What new ColecoVision products do you want?

[ColecoNation]

If you owned Coleco today (and had enough money and resources to support your operation), what new ColecoVision products would you make?

 

Last weekend I had the opportunity to meet with the company that currently owns the rights to the Coleco and ColecoVision properties. River West Brands is a five-person firm, of guys in their late-thirties, that acquires dormant properties and brand-names and remakes them for today’s market. While they don’t seem to have as strong of a bond with the ColecoVision as us classic gamers, they do realize that we exist and they want their products to appeal not only to the mass-market but to us as well. The first thing I brought up (and they apologized for) was their current website for Coleco.com. They realize how “off the mark” it is and are currently working to improve the site. Don’t ask me why they let it go up in the first place, the key is that they realize they were wrong.

 

What they asked me (and what they wanted me to ask all of you), is what new ColecoVision products would we want to see made today? It sounds like they really want to put something out that will get CV fans excited and that’s why they want our input.

 

Would something like the Atari Flashback 2 work for the ColecoVision?

What games would you want to see included with the system? I mentioned that most of the older CV games were arcade translations, but the possibility of acquiring the rights to use those games didn’t seem to concern them at this point.

Should a cartridge slot (and expansion slot) be built into the new system?

Should it look like the original CV, the prototype CV (I can’t remember what it looked like, but I know it was different that what Coleco eventually released), or should it be a newly updated version all-together?

 

What other possibilities exist for new ColecoVision products today?

[joeybastard]

I'd love to see a TV plug and play kind of thing that looked like a Super Action Controller. Try and get the rights to as many of the old arcade ports as possible and for stuff like Rocky or Tarzan, just change the name and some small graphic hacks. It would be even better if it had some kind of port for hooking up to a PC for rom downloads or new games they develop for it. Get the homebrewers like Opcode and Scott Huggins involved. If they make a regular unit like a mini CV looking thing, it should have cart port or at least an easy way to add one. Maybe a connector inside the unit and they sell a separate cart port add on that plugs into it.

 

Most importantly though is that it needs to be a real CV in this unit. Not a NES chip with crappy reworkings of the CV games.

 

The should call it the CCC: Colecovision Classic Console

Edited October 19, 2005 by joeybastard

[Omegamatrix]

Joey's got some great ideas. I like being able to download games into it too. Otherwise I'd like to see new boards produced for the original Coleco joysticks with gold contacts, or new joysticks altogether like Atari's Flashback II. The most important thing is to work out contracts with the Coleco homebrewers so that their games are included.

[Lord Helmet]

 

Most importantly though is that it needs to be a real CV in this unit.  Not  a NES chip with crappy reworkings of the CV games.

 

950840[/snapback]

 

Most. Important. Point.

 

I think the FB2 is proof positive that only real hardware will suffice. IIRC the CV was built from off-the-shelf components, so you wouldn't think a CV on a chip would be out of the realm of possibilities.

 

Homebrews would be cool. I also tink that many of the arcade games that came out on the CV might not be as hard to ge tthe rights to as has been discussed. Lady Bug is not Ms. Pac-Man, and probablu wouldn't cost as much to get the rights to. Any CV system that comes out in the future might really benefit from the fact that most of the arcade titles released for the original CV back in the 80's were more obscure titles.

 

I would really love to see ANY retro style console that would accept flash ram.

 

If they do release a classic CV console, they have to do something about those blasted controllers. Maybe they could make the knob (joystick) into a d-pad instead...just an idea

[else]

Why not start by selling compliation CDs for current systems such as the PS2, XBOX, etc. You know, like the Blue Sky Rangers are doing for the Intellivision? That would seem a lot easier and less risky than doing FB2 right off the bat.... Plus then the licenses would be in place to do a FB2 in the future.

 

BTW, you mention that licenses shouldn't be a problem for most games. However, the games that sold my family on the Colecovision back in the day were Donkey Kong and Zaxxon. In my mind, these are the "killer apps" on it. I imagine they were to a lot of other people as well. These "key" licenses don't seem like they will be easy to acquire! But I do wish them luck....

