A CIB Colecovision plus 2600 expansion module for $80... not too shabby. Lmk some must own games and any cartridge storage solutions, preferably wall mountable.
Score, especially on those games!!! Thanks for sharing. I must agree that the worst thing about the Colecovision in its time was the controllers. However, they did have those Super Action Controllers which I felt was a dramatic improvement over the standard ones. Plus, those controllers were required for some of their Super Action sports line. I saw somebody's video on this platform where two guys, obviously not old enough to have grown up playing Colecovision, review a bunch of games. They tried the Rocky Boxing that required the Super Action Controllers, especially for defensive maneuvers such as blocking, and ducking. They had no Super Action Controllers, and they did not know that they were required to play the game properly, then again, they might not have known that those controllers even existed. Regardless, it was somewhat entertaining to see them play the game, and then hear them complain about how the game was utter crap. You probably know more than I do, but surely somebody had to make some third party controller at some point? Yet, if nothing else, those Super Action Controllers were decent in my opinion. The only controller I can think of which I despised even more than Coleco's was the controllers for the Intellivision!!!
Zaxxon tip: when trying to avoid any obstacle in the game, you can always shoot your bullets, lasers, power-beam, weapon to judge where you are going, and whether or not you will hit the obstacle.
I remember us getting one for Christmas. My dad set it up and my brother and I could not get past the 1st wall. Our dad took over and showed us how to do it and proceeded to clear the level without dying. We thought, “What a natural!” Years later, he divulged the reason he was so good was that he played all night before we woke up! All of those games brought us so much joy for a long time: Zaxxon, Donkey Kong, DK Jr, QBert, Gorf, Smurf, Pitfall with the 2600 expansion…so many more I cannot remember.
My first console too. The expansion module was handy for when you only had a couple bucks you could go down to Toys R Us and pick up a couple 2600 games out of the bargain bins since the 2600 was pretty much dead by then.
Kicked off my obsession with VG's as a kid. Insane memories of DK, Smurfs, Looping, Popeye (3rd party) and Cabbage Patch Kids. Had the Converter and knew people who were a few doors down whose sone had expansion #2 with Turbo and then got the Super controller where I proceeded to flail at Rocky and fall in love with Frontline. That last one blew my mind with the concept of grabbing 'Tanks' or proceeding on foot (wobbly walking graphics be damned). Wanted an Adam but it was horrendously expensive. So, luckily, we dodged a bullet there. NOTE** Not sure if you know this but the quick way to get up the ladders in DK is to go up 1 or 2, immediately press to go down and then immediately up. Does it in a third of the time. And so started my obsession with game mechanics...
If you have a chance, pick up the Colecovision Super Action Controllers. I had those as a kid and they are a fantastic experience. Very fun and very unique.
Our first gaming system was a cheap PONG clone in 1977, but then we got the ColecoVision in 1982, and that's when I really fell in love with home conversions. The ColecoVision had so many great ports. Some of my favorites were, DK, DKJR, Q*Bert, LadyBug, Cosmic Avenger, Mr. Do!, and the AtariSoft games were also amazing (Defender, Centipede, Jungle Hunt). We also had the RollerController (with Slither), Super Action Controllers (with Super Baseball), and the steering wheel (with Turbo). I have all of those (still factory sealed), and many games, but my preferred way of playing is via Keven Horton's FPGA core. I play it on both the Analogue Mega SG, and the Analogue Pocket. Perfect ColecoVision games on an amazing quality portable is just amazing. :)
I just scored one in almost mint condition at an auction over the weekend with Expansion #1 and 2. Came with a few Colecovision games but about 30 Atari games. The boxes were in great shape and almost all of the manuals were there. When I disassembled the units for cleaning, I had to do nothing. They were mint. Best auction buy for me ever.
Funnily the Coleco used almost the same hardware as the Ti99/4a, I wonder how the games over time would have developed on that system if TI would not have pulled the plug early. It certainly had potential which seldomly was fulfilled!
War Games does NOT require a roller controller as suggested by another viewer...it DOES however require the use of the regular controller's keypad in order to play...the cartridge came with plastic overlays which slid into/over the key pad that helped facilitate play, but if you have the game manual which explains how the game is played...you could play without the keypad overlay and just as easily shove a piece of paper in there and take a pen and make your own keypad overlay, or memorize the keypad layout from the manual and play. It was a very fun & challenging game that I adored back in the day being a fan of the film. Basically the U.S. map is divided into sectors (6 I believe) and you hafta defend each sector from incoming attacks...Think multiple screens of Missile Command that you have to jump amongst and defend, but not just missiles...You hafta scramble jets to intercept jets, and even subs to intercept subs on the coastal sectors. All of this is done in a Missle Command style of gameplay with everything going on at once trying to keep the Defense Condition from dropping to 1 in each of the sectors. If I remember correctly there's also a satellite (which looked sorta like the Sun) that randomly roams the sectors that can be utilized in a pinch and aimed/fired in all directions when it's in a sector which helps manage all the mayhem... My top 6 favorite Colecovision titles of ALL time were: 1. Donkey Kong (of course) 2.Donkey Kong Jr. 3.Zaxxon 4.Jungle Hunt 5..WarGames 6.Decathlon by Activision Those games were light years ahead of their time in terms of Arcade Quality via home console back in 1982! Heck id still play any of these fondly today. Dunno why but as games get larger and larger they seem to no longer be as fun as they used to be...maybe it's just me but I haven't really enjoyed a game since the XBOX 360 days!
Appreciate the explanation! Yeah I plan on spending some time on this one. It seems like a game that would be fun once you get the hang of it. Jungle Hunt was one of my favorites, I'll def check that one out. 👍
When you watch the show-me retro channel, you get such a longing for the good old days, when people didn't regret everything, but enjoyed life by going out to play and of course playing video games.
I have always liked the Coleco Vision. I currently have one and the same expansion pack that you have. Definitely reminds me of the good ole days. Great system all around. Not a ton of must have games but you really only need about a dozen and you’re good. Great video and congrats on picking one up!
Augh! Beamrider's got two buttons! You're supposed to fire lasers at regular enemies, then save the missiles for the boss! (If you were using that STD controller, then the second button doesn't work. Using that controller is as uncomfortable as HAVING an STD.)
@@show-me-retro I was referring to the ProPad. For a brief period, the company called itself STD... you can guess why they renamed themselves Interact! But yeah, the stock controllers are garbage. Absolutely no argument there. Console manufacturers couldn't seem to grasp the concept of ergonomics back in those days.
@@show-me-retro It won't. You have to use a controller designed for the ColecoVision, which unfortunately means either the mushroom controller that came with the system or that weird sword hilt controller.
Colecovision was one of my fondest Christmas memories. I know I'm 9 months late to this but WAR GAMES was one of my favorite games as a kid. There were plenty of games with inscrutable game mechanics at the time, but I knew how to play WAR GAMES on Coleco and had a blast with it.
ColecoVision was my childhood system! DK and Zaxxon are great as are Carnival and, a personal favorite, Artillery Duel (2-player only). Cartridge storage is pretty easy. The cart size is a near exact match to Atari 2600/7800 so anything that works for those will work for ColecoVision as well.
My parents bought me a Colecovision when it first came out in August of 83 for my birthday, I had wanted an Atari 2600, but I loved the Coleco more. I still have mine with every single game/expansion modules
I think Activision had a policy that all games looked and played the same on all systems; that's why the Colecovision version resembles the Atari. They broke this rule a couple of times, most notoriously with the Atari 5200/Atari 8-bit computer version of Pitfall II having a second adventure after you finished the first.
