I'm an old dude, which makes me an old gamer. I really enjoyed the presentation of this video. I was in grade school during the time colecovison release & recall playing this system at my buddies house. Good times. Haha it seems Hokie now, but at the time it was awesome & it blew my mind! The host of this channel seems like a really cool guy.
I distinctly remember watching this video back in 2014. i had just moved back home with my parents and they had originally bought a Colecovision when they first got married. They used to hook it up once and a while and we would play frogger (with the Atari adapter), donkey kong, carnival, and zaxxon. They still had the system when I moved back home. I was curious about the system and found a few videos - including this one! So glad you are back doing reviews. I feel really tied to this channel and your stuff man! Keep it up!
Man I love that story! Good times! I met my wife literally a few weeks after filming this and we played colecovision then too. So I have a soft spot for it. Thanks for checking back and dropping a comment!
Great to see you give the CV some attention back in 2014. Excellent video! Just a couple of corrections (yeah, I'm that guy...): Coleco was a Connecticut company and Looping (not Looper) had a lot more to it than just shooting balloons (shoot through the wall at the right to enter the maze).
This was my first ever video game console,the joystick with the telephone number Pads. Used to play mouse trap and press number five. I Must have been 5 back in 1982. All I have left of it is my Donkey Kong cartridge.
Thanks so much for a trip down memory lane! We were gifted a Colecovision console in the mid 80s and we actually bought a Carnival cartridge brand new from a local store that had new old stock.
Great post. We used to have this system and it was my first exposure to video games. I have a lot of fond memories with this system and was happy to see your post about it. I wish you the best luck with your channel.
I remember being like 10, and my friends had an Atari and Intellivision. I wanted the Intellivision SO bad for Christmas, but it was too expensive. So, my mom bought the Colecovision instead because it looked the same and was surprisingly significantly cheaper. Those were my fondest memories as a kid!
The screen capture used for this video is low resolution and the reviewed games aren't the most impressive. You have to see it in person. ColecoVision was similar to arcade quality which was ground breaking for a home console at the time. Basically it looked like NES... in 1983
It was actually overrated. My parents got me one when it first came out in Aug 82. I had an Atari VCS and a Pong system previously. The Vectrex was a better system, and Intellivision was better for when it came out in 79, and has multiple features over the CV (16-bit CPU, better sound IC, hardware scrolling, better colors, larger max cartridge memory size w/o bank-switching, standardized bank-switching scheme, much better overlays). The 5200 would have been better, but they whiffed on the joysticks, pack-in title (Super Breakout in 82?!) and didn't release enough games. I later got an Adam, which I loved, and if only they didn't release that with as many issues (particularly, the tape drive could erase tapes left in when the system was turned on), and delivered so few units so late for xmas 83, and weren't so hostile to 3rd party development, that computer could have made a huge impact on the industry.
@@thedoncrazephaze5375 Man! You had a Vectrex in the 80s?! That would have made me jealous (and I'm not a jealous type). I used to play Armor Attack on one at the store my mom worked at. I got two a few years ago. That is the greatest game console ever, in my eyes. Do you still have yours? I actually prefer the Intellivision, but it's an acquired taste. I only played it a few times BITD at a friend that lived by my grandparents' house (another state), when I had an Atari VCS. There's some truly great games available for it, especially nowadays, with homebrew. I'm even more interested in retro computers than consoles (there were so many different computers and workstations in the 70s-90s). I create hardware and software for all the old systems (computers and consoles).
I had a 2600 and a ColecoVision. ColecoVision was my favorite console - the games were much closer to their arcade counterparts and the color palette was much more vibrant than the Atari 5200, which was also out at the time.
Great video! I only ever knew about the ColecoVision from seeing it on an episode of Angry Video Game Nerd, and I didn't get a very good impression of it. But this video really highlighted what made the ColecoVision unique and arguably the best console of it's time - amazing graphics that backed up its arcade-at-home claim and allowed for more detailed gameplay. It would've been interesting to see Coleco attempt a next-gen version as it probably could've been a good competitor to the NES.
ColecoVision, Atari 2600, Intellivision. That's the order from great to...well...not so great. Everyone might have a favorite console prior to the NES. But you just can't deny that the ColecoVision system did the best job at bringing the arcade experience to the home. The Atari 2600 & the Intellivision consoles could have never advertised "plays like the real arcade game" because if they had, it would have been a lie. Hands down ColecoVision was the winner. Even a lot of the home brewed games that appeared on all three consoles looked & played the best on the ColecoVision. Does anyone disagree?
2600 came out in 1977, Intellivision was test marketed in 1979 (wider in 1980) while Colecovision was released in 1982. Easy for the Colecovision to win out of the three, considering.
The Colecovision was a great system for arcade ports, but the Intellivision was a sports fan's dream come true. All of their sports titles were terrific. Plus they had some great games like Tron Deadly Discs, Advanced D&D, Lock N' Chase, Utopia (first civ game?), Sea Battle (first RTS?), et al.
there was an arcade across the street from my high school. i went there for lunch every day to play asteroids; and donkey kong; and have a snickers bar;and a couple cokes. not exactly the healthy lunch. LOL
I had many consoles over the years. Started with a Magnavox Odyssey 2, later a Atari 2600 and then finally a Colecovision. Things like SNES, N64 and so on followed. But I still have fond memories to the Colecovision. My favorite were Lady Bug, Zaxxon and Smurf.
