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The data contained herein is provided for informational purposes
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Additional contributions always welcome! Please mail additional
information,
opinions, and comments to either:
Joe Huber - huber@tribe.enet.dec.com
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Last update: September 30, 1996.
Contributors:
JH) Joe Huber
JC) James Carter
01) Noel Tominack
02) Tony Mason
03) Jeff Lodoen
04) Jonny Farringdon
05) Sean
Kelly
06) Gary Carino
07) Charles Cafrelli
08) Scott Marison
09)
Greg Kam
10) Joshua See
11) Ralph A. Barbagallo III
12) Joey
McDonald
13) Geoff Oltmans
14) Gregg Woodcock
15) Allan Liscum
16) Greg Chance
17) Tris Orendorff
18) Scott Stone
19) David
Strutt
20) Jeff Coleburn
21) Lee Seitz
22) Jerry Greiner
23)
Bill Loguidice
24) Norman Sippel
25) Kevin Slywka
26) Ben Lott
27) Ken Arromdee
28) Swampthing
29) Bruce Tomlin
30) Christian
Puryear
31) Patrick Lessard
32) Matt Burback
33) Brad Ensminger
34) Thomas Farrell
35) Ken Kupelian
36) Blue Sky Rangers
37)
Craig Pell
38) Chris Smith
39) Kevin Horton
40) Curtis J.
41)
Bill Esquivel
42) Greg Hunter
43) Kyle Snyder
44) Roger Fulton
45) Phil Stroffolino
46) Daniel Stevans
47) Marat Fayzullin
48)
The Piper
49) Frank Groeten
50) Dennis Brown
51) Lawrence Schick
52) Robert Merritt
53) Jason Weesner
54) Sam Etic
55) Stephan
Freundorfer
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0) What is ColecoVision?
2.0) ColecoVision and ADAM Specs
3.0)
Hardware List
3.1) Hardware known
to exist
3.2) Hardware believed
-not- to exist
3.3) Review of the
Telegames Personal Arcade
3.4)
Hardware Tidbits
4.0) Cartridge List
4.1) Carts known to exist
4.2) Carts believed -not- to
exist
4.3) CBS product numbers
4.4) Cartridge Tidbits, Tips, and
Easter Eggs
4.5) Cartridge
Hardware Cheats
4.6) ColecoVision
and ColecoVision/ADAM catalogs
4.7) The BEST cartridges
4.8) The
most popular cartridges
4.9) Rare
gems
4.10) High scores
5.0)
Internet sites
5.1) Instructions
5.2) Books and Periodicals
5.2.1) ColecoVision Experience
5.3) ColecoVision Homepage
5.4)
Coleco FTP Site
6.0) Stickers
7.0) Technical Details
7.1) ColecoVision Memory Map
7.2) ColecoVision I/O Map
7.3) ColecoVision BIOS Details
7.4) ColecoVision Video RAM
Details
7.5) Cartridge Slot
Pinout
7.6) ADAM Printer/Power
Port
7.7) ADAM Programming Tips
8.0) Separate Audio/Video Hack
9.0) Copying ColecoVision Cartridges
10.0) Repair Tips
10.1) To
fix a rolling picture/video problems:
10.2) To avoid an automatic level
select problem:
10.3) To fix an
automatic level select problem:
10.4) To fix a broken roller controller:
10.5) To fix a poorly responding
controller:
10.6) To fix a dead
cartridge:
11.0) ColecoVision Dealers
12.0) ADAM Dealers, User Groups,
and Bulletin Boards
1.0) What is ColecoVision?
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 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.
Coleco truly shocked the industry by doing so well. In a year, the
stock
rose in value from 6 7/8 a share to 36 3/4. The following items
were
taken from Fortune or March 7, 1983:
"Six months ago, hardly anyone expected Coleco to ride so high.
[Company
President Arnold] Greenberg was known in the industry as
a self-promoter
overly sanguine about Coleco's prospects.
Says one security analyst:
"He was always gilding the lily. Wall
Street developed a basic distrust
of the company." So did the
Securities and Exchange Commission. In 1980
it charged Coleco
with misstating financial results to mask troubles."
