Atari 2600 or the Coleco Gemini?

[thevideogamecollector]

What system do you think is the better of the two? PRO'S/CON'S

 

www.thevideogamecollector.com

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2012 by thevideogamecollector

[twoquickcapri]

If I had to choose between those two I would pick an 7800.

[Coolhand20th]

2600 hands down, the Gemini had issues and many to this day do not work. Where as the 2600 in just about every version out there can usually is working, and if not they can be fixed quite easily. Parts are all over the place for them unlike the Gemini from what I've seen, maybe I'm wrong on that part but not sure.

 

And yeah the 7800 is my choice to play on for the 2600 or the Colecovision still since I have the adapter for it.

[Torr]

I've often wondered about the controllers. They have the Joystick/Paddle combined into one, which may not be the most ergonomic design, but at least you don't have to switch between having one plugged in or the other, plus it's lets clutter. Back to my wondering, if I had one of these plugged into a regular VCS, could I play Combat, then switch right to breakout and the system would know which part of the controller to use? or are they made specifically for the Gemini?

[Drixxel]

I've often wondered about the controllers. They have the Joystick/Paddle combined into one, which may not be the most ergonomic design, but at least you don't have to switch between having one plugged in or the other, plus it's lets clutter. Back to my wondering, if I had one of these plugged into a regular VCS, could I play Combat, then switch right to breakout and the system would know which part of the controller to use? or are they made specifically for the Gemini?

 

I've never had any problems using the Gemini combo controllers with a 2600 Jr., I can't imagine there'd be issues with other models. As for compatibility, I've yet to run into any sort of input confusion. The joystick works only with joystick controlled games, likewise with the paddle and paddle controlled games. While the joystick is beginning to die on one of mine, I definitely appreciate the efficiency of the two-in-one design. They're pretty cool controllers and the ones I tend to default to.

[jhd]

I prefer the Gemini simply because it is so much smaller. I have actually never used the combo controllers as my system did not include them (though I have since acquired a set). It works just fine with the standard 2600 joysticks.

 

I don't recall encountering any compatibility issues with any of the cartridges in my (modest) collection.

[Torr]

Well I think I must pick up a couple of these.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Torr

[AtariLeaf]

The problems I've found with the Gemini is that they seem to use cheap "off the shelf" parts and what seems to be a cheap type of solder. The most common problem I've found are joystick ports and power ports where the solder has broken and the joystick/power ports become loose and lose their connections. Should be an easy fix if you can solder ( I can't ) but they do have a "cool" factor about them and I do like them, problems aside.

[atari181]

In my experience Gemini is made with nothing but "Cheap Shit". Everything breaks and it's controllers are really bad(great idea,but bad)

[retrorussell]

I liked the Gemini better. The controls were absolutely perfect (both paddle and stick with button in one). I never had any issues with it at all.

[MaximRecoil]

The Gemini is ugly, while the Atari VCS is the best looking console ever made IMO, not to mention being iconic. Plus, I can't imagine voluntarily choosing a clone/bootleg/knockoff over the real thing.

 

I already have an Atari 7800 which works perfectly for 2600 and 7800 games, but I recently ordered a 6-switch VCS just to have that iconic console in my living room again (I had one when I was a kid, and I miss it). Plus I like the convenient/easy access to the difficulty switches (along with the good visibility of their position without touching the console or getting into a position to look closely) on the 6-switch models.

 

Also, as has been mentioned, parts are easy to come by for the VCS.

[NinjaWarrior]

I pick the VCS...

 

There's has to be 1 preson saying there's noting wrong with his Gemini

[Cebus Capucinis]

I pick the Gemini. It fits on your head best when taking pics with a joystick in your mouth.

 

I have one with absolutely nothing wrong with it, I like the controllers and the compact design is very nice for quick play. I usually end up taking one with me when I go to see my folks since my dad really enjoys looking at the new homebrews the AAers come up with. I still haven't convinced him to either join here or even keep one of my consoles when I visit, though; he always says he doesn't have time.

[atarilovesyou]

All I know is that my two Gemini controllers' paddles don't work. They're sketchier than any Atari paddle, which I found odd considering it doesn't use the same pot resistor design as its counterpart. The sticks work ok though.

[MaximRecoil]

All I know is that my two Gemini controllers' paddles don't work. They're sketchier than any Atari paddle, which I found odd considering it doesn't use the same pot resistor design as its counterpart. The sticks work ok though.

