Why are Atari games for ColecoVision so good?

[almightytodd]

I just finished playing a couple rounds of Galaxians and a Pac Man prototype on a ColecoVision emulator - both ports done by Atari. These games are excellent! Have you played them? The Galaxians port shuffles the individual enemy ships (bugs?) around in a manner that is so much like the arcade version. Then, when they attack you, the little wings flap - another detail missing in ports to other home systems of that era. The scrolling star background and the font used for the score - both are dead-on ports from the coin-op.

 

The Pac Man port, while it makes no attempt to replicate the portrait format layout of the maze, still has a "feel" that seems much closer to the arcade version than anything other than maybe the NES version, which solves the portrait format problem by putting the score information over on the side (...there is a C-64 version of Pac Man that does the same thing).

 

Okay, they're ColecoVision games, but the programming was done by Atari. What was it about the hardware used by ColecoVision that made this possible? I know the CPU is a Z80 instead of the MOS 6502/6507 used everywhere else in the 8-bit world of the 70's and early 80's, but would that make so much of a difference? I would think the ColecoVision advantage would lie somewhere in the video processing. Didn't ColecoVision use the same Texas Instruments video chip that was used in the MSX series computers? I could understand the superiority of the Atari ports if they were porting from Atari coin-op games, but Pac Man was Namco and I forget who did Galaxians - but I don't think it was Atari, was it?

 

It's such a shame that Coleco botched their entry into the home computer market so badly with the Adam. If it hadn't been plagued with so many problems, and had not entered the market at the time of the big videogame market crash, it might have developed into an awesome game development platform. There never was a floppy drive for the Adam, was there? And did they ever release an assembler for it? As I recall, the Adam was unique in that it was one of the few home systems that didn't come with a BASIC interpreter - the "pack-ins" were a word processor and the Buck Rogers game, right? And the power supply was in the printer?

 

I enjoy playing ColecoVision games using an emulator, but I'm skeptical of attempting to get into original hardware. I've heard of so many bad experiences with the controllers failing, and with the game cartridges being so rare compared with 2600 games, it doesn't seem like it would be worth the investment.

 

Do my observations seem correct? Or am I talking nonsense?

[frank_c]

Galaxian was a Midway game...

[+Psionic]

Galaxian was a Midway game...

...licensed from Namco. Just like Pac-Man.

[Pixelboy]

Okay, they're ColecoVision games, but the programming was done by Atari. What was it about the hardware used by ColecoVision that made this possible? I know the CPU is a Z80 instead of the MOS 6502/6507 used everywhere else in the 8-bit world of the 70's and early 80's, but would that make so much of a difference? I would think the ColecoVision advantage would lie somewhere in the video processing. Didn't ColecoVision use the same Texas Instruments video chip that was used in the MSX series computers?

Not exactly, but very, very close (colors are differents, for one thing). It's the exact same video chip as the TI99/4A however, which means one could theoretically make a pixel-perfect reproduction of Parsec on the CV. Not that anyone would bother doing that, mind you.

 

Why were the Atarisoft games so good on the CV? Simple: They hired good programmers who knew their way around the Z80, and the CV's video and sound chips.

 

I could understand the superiority of the Atari ports if they were porting from Atari coin-op games, but Pac Man was Namco and I forget who did Galaxians - but I don't think it was Atari, was it?

I don't understand your point about porting from coin-ops. As I stated above, when you have experienced programmers on your team, with a passion for excellence, you're bound to have great products.

 

 

It's such a shame that Coleco botched their entry into the home computer market so badly with the Adam. If it hadn't been plagued with so many problems, and had not entered the market at the time of the big videogame market crash, it might have developed into an awesome game development platform. There never was a floppy drive for the Adam, was there? And did they ever release an assembler for it? As I recall, the Adam was unique in that it was one of the few home systems that didn't come with a BASIC interpreter - the "pack-ins" were a word processor and the Buck Rogers game, right? And the power supply was in the printer?

Alright, I think some corrections are in order:

 

1) Yes, there was a floppy drive for the Adam. It was an external unit (sold separately) that came some time later after the Adam's release, when Coleco finally realized that the market was moving towards floppies. Just like everything else associated with the Adam, it was a badly conceived piece of junk that started malfunctioning as soon as you turned your back on it. Only a few of them still work today, mostly because they were under-used by their owners during the 80s.

 

2) There were a number of assemblers for the Adam, such as Macadam. But most Adam owners never knew about such software, because of the Adam's greatest flaw: It had no visible community of users. Only when Coleco went bankrupt did the Adam community start to get truly organized and gain momentum. During the Adam's commercial life span, either you were part of the rather secretive community who exchanged information about elusive Adam software made by obscure publishers that were never sold in stores, or you were a "regular" Adam user who was only aware of the stuff sold in stores (and complained about how little retail software there was). When I was a kid, I was part of the second category.