"But almost overnight Coleco's image has changed. ColecoVision, the
video game player introduced last August, is one of the most popular
consumer products around. The trade, paying homage to its
technological
advancement, has dubbed it "the third wave" - wave one
being the Atari
VCS, wave two being Mattel's Intellivision - and the
most discerning
critics, kids, love it. The 550,000 game players
Coleco made last year
flew off the shelves by Christmas-time.
Coleco's sales nearly tripled
from $178 million in 1981 to $510
million last year, and the net income
shot up 420% to $40 million."
"Coleco's charge into the market last summer was well timed. Atari and
Mattel were engaged in a multimillion-dollar mud-slinging battle on
television. George Plimpton in Mattel commercials lampooned the
graphics
on Atari's VCS game player, while Atari blasted
Intellivision's dearth
of hit games. Then Coleco suddenly
arrived on the scene with the best
of both: good graphics and good
games. With a greater amount of memory
allocated to screen
graphics, ColecoVision provided a much better
picture than
Atari. Although ColecoVision at $175 was $75 more
expensive than
Atari's VCS, discerning video players were willing to pay
a higher
price for more lifelike graphics. ColecoVision's pictures were
also better than those of Intellivision, and the retail was $35
lower."
"To make ColecoVision even more attractive the company gave away with
each unit a $35 Donkey Kong cartridge. "Donkey Kong was a very
serviceable gorilla," says Greenberg. "Once we convinced the
consumer
of the merits of the hardware, Donkey Kong pushed him into
buying.""
"Another popular feature has been ColecoVision's expandability.
Accessories like the $55 Turbo module, a steering wheel, gas pedal,
and gear shift used to play a road racing game, can be plugged into
the console. The company's $60 Atari adapter enables
ColecoVision to
play Atari VCS-compatible cartridges. Atari
doesn't approve - it's
suing Coleco for $850 million, charging patent
infringement - but game
addicts do. Coleco sold 150,000 Atari
adapters in just two months.
Coleco's latest add-on, the Super Game
module, was shown at last
week's American Toy Fair. It adds more
memory to ColecoVision and
provides additional play variations."
"Coleco's software approach was to go after licensed arcade games and
to make cartridges for Atari's VCS and Intellivision in addition to
it's own game player. Although Coleco hadn't built a single
ColecoVision when it was negotiating licensees in 1981, the licensers
liked Coleco's plan to make products for all three leading game
systems.
Coleco reached agreements with five firms, landing nine hit
arcade
licensees. Last year the company sold eight million
cartridges."
"Flush with last year's successful foray in video games, Arnold Greenberg
predicts even more good news is on the way. "We are a terror in
the
marketplace," he boasts. Greenberg proclaims that Coleco
will increase
it's market share in video game players this year from
8% to 25%,
supplanting Mattel as No. 2."
"Achieving such lofty goals may be difficult. Coleco last year paid
only $250,000 for the rights to Donkey Kong, but Atari later had to
pay
an estimated $21 million to license E.T. for it's coin-operated
and
home video games. Late last year Coleco reached an agreement
with the
game maker Centuri for licenses to three arcade games:
Phoenix,
Vanguard, and Challenger. Then just before the contract
was to be
signed, Atari won the license by making a higher
offer. Parker
Brothers also outbid Coleco for the Popeye
license. "Coleco's position
is still not assured," says Barbara
S. Isgur, a security analyst at Paine
Webber. "They were helped
last year by the phenomenal success of Donkey
Kong. What will
they do for an encore?"
"Arnold Greenberg remains optimistic. He notes that Coleco has already
signed license agreements to bring out 30 new games by year-end.
In
January, Coleco made CBS the principal foreign distributor for it's
products. In return Coleco will begin developing and marketing
for
ColecoVision home video cartridges licensed by CBS from Bally, a
major
arcade game maker."
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.
Even the Cabbage Patch dolls couldn't keep Coleco going forever, though;
the company went under for good a few years later. Ironically, Mattel
(the producers of Intellivision) now own the rights to the Cabbage Patch
dolls.
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.