Edited October 19, 2005 by else

[joeybastard]

I rather the sticks be like SA controllers but I imagine most people would prefer a NES style pad so for sales sake, they should go with a gamepad.

 

But if these are actual CV games, that pad needs a real number keypad too. If there's no number keypad, quite a few games will be crippled if not unplayable.

 

Many of the licensed games could be tweaked pretty easily to avoid the relicensing. It's not like 2010 or Wargames actually needs the movie tie-in to be good. Change the opening and closing screens and you wouldn't know they were movie tie-ins really.

Edited October 19, 2005 by joeybastard

[Lord Helmet]

Mockup of a possible CV inspired gamepad. Just a quickie I threw together:

[Bruce Tomlin]

EDIT: stupid double-post preview-cancel bug

Edited October 19, 2005 by Bruce Tomlin

[Bruce Tomlin]

I gotta agree with everyone else talking about a FB2-style unit. FWIW, this should also mean tap points on the board for cartridges.

 

The various chips in the CV should be much more straightforward than the TIA, with the possible exception of the sound chip. But I'll guess that the hardware design of the sound chip is either known or can be found out. (Hey, TI is still in business, after all.)

 

It will have to have a BIOS ROM of course. If anyone in the project is interested *ahem*, I have an optimized version of the ROM with over 1K optimized out of it, most of it contiguous. Whoever wrote that thing had NOT done a lot of Z-80 code. But I have a feeling that in a FB2-style project that saving 1K out of 8K isn't going to do much good.

 

Also, depending on the games chosen, the keypad could be done away with entirely. Most games only used * and # for pause/reset, and called the BIOS for difficulty select. * and # could be hard-wired to PAUSE and RESET buttons on the keypad, and the BIOS could be rewritten to use the joystick to select the difficulty. And you know what? This would be cool to add to the BIOS anyhow. The only other good idea of what I had to do with that 1K of free space was a controller tester, of which I have a pretty good one 95% complete. This may be enough for me to dust off the ICE and start hacking Coleco again.

 

 

As for what I'd like to do with the hardware I already have, I want to wire up a Wico stick for 2-button mode that can be somehow combined with a keypad. I've got two Champ keypads, but the stupid things don't pass through the signal needed for the right button. I hate the 2-button sticks for both CV and 7800 (the 7800 joypads look nice, but I've never found any in the wild).

[Lord Helmet]

Hopefully, like the FB2, the Coleco console would be compatable with legacy controllers (and other hardware via user soldered ports (expansion module 1 & 2)).

Edited October 19, 2005 by Lord Helmet

[birdie3]

Are we talking A.) Stuff we can use on the original console or B.) New stuff that uses the "ColecoVision" name that is not compatible with the original system?

 

If it is option A.) Brand new extremely fun games - not conversions!!

 

If it is option B.) Frankly, I don't want to see anything like this.

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

this is a dream come true!!!!

 

 

I would love to see all the classic games in a "flash back" type of system. however, there were some restrictions when it came to some games. for instance, I had bought "FRONTLINE" for an extemely cheap price when it was first released but I did not have the money for the super action controller so I was never able to finish the game unless I begged my mom to but me a set of SA controllers.

 

please do away with the SA buttons and make controllers with more than 4 or more buttons! (yes, use the keypad even if you have to!)

 

 

i would also like to see games that never saw the day of light (I remember reading about some in some issues of the coleco magazine from back in the day) and if possible, why not include the ADAM versions (those versions had the intermissions in them!!!!!)

[mstulir]

I'd love to see the Colecovision get the "Flashback 2" treatment.

 

However.....

 

Speaking from experience, the biggest problem anyone would have with doing a Coleco retro unit would be the library. There just isn't enough "original" Coleco-owned content to base the console on. Since the unit would have to be dependent on so much licensed content, the price of the console would go through the roof.

 

Now, I'm sure everyone here would jump at the chance for a new Coleco unit even if it cost $100-$125. However, the "casual" or "impulse" buyer would never buy one at that price, and like it or not, that is where the bulk of the sales would come from.

