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The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware. Released with a catalog of twelve launch titles, with an additional ten games announced for 1982, approximately 125 titles in total were published as ROM cartridges for the system between 1982 and 1984. River West Brands currently owns the ColecoVision brand name.
Coleco licensed Nintendo's Donkey Kong as the official pack-in cartridge for all ColecoVision consoles, and this version of the game was well received as a near-perfect arcade port, helping to boost the console's popularity. By Christmas of 1982, Coleco had sold more than 500,000 units,[3][4] in part on the strength of its bundled game.[5] The ColecoVision's main competitor was the arguably more advanced but less commercially successful Atari 5200.[6][7][8]
The ColecoVision was distributed by CBS Electronics outside of the United States, and was branded the CBS ColecoVision.
Sales quickly passed one million in early 1983,[9] before the video game crash of 1983. By the beginning of 1984, quarterly sales of the ColecoVision had dramatically decreased.[10]
Over the next 18 months, the Coleco company ramped down its video game division, ultimately withdrawing from the video game market by the end of the summer of 1985.[11][12] The ColecoVision was officially discontinued by October 1985.[13] Total sales of the ColecoVision are uncertain but were ultimately in excess of 2 million units, as sales had reached that number by the spring of 1984,[14] while the console continued to sell modestly up until its discontinuation the following year.
In 1986, Bit Corporation produced a ColecoVision clone called the Dina, which was sold in the United States by Telegames as the Telegames Personal Arcade.
The main console unit consists of a 14x8x2 inch rectangular plastic case that houses the motherboard, with a cartridge slot on the right side and connectors for the external power supply and RF jack at the rear. The controllers connect into plugs in a recessed area on the top of the unit.
The design of the controllers is similar to that of Mattel's Intellivision—the controller is rectangular and consists of a numeric keypad and a set of side buttons. In place of the circular control disc below the keypad, the Coleco controller has a short, 1.5-inch joystick. The keypad is designed to accept a thin plastic overlay that maps the keys for a particular game. Each ColecoVision console shipped with two controllers.
All first-party cartridges and most third-party software titles feature a twelve-second pause before presenting the game select screen. This delay results from an intentional loop in the console's BIOS to enable on-screen display of the ColecoVision brand. Companies like Parker Brothers, Activision, and Micro Fun bypassed this loop, which necessitated embedding portions of the BIOS outside the delay loop, further reducing storage available to actual game programming.
Technical specifications
* CPU: Zilog Z80A @ 3.58 MHz
* Video processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A
o 256x192 resolution
o 32 sprites
o 16 colors
* Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489A
o 3 tone generators
o 1 noise generator
* VRAM: 16 KB
* RAM: 8 KB
* Storage: Cartridge: 8/16/24/32 KB
Masters Of The Universe: "The Power Of He-Man" Video Game Cartridge (Atari 2600/Intellivision) Mattel Electronics 1984
*Appeared in: Archie's Pals 'n Gals: Comic Book Issue No. 169, May 1984 (Archie Series)
Computer Entertainment Magazine #4. This issue is in Very-Good (4.0) condition. A relatively rare issue to come by. On par with the rarity of Electronic Games Magazine #2.
This is the fourth and final issue of Computer Entertainment Magazine. Technically, this is the last issue of Electronic Games Magazine, since it changed names from EG to CE a few months earlier.
This issue marked an end of to a wonderful era in Video Gaming History and without question paved the way for other great publications such as Electronic Gaming Monthly, Gamepro and Game Informer. All of which are still being published as of writing this.
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Electronic Games Magazine, Sept 1983 in Very Fine (8.0) condition.
This issue has the 1984 game award contenders (EG predicts what will be hot waaay in the future... the year 1984). Inside there is a coupon to send away for the 1983 Software Encyclopedia #1.
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Electronic Games Magazine February 1983 issue from my personal collection in Very-Fine (8.0) condition.
Interesting Cover. Pac-Man and I guess Mrs.(not Ms.) Pac-Man have just gotten married. How they grew human bodies is beyond me. They never showed that part in the video game... Why do the ghosts look so pissed!? Especially the ghost closer to the top... He looks freakin furious!! What do they have against love?
Mouse Trap is a 1981 arcade game released by Exidy, similar to Pac-Man. It was ported to three home systems by Coleco; Coleco's ColecoVision, Mattel's Intellivision, and the Atari 2600.