Timeline
--------
Aug 1982 - ColecoVision released
1982 - Expansion Module #1: Atari 2600
Converter released
1982 - Module #2,
Driving Controller released
Feb 1983 - Super Game Module
announced
1983 - Super Game Module
demoed (non-playable) at New York Toy Show
May 1983 -
Advertising of the Super Game Module starts; runs through July
Jun 1983 - ADAM computer introduced
Aug 1983 - Super Game
Module schedule to go on sale
Oct 1983 - Super Game Module
dropped
Fall 1983 - ColecoVision Roller Controller released
1983 - ColecoVision Super Action
Controllers released
Winter 1983 - The video game market begins to crash
Spring 1984 - The video game industry collapses. All production stops.
Jan 1985 - Coleco drops the ADAM computer
1985 - Telegames picks up where Coleco
left off, putting out new titles
Dec 1985 - Nintendo NES is
test-marketed in New York City
1988 -
Telegames releases the "Personal Arcade" ColecoVision clone.
- JH, JC, 03, 07, 10, 13, 14, 25, & 50
2.0) ColecoVision and ADAM Specs
ColecoVision:
Resolution: 256 x 192
CPU: Z-80A
Bits: 8
Speed: 3.58 MHz
RAM: 8K
Video RAM: 16K (8x4116)
Video Display Processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A
Sprites: 32
Colors: 16
Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489AN; 3 tone channels, 1 noise
Cartridge ROM:
8K/16K/24K/32K
ADAM:
Resolution: 256 x 192
CPU: Z-80A
Bits: 8
Speed: 3.58 MHz
Video
Speed: 10.7 MHz
RAM: 64K (128K optional)
Video RAM: 16K (8x4116)
ROM: 8K
Video Display Processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A
Sprites: 32
Colors: 16
Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489AN; 3 tone channels, 1 noise
Cartridge ROM:
8K/16K/24K/32K
Disk
Drives: 2 * 160K (opt)
Digital Data Drives: 2 * 256K
Modem: 300 Baud (opt)
Printer: 120 wpm Daisy Wheel, 16K buffer
Other: Serial/Parallel Port (opt), Auto Dialer (opt)
What really distinguished the ColecoVision from other systems of the era
was its 32 sprite capability. It made it easier to design sprite
intensive
games like Slither.
Scrolling on the Coleco was sort of chunky because they did not have special
hardware for scrolling like the Atari units did - but some games (notably
Jungle Hunt and Defender) _do_ manage to scroll well, so there was a
software workaround of some kind.
All Coleco cartridges, and many third party titles, incorporated a
patience-testing twelve second delay before the game select screen showed
up. One story commonly cited (and apparently mentioned in Electronic
Games magazine at the time) is the following: before ColecoVision reached
the marketplace, Coleco invested heavily in advertising for the system,
building up significant demand. The problem was software
support. Few
programmers knew the ColecoVision's quirky assembly
language, and there
wasn't time to train more. So the engineers at
Coleco designed an emulator
that allowed progammers to code in a far more
common and well known
language, Pascal. Coleco then hired programmers
familiar with Pascal to
design software for the ColecoVision, and thus were
able to provide
software to meet the demand. The only problem with the
scheme was the
twelve second delay the emulator caused while starting up.
As good a story as this makes, it's incorrect. The real reason behind
the twelve second delay is a loop in the ColecoVision BIOS - the delay
was purely intentional. The way companies such as Parker Brothers,
Activision, and Micro Fun avoided the delay was to simply bypass the
ColecoVision BIOS. - JC, 08, 10, 12, 27, 29
3.0) Hardware List
Key:
Manufacturer -
AM) Amiga
CB) CBS Electronics
CE) Championship Electronics
CO) Coleco
HS) High Score
PP) Personal Peripherals
PS) Pusher Sales
SU) Suncom
SV) Spectravideo
TG) Telegames
WI) Wico
3.1) Hardware known to exist
Name
Manuf. Number Comes With...
