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History of video games/Platforms/Coleco Telstar series

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  • The original Coleco Telstar.
    The original Coleco Telstar.

History edit

 
West Hartford, Connecticut, the city where Coleco was founded.

Development edit

Coleco was founded as the Connecticut Leather Company in west Hartford Connecticut in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg, a Russian immigrant.[1][2]

The Coleco Telstar was devised as a home version of Pong in 1975.[1] Shortly after product design began, Leonard Greenberg of Coleco discovered that home pong style games already existed.[1]

Much of the Coleco Telstar had to be redesigned in a week to meet an FCC deadline, after they failed their first FCC compliance test.[3][4] Coleco quickly signed a licensing agreement with Magnavox to consult with Ralph Baer, who successfully got the radio interference of the Telstar under control.[3]

At least some units were made in the United States of America.[5]

Launch edit

 
An AY-3-8500, the heart of most Telstar units.

The first Coleco Telstar console was released in 1976 at a cost of $50 with the capability of playing Hockey, Tennis, and Handball.[6] In 1976 over a million Coleco Telstars sold due to it's low price, which was about half of what competitors charged.[6][1] Still sales were considerably hampered by a strike and material shortage at the critical lead up to the 1977 Christmas season.[7]

In 1977 the Coleco Telstar deluxe was released exclusively for the Canadian market.[8]

The Coleco Telstar consoles were followed by the ColecoVision.

Technology edit

The original Coleco Telstar used a General Instrument AY-3-8500.[6] This inexpensive chip contained the game logic and graphical output functions.[9]

The Telstar Arcade uses a very different triangle cartridge based system with each cartridge containing a MOS MPS 7600 processor,[10][11] as well as game ROM.[12] This cartridge based approach is completely different from every other Coleco Telstar console, which were dedicated consoles. However the console still shared the Telstar brand.

Gallery edit

Telstar Series edit

  •  
    The first Coleco Telstar from 1976, model 6040.
  •  
    The Coleco Telstar Classic from 1976, model 6045.
  •  
    The Telstar Alpha from 1977, model 6030.
  •  
    Coleco Telstar Colormatic from 1977, model 6130.
  •  
    Coleco Telstar Regent from 1977, model 6036.
  •  
    Coleco Telstar Combat! from 1977, model 6065.
  •  
    Coleco Telstar Colortron from 1978, model 6135.
  •  
    Coleco Telstar Marksman from 1978, model 6136.
  •  
    The Coleco Telstar Arcade was a significantly different console in the series that used cartridges containing a processor and ROM.[12]

External Resources edit

 

Wikipedia has related information at Coleco Telstar series

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Coleco Telstar

References edit

  1. ↑ a b c d Kleinfield, N. R. (21 July 1985). "COLECO MOVES OUT OF THE CABBAGE PATCH (Published 1985)". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Coleco Industries". Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  3. ↑ a b "Pong-Story : Coleco Telstar". www.pong-story.com. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  4. ↑ "Because of Her Story". Because of Her Story. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  5. ↑ "Video game console:Coleco Telstar Ranger - Coleco Industries". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  6. ↑ a b c "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  7. ↑ "COLECO'S NEW VIDEO CHALLENGE (Published 1982)". The New York Times. 11 November 1982. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/11/business/coleco-s-new-video-challenge.html. 
  8. ↑ "Coleco Canada – Montreal Video Game Museum". Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  9. ↑ "Pong-Story : PONG in a Chip". www.pong-story.com. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  10. ↑ "This Is the Strangest Video Game Console of All Time - IGN". Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  11. ↑ "Pong-Story : Coleco Telstar Arcade". www.pong-story.com. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  12. ↑ a b "Coleco Telstar Arcade (1977 – 1978)". Museum of Obsolete Media. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
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