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BSS 01 CC Image – Wikipedia - liftarn

Developer: VEB

Release Date: 1980

Origin: East Germany

Initial Price: 500 East German Marks

CPU: General-Intstruments AY-3-8500-7

Built-In Games: 5

The Bildschirmspiel 01 or the BSS 01 as it is more commonly known as and what it will be known as for the rest of this review (I mean come on, would you want to keep on writing Bildschirmspiel 01?) is an obscure console that's bound to perk up someone's interest if they spot it in your collection. One thing that makes this quite an interesting console is that it is the only retro video game system to have been developed in East Germany. The BSS 01 was first released in 1980 and would have a four year shelf life. I should add that many people refer to this console as the TV-Spiel as that is what is written on the console.

The BSS 01 was a joint venture by the company Kombinat Mikroelektronic Erfurt and the semiconductor factory VEB. Now we really have no reason to go into the history of these companies, but they did make a great deal of electronics in Germany back in the day so we can assume they wanted to get in on the video game craze. The console did not sell well simply because of the cost. This console was way out of the average household's price range, and for the most part could be found in places like education centres.

The look of the console I feel kind of sums up the 80s pretty well. To start off with it is black plastic. I may be the only one here, but to me when I think of electronics in the 70s I think of wood panel and when I think of electronics in the 80s I think of black plastic. Anyway, back on topic. The BSS 01 is a Pong clone system, that has two detachable paddle controllers. These paddle controllers are all black and there is no silver on them like there is on many other Pong clones.

In the middle of the console you had all your games and settings. You had the big red button that was for the power and you also had a series of big orange buttons that were used to select the games. As well as this there was a series of big black buttons to change various game settings. The buttons on the BSS 01 really stand out, as they are much bigger and bulkier than many other Pong clone systems were at the time. I would not say it's a horrible looking system, but it is without a doubt a product of the 80s.

All of the standard Pong games that you could want are included on the BSS 01. You had the two player games of Tennis, Football and Squash and as well as this you had the single player game of Pelota. Each game had a few different game play changes that you could make by messing with the buttons on the console. The games look and play just like all the other Pong systems that were around at the time, although they were in black and white which is surprising when you consider that this console was available until 1984.

Despite not setting Germany on fire with its sales there was a follow up to the BSS 01 planned. It was to be called the BSS 02 and not much is known about it, apart from the fact that it was going to be in colour. What is interesting though is that the guys behind the BSS 01 eventually decided not to make a new console and instead focused their energy on making clock radios.