 

Pots can sometimes be made to work properly again simply by turning them back and forth a lot to sort of clean out the crud. Sit down with one and turn it all the way back and forth rapidly for like 5 minutes, and see if it makes a difference. This often works with staticky volume knobs/pots on e.g. TVs, PC speakers too.

[AtariLeaf]

 

Pots can sometimes be made to work properly again simply by turning them back and forth a lot to sort of clean out the crud.

 

Hmmm. Sounds like you need a new dishwasher if your pots have a lot of crud on them.

[Pixelboy]

I've always had a soft spot for the Gemini, mostly because I loved the controllers. Of course, that was when I was a kid, and the controllers were still new. From the comments in this thread, they seem to age about as well as ColecoVision controllers, which means they don't age well at all.

[+Yurkie]

I just got some Gemini controllers, and I think they are really cool and work great. The only issue I had is that the fire button does not start the bombs dropping in Kaboom!, when plugged into ColecoVision expansion module #1 pushing the joystick to the right does. There must be a small incompatibility with the Gemini controllers and ColecoVision expansion module #1

[Underball]

The Gemini is ugly, while the Atari VCS is the best looking console ever made IMO, not to mention being iconic. Plus, I can't imagine voluntarily choosing a clone/bootleg/knockoff over the real thing.

my 11 year old self in 1983 would have told you were bananas for this post.

 

The Gemini looks like a Video Game system. It looked like new technology. Talk about ugly - the VCS looks like a black plastic toilet. The fake wood makes it look like something your parents would put in their ugly 70's dining room with the bad paneling job and the ugly shag rug. terrible.

 

I specifically made sure I asked for the Coleco Gemini, a knock off, for Christmas because of the pack-ins. Donkey Kong and Mousetrap were WAAAAAAY better than Combat and the awful 2600 Pac-Man everybody hated. and I loved it.

[MaximRecoil]

The Gemini is ugly, while the Atari VCS is the best looking console ever made IMO, not to mention being iconic. Plus, I can't imagine voluntarily choosing a clone/bootleg/knockoff over the real thing.

my 11 year old self in 1983 would have told you were bananas for this post.

 

The Gemini looks like a Video Game system. It looked like new technology. Talk about ugly - the VCS looks like a black plastic toilet.

 

"Toilet"? That's out of left field. There is no resemblance whatsoever between a VCS and any toilet I've ever seen. The VCS makes good use of triangular shapes, which makes it look good for the same reason that an M16/M16A1 looks good, or Darth Vader's helmet/mask looks good. Also, the BBQ grill style ribbing on the top makes it look like a serious piece of equipment, like the venerable BBQ grill style Rockford Fosgate Punch amplifiers from the late '80s / early '90s:

 

 

The tall solid aluminum levers on the switches added to the "serious piece of equipment" effect.

 

The fake wood makes it look like something your parents would put in their ugly 70's dining room with the bad paneling job and the ugly shag rug. terrible.

 

And the faux leather texture of the Gemini's plastic casing is better? At least with the VCS you can choose the "Darth Vader" style if you don't like the woodgrain.

[Underball]

It looks like a toilet. It's got the raised tank part in the back and the "grill" area looks like a toilet seat with the cover down, except someone put a corduroy cover on it.

 

It doesn't look like a gaming system. Putting the cart slot at an odd angle makes it look stupid.

 

The Gemini is simple and elegant. The VCS looks like some bad 70's interior designer's furniture nightmare. I'm surprised it doesn't have other tacky looking features like backlight lettering or a string of beads in front of the cart slot, like it was stolen from Greg Brady's "Johnny Bravo" bedroom.

 

Atari figured it out with the 5200 and 7800, style-wise. But the VCS just looks like a bunch of Madison Avenue advertising execs in 1976 all came up with it on a cocktail napkin, trying to please everyones ugly 70's living room design sensitivities. Terrible.

[godslabrat]

I'm from the "I want my manufactured stuff to look manufactured, and my handmade stuff to look handmade" school of thought, so to me woodgrain is horrid in any form. I understand why others would like it, simply because it was the look that launched the Atari. But hey, I'll leave you to your 70s aesthetics, just let me have my 80s looks... neon, chrome, sharp angles, and pastel accents... yeah, that's where it's at.

[MaximRecoil]

It looks like a toilet. It's got the raised tank part in the back and the "grill" area looks like a toilet seat with the cover down, except someone put a corduroy cover on it.