Great video! I never played this console myself, but I can really feel the nostalgia of this gem of a console. Thank you for making this so I can have that perspective
I used to play Colecovision for HOURS when I visited my grandparents. They were the only people I knew who had one. So much fun. This brings back so many memories. Especially Venture. And they had a Smurfs game. I had so much fun with that one even though it kinda sucked lol
Nice shirt! Also, I remember that cabbage patch kid commercial from when I was a kid - wow! My grandparents had a ColecoVision, they're the original gamers of our family. We still have it, it was amazing! They played a lot of Mr. Do and Venture. So great. We also had Ladybug, Carnival, Zaxxon, Cosmic Adventure, Subroc and Smurfs. If I remember correctly, my grandpa played Mouse Trap so much the cartridge broke. Great video! :)
Awesome Retrospective , i just got a calecovision 2 weeks ago and its super neat. I can't wait to dive into the library more but so far lady bug is my fav game that i've played so far.
Colecovision was my first console as a kid. Had it before Atari so this will always be very sentimental to me. Ladybug was one of my favorite games and a favorite of my mom too who loved to play it.
Colecovision was also my very first console. I only had four games for the system back then. Those four games were Donky Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Gorf, Zaxxon and Popeye. My mom also enjoyed playing. Her favorites were Donky Kong, Donkey Kong Jr and Popeye.
I'm not sure how I got here but this video was awesome! I still have our Colecovision, with many games including the boxes and booklets that they came with (my dad was super picky about that). My favorites were Root Beer Tapper and Cabbage Patch Kids Adventures in Babyland. Venture and Donkey Kong Jr were pretty amazing, too. Sometimes I think it would be fun to get it out and play it- the last time it was used, it still worked perfectly- but I'm not even sure how we'd hook it up to the tv these days.
Man, I got one of these for Christmas in 7th grade. I had DK, Venture, and Cosmic Avenger . One of the best holidays of my childhood. I just saw where sams club is selling these with about 40 games pre installed for 40 bucks, I was seriously considering it. Great video!
My parents got me B.C.'s Quest for Tires on Coleco for Christmas of 83'. They couldn't get some other game that I wanted but the guy behind the counter recommended it. I was disappointed at first. Then the game just grew on me and became one of my favorite games of all time. Try it, it's great!
Not knowing anything about the colevision prior to this video I really didn't know what to expect. I really enjoyed learning the history of the colevision. I thought adding in the commercials of that era was a really nice touch. This is a solid and very well done overview. Now the question is could it make a possible come back in the form of a mini console? Nintendo and Sega have both made mini consoles, the amico is coming back. Atari made the VCS, and they are also making Atari 2600 cartridge games again that were never released. I think after watching this video it deserves a mini console of it's own as part of video game history.
Got the ColecoVision Flashback system for cheap at Walmart not knowing much about it, and it's a good time. I love that they still make pre-NES things like that, because they're tough to find in retro stores around here.
I donated my ADAM expansion to the Rhode Island Computer Museum! It was really a great computer for the money. Back then schools didn't accept reports written with dot matrix printers, but did accept typed reports. The daisy wheel printer was perfect for that.
Awesome video!!! I Had one in 1983!!!! It was fun. The problem was games were not easy to get here. I agree with you about Donkey Kong!!! Is the best version outaide the arcade ever!!! Zaxxon too! I was always impressed with the quality of the graphics, particularlly in those two games. I also had the Atari 2600 and Coleco was superior.
Atari was the Ford Escort, Intellivision was the VW that broke down a lot, and Coleco was the Mercedes of the day. Problem was, nobody had one and it came out later than the other two in a time where families didn’t have the disposable income that we have today.
Tnnx for the history lesson! I grew up in the SMS/NES period, and had a old teenage cousin that wouldn't leave the dark basement cause he had one of these Colecovisions down there next to his room When I use to visit him before the release of the SMS/NES, I was in addiction awe, and thought I entered the future, I knew there was something special about video games, their future for entertainment and didn't want to stop emersing myself in that machine! I didn't even spend any family time with the aunts & uncles during that out-of-city visit!...lol Today, you can find me in the new future of gaming - at 'Steam'.
We had a Colecovision as well as the expansion module to play Atari games. The problem with the expansion was the pins in the port that would hold the joystick in place would often and they were a pain in the ass to try and straighten so you could play Atari games. I like the assortment of games you mentioned, but I wish you could have mentioned more. Another game you can consider a Pac Man clone would be Mousetrap. Getting the bones to turn into a dog so you can eat the cats and trap them outside the board for a few seconds is kind of like eating the power pellets to eat the ghosts in Pac Man. I also loved Colecovision's versions of Popeye, Q-Bert and Burgertime, but my absolute favorite Coleco game has got to be Tapper. I think Atari had a version as well, but Coleco's is addicting! Oh yeah, you forgot to mention the little Easter Egg in the Smurf game. When you get to the last screen with Smurfette in Gargamel's castle, if you turn back quickly to the previous screen, it looks as if Smurfette's dress disappears! Oh, and if you want to know the game with the best music, hands down, Activision's Pitfall II. I know it's pretty much the same music and graphics wise on any system (including the Atari 2600, if you can believe that), but I first came across it on the Colecovision and that's the system I mostly associate it with! Overall though, GREAT REVIEW!!!!