River Raid also is an example the graphics were simply better than on the xl version, also huge exception H.E.R.O. my personal early 80s favorite, had different graphics literally on every system it was ported to (with the atari 8 bit being my favorite and the C64 version despite having the best graphics, my least favorite, because the screen through the background images became cluttered)
A couple of things: ColecoVision controller: They are not the best. But, with some games, you will need to use them, use an official ColecoVision compatible controller, or I believe a third party released a splitter, so you can use both an Atari controller and they Coleco keypad. Beamrider: Great game! You are just playing it wrong. With this game, you may have to use the Coleco controller, as there are two types of weaponry: The phasers, which will destroy the enemies and some of the other targets and debris, and the bombs, which will destroy anything. But, you only get three of these, and you should really save them for the end-of-stage boss. Wargames: You may have to use the Coleco controller for this game, as I am pretty sure that there are keypad overlays for the controller. River Raid: There are some minor graphical tweaks. But, nothing to write home about. This game is really about the game-play, and is a classic!
Although I never owned one, I too had always wanted one. And also like you, we already had a 2600 so my parents were not keen on spending their hard-earned money on a new system. Anyway, the interesting thing about the Colecovision is that it is basically made entirely from off-the-shelf parts. Amazing that other companies didn't do the same. CV always had the best arcade ports back then, at least between them, the 2600 and Intellivision. Also, it used the same video chip as the TI 99-4/a yet its games were WAY better.
@@show-me-retro Exactly. Luckily Coleco had the Cabbage Patch kids to hold them off from bankruptcy for a while. But yeah, I wonder if the big three right now would be Nintendo, Sony and Colecovision if the crash hadn't happened. CV was sued by Atari for that 2600 expansion module, but Coleco won, I believe because it was proven that it was developed blindly. That is, reverse-engineered rather than as a 1-for-1 copy. (The first PC compatible was done the same way).
Its so funny those late 70s early 80s video game systems had such a.sophisticated look. With the wood grain base and clean hard plastic casing, plus the slots that you could neatly hold the controllers in Plus in addition the controllers design almost look like a telephone. It's almost like they were video game systems made for mature adults. Systems that would not look awkward in a fancy living room on a coffee table or on top of a all wood furniture piece that held the largest tv in the house, lol. Yeah I'm old enough to remember those. Id imagine anyone who wasn't aware of what these systems looked like might have in a nice house mistaken one of those consoles for a first generation music player or video playing unit. When you see an XBox or Playstation today most people can tell it's a video game system. Although now you can stream and watch things on any console, through the internet.
I was the same way as a kid. Only had the 2600 growing up but always wanted the Coleco Vision because the games looked so much like the arcade compared to Atari. My dad did buy the Coleco Adam computer, but took it back to Toys 'R Us after about 5 days after people at work told him the world was going PC IBM clone computers. DK looks so good on this.
This was the first and only console game I ever owned. Picked it up when they were blowing them out a K-Mart in the late 80s. Then it was on to Amiga and then PC.
A tip for DK that makes it better: When climbing the ladders, climb up or down a bit, pause for a split second, then continue. Mario will climb twice as fast this way. Otherwise it's VERY slow compared to the arcade. There is also a fun little WARP TRICK for the barrel board, where if you 1. climb up the the first half ladder 2. climb back down 3. take exactly two movements to the left 4. then jump to right, you will jump right through the bottom of the board, and depending on the ROM version, Mario will either fly up from the bottom to the top of the level after a few seconds, or he will immediately start on the rivets board. It's a fun trick to pull off. I actually did this one while playing a game with my brother back in 1983, but we had no idea how I did it and couldn't replicate it until it was posted a few months later in ColecoVision Experience magazine. -Matt
@@show-me-retro You are certainly right about that! haha. Those CV pads were always a pain too. Still, I was kind of hoping that the controllers, packaged with the ColecoVision Flashback system, but nope! They don't work. It wasn't until the early 90's that I thought to try a Sega Genesis controller in the CV system, and wow, it made some games, such as QBert, almost too easy! So much better. One thing I do love about playing CV games on the FPGA core with the Analogue Mega Sg, is that Kevin made some smart shortcut inputs, to control all of the main NUMBER and * # inputs. So playing Mouse Trap, where you need to control the colored doors, and #5 to turn into a dog, playable with a Genesis controller. I do still love to play on original hardware sometimes too though.
I have one of these with the Atari expansion piece. It’s in the original box. Played probably played 10 times ever. I got it for Xmas when I was little. I’m 49 years old.
I remember plsying my buddies Colecovision and the game i associate Colecovision with is Zaxxon. Brings me back to the good old days. Makes me sad about Real Estate prices especially then versus now for some reason
Love the videos lately… been catching up on a lot of your videos lately.. love the different take and subject matter your bringing- keep it up👍 As far as Coleco: my top games have always been Smurf Zaxxon Lady Bug Mouse Trap
It's an awesome investment. I have one with the atari expansion module is how i play my Atari games. Years later i also bought an ADAM. I was lucky one of the local flea market guys had just come back from a retro fair in the late 90s and so i was able to get loose carts of most of the games i wanted.
My whole family loved playing Ladybug. When my mother got the Special, the whole household cheered and had no idea what to expect and then we realized it was a Special LEVEL you had a timer to finish. Exciting times.
ColecoVision was and STILL IS one of my favorite systems of all time. Controller-wise, though, it was the best controller at the time. Obviously, they don't compare to a Sega Genesis controller, but as a purist who is looking to have that same experience I had back in the 80's.... I only use the original controllers (on all systems). Great vid!
I bought a colecovision loose along with a steering wheel and two controllers 1,5 years ago and i am very happy with it, I do gor exciting games for it including,donkeykong,donkeykong jr,popeye,space panic and more.
Something you might wanna investigate - There's a way that you can jump to the second level in Colecovision's DK - you jump at a certain spot on the ground floor, and you "fall" through the floor and end up on the second level. We discovered it by accident back in the day...
I picked up a used Colecovision from a pawn shop in the summer of '86 and was able to add B.C.'s Quest For Tires, BurgerTime, Campaign '84, Congo Bongo, Cosmic Avenger, Destructor, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Frenzy, Gorf, Jumpman Junior, Ken Uston BlackJack/Poker, Lady Bug, Looping, Miner 2049er, Mouse Trap, Slither, Space Fury, Spy Hunter, Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator, Star Wars: The Arcade Game, Tarzan, The Heist, Turbo, Venture, Wargames and Zaxxon in our collection, along with the Roller Controller and driving controller before I stopped seeing games and things for it around. You probably need to use the keypad and overlay for Wargames. I was glancing through the old manual (which sadly, has water damage so some parts are hard to read). I did see that buttons 7 and 9 aren't use on the keypad during play.
Coleco, oh my goodness. I remeber, Turbo, I drove my father crazy trying to find the tubro wheel and pedal until finally he found it! That's when I knew I was his favorite lol.
¡Excelente video! ¡Hermosa la ColecoVision con todos esos cartuchos que obtuviste! Tuve una allá por 1984; y uno de los juegos que más me sorprendió, por sus gráficas, fué Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle... Lindos recuerdos. ¡Saludos cordiales!
