it launched.
 
I remember the Pippin. What I don't ever remember is that it ever got released. For those of you that saw it in stores, what stores could you buy it at?
 
dark10x said:
Funny that MS basically ended up doing something similar with XBOX (though the Pippin had a whole lot more in common with an actual computer, from the end user standpoint).

And it seemed to me that a lot of Microsoft's PR before the release of the Xbox was dedicated to convincing the public that the Xbox was a high-end console instead of a crippled PC. By comparison, Apple/Bandai's marketing strategy made it seem like they wanted it both ways--it's a console, but with some PC functionality, and it also has limited compatibility with a Mac. The end result was that the marketing seemed to emphasize the limits of the system, not the capabilities.

Of course, MS's willingness to take a loss on every hardware unit moved distinguishes the Xbox from the $600 Pippin as well.
 
pestul said:
Pippi(e)n's have always remained in the shadows..

jordan_pippen.jpg

:lol

I remember seeing local TV coverage of the Pippen as part of their E3 coverage. This was back when a total avalanche of platforms were being announced, unveiled and speculated on. I saw the Amiga CD32 in person, the sequel to the Amiga CDTV (remember that puppy?), and played some golf game on the Phillips CD-i. There was also the Hasbro VR Toaster, which like the N64 was supposed to have SGI Onyx-like capabilities (ah, the wonders of bullshit hype). Then you had the Saturn Eclipse rumour, the PSX Type-C rumour, and the M2 stuff that was already talked about in another thread. Oh yeah, can't forget the NEC PC-FX...think it was a Japan-only release, and I know at least a couple of it's games were streaming video titles with anime footage. It was a pretty fun time back then, simply from the viewpoint of seeing what these hardwares were capable of, and if anyone would be able to do something hot with it before they expired. Oh yeah, this was from the DC era, but does anyone remember the VM Labs Nuon? :lol Actually made it out from what I know (built into a few DVD model lines), with a handful of games released for it. Wonder if any of those players are still kicking around.

The difference between then and now is that a lot of companies saw that there was an opening for them in the console industry, and that the tail end of the 16 bit era was the best time to launch their salvo. And it was a time when entry into the console industry was still relatively cheap. Of course most of those efforts were modest at best, and none of 'em touched Sony who weren't simply happy with matching the way the Genesis and SNES had been introduced, but far exceeded it. Now the price of entry into the console industry is simply nuts...Sony spent $2 billion on the PS2 fabs and R&D, and Lord knows what else besides. And I don't even want to think about what MS spent on XBox, one of the few companies that could legitimately afford to enter the game at this late stage.

Point being, I doubt we'll see anything like we did in the mid '90's, with several different hardware's coming out from all sorts of companies. Don't really see the Phantom materializing either. :lol
 
VGA out, and a trackball on the controller. These are things I like, and other companies should rip off shamelessley for their next consoles - are you listening MS/Sony/Nintendo?
 
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