================================================================================
Champ
Adapter
CE CA-340
CBS
ColecoVision
CB Donkey Kong
ColecoVision
CO Donkey Kong
Co-Stickler
PS
Expansion Module #1 (2600
Adapter) CO 2405
Expansion Module #1
Adapter
CO
Expansion Module #2 (Driving Controller) CO
2413 Turbo
Expansion Module #3 (ADAM
Computer)
CO Buck Rogers
Grabber
Balls
HS
Joy
Sensor
SU
Joystick,
ColecoVision
WI
Perma Power Battery Eliminator/AC Adapter CO 2298
Personal
Arcade
TG Meteoric Shower
Power
Stick
AM
Quickshot III
Deluxe
SV SV103
Roller
Controller
CO 2492 Slither
Super Action
Controllers
CO 2491 Super Action Baseball
Super Sketch
Pad
PP G2500 Sketch Master
3.2) Hardware believed -not- to exist
Expansion Module #3 (Super Game Module - wafer version) by Coleco.
With 30K RAM and 128K "microwafers" shaped like miniature diskettes.
The
games were to have intermissions, high-score lists, and extra
levels.
It was to be packaged with Super Donkey Kong; later, that was
changed
to Super Buck Rogers and Super Gorf. It could have been
an excellent
addition to the ColecoVision system allowing you to play
your old carts
and the new Super Games, but Coleco decided to turn it
into the ADAM
computer. - JC, 25
Kevin Slywka submits the following:
The following is a quote from the article, One million A.C.(after
ColecoVision) Brown, Michael William; Electronic Fun:
Computers and
Games; June 1983
-Note: The article contains several screen shots and a what appears to
be
a mock up of the Super Game and several game wafers.
"...the Super Games are stored on mini-cassettes (which are about
the length and width of a business card) called Super Game
Wafers...
the module has a magnetic micro-tape drive mechanism
behind a slot in
the front left panel. Inside the wafers
is approximately 50 feet of
specially formulated magnetic tape
about an eighth of an inch wide."
(Brown p41)
Brown claims to have played the system for 8 hours over two different
days. Load time for the wafers is clocked at about 10
seconds. Super
Games Brown tested: Super Donkey Kong,
Super Donkey Kong Jr., Super
Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle.
Brown further notes better colors
and additional levels in all three
games. Planned titles included:
Zaxxon, Buck Rogers Planet of
Zoom, Time Pilot, Turbo and Sub-Roc.
Brown also notes the ability to
enter your initials for high score,
which is then stored on the tape.
In Video Games Magazine(Feb.'84) an article on the Texas Instruments
Compact Computer 40(a peripheral for the TI 99/4A) mentions the tape
wafers meant for the Super Games: "...this system uses the Entrepo
floppy wafer system that is in use elsewhere, and was almost part
of Coleco's Super Game Module and ADAM."
The Super Game Module appeared to not have a realistic chance of
success at Coleco Industries. In an interview of Coleco
president,
Arnold Greenberg, by Steve Bloom (Video Games, Oct. '82)
Bloom
paraphrases Greenberg as saying, "...it is Colecos resolve to
market
a keyboard (Module #3) some time next year." In
Electronic Games
(Jan. '83): Test Lab (Cohen, Henry B.) writes that,
"...Coleco is
working on a keyboard and Ram Cram for ColecoVision
which should
turn the system into a full-scale, high powered home
computer system."
Clearly Coleco intended to develop a ADAM-like
computer all along,
but the question remains as to why they decided
to develop the Super
system in the first place. If the Super
module had been released it
likely would have insured Colecos success
for at least a while longer.
Although given the cynicism of magazine
writers and consumers after
the Super Module failed to appear it is
uncertain if it would have
been enough to save Coleco from its
eventual fate.
Description of the pictures in the Electronic Fun magazine article(kws):
The module shown appears to be the real thing(although almost
certainly a mock-up) with a slot for the super tape wafers on the
left
side of the module(even a small slot that corresponds to the
door on the
super wafer can be seen). A small LED is near the
super wafer door,
probably to indicate a read\write or power
light. The "Expansion Module
Interface" is on the lower right
of the module. The top of the unit has
the ColecoVision
face-plate and a reset button on the far right.