 

3) The Adam packs-ins were Buck Rogers and... SmartBasic. The word processor was more than a pack-in, it was the default software encoded in the system ROM. SmartBasic was a very nice Basic interpreter, but the manual didn't cover advanced topics very well, so only those who had access to supplementary technical documentation could do advanced stuff in SmartBasic. Another unfortunate effect of not having a visible community of Adam users.

 

4) Yes, the power supply was in the printer, which was no doubt a bad move, but the real mistake IMHO was using a typewriter-style daisy-wheel for printing. You could only print text with it, no graphics. By the time the Adam arrived in stores, its printer was already horribly outdated when compared to what other printer manufacturers were offering. If it had been a more advanced printer, I believe most people today wouldn't complain as much about the power supply being inside the printer.

 

I enjoy playing ColecoVision games using an emulator, but I'm skeptical of attempting to get into original hardware. I've heard of so many bad experiences with the controllers failing, and with the game cartridges being so rare compared with 2600 games, it doesn't seem like it would be worth the investment.

If emulation is enough for you, suit yourself. I've got a Coleco hooked up in my room and I love it.

[Spector]

Pacman on Colecovision is brilliant, and the much maligned controllers are perfect for it.

[Atari2008]

I enjoy playing ColecoVision games using an emulator, but I'm skeptical of attempting to get into original hardware. I've heard of so many bad experiences with the controllers failing, and with the game cartridges being so rare compared with 2600 games, it doesn't seem like it would be worth the investment.

 

I also enjoy playing Colecovision games on an emulator. That system never ceases to amaze me, they were really ahead of their time. I haven't heard many complaints about failing controllers or games being hard to find. I have heard that the system can be a bit buggy and you it may take some fiddling around with the power switch to get a cart to play but I haven't heard about controller problems. Could any Colecovision owners chime in? I'm interested in the system as well...

 

Thanks!

[+RangerG]

Controllers on the system are not known for failing (although many don't like their feel). However, I have had many problems with the machines. Get one that has been tested by someone or get an Adam to play CV games.

[Tempest]

I'm finding that the Atarisoft games for the TI-99/4a are very good as well. The graphics are pretty much exactly the same as the Colecovision since they use the same graphics chip (I think). It's interesting to see what some games would have looked like on the Colecovision if they actually been released. Odd that the TI got twice as many Atarisoft games as the Colecovision did...

 

Tempest

[Ikrananka]

I may be one of the lucky ones but I have 5 ColecoVisions (2 from the UK) and all work fine. I have not experienced failure with controllers, power switches, power supplies or motherboards........so far.

 

As for cartridge rarity - check out eBay - you'll find plenty of the great games that are common on cart for very low prices. Things obviously get more expensive when you want boxed games or the rarer titles.

[Rik]

Yeah,i noticed that to,especially the Atarisoft line,like Jungle Hunt,awesome,awesome port!

[darthkur]

I enjoy playing ColecoVision games using an emulator, but I'm skeptical of attempting to get into original hardware. I've heard of so many bad experiences with the controllers failing, and with the game cartridges being so rare compared with 2600 games, it doesn't seem like it would be worth the investment.

 

I also enjoy playing Colecovision games on an emulator. That system never ceases to amaze me, they were really ahead of their time. I haven't heard many complaints about failing controllers or games being hard to find. I have heard that the system can be a bit buggy and you it may take some fiddling around with the power switch to get a cart to play but I haven't heard about controller problems. Could any Colecovision owners chime in? I'm interested in the system as well...

 

Thanks!

 

 

Your best bet would be to find yourself a functional CV and then get one of the ColecoVision 128-in-1 FLASH Multi-Carts from Atarimax. Then you'll have the best of both worlds, all the games on the actual hardware.

Edited May 21, 2008 by darthkur

[SRGilbert]

I enjoy playing ColecoVision games using an emulator, but I'm skeptical of attempting to get into original hardware. I've heard of so many bad experiences with the controllers failing, and with the game cartridges being so rare compared with 2600 games, it doesn't seem like it would be worth the investment.

 

I also enjoy playing Colecovision games on an emulator. That system never ceases to amaze me, they were really ahead of their time. I haven't heard many complaints about failing controllers or games being hard to find. I have heard that the system can be a bit buggy and you it may take some fiddling around with the power switch to get a cart to play but I haven't heard about controller problems. Could any Colecovision owners chime in? I'm interested in the system as well...

 

Thanks!

 

 

Your best bet would be to find yourself a functional CV and then get one of the ColecoVision 128-in-1 FLASH Multi-Carts from Atarimax. Then you'll have the best of both worlds, all the games on the actual hardware.

Plus you can play those cool protos on real hardware as well.

 

I agree about Pacman for the CV, it's great.