A Manic Miner clone of the same name was released for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1987.
Many differences between Pac-Man and Mouse Trap are aesthetic: the dots become cheese, the player is a mouse, the ghosts are cats, and power pills are bones that turn the player into a dog.
Two distinct player forms creates a relatively complex food chain for a video game. There are other functional differences as well:
* The player can open and close the yellow, red, and blue sets of doors at the press of a matching colored button.
* The player can store dog bones for later use at his or her discretion by pressing a fourth button — a large round "Doggie Button" with a picture of the dog's head on it.
* The four ghosts are replaced by six cats, worth 100 points for the first cat eaten, 300 for the second, 500 for the third, 700 for the fourth, and 900 for the fifth and subsequent cats. Point values reset when another bone is used. Each cat eaten spawns a slightly faster replacement.
* A seventh monster, a hawk, will eat both mouse and dog. Only the mid-screen "IN" field stops the hawk, by causing it to move randomly instead of chasing the player, but this will beam the mouse into one of the four corners.
* Bonus point prizes do not appear at intervals, but are constantly available. Eating one triggers the next in the series to appear. Point values start at 1000 for the first prize and increase by 200 for each subsequent prize, with the last prize being worth 7200 points. When the last prize is eaten, the sequence restarts. There are thirty-two in all: a wedge of Swiss cheese, a paperclip, a safety pin, a key, an apple, a trophy, a candlestick, a pair of scissors, a pair of pliers, a pair of eyeglasses, a clock, a bottle, a gem, a bugle, a screw, a hammer, a diamond ring, a light bulb, a sewing needle, a fork, a thimble, a knife, a cocktail glass, a fishbone, a pear, a peanut, a die, a telephone handset, a die with "C A F" on the faces, a spool of thread, a teacup, and a pistol.
* There is a 10,000 point bonus for clearing the board of all cheese. A player who ends a stage as a dog will begin the next stage in that form.
Coleco ported Mouse Trap to its own ColecoVision console, with fewer prizes, an option to leave the hawk out, and different sound effects. Coleco's Intellivision port adds an audio warning when a cat is about to enter the maze, but suffers from blocky graphics.
Coleco also ported Mouse Trap to the Atari 2600, simplifying graphics and gameplay. The maze is more squat with brighter walls, and doors form a single colored set that flickers. Gameplay basics are the same, but the hawk, the "IN" area, and the bonus prizes are missing, there are three cats instead of six, and all doors move at once. Scoring is also reduced significantly: cheese is worth 1 point instead of 10 points, cats are worth 10 points and do not increase in value, and clearing a maze awards only 100 points.
In 1982, Buckner & Garcia recorded the song "Mousetrap" using sound effects from the game, and released it on the album Pac-Man Fever. When they rerecorded the album in 1999, they were unable to find a machine and used sounds from nature, instead.
From my personal collection. This is the 22nd issue of Electronic Games Magazine. It is in like-new Near-Mint (9.4) condition.
I always liked the covers where they would pile up all the games and systems for one awesome photo.
THE ABOVE IMAGE IS NOT TO BE USED OR COPIED FOR ANY REASON WITHOUT EXPRESSES WRITTEN PERMISSION.
This is a simple, single layer design, but it's interesting because it's actually from a flexible "board", where the circuit is printed onto what looks like acetate.
(You can see a bit of it in this pic www.flickr.com/photos/euphy/19540315150/in/album-72157655...)
The circuit is folder in the middle, so that the button areas criss-cross each other. Pretty neat.
I imagine not very hard-wearing though. Considering the crudeness of some of the rest of the Mattel Intellivision, (the case, the controller housing, the multiple circuitboards in the main unit, the fixed cables etc), this part is quite nice.
The cable was terminated in a kind of 8-conductor leaf-spring, that pressed into the flexible circuit board.
Purchase: printjustice.bigcartel.com/
These are not really comic book ads, but videogame magazine ads. No way in hell I'm creating a special set, though. As it is, my 1980's geek pedigree is on full display. I remember way more about this stuff than I should.
Nevertheless, this was 1982 and it must be stated for the record that this ad was an out and out fabrication. Atari never had the best graphics, usually they hid this in their ads with small screenshots and hyperstylized illustrations or photos. But here they put their lameness on full 8 bit display and unabashedly ignore the obvious: these graphics sucked even for the time.