Great video! We started with a 2600 in 1980 and Dad got us a Coleco a couple or few years later. I think it is the most underrated system of that early era. It was a real leap in power over the 2600. We only ever had a handful of games for it. But, I can recommend Donkey Kong, Ladybug and Zaxxon. We also had Turbo (Pole Position-like racing game) and it was awesome, but it does require the steering wheel/gas pedal expansion set. I never minded the Coleco controllers. In fact, we used them on our Atari after those joysticks bit the dust. I still have our old Coleco and it works just fine! Edit: I posted the comment above before watching the entire video…it looks like you ended up getting all of the games I recommended, lol. When playing Zaxxon, keep firing ahead of you to ensure you aren’t about to collide with something. If an object (wall, etc.) is in your line of flight, your laser bursts will impact the object and give you a chance to adjust your trajectory. Zaxxon was probably my favorite, but yeah it was kind of challenging. And, I will ALWAYS prefer Colecovision Ladybug over ANY version of Pac-Man…true story. Plug in that Coleco controller and give these games another shot.
I really love the controller can be put into the console design of the early 80s consoles, makes things very tidy, I wished modern consoles would have slots where you simply could place your controllers into! The either are always lying around or are somehwere placed which is not even console related (and in many cases people have to search for them) Would go a mile, but would disturb the clean look significantly, thats why no one does it anymore!
I had the same setup, including the Atari adapter. That one you have is like near mint condition. Mr. Do, Carnival, Mouse Trap, Super Cobra, Qbert, River Raid - some of the best video games of all time!!
I had barely heard of the Colecovision BITD. I was happy with my Atari 2600, or the Coleco Gemini at my mom's house. I had played the CV in more recent years thru the ColEm emulator, and it is super-impressive for its arcade ports. Donkey Kong's climbing mechanics are very wonky and require you to push up twice while on the ladder to climb properly, IIRC. Outside of arcade ports there isn't much to recommend with the CV. I'd recommend Frogger, Pepper II, Mouse Trap, Burgertime, Spy Hunter, Carnival, Mr. Do, Mr. Do's Castle, Venture, Q*Bert, Frenzy, Centipede, Looping, and Slither. Thanks for the video; I also have a fondness for the system and have several videos on it. The regular controllers are bad, I agree-- but the Super Action Controllers are a whole new level of pain!
Greetings from Argentina! My dad bought that when I was 5, like you said, it was the Ferrari of video consoles, my favorite game were "Donkey Kong Jr." and a later acquisition "Cabbage Patch Kids Adventures in the Park". I remember 30 kids from kindergarten being in my home and the Coleco was the vedette of the day.
You were very lucky my friend. I never had that pleasure and I'm sure it would have been similar situation if I did. Appreciate the comment, hope things are well in Argentina 🍻
I never owned a Colecovision, or even knew anyone who had one. I've only ever played the games under emulation. Maybe I've just had bad luck, but my opinion of actual Coleco hardware isn't the greatest. Our first video game console was an Atari Video Pinball unit. It worked perfectly. Then I got a Coleco Telstar Combat tank game. It never worked properly. The picture was distorted and rolled unless the TV was adjusted just so. Then I got a Coleco Telstar Arcade. The pack-in cartridge never worked. My parents got me a second cartridge, but since it didn't have any driving games on it, I never got to use the steering wheel on the console. After about a month, the gun started to malfunction in that it would always score a hit no matter where it it was pointed. You could leave it in the holster and get a perfect score. Next I got an Atari 2600, which worked perfectly. Over the years, I also got an Intellivision II, Atari 5200 and Atari 7800, all of which worked great. OK, the Intellivision was a little finicky about how far the cartridges needed to be pushed in, but other than that, it had no problems. A few years ago, I found a box of video game stuff in the trash. There were three Atari 2600s and one Colecovision. Two of the 2600s worked fine, while one wouldn't turn on. The Colecovision turned on, but I couldn't get it to start any of the games that were with it. Ironically, the Atari expansion module was also in the box and THAT worked like a champ. As for games, out of the ones I've played, I recommend Pepper 2. It's not the most graphically impressive, or original game, but I enjoyed it.
I’ll never forget Xmas morning under the tree me and all my brothers got a colecovision! Minds were blown!! Recommended games: Venture Mouse trap Carnival Gorf Nova Blast Donkey Kong Jr Mr Do Frenzy Montezumas revenge
We lived next to a couple (and their child) who had an intellivision. One time they came over to our house, and we had Donkey Kong playing on the ColecoVision. I remember the lady just staring at the game. I suppose she was impressed by the graphics.
Gratz I'm happy you found one in such great condition with the box and 2600 module is a bonus. Sometimes just playing on OG hardware is super fun. My only issue and it's the same issue as a 2600. I don't own a CRT so I would need to get it modded or find an upscale solution. I have only played Colico on emulation and it would have blown my mind as a kid.
The ColecoVision controllers are the best gamepads in gaming history. I still use them to play modern-day MMOs, Jedi Fallen Order, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and Cyberpunk 2077.
Cv could have easily kept pace with nes through the 80s had Coleco not gone under. With increasing rom,ram in later carts plus added cpu chips like nes carts got, coupled with increasing skill at coding for the cv, coulda had much longer life. I preordered my cv June 82 and got it August 82. Compared to the dominant Intv and 2600, the cv was amazing. Have to put the cv in context. Besides a massive jump in visuals vs the 2600 and intv, and a real deal expansion port, the atari 8 bit xl series and c64 were either a year off or too expensive. It took until late 83 and into 84 for the a8 and c64 to drop in price as viable game options vs the cv. And by late 84, Jan 85 we were all aware of the coming Amiga and St 16 bit "color macs" for unheard of low prices for their capabilites. I had an St by Fall 85, after the Adam add on computer for the cv.
I guess I was a spoiled kid, because I had a 2600 and a Colecovision. Maybe it helped that my parents were divorced... Dad bought me and my older brother a 2600 for Christmas 1979, and my mother bought me a Colecovision a few years later. Gotta agree with you on Lady Bug... it's a great game! I like it more than Pac Man. If you haven't yet, you should check out Looping, I think that was the cart that came with the system, that one was a lot of fun too! Enjoy your new system! I'm 54 and thinking about getting back into these old machines. 👍
For Beamrider, if you were still using that Genesis controller that's probably why you couldn't shoot. if not then the Coleco controller was probably having problems.
I bought one too, last week. It's great but big! Somebody said online the Colecovision is like the PlayStation of the 80's and I agree. Must own? That would be Omega Race which is easily the best version on any system by a mile!
@@show-me-retro Sure it's got so many games that are the best of the second gen console versions and also some arcade version not on any other system (Pepper II I'm looking at you).
@basketballsteve54 Unfortunately my two original controllers are just so unresponsive. I've tried everything to get them to work better but no dice. I may get one of the retrogameboyz game pads instead of a used oem controller
@@show-me-retro yes I'm doing the same I've ordered one of their COLECO pads. I have ordered from them before, i have their 2 button commodore 64 pad and i use it with my 2600 games and it gives 2 button function to asteroids, omega race, frostbite, beamrider and a number of others. Their products seem to work well.
Also (last post I swear)., have you seen or played OpCode's "DK Arcade" port? It looks very close to the arcade version. Probably even better than the NES port (which itself, saw a better homebrew port, in TATE mode, with arcade perfect barrel A.I, etc.). The Opcode version also utilizes a "Super Game Module" for the sound, which adds more memory and an extra sound channel, iirc. The for this seems to be very hard to find, and Opcode has since stopped selling both the physical copies and the roms, due to obvious reasons. **(If anyone has a link for this I'd love to test it out), DK is my favorite game on the CV.