Great video bro, unlike many others on youtube you are not annoying, you are calm and don't talk a bunch or crap. Oh, by-the-way, during your narration part of your video, you sound like the comedian and Roast Master Anthony Jeselnik ...with a hint of Frank Oz!
I was the first kid in Western Australia and one of the first in the world to play a colecovision, it had every game and all peripherals, I know this because my Dad's work had the contract to repair them, so about 5 of them were sent to us for demonstration purposes!
Gary - The ColecoVision Flasback has sold pretty well..... Some games were not included for licensing issues. The Nintendo & Activison games come to mind. Most likely there WILL be a Flashback 2 with games like Time Pilot, Mouse Trap, Mr.Do, and Mr. Do's Castle since SOME Universal & Exidy games appeared on the Flashback 1 like Venture & Pepper II (Exidy), and Space Panic & Cosmic Avenger (Universal). Perhaps we'll get some more of the Atarisoft, Sega, Epyx, Parker Bros,and Activision games as well on the Flashback 2. Won't find out till late summer/early fall 2015. Even if we see some Activision titles, I can gaurntee you that we will see NO DK, DK Jr, Mario Brothers, or Popeye on a Flashback 2.
I wish they would release the Flashback system with a cartridge port so you can play your old cartridges on it. One of the Flashback models does have that (forget which one though), so why not make it for the Colecovision? Think of how many units they would sell because I'm sure a lot of us still have our old cartridges (I have mine, but I can never seem to have a system that lasts more than five minutes for me to get decent game play out of one game).
I had this system as a kid and loved it, in my opinion it had the best controller ever for the baseball/Boxing. That controller fit in your hand with great buttons, the joy stick was a bit clumsy until you got use to it but all in all no other controller had as much going on as that one did. Dam i am old.
Zaxxon! Triggers memories of hanging around my better-off cousins' home. It does live up to memories! Looks really cool, and has woken up dormant parts of my memory! I was like 8 or 9 by then.
We had Coleco back in the day. As I recall it was a marginal upgrade from Atari 2600. I remember saving up to buy Donky Kong Jr. Better graphics than 2600 but not quite the arcade experience.
I was the first person in Western Australia to play the ColecoVision. I know this because my father recieved a machine before release,as his employer the Tokyo Electric Company had the repair contract! It even had all the periferals and release titles with it. Unfortunately i couldn't keep it.
I still have mine from the 80's and a bunch of games. You should try the game "Cabbage Patch Kids" one of the newer and more graphically advanced games IMHO. Great review.
I found a Colecovision at a flea market for 5 euro or something. They practically gave it away because it was soaking wet and the power supply is missing. I dried it and hooked it up to a computer power supply - it kinda works! The cartridge connector is very dodgy and the computer power supply puts out a lot of noise (visible as interference in the picture) but i'll build a better PSU one of these days.
Colecovision.. the game system i want to have! I need to liquidate a part of my collection first though (personal set goal) cause i have some doubles and consoles/games i never play or would play.. Waste of space to let it stay while i can just get money for it and buy me a Coleco one day.
I liked Turbo at the arcade but never played it on a home console. There were Arcade Classics CD-ROMs for Playstation with the real arcade games, but Turbo was SEGA! and not available.
Colecovision was great.... They had great games, graphics, sounds, etc... ESPECIALLY for the mid 80's kids. My neighborhood friend had an Intellivision and we spent hours un-plugging and re plugging RCA cables into our TV's and consoles.
magnavox oddesy.. pong systems colecovision and Intelevision. I love my Coleco have 30 games for it the atari adapter stering wheel and roller controller. most are arcade quality like Popeye Donkey Kong and JR. great system..sadly since my hearing loss I cant enjoy the sound as much
"I bet he made his girlfriend happy". That had coffee coming out of my nose. Thanks! I still have my ColecoVision, boxed and in as new condition in my loft; in the hope that one day it might be worth something (yes I'm really old). I also remember a shop in Birmingham UK where you could RENT an Intellivision by the month. Just for once, I resisted temptation.
Great review! I could kick myself in the rear for selling my colecovision years ago in a garage sale. I can't seem to find a working unit anywhere.....do u have any suggestions on how I could play these games on my computer (sites).....also, why were so many of colecovisions biggest games left out of the recent colecovision flashback? Do u think there will be a flashback 2 for colecovision? Any insight into how well colecovision flashback has sold? Thx
9:25, "Looping" had a "Switched on Bach" song; which you wouldn't know unless you were a decent enough to make it to the sewer screen :) Still have an original console. Could stand to have a rebuild, tho...as you showed, it gets hot and acts funky after awhile. I think the lubricants dry up after 25 to 35 years!