Below the module three wafers are shown: They have the
appearance
of micro-cassettes, they are all black and appear to have
a door on
the left rear of the wafer. Super Donkey Kong, Super
Donkey Kong
Junior, and Super Smurf (in fine print: Rescue in
Gargamel's Castle) are
represented. There is a game package
which bears a striking resemblance
to a CD jewel case(although it
appears to be made of vinyl) has Buck
Rogers Planet of Doom on the
cover. The by-line on the case states:
"For use with ColecoVision
Expansion Module #3"
"AN ADVANCED
VIDEO GAME THAT"
"PLAYS ALL
SCREENS INCLUDING"
"BEST SCORES
AND INITIALS!"
The vinyl game case carries a part number of "#2645" - 25
Expansion Module #3 (Super Game Module - CED version) by Coleco.
A second Super Game module was also rumored. It used a format
called
CED, using video records - vinyl records with much finer
grooves,
stored in cases so as to avoid contact save by the needle of
the system.
In an interview with Ralph Baer, who worked on this
system, he said it
was really zippy and in some respects better than
CDROM. - 11, 34
CED stands for Capacitance Electronic Disk system, and was pioneered
by RCA. RCA used this technology in all of there CED video disk
players,
which competed with the Laserdisc format until 1985 when RCA
discontinued
all of its players. Coleco chose the CED format
because RCA could create
a computer controllable random access
machine that was very affordable.
The Coleco CED system would have
come with two major components: the Coleco
"controller" Module (#3)
that plugs into the front of the system, and
the RCA/COLECO CED
player that connected to the Module and the T.V. set.
Reportedly the
price would be around $395-$495 for a complete set-up.
Interestingly,
the Coleco CED system would still play all of RCA's
movie and music
video disks, which was a big selling point for RCA.
So you would have
a Video Quality arcade system, and movie player - all
in one.
From Video Games and Computer Entertainment, June 1991:
'Talk of the future reminds Baer of the aborted, ahead-of-its-time
project he launched in 1982. The ideal interface, the
ColecoVision
video game console and an RCA CED player.
"Things advanced to the
point that RCA actually made a few CED
peripherals. Then along came
the ADAM computer and ended
it all. What I'd like to see is not
going to
happen." He'd like to see CED revived, instead of the
industry going to CD. He worries that CD will fail to deliver the
full-motion video that people expect.' - 12
ColecoVision (THE ORIGINAL VERSION) by Coleco.
Remember seeing the first "glimpses" of the ColecoVision system in
Electronic Games magazine? The first pictures of the system
showed
a much more attractive looking system than what we got as a
final
product. The system itself had a white faceplate where
the ColecoVision
logo appears now and the controllers were very
different. They had blue
side buttons, orange pound and star
keys on the keypad, and the finger
rollers that were later introduced
on the Super Controllers.
The finger rollers, which were to have been located between the keypad
and joystick, were supposed to be available for use as either speed
controllers, or as a paddle controller. They were dropped at
the last
minute, though if you open up a controller you can see the
schematic for
it on the circuit board. - 07
The finger rollers shown in Daniel Cohen's book "Video Games", page
57,
are located beneath the keypad. - 24
Intellivision Adapter by Coleco.
Coleco had plans for an adapter that would play Intellivision
cartridges.
Supposedly there are several working prototypes of this
adapter that were
shown at electronic shows. If Coleco would have
only gone through with
production, the ColecoVision would have been
able to play Intellivision,
2600, and ColecoVision cartridges! - JC
Modem by AT&T/Coleco.
Not to be confused with the ADAM modem, which does exist.
An article in Newsweek, September 19, 1983, on page 69 announced the
following:
'American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and Donkey Kong? An
unlikely
combination, perhaps, but one that became a reality
last week when the
venerable communications giant hooked up
with Coleco Industries, the
videogame maker, in a join effort
to make entertainment software
available by telephone to 25
million owners of video games and home
computers.'
'Under the plan, AT&T and Coleco will develop a "modem", an
electronic
device that will connect a home computer or video
game by telephone to
a central data base. Coleco will
supply the software programs, such
as Donkey Kong or two of its
other popular video games, Smurf and
Zaxxon. The service
will be offered sometime next year for about $20
a month; the
modem is expected to cost $100.' - 13
Sensory Grip Controller by Coleco.