I have not seen that one but I almost bought the Robotron conversion that was put out a few years ago. It looks very good but I feel it wouldn't control as well as my multicade
i had one a long time ago, with the atari expansion unit too, but after a couple years the power supply failed, and dad took me to a few electronic stores but by that time replacement parts were non existent anywhere, even from the store it came from the clerk told me i could no longer order parts, as the first Nintendo was on the horizon and all coleco parts were discontinued....
I still remember the smell of it when I opened the box 😌 yes it smelled so good. I would wake up early in the morning to play the smurfs game😁 edit : venture was actually super addictive but like ladybug you need a good controller or you will bang your head on the floor 😂
I actually grew up with this controller first. It was the best if the controls back then and better that a D-Pad in terms of game performance. I've got a funny saying about the controllers. The good news is that the controls are ambidextrous. The bad news is you're going to learn to be ambidextrous, because with the cramps you get, you have to switch hands when you have a 2 second break in the game.
I need to get some new ones, these seem to have some issues that I can't repair. They just don't respond like they should and after taking them apart multiple times I don't think it's worth fixing unfortunately
I can show you the way I hold the controller if I can get someone else to hold my camera. For some games, I recommend the Super Action Controllers. Those are also ambidextrous, and you cramp less often. And they have a better grip for Mouse Trap, not having your fingers blocked by the raised grid. Getting photos in a few minutes
Love the video. It's so funny what you were saying about owning a 2600 back in the day, but really wanting a Colecovision - totally relate to that thought. I had a "rich" neighbor that had one, and it became instantly obvious his Colecovision was so much better graphics than the Atari. I recently bought one off of Facebook Marketplace as well...paid more than you did, you got a great deal I think considering condition. One question, you mention "restoring" the manuals and boxes a little bit...what is your process for that?
Appreciate the comment brother. Here is a link to a video where I restored some REALLY water damaged boxes and manuals. It may seem a little extreme but in this condition I didn't have much to lose and the results speak for themselves. ua-cam.com/video/Hm5aAuix1uo/v-deo.htmlsi=QNpMO737MYcUP_u_
The better "River Raid " version is the orginal Activison cartridge. You can play it with the Coleo adapter. But you don't see the tank by the bridge. 😮 But that was one of the great things about Coleco, you can get an adapter and play any Atari or Activision game you wanted to. "War Games* is probably the most innovative game at that time. I always thought the map graphics were great too. It's solid. It's an awesome game for its time. The game "Destructor" is also a great game, it needs the wheel adaptor - my recommendation Controller - I never thought the controller was bad. It was actually quite sophisticated for its time. War Games was one of the few to trully take advantage of all the available buttons. Plus it had a 360 degree feel.
The best games of mine are from the best; Lady Bug, Pepper II, Mr. Do, Looping, Venture, Space fury, Pitstop, Cosmic avenger, Gorf and probably some more, can't remember everything. Turbo was of course great at first, but in the end not very special. On the other hand, with the Atari adapter, I really liked games like river raid, H.E.R.O and many others.
and the games I won with the console were mouse trap, turbo. Later purchased were Cosmic avenger, Gorf and Zaxxon. Zaxxon was a huge disappointment compared to the arcade equivalent.
A CIB Colecovision plus 2600 expansion module for $80... not too shabby. Lmk some must own games and any cartridge storage solutions, preferably wall mountable.
wait a second your actually from missouri holy crap
@mari-du7wl yes, why?
Score, especially on those games!!! Thanks for sharing. I must agree that the worst thing about the Colecovision in its time was the controllers. However, they did have those Super Action Controllers which I felt was a dramatic improvement over the standard ones. Plus, those controllers were required for some of their Super Action sports line. I saw somebody's video on this platform where two guys, obviously not old enough to have grown up playing Colecovision, review a bunch of games. They tried the Rocky Boxing that required the Super Action Controllers, especially for defensive maneuvers such as blocking, and ducking. They had no Super Action Controllers, and they did not know that they were required to play the game properly, then again, they might not have known that those controllers even existed. Regardless, it was somewhat entertaining to see them play the game, and then hear them complain about how the game was utter crap. You probably know more than I do, but surely somebody had to make some third party controller at some point? Yet, if nothing else, those Super Action Controllers were decent in my opinion. The only controller I can think of which I despised even more than Coleco's was the controllers for the Intellivision!!!
Zaxxon tip: when trying to avoid any obstacle in the game, you can always shoot your bullets, lasers, power-beam, weapon to judge where you are going, and whether or not you will hit the obstacle.
@ThinkerOnTheBus I'm gonna ne ordering yhe new CX7800+ controller from atari and it supposedly supposedly button games 🤞
I remember us getting one for Christmas. My dad set it up and my brother and I could not get past the 1st wall. Our dad took over and showed us how to do it and proceeded to clear the level without dying. We thought, “What a natural!” Years later, he divulged the reason he was so good was that he played all night before we woke up! All of those games brought us so much joy for a long time: Zaxxon, Donkey Kong, DK Jr, QBert, Gorf, Smurf, Pitfall with the 2600 expansion…so many more I cannot remember.
Lol
My first console too. The expansion module was handy for when you only had a couple bucks you could go down to Toys R Us and pick up a couple 2600 games out of the bargain bins since the 2600 was pretty much dead by then.
Kicked off my obsession with VG's as a kid. Insane memories of DK, Smurfs, Looping, Popeye (3rd party) and Cabbage Patch Kids. Had the Converter and knew people who were a few doors down whose sone had expansion #2 with Turbo and then got the Super controller where I proceeded to flail at Rocky and fall in love with Frontline. That last one blew my mind with the concept of grabbing 'Tanks' or proceeding on foot (wobbly walking graphics be damned). Wanted an Adam but it was horrendously expensive. So, luckily, we dodged a bullet there. NOTE** Not sure if you know this but the quick way to get up the ladders in DK is to go up 1 or 2, immediately press to go down and then immediately up. Does it in a third of the time. And so started my obsession with game mechanics...
I know no one who could play the isometric view of Zaxxon. Not even on UA-cam!
@maddumass I was playing today using the new CX78+ gamepad and did quite well actually lol
On my Colecovision DK, you always had to press up and up again to climb ladders more quickly. Thanks for the video.
Yep, that was the cheat!
If you have a chance, pick up the Colecovision Super Action Controllers. I had those as a kid and they are a fantastic experience. Very fun and very unique.
It's weird, some people commented they were the worst and others have said their amazing... I really don't know what to think Lol
I remember playing football with my brother on those. If you spun the little wheel hard enough, you could throw from end zone to end zone:)
Our first gaming system was a cheap PONG clone in 1977, but then we got the ColecoVision in 1982, and that's when I really fell in love with home conversions. The ColecoVision had so many great ports. Some of my favorites were, DK, DKJR, Q*Bert, LadyBug, Cosmic Avenger, Mr. Do!, and the AtariSoft games were also amazing (Defender, Centipede, Jungle Hunt). We also had the RollerController (with Slither), Super Action Controllers (with Super Baseball), and the steering wheel (with Turbo). I have all of those (still factory sealed), and many games, but my preferred way of playing is via Keven Horton's FPGA core. I play it on both the Analogue Mega SG, and the Analogue Pocket. Perfect ColecoVision games on an amazing quality portable is just amazing. :)
Yeah, those arcade ports are still impressive today... Pepper ii is my current favorite
You can't go wrong with the Coleco in your collection. It is a great console!