Everyone knew Intellivision wore the graphics crown especially with sports, although at this juncture in 1982 Colecovision was poised to step in and claim the prize.
From my personal collection.
Electronic Games Magazine, 1983 Software Encyclopedia issue #1. This issue is in a solid Fine/Very Fine (7.0) condition.
This issue seems to be one of the tougher ones to find. I’m not sure why since it was printed during the prime years of the publication. However, I believe it was a stand alone issue and not part of the regular print run. I know you could send away for this issue via a coupon in earlier issues from 1983, but I’m not sure if it made it to newsstands. If anyone has info on how this issue was released feel free and add a comment. Either way it seems to have a smaller print run than other issues from the same time period. That would likely be the main reason for the increased demand. It also has tons of great articles on games and systems of the day. If you get your hands on one it is definitely worth the time to read through!
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Remember when game controllers had overlays and the horror you felt when you lost them? How would you play the game then? You could not I swear. The next thing you know you are chucking the 100lb system at your brother then running off into your sisters room and tear the heads off Barbie dolls in bitter rage! I mean… that’s what somebody told me they did…(looks both ways for disgruntled parents). Ahhh no dad, not in the face…
The funny thing is that I’ve never owned an Intellivision system before. My dad bought about 20 games, new in the box when they were discounting them but we never managed to get the bloody system. I know that’s gotta upset some Intellivision nerds. Maybe one day I can play them in their fully glory!
I did play Astrosmash on the controller handicapped Intellivision Lives collection on the PS2. It seemed like a more graphically advanced version of Space Invaders without the invaders. Kind of like a zoomed in version of a NES game that appears on the GBA. Super Mario Brothers I’m looking at you with my nerd goggles.
The ship on the overlay, well, it looks like a male instrument of pregnation right? There is nothing else it could be and I have to think about this as if I’m a 5 year old because it’s the code of the Internet Bloggers. Well I’m off to space to fight some aliens….huh? O…well then I will kill me some giant rocks!
About Astrosmash - "Spin. Blast. And drop into hyperspace to avoid a killer asteroid shower. Power on. Attack computer engaged. Fire a quick burst at the alien antagonists. Got 'em!" - Is that not the gayest thing you have ever heard?
Having way too much fun getting sidetracked by pixel art. Some ideas I threw together for an 8-bit game based on John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). The game would loosely follow the narrative of the movie: each level has a it's own gameplay.
Level 1 is trying to shoot the dog running across through the snow (using the Astro Smash- style target mechanic).
Level 2 is attacking the Thing inside the dog kennel with the flame thrower before it can attack the NPCs.
Level 3 you play as the thing, creeping around Outpost 31, waiting for the right conditions to attack and assimilate a host. The host must be alone: once you make contact it triggers the infection phase, and a timer counts down. If you're discovered during the infection phase you will be attacked and must try to flee (as per the movie).
There's more scope for later levels (especially the blood test scene!!) and of course final battle :-D
The beginning of the home video game revolution. This was a period of exploration, as artists learned to transform a limited number of colors and pixels into castles, mazes, tunnels, star fields, and landscapes, and players began to understand a new visual language. If you push the buttons on the display you'll get a short speech about Tron: Deadly Discs, Star Strike, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, and Utopia.
A new shelf for Genesis games I got a few months ago. Middle shelf is for recen games like the Ps3, 360, PSP, DS... The last one in the back is for Atari 2600, Coleco, Intellivision, Vectrex.
Electronic Games Magazine July 1982 from my personal collection. This issue is in Very-Fine plus condition.
THE ABOVE IMAGE IS NOT TO BE USED OR COPIED FOR ANY REASON WITHOUT EXPRESSES WRITTEN PERMISSION.
From My personal collection. Electronic Games Magazine #18, August 1983. This issue is in Fine + (6.5) condition. There is a price sticker on the cover that reads $2.80 and Non-Food... No guessing that this was bought at a grocery store, but I wonder which one.
This issue features Miner 2049er.
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Box for the Kool-Aid Man Atari 2600 video game.
This is a simple, single layer design, but it's interesting because it's actually from a flexible "board", where the circuit is printed onto what looks like acetate.
(You can see a bit of it in this pic www.flickr.com/photos/euphy/19540315150/in/album-72157655...)
