CV Dacman, Steamroller, and VCS Ice Hockey Sealed

[CV Dacman, Steamroller, and VCS Ice Hockey Sealed]

Considering eBay ditched my original account, I'm a bit surprised this one still exists. I'm even more surprised that I remember the password! Anyway, cutting to the chase: I have three auctions up on eBay. This represents some rare/unusual stuff. A circa 2000 ColecoVision Dacman complete. A circa 2000 ColecoVision Steamroller complete, and a retail sealed, new-in-box Atari 2600 Ice Hockey complete with retail tags and all that jazz. The auctions:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 302581098352

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 302581106034

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 302581113936

 

Short story long: I originally got back into classic gaming in the late 90's because I was obsessed with my neighbor's ColecoVision round abouts 82-83 when he got it. In large part this was because he and my older brother would torture me with it. They would promise to let me play and then ALWAYS renege at the last minute. This thing was AWESOME back in the day! I got to play Smurf like 1 time for 5 minutes and that burned ColecoVision into my psyche forever.

Fast forward about 15 years, and I decide to look it up on eBay. They were only about $30-40! I bought one, and got absolutely hooked. I wanted to know more about it. I also hunted for classic gaming stuff at thrift stores and garage sales relentlessly. And those were the salad days, man. This stuff was out there in the wild for the taking, and almost everyone thought it was junk. So I seriously bought everything I saw. Later that year, the retro craze exploded, and prices were going through the roof. That Xmas I made something like 2 grand on eBay selling the stuff I found in thrift stores, which was a big deal back then in the days before power sellers and mountains of Chinese crap. Really I got into it kind of late, so most of the really interesting, truly rare stuff had already been found, but I had a lot of fun hunting.

I started going through eBay, auction by auction, trying to find good deals on lots. I realized there's tons of analytical data there, and most ColecoVision price and rarity guides didn't line up with what was happening on eBay. So I started compiling the data, and came up with The Game Peddler's Guide to ColecoVision. I put it together as an HTML file, and charged $1.25 for it. It was so ridiculous, but something like a dozen people bought it! That's how crazy things were in classic gaming at the time. The lunacy of it. The stupidity of it. The audacity of it. Anyway, I continued buying, fixing, and reselling. I continued to refine my guide.

I was lucky enough to be around for the first CGE, and since I live in southern California, I had the fortune to attend. I don't think I got my copy of Steamroller there. I'm pretty sure it came in the mail some time after the show. The game I wanted at CGE was Ms. Space Fury. But I missed it because my friend and I were so overwhelmed by the smokiness of The Plaza, we had to take a break, which happened to coincide with when MSF went on sale at the show.

I talked to Daniel Bienvenu fairly regularly at that point through email or aim or icq or something. I was always interested in ColecoVision's true potential, and would constantly grill him about what the hardware could do since he was the programming expert at the time. These conversations, and my respect for him are how I came about acquiring the Dacman copy.

I don't remember how I got the Ice Hockey. It was probably in one of the many eBay or auction lots I bought containing classic gaming stuff.

The exact timing on this is fuzzy, but at some point I took my substantial classic gaming horde and put it into storage. It was a fair amount of stuff. I had a 19" crt monitor box filled to the brim with Atari 2600 carts. I had at least one of every major console from the 2600 to Playstation. I didn't ever really have a lot of rare stuff, nor did I really collect it. I enjoyed getting good deals, fixing items up, and turning them over. (and I liked playing them!) Some people gave me flak for it. I provided a service to a willing audience, and I had fun doing it.

Anyway, this storage unit was costing me, so I threw the entire lot, EVERYTHING I had, on eBay. It sold for $600. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the guy that bought it, but it was someone I was familiar with from the classic gaming community. He drove about 300 miles from Fresno to pick this stuff up with a horse trailer. It was hilarious. We loaded everything up onto the trailer, and that was the end of my classic gaming eBay days. I hung onto a few things: the 3 games mentioned, and a fully functional Vectrex that I found in a thrift store for $10. I offer the games to a new owner rather than have them sit in my closet half-forgetten any longer. The Vectrex is mine to keep. Think of it as the cart hunter's equivalent of a 10-point buck. There are two consoles in my living room: My PS4 Pro and my freakin' VECTREX! Thanks for listening.

 

EDIT: You know, it's funny, but I just read through a bunch of stuff, and apparently I'm fairly hazy on some of these events. I have several posts on here from 2006. I don't remember that AT ALL. Now I'm not sure if I was at the first CGE or CGE 2k. I THOUGHT I only went to one, but I could swear I was at the one where Ms. Space Fury was released. That was apparently 2003? and I KNOW I was at one before that. I posted a pic on these forums in '06 taken at CGE 2k1, and I'm nearly positive *I* took that picture. Memory is a strange thing.

 

EDIT2: oh, while going through my old posts, I came across Will Berdan. I'm pretty sure he's the one that bought all my stuff. His eBay handle was different than here, I believe, but have no recollection what.