I'm finding that out 👍
I just scored one in almost mint condition at an auction over the weekend with Expansion #1 and 2. Came with a few Colecovision games but about 30 Atari games. The boxes were in great shape and almost all of the manuals were there. When I disassembled the units for cleaning, I had to do nothing. They were mint. Best auction buy for me ever.
That's awesome, congrats!
I loooved the Colecovision. It was such a big game changer. Plus I loved donkey Kong & DK Jr. Never heard of War Games though. (Not the movie)
colecovision is such a great machine - the arcade game conversions were amazing at the time.
They still are
Funnily the Coleco used almost the same hardware as the Ti99/4a, I wonder how the games over time would have developed on that system if TI would not have pulled the plug early. It certainly had potential which seldomly was fulfilled!
I love how the ad in the beginning says "The Only System You'll Ever Need" XD
Beamrider is an excellent game, just gotta give it a chance.
I will definitely, I need a better controller to enjoy it more. Appreciate the comment Greg 👍
War Games does NOT require a roller controller as suggested by another viewer...it DOES however require the use of the regular controller's keypad in order to play...the cartridge came with plastic overlays which slid into/over the key pad that helped facilitate play, but if you have the game manual which explains how the game is played...you could play without the keypad overlay and just as easily shove a piece of paper in there and take a pen and make your own keypad overlay, or memorize the keypad layout from the manual and play.
It was a very fun & challenging game that I adored back in the day being a fan of the film. Basically the U.S. map is divided into sectors (6 I believe) and you hafta defend each sector from incoming attacks...Think multiple screens of Missile Command that you have to jump amongst and defend, but not just missiles...You hafta scramble jets to intercept jets, and even subs to intercept subs on the coastal sectors.
All of this is done in a Missle Command style of gameplay with everything going on at once trying to keep the Defense Condition from dropping to 1 in each of the sectors.
If I remember correctly there's also a satellite (which looked sorta like the Sun) that randomly roams the sectors that can be utilized in a pinch and aimed/fired in all directions when it's in a sector which helps manage all the mayhem...
My top 6 favorite Colecovision titles of ALL time were:
1. Donkey Kong (of course)
2.Donkey Kong Jr.
3.Zaxxon
4.Jungle Hunt
5..WarGames
6.Decathlon by Activision
Those games were light years ahead of their time in terms of Arcade Quality via home console back in 1982! Heck id still play any of these fondly today. Dunno why but as games get larger and larger they seem to no longer be as fun as they used to be...maybe it's just me but I haven't really enjoyed a game since the XBOX 360 days!
Appreciate the explanation! Yeah I plan on spending some time on this one. It seems like a game that would be fun once you get the hang of it.
Jungle Hunt was one of my favorites, I'll def check that one out. 👍
When you watch the show-me retro channel, you get such a longing for the good old days, when people didn't regret everything, but enjoyed life by going out to play and of course playing video games.
All time fav retro console. When I sold my collection in 2005, had close to 90 games. Miss it :(
Best version of Beamrider ever. :D
I have always liked the Coleco Vision. I currently have one and the same expansion pack that you have. Definitely reminds me of the good ole days. Great system all around. Not a ton of must have games but you really only need about a dozen and you’re good. Great video and congrats on picking one up!
Thanks Steve, I'm really enjoying it
Been wanting one of these to add to my collection but can't find a guaranteed working for a decent price. Hopefully one day I will find one.
Augh! Beamrider's got two buttons! You're supposed to fire lasers at regular enemies, then save the missiles for the boss! (If you were using that STD controller, then the second button doesn't work. Using that controller is as uncomfortable as HAVING an STD.)
Yeah, the standard controllers aren't responsive at all, almost unusable
@@show-me-retro I was referring to the ProPad. For a brief period, the company called itself STD... you can guess why they renamed themselves Interact!
But yeah, the stock controllers are garbage. Absolutely no argument there. Console manufacturers couldn't seem to grasp the concept of ergonomics back in those days.
@jessragan6714 I have two propads and on both the second button doesn't register
@@show-me-retro It won't. You have to use a controller designed for the ColecoVision, which unfortunately means either the mushroom controller that came with the system or that weird sword hilt controller.
This whole video made me smile so much, such a lucky find, i would love to own one.
Thanks for the comment! I'm so happy to have one after all these years
Colecovision was one of my fondest Christmas memories. I know I'm 9 months late to this but WAR GAMES was one of my favorite games as a kid. There were plenty of games with inscrutable game mechanics at the time, but I knew how to play WAR GAMES on Coleco and had a blast with it.
ColecoVision was my childhood system! DK and Zaxxon are great as are Carnival and, a personal favorite, Artillery Duel (2-player only). Cartridge storage is pretty easy. The cart size is a near exact match to Atari 2600/7800 so anything that works for those will work for ColecoVision as well.
Thanks for the recommendations! If I had this as a child I would have been the happiest kid on the planet for sure.
0:18 Who the hell had a TV that huge in the early 80's?
My parents bought me a Colecovision when it first came out in August of 83 for my birthday, I had wanted an Atari 2600, but I loved the Coleco more. I still have mine with every single game/expansion modules
I think Activision had a policy that all games looked and played the same on all systems; that's why the Colecovision version resembles the Atari. They broke this rule a couple of times, most notoriously with the Atari 5200/Atari 8-bit computer version of Pitfall II having a second adventure after you finished the first.
River Raid also is an example the graphics were simply better than on the xl version, also huge exception H.E.R.O. my personal early 80s favorite, had different graphics literally on every system it was ported to (with the atari 8 bit being my favorite and the C64 version despite having the best graphics, my least favorite, because the screen through the background images became cluttered)
A couple of things:
ColecoVision controller: They are not the best. But, with some games, you will need to use them, use an official ColecoVision compatible controller, or I believe a third party released a splitter, so you can use both an Atari controller and they Coleco keypad.
Beamrider: Great game! You are just playing it wrong. With this game, you may have to use the Coleco controller, as there are two types of weaponry: The phasers, which will destroy the enemies and some of the other targets and debris, and the bombs, which will destroy anything. But, you only get three of these, and you should really save them for the end-of-stage boss.
Wargames: You may have to use the Coleco controller for this game, as I am pretty sure that there are keypad overlays for the controller.
River Raid: There are some minor graphical tweaks. But, nothing to write home about. This game is really about the game-play, and is a classic!
Although I never owned one, I too had always wanted one. And also like you, we already had a 2600 so my parents were not keen on spending their hard-earned money on a new system. Anyway, the interesting thing about the Colecovision is that it is basically made entirely from off-the-shelf parts. Amazing that other companies didn't do the same. CV always had the best arcade ports back then, at least between them, the 2600 and Intellivision. Also, it used the same video chip as the TI 99-4/a yet its games were WAY better.
It was way ahead of it's time and makes you wonder if the crash never happened, would the future of the colecovision been any different?
@@show-me-retro Exactly. Luckily Coleco had the Cabbage Patch kids to hold them off from bankruptcy for a while. But yeah, I wonder if the big three right now would be Nintendo, Sony and Colecovision if the crash hadn't happened. CV was sued by Atari for that 2600 expansion module, but Coleco won, I believe because it was proven that it was developed blindly. That is, reverse-engineered rather than as a 1-for-1 copy. (The first PC compatible was done the same way).
