The Vintage Gaming Network

The ColecoVision released in August 1982, is the system that remains to be my favorite here in the 21st century. At the time of the ColecoVision’s release, the 2 console systems out were the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. The ColecoVision had superior graphics and sound when compared to those two systems, and had the most accurate arcade game ports during its time. At the Colecovision’s release, it was packaged with the Nintendo classic Donkey Kong. After playing the Atari 2600 version for several months, the first time I played Donkey Kong on my ColecoVision I was in complete shock at the graphics and sound. The original Donkey Kong arcade game had “4″ different screens. The ladder screen, the pilar screen, the “elevator” level and the “pie factory”. The Atari 2600 version contained the first two. The ColecoVision contained those two, plus the elevator level. Again, I am pry biased in my affection for the ColecoVision, but oh well. Ironically enough, the ColecoVision may have been the pioneer in the entire “emulation legality debate” as well. Coleco had a hardware add-on called the Expansion Module #1 which made the ColecoVision compatible with all Atari 2600 games! Functionally, this gave the ColecoVision the largest software library of any console of its day. The expansion module prompted legal action from Atari, but Atari was unable to stop sales of the module because the 2600 could be reproduced with standard parts. The marketing quote for the Colecovision at the time was “It’s simple, you can play Atari 2600 games on ColecoVision, but you can’t play Colecovision on Atari”. Well, enough of my babeling. On to the ColecoVision emulators.

Colecovision Emulators