Pixelboy

To be honest, this is the first time I've ever heard that particular part of the story, so please don't take it the wrong way if I'm a little skeptical. Can you cite sources to corroborate? AFAIK, Coleco just used off-the-shelf parts for the CV, and made their own BIOS to "glue" everything together. Also, the CV was very similar to the MSX computer and the SG-1000, so it's surprising that Nintendo wanted to market a system that wasn't all that different from the competition in Japan... Also, I read somewhere that the NES was actually designed by someone in America, and Nintendo bought it. I'd have to browse the net to determine where I read that...

You know, that's actually a very likely scenario. Coleco already had ties with Nintendo (DK and Dk Jr. on the ColecoVision and Atari 2600, the DK and DK Jr. tabletop games, etc.). Nintendo could even have asked Coleco before asking Atari. I'm not sure if Coleco's CV software department would have survived this deal, however, because Nintendo might have insisted that all NES games be programmed in Japan, with Coleco being strictly a distributor.

It's hard to picture Coleco NOT failing... The ADAM was undoubtably their greatest mistake, because they clearly didn't know how to properly support it after initially releasing it. Had they survived the crash, they probably would have continued supporting the ADAM, which would have led to their demise a year later at most, regardless of the state of the rest of the video game industry at the time. However, if Coleco had chosen to discard the ADAM and concentrate on gaming, perhaps we would have seen the ColecoVision's successor, something closer to the NES technologically, possibly backward-compatible. As for the Inty, I have no idea how it could have evolved beyond what it was. With its slow processor, its unusual controllers and its so-so collection of games, it seemed frozen in time. I believe that if either the Inty or the CV had survived, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. When we think of the crash, we mostly think about companies going backrupt, but we tend to forget that a shift in consumer interest towards home computers (like the C64, the Mac and the emerging home PC) happened around the same time. The video game consoles of the time seemed unable to evolve, so consumers went for the newer machines which happened to be computers with keyboards and disk drives.

That's just not very realistic business wise. Again, a) They'd have to lease the console name and properties as stated, and b) Without the well known games leased as well you'd have very little recognition, Um, just so I'm sure what you're talking about, can you please define the word "lease" for me? No sarcasm, It's an honest question. And the average person would want a modernized CV because...? This would be a niche market for CV fans, not the general Wii/X360/PS crowd that have never heard of the ColecoVision. Again, I don't understand what you mean by "inclusion"...

Okay, I'll try not to forget. I reviewed the lot last night from the auction's pictures and description, and I was surprised to notice some missing boxed games which I would expect to find in any collection of this size, like Tarzan, Omega Race, Gorf, Looping, Venture, and a few others. Seems like I see those games, boxed, all the time on eBay, especially Omega Race... But I'll wait until I actually receive the lot before I start to seriously monitor eBay for other boxed CV games. By the way, is the seller an AA member?

I asked the seller if there were any noticeably damaged boxes in his lot, and here's what he told me: "Most of the boxes are in excellent shape. Many of them are still factory sealed. There are a few that show some normal wear and tear - which is typical of the age. No major issues though."

Would you believe the only boxed CV games I had before making this purchase were homebrew games? Aside from collecting homebrews, I also collect CV manuals and various ADAM hardware and documentation, but with this admittedly crazy mega-purchase, I just entered the club of "real" CV collectors, more than ever before. The only problem now is that I'm a completist, so from now on I'll be looking for any boxed CV games that I don't already have. My God, what have I gotten myself into??? Anyway, the only doubles I'll have after receiving this lot are the Opcode games (obviously), and PkK's games.

Indeed. You don't see a nice collection like this every day on eBay. And like I said before, I'm saving a bundle on shipping compared to buying these items piece by piece. 80$ sealed? Well, if a boxed DK popped up on eBay, I believe some collectors would be willing to pay a lot for it. It's the kind of item that can easely spark a bidding war. That's where my 200$ guestimate came from, because that's the final bid I would expect to see in an eBay auction for just that one item, sealed or not. My roomate is going to flip when I receive this stuff... But we'll have space for it (barely) once I move that black metal rack in the living room.