I spent so much time as a kid playing ladybug, Venture, doneky Kong, donkey Kong Jr, Mr Do, and a submarine game/sky shooter but that name escapes me. Great Console. The tech lived on long after the demise of the console in various ways, may of those old video laserdisk games had Colecovision tech.
I got my mother to get this for my brother birthday around 84 or 85 and our house turned into a community center, we was the only house in neighborhood with it
The Colecovision would have done well in Western Europe and Australia with the right pricing but the 66% cheaper games on tape of the more advanced Commodore 64 spoilt the party for them outside USA. I had a C64 and Coleco in 1983, I did like the Coleco a lot but games like Manic Miner and Beach Head on my C64 for a third of the price seemed more advanced and varied to me as a kid....and then the SID soundtrack phenomena happened too.The C64 was the Famicom of Europe and the Coleco the SG-1000 of Europe really.
I love you Coleco Cosmic Avenger was the shit! Zaxxon I always new where I was in that game was tricky till you got used to it good times on that console I wish I would have kept mine.
I saw the Kiosk or in-store display in another video. It showed about 16 games, twice. I think they felt the deficit of not having a game library like it's competitors, but selling a 2600 adapter was the wrong move. Everyone who bought that, bought one less (at least) ColecoVision cartridge, and then it helped sell Atari 2600 cartridges! Would it have made more sense to have a 5200 adapter in case games were released for that system that weren't released for its system or have no adapter? Certainly the Atari 400/800 computers should have had a compatible cartridge port with the 5200. ColecoVision was a few months late for Pac-Man. Beginning of 1982 Pac-Man Fever was selling 2600 consoles and its bad game on a 4K instead of 8K cart. Not sure how many were produced, sold and returned. If Coleco had licensed Pac-Man and released ColecoVision in Spring 1982, then things might have been different. They did get the "Killer App" in the form of Donkey Kong which sold 500,000 consoles in 1982 and another 500K in the first half of 1983, but that didn't save them from the Crash. They also put out cheap Donkey Kong carts for the 2600 (4K) and Intellivision; better to not have released them. After all, why buy ColecoVision with Donkey Kong, if you've already bought Donkey Kong for your system? Computer purchases also helped cause the Game Crash of 1983. I'd heard about the Adam. If you could use that to modify and make games then it could have been the right thing to do. Ever since I saw the pitiful "Basic Programming" cart for the 2600, I wanted to make or modify Atari games, but that wasn't possible, even on the Atari 400/800 machines.
My first memory ever was playing Venture on Colecovision. I always thought Atari 2600 sucked, and the colecovision got me into wanting to make games.
I'm an old dude, which makes me an old gamer. I really enjoyed the presentation of this video. I was in grade school during the time colecovison release & recall playing this system at my buddies house. Good times. Haha it seems Hokie now, but at the time it was awesome & it blew my mind! The host of this channel seems like a really cool guy.
Only one kid school had Coleco, I wanted it so bad, settled for Atari, the memories are amazing though
My Father got it and loved staying at his house. We were either going to Arcades or playing at home.
I distinctly remember watching this video back in 2014. i had just moved back home with my parents and they had originally bought a Colecovision when they first got married. They used to hook it up once and a while and we would play frogger (with the Atari adapter), donkey kong, carnival, and zaxxon. They still had the system when I moved back home. I was curious about the system and found a few videos - including this one! So glad you are back doing reviews. I feel really tied to this channel and your stuff man! Keep it up!
Man I love that story! Good times! I met my wife literally a few weeks after filming this and we played colecovision then too. So I have a soft spot for it. Thanks for checking back and dropping a comment!
Great to see you give the CV some attention back in 2014. Excellent video! Just a couple of corrections (yeah, I'm that guy...): Coleco was a Connecticut company and Looping (not Looper) had a lot more to it than just shooting balloons (shoot through the wall at the right to enter the maze).
RE: Zaxxon - Dude, the shadow tells you where you are.
This was my first ever video game console,the joystick with the telephone number Pads. Used to play mouse trap and press number five. I Must have been 5 back in 1982. All I have left of it is my Donkey Kong cartridge.
My first console that I played for waaay too long. Everyone else had a Sega genesis as a kid while I had my dads old colecovision.
Thanks so much for a trip down memory lane! We were gifted a Colecovision console in the mid 80s and we actually bought a Carnival cartridge brand new from a local store that had new old stock.
Great post. We used to have this system and it was my first exposure to video games. I have a lot of fond memories with this system and was happy to see your post about it. I wish you the best luck with your channel.
coleco vision was/is wayyyyyy underrated.
I remember being like 10, and my friends had an Atari and Intellivision. I wanted the Intellivision SO bad for Christmas, but it was too expensive. So, my mom bought the Colecovision instead because it looked the same and was surprisingly significantly cheaper. Those were my fondest memories as a kid!
