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I bought a Philips Videopac G7000 because it looks awesome. Now I need to shop for some games.

I'm interested in this AAA+ title, Crazy Chase:

Crazy Chase box cover

However, on the box it says EXPANDED MEMORY/MEMOIRE 4K OCTETS. Does it mean that I need a memory expansion? My computer only has 64 bytes of RAM! There's nothing about this in the manual.

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    64 bytes or 64 kbytes? I do not know the machine in question, but something primitive based on eg the 8048 might literally have 64 bytes.
    – rackandboneman
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 15:05
  • @rackandboneman 64 bytes is correct. It also has a staggering 128 bytes of display memory.
    – pipe
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 15:09
  • Blind guess before I google : This IS built around the i8048.
    – rackandboneman
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 15:11
  • daaayam! 64 bytes? Wow. What the heck can one do with 64 bytes of memory? I once had a 3-bit "computer", but it was mechanical. And bored me within minutes. I'm not sure 64 bytes could have done much better.
    – RichF
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 16:42
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    @RichF a fair bit. The Atari 2600 had 128 bytes and sold zillions :)
    – hobbs
    Commented Dec 13, 2017 at 11:09

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This just denotes the 'new' expanded cardridges with a game using a 4 KiB ROM. They are also known as 'Challenger Series', include titles like UFO (Astroids) or Freedom Fighters (Defender).

While the external address space was limited to 2 KiB, the cartridge port did feature two select/address lines, so up to 4 ROMs with a total of 8 KiB could be added without further tricks. Still, early games did fit well in just one ROM. It wasn't until 1981 when UFO/Satellite Attack (#34) showed up as the first game requireing two ROMs (4KiB).These games where marketed as 'Challenger Series' and often hyped with the 'Expanded Memory' claim you noticed.

(BTW, your G7000 got 192 bytes of RAM - there are additional 128 bytes for the screen data :))

Addendum: William Cassidy great Odyssey² Homepage! has it covered with a seperate FAQ entry: What is the Challenger Series?. Prime source for information about Odyssey2/G7000 anyway.

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