Testing Apple’s FORGOTTEN GAME CONSOLE from 1996!
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2018-05-06
·
2,253 words · ~11 min read
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I have an internet gem for you today what you're about to watch is a real
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commercial it is for Apple's only ever gaming console the Pippen
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atmark like what the was that to say
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this was a dark time for would be an understatement Apple including this
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product was not very successful under CEO Michael Spindler but you can't say
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the Pippen didn't contain innovations that were way ahead of its time the ntsc
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pal switch on the back eliminated region locking its games could be run in a Mac
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desktop computer its included modem allowed browsing in the living room its
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operating system could be upgraded on the fly it could run a standard
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full-size keyboard natively and it wasn't just about gaming no it was a
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play to take over the big screen in the living room as a whole and I got one and
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a game time for a glorious retro Tech
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video I need to go find
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lonus the white dark Bas Pro 900 from be
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quiet features a modular design to support a variety of layouts and conf
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configurations check it out at the link below to start the insanity off and
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remember while I say this this was a real policy while marketing the Pippen
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Apple stated that they were not allowed to use the term computer even though the
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Pippen was manufactured by mitsubichi yes that Mitsubishi and licensed to
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Bandai yes that Bandai under Apple's Mac
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clone initiative and yes Mac like
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computer and being able to call it one might have even helped overcome the
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astonishing $600 price tag because for
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the time it was even a pretty banging one featuring a Motorola power PC 603
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running at 63 MHz 6 megabytes of shared
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memory 128 kilobytes of Envy RAM and an
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expansion Bay to put this price into context of a game console instead of a
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computer a PlayStation 1 launched at $299 the PlayStation 2 launched at again
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$299 4 years later however that to put
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that price into perspective the Pippen was over 900 us today when adjusted for
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inflation yo dog want to check this
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out let's we got this is the atmark a
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console by Apple a console by Apple
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yeah cool where's your CRT I'm hook it
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up you know what year it is bro right don't worry about it uh jump on three 1
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2 3 it works okay we landed in a '90s
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living room so convenient this is
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fantastic I don't think you're going to get much from that no no I got this
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something something something CD ROM something something 64 for sale and use
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in Japan only
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uh okay all right you sourced this thing do the
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honors okay isn't surprising have you have you
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even had this open literally never yeah
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who keeps such an old theoretically it's never been
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open really yeah it just wasn't in its
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shrink wrap anymore 20-year-old
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seals I'm having the ultimate Canadian experience destroying seals in the
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door you know what there's some English here not much I'm assuming this is for
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extended warranty there's like some forms you can fill out an envelope we
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sent it cuz like Bandai still exists look at this everything still
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sealed here's the modem oh glorious
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there's your telephone line there's that nice long telephone cord cuz uh who
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would have a phone jack right next to their TV that's the Apple Jack the Apple
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Jack so this controller is ridiculous the irony being
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that in the 1990s Apple Jack cereal did exist Kell
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Apple Jack cereal is part of this complete breakfast we eat what we like
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so Apple jacked the
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name it's got a ball Mouse yeah that's
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so it's like you have left and right click and a ball Mouse how are they
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expecting you to reach these buttons like this middle one it's like exactly
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Out Of Reach for both of my thumbs this
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is not very ergonomic no it's a very
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weird controller so this is the six dis
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kit that comes with it internet kit in
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all caps uh Frankie online and then at
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Mark town in all caps is at marktown a game I don't even
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know it must be so we have two games to play maybe yeah okay dope okay a conso
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yeah okay it's heavy oh jeez how much
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did we pay for this um give it to me straight I think
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including the game it was probably both 500
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bucks hey man uh this better be the most Revolution gaming experience adjusted
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for inflation it is $900 so I got a pretty good deal it's like five $400 off
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all right okay let's just if you wanted it to be a desk computer that's not a
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bad feature to have headphone out on the front oh so this is cool so it's
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actually a toggle switch so you can go
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VGA ntsc via composite or Pal via S
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video okay um hold on oh I believe this
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is an expansion Port down here so that
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back when Apple believed in expandability for their
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devices what is that is that a a PC IE
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slot so we'll tag team this I'll find cables you plug them in sounds good all
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right I can feel the static from this TV just like attacking my
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head yep no just kidding it doesn't make that
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noise probably oh it didn't turn on yeah
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okay I tried another one good yeah
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um press and hold there we go
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okay that was scary it's like 20 years old man the double-edged sword of buying
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things that are still sealed yeah oh oh
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it's delightful go for it man all right at Mark
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toown uh do you just have to no okay so