The screen capture used for this video is low resolution and the reviewed games aren't the most impressive. You have to see it in person. ColecoVision was similar to arcade quality which was ground breaking for a home console at the time. Basically it looked like NES... in 1983
It was actually overrated. My parents got me one when it first came out in Aug 82. I had an Atari VCS and a Pong system previously. The Vectrex was a better system, and Intellivision was better for when it came out in 79, and has multiple features over the CV (16-bit CPU, better sound IC, hardware scrolling, better colors, larger max cartridge memory size w/o bank-switching, standardized bank-switching scheme, much better overlays). The 5200 would have been better, but they whiffed on the joysticks, pack-in title (Super Breakout in 82?!) and didn't release enough games.
I later got an Adam, which I loved, and if only they didn't release that with as many issues (particularly, the tape drive could erase tapes left in when the system was turned on), and delivered so few units so late for xmas 83, and weren't so hostile to 3rd party development, that computer could have made a huge impact on the industry.
@@RetroDawn ...i had a Vectrex. Coleco Vision was my friends, im prob just jealous. I didn't like Intellivsion personally
You know your game systems!
@@thedoncrazephaze5375 Man! You had a Vectrex in the 80s?! That would have made me jealous (and I'm not a jealous type). I used to play Armor Attack on one at the store my mom worked at. I got two a few years ago. That is the greatest game console ever, in my eyes. Do you still have yours?
I actually prefer the Intellivision, but it's an acquired taste. I only played it a few times BITD at a friend that lived by my grandparents' house (another state), when I had an Atari VCS. There's some truly great games available for it, especially nowadays, with homebrew.
I'm even more interested in retro computers than consoles (there were so many different computers and workstations in the 70s-90s). I create hardware and software for all the old systems (computers and consoles).
When the colecovision came out it blew our minds. Hard to believe that its kind of forgotten today
I had a 2600 and a ColecoVision. ColecoVision was my favorite console - the games were much closer to their arcade counterparts and the color palette was much more vibrant than the Atari 5200, which was also out at the time.
Great video! I only ever knew about the ColecoVision from seeing it on an episode of Angry Video Game Nerd, and I didn't get a very good impression of it. But this video really highlighted what made the ColecoVision unique and arguably the best console of it's time - amazing graphics that backed up its arcade-at-home claim and allowed for more detailed gameplay. It would've been interesting to see Coleco attempt a next-gen version as it probably could've been a good competitor to the NES.
I called Coleco's informational 800 number so often they recognized my voice immediately. Still have one, AND a Flashback.
...AND the Atari module, AND the Driving Controller, AND the Roller Controller, AND the Super Controllers. 😊
ColecoVision, Atari 2600, Intellivision. That's the order from great to...well...not so great. Everyone might have a favorite console prior to the NES. But you just can't deny that the ColecoVision system did the best job at bringing the arcade experience to the home. The Atari 2600 & the Intellivision consoles could have never advertised "plays like the real arcade game" because if they had, it would have been a lie. Hands down ColecoVision was the winner. Even a lot of the home brewed games that appeared on all three consoles looked & played the best on the ColecoVision. Does anyone disagree?
2600 came out in 1977, Intellivision was test marketed in 1979 (wider in 1980) while Colecovision was released in 1982. Easy for the Colecovision to win out of the three, considering.
The Colecovision was a great system for arcade ports, but the Intellivision was a sports fan's dream come true. All of their sports titles were terrific. Plus they had some great games like Tron Deadly Discs, Advanced D&D, Lock N' Chase, Utopia (first civ game?), Sea Battle (first RTS?), et al.
Odyssey 2 looking from a distance.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAZING! Seriously loved it!
I had one. I still do.
there was an arcade across the street from my high school. i went there for lunch every day to play asteroids; and donkey kong; and have a snickers bar;and a couple cokes. not exactly the healthy lunch. LOL
It’s good to be a kid 😎
I had many consoles over the years. Started with a Magnavox Odyssey 2, later a Atari 2600 and then finally a Colecovision. Things like SNES, N64 and so on followed. But I still have fond memories to the Colecovision. My favorite were Lady Bug, Zaxxon and Smurf.
Where did you get that T-Shirt?
Great video! I never played this console myself, but I can really feel the nostalgia of this gem of a console. Thank you for making this so I can have that perspective
Colorado leather company???? How could you have gotten that wrong?! It's Connecticut leather company! Lol
Connecticut Leather Company is correct.
Yes this was since corrected in the annotations! Sorry guys.
Crossroads Reviews
Kong not accurate, 1st screen not the same as the arcade as well -otherwise nice video, how about a top 20 fav gamesvideo?
Bet he was thinking of Southpark, Kenny has a Colecovision at home
I used to play Colecovision for HOURS when I visited my grandparents. They were the only people I knew who had one. So much fun. This brings back so many memories. Especially Venture. And they had a Smurfs game. I had so much fun with that one even though it kinda sucked lol
Ladybug used to make me so anxious. I think it was the constant ticking of the timer. Great game!
Had one as a kid. Played it alot. Remember the controller also.
Great retrospective! This is definitely the next console I need to knock off my list. Thanks for the shout-out :D
Thank you! It's such a great and underrated console. And you've got a great website that everyone should check out!
Coleco was the best system back then. I also love intelvision
I am not finding much content on this machine. Thanks for this.
