Eats Atari 2600 For Breakfast
Written: Dec 27 '00 (Updated May 17 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: great game library, tons of accessories, highly collectible
Cons: too big, poor original controllers
The Bottom Line: It has some great games with great game play, and thats what is really important in a game system
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| clburdette's Full Review: Colecovision |
I present to you an in-depth look at the game machine that finally crushed the venerable Atari 2600 in 1982 and 1983. Yes, the ColecoVision was so hot during these two years that it outsold even the mighty Atari. Unfortunately it was then devoured by the video game market crash of 1984 and the stupid Coleco ADAM, and never blossomed into what it was meant to be. Those of us who remember this remarkable machine hold it in high esteem, as did children everywhere during the Christmas seasons of 82 and 83.
Most of us who remember and collect these video game systems were pretty young when we first played them. You have to remember that to an 8 year old kid, a year is 13% of a lifetime, so the timeline of events described here may seem like they take place in a larger time frame than reality. This is because I was but 5 years old when we received our Atari 2600 for Christmas, and only 7 when my next door neighbor got his coveted ColecoVision for Christmas of 1982. And before diving into ColecoVision, it's important to investigate those early years to see why ColecoVision ever existed in the first place.
I begin at the dawn of time, 1975, the year of my birth. Though I was obviously not conscious of the events of the video game market, this is as good a place to start as any, especially for me. Home video games were in their infancy. In 1972 Magnavox introduced their Odyssey, the first home video game system, and lets be honest, no one bought it. At least not anyone I ever knew... So, here in 1975 there was the Odyssey and some Pong ripoffs by Atari, Coleco, and a couple of other companies. Many, many people had Pong-type setups in their home, because really it was the only interaction with the television that existed unless you count turning the tuning knob.
In 1976 the Fairchild Channel F came out, and with that, cartridge game systems were born. Basically no one bought it, so it only gets a nod and we move on. 1977 saw the introduction of the Atari VCS, later dubbed the 2600. The VCS really wasnt very popular until 1980 for a couple of reasons. First, it was very expensive because it had no real competition, and that changed when Mattel released the Intellivision. Secondly, it didn't have any real interesting or high-quality games, and that changed with the introduction of Space Invaders, which was wildly popular, in 1980. So 1980 is where things started to heat up. 1981 was an enormous year for the Atari VCS 2600, and that is the year the largest percentage of people bought or received that system. Almost everyone remembers the Atari 2600, yet it really was only on top of the world in a big way for 2 years. This gives you an idea of how rapidly the gaming climate was changing back in these early days.
In our home, there was Coleco Telstar Pong first. Pong is really one of my first concrete memories along with deciding that I liked the New Orleans Saints when I was 4. Quickly realizing this was a mistake, I switched to the 49ers in 1980, but I digress... 1980 was also the year of the Atari 2600 in our home. I don't really recall having it any later than 84, but in my kid memory it seems like we had it for decades. Atari, of course, was the king in 80 and 81.
Because the 2600 had been around for a good 5 years or so, a market began to develop for a more advanced system. Late in 1982, just in time for the Christmas season, this advanced system appeared, produced by a company that mostly just made Pong ripoffs and hand-held sports games, and who's name is an abbreviation of Connecticut Leather Company. Of course, because the ColecoVision was "better" than the 2600, every kid wanted it. My next door neighbor, who was 11, got one for Christmas that year, and wouldn't ever let me play it. I think I played the thing twice in two years, and there was born my ColecoVision obsession. ColecoVision did really well in 1983, it was just a time to move on to something better than the 2600.
Things looked great for Coleco. They had a product that sold well, and were even planning an upgrade for the system. This upgrade would have been the Super Game Module, and probably would have had graphic capability similar to a Nintendo NES. However, since every home gaming company in the early days was obsessed with turning their system into some kind of inexpensive family computer, the Super Game Module fell by the wayside. Instead, that piece of hardware morphed into the Coleco ADAM home computer. Because it was buggy, and really just not all that hot, the ADAM bombed and took the company with it. Cabbage Patch Kids enabled the company to hang around through 1984, but eventually Coleco faded away late that year and so did ColecoVision along with many other gaming systems in probably the worst year for home gaming that will ever be.
Because it was only around for 2 years, and because it was regarded so highly in that period of time, the system is highly collectible. Many people interested in this hobby have gathered together information concerning ColecoVision, and that is what I present to you here along with my own knowledge derived from personal experience.
ColecoVision is the bridge between the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo NES, both in age and ability. Atari got hot in 1980, ColecoVision 1983, NES 1986. Graphically, the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision produce about the same amount of onscreen colors, whereas the the NES is superior. As far as resolution goes, the ColecoVision and NES are similar, whereas the Atari 2600 is inferior. ColecoVision games were also somewhere between Atari 2600 and NES. Atari games generally featured 4k ROMs, with the largest being 12k. ColecoVision ROMs topped out at 32k, and NES games were capable of 128k.
ColecoVision was also the first system to do a truly faithful port of an arcade game, and that was Donkey Kong. While it took the technical superiority of the NES to accurately reproduce Donkey Kong, the ColecoVision did it much more convincingly than say Atari's port of Space Invaders to the 2600. That was all part of ColecoVision's advertising campaign, that you could have an arcade in your home. For many arcade ports this was true. While the graphics werent perfect, the games overall were close enough.