Yes. Just a little while ago. Sweet Magilla Gorilla! Well, I guess that ends that. Yep. I was on the fence about buying this stuff, but at roughly 45$ per game, with a sweet boxed DK in the lot which is worth at least 200$ alone, and the rest of the boxes in pretty good condition, I'd say I made a good purchase. Also, the seller is a Canadian like me, so the transaction is much simpler than with an american seller. So what can I say, that lot had my name all over it. I was planning to buy some additional pieces of furniture for my appartment anyway, and I have a black metal rack that I'll be moving from my room to the living room, and all those boxed CV games are going to be stored on that rack. Somewhat true, but I'm saving a whole lot on shipping, for starters. Shipping fees add up quickly when you buy this stuff piece by piece from different sellers scattered all over North America and beyond. Actually, I just stumbled onto this thread after I made the purchase. But it's true that splitting a collection like this would be a tragedy. On the other hand, I can't promise that I'll never split it up myself if I ever decide to part with it...

Bionic Commando 3D. Perhaps they would need to restrict the number of grappling points (as the original 2D games let you grapple just about any piece of ceiling or platform, which might be pretty difficult to implement in 3D) but I think it would be a cool game to play with the Wiimote.

I'm not sure if this is really the proper place to voice my grieveance, but I saw no real alternative on these boards. Last April, I posted my want list of ColecoVision paperwork, and mumbai came forth and told me he could supply me with most of what I was looking for. After various PM exchanges spread out over FIVE MONTHS, with excuses ranging from a bad internet connection to a badly structured inventory system, he STILL hasn't given me a price list for the items he SUPPOSEDLY has in stock. I don't know what the heck is going on with this guy, but I'm tired of being his big stooge, and now I wouldn't want his CV manuals if they were the last available manuals on Earth. My patience ran out. People here should know what they can get themselves into when they deal with this guy. Big talker, but doesn't do much except give out excuses and then disappear from the AtariAge boards for weeks at a time. I know some people here have had positive trades with mumbai, but that definately has not been my experience. I can only recommend to everyone to avoid doing business with him.

Exactly, so that's why they should just release a new CV console and make it fully compatible with the old CV carts. Most of those carts still work quite well, even after all these years, and you can easely collect a lot of the common ones on eBay and other online places. As for new games, they can just support the homebrew community, which is relatively easy to do with the CV.

The Flashback consoles and other similar retro electronics are mainly a niche market. Not enough to sustain a company in the long term, no matter how small and efficient the company may be. Look at River West Brands (the current owners of the Coleco and ColecoVision brands): They just released a cool-looking handheld with Sonic games on it (Genesis games, if I'm not mistaken). Why aren't they making a new smaller and more modern ColecoVision console that would be compatible with all existing CV carts? It would be an interesting product, especially for owners of aging CVs which are plagued with technical problems. But it will probably never happen, because economically, it doesn't make that much sense to release such a product.

Very nice!

I would rather tend to believe that they put their efforts into the wrong places. For example, the game's map is absolutely huge, and some bridges appear and disappear from one mission outing to the next. I don't know how much ROM space the map eats up, but the scrolling engine was pretty well done from a purely technical point of view, given that the CV doesn't offer hardware-based smooth scrolling and only has 1K of RAM. The steering controls are also pretty responsive and mostly bug-free, although it's funny how a crystal sticks to the front of the ramcar even when you turn. Also, IIRC, the game does keep track of crystals that you leave behind, even when they disappear off-screen. I'm not 100% sure about that one though... I seem to remember that Destructor eats up crystals that you leave behind (you can hear him chomping them before resuming his chase after you). Anyhow, it's true that if you stick to the main mission objective, Destructor gets boring pretty fast. But there's one activity that kept me glued to the game for hours and hours when I was a kid: Hunting for Destrutor eggs! That single objective kept me travelling from one corner of the map to the other! It's pretty sad that no one out there seems interested in hacking Destructor to replace the steering wheel handling code with normal joystick handling. I think using the joystick to control the ramcar would be fun...

I have to disagree about Buck Rogers and Dam Busters. They're both fun if you take the time to master their gameplay mechanics. I was never able to destroy a dam in Dam Busters (I didn't have the manual and I couldn't figure out how to bullseye the dam with the bomb) but I had a lot of fun flying the plane between the home base and the dam, shooting down enemy planes, flipping switches on the plane's consoles and keeping an eye on the plane's position on the navigator's map. Anyone who likes flight simulators should like this game. Anyhow, you should add Dr Seuss' Fix-Up the Mix-Up Puzzler to your list. Same goes for Smurfs Paint 'n Play Workshop and Cabbage Patch Kids Picture Show which are really two versions of the same lame game. I would also add Blockade Runner, because it really sucks.