Its so funny those late 70s early 80s video game systems had such a.sophisticated look. With the wood grain base and clean hard plastic casing, plus the slots that you could neatly hold the controllers in Plus in addition the controllers design almost look like a telephone. It's almost like they were video game systems made for mature adults. Systems that would not look awkward in a fancy living room on a coffee table or on top of a all wood furniture piece that held the largest tv in the house, lol. Yeah I'm old enough to remember those. Id imagine anyone who wasn't aware of what these systems looked like might have in a nice house mistaken one of those consoles for a first generation music player or video playing unit. When you see an XBox or Playstation today most people can tell it's a video game system. Although now you can stream and watch things on any console, through the internet.
I was the same way as a kid. Only had the 2600 growing up but always wanted the Coleco Vision because the games looked so much like the arcade compared to Atari. My dad did buy the Coleco Adam computer, but took it back to Toys 'R Us after about 5 days after people at work told him the world was going PC IBM clone computers. DK looks so good on this.
Get one Paul, I think you owe it to yourself. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying it.i waited too long to get something I've always wanted lol
Best Open of all time: "Remember when I said I was done collecting? [Dramatic Pause of Shame] -- Well, I bought a ColecoVision."
Special memories. I’ve got them all on emulators, but I think I might have to hunt one down to add to my nostalgia collection.
It is a very cool system for sure
This was the first and only console game I ever owned. Picked it up when they were blowing them out a K-Mart in the late 80s. Then it was on to Amiga and then PC.
@@norwegianblue2017 What a great one to own. I wish I had this when I was younger
A tip for DK that makes it better: When climbing the ladders, climb up or down a bit, pause for a split second, then continue. Mario will climb twice as fast this way. Otherwise it's VERY slow compared to the arcade. There is also a fun little WARP TRICK for the barrel board, where if you 1. climb up the the first half ladder 2. climb back down 3. take exactly two movements to the left 4. then jump to right, you will jump right through the bottom of the board, and depending on the ROM version, Mario will either fly up from the bottom to the top of the level after a few seconds, or he will immediately start on the rivets board. It's a fun trick to pull off. I actually did this one while playing a game with my brother back in 1983, but we had no idea how I did it and couldn't replicate it until it was posted a few months later in ColecoVision Experience magazine. -Matt
Yeah, the trick is also getting a good controller LOL. I got mine working better cleaning the contacts but I still may buy one with a d pad
@@show-me-retro You are certainly right about that! haha. Those CV pads were always a pain too. Still, I was kind of hoping that the controllers, packaged with the ColecoVision Flashback system, but nope! They don't work. It wasn't until the early 90's that I thought to try a Sega Genesis controller in the CV system, and wow, it made some games, such as QBert, almost too easy! So much better. One thing I do love about playing CV games on the FPGA core with the Analogue Mega Sg, is that Kevin made some smart shortcut inputs, to control all of the main NUMBER and * # inputs. So playing Mouse Trap, where you need to control the colored doors, and #5 to turn into a dog, playable with a Genesis controller. I do still love to play on original hardware sometimes too though.
@videogameobsession yeah I heard those flashback controllers were bad. Etsy has a d pad one but it's a little pricey
I have one of these with the Atari expansion piece. It’s in the original box. Played probably played 10 times ever. I got it for Xmas when I was little. I’m 49 years old.
Nice! I would love and original box for that as well. You should test it out Lol
I remember plsying my buddies Colecovision and the game i associate Colecovision with is Zaxxon. Brings me back to the good old days. Makes me sad about Real Estate prices especially then versus now for some reason
Love the videos lately… been catching up on a lot of your videos lately.. love the different take and subject matter your bringing- keep it up👍
As far as Coleco: my top games have always been
Smurf
Zaxxon
Lady Bug
Mouse Trap
Thanks, much appreciated! It's funny how the Smurfs keeps coming up and it's hard to believe that game could be good but apparently it is LOL
It's an awesome investment. I have one with the atari expansion module is how i play my Atari games. Years later i also bought an ADAM.
I was lucky one of the local flea market guys had just come back from a retro fair in the late 90s and so i was able to get loose carts of most of the games i wanted.
My whole family loved playing Ladybug. When my mother got the Special, the whole household cheered and had no idea what to expect and then we realized it was a Special LEVEL you had a timer to finish. Exciting times.
Ladybug is a great port that still holds up
ColecoVision was and STILL IS one of my favorite systems of all time. Controller-wise, though, it was the best controller at the time. Obviously, they don't compare to a Sega Genesis controller, but as a purist who is looking to have that same experience I had back in the 80's.... I only use the original controllers (on all systems). Great vid!
I bought a colecovision loose along with a steering wheel and two controllers 1,5 years ago and i am very happy with it,
I do gor exciting games for it including,donkeykong,donkeykong jr,popeye,space panic and more.
Something you might wanna investigate - There's a way that you can jump to the second level in Colecovision's DK - you jump at a certain spot on the ground floor, and you "fall" through the floor and end up on the second level. We discovered it by accident back in the day...
I will def look into that, i appreciate the info 🍻
I picked up a used Colecovision from a pawn shop in the summer of '86 and was able to add B.C.'s Quest For Tires, BurgerTime, Campaign '84, Congo Bongo, Cosmic Avenger, Destructor, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Frenzy, Gorf, Jumpman Junior, Ken Uston BlackJack/Poker, Lady Bug, Looping, Miner 2049er, Mouse Trap, Slither, Space Fury, Spy Hunter, Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator, Star Wars: The Arcade Game, Tarzan, The Heist, Turbo, Venture, Wargames and Zaxxon in our collection, along with the Roller Controller and driving controller before I stopped seeing games and things for it around.
You probably need to use the keypad and overlay for Wargames. I was glancing through the old manual (which sadly, has water damage so some parts are hard to read). I did see that buttons 7 and 9 aren't use on the keypad during play.
Thanks for the info! I need to get back and figure out how wargames plays 👍
Loved Pepper II and Gateway to Apshai... those games ruled
I've heard good things about Pepper II
Wow this is before my time… I’ve never heard of this colecovision. Holy cow
It was the PS4 of it's time. Pretty amazing piece of tech for 1982
They were nice
You must be young to never heard of a colecovision.
THANK you for using a proper CRT.
I had a coleco back in the 90’s and had close to 80 games but I eventually sold it.
Zaxxon venture looping, donkey kong mouse trap carnival! they all good! def my favorite,. very awesome man!! Thanks fer sharing!
Coleco, oh my goodness. I remeber, Turbo, I drove my father crazy trying to find the tubro wheel and pedal until finally he found it! That's when I knew I was his favorite lol.
Turbo was a fantastic port
I had an Atom computer which played Colecolvision games. The controller was a handheld and the best game was the baseball game
One of my favorite consoles ever...
Its a thing of beauty. Who doesn’t love picking up things we couldn’t have in childhood. Enjoy (from London Eng.)
Ikr
Blowing into the cartridge works every time!! 😂
I had the white Donkey Kong cartridge..Ahh my childhood came n went too quickly
¡Excelente video! ¡Hermosa la ColecoVision con todos esos cartuchos que obtuviste! Tuve una allá por 1984; y uno de los juegos que más me sorprendió, por sus gráficas, fué Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle... Lindos recuerdos. ¡Saludos cordiales!