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we have to like fully boot the computer every time that we try to change
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something oh my goodness oh my
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goodness there we go oh no what uh a oh it's probably like a
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social network so Apple again years
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ahead of the game always on online
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activation okay yeah Gundam tactics
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Mobility Fleet
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0079 there it is I'm pretty excited actually it is in perfect condition this
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game Saw very little use so this game
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also cost almost as much as the console what the total was like 500 I think the
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console was like 300 and this was like 200 it's okay the game will load in a
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few minutes you know I've explain this to the viewers but maybe it's worth
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explaining to you expensing
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purchases is not magic you still have to
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earn the
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money all right this is looking more
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promising okay let's get let's let's play all right
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okay terrible oh man look at those
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Graphics the audio so good do you have to sit through
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this no okay it's in English oh wow also
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last time you select with the mouse you
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don't use the controller at all yeah look at that and it makes sense because
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a lot of these were just ports so start new game
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yeah uh left click left click uh I guess we're
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Pi a faction I'm going with the
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world okay so any hopes that I had about
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the game being in English have been dashed now no subtitles either that's
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okay I'm going to come up with something for it the universe is in Peril and only
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the Gundam tactics Mobility Fleet 0079 can save them it's going to totally
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wreck that City but those Graphics are too difficult to render so wow I don't
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know who I'm rooting for right now Luke you're up bro okay do let's do this okay
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what I think I'm going to try Ms I'm going to carry the middle one oh I think
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you already have all of them yeah and that's probably confirm perfect okay let's just move our
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way over then this one crew
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crew crap this is probably like a mission explanation ah here's a big rock
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what do okay that yeah that's exit exit hey big problem so we're being deployed
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against this ship and those three
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platform things I think we'll just go for a solid
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start oh timer's going
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up okay wait you clicked and it stopped
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yeah if I do anything it stops oh
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there's more menus you probably like let
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the game sort of happen and then go in here and like manage your ship great
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game this is not game so far okay I'm
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deploying Pilots you pick different Pilots yeah done so now we've deployed
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three suits oh my can you select them now
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nope I mean
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oh the timer stops when the things on screen move
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maybe try moving them with that that's that just moves the screen I'm so bored
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right now the system cost us $900 you have to enjoy
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it does he move now yeah
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no this button this is a really tedious
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game very let me give new orders to this
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guy you're actually playing now aren't you yeah this is the best game that's
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ever made for the Pippen should we move up
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towards their Gundam one of those buttons will be move and
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one of them will be attack we're getting better okay now I'm playing zero deaths
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dang it zero deaths oh I'm pretty sure he's better
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than us no I think anytime anything gets
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close they they engage once oh
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jeez tell my family I never liked them
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okay so the dude's actually starting to die
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he's starting to Auto move away I think that's what he said I'm retreating now
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I'm tired no don't go home now I am very sleepy and out of oxygen I must rest
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didn't pause the game that's okay only one more one more shot yeah we got one one more shot this is
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it yes oh my goodness no deaths I think we
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need a bridge crew is what we need that's got to be how you move the big
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ship I think when we get there it's actually going to be a big
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wait what oh our Gundam is attacking the big ship it did a fair amount of damage
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I love that the uh the weight icon is the Little Apple watch I feel like I've
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been playing this game for a little eternity long time we're probably
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supposed to intercept and destroy the platforms or something see there's only
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two oh one's gone like are we the [ __ ] here are
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we just beating up on a no
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oh okay oh jeez
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oh wow whoa accelerate to ramming speed uh-oh
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maybe we're going to fight nope maybe we need to use this one maybe
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this is like combat sure try it they were different oh oh I have no idea we
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did it
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though who
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why did it do damage to a completely different bar those are probably Shields
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he's one Hull shot away from death and one Shield shot away from I don't know
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done I think that might have just won
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it yes something sad I I died and I brought
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dishonor to my family that's probably not far off and the others will get you
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are we done yeah I'm I'm super done
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off are you happy with the investment
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no thanks guys for watching this video on the ATM Mark Pippen yeah this was
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Luke's brainchild project yeah so let them know in the likes and dislikes and
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comments below what you thought also down there you'll find a link to our merch tour as well as our community
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Forum which you should totally join what you won't find down below is a link to
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where to buy this thing because it super duper doesn't exist yeah