Why we love ColecoVision and Retro Games!

[Marcks73]

Why do we love ColecoVision and all the retro gaming experience? Why do we return to our loved games of old? Why do we need to get that nostalgic yet satisfying feeling back? Why do we need to talk and share with others about this so fondly?

 

To each his own reasons I guess, but we all have personal and very interesting reasons. And believe me, it's not the same with all of our childhood memories.

 

 

Personally, it brings back that extreme joy and excitement of discovering something unknown, being amazed at novelties and never before seen or experienced things. I could not believe it, I could not realise it, I could not figure it all out either. It was pure excitement and true fun. It was all brand new, never before had I felt these kind of feelings towards hobbies or games.

 

It was so genuine, so original. Nowadays we've seen it all, at least we feel like we've seen it all. In those days even color TV was something new and special for most of us, let alone experiencing games and all! I could play a whole day with a game or two. Now kids need alot more and more often, it's insane what kids today ( I have two so I know how it is ) need to get satisfied.

 

I would get up in the morning, get down to the basement and turn on the TV with no sound so I wouldn't upset my parents and Wake them up. I could play without eating for hours. Having a friend over and playing for the fun of it, or trying to reach a new highscore was the most fun a kid could want. Having a few soft drinks and a bowl of snacks and off we went to that marvelous land of videogaming imagination.

 

It was also a way for me, and probably other kids too, to get away from the everyday things that annoyed us. And you know what else? When we had enough, we would run outside and play for hours too! When we would come back in and play more videogames, it felt exciting, like a privilege or a treat. I don't get that same feeling playing on a new generation console like a PS3 or whatever, but when I turn my ColecoVision back on, that same old feeling DOES come back instantly. Albeit I won't play Donkey Kong for 4 hours straight, I will normally turn it of or change cartridge after 10 minutes... But that satisfying feeling is still there!

 

Share with us how YOU felt back in the day!

 

Cheers!!!

[Rhomaios]

With few exceptions, my habits toward games both classic and modern are, like you said, ten minute bursts. The difference between them, though, is that with modern games, they only get turned on once. There's just so much to invest in these new "cinematic experiences", and there's so much there in the classic games. I keep wanting to go back to the classics and beat my old high score, or just relax (intensely at that) for a few minutes while I get a bit further in HERO or Tutankham. I can really get a feel for a game if I put an hour or two into it, while some modern games I'm hardly out of the introductory area after a few hours. Heck, to customize your character in Skyrim feature by feature can take about 30 minutes, and that's something entirely irrelevant to the game. They just get boring and repetitive after a while.

 

That's not to say that the classics can't also be that way, but I think the ratio is better.

[Marcks73]

I sometimes feel many new games are very oriented towards the overall exterior presentation, trying desperatly to impress with incredible visuals and cinematics while old classic games are totally oriented on the content and gameplay. Classic retro games have an incredible replay value. A very vast majority of those old games still hold on very well even 30+ years later. Try playing a few N64 or Playstation1 games in 30 years from now... don't think it will be as fun.

 

I still remember walking and knocking from door to door in my neighborhood when I was like 10 years old, asking complete strangers if they had a ColecoVision and if so, would they be interested to trade cartridges with me for a few days. I was an annoying little kid, but lending and trading games with friends and neighbours was the way it was back then!!!

 

I remember being all excited at the beginning of a new school year thinking I might get to know a new kid who would have games I did'nt. I'd try to become buddies very quickly just in case!!! I would be really disappointed when they had a console I did'nt have or no games at all.... what a let down!!! lol

[Tron Unit]

I think for people our age it's the nostalgia of having been there at the dawn of video games and seeing their evolution over the years. I've tried emulation but it's just not the same. Nothing beats the joy of firing up the old console, popping in a cart, and holding the old controller with all of its unique nuances and flaws. It always takes me back to the simpler times of my childhood. The games were simpler and straightforward and you could go back to them many years later and still know what to do. They are not as convoluted or immersive as games today. There's a timelessness about them that have made these primitive games the classics that they are. I don't even have an Xbox One or a PS4. I'm just not that interested in the "newest" thing anymore. Call me old-fashioned, so be it. I'm old. At least I was there at the beginning and got to play the classics and I will always cherish them and go back to them even if I'm playing them in the old-folks home when I'm 90.