 

EDIT3: more research into my own past... I believe what happened is that I received both Dacman and Steamroller in 2000 by mail. I attended CGE 2k1, and only 2k1, which is where I missed nabbing a first run Ms. Space Fury by about 5 minutes. Break from the smoke story is true.

[Wanted: Common ColecoVision carts]

I also ordered a batch of 200 new casings some time ago... but with the new price, I need time to find the extra money.

However, I will talk to all the Coleco programmers near me if they want to pay for new casings, a part of the 200 ones.

 

I'd be willing to help out on that.

[Endless supply of sealed classic games]

A few years back I bought a sealed Quest For Quintana Roo for ColecoVision from a guy. It turns out he had 3 boxes of 15 each just sitting around his house; all old store stock he had gotten ahold of somehow. I guess there is quite a bit of that still floating around.

[Wanted: Common ColecoVision carts]

They're not as easy to get ahold of as they used to be. I just recently bid $50 for a lot of 51 games on eBay that included 36 Donkey Kongs, and I freakin' lost!

[Telegames one on one for colecovision]

Once upon a time, I had a silver label Telegames Skiing that looked like a legitimate original cart. The label fit the cartridge, etc, although if I recall correctly it was an Activision case alot like that Tournament Tennis in the pic. Telegames at one time did produce boxes for their games. I think anything that didn't come in a box, but rather a plastic bag automatically doesn't cut it for collectibility. Precendence, for sure, has to be given to Telegames releases: Alcazar, Amazing Bumpman, Boulder Dash, Rock 'n' Bolt, Skiing, and Strike It. You could also argue for Tank Wars and Cosmic Crisis, since no one seems to be sure as to whether or not Bit Corp. ever actually released them to retail. Telegames did own the rights to these games, so anything they did with them has to count as legitimate, but how much do random casings with cheap black and white labels count as collectible? The biggest value in cataloging such copies is really in the ability to avoid them. As far as eColeco is concerned, I started waiting for his stock to run out in '01...

[Colecovision Questions]

World's first side-scrolling platformer (same genre that Super Mario Bros. falls under).

 

Smurfs side-scrolling? No, not really. The action stops between screens, much like Pitfall. Once the action stops, then the screen scrolls -- but this is just a programming gimic; it is not a part of the gameplay. There is no actual scrolling during the gameplay.

 

Oh, I willing to admit it isn't much of a scroller. It isn't much of a platformer for that matter. But, it does do both.

[Colecovision Questions]

With my luck now that I want the Coleco, it'll be gone. I just hope the games aren't all sports. I love sports games, but I'm sure they'll be among the cheapest I'd come across. Also hoping that Smurfs game is on there. I have no idea what kind of game it is... but it's The Smurfs, who cares?

 

World's first side-scrolling platformer (same genre that Super Mario Bros. falls under). It's novel for a few turns around the block. For instance, some jumping over objects such as grass blades is required, however if the grass blades touch you, you DIE. The sound in Gargamel's castle is pretty cool too.

[A find from my past]

And now we FINALLY understand why our moms always nagged us about putting our toys away when we were done playing with them. Great condition.

[Colecovision Questions]

I don't know what to do to get more for my CV stuff on ebay. My experiences are the complete opposite of what people say here. I've sold CV's by itself, bundled with games and accesories, A/V modified and I can't make a dime of profit. I see people willing to pay $200-$300 for a modded CV from doubledown. I list a modded system with games and can barely get $60. People on AA say they're looking for an ADAM and they're hard to find. I list a complete ADAM on ebay and I can't get $5.00 for it. I'm basically giving CV/ADAM stuff away. I threw 3 ADAM computers in the dumpster earlier this year because I couldn't sell them. I still see rare games on Ebay sell for a 1/10th of what they used to sell for. The only old CV games(not the recent limited run homebrews) that seem to sell for a lot are Qbert Qubes boxed, Spectron and Mr Do's Castle and the Xonox double enders. I think there are much rarer CV games than Qberts Qubes and Mr Do's Castle but they seem to have gained this internet reputation as being more rare than they probably are.

 

From what I've been seeing, the guys who recondition or "refurbish" consoles, get quite a chunk of change for them. They even offer warranties. I think people stumble a bit on the shipping, so it's probably best to keep the extra hardware to a minimum. Just console and games. Lastly, I've noticed that if you sneak a decent rare cart into the auction, it can spark some extra bidding from people who are only interested in it alone.

 

I've noticed the same thing with Q*Bert's Qubes and Mr. Do!'s Castle. Although Jungle Hunt seems to be the lastest craze, despite being no rarer. And, collectively, those carts are really only second tier as far as rare carts go, as you pointed out.

[Colecovision help?]

I have to wonder if some titles are programmed specifically for the number of cycles in PAL or NTSC. Perhaps some games play faster on PAL consoles? It would be interesting to see them side by each.

[Colecovision help?]

Does anyone know where to find a Good list of colecovision Pal games, other then the colecovision FAQ 4.0 , that list is incomplete I have a few CBS games that are not even on that list.

