Colecovision

[+RangerG]

By the way, where can you buy Space Invaders Collection for the Colecovision? I went to Opcode's website, but I couldn't find anywhere to purchase games? Do you think in the future you may bundle Space Invaders and Pac Man collection together - that would be a good seller!

Keep up the fantastic work on those games.

[+opcode]

I disagree with this.  The 5200 had Atari arcade ports, the CV had everything else.  I don't think one was necessarily better than the other, but the 5200 definitely had more well-known games.  What the CV did have that the 5200 didn't was Donkey Kong as a pack-in, which was one of the most popular arcade games at the time - without that, the CV would have done nothing in the marketplace.

 

Now I disagree with this. The 5200 had usually *bad* ports of well-known games. Just play Moon Patrol or Dig-Dug. Geez, the 5200 version of Moon Patrol is just atrocious. And many games barely distinguish themselves from their 2600 counterparts. In other hand, the CV had good ports of lesser known games, but with several gems among them, like Lady Bug and Venture.

 

As for the CV screenshots posted here, they look great, but a) this is years after the fact,  and b) screenshots are one thing, seeing the game in motion is another.

 

Are you concerned the Z80 inside the CV isn´t able to move things as smoothly as an anemic 6502?

If the Z80 wasn´t a capable CPU, why did more than 80% of all arcade games from that time use it? The 6502 was used in just a bunch of arcades, mostly Atari stuff. Of course the 6809 is more powerfull than both.

 

By the way, great mockup box Atariboy!

 

Eduardo

[+opcode]

By the way, where can you buy Space Invaders Collection for the Colecovision? I went to Opcode's website, but I couldn't find anywhere to purchase games?

 

Just send me an email: [email protected]

 

Eduardo

[Stingray]

Thse new games look great Opcode! Can't wait for them to be available.

 

-S

[Atariboy2600]

By the way, great mockup box Atariboy! Eduardo

 

Gee thanks:)

[Jess Ragan]

That's our Opcode... always living dangerously!

 

I don't think a ColecoVision conversion of Super Mario Bros. is such a good idea. It would be cool to play that relatively advanced game on such an old system, but I imagine Nintendo would throw a serious fit about it.

 

JR

[+opcode]

That's our Opcode... always living dangerously!

 

I don't think a ColecoVision conversion of Super Mario Bros. is such a good idea.  It would be cool to play that relatively advanced game on such an old system, but I imagine Nintendo would throw a serious fit about it.

 

JR

 

I never said I was going to port SMB for the CV. I just wanted to prove it would be viable. That screenshot is from the MSX version, so a CV port is possible. But I am not really interested... Sorry if I created false expectations...

In other hand, Gradius is playable already. Pictures of it running on a real CV soon (once I fix a few bugs)...

 

Eduardo

[doubledown]

ColecoVision rules all!

[joeybastard]

I just wanted to prove it would be viable. That screenshot is from the MSX version, so a CV port is possible.

 

How is the MSX version? Does it scroll well?

[Atariboy2600]

Ah man and here I was going crazy with Mario Hype^_^

[GrizzLee]

I played SMB on a Mark III ( SEGA SMS hardware). It was really nice. I'm not sure what the differences are between the MarkIII (SMS), MSX and Colecovisions. The biggest problems with some of early CV titles, is that they were rushed and not optimized properly. Defender and Centipede and much better than there similar counterparts released by Coleco (Slither, Victory, Cosmic Avenger, etc...).

 

I think the CV is a very capable machine in the right hands. Remember, sharp coders like OPCODE and other homebrewers have the advantage of hindisight and better dev tools, access to all the tribal knowledge that wasn't shared widely as it is today. Just my opinion of course. But if you look at what is being done for the 2600, you can extrapolate out to the CV.

 

Sadly, today's modern games aren't optimized to the nth degree like they were on the early machines. By the time coders get around to thier 2nd or 3rd effort, a new console is on the scene, so we never get to see the full capabilities exploited of the current gen like we did with the Atari 2600, Intellivision.

 

Just my 2 cents...

 

-Lee

[+opcode]

Here are a few screenshots from a Super Mario 3 clone for the MSX. Gameplay is ok, though not completely faithfull...

 

Now let's imagine for a second that the CV is capable of producing the 2nd set of screens bellow... Smooth scroll... Hmm.... Who knows...

[cimerians]

Colecovision was a better all around system with a great selection of games between 1982 and 1984, the 5200 didn't have a chance as it was released pretty late with the same old arcade remakes. No other system had arcade translations AT THAT TIME like the Colecovision unit had.

 

I disagree with this. The 5200 had Atari arcade ports, the CV had everything else. I don't think one was necessarily better than the other, but the 5200 definitely had more well-known games. What the CV did have that the 5200 didn't was Donkey Kong as a pack-in, which was one of the most popular arcade games at the time - without that, the CV would have done nothing in the marketplace.

 

It was Coleco's stated goal to find lesser-known arcade games that they could license on the cheap. You think they paid much for titles like Venture, Carnival, etc.? No, they just signed up whatever they could sign up to fill out their library. It worked to an extent - the CV became known as the arcade game system. But it did not generally have the most popular arcade games - the 5200 did.