[Crazy Climber]

I never had a coleco back in the day which is probably why I have never been very obsessed with it. I like it, appreciate it, I support it, but I have never had that drive for it like I do with atari 2600. I think that shows just how powerful nostalgia really is. Coleco has just as big (bigger if youre talking CIB) homebrew scene. Its a more powerful system capable of things I could only wish my atari did back in the day. The scene is incredibly active, all these things are exactly what a guy like me lives for in a retro system....but the nostalgia is not there so it keeps me at a casual collecting level. It does bum me out a bit I never had one in the 80s though honestly.

[Rhomaios]

I had only a handful of 2600 games, yet I have more games for it than the Sega Genesis, which I considered my (rather than the family's) first console. I also never had a 7800, Colecovision, NES (friends and neighbors had them, but not us), Lynx, Saturn, or Turbografx, but that doesn't stop me from really getting into those consoles. If there's a nostalgia factor at all, it's for a certain game type: 2D, action, pick up and play, better with friends kind of game. I guess that's where my "obsession" lies, rather than in any one console.

[VectorGamer]

Because the ColecoVision is the greatest console on the planet that brought the best arcade games of all time to the home.

[BassGuitari]

Well, the Colecovision and its ilk were all before my time (born in 1985, raised during the Bit Wars), so nostalgia's not really a factor for me. I've just always thought old games were interesting. I remember the first time I ever saw an Atari, it was like discovering forgotten buried treasure (and that Hartzell Video Game Center caked with about three inches of dust really was like a treasure chest). Coming up in a world where everything was either Nintendo or Sega, there was a kind of mystique for me about things that weren't. And that usually meant going back in time (sure, there was Jaguar and 3DO and such, but from my viewpoint they essentially only existed in magazines). And more I found out about just how much there was, the more engrossed I became.

The mystique is regrettably gone now, as is inevitable when the mysterious becomes familiar, but the games stand on their own.

Besides, cartridges are awesome. So many different kinds, so much label art...

[Rey]

The coleco ADAM was the first system I ever had. I was about 8 years old when my Father brought it home from a store named ZAYRE that closed not so long afterward. By this time the price had been reduced so we picked one up. First video game I ever played was Buck Rodgers. Unfortunately not too long after getting it, I accidentally turned off the ADAM and erased the tape . Never to play it again until last year,more than 30 years later.Still love the game! After that I used the ADAM mostly for programming in smart basic and sure did learn a lot and create some cool programs that I was able to share in school since the language was similar to apple soft. Later on I purchased a couple of tapes from M&Ruth co. Think that was the name of the mail order catalog.Later did find ADAM's house by dialing the number under the ADAM keyboard =D and purchased a logic board that died 6 months later. That's when I threw out the ADAM, a moment I regret till this day. After putting it outside, minutes later someone picked it up.Hopefully they were able to get it going again. Today I pretty much have everything I dreamed of but couldn't afford for the ADAM.

 

No matter how many game consoles and computers I had after that, you never forget your first love. From the ATARI 7800 to the first Nintendo and some of the consoles that followed, a couple of Sega consoles, both playstations 2-3 and finally an XBOX 360. A brothers word processor machine, an IBM that ran windows 1.0 with a 386 cpu, to later upgrading that one to a cool 486 cpu and 4mb of ram. Every other computer after that I have put together. Nothing ever took the place of how I felt about my first system. While it can not do what many of our modern systems do today, it's still for me irreplaceable.

 

ColecoVision FOREVER!!!!

[Marcks73]

BassGuitari you are so right! It still has that mystique vibe to it in some way, in my case it still does. When I get the chance to find a lost treasure ( cartridge ) or discovering a game I always wanted when I was a kid but never had the chance to get for whatever reason, I just go nuts. Playing the game itself is only half the thrill, the most fun is to marvel at the whole thing in it's own old beauty, the label, the box art if the box is available, the fun of cleaning it up and starting it. Gotta love the sheer excitement of cleaning a dirty dusty old cartridge and making it all nice and shiny, then booting it up. I still have pretty much that same feeling as when I was a weeny kid so long ago.