Coleco made a couple of immediate mistakes with the ColecoVision. First of all, the console is much larger than it needs to be due to the practically useless built-in controller wells. That makes storage more difficult, and storage is important because Mom usually doesnt want to look at it when it's not in use. The second mistake was the poorly designed controllers. While the idea of greater control through a keypad was a good one, most of the games dont even use it. Also, the joystick is very short, and definitely inferior in feel when compared to Atari 2600 joysticks. The buttons are also poorly placed so that it is difficult to use both at the same as is required in some games.
However, they also did some things very right. The system as a whole is just powerful enough to make a real difference when compared to the 2600, but not so powerful that it would have been too expensive to buy. And the biggest move of all was including a quality game like Donkey Kong with the system. In the hobby today, Donkey Kong is treated like a redheaded step-child because its so common, but it really is one of the most well-made games for the system. When you compare a high quality offering like Donkey Kong to Combat or Pac-Man which came with the 2600, you could begin to see the value in the ColecoVision system. Not to mention Donkey Kong was wildly popular in the arcades at the time. And lastly, the ColecoVision came with an expansion port so that buyers wouldn't be saddled with JUST a ColecoVision in the future.
There were really only two devices that plugged into the expansion port: The Atari 2600 adapter, and early versions of the ADAM computer. One saved the company the other sunk it. Most likely, had ColecoVision gone it's own way it would not have been anywhere near as successful, however the Atari 2600 adapter allowed the ColecoVision to play Atari 2600 games. With that capability, 2600 owners could upgrade to a better system without having to worry about packing away all their favorite games. This is where the Atari 5200 failed, because it's not compatible with 2600 games, and that is just one more reason that ColecoVision thrived.
One of the things that sets ColecoVision apart from many early systems is the rather large, expensive aftermarket controllers that Coleco themselves made for the system. These include the Driving Controller Expansion Module #2, The Roller Controller, and the Super Action Controllers
The Driving Module is basically just a tiny steering wheel controller. It is completely unrealistic and its functions probably would have been better left to the joystick controllers, much like the Atari 2600 did with it's driving games. Add that to the fact that it was kind of expensive and only support by 4 or 5 games, and you can see that it would have a been a complete waste. That, of course, is one of the things that makes it so cool to own now.
The Roller Controller, along with the Atari 5200 Trak-ball, is probably the largest trak-ball controller ever built for a home system. This would not be the case had Coleco not made the curious decision to saddle it with two controller wells. I guess the people at Coleco just liked lots of controller wells. If they'd only gotten in on the ground floor of cup holders... Never-the-less, the Roller Controller is a well-made trak-ball, although the button placement makes it a bit hard to use at times. The real rub concerning this controller is that there were only 2 or 3 games made for it's expressed use.
And that brings us to the Super Action Controller. This was one of the greatest 9-pin digital controllers ever produced. Featuring a joystick, keypad, and 4 different buttons. It was a precursor to modern controllers, and was easily 5 years ahead of it's time. These controllers had two big problems. First, there were only 4 games made for them. Secondly, almost none of the games made for them used the controller's setup very well. For instance, Rocky Boxing uses one button for a high punch, one for a low punch, the third for high block, and the fourth for low block, when an effecient, more creative use of the buttons would have resulted in 4 distinct punches and a REAL boxing game.
I have to imagine that the barrage of barely supported, rather expensive, controllers didnt help Coleco's image any. I know I'd be a little p.o.'ed if I'd spent $70 on a controller that only played 3 games.
One of ColecoVision strongest points, however, were it's games. Outside of the Atari 2600, ColecoVision has the largest library of games out of all the pre-1984 systems. At 140+ initially released games, it had a nicely-sized library. It's just too bad it didn't have time to mature, because the game manufacturers probably would have improved the games greatly over time. Look at the difference between Combat and Pitfall 2 for Atari 2600, and then imagine that kind of improvement over Donkey Kong for ColecoVision. There were actually a number of games released in 1984, just before the system got wiped out, that had begun the process of improvement. But because they were released during the crash, not very many were sold, and as a result they generally rank as the more rare and more expensive cartridges in the hobby today.
ColecoVision is etched into the memory of many. Those who owned it, and those who wished they had alike. Much like the Atari 2600, it holds a place in time and culture that simply will not be erased. Today ColecoVision systems, accessories, and games can still be found, be it in thrift stores, garage sales, eBay, or anywhere else on the internet. Many people are now wishing to relive a piece of their childhood, and these systems are one way of briefly visiting those times of fun and innocence. For those interested in visiting or joining this hobby, I would suggest doing so now before these working memoribilia return to their original 1982 prices. In some cases they already have. Even so, it's well worth it.
Please come visit the Yahoo! ColecoVision Collectors club at:
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/colecovisioncollectors
Also, the home of brand new games released for ColecoVision in 2000 and 2001 can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/newcoleco/
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
clburdette
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Member: Curtis Burdette
Location: california
Reviews written: 46
Trusted by: 19 members
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