Colecovision - Love It and Hate It

[Midnight Synergy]

I had two Colecovisions. One in box, one loose. I've only had them for about a year, but they have become one of my favourite retro systems (after the Atari 2600, of course!). The games are a lot of fun and often much improved compared to the Atari versions. I never owned a Coleco as a kid, and it is great to play some of the classic games that I had only ever read about.

 

I hate the controllers, but I could live with an Atari joystick for most of them (except my beloved Miner 2049er - silly use of the keypad for the elevators).

 

But most of all, I hate how easily they seem to break (reset switch and controller ports).

 

While cleaning out the loose system and fixing up the reset switch, I managed to give the system a little static shock. Gone was controller port #2. So I ordered the controller ICs, and put my soldering experience from twenty years ago to work. Now, my soldering job wasn't the best, but it did work again. While putting the system back together, another static shock (it's dry here in the winter)! Now both (I think) ports were busted.

 

I got so mad at all the time I "wasted" trying to fix the system that I sold it for parts at a local game shop. I still have my boxed one, which is in perfect condition, but I'm just too scared to play with it. I want to give Frenzy a go (which I just got) but I'll be more terrified of the static in my carpet than the electricity in those robot fortress walls!

 

I don't really have a point here. Just had to vent a little. Anyone else constantly afraid of breaking their Coleco?

[Ikrananka]

I had two Colecovisions. One in box, one loose. I've only had them for about a year, but they have become one of my favourite retro systems (after the Atari 2600, of course!). The games are a lot of fun and often much improved compared to the Atari versions. I never owned a Coleco as a kid, and it is great to play some of the classic games that I had only ever read about.

 

I hate the controllers, but I could live with an Atari joystick for most of them (except my beloved Miner 2049er - silly use of the keypad for the elevators).

 

But most of all, I hate how easily they seem to break (reset switch and controller ports).

 

While cleaning out the loose system and fixing up the reset switch, I managed to give the system a little static shock. Gone was controller port #2. So I ordered the controller ICs, and put my soldering experience from twenty years ago to work. Now, my soldering job wasn't the best, but it did work again. While putting the system back together, another static shock (it's dry here in the winter)! Now both (I think) ports were busted.

 

I got so mad at all the time I "wasted" trying to fix the system that I sold it for parts at a local game shop. I still have my boxed one, which is in perfect condition, but I'm just too scared to play with it. I want to give Frenzy a go (which I just got) but I'll be more terrified of the static in my carpet than the electricity in those robot fortress walls!

 

I don't really have a point here. Just had to vent a little. Anyone else constantly afraid of breaking their Coleco?

Don't despair - I have 5 ColecoVisions and not one has yet been damaged by static. I live in Calgary and so am also subject to the high static periods over winter. I've had two of my CVs dismantled for some time and despite my meddling with them vigorously with a whole range of video mods, BIOS mods and switch repairs/cleaning I have yet to damage one through a static discharge. In fact I have yet to break one which amazes me considering how often I have forgotten to discharge myself before working on the boards. That said, I suspect I have just been very lucky and really should be more careful with these old electronics in the future, else I will end up with damaged ICs as you experienced.

 

Now don't be afraid to play your boxed CV. I have never heard of a CV that has blown due to static while it is still in its case. Get it out and enjoy Frenzy - one of the many great arcade ports on the CV.

[AJ_Maine_Man]

I abused my colecovision as a kid back in the day and it never failed me. I would suspect changing the controllers would be were you could cause the static charge. So don't mess with the controllers so much and you should be fine.

 

Also before you work on your coleco just ground yourself first. Buy a anti-static wrist band from Radio shack.

[Midnight Synergy]

Thanks for the encouragement. I will definitely get back to Frenzy soon, and just be more careful about plugging/unplugging controllers.

[Rik]

No kidding eh!The fact the ColecoVision was built so damn cheap ass,and the fact it's almost 30 years old just adds to the fragility of it.I've been pretty lucky,the only problem i've had was scrambled graphics done by the slightest movement of console while playing.That was remedied by simply re-flowing the several cracked solder points in the RF modulator box in the console.Other than that,the CV has been a joy to own.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Rik

[akator]

I loved my original CV. If it didn't use it for over a month, it was cleaned and packed back into the box. By 1992 it was dead. I was a college student at the time, moving, and had other systems I was more interested in, so I gave the whole thing CIB to a charity.

 

Obviously, years later I regretted doing that.

 

Over the last few years I have tried in vain to get a reliable CV. eBay was always a wash. I recently bought one from Atari2600.com, and it was worth it. One of the joystick ports failed in the first few weeks, but since they offer a 30 day warranty I sent it back and it was fixed. I've played it several hours over the last few days, and I love the CV more than ever.

 

So yes, they are unreliable, but the gaming experience is SO worth it.

 

While I have tons of games, there seems to be a lot of new interest in the system which has driven prices higher than I'm willing to spend. A few days ago I ordered a CV multicart, because it was less that 25% of the current price of all the games I want to play. I haven't gotten it yet, but when I do, I will be playing CV more than ever...

[RangerG]

Same problem here -- love the Colecovision games, but the system often breaks. I finally got an Adam (just the main unit, no keyboard and no printer) and I just use it for games. A/V connection, sturdy, recommeded!