 

Long live ColecoVision and all it's hours of fun! Same for all the other game consoles!

[BassGuitari]

Because the ColecoVision is the greatest console on the planet that brought the best arcade games of all time to the home.

Depends on the arcade games you like, I guess. For me it's more like "ColecoVision brought home the best arcade games that were left after Atari had their pick." Obviously that's oversimplifying it, but that's how it always came across to me.

 

Barring bonafide A-List games like Donkey Kong and Zaxxon, a lot of the ColecoVision's arcade titles seem kind of obscure. Which isn't to say they're bad games or anything (Frenzy FTW), just my opinion. I think the system's third-party titles are generally more interesting. Miner 2049er, Montezuma's Revenge, Defender, River Raid, Gateway To Apshai...that's where it's at.

[CrazyBoss]

I sometimes feel many new games are very oriented towards the overall exterior presentation, trying desperatly to impress with incredible visuals and cinematics while old classic games are totally oriented on the content and gameplay. Classic retro games have an incredible replay value. A very vast majority of those old games still hold on very well even 30+ years later. Try playing a few N64 or Playstation1 games in 30 years from now... don't think it will be as fun.

 

Playstation (1) ? its already 20 years old it came out in 1994 and the Colecovision 1982, so actually the Colecovision is only 12 years older

 

So who knows in 12 years, maybe the homebrew game for Playstation as cool as the ColecoVision is today?

 

Another math could be done since the Playstation 1 is 12 years younger than the Colecovision, we could calculate backwards, and see how was the Colecovision homebrew scene back in 2003 ?

 

I think more than 1500 games was released for the Playstation 1, so the the Homebrew scene for the Playstation have a bit of way to go We already passed the point where more hombrews have been released than original Colecovision releases

 

And I am sure even after 12 years, there are still a lot of Playstation 1's around, who know how many Colecovision's are around compared to the originals released 1982-1984 ? Do anybody know how many units was every produced ?

[tonyankyfan1]

It takes me back to great childhood memories that i shared playing CV with my sister, playing videogames for hourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs. LOL My very first console as a kid was the Atari 2600, that was cool, but then got the brand new COLECOVISION when it came out and it was simply terriffic, like night and day to atari. Never forgot that experinece and as a matter of fact-I get the same feeling i had back then as i do now, when i boot up Donkey Kong on the CV. =)

Edited February 24, 2015 by tonyankyfan1

[Nebulon]

I can certainly relate to the mix of video games and outdoor fun. I'd play video games with my friends and then we'd go outside and hurl Frisbees at each other (TRON-inspired) or we'd bike or walk down to the river and hang out there for a few hours. Then back to the Atari 2600, Intellivision, or ColecoVision again (depending on whose house we were at).

 

The system I had was a ColecoVision, Atari module, Super Action controllers, and Roller Controller. I recall the first time I played Zaxxon and how captivated I was by it. I was really happy about the variable skill levels, since the arcade version was just too difficult. Then there were all the hours that I spent playing Front Line and Mouse Trap. Oh, and of course the kick I got out of playing a home version of Venture. That was pretty awesome.

 

Last weekend my cousin was visiting. So I fired up the ColecoVision and introduced her to Mr. Do. She's from that era (a bit older than me actually) and she got the hang of it really quickly. For a few minutes there, it was very much like stepping into a time machine. In fact, my mother was visiting that same evening, and it was trippy to hear my mother's voice calling my name while my cousin and I played ColecoVision games. Kind of confusing being in your 40s and suddenly having a flashback to when you were a kid.

[Marcks73]

Oh boy Nebulon, your last paragraph is so good! An eerie but fun feeling just crossed through me reading that!

 

When I turn on the Coleco and my kids and wife are around, they find it amusing to see me sitting on the floor, having a great time with a smile zipping across my face from ear to ear. They won't play because they think it's kinda dorky but they still get a kick out of seeing their dad reliving childhood memories and fun.