Hmmm... You should check out this recent thread...

Dark Forces, Jedi Knight and Jedi Knight II would make nice remake candidates. I'd kill for a remake of Metroid II (in the same vein as Metroid Zero Mission on GBA is a remake of the original Metroid on NES). Bionic Commando in 3D would be pretty cool. You can already see what using the Bionic Arm could be like just by playing Zelda Twilight Princess.

All I can say is that I occasionally see the cart on eBay. I'd say I've seen it about 6 or 7 times since January 2007. I don't know if that equates to an R8 on DP, but I'd say it's rather rare. However, if you only have the cart, without the manual or box, it may not be worth all that much...

The perculiar thing about the Intellivision is that most of its games require reading the manual throroughly and mastering each game's control setup before you can really begin to enjoy it. You simply can't pick up a game like Sea Battle, Bomb Squad or Utopia and understand it within a few minutes just by playing it. That's the downside of making heavy use of the keypad. People at Coleco understood this, and that's why they chose not to use the CV keypad too extensively, beyond skill level selection. Those raised on Atari and Coleco (and Nintendo, to an ulterior extent) usually don't have the patience to read a manual of more than a few pages. They just pop the cart in the console and learn as they go, while only referring to the manual to check for obscure gameplay features. That type of gamer usually can't get into Intellivision games, even when he really wants to give it a chance. At best, he will enjoy fast-paced games like Dreadnaught Factor or Burgertime. Some gamers who used to love the console but haven't played with it in years can find the Inty games lamer than they remember, because they don't want to take the time to remaster the control setups all over again, and video gaming has moved forward so much since the early eighties that playing just about any other console seems more interesting than playing the Inty. Of course, everything I've said in this post is a generalization that doesn't apply to everyone. There are plenty of Inty fans who still enjoy the console and its games today.

Check out the latest issue of ColecoNation at www.coleconation.com!

Another fine issue of ColecoNation! I enjoyed reading the interview, and the Squares! articles were nice to read too. Reading this latest issue though, I get the feeling that it's the last issue that will ever be released... I hope not... Oh, BTW, the Opcode-related news on page 1 is slightly inaccurate. While Road Fighter is currently very close to completion (Eduardo just needs to add a pause feature, and also implement a sprite flicker routine because... well because it's Eduardo and he's a frickin' perfectionnist ), Pac-Man Collection is rather far from being ready, and work on Konami Sports Collection has barely begun (currently Ping-Pong and Billiards run as stand-alone games, and that's about it). Of the three aforementionned games, only Road Fighter is likely to be released this year. Eduardo is going to be spending most of September, October and November working on integrating Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man into the MegaCart (which as I mentionned before is turning out to be quite a programming puzzle) so if we can get some beta-testing done in December and January, we could (FINALLY) release PMC in February, or perhaps March. Work on Konami Sports Collection should begin soon after, in Spring 2008, with a release set somewhere in Fall 2008. Also, thanks for mentionning the Magical Tree recall.

YOU FREAKIN' ROCK! Thank you. PM sent.

You know, I would actually pay to have someone hack Destructor to replace the steering wheel controls with normal joystick input... It shouldn't be that hard for an experienced CV programmer...

First of all, at Opcode Games, we mostly do MSX and arcade ports. You can see our current and future projects by looking at the sidebar of our web site (link in signature below). Tron hasn't been added to our web site yet because the Opgrade Module is now a very long-term project that will probably be worked on in 2009, if it ever really gets anywhere at all. Besides, we have no screenshots to show, not even mockups (and frankly, I'm not in the mood to make them right now). About Discs of Tron, I love that game and would love to see it on the CV, but there's a problem: The arcade game uses both a dial and a joystick with two buttons (IIRC). The only way to reproduce that control setup is to use the Roller Controller, but I'm not even sure that player 2's joystick can be used with the trackball simultaneously. And even if it can, the real point is that not many CV owners have a functional Roller Controller (it's barely more durable than the Driving Controller), so how many copies of Discs of Tron could we actually manage to sell under these conditions? Probably not enough to cover the dev costs, I'm sure. Thanks for the suggestion. Well, one of the first games I want to program myself next year is Utopia, but that's a personal project, not somethnig that will be released under the Opcode Games banner.