 

The 5200 shot itself in the foot with those controllers - I really think the 5200's design sold some CV's. But I think it's something of a myth that the CV dramatically outsold the 5200. As I said before, the 5200 had actually pulled ahead of the CV by the time of the crash (according to the 5200 FAQ).

 

As for the CV screenshots posted here, they look great, but a) this is years after the fact, and b) screenshots are one thing, seeing the game in motion is another. I'm still skeptical, but even if SMB plays basically like it did on the NES, it doesn't mean much because nobody could figure out how to get the system to do that in 1982-1984. As I pointed out already, Coleco couldn't even figure out how to get four screens into Donkey Kong.

 

Of course I think your totally wrong on some of your points as the 5200 was simply an Atari 800.....which in turn was put out to save Atari's butts as they were losing bigtime in the race to catch up with competition. Too little too late. With games like Gateway to Apshai, BC's Quest, 2010, Wargames and a host of arcade ports, the Colecovision was hands down the system to have at that time regardless of "better" known arcade games like Pac-Man and Galaxian which were up to that point, been played to death anyway. You could go on and on and argue the points we each make, but these issues were covered in a lot of magazines back then (5200 vs. Colecovisio) so for those newbies out there, I suggest tracking down older mags like EG, they make for a good read. The Intellivision vs. Atari 2600 was bit more interesting though....

 

 

...but I'm obviously a fan of the CV and I will support my points regardless. I'm what is called a fanboy.

[Atariboy2600]

Here's more of my mockup Colecovision Box Art^_^

[+opcode]

Wow! Great mockups! May I keep them for future reference?

 

Eduardo

[Atariboy2600]

Hell yea ofcoase and Im making even more version of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man only box art soon and more;)

[GrandviewCoin]

Ok, so some of you say the coleco can do better arcade ports than what the 5200 had. But what I'd want to see is how well a Colecovision could handle "BallBlazer" or "Rescue on Fractalus". How would it handle fractal generation?

 

The 5200 if I am right is really just a simple 400/800 isn't it?

 

Daniel

[+else]

As I pointed out already, Coleco couldn't even figure out how to get four screens into Donkey Kong.

 

This is wrong on so many levels, I can't decide if you're joking or serious. Obviously Coleco left off the 4th screen to get it to fit in to a small ROM. ROMs were expensive back then. Any cart-based system (including the Colecovision) could of course use the ROM bank-switching technique to allow for a virtually unlimited amount of screens with a virtually unlimited ROM size.

 

Are you aware that a prototype Donkey Kong cart has been found with all four levels? And I'm not talking about the ADAM version of Donkey Kong. The ROM is available for download with a bit of searching on the net.

[Mister VCS]

The game library of the Colecovision is limited to arcade-conversions

from the early 80ies. I know there are a few original games, but this

games are not the hottest. Antartic Adventure is an original game which

became a high rating in 1984, but when i play this game today i get bored

after a few minutes of playing. The CV was never a system for "high-

score" gamers, the satisfaction to get a high score was bigger an an

Atari VCS. Why? I don't know why! But wait.... the action-games are

faster on a VCS, and the control was more "direct" with the CX 40

stick. The 2600 has some complex games (for this little machine) like

Space Shuttle, Tomcat, Riddle of the Sphinix, Raiders of the Lost Arc,

Secret Quest..). The CV suffers under its "arcade-limitation".

I love my Coleco - Turbo, Zaxxon, Mouse Trap, Q-bert, Popeye or

River Raid are great games...but this system was "not finished".

 

Mister VCS

[+else]

The CV was never a system for "high-

score" gamers, the satisfaction to get a high score was bigger an an

Atari VCS

 

Well, the X-Box, PS2, and GameCube are never going to be systems for "high-score" gamers either. The object of gameplay has evolved since the 2600 "high-score" days. The Colecovision was a line on this evolutionary path. It's not the Colecovision's fault for taking part in this process of change.

[joeybastard]

Ummm... what's the "point" to most Coleco games besides high score?

 

Wargames has an end, 2010 has an end but most of the games are endless. They are the same type of high score games on the VCS.

[+else]

Same as todays games -- exploring the game, and if there is an ending -- getting to it. At least that was always my reason for playing. I've never been too concerned about high scores....

 

Just my opinion....

[Mister VCS]

It's not the Colecovision's fault for taking part in this process of change.

 

The CV library was arcade-based. Arcade games of this time are

"highscore-games". The CV was not an innovative system when you

talk about the evolution of gameplay. The CV should bring the arcade-

feeling at home. This games are graphical more primitive on an Atari

2600 than on a CV, but they are faster.

[joeybastard]

Sorry, I was actually answering Mister VCS. He seems to think the Coleco games differ from the VCS in goal but I don't think they do. I agree that modern games the goal is to finish the game most of the time and score means very little.

 

The first system to really feature game endings instead of just high score was the NES, I think. The C64 and the Atari 8bit text adventures too of course but in consoles, I think it all changed with the NES.

[Mister VCS]

Sorry, I was actually answering Mister VCS. He seems to think the Coleco games differ from the VCS in goal but I don't think they do. I agree that modern games the goal is to finish the game most of the time and score means very little.

 

 

No, the Coleco games do NOT differ in goal, they are mostly the same

kind of games, but it is more fun to make an highscore on an Atari VCS!