The Super Action Controllers were supposed to have a sensory
feature,
so that when (for example) Rocky threw a punch in
Super Action Boxing,
you would feel it in the handle. - 13
3.3) Review of the Telegames Personal Arcade by James Carter
INTRODUCTION:
TELEGAMES produces and sells a ColecoVision compatible system called the
"Personal Arcade". The Personal Arcade was originally produced several
years after Coleco stopped production of the ColecoVision. It's very small
(12"x5"x1"), white, and comes with Nintendo-like gamepads. It uses a normal
sized power supply (6' cord) which is less than 1/2 the size of the
ColecoVision's ridiculously bulky one. It also comes with a game/TV
switchbox (10' cord) like the ColecoVision. It also contains two separate
expansion ports that were never taken advantage of.
COMPATIBILITY:
The ads and box say "Compatible with over 100 ColecoVision cartridges".
TELEGAMES operators claim that it is compatible with 95% of all the
ColecoVision cartridges, but won't provide a list of which ones it won't
work with. So far I've come up with 10 after testing it on 65
cartridges.
Actually, *all* the cartridges work, it's just that the
"Personal Arcade"
uses different joystick wiring and any cartridge made
specifically for
the Super Action Controllers, Driving Module, or the Roller
Controller
will be unplayable, among others. In fact, regular
ColecoVision or Atari
compatible joysticks cannot be used on the Personal
Arcade either.
GAMEPADS:
The gamepads are 1 3/4" x 4 3/4" and nicely fit into the sides of the
unit. The cables are 3 feet long and stiffer than normal. A
personal
grudge is the fact that the cables attach to the side of the
gamepad
instead of the rear, making it harder to comfortably grasp.
They are
also slightly too small and cheaply made in my opinion.
KEYPAD:
A single keypad is built into the unit and the buttons are a smaller
3/8" square, compared to the 5/8" square of the normal ColecoVision
controller. It is made of a thin membrane that works with the slightest
touch. The keypad has no frame like on the ColecoVision controller.
It
looks like the following:
1 2 3 4 5 *
6 7 8 9 0 #
This changed keypad size and
format means overlays cannot be used. It
also means it is very difficult to
play keypad intensive games where
quick reflexes are needed. Now you
must take your hand off the gamepad,
and look down to press the right key,
instead of the ColecoVision
joystick where you just move your thumb without
looking.
NON-COMPATIBLE LIST:
The following are unplayable on the Personal Arcade due to controller
problems:
Fortune Builder (needs 2 separate keypads in 2-player
head-to-head mode)
Front Line (Super Action Controller game)
Rocky Super Action Boxing (Super Action Controller game)
Slither (Roller Controller game)
Super Action Baseball (Super Action
Controller game)
Super Action Football (Super Action Controller game)
Super Action Soccer (Super Action Controller game)
Super
Cobra (2nd button "bomb" doesn't work)
Turbo (Driving Module Game)
Victory (Roller Controller game)
KEYPAD INTENSIVE LIST:
The following do work perfectly on the Personal Arcade, but are difficult
to play because of the need for very quick keypad presses:
Aquattack
Blockade Runner
Mouse Trap
Spy Hunter
War Games
BUILT IN GAME:
The Personal Arcade comes with a built-in game called "Meteoric Shower".
A decent shoot'em up game in which you have a ship in the middle of the
screen and you shoot waves of enemy ships that attack from above and below.
DISPLAY:
The Personal Arcade removes the famous multi-colored
"ColecoVision"
opening screen from all of Coleco's cartridges, replacing it
with a green
background and Japanese writing, with the words "1986 BIT
CORPORATION".
Other publisher's opening screens are unaffected.
FINAL THOUGHTS
PROS:
The best thing the personal arcade has going for it is the price. Only
$39.95 for a brand new system, with a decent built in game, and you get
to choose 1 brand new cartridge ($19.95 or less, about 40 to choose from)
also. If you prefer gamepads, then that is a plus also. The
smallness
of the system makes it much easier to store and move around.
CONS:
If you have a perfectly working ColecoVision there is really no reason
to
buy the Personal arcade, unless you want a back-up system. (...or you
have a burning desire to play Meteoric Shower. - JH) The gamepads are
less than desired, and no other joysticks can be used in their place.
