Colecovision

Colecovision ( Model No. 240020 ) - 02
	   
Coleco (a contraction of COnneticut LEather COmpany) was the first company
to introduce a "dedicated chip" home video game system, with the Telstar
Arcade in 1976.
(The Magnavox Odyssey, based on Analog technology, was the first home video
game system overall, debuting in 1973.)
Trying to build upon the enormous initial success of the unit, Coleco
decided to bring out nine different Telstar models.
But within a year, 75 other manufacturers had introduced similar units,
and combined with with production snags, a shortage of chips, and a push
towards hand held games, Coleco skirted with disaster.
While Coleco sold over $20 million of hand held games, it had to dump over
a million Telstar units, and the company lost $22.3 million in 1978.
With the introduction of units with games stored on interchangeable
cartridges, Fairchild and then Atari had eliminated any remaining market
for the simple pong games.
 
On June 1, 1982, Coleco re-entered the fray with the announcement of its
"third generation" video game system, ColecoVision.
Touting "arcade quality", ColecoVision took aim at the seemingly
unassailable Atari 2600.
Coleco wanted "Donkey Kong", a very hot arcade hit, to be their pack-in.
In December '81, they went to Japan to make a deal with Nintendo for the
rights to Donkey Kong.
The Coleco executive wanted to return to the US to show his lawyers the
contract before signing, but was told to sign now, or risk losing Donkey
Kong to Atari or Mattel, who were currently going though channels to get
the rights themselves.
Under the pressure, the Coleco executive signed.
In April '82 Coleco and Nintendo were threatened with lawsuits from
Universal Studios who claimed Donkey Kong was an infringement on their
King Kong.
Coleco had invested a fortune in the ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong
that was only 4 months from its premiere release.
Thinking that they didn't stand a chance in court, Coleco decided to
settle, agreeing to pay Universal 3% of all Donkey Kong sales.
Nintendo decided to fight it, and some time later actually won.
Coleco then filed suit and got some of their lost royalties back.
The bulk of Coleco's library, however, was comprised of overlooked coin-op
games such as Venture and Lady Bug.
With a library of twelve games, and a catalog showing ten more on the way
(many of which were never released), the first one million ColecoVisions
sold in record time.
In 1983 it topped sales charts, beating out Atari and Mattel, with much
of its success being contributed to its pack-in, Donkey Kong.
The ColecoVision soon had more cartridges (about 170) than any system
except the Atari 2600, and with the 2600 converter still today has more
playable games than any other system.
The ColecoVision introduced two new concepts to the home videogame industry
- the ability to expand the hardware system, and the ability to play
other video game system games.
The Atari 2600 expansion kit caused a flurry of lawsuits between Atari
and Coleco.
After the dust cleared, the courts had decided that it was acceptable for
Coleco to sell the units.
As a result of this Coleco was also able to make and sell the Gemini game
system which was an exact clone of an Atari 2600 with combined
joystick/paddle controllers.
 
Coleco was also the first home videogame maker to devote the majority of
their product line to arcade conversions, using the superior graphics of
the ColecoVision to produce nearly arcade-quality games, albeit often
missing a screen or level.
Unfortunately, the ColecoVision suffered the same fate as the rest in the
great video game shake-out of 1984.
Coleco's unsuccessful bug-ridden ADAM computer only complicated the problem.
Some believe if it wasn't for Coleco's Cabbage Patch Dolls, they would
have completely disappeared.
Coleco stopped production of the ColecoVision in 1984.
Their last few titles (Illusions, Spy Hunter, Telly Turtle, and
Root Beer Tapper) were barely seen in stores.
Soon after that, Telegames bought much of Coleco's stock and even produced
a few titles of their own that didn't reach the shelves before
the shake-out.
As recently as 1991 a mail order electronics store was known to sell
ColecoVision motherboards and joysticks.
When Coleco left the industry they had sold more than 6 million
ColecoVisions in just two years, even with the last year being troubled
by the shake-out.
Many in the industry believe if it wasn't for the videogame crash of '84,
that Coleco could have gone through the 80's as the system of choice,
especially with its proposed Super Game Module.
It was clearly beating Atari and Mattel, but just didn't have the
installed base to last out the crash.
	   
www.thepong.com	
	   

Manufacturer Coleco Name Colecovision
Type Console Origine USA
Introduction Date 1982 End of production 1984
Built in Language ??? Keyboard -
CPU Z80 A Speed 3.58 Mhz
Coprocessor Video Display Processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A Amount of Ram 8 K
Vram 16k (8x4116) Rom Cartridge Rom: 8k/16k/24k/32k
Text Modes ??? Graphic Modes 256x192
Colors 16 (32 sprites) Sound Texas Instruments SN76489AN 3 tone channels, 1 noise
Size / Weight ??? Built in Media Cartridges
I/O Ports Cartridge slot, 2 Joysticks, TV OS -
Power Supply Internal Introduction Price ???
Sold ??? Serial Number 0028935
Other Extras 1 Game (Pepper 2) Bought Where Gent
Bought When 23/10/02 Condition Unknown
Price Paid 40€ Specs of my Model -
Setup Today -

Pepper 2 Serial Number

	   
	   
Colecovision-02:

Bought on ebay (23/10/02) for 40€ and collected it in Gent

It came with 1 game