[Nebulon]

Oh boy Nebulon, your last paragraph is so good! An eerie but fun feeling just crossed through me reading that!

 

When I turn on the Coleco and my kids and wife are around, they find it amusing to see me sitting on the floor, having a great time with a smile zipping across my face from ear to ear. They won't play because they think it's kinda dorky but they still get a kick out of seeing their dad reliving childhood memories and fun.

Cool!

 

It's amazing to think back about how big a deal even a single cartridge was back then. A friend's mom told us that if she won the lottery, she'd buy each of us a video game cartridge. We were like, "Wow!"

[Marcks73]

At my place, once every other month me and my brother would both choose a game, my mom would flip a coin for a heads or tails and that would decide which one of the games we would get. After a few frustrating situations, we would choose a game we would both like. First time we flipped the coin, I had won with Smurfs while me brother who was older than me, around 15 or something wanted War Games. He was really pissed to get Smurfs!!!! Hahhha!!!!

[Nebulon]

At my place, once every other month me and my brother would both choose a game, my mom would flip a coin for a heads or tails and that would decide which one of the games we would get. After a few frustrating situations, we would choose a game we would both like. First time we flipped the coin, I had won with Smurfs while me brother who was older than me, around 15 or something wanted War Games. He was really pissed to get Smurfs!!!! Hahhha!!!!

Wow. I can see why. There's a pretty extreme rift between the simple gameplay of Smurfs and the more strategic War Games.

 

I think Front Line came out later, but maybe that would've been a good compromise? Actually, I mention Front Line because it was the most expensive game on the shelf when I went to buy it. It was $50.00. Now if we roughly triple that for inflation, that's something like seeing a price tag of $139.99! I scraped every cent I had from allowance and chores money to buy that game. As you can imagine, I played the crap out of it (and I still do to this day). It took a while, but think I got my money's worth.

[mightywiz]

whatever! the real reason:

 

we are old and that's what we grew up with and things were a lot simpler back then.

 

some of the games know a days with online play and having to use 10 or more buttons to run

across the screen to shoot at something.

 

come on, be real. we like what we had and we all miss it now.

[Nebulon]

whatever! the real reason:

 

we are old and that's what we grew up with and things were a lot simpler back then.

 

some of the games know a days with online play and having to use 10 or more buttons to run

across the screen to shoot at something.

 

come on, be real. we like what we had and we all miss it now.

That's certainly a big part of it.

 

However, the other part is that the games that we tend to like from yesteryear are ones that were very thoroughly refined and play-tested. A testimony to that is the numerous 'clones' and re-released for phones and tablets. Many of them really suck. And to be fair, I've been digging through tons of lesser-known arcade and console titles from the golden years of the video gaming. Lots of them are 'crap' (IMHO). I can see why many of them didn't make a dent in the industry the first time around.

 

In short, the notable retro games are of exceptional quality. That can't reasonably be ignored.

[BassGuitari]

whatever! the real reason:

we are old and that's what we grew up with and things were a lot simpler back then.

...

come on, be real. we like what we had and we all miss it now.

Well, the Colecovision and its ilk were all before my time (born in 1985, raised during the Bit Wars), so nostalgia's not really a factor for me...

...

[mightywiz]

so i'll ask.

 

what's the age of everyone in here?

 

me i'm 46

[+nanochess]

I don't know why, but once I ran Burgertime for the first time in my Colecovision three years ago, I had a feeling of being accomplished

 

Donkey Kong always leaves a smile in my face.

 

I can play Q*bert for hours and it lets me happy , I cannot say the same of any modern games that always leave you exhaust because the excess of controls and strategies, and of course, the endless long cut-scenes every 3 min...

 

I've a lot of consoles in my collection, but I prefer the Colecovision (check my signature, I've a LOT of games for it)

[+nanochess]

so i'll ask.

 

what's the age of everyone in here?

 

me i'm 46

 

I'm in the happy 36's

[Marcks73]

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