| ColecoVision | |
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| Manufacturer | Coleco |
|---|---|
| Type | Video game console |
| Generation | Second generation |
| First available |  August 1982 1982 |
| Discontinued | 1984 |
| CPU | Zilog Z80 |
| Media | Cartridge |
| Top-selling game | Donkey Kong |
The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console and was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, the ability to play other home consoles' video games (notably the Atari 2600), and the means to expand the system's hardware. The ColecoVision was released with an initial catalog of 12 titles, with 10 additional titles on the way for 1982. All told, approximately 170 titles were released in the form of plug-in cartridges between 1982 and 1985.
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Hardware
The main console unit consists of a 14x8x2 inch rectangular plastic case that houses the motherboard, with a cartridge slot on the right side and connectors for the external power supply and RF jack at the rear. The controllers connect into plugs in a recessed area on the top of the unit. The design of the controllers is similar to that of Mattel's Intellivision — the controller is rectangular and consists of a numeric keypad and a set of side buttons. In place of the circular control disc below the keypad, the Coleco controller has a short, 1.5-inch joystick. The keypad is designed to accept a thin plastic overlay that maps the keys for a particular game. Each ColecoVision console shipped with two controllers.
Expansion modules
From its introduction, Coleco had touted a hardware add-on called the Expansion Module #1 which made the ColecoVision compatible with the industry-leading Atari 2600. Functionally, this gave the ColecoVision the largest software library of any console of its day. The expansion module prompted legal action from Atari, but Atari was unable to stop sales of the module because the 2600 could be reproduced with standard parts. Coleco was also able to design and market the Gemini game system which was an exact clone of the 2600, but with combined joystick/paddle controllers. Expansion Module #2 is a driving controller expansion that consists of a steering wheel, gas pedal and the pack-in game Turbo. The driving controller is also compatible with the games Destructor and Dukes Of Hazzard. Expansion Module #3, the final hardware expansion module, was released in the summer of 1983. Module #3 converts the ColecoVision into a full-fledged computer known as the Coleco Adam, complete with keyboard and digital data pack (DDP) cassette drives. Module #3 was originally conceived to be the ColecoVision "Super Game Module" using game wafers as the storage medium. Although Coleco presented a mock-up of the SGM at the 1983 New York Toy Show, that product was never manufactured. There were also rumors that Expansion Module #3 was to have incorporated an RCA CED player to store larger amounts of data. Coleco prototyped a fourth expansion module intended to provide compatibility with Mattel's Intellivision, but this was never released. Two controller expansions were also available. First was the Roller Controller, a trackball packaged with a port of the arcade game Slither, itself a Centipede clone. The second was the Super Action Controller Set, resembling a pair of boxing gloves each with joystick and numeric keypad on top and a series of buttons along the grip. It came with the game Super Action Baseball and saw later release of the Rocky-inspired Super Action Boxing and a port of Front Line.
Sales
Coleco licensed Nintendo's Donkey Kong as the official pack-in cartridge for all ColecoVision consoles, and this version of the game was well received as a near-arcade perfect port, helping to boost the console's popularity. By Christmas of 1982, Coleco had sold 500,000 units, largely on the strength of its bundled game. The ColecoVision's main competitor in the next generation console space was the arguably more advanced but less commercially successful Atari 5200. The ColecoVision was distributed by CBS Electronics outside of the United States, and was branded the CBS ColecoVision. Sales quickly passed one million in early 1983, before the video game crash of 1983. The ColecoVision was discontinued in the spring of 1984. Even with its late difficulties, the ColecoVision still sold more than six million units. In 1986, Bit Corporation produced a ColecoVision clone called the Dina, which was sold in the United States by Telegames as the Telegames Personal Arcade. Today, Coleco emulators and games are widely available as abandonware on the Internet. Although the games remain copyrighted, the holders of ColecoVision games have tended not to enforce their copyrights, in contrast to Intellivision and some Atari games.
Games
Coleco's software approach was to license arcade games that Atari had missed. Realizing that Atari had firm support from Namco (the creators of Pac-Man and many other hits), Coleco entered into contracts with companies such as Sega, Konami, and Universal. The ColecoVision had enough power to produce near-arcade-quality ports, and industry magazines like Electronic Games were unanimous in their enthusiasm over the console. Some of the more popular games included Donkey Kong (the pack-in), Donkey Kong Junior, Carnival, Lady Bug, Mouse Trap, Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle, and Zaxxon. The ColecoVision didn't offer many revolutionary new games, since most of its popular titles were arcade ports. Still, it did offer a few notable original titles like War Room, Illusions, and Fortune Builder, an early milestone in the style of SimCity. Most cartridges did not have an end-game to beat, but instead would loop around to the beginning, such as Cosmic Avenger. Coleco also popularized less popular arcade games, such as Venture, the aforementioned Cosmic Avenger and Lady Bug, as well as Mr. Do!. In some cases, the console versions were arguably superior to the arcade versions, as seen in Space Panic. Coleco also made ports of many of these games for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision, in an effort to broaden its market.
BIOS
All first-party cartridges and most third-party titles feature a twelve-second pause before presenting the game select screen. A frequently offered, but incorrect, anecdote suggests that this delay results from internal programming to emulate the PASCAL programming language. In actuality, it represents an intentional delay loop in the console's BIOS to enable on-screen display of the ColecoVision brand. Companies like Parker Brothers, Activision, and Micro Fun bypassed this loop, which necessitated embedding within each cartridge's code those parts of the BIOS outside the loop, further reducing storage available to actual game programming.
Other games
Coleco was infamous for its vaporware offerings. Over fifty games advertised in catalogs or on packaging were never released and likely never existed. An example of such was to be an adaptation of Tunnels and Trolls to the ColecoVision. It is not certain whether the printed screen shots were taken from an actual prototype or were merely pre-development illustrations. The ColecoVision's box itself bears several other examples, among them Chess Challenger, Side Trak, Rip Cord, Horse Racing, and Mr. Turtle. In 1997, ColecoVision received its first "homebrew" game, the Tetris clone Kevtris by Kevin Horton. Since then, dozens of homebrew games have been released by different authors.
Technical specifications
- CPU: Zilog Z80A @ 3.58 MHz
- Video processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A
- 256x192 resolution
- 32 sprites
- 16 colors
- Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489A
- 3 tone generators
- 1 noise generator
- VRAM: 16KB
- RAM: 1KB
- Storage: Cartridge: 8/16/24/32KB
Similarities to other platforms
The ColecoVision contains the same CPU and graphics chip as the MSX1 and Sega SG-1000/SC-3000. It also shares a sound chip with the Sega machines (including the Master System), making them identical in hardware capabilities. The MSX contains a different sound chip that is very similar in capabilities, the General Instruments AY-3-8910. For this reason it proved to be very easy to port games between the three systems.
References
- Bowen, Kevin et al (1998). ColecoVison FAQ. Retrieved on June 27, 2006.
- Was mentioned in an episode of South Park where Cartmen asked, "Where is the Nintendo?", to which Kenny's father replies with "We don't have a Nintendo. We got a ColecoVision hooked up to the black-and-white TV."
See also
- Dina (aka Telegames Personal Arcade), a hybrid Sega SG-1000/ColecoVision clone
- List of ColecoVision games
- Adamcon, the annual Coleco Adam users' convention, usually includes presentations on ColecoVision programming
External links
- Article at The Dot Eaters, a complete history of the ColecoVision
- ClassicGaming's history of the ColecoVision.
- The ColecoVision manual.
- Complete Specs of ColecoVision An exhaustive specification guide and history of ColecoVision