Nice shirt! Also, I remember that cabbage patch kid commercial from when I was a kid - wow! My grandparents had a ColecoVision, they're the original gamers of our family. We still have it, it was amazing! They played a lot of Mr. Do and Venture. So great. We also had Ladybug, Carnival, Zaxxon, Cosmic Adventure, Subroc and Smurfs. If I remember correctly, my grandpa played Mouse Trap so much the cartridge broke. Great video! :)
Awesome Retrospective , i just got a calecovision 2 weeks ago and its super neat. I can't wait to dive into the library more but so far lady bug is my fav game that i've played so far.
Very well made and informative video, you've earned a subscriber!
Colecovision was my first console as a kid. Had it before Atari so this will always be very sentimental to me. Ladybug was one of my favorite games and a favorite of my mom too who loved to play it.
Colecovision was also my very first console. I only had four games for the system back then. Those four games were Donky Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Gorf, Zaxxon and Popeye. My mom also enjoyed playing. Her favorites were Donky Kong, Donkey Kong Jr and Popeye.
Oops...make that five games not four.
This was a system that I didn't know much about and I can say this was the perfect video to introduce me to it!
I'm not sure how I got here but this video was awesome! I still have our Colecovision, with many games including the boxes and booklets that they came with (my dad was super picky about that). My favorites were Root Beer Tapper and Cabbage Patch Kids Adventures in Babyland. Venture and Donkey Kong Jr were pretty amazing, too. Sometimes I think it would be fun to get it out and play it- the last time it was used, it still worked perfectly- but I'm not even sure how we'd hook it up to the tv these days.
Thanks for watching and sharing your experience with the colecovision. Such a great system
Man, I got one of these for Christmas in 7th grade. I had DK, Venture, and Cosmic Avenger . One of the best holidays of my childhood. I just saw where sams club is selling these with about 40 games pre installed for 40 bucks, I was seriously considering it. Great video!
great video man! :) really enjoyed it!
Thanks for watching!
My parents got me B.C.'s Quest for Tires on Coleco for Christmas of 83'. They couldn't get some other game that I wanted but the guy behind the counter recommended it. I was disappointed at first. Then the game just grew on me and became one of my favorite games of all time. Try it, it's great!
It’s good on the c64
Cosmic Adventure was my favorite game for the ColecoVision and I still played today
Connecticut Leather, they were in Hartford CT.
Hartford connectorado
Not knowing anything about the colevision prior to this video I really didn't know what to expect. I really enjoyed learning the history of the colevision. I thought adding in the commercials of that era was a really nice touch. This is a solid and very well done overview. Now the question is could it make a possible come back in the form of a mini console? Nintendo and Sega have both made mini consoles, the amico is coming back. Atari made the VCS, and they are also making Atari 2600 cartridge games again that were never released. I think after watching this video it deserves a mini console of it's own as part of video game history.
Thanks for watching! It did get its own version of the flashback series of consoles. Check it out!
How I miss this system. Best port of Venture anywhere. This was my first system alongside the Intelevision.
Got the ColecoVision Flashback system for cheap at Walmart not knowing much about it, and it's a good time. I love that they still make pre-NES things like that, because they're tough to find in retro stores around here.
Just bought myself an original colicovision with 4 games... CAN $40. Good times...
I donated my ADAM expansion to the Rhode Island Computer Museum! It was really a great computer for the money. Back then schools didn't accept reports written with dot matrix printers, but did accept typed reports. The daisy wheel printer was perfect for that.
Is a classic example of arcade at home. 👽
Awesome video!!! I Had one in 1983!!!! It was fun. The problem was games were not easy to get here. I agree with you about Donkey Kong!!! Is the best version outaide the arcade ever!!! Zaxxon too! I was always impressed with the quality of the graphics, particularlly in those two games. I also had the Atari 2600 and Coleco was superior.
Atari was the Ford Escort, Intellivision was the VW that broke down a lot, and Coleco was the Mercedes of the day. Problem was, nobody had one and it came out later than the other two in a time where families didn’t have the disposable income that we have today.
I had a coleco, loved it , wish I could play it again
Tnnx for the history lesson! I grew up in the SMS/NES period, and had a old teenage cousin that wouldn't leave the dark basement cause he had one of these Colecovisions down there next to his room When I use to visit him before the release of the SMS/NES, I was in addiction awe, and thought I entered the future, I knew there was something special about video games, their future for entertainment and didn't want to stop emersing myself in that machine! I didn't even spend any family time with the aunts & uncles during that out-of-city visit!...lol
Today, you can find me in the new future of gaming - at 'Steam'.
i remember them days i remember the magnovox oddesy and pong era
My favorite games was Mousetrap, Donkey Kong and Time Pilot.
Man, i always wanted one, back in 1983, was $500.00 with donkey Kong and Pac man
Your video was very well put together, Thanks.
We had a Colecovision as well as the expansion module to play Atari games. The problem with the expansion was the pins in the port that would hold the joystick in place would often and they were a pain in the ass to try and straighten so you could play Atari games.
