FINALLY! A Colecovision!

Yes, thats right boys and girls! I finally got a Colecovision! But not just one, but TWO! And both of them are still in their original boxes! I had to cough up $50 for the pair and neither have a power cord but I can pick one up easy enough. But I am slightly bummed i can't play it right now. So the system review is on hold. Since I can't review it yet I am going to give a short history of the system.

The ColecoVision was released in August 1982. IGN praised it for "Its incredible accuracy in bringing current-generation arcade hits home." By 1983 it had sold over 1 million units. Then came the video game  crash of 1983. EVERYTHING was hit by the crash, and the newish ColecoVision was no exception. Sales fell off a cliff and by 1985 Coleco decided to pull the plug on the ColecoVision. Coleco itself wouldn't live to see 1990. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1988 and Hasbro bought all it's assets the following year.

The unit itself is very attractive. It has a very vintage 80's look to it. One of the main features i like is the pig tail controller cords and the storage slots on the unit itself so there are not cables and remotes laying everywhere. The controllers have a keypad, which you slide a plastic cover over depending on the game you are playing so you know what button does what. but good luck finding a used game that actually has these inserts with them. If you look at the back of a cartridge, there is a strange looking plastic pattern which houses the inserts. This is also one of the easiest ways to distinguish ColecoVision games from Atari games.

It was never as popular as the Atari but thats mainly because of the bad timing, right before the video game crash. The casual vintage gamer might have a NES and a SNES on his shelf. The dedicated vintage gamer has those plus an Atari 2600, 5200 and 7800. The true gaming fanatic has all of those plus an Intelivision and a ColecoVision. So guess what system I will be getting next?!

Before I close this out, I want to talk about the Colecovision's expansion port. This port wasn't for attaching empty promises, like the Atari 7800. There were actually three expansion modules made for the system. First, and probably most famous/infamous was the module that allowed you to play all of your Atari 2600 games on the ColecoVision. This prompted a lawsuit from Atari, which they lost because the system could be made with readily available parts. This prompted Coleco to come out with a stand alone Atari 2600 clone known as the Gemini. The second module was a steering wheel and foot peddle for the racing games Turbo, Destructor and Dukes of Hazzard. The third, and probably the neatest expansion basically turned the ColecoVision into a full fledged computer known as the Coleco Adam.

Well that's it for the ColecoVision until I get a power cord and can power these bad boys up. By the way, I now have an extra Colecovision if anyone is interested!!


ON A DIFFERENT NOTE: Don’t forget to vote for your favorite game system on the poll located on the top of the column on the right! A lot of people have voted for the SNES, which is probably my least favorite vintage system and I really don’t think it did much to further the video game industry, but one man’s trash is another’s treasure. Anyway, VOTE! PLEASE VOTE!