The circuit is folder in the middle, so that the button areas criss-cross each other. Pretty neat.
I imagine not very hard-wearing though. Considering the crudeness of some of the rest of the Mattel Intellivision, (the case, the controller housing, the multiple circuitboards in the main unit, the fixed cables etc), this part is quite nice.
The cable was terminated in a kind of 8-conductor leaf-spring, that pressed into the flexible circuit board.
Purchase: printjustice.bigcartel.com/
From my personal collection. Electronic Games Magazine #17.
This issue is in like-new Near-Mint (9.4) condition.
Editie 1985
Onafhankelijke tests van meer dan 750 spellen.
Voor o.a. Commodore 64, Atari, Spectrum, Vic 20,Philips G7000, Videopac, Intellivision, ColecoVision. Atari VCS 2600.
Uitgever: a.w. Bruna & Zoon
Samenstellers: Anthony Verhulst en Nicky Moeken
This is a simple, single layer design, but it's interesting because it's actually from a flexible "board", where the circuit is printed onto what looks like acetate.
(You can see a bit of it in this pic www.flickr.com/photos/euphy/19540315150/in/album-72157655...)
The circuit is folder in the middle, so that the button areas criss-cross each other. Pretty neat.
I imagine not very hard-wearing though. Considering the crudeness of some of the rest of the Mattel Intellivision, (the case, the controller housing, the multiple circuitboards in the main unit, the fixed cables etc), this part is quite nice.
The cable was terminated in a kind of 8-conductor leaf-spring, that pressed into the flexible circuit board.
Electronic Games Magazine June 1983 from my personal collection. This issue is in a beautiful Near-Mint plus (NM+), (9.6) condition (maybe even a mint 9.8!). As nice as the day it came out! Cool illustration as well! Look at the Mutton chops on that guy!... and is that a mullet!?
THE ABOVE IMAGE IS NOT TO BE USED OR COPIED FOR ANY REASON WITHOUT EXPRESSES WRITTEN PERMISSION.
THE ABOVE IMAGE IS NOT TO BE USED OR COPIED FOR ANY REASON WITHOUT EXPRESSES WRITTEN PERMISSION.
Electronic Games Magazine October 1983 issue from my personal collection. This issue is in almost perfect Near-mint plus (9.6) condition.
The cover... Well, the illustration is done well enough but each of these kids looks like they would get beat up the second they got to school... Maybe even before they got there... Let's face it, no matter where these guys go they look like someone would beat them up... The kid in the glasses looks like a young Michael Moore, so you know he was the first one to get whooped.... Also, why don't they care that their school is getting bombed?
Cool cover only because it is also sad at the same time... Come to think of it, I think I looked a lot like these kids when I was younger... Must be why I got beat up so much... Oh well.
THE ABOVE IMAGE IS NOT TO BE USED OR COPIED FOR ANY REASON WITHOUT EXPRESSES WRITTEN PERMISSION.
The Intellivision Hand Controller is one of the most reviled controllers in the world of video games. It’s almost as if it was designed by a group of parents who were concerned that their children spent too much time playing games, so they made a controller that would cause physical pain after roughly 30 minutes of play. There’s a sliding disc at the bottom, two buttons on each side, and a big number pad (With overlay support) in the middle. The problem is, I’ve never actually found a way to hold this controller that makes any sense. There’s nowhere to hold it so that you can use the disc comfortably. The buttons are rubbery and mushy and you never really know when you’ve pressed them, and they force you to hold the controller in an awkward way. For those who’ve never experienced what it’s like to use an Intellivision controller, imagine trying to use an oversized iPhone as a game controller, with the volume buttons as your main action buttons and the “Home” button as your control pad. And to top it off, the Intellivision controller is hardwired into the system, so you can’t get a third party controller that doesn’t suck. The Intellivision inspired a number of other controllers, including the Atari 5200 and the ColecoVision, but those controllers solved the problem by moving the disc to the top of the controller and replacing it with a joystick that could be gripped, making them far easier to use.
Don’t get me wrong, the Intellivision is an undisputed classic system, but if you want to play any of the games for it, you’re far better off picking up the latest Intellivision Lives! compilation and playing it on something like XBox Live Arcade or the DS. That way you won’t need wrist surgery next month.
The full article is located here: www.mathpirate.net/log/2011/04/02/electric-curiosities-th...