The fact that you can't use Super Action or Roller Controller games
(not
to mention others) is a big thumbs down for those that already
invested in
those controllers and cartridges. The keypad on the system
may be
great for choosing levels, but is a pain to use keypad intensive
games.
NOTE: Telegames lost all of their Personal Arcade stock to a tornado
in April, 1994.
3.4) Hardware Tidbits
Atari Touch Pad / Children's Controller / Star Raiders Controller -
The following buttons and/or combinations of buttons
correspond to
various inputs on the ColecoVision:
DESIRED PRESS THIS ON
COLECO KEY ATARI TOUCH PAD
-----------------------------------------------
1 * position
2 7 position
3 1 + * + 7. The 7
may not be necessary.
4 1 + 4 + 7 + *.
5 4 + 7.
6 1
7
8
9
* 4 + *
0 1 + 4
# 1 + 7
Left button
Right button 1 + 3, or
4 + 6, or 7 + 9, or * + #. - 20
CBS ColecoVision -
Looks and operates just like my 'standard' ColecoVisions,
but the
metallic faceplates are different. On top,
it says "1 / 0" instead of
"Off / On", and the front
plate reads:
________________________________________________________________________
CBS Coleco Video Game/Home Computer
System [expansion slot] CBS
Vision
Electronics
________________________________________________________________________
CBS Electronics bought out the Coleco rights when Coleco
bit the bullet.
They marketed mostly in Europe. You can
find most if not all of the Coleco
games with a CBS
label. They are all or mostly all PAL games. However,
since the ColecoVision doesn't care, it doesn't
matter. Plug them in and
they play like NTSC! - 20,
22
Champ Adapter -
A near exact duplicate of the Coleco Keypad, minus the
upper half that
contains the joystick. Instead it
has a 9-pin slot so you can plug
in your favorite
joystick and still have use of the keypad. It also
can double as a joystick extension cable since the Champ Adapter cable
is 6' long. - JC
Co-Stickler -
Plastic "snap" on joysticks for the standard ColecoVision
controllers. - JH
Expansion Module #1 -
The following Atari 2600 cartridges are incompatible with
the 2600
Adapter:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre - JH
Most
Tigervision titles - 19 (but Miner 2049'er works - JH)
All Supercharger games - 19 (will work, but only if cover of
expansion module has been
removed) - 26
Expansion Module #1 Adapter -
This device plugs into Expansion Module #1 (2600 Adapter)
to allow
some Atari 2600 cartridges which have
compatibility problems to be
played. Supposedly it
was only sent through the mail to those
customers who
called Coleco with complaints of 2600 cartridge
problems.
- JC
Expansion Module #2 -
The driving controller can be used to play Victory, which
officially
requires the Roller Controller. - 46
Grabber Balls -
They're red balls of a stick that snap on the ColecoVision
controller,
making it more arcade-style. Work
*fantastic* when locked into the
Roller Controller, and
played with Robotron on the 7800. - JC
Joy Sensor -
A lot like an Intellivision II controler. Has a
membrane kepad area
and a membrane joystick, plus what
appear to be rapid fire controls
that might be
variable. Well made. - 41
Perma Power Battery Eliminator/AC Adapter -
Replaces the batteries in Expansion Module #2 (Driving Controller) - JC
This is a _weird_ device. Since the only way to
power the unit is with
batteries (there's no alternate
for a power source, so the connection
is required), the
"Battery Eliminator" is shaped like batteries. - JH
Power Stick -
A great joystick for non-keypad, one button games.
Having the keypad
and second button above the joystick
makes it awkward for those games,
though. - JH
Roller Controller -
To use the Roller Controller on a game which doesn't
require its use
(such as Centipede or Omega Rage), leave
the Joystick/Roller switch
in the Joystick position. - JH
Driving Module games can be played with the Roller
Controller by
doing the following:
1) Switch the setting to
"Joystick".
2) Choose the game
you wish to play.
3) Switch the
setting to "Roller Controller".
4) Go. The leftmost button acts as the accelerator.