 

Not even remotely. You might as well say that two steps looks like a toilet, or a chair, or a hatchback car, or a half-open book, or anything at all that has a raised section at one end. Apparently proportions and shapes are foreign concepts to you, thus your take on aesthetics is dubious to say the least. I would bet a sizeable amount of money that you are the only person in the world that thinks a VCS looks like a toilet in any significant way.

 

It doesn't look like a gaming system.

 

Or so you say. Keep in mind that you don't even know what a toilet looks like.

 

Putting the cart slot at an odd angle makes it look stupid.

 

A good use of angles actually. Can you draw? Are you an artist? Given that you think a VCS looks like a toilet (a psychologist would probably have a field day with that one by the way; I'd love to see your answers on a Rorschach test), I suspect that if you tried to draw e.g. a duck, it would come out looking like e.g. a wrench, and you would swear up and down that it was a duck.

 

The Gemini is simple and elegant.

 

Generic and cheap looking is more like it. They started with what amounts to a blank off-the-shelf sloping console and added the guts.

 

The VCS looks like some bad 70's interior designer's furniture nightmare. I'm surprised it doesn't have other tacky looking features like backlight lettering or a string of beads in front of the cart slot, like it was stolen from Greg Brady's "Johnny Bravo" bedroom.

 

Not even remotely. The angular lines, solid aluminum levers, grill that has the appearance of cooling fins, and overall utilitarian appearance makes it look like an industrial piece of equipment. The only thing about it that can be pinned to the '70s is the woodgrain on the front, which isn't even on all models. Otherwise the design is timeless.

 

Atari figured it out with the 5200 and 7800, style-wise.

 

Those are two more el generico off-the-shelf sloping console designs.

 

But the VCS just looks like a bunch of Madison Avenue advertising execs in 1976 all came up with it on a cocktail napkin, trying to please everyones ugly 70's living room design sensitivities. Terrible.

 

See above.

[Underball]

It looks like a toilet. A cheap, 70's themed toilet with a horribly out of place woodgrain bezel. Nothing on it looks industrial, because it's quite clearly made of cheap plastic molds. The grille was supposed to be for the originally intended internal speakers, which they cheaped out on, but left the grille because changing it would cost too much. the switches are not solid, but cheap, hollow, off the Radio Shack shelf switches.

 

It's tacky, "of the era" crap. It's the BellBottom pants of Video Game console design. It may as well be tie-dyed, or paisley.

 

Edited March 27, 2012 by Underball

[MaximRecoil]

It looks like a toilet. A cheap, 70's themed toilet with a horribly out of place woodgrain bezel.

 

No, it looks nothing like a toilet. You can repeat that out-of-left-field claim all you want; it changes exactly nothing.

 

Nothing on it looks industrial, because it's quite clearly made of cheap plastic molds.

 

1. Plastic molds aren't cheap.

2. It isn't made out of molds, plastic or otherwise.

3. I've been referring to the lines of the design, which has nothing to do with the material it is made out of.

4. Plenty of industrial equipment uses plastic in its construction.

 

 

Does that ribbing look familiar? How about the angular lines and utilitarian appearance? By the way, the top of that thing is made out of plastic, and that plastic rocker switch is not expensive. That is certainly industrial equipment though, regardless of the presence of plastic and an inexpensive switch; I used one in a PCB factory for 2 years.

 

The grille was supped to be for the originally intended internal speakers, which the cheaped out on, but left the grille because changing it would cost too much.

 

Irrelevant, given that we are talking about appearance.

 

thswitched are not solid,

 

Not that it is relevant, because this is about appearance (see above), but ... [citation needed]

 

Edit:

 

 

That is almost certainly solid aluminum. If you don't have any proof that it is hollow, then how about you explain how they were manufactured in a way that makes sense? Are you suggesting that they started with hollow aluminum tubing, TIG welded a cap on top, then ground and polished the weld to make it appear seamless? That would be absurd, as it would end up costing them far more than simply using solid cylinders in the first place. Or perhaps you are suggesting that they started with solid cylinders of aluminum and then drilled out the center from the back? Again, that would be absurd, for the same reason.

 

but cheap, hollow, off the Radio Shack shelf switches.

 

Again, irrelevant (see above), but how about a Radio Shack link for good measure? I'd like to know of all of the sources for those switches.

Edited March 27, 2012 by MaximRecoil