A few questions

Bixler · June 11, 2014

Howdy,

I picked up a 2600 from this site and I have been loving it to death. I'm interested in collecting for all of the consoles that are a bit more obscure compared to Nintendo/Sega systems (though I'm a huge fan of the Game Gear and Genesis).

I have a few questions about the CollecoVision.

1. What would be a fair price to pay for a ColecoVision in near-mint condition? I would most likely throw up a thread in the Wanted marketplace forum rather than scouring eBay to start out.

2. What should I be looking for when picking up a ColecoVision? Any seller(s) I should be aware of in particular, either here or on eBay?

3. Are there any mods that I should be aware of? I know that it is popular to throw a composite mod on Atari consoles, and replace the capacitors/screen on Game Gears, so I'm wondering if many ColecoVision users recommend doing something similar, or whether most just stick with the vanilla console.

4. Are there overlays that I should be looking out for when picking up games for the ColecoVison? Or are those not really necessary, and more trouble to find than they're worth?

5. Is there an active homebrew community for the ColecoVision?

6. Will the ColecoVision display properly on a flat screen Sony Trinitron, out of curiosity? Or will it work better on a convex CRT?

7. How reliable/compatible is the 2600 converter for the ColecoVision? Does it have 100% compatibility with Atari 2600 games? If it displays them well, I might just go with that rather than having two systems on my desk.

That's all I can think of for now, thank you.

Edited June 11, 2014 by Bixler

Bixler · June 11, 2014

Can't edit my post, but I found the links for the Homebrew community in a stickied thread, so scratch that question (5).

ColecoDan · June 12, 2014

The biggest problem with buying a colecovision is there is usually something wrong with it. The power plug goes bad a lot as well. Canadian version of the plug seems to be far superior in reliability.

There are many threads about how to fix it if you are good at electronics. If not Yurkie fixes them and also does the component mod and other mods like a pause button or making the controllers better by putting ball knobs and straightening the cords.

If people say they tested their coleco and it works then it is usually pricey like 100 - 150, I think yurkie's fully loaded colecovisions were around 170 - 200.

Homebrew community is huge but all developers like doing CIB games which makes it more expensive like 40 - 80 range a game. Special games have been higher. I think it is getting close to having as many homebrew games as the system originally sold.

Atari2600.com and gooddealgames.com give you some places to buy games. You can of course get games from people on the marketplace as well. There is Atarimax SD cart that you can put every rom from colecovision and some of the homebrews that were released in rom as well all in one cart.

There are only a few games that need overlays. PBoland and some others have made overlays for games that had them and also games that didn't have an overlay that many thought should have one.

I think atari 2600 module works for everything except a certain type of game that couldn't fit in the slot. There was an extender created to fix that problem but I think not many people got them from coleco and therefore I have never seen them being sold.