Great video! We started with a 2600 in 1980 and Dad got us a Coleco a couple or few years later. I think it is the most underrated system of that early era. It was a real leap in power over the 2600. We only ever had a handful of games for it. But, I can recommend Donkey Kong, Ladybug and Zaxxon. We also had Turbo (Pole Position-like racing game) and it was awesome, but it does require the steering wheel/gas pedal expansion set. I never minded the Coleco controllers. In fact, we used them on our Atari after those joysticks bit the dust. I still have our old Coleco and it works just fine!
Edit: I posted the comment above before watching the entire video…it looks like you ended up getting all of the games I recommended, lol. When playing Zaxxon, keep firing ahead of you to ensure you aren’t about to collide with something. If an object (wall, etc.) is in your line of flight, your laser bursts will impact the object and give you a chance to adjust your trajectory. Zaxxon was probably my favorite, but yeah it was kind of challenging. And, I will ALWAYS prefer Colecovision Ladybug over ANY version of Pac-Man…true story. Plug in that Coleco controller and give these games another shot.
That's awesome that it still works!
Zaxxon and Cosmic Avenger had mind blowing graphics for a home console at the time--especially Zaxxon!
@@tiptonbrett Oh for sure, it still holds up today
I really love the controller can be put into the console design of the early 80s consoles, makes things very tidy, I wished modern consoles would have slots where you simply could place your controllers into! The either are always lying around or are somehwere placed which is not even console related (and in many cases people have to search for them)
Would go a mile, but would disturb the clean look significantly, thats why no one does it anymore!
I loved Colecovision. I had one in the 80s great games, great graphics, and the controllers were fine too.
I was 12 years old when I won Coleco in the "lottery", after that it became a completely new form of childhood.
Cool way of earning a console 👍
War Games requires the Coleco Roller Controller (Trac Ball). War Game is Missile Command taken to the next level.
Ahhh, gotcha
I had the same setup, including the Atari adapter. That one you have is like near mint condition. Mr. Do, Carnival, Mouse Trap, Super Cobra, Qbert, River Raid - some of the best video games of all time!!
That's great! Yeah it really was taken care of and I'm so glad I bought it.
We never owned a Colecovision and still don't but absolutely a step up from the 2600👌
Real good condition too👍
I find that hard to believe Marcus... I would have bet the farm you owned one lol
I had barely heard of the Colecovision BITD. I was happy with my Atari 2600, or the Coleco Gemini at my mom's house. I had played the CV in more recent years thru the ColEm emulator, and it is super-impressive for its arcade ports. Donkey Kong's climbing mechanics are very wonky and require you to push up twice while on the ladder to climb properly, IIRC. Outside of arcade ports there isn't much to recommend with the CV. I'd recommend Frogger, Pepper II, Mouse Trap, Burgertime, Spy Hunter, Carnival, Mr. Do, Mr. Do's Castle, Venture, Q*Bert, Frenzy, Centipede, Looping, and Slither. Thanks for the video; I also have a fondness for the system and have several videos on it. The regular controllers are bad, I agree-- but the Super Action Controllers are a whole new level of pain!
I recently got Pepper II and it's very impressive. I also cleaned the joystick contacts and the controllers are working much better
Smurfs, zaxxon, frogger, all of them, and collectorvision has a bunch of new games for the coleco🎉
Appreciate it 🍻
I had 1 of them back when they came out dam I'm old I'm 51 years now.
Greetings from Argentina! My dad bought that when I was 5, like you said, it was the Ferrari of video consoles, my favorite game were "Donkey Kong Jr." and a later acquisition "Cabbage Patch Kids Adventures in the Park". I remember 30 kids from kindergarten being in my home and the Coleco was the vedette of the day.
You were very lucky my friend. I never had that pleasure and I'm sure it would have been similar situation if I did. Appreciate the comment, hope things are well in Argentina 🍻
Friend had one. Love the games. Donkey Kong, Jumpman Junior, and tons of others! Don’t pass on Jumpman Junior
Thanks for the recommendation! Appreciate the comment 👍
I never owned a Colecovision, or even knew anyone who had one. I've only ever played the games under emulation. Maybe I've just had bad luck, but my opinion of actual Coleco hardware isn't the greatest.
Our first video game console was an Atari Video Pinball unit. It worked perfectly. Then I got a Coleco Telstar Combat tank game. It never worked properly. The picture was distorted and rolled unless the TV was adjusted just so. Then I got a Coleco Telstar Arcade. The pack-in cartridge never worked. My parents got me a second cartridge, but since it didn't have any driving games on it, I never got to use the steering wheel on the console. After about a month, the gun started to malfunction in that it would always score a hit no matter where it it was pointed. You could leave it in the holster and get a perfect score. Next I got an Atari 2600, which worked perfectly. Over the years, I also got an Intellivision II, Atari 5200 and Atari 7800, all of which worked great. OK, the Intellivision was a little finicky about how far the cartridges needed to be pushed in, but other than that, it had no problems.
A few years ago, I found a box of video game stuff in the trash. There were three Atari 2600s and one Colecovision. Two of the 2600s worked fine, while one wouldn't turn on. The Colecovision turned on, but I couldn't get it to start any of the games that were with it. Ironically, the Atari expansion module was also in the box and THAT worked like a champ.
As for games, out of the ones I've played, I recommend Pepper 2. It's not the most graphically impressive, or original game, but I enjoyed it.
This thing fired right up so I really can't complain. I've heard Pepper ii was good 👍
Must own games Carnival, Defender and Looping!
I’ll never forget Xmas morning under the tree me and all my brothers got a colecovision! Minds were blown!!
Recommended games:
Venture
Mouse trap
Carnival
Gorf
Nova Blast
Donkey Kong Jr
Mr Do
Frenzy
Montezumas revenge
I would have passed out, for real LOL
had a colecovison great console my must have games were Donkey kong, carnival, mouse trap, Gorf, Smurf Rescue at Garmel's castle
Thanks for the recommendations brother 👍
We lived next to a couple (and their child) who had an intellivision. One time they came over to our house, and we had Donkey Kong playing on the ColecoVision. I remember the lady just staring at the game. I suppose she was impressed by the graphics.
I can only imagine. It was such a step up from anything out at the time. Back then graphics like that were unheard of.
Dig Dug and Bump and Jump were good ones for me.
Gratz I'm happy you found one in such great condition with the box and 2600 module is a bonus. Sometimes just playing on OG hardware is super fun. My only issue and it's the same issue as a 2600. I don't own a CRT so I would need to get it modded or find an upscale solution. I have only played Colico on emulation and it would have blown my mind as a kid.
It still holds up quite well considering how old it is
@@show-me-retro 🔥🔥🔥
Overseas they combined the coleco and sega sg1000 in one system because they were essentually the same
great price and condition overall. i've always been curious about how to a better picture quality if not wanting to use a rf unit.
The coleco river raid contour/river-flow layout seems to be different from the 2600 (which is all straight lines).
The differences are slight, yes
I got one from a store called Best in 1983. And couldn’t beat a single game. 🤣
The ColecoVision controllers are the best gamepads in gaming history. I still use them to play modern-day MMOs, Jedi Fallen Order, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and Cyberpunk 2077.
🤨
Dude try
Jumpman junior...and looping
Those where always my faves when my dad had one
Never played Coleco. I had a 2600 as a kid, and then went right to NES. I picked up an Intellivision a couple years ago just to try it out.
It's actually as good as I thought it would be, other than the controller LOL
Cv could have easily kept pace with nes through the 80s had Coleco not gone under.
