The History of ColecoVision

ColecoVision Console and Hardware

ColecoVision was launched by Coleco Industries in the US in 1982 with the aim of bringing games with similar quality to those of the arcades of the time. Coleco started in the gaming world in 1976 with first-generation tabletop consoles called Coleco Telstar, the famous pongs. Later, it began developing miniature tabletop arcades with licensed games from companies such as Sega, Bally, Midway and Nintendo. They survived in this business until 1982. Of all the second-generation consoles, ColecoVision was one of the most powerful, with a 3.58Mhz Zilog Z80A CPU, SN76489A sound with 4 audio channels, 8kb RAM, 16kb video memory and a TMS9928A video processor . It only lost in memory to the Atari 5200, and in CPU bits to the Intellivision, which had 16 bits, but three times less power in MHz.

Donkey Kong

Although its direct competition was the Atari 5200, which was always in the lead, it had an expansion module to run games from its competitor's predecessor, the Atari 2600. ColecoVision was so powerful that Sega approached it to release games for its console. When it refused, it launched the SG-1000. Its configuration was identical to that of Sega's SG-1000, with the exception of the video processor, and identical to the MSX PC, with the exception of the AY-3-8910 sound chip, which was similar to the 76489 in the Coleco console . Because of this, games were easily converted between the three systems. The console's first game was Donkey Kong, which was also the first home version of the game. This happened because of a partnership with Nintendo, almost losing this exclusivity to the Atari 2600. This is what made the console sell 500 thousand copies by Christmas of 1982, four months after its launch.

ColecoVision Games

Several games were successful on the console, such as arcade ports made by Sega, Exidy, Konami and others, such as Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Lady Bug, Burger Time, Bump 'n' Jump, Spy Hunter, Galaxian, Frogger, Centipede, Choplifter, Roc'n Rope, Congo Bongo, Mister Do! (these brought by Coleco), Zaxxon, Popeye, Pac-Man, Q*Bert, Gyruss, Mr. Do's Castle, Super Cobra, Boulderdash, Jungle Hunt, Tutankham, and ports from other consoles and PCs such as SG-1000, MSX and C64, such as Smurf, Decathlon (also brought by Coleco), Pitfall I and II, River Raid, HERO, Antarctic Adventure, Keystone Kapers, Miner 2049er, Frantic Freddy, Pitstop, Jumpman Junior, Oil's Well, Sammy Lightfoot, Zenji, Montezuma's Revenge, among others. Additionally, the console received original and first-released games for it, all by Coleco, such as WarGames, Cabbage Patch Kids, Dr. Seuss's Fix-Up the Mix-Up Puzzler, The Dukes of Hazzard, Fortune Builder, Ken Uston Blackjack/ Poker and others.

It also had exclusive titles for the console, such as Illusions, 2010: The Graphic Action Game, Tarzan, Rock Super Action Boxing, Super Action Baseball and Football, among others. Its ports were the closest to the most powerful arcades compared to ports made for competitors such as the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. The console was discontinued in 1985.