 

Do they all have the standard CBS case, with the thumb wells at the top? eColeco puts CBS style labels on some of their carts, but they use the regular Coleco casing. Of course, with ColecoVision, it doesn't really matter, PAL and NTSC carts are interchangable.

[Colecovision Questions]

The DINA isn't a very good machine. The video quality on mine is garbage. Half the time there's so much interference it goes into black and white. The audio quality is bad too. I think it's because you have to turn your TV to an odd channel to play it (channel 13 if I remember). I always get bad interference on that channel, and there's no audio/video jacks, just RF. And there's something on the back that looks like an expansion port, but I don't think the 2600 adapter works on it from what I've read from other DINA owners.

 

The one good thing about the DINA is that it's got a game or two built-in that never got released here in the US. I can't remember if it's one game or two, since I haven't messed with mine in a long time.

 

I don't use a standard Colecovision joystick anymore. I use the Super Action Controller, which is a kind of pistol grip stick. It's nice and big, so it fits in the hand comfortably. I'm starting to wonder if it can be used on a DINA to replace it's joypad, and not have to use the numeric pad on the console. I think I need to perform an experiment sometime soon.

 

This is also in the CV faqs. It states that CV controllers are incompatible with the Dina/Personal Arcade due to the built-in controllers being wired differently. Because of that, all Super Action games are incompatible with the system. The built-in is Meteoric Shower, which was likely never released in the U.S., but possibly in extremely limited numbers in Europe and Australia.

[Colecovision Questions]

I knew it was out there somewhere. I found it in the CV faqs. Supercharger is only incompatible because of the shape. The games still work if you remove the cover of the expansion module. Nearly all Tigervision titles are incompatible, who knows why.

[Colecovision Questions]

I don't know a lot about colecovision, but what I do know makes me interested in getting one.

 

I heard colecovision had power switch problems and the standard controllers were not so good.

 

I also heard about colecovision clones Dina and the Telegames personal arcade that were made years later. Would one of these be better to get than a colecovision? Is the hardware better? Are they imports only? PAL only?

 

Anybody know any 2600 games that weren't compatable with the expansion module? what about the Starpath Supercharger? would the module fit on a Dina or Telegames? do the Colecovision Super Action Controllers work with the clones?

 

 

i'd be grateful for any information I can get.

 

The power switch problem is quite overblown. The large majority of ColecoVision consoles work, but many do need to be disassembled and cleaned in order to perform well. The power switch can be a problem, but is VERY easily fixed if you have any experience at all with a soldering iron. The controllers are a different story. They are poorly designed. There are four directional switches inside the controller, and these are contacted by a thin metal strip. The metal strip cracks and breaks over time resulting in poor response or none at all. This is still fairly easily fixed with some thin metal and a soldering iron. I WISH I could remember the exact incompatibility of the Expansion module #1. I want to say it's the same as the heavy six, where Imagic and other irregularly shaped carts don't fit right. I know for SURE it is determined by the brand of the cartridge. Either way, the vast majority of VCS carts are compatible.

[Price check on some loose Colecovison carts]

 

One major thing, you have to include shipping in there. I am pretty sure the donkey kong and river raid and pitfall and subroc had some sort of shipping charge.

 

Yes, indeed. Figure about $5 shipping. I leave it out, because shipping costs don't seem to have any bearing on the final price, and also because shipping costs become quite diluted in bundled auctions. I apologize for the lack of a disclaimer.

 

Funny how eBay shipping costs are so absurd. Yes, I know why it's done, but I think people will begin to forget that shipping for a cart should easily be less than $1.50 first class USPS. I personally used to ship for free. Then again, I also started my auctions at a penny. So few trust the market. tisk, tisk.

[Pac-Man for ColecoVision on eBay]

Hello all.

 

I just spotted this auction for an Atarisoft Pac-Man cart for ColecoVision. Is this a prototype repro, or some kind of hack of a Pac-Man clone? The screenshot does look nice...

 

It's a prototype copy, which was sold at CGE2k1. I believe 50 copies were sold there, along with an equal amount of Dig Dug and Joust with same-style labels. There may have been others sold afterward with that particular label, but I don't recall. Here's a pic of the CGE2k1 display.

[Price check on some loose Colecovison carts]

Got some Colecovision carts recently & would like some honest answers as to their rarity/value...

 

Thanks for your help! (*= has manual)

 

Donkey Kong*

Donkey Kong Jr.

Subroc*

River Raid

Pitfall

Bump & Jump*

WarGames*

 

I've started tracking eBay auctions for my guide again, and the information is VERY preliminary, but here it goes...

 

Donkey Kong - $0.01 Extremely Common

Donkey Junior - $3.70 Common

Subroc - $1.40 Uncommon

River Raid - $1.00 Rare

Pitfall - $1.30 Rare

Bump 'n' Jump - n/a Rare

WarGames - n/a Uncommon

 

I would agree with other price assessments. I think Bump 'n' Jump is in the $10-15 range, and WarGames is probably $3-5. Also, my River Raid and Pitfall prices are probably a dollar or two low.

 

For more information from my guide, check out ColecoVision Collectors over at Yahoo! Groups.