towmater

I bought this because of the compatibility, (preordered the minute I read this in May), finally able to resurrect my original machine. I promptly plugged the new controllers into the old console and they fit, albeit loosely. Before powering on, I figured I'd better take a glance at the manual. Sure enough, on page one: "Colecovison Flashback Controllers are NOT compatible with original Colecovison consoles." I think I will see if I can swap out some components to use the new controller's switches inside the old controller's housings. edit: I opened the new controller, it uses varying resistances to detect which button is pressed, whereas the old one used no less than 28 diodes to make a binary pattern to be read by the Coleco. So I guess they may have saved about a dollar by not making them compatible. I imagine that adds up over the total production run qty. I will fit an ATMEGA chip in to translate the button press signals to the old Coleco. Unfortunately the new controllers don't fit comfortably in the old console's tray, although the do fit acceptably if the cord is stressed a bit. BTW, what's up with the "spinner" contacts on the old controller circuit boards?