I like the assortment of games you mentioned, but I wish you could have mentioned more. Another game you can consider a Pac Man clone would be Mousetrap. Getting the bones to turn into a dog so you can eat the cats and trap them outside the board for a few seconds is kind of like eating the power pellets to eat the ghosts in Pac Man. I also loved Colecovision's versions of Popeye, Q-Bert and Burgertime, but my absolute favorite Coleco game has got to be Tapper. I think Atari had a version as well, but Coleco's is addicting! Oh yeah, you forgot to mention the little Easter Egg in the Smurf game. When you get to the last screen with Smurfette in Gargamel's castle, if you turn back quickly to the previous screen, it looks as if Smurfette's dress disappears!
Oh, and if you want to know the game with the best music, hands down, Activision's Pitfall II. I know it's pretty much the same music and graphics wise on any system (including the Atari 2600, if you can believe that), but I first came across it on the Colecovision and that's the system I mostly associate it with! Overall though, GREAT REVIEW!!!!
Great video bro, unlike many others on youtube you are not annoying, you are calm and don't talk a bunch or crap. Oh, by-the-way, during your narration part of your video, you sound like the comedian and Roast Master Anthony Jeselnik ...with a hint of Frank Oz!
I loved this system growing up
An absolutely awesome system.
cool tee. I still have my original still works got it for xmas the year it came out even smurf was a fun game ;
I was the first kid in Western Australia and one of the first in the world to play a colecovision, it had every game and all peripherals, I know this because my Dad's work had the contract to repair them, so about 5 of them were sent to us for demonstration purposes!
Gary - The ColecoVision Flasback has sold pretty well.....
Some games were not included for licensing issues. The Nintendo & Activison games come to mind.
Most likely there WILL be a Flashback 2 with games like Time Pilot, Mouse Trap, Mr.Do, and Mr. Do's Castle since SOME Universal & Exidy games appeared on the Flashback 1 like Venture & Pepper II (Exidy), and Space Panic & Cosmic Avenger (Universal). Perhaps we'll get some more of the Atarisoft, Sega, Epyx, Parker Bros,and Activision games as well on the Flashback 2. Won't find out till late summer/early fall 2015.
Even if we see some Activision titles, I can gaurntee you that we will see NO DK, DK Jr, Mario Brothers, or Popeye on a Flashback 2.
Scooter Ahlers no one noticed Venture looked like a 95% dead ringer for Berzerk?
I wish they would release the Flashback system with a cartridge port so you can play your old cartridges on it. One of the Flashback models does have that (forget which one though), so why not make it for the Colecovision? Think of how many units they would sell because I'm sure a lot of us still have our old cartridges (I have mine, but I can never seem to have a system that lasts more than five minutes for me to get decent game play out of one game).
@@BrianRetro have not seen one that supports original carts
I need to buy this console
I still have one since 1983! Time to grab it out again! P. S. MY favorite game of the system was/is Lady Bug! 🐛😊
I had this system as a kid and loved it, in my opinion it had the best controller ever for the baseball/Boxing. That controller fit in your hand with great buttons, the joy stick was a bit clumsy until you got use to it but all in all no other controller had as much going on as that one did. Dam i am old.
1:00 Connecticut Leather Company :)
Zaxxon! Triggers memories of hanging around my better-off cousins' home. It does live up to memories! Looks really cool, and has woken up dormant parts of my memory! I was like 8 or 9 by then.
I couldn't play that one well, either at the arcade or on 2600.
We had Coleco back in the day. As I recall it was a marginal upgrade from Atari 2600. I remember saving up to buy Donky Kong Jr. Better graphics than 2600 but not quite the arcade experience.
Well done with the review, Eric.
I enjoyed it very much.
When you pause Frenzy, it plays part of the beginning of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
Well spotted. Probably my favorite high-brow prank/joke of all time.
And Time Pilot 👨🏻✈️
I was the first person in Western Australia to play the ColecoVision. I know this because my father recieved a machine before release,as his employer the Tokyo Electric Company had the repair contract! It even had all the periferals and release titles with it. Unfortunately i couldn't keep it.
I still have mine from the 80's and a bunch of games. You should try the game "Cabbage Patch Kids" one of the newer and more graphically advanced games IMHO. Great review.
I found a Colecovision at a flea market for 5 euro or something. They practically gave it away because it was soaking wet and the power supply is missing.
I dried it and hooked it up to a computer power supply - it kinda works! The cartridge connector is very dodgy and the computer power supply puts out a lot of noise (visible as interference in the picture) but i'll build a better PSU one of these days.
not Colorado, Connecticut. And, for the Colecovision, era, they were in New York state.
It was so ahead of its time with all the different modules to add on.
Colecovision.. the game system i want to have! I need to liquidate a part of my collection first though (personal set goal) cause i have some doubles and consoles/games i never play or would play.. Waste of space to let it stay while i can just get money for it and buy me a Coleco one day.
I just picked up one with the expansion pack and the 4 button controllers and a bunch of games. It didn't have a power cord so I need to find that.
Aaahh I had a colecovision back in the early 80s. That was the funniest shit at the time. Turbo... Smurf... Carnival...
I liked Turbo at the arcade but never played it on a home console. There were Arcade Classics CD-ROMs for Playstation with the real arcade games, but Turbo was SEGA! and not available.
