History of video games/Platforms/ColecoVision

• 
  The Collecovision with a controller taken out from the holder.

History

Launch

Colecovision logotype.

The ColecoVision had been preceded by the Coleco Telstar series of consoles, where Coleco had familiarized themselves with the home gaming market.

The ColecoVision was released in June of 1982, selling for $195 USD. Console shortages were a concern for Coleco in November 1982. Despite this 500,000 units were sold in 1982. Yet shortly following this, production in the United States was briefly stopped in August 1983 to make capacity for Coleco Adam computer production, which used the same manufacturing facilities.

Legacy

An abandoned Coleco building in Amsterdam, New York.

Having sold 6 million units, the ColecoVision ended production in 1984 so that Coleco could focus on their Cabbage Patch Kids toy line and their Adam home computer. The ColecoVision was officially discontinued in 1985. The changing of production from ColecoVision to Coleco Adam is commonly seen as a massive blunder by Coleco. The Coleco Adam launched with a flawed design which was nearly self destructive that caused over 60% of produced units to be returned as defective. As a result the system was a massive commercial failure which helped contribute to the bankruptcy of Coleco by loosing hundreds of millions of dollars in spite of large revenue generated by other massively successful product lines.

The Coleco partnership with Nintendo lead to a prototype unit being demonstrated to Nintendo employees in Japan, inspiring Nintendo Research & Development Number 2 Department to match or exceed the capabilities of the ColecoVision during the development of the Famicom.

Though the company that created the ColecoVision went bankrupt, a few later consoles made by others would bear the Coleco brand. This included the Coleco Sonic of the 2006. This would also briefly include Chameleon of the mid 2010's before the naming rights were revoked.

Technology

Donkey Kong cartridge for the ColecoVision.

Compute

The ColecoVision CPU is the 8 bit NEC D780C-1, a variant the Zilog Z80A clocked at 3.58 megahertz.

The ColecoVision has 1 kilobyte of RAM and 16 kilobytes of video RAM.

Hardware

The ColecoVision has an 8 kilobyte ROM.

A Texas Instruments TMS9928A was used for graphical output, and could display 32 sprites with 16 simultaneous colors out of 32 possible colors.

Colecovision cartridges leveraged bank switching for increased ROM sizes.

Expansion Modules

• Expansion Module #1 allowed the ColecoVision to play Atari VCS games.
• Expansion Module #2 was a driving wheel controller.
• Expansion Module #3 turned the ColecoVision into the Adam computer system.

Notable games

• Donkey Kong - Port
• Zaxxon
• Illusions
• War Room
• Rocky Super Action Boxing

Gallery

The ColecoVision Console

• 
  The ColecoVision included a front expansion port, as well as an on off switch and a reset button.
• 
  Controllers could be conveniently stored on the top of the console.
• 
  The rear of the console includes an AV out port
• 
  A power jack resides on the rear end of the console.

Accessories

• 
  The ColecoVision expansion module #1 allows the ColecoVision to play Atari 2600 games.
• 
  The front of the expansion module #1 contains switches and an Atari 2600 cartridge slot.
• 
  The back of the expansion module #1 contains the interface which connects to the main console.
• 
  The ColecoVision expansion module #2 acts as a driving wheel controller.
• 
  The ColecoVision RF adapter was used to switch between the ColecoVision and a TV. This was common for consoles at the time.
• 
  The ColecoVision power supply uses a large wall wort design, and outputs 5V DC and 12V DC to the console.

Internals

• 
  Most of the console interior is empty, which makes room for the controller holder.
• 
  Wires of a relatively sizable gauge run from the power jack to the motherboard.
• 
  RF Shielding is used over the motherboard only, rather then the entire case.
• 
  The top casing internals show how deep the controller bay goes.
• 
  The ColecoVision Motherboard
• 
  The ColecoVision Motherboard
• 
  The ColecoVision Motherboard
• 
  The ColecoVision Motherboard

Telegames Personal Arcade

• 
  The Telegames Personal Arcade, a ColecoVision and Sega SG-1000 compatible console.
• 
  The console, also known as the Dina 2 in 1, could dock controllers on the side.
• 
  The console rear hosted I/O ports.
• 
  The controller for the Telegames Personal Arcade.