Is this a Colecovision prototype?

[birdie3]

Could someone who knows more about this sort of thing please confirm what I have here? This is an EPROM board as far as I can tell. Thanks in advance.

[Tempest]

Well the board is right, but I've been told that some production games have those in them so I can't say for sure. I'm leaning towards no because of the part number on the labels and not a game name.

 

Tempest

[Uzumaki]

Board has 1982 date so it's not likely to be a repro. However those EPROM looks to be soldered in and not socketed. Magazine reviews? Have someone dump the EPROM and compare to released game (if any) to see if it's different.

[Foxsolo2000]

Board has 1982 date so it's not likely to be a repro. However those EPROM looks to be soldered in and not socketed. Magazine reviews? Have someone dump the EPROM and compare to released game (if any) to see if it's different.

 

Is that true? Did magazine reviewers simply have eprom boards to test out instead of carts? That would explain why some mags managed to talk about games that were never released. It would also go a long way to explain how in one review they gave a totally different account of Pac Kong in which they talked about a little Pac Man having to climb girders avoiding little ghosts.

[2600 Forever]

Board has 1982 date so it's not likely to be a repro. However those EPROM looks to be soldered in and not socketed. Magazine reviews? Have someone dump the EPROM and compare to released game (if any) to see if it's different.

 

Is that true? Did magazine reviewers simply have eprom boards to test out instead of carts? That would explain why some mags managed to talk about games that were never released. It would also go a long way to explain how in one review they gave a totally different account of Pac Kong in which they talked about a little Pac Man having to climb girders avoiding little ghosts.

 

He pulled that explanation out of his ass, go through your Colecovision carts (if you even own any carts for any system) and weigh them!

[Foxsolo2000]

Board has 1982 date so it's not likely to be a repro. However those EPROM looks to be soldered in and not socketed. Magazine reviews? Have someone dump the EPROM and compare to released game (if any) to see if it's different.

 

Is that true? Did magazine reviewers simply have eprom boards to test out instead of carts? That would explain why some mags managed to talk about games that were never released. It would also go a long way to explain how in one review they gave a totally different account of Pac Kong in which they talked about a little Pac Man having to climb girders avoiding little ghosts.

 

He pulled that explanation out of his ass, go through your Colecovision carts (if you even own any carts for any system) and weigh them!

 

What the hell are you trying to say to me? I probably own more than you will ever see in one lifetime for probably more systems too. I was qouting what I read in a popular Gaming mag released back in winter of 83 (were you born then?) and Uzumaki's comments made me think so shut up or put up!

[Bruce Tomlin]

Board: looks like a standard Coleco 24k board

Chips: soldered, makes it less likely to be a prototype, but EPROMs, makes it less likely to be a high-volume production game

Labels: every actual proto that I've seen a picture of puts the game name and date on the label, not a part number.

 

I suspect this is a release version of something or other on EPROMs to get the production going while they waited on a load of mask chips.

 

FWIW, if anyone wants a Coleco cart dumped, I'm willing to do it. I have a CV motherboard hooked up to a Z80 in-circuit emulator with which I can dump the data with ease.

[birdie3]

Thanks for most of the responses. This is a Front Line cart that I recently acquired. I noticed that the cart felt heavier than most si I decided to weigh it. While most CV carts seem to weigh between 2 to 2.5 oz, this one weighs just slightly over 3 oz. I found this to be rather strange so I decided to open it up to see what was inside. The pic shows what I found. So much for my dorkasm.

[Pixelboy]

FWIW, if anyone wants a Coleco cart dumped, I'm willing to do it. I have a CV motherboard hooked up to a Z80 in-circuit emulator with which I can dump the data with ease.

Really? It just so happens that I recently bought a Sector Alpha cart on eBay, in the hope of getting it dumped. All the ROMs of that game I've seen on the net have either a garbled or red-filled lower display, and I think it's about time someone out there made a good dump. I don't have the cart in my possession just yet, but I will soon. Interested?

[birdie3]

Board: looks like a standard Coleco 24k board

Chips: soldered, makes it less likely to be a prototype, but EPROMs, makes it less likely to be a high-volume production game

Labels: every actual proto that I've seen a picture of puts the game name and date on the label, not a part number.

 

I suspect this is a release version of something or other on EPROMs to get the production going while they waited on a load of mask chips.

 

FWIW, if anyone wants a Coleco cart dumped, I'm willing to do it. I have a CV motherboard hooked up to a Z80 in-circuit emulator with which I can dump the data with ease.

 

 

It would be interesting to know if the ROM in this cart is different from any other Front Line ROM. I doubt it but you never know. I seem to remember mumbai or someone like that saying on one of the forums a while back that he has opened many Colecovision carts that have these inside of them. I wonder why Coleco did this. Maybe some of these games were manufactured directly at a Colecovision repair depot. I know of one person who connected with one of the people who ran one of these repair depots here in Canada a few years back and this person managed to acquire quite a few similar EPROM carts from them.

[Shawn]

Thanks for most of the responses. This is a Front Line cart that I recently acquired. I noticed that the cart felt heavier than most si I decided to weigh it. While most CV carts seem to weigh between 2 to 2.5 oz, this one weighs just slightly over 3 oz. I found this to be rather strange so I decided to open it up to see what was inside. The pic shows what I found. So much for my dorkasm.

 

 

It's a normal coleco eprom board and they are inside quite few production run carts. Why didn't you say it came out of a retail cart in the first place? It would have made alot more sense too do so.