[Bill Brasky]

A new, small CV using real hardware Z-80's, TI chips, with controller ports in the front, component video output, reliable power switch in the rear, small generic Genesis type power supply, increased RAM, cart slot. SEGA has a custom chip they used in their arcade machines and in the Genesis that combines the CV's TI graphics and sound chip into one chip. Saturn type joypads with long, straight cords. Maybe they can add a number pad in the center. Optional PAC MAN style red ball arcade joystick.

[Bruce Tomlin]

You know what? If you manage to get games not to need the whole keypad, then you could even make a joypad controller arranged like a SNES controller (minus the shoulder buttons).

[Bill Brasky]

You know what?  If you manage to get games not to need the whole keypad, then you could even make a joypad controller arranged like a SNES controller (minus the shoulder buttons).

951272[/snapback]

 

The BIOS could be re-written so that level select could be done using a joypad instead of keypad input. The blue level select screen is in the system BIOS, not the game programs really. They could use most CV games unmodified if they just used a different BIOS. Most games only use the keypad to select the level when first starting the game and never use it in-game except maybe to pause. A pause button on a joypad could be wired to the old asterisk button.

[Guitardude]

Hell, let's have that laserdisc player we were promised in '84!

[thegamezmaster]

How about maybe a console that looks like the smaller ones a few people have made? And a cart slot for the games that are not included if that's the way they go? New more durable controllers would really be nice. Maybe some proto games included. And it would really be nice if they would make any accessories BACKWARDS COMPATIBILE and vice versa. Love the mock up controller!

Edited October 20, 2005 by thegamezmaster

[Guitardude]

Actually, wouldn't it be nice to have something similar to the Atari Flashback for Coleco games? Throw on a couple of protos and it would ROCK! I know they couldn't put on every game since they probably couldn't get the third-party software but throw in a smaller verison of the Super Action Controllers.

 

Now that I think about it, I don't think Nintendo would allow Donkey Kong & DK Jr. to be on it, plus I don't know how hard it would be to hunt down the owners of games like Looping (I doubt Venture Line is still around) or Venture (ditto for Exidy). Oh well, it was a good idea for a few seconds.

 

Last of all, a CV controller in USB form, so I can play on emulator instead of dragging out the CV when ever the whim hits (i have NO room and guitars collecting is a notch above video game collecting.

Edited October 20, 2005 by Guitardude

[Pixelboy]

My take on this subject is that all CV products should be bundled together as a single cartridge for the Nintendo DS. There are a lot of advantages to this proposition:

 

1) The bottom screen can be configured to "emulate" the expansion modules (drag the steering wheel or the trackball with the stylus, for example), and this would fix the keypad issue once and for all (just press the keypad keys displayed on the touch screen).

 

2) Since the DS is internet-compatible, you could theoretically download new CV software via an internet wi-fi hot spot. Homebrew heaven, my friends.

 

3) They could encode virtual game manuals, just like it's done in Activision Anthology for GBA, (only this time they could add some screenshots).

 

4) Since this would be a Nintendo DS exclusive, getting the rights from Nintendo for the CV versions of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm not sure about other arcade games though, but if they can pull off getting the rights for such classics as Venture, Lady Bug, Time Pilot, Pepper II, Mr Do and Zaxxon (just to name a few), this could be one sweet DS product.

 

One question that comes to my mind is whether the top screen of the DS can handle the CV screen resolution. I'm guessing the screen output might need to be compressed vertically, like it was done with the NES games on the GBA...

[+remowilliams]

An updated, all inclusive, fully working menu selectable multicart. 'Nuff said

[tyranthraxus]

How about a t-shirt "Your Vision is Our Vision Colecovision"?

[chuckwalla]

I'd like to see an adapter to play Intellivision games (no i'm not crazy). I never owned an INTV but know many who have and thought it would be cool to play all the games using the Colecovision just like 2600 games using the adapter.

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

How about a t-shirt "Your Vision is Our Vision Colecovision"?

952722[/snapback]

 

 

hey, does anyone remember the bumperstickers coleco had that said "gotta get home to my colecovision!" and it featured some of coleco's most populat chacters.