ColecoVision

Coleco (COnnecticut LEather COmpany...?) got its start in the video game world for one simple reason: two future "big names" in the business had yet to make systems of their own. So, along comes the Colecovision with licensed games from the early days of both Sega and Nintendo. Cool...! True; few games for the system were originals, though you must give accolades to Coleco for truly knowing where the future of gaming would lie; first-generation Sega and Nintendo video games, years before either company made game systems themselves. The original free-game-with-system was none other than Donkey Kong, and was a fantastic home-version of the arcade classic. To this day, it still has its charm.

Some modern gamers might thing the games on this mid-1980's system were too dated. That's not as true as you might think. Games for the system were often visually stunning, given technology at the time. Even otherwise overlooked titles like Smurfs could deliver on colorful graphics and pleasing sound fx, making it the underdog classic to many Colecovision fans. Other Coleco games were similarly well done. Graphics, even when limited, were not without their imaginative charm. Musical clips could make an otherwise overlooked arcade port like Venture into a cult favorite of mine. Of course, there were also the well-done "ports" of classic arcade games, including Zaxxon, Donkey Kong Jr., and much more.

Coleco had many add-ons for the system. A Super Action Controller was held by one hand, with a fire button under each finger (the joystick, on top, would be used by the other hand). Another add-on was a steering wheel with the added touches of a stick shift, and a gas pedal to put at your feet (connected by a short cord to the steering wheel base). This was also the first unit to deliver on the promise of an alleged expansion bay, with a computer-like add-on called the ADAM. This add-on took on such a life of its own, I gave it a separate page, to talk about it more thoroughly.

Unfortunately, while many feel this system could have competed with the first Sega/Nintendo systems, the company's top brass had other plans. Coleco had introduced a little baby doll called the Cabbage Patch Kid, which allegedly "everyone" wanted. To a point, they were correct, and by Christmastime the evening news showed Toy Stores throwing the few CB dolls they had in stock to whoever was lucky enough to catch them. Word is that the head of Coleco at the time --- a man totally oblivious to the term "FAD" --- concentrated Coleco's time way too heavily on the Cabbage Patch craze, and Coleco's attention towards its other products waned. It didn't help matters that this was all happening around the time of the great video game "crash" of 1984. In the end, very little was seen of Colecovision, of ADAM, or, thankfully, of half as many Cabbage Patch Dolls (which are still sold, though in less demand).