Coleco Cartridge Extender (Offical Coleco catalog part number 592114)

[HDTV1080P]

Back around August of 1982 I owned my very first ColecoVision videogame system for around $200. Sometime in 1983 or 1984 I purchased Expansion Module #1 the Atari 2600 adapter with a list price of around $60. This adapter is 100% compatible with Atari 2600 games. However after I started collecting Atari 2600 game cartridges, I discovered that the adapter was only really 99% compatible with Atari 2600 games unless one also owed the Coleco Cartridge Extender (Official Coleco catalog part number 592114).I found out that the Starpath Supercharger would not work on the Atari 2600 adapter because the physical plastic case of the Starpath was different compared to your average Atari 2600 cartridge case. Therefore I called Coleco’s toll free number back in December 1984 or early January 1985. Coleco informed me that I needed a Cartridge Extender that has a value of $30, and they would send one to me for free. I had to give them my serial number and address over the phone so they could verify that I had Expansion module #1 the Atari 2600 adapter. When I received the Cartridge Extender in January 1985 I now could play 100% of Atari 2600 cartridges including the Starpath Supercharger. Later on that month or a few months later I purchased a second Expansion Module #1 Atari 2600 adapter. However when I called Coleco’s toll free number I was informed that even though I own two Expansion module #1’s, the Coleco policy was that they only offer one Cartridge Extender per address. Therefore, I was not able to get a second Cartridge Extender. These Cartridge Extender's are extremely rare, and since it was a $30 value, Coleco only sent out one to customers who complained about the problem of not being able to play some products like the Starpath Supercharger. Coleco stopped making videogames back in 1985. Sometimes I wonder why Coleco did not redesign the plastic case for Expansion Module #1 so that they would not need to make Cartridge Extenders. Maybe Coleco might have re-released Expansion Module #1 with a built in Cartridge Extender if they would have continued to make videogame products instead of the business decision to stop making videogames and computer products in 1985.

 

The following website has a detailed picture of the Cartridge Extender (It is too bad someone does not reproduce this product and sell it for $30. There are ColecoVision owners that would like to have one of these to use with their existing Expansion Module #1 Atari 2600 adapter :

http://www.colecovision.dk/atari.htm

Edited August 12, 2017 by HDTV1080P

[HDTV1080P]

Attached are official Coleco documents from 1985 in regards to the Expansion module #1 Cartridge Extender with a Official Coleco catalog part number 592114. I also snapped some pictures of my personal one and only Cartridge Extender.

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2017 by HDTV1080P

[Ikrananka]

Thanks for sharing Very cool to see those original documents.

[ValkerieSilk]

Thank you for the posts ... Very cool to see that all together...

[Master Phruby]

I wish I had known about the extender as I kid before I used to a file to widen the opening of the expansion module.

[HDTV1080P]

This issue was not just a problem for the 2 million ColecoVision and 500,000 ADAM owners that owned Expansion Module #1 the ATARI 2600 adapter (I do not know how many ATARI 2600 adapters Coleco sold? Was it 200,000+??). Anyways there were 3.5 million ATARI 7800’s sold and that system could natively play ATARI 2600 games since it had a built in adapter. The ATARI 7800 had the same problem, it needed a cartridge extender, but I think Coleco was the only one that made such a device.

 

I made the suggesting in another thread that maybe some third party company should make a universal Cartridge Extender and sale it for around $30. This would solve the problem for the ATARI 7800, ColecoVision/ADAM owners, and any other system that has an issue with playing odd shaped ATARI 2600 cartridges.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/269042-should-i-buy-a-starpath-supercharger/?p=3841431

[HDTV1080P]

This latest post suggests the ATARI 7800 had more issues with ATARI 2600 games, and it was more than a physical fitting of the cartridge issue, some ATARI 7800 systems had a timing issue with certain ATARI 2600 cartridges.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/269042-should-i-buy-a-starpath-supercharger/?p=3841449

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/269042-should-i-buy-a-starpath-supercharger/?p=3841468

 

At least the Coleco Expansion module #1 ATARI 2600 adapter was 100% compatible with all ATARI 2600 cartridges once the Cartridge Extender was used. Coleco never had any timing issues with their ATARI 2600 adapter.

Edited September 5, 2017 by HDTV1080P

[ApolloBoy]

This latest post suggests the ATARI 7800 had more issues with ATARI 2600 games, and it was more than a physical fitting of the cartridge issue, some ATARI 7800 systems had a timing issue with certain ATARI 2600 cartridges.

Well that's not really a new discovery, that's been known since the 90s IIRC.

[Hannacek]

At some point Coleco decided it was cheaper to just give out adapters then redesign the Expansion Module. Maybe they made this decision in the design phase, or maybe they forgot that some 3rd party cartridges were shaped differently, and realized the problem when it was too late to make any changes to the product.

 

Most people who had 2600's had Asteroids, Missile Command, Pac Man, etc. It wasn't a problem for 99% of people who had the common games. There was no reason for them to sell the adapter, or include it in every box, because this was a problem for so few people. Either they decided to be nice and give the adapters out, or they were afraid of lawsuits, or both.

[SignGuy81]

I don't see how hard it would have been for them to get the dimensions right to start with. It is like they used some of the game carts, instead of taking an actual 2600 and getting measurements from that.

[JBerel]

I've read before that the Coleco atari module was 100% compatible with 2600 games. I had one back in the day, and while I don't have it now, I do remember problems with two games. One was Star Wars Jedi arena. It used paddles and was a Parker Brothers game. I used paddles from an actual 2600 that I had. It would load but never ran properly, and you couldn't start a game.

 

I had an issue with one other, but I've since forgotten what it was. I believe that also used paddles. They were both pretty bad off brand games, and I had a bunch, so I wasn't too upset at the time, but it was never 100% in my experience.

Edited October 7, 2017 by JBerel