With increasing rom,ram in later carts plus added cpu chips like nes carts got, coupled with increasing skill at coding for the cv, coulda had much longer life.
I preordered my cv June 82 and got it August 82. Compared to the dominant Intv and 2600, the cv was amazing.
Have to put the cv in context. Besides a massive jump in visuals vs the 2600 and intv, and a real deal expansion port, the atari 8 bit xl series and c64 were either a year off or too expensive. It took until late 83 and into 84 for the a8 and c64 to drop in price as viable game options vs the cv.
And by late 84, Jan 85 we were all aware of the coming Amiga and St 16 bit "color macs" for unheard of low prices for their capabilites.
I had an St by Fall 85, after the Adam add on computer for the cv.
I agree... It's a shame we never got to see the full potential of the CV
I wasn’t alive back then the first ever console i got was an xbox 360☠️☠️☠️ but i love the way this one looks super cool ^_^
It's still holds up
I guess I was a spoiled kid, because I had a 2600 and a Colecovision. Maybe it helped that my parents were divorced... Dad bought me and my older brother a 2600 for Christmas 1979, and my mother bought me a Colecovision a few years later. Gotta agree with you on Lady Bug... it's a great game! I like it more than Pac Man. If you haven't yet, you should check out Looping, I think that was the cart that came with the system, that one was a lot of fun too! Enjoy your new system! I'm 54 and thinking about getting back into these old machines. 👍
I will def check it out, thanks for the comment 🍻
For Beamrider, if you were still using that Genesis controller that's probably why you couldn't shoot. if not then the Coleco controller was probably having problems.
Yeah, I refurbished my original colecovision controllers and figured it out
I bought one too, last week. It's great but big! Somebody said online the Colecovision is like the PlayStation of the 80's and I agree. Must own? That would be Omega Race which is easily the best version on any system by a mile!
It was def the PS of it's time. Will check out Omega Race, appreciate the recommendation 🍻
@@show-me-retro Sure it's got so many games that are the best of the second gen console versions and also some arcade version not on any other system (Pepper II I'm looking at you).
@basketballsteve54 Unfortunately my two original controllers are just so unresponsive. I've tried everything to get them to work better but no dice. I may get one of the retrogameboyz game pads instead of a used oem controller
@@show-me-retro yes I'm doing the same I've ordered one of their COLECO pads. I have ordered from them before, i have their 2 button commodore 64 pad and i use it with my 2600 games and it gives 2 button function to asteroids, omega race, frostbite, beamrider and a number of others. Their products seem to work well.
Lady Bug is the best game of Coleco.
Also (last post I swear)., have you seen or played OpCode's "DK Arcade" port? It looks very close to the arcade version. Probably even better than the NES port (which itself, saw a better homebrew port, in TATE mode, with arcade perfect barrel A.I, etc.). The Opcode version also utilizes a "Super Game Module" for the sound, which adds more memory and an extra sound channel, iirc. The for this seems to be very hard to find, and Opcode has since stopped selling both the physical copies and the roms, due to obvious reasons. **(If anyone has a link for this I'd love to test it out), DK is my favorite game on the CV.
I have not seen that one but I almost bought the Robotron conversion that was put out a few years ago. It looks very good but I feel it wouldn't control as well as my multicade
i had one a long time ago, with the atari expansion unit too, but after a couple years the power supply failed, and dad took me to a few electronic stores but by that time replacement parts were non existent anywhere, even from the store it came from the clerk told me i could no longer order parts, as the first Nintendo was on the horizon and all coleco parts were discontinued....
I can't believe everything still works on this one. I cleaned the contacts on the controllers and they are better now as well
I still remember the smell of it when I opened the box 😌 yes it smelled so good. I would wake up early in the morning to play the smurfs game😁 edit : venture was actually super addictive but like ladybug you need a good controller or you will bang your head on the floor 😂
System was way ahead of its time.
I actually grew up with this controller first.
It was the best if the controls back then and better that a D-Pad in terms of game performance.
I've got a funny saying about the controllers.
The good news is that the controls are ambidextrous.
The bad news is you're going to learn to be ambidextrous, because with the cramps you get, you have to switch hands when you have a 2 second break in the game.
I need to get some new ones, these seem to have some issues that I can't repair. They just don't respond like they should and after taking them apart multiple times I don't think it's worth fixing unfortunately
I can show you the way I hold the controller if I can get someone else to hold my camera. For some games, I recommend the Super Action Controllers. Those are also ambidextrous, and you cramp less often. And they have a better grip for Mouse Trap, not having your fingers blocked by the raised grid. Getting photos in a few minutes
I can't figure how to send a still picture. If you want, I can get on UA-cam and show you a grip. Give me 15 minutes.
I've only playd C64 version of river raid but that was very nice!
@@banditkfk1463 I was hoping it would look dramatically better than the 2600 but not necessarily. Still a great game but not a leap in graphics
I just picked up a colecovision 63 in 1 cart on eBay for 50 bucks. I believe there are still
Some left. It’s well worth it
Not bad! May do that 👍
@@show-me-retro some of the games on there are pretty rare and fetch some money if you were to try and buy the original vintage cart versions
Love the video. It's so funny what you were saying about owning a 2600 back in the day, but really wanting a Colecovision - totally relate to that thought. I had a "rich" neighbor that had one, and it became instantly obvious his Colecovision was so much better graphics than the Atari. I recently bought one off of Facebook Marketplace as well...paid more than you did, you got a great deal I think considering condition. One question, you mention "restoring" the manuals and boxes a little bit...what is your process for that?
Appreciate the comment brother. Here is a link to a video where I restored some REALLY water damaged boxes and manuals. It may seem a little extreme but in this condition I didn't have much to lose and the results speak for themselves.
ua-cam.com/video/Hm5aAuix1uo/v-deo.htmlsi=QNpMO737MYcUP_u_
The better "River Raid " version is the orginal Activison cartridge. You can play it with the Coleo adapter. But you don't see the tank by the bridge. 😮 But that was one of the great things about Coleco, you can get an adapter and play any Atari or Activision game you wanted to.
"War Games* is probably the most innovative game at that time. I always thought the map graphics were great too. It's solid. It's an awesome game for its time.
The game "Destructor" is also a great game, it needs the wheel adaptor - my recommendation
Controller -
I never thought the controller was bad. It was actually quite sophisticated for its time. War Games was one of the few to trully take advantage of all the available buttons. Plus it had a 360 degree feel.
I finally cleaned the contacts on.yhe controllers and removed the corrosion and they are much better 👍
Retro Game Boyz makes a controller for the Colecovision that work great
I saw that!!!!
The best games of mine are from the best; Lady Bug, Pepper II, Mr. Do, Looping, Venture, Space fury, Pitstop, Cosmic avenger, Gorf and probably some more, can't remember everything. Turbo was of course great at first, but in the end not very special. On the other hand, with the Atari adapter, I really liked games like river raid, H.E.R.O and many others.
Def read the manual and learn how to play WarGames. One of my favorite games for the system. If you like the movie, you’ll love the game. 👍
and the games I won with the console were mouse trap, turbo. Later purchased were Cosmic avenger, Gorf and Zaxxon. Zaxxon was a huge disappointment compared to the arcade equivalent.
Ladybug my all time fave
I had one of those Genesis pads. I HATED it. Absolutely the little brother controller.
It sucks for sure, just not as bad as the colecovision controller LOL