Direction can be changed using the joystick in some as-yet
undetermined manner. - 24
You can get very strange behavior by using the roller
controller
for joystick games? Try wiggling it
around while playing Smurf
and you can move above or
under the proper "ground" area
so that none of the
enemies can kill you! - 14
Super Sketch Pad -
Came in a box with a black background and a horizontal
rainbow across
the top, marked "Super Sketch". In
addition to the ColecoVision
version, there were
Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, & TI 99/4A models.
The
ColecoVision version has a silver sticker on the top right corner
that says Model G2500 For Use with Colecovision.
The Sketch Unit
itself is white with a brown plastic
piece used for the drawing. One
of the strangest
things about it is that it does not plug into the
joystick port. The cable is attached directly to the right side of
the cartridge. The cartridge label is mostly silver
with Super
Sketch with the horizontal rainbow with it.
The sketch unit it has 5 controls. Two "Lift"
buttons, one on each
side, allow drawing to be turned
off. "Select" allows selection of
colors and menu
items on the left side of the screen; "Menu" brings
the
menu up and/or removes it.
The program itself say Super Sketch while fluctuating
through different
colors upon power-up. Just below
that it says:
Copyright 1984 Personal Peripherals, Inc.
Irving,Texas
By: Steve Roubik
Press MENU to proceed.
The program really is nothing more than a doodle
program. Menu
options are:
Clear
Swap
Expert
Brush
(The 16 Colors)
Eraser
Draw
Fill
Show
It comes with a large white envelope that says Super
Sketch starter
kit. Inside is the owners manual,
quick reference card, 6 drawings
to trace with, and a
warranty card. - 42
Telegames Personal Arcade -
The Personal Arcades were originally made by the Bit
Corporation, and
marked as DINA units with a second cartridge
slot for some unknown
purpose. - 30
The joypads that come with the Personal Arcade are 2600
compatible;
they also have an irksome quirk for anyone used to
the ColecoVision:
they're reversed (i.e. right is left, left is
right).
Besides the games listed above, Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's
Castle is
incompatible with some Personal Arcades, and the 2600
Adapter will
not work due to power and RF cable positioning.
The pause switch is incompatible with ColecoVision cartridges,
so
it is apparently used by cartridges which go in the second
slot. - 14, 52
At least two different version of the Personal Arcade (with
different
power supplies) exist. - JH
4.0) Cartridge List
Key:
Name -
(d) Demo
(p) Prototype
(C) End label notes the cart is
for ColecoVision
(CA) End label
notes the cart is for ColecoVision and ADAM
(C/CA) Both end label varieties
are available
(S) Came with
Silver and Blue SierraVision label
(W) Came with White SierraVision
label
(S/W) Both SierraVision
label varieties are available
Manufacturer -
20) 20th
Century
AC) Activision
AT) AtariSoft
BC) Bit Corp.
BR) Broderbund
CB) CBS
CO) Coleco
CV) ColecoVision
Reverse-engineering Society
EP)
Epyx
FP) Fisher Price
FS) First Star
IM) Imagic
IN) Interphase
KO) Konami
MA) Mattel
MF) Micro Fun
OD) Odyssey
PB) Parker Brothers
PP) Personal Peripherals
PR) Probe 2000
SE) Sega
SI) SierraVision
SP) Spinnaker
ST) Starpath
SU) Sunrise
SV) Spectravideo
SY) Sydney
TG) Telegames
TI) Tigervision
XO) Xonox
Yr - Year of Release
Number - Part Number
Cn (controller) -
C)
Standard ColecoVision Controller _only_
D) Driving Controller
Do) Driving Controller (optional)
P) Super Sketch Pad
(Personal Peripherals)
R)
Roller Controller
Ro) Roller
Controller (optional)
S)
Super Action Controllers -only-
So) Super Action Controller (optional)
The default is Standard Coleco
-or- Super Action Controller.
K (memory, in kilobytes) -
8) 8KB ROM
16) 16KB ROM
24) 24KB ROM
32) 32KB ROM
O (overlay) -
X) Overlay
Exists for Standard Controller
Y)
Overlay Exists for Super Action Controller