Jump to content
IGNORED

Colecovision Vs. NES in graphics.


Red Ray

Recommended Posts

Looking at the Specs, the Colecovision and the NES are not too far off, and the Coleco has a few advantages like Processor speed. So how close are they?

 

There are a lot of games that the MSX has that are quite impressive, and at the same time, they should easily show what the Colecovision is able to do, although I believe the colecovision can scroll and have more polished graphics.

 

It may have been possible if not for Adma and CBK that Colecovision could have pushed the NES away from market dominance and would have had computer, MSX, and NES ports which a lot I can see running real well on Coleco especially arcade conversions.

 

What do you think?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The NES had the advantage of hardware scroll and some more colors.

Compared to the Colecovision, the MSX had bankswitching built in, so it could use bigger roms in an easy way, which ment more data for graphics, audio etc. And audio wire on the cartridge port, so music chips could be embedded.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The NES also cheated by "upgrading" the systems hardware via MMC chips built into the games. By the end of its life span it had MMC5 and VRC7 chips that could make it rival 16 bit machines.

 

Coleco would have had to make an expansion or risk another entirely different console to compete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could the colecovision and the nes compete? I think the answer is yes and no. Look at the early nes releases in 1985 - 1987. Many of the games were on the colecovision prior to being released on the nes during those years. Several more games from that time period have been ported to the colecovision by homebrewers. Could the colecovision support later nes titles? No in most cases anyway. By 1987 the colecovision would have been 5 years old and most likely a replacement would have been released. The replacement could have been based on newer technology than the nes. (by two or three years) Also had coleco's sgm been released it may have extended the colecovisions life a little further.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMO some of the CV games are right up there graphically with early NES games. For example, Gyruss, Cabbage Patch Adventures, and Antartic Adventure all look and sound like early NES games to me.

 

It would have been very interesting to see what Coleco would have come up with if they hadn't folded so early. I really would have liked to have seen what the next set of games would have looked like on the CV. I think they were really finding their stride when they decided to quit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMO some of the CV games are right up there graphically with early NES games. For example, Gyruss, Cabbage Patch Adventures, and Antartic Adventure all look and sound like early NES games to me.

 

It would have been very interesting to see what Coleco would have come up with if they hadn't folded so early. I really would have liked to have seen what the next set of games would have looked like on the CV. I think they were really finding their stride when they decided to quit.

 

Antartic Adventure look like an early NES game for sure as it was release on Famicom in Japan

Burgertime, Gyruss were also release on NES

 

Tarzan was very colorfull and detailed for its time!

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DKCVNES_zpsfb04262d.jpg

 

 

Hmm...

 

I personally like the colecovision screenshot of donkey kong better than the nes version. I think the dk jr. screenshot of the nes version looks better than the colecovision. The wii and ps3 have competed against each other for years. The ps3 is capable of better graphics than the wii. Both systems have great games and are better at different things. I see no reason that both the nes and colecovision couldnt have competed against each other as well.

Edited by Manoau2002
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

DKCVNES_zpsfb04262d.jpg

 

 

Hmm...

Well, what about comparing the NES version of DK to the upcoming Opcode Games version of DK. I know, it hasn't been released yet, but I did have the good fortune of playing and demoing it a couple years ago and it will end all these debates. Now you may say, "but it requires extra hardware (the SGM) on the ColecoVision", but all the SGM does is provide additional RAM and an extra sound chip... it doesn't enhance the CV's video capabilities. Here's some old screenshots:

post-25956-0-37324000-1370997824_thumb.png

post-25956-0-86720300-1370997830_thumb.png

post-25956-0-21982000-1370997837_thumb.png

Edited by NIAD
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've always wondered, why was Kong on the 'wrong' side of the board for the CV version? Was he on that side also for any other versions, like the INTV?

The Coleco programmer removed one girder level from screen #01 due to the whole aspect ratio issue when moving from arcade systems to home systems on TVs. But, and it's a big one, Opcode has proven that the CV version could have had all 6 girders in screen #01, so I would say the Coleco programmer or graphics artist just cut corners due to time constraints placed on them by Coleco management.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being a NES player/collector , I always like to go back to Mario Bros to compare it with CV version

Sure, we have turtle in underwear, but the CV version feel alot closer to the Arcade version

 

Colecovision, I'm really impressed with this version. It has intermissions which I love. 2 player mode rocks, sometimes you can revive your other player by bumping up a platform when he just got nailed by an enemy. The sprite flickering is fine.

 

The NES version, I haven't seriously play this. I do notice that some 16x16 sprites are already flickering, just in case if there's more than 8 in a row.

 

I prefer the Colecovision version since it is close to the arcade as possible. The intermission from the arcade made me feel that this made the game complete and stand out from the home version of this game. It controls really well with the Colecovision hand controller. It's a lot of fun to play.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Hey all,

 

Been lurking here for over a year, finally joined.

 

Anyway, as for the CV vs. NES graphics, I think the NES graphics are maybe more detailed, while the CV graphics have a cleaner look. The Atari 7800 is somewhere between the CV and NES graphics, imo.

 

I grew up with the C64, NES and 7800 and started collecting other retro systems a couple years ago. It was the clean-looking/clean-sounding ColecoVision games that I saw online that impressed me to get a CV a year ago. :) Bought some carts as well as the Ultimate SD cart and play it almost every day :-D

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

NES gamepad rules. And it's all about software really. Super Mario Bros was so innovative. It had been a long time since Atari, Coleco, Mattel or anyone else made a game that opened minds, ears, and eyes like that game did. SMB = killer app.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CPU wise, back in 1997 - four years before the first MiniGame compo - there were a series of programming battles between the Commodore 64 (1 MHz 6510, running 6502 code) and the ZX Spectrum (3.58 MHz Z80) to see which computer/CPU would be most efficient on various tasks and algorithms, counted in clock cycles. If I understand the conclusion right, it ended with the C64 had a 3:1 advantage, which evens out due to the ZX running at a higher frequency. You can find some of the results here: http://www.ffd2.com/fridge/speccy/

 

Of course many of those programs utilize the vast RAM of respective computer, perhaps to a bigger extent on the C64 as the 6502 has much fewer registers than the Z80 has. The ColecoVision has the same 3.58 MHz Z80 and 1K RAM, while NES has a 6502 near clone from Ricoh running at 1,66 - 1,79 MHz and 2K RAM + possibility to add RAM on the cartridge. Properly coded, the NES would even do calculations a bit faster than the ColecoVision, ignoring everything that has to do with graphics and sound output.

 

It is a common mistake to just look at the MHz when comparing processors of different architectures. Just look at how Apple desperately tried to convince buyers that a 1+ GHz G4 was at least as powerful as a 2+ GHz Pentium 4, although the numbers themselves would suggest otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, this is never going to be a fair comparison. ColecoVision fans like to say "Well, hey, this homebrew version of x sure looks better than its NES equivalent!," conveniently ignoring that the game was lovingly crafted by fans some twenty years after the last NES game was released, and takes advantage of hardware expansions like Mello's Super Game Module. Yeah, no shit the ColecoVision version is going to look better. On the flip side of the coin, Donkey Kong was almost destined to be a better game on the NES, since it was designed in house at Nintendo and created over a year after the clunky ColecoVision version. It's not even apples and oranges... it's apples and hand grenades.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...