32KB of memory? That's crazy. No one's ever going to use that much memory.
Oh boy I remember my battles vs an uncle playing Rocky with the super controller!
great review dude :) vary enjoyable
Colecovision was great.... They had great games, graphics, sounds, etc... ESPECIALLY for the mid 80's kids. My neighborhood friend had an Intellivision and we spent hours un-plugging and re plugging RCA cables into our TV's and consoles.
I had it. It was awesome! Loved it.
I missed a bit info on the hardware, but never heard of it before and feel a lot more.. erhm.. retro-wise now!
magnavox oddesy.. pong systems colecovision and Intelevision. I love my Coleco have 30 games for it the atari adapter stering wheel and roller controller. most are arcade quality like Popeye Donkey Kong and JR. great system..sadly since my hearing loss I cant enjoy the sound as much
"I bet he made his girlfriend happy". That had coffee coming out of my nose. Thanks!
I still have my ColecoVision, boxed and in as new condition in my loft; in the hope that one day it might be worth something (yes I'm really old). I also remember a shop in Birmingham UK where you could RENT an Intellivision by the month. Just for once, I resisted temptation.
Great vid! I so want one but they are pretty rare here in the UK. Never played with one before. :)
Love the shirt!
The overlays you showed are for the Mattel Intellivision. Some Colecovision games (like Mousetrap, & War Games) had overlays, but most did not.
Great review! I could kick myself in the rear for selling my colecovision years ago in a garage sale. I can't seem to find a working unit anywhere.....do u have any suggestions on how I could play these games on my computer (sites).....also, why were so many of colecovisions biggest games left out of the recent colecovision flashback? Do u think there will be a flashback 2 for colecovision? Any insight into how well colecovision flashback has sold? Thx
9:25, "Looping" had a "Switched on Bach" song; which you wouldn't know unless you were a decent enough to make it to the sewer screen :)
Still have an original console. Could stand to have a rebuild, tho...as you showed, it gets hot and acts funky after awhile. I think the lubricants dry up after 25 to 35 years!
I spent so much time as a kid playing ladybug, Venture, doneky Kong, donkey Kong Jr, Mr Do, and a submarine game/sky shooter but that name escapes me. Great Console. The tech lived on long after the demise of the console in various ways, may of those old video laserdisk games had Colecovision tech.
me tooi played donkeykong gorf frogger q bert etc i like the celecovision
Feares Monkeyes Subroc is the name of the game... loved it as well.
The Colecovision brought the arcade LOOK home, but that's about it (and that was just resolution; not color depth or animation).
Great review of a system that is definitely one of my favourites (although I might be biased :)).
It's all Kenny McCormicks family could afford, connected to a black and white tv
the ryu theme song made me feel good
Your videos are very good, shame you stopped making videos.
I had one as a kid, just realized my dad bought it for himself.
That machine was absolutely amazing back then, I was so happy to have one when everyone else had a crappy Atari lol
Thank you for uploading
I got my mother to get this for my brother birthday around 84 or 85 and our house turned into a community center, we was the only house in neighborhood with it
The Colecovision would have done well in Western Europe and Australia with the right pricing but the 66% cheaper games on tape of the more advanced Commodore 64 spoilt the party for them outside USA. I had a C64 and Coleco in 1983, I did like the Coleco a lot but games like Manic Miner and Beach Head on my C64 for a third of the price seemed more advanced and varied to me as a kid....and then the SID soundtrack phenomena happened too.The C64 was the Famicom of Europe and the Coleco the SG-1000 of Europe really.
I love you Coleco Cosmic Avenger was the shit! Zaxxon I always new where I was in that game was tricky till you got used to it good times on that console I wish I would have kept mine.
I saw the Kiosk or in-store display in another video. It showed about 16 games, twice. I think they felt the deficit of not having a game library like it's competitors, but selling a 2600 adapter was the wrong move. Everyone who bought that, bought one less (at least) ColecoVision cartridge, and then it helped sell Atari 2600 cartridges!
Would it have made more sense to have a 5200 adapter in case games were released for that system that weren't released for its system or have no adapter? Certainly the Atari 400/800 computers should have had a compatible cartridge port with the 5200.
ColecoVision was a few months late for Pac-Man. Beginning of 1982 Pac-Man Fever was selling 2600 consoles and its bad game on a 4K instead of 8K cart. Not sure how many were produced, sold and returned. If Coleco had licensed Pac-Man and released ColecoVision in Spring 1982, then things might have been different. They did get the "Killer App" in the form of Donkey Kong which sold 500,000 consoles in 1982 and another 500K in the first half of 1983, but that didn't save them from the Crash. They also put out cheap Donkey Kong carts for the 2600 (4K) and Intellivision; better to not have released them. After all, why buy ColecoVision with Donkey Kong, if you've already bought Donkey Kong for your system?
Computer purchases also helped cause the Game Crash of 1983. I'd heard about the Adam. If you could use that to modify and make games then it could have been the right thing to do. Ever since I saw the pitiful "Basic Programming" cart for the 2600, I wanted to make or modify Atari games, but that wasn't possible, even on the Atari 400/800 machines.