Talk:ColecoVision

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[edit] Specs

Added some information to the Specs about the sound chip used in the Colecovision

[edit] Roller Controller

There was also a fairly high quality trackball expansion called the 'Roller Controller', which came with Slither and also worked with War Games. I think it is noteable because as a piece of consumer video game console hardware, a trackball has never been attempted again to my knowledge. (Unsigned comment by 24.5.124.49)

I doubt it could be made into a full wikipedia article, if you think it can be, then go for it. It's probably a better idea to mention it on this article though. I've seen that controller, almost bought one off ebay, but I got the steering wheel instead. --Phroziac (talk) 18:19, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
The roller controller was neither an expansion (it plugged into the joyports, not the expansion bay) nor unique (there were trackball controllers released for the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200, at the least). Its existence ought to be added to the main ColecoVision article, though, along with note of the Super Action Controllers also available at the time, as they "complete" the standard Coleco Industries accessory set for the console. -db
I believe the confusion comes from the driving controller, which is called "Expansion module #2", even though it also connects to the joystick ports. --Phroziac (talk) 18:46, 21 August 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Super Action Controller

Also not mentioned is the Super Action Controller, the grip held controller with buttons for each finger, a joystick, keypad, and paddle style rolling dial. Intended to be used with their more advanced sports games (baseball, boxing).

It would be nice to find a picture of one. They were nothing at all like boxing gloves- and nothing at all like any other game controller available on any other game console before or since. (The closest would be the Milton Bradley MBX with one trigger, three thumb buttons and a 2-axis plus rotate analog stick on top. http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/hardware/mbx/mbx.html) I've seen ONE and I wish I had bought it but I didn't have a ColecoVision. IIRC, the pistol grip had four different colored trigger buttons, there was a sideways spin wheel on top with the 8-way joystick mounted near the front and the keypad between the stick and wheel. The design was ambidextrous so that either hand could be used on the grip with the other hand operating the stick and keypad. In contrast, most one button joysticks had the button at the upper left corner- making them difficult to operate using the left hand on the stick. Here's a page with some images. http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/188 http://kotaku.com/gaming/colecovision/the-worlds-most-convoluted-controller-198449.php

[edit] Generation

I find it fascinating that the first sentence of this article identifies the console as "third-generation", right next to the Major Consoles template, which places it clearly in the second generation. Is there some extra generation, omitted by the template, but taken into account here? Does "third-generation" have an entirely different meaning in this context? If the latter is the case perhaps a different term should be used instead. - Kfroog 03:18, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

I wish I knew about that plug in that allowed users to play 2600 games 25 years ago. I would've asked for one of those instead.
JesseG 04:07, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

When it came out, it was described as third generation. I'm a little surprised that it is matter-of-factly called second generation in the article with no reference to how it was actually described at the time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.189.230.42 (talk) 20:47, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

In my view, the ColecoVision and Atari 5200 belong in the 3rd generation section, as technically they are almost as advanced than the NES. I think the reason for ths split is that North Americans like to class consoles as before and after the Video Games Crash of 1983 - something that means absolutrely nothing to people here in Europe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.197.36 (talk) 12:12, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Name

Shouldn't this article be named ColecoVision rather than Colecovision? They tended to either capitalize the whole word or to make the C and V a bit bigger than the other letters. Also, all of the sources I used for Donkey Kong (arcade game) give the name as ColecoVision. — Amcaja 17:00, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

You are correct. The category for colecovision games is "ColecoVision" This page shoudl be made a redirect to ColecoVision. --Larsinio 17:19, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
I moved the article accordingly. Thanks! — Amcaja 18:46, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
Speaking of the name, This guy makes a compelling case that the name of the console is actually "Vision" or "Coleco Vision," with a space. I vote we rename the page to "Coleco Vision." Or, at the very least, create a redirect from "Coleco Vision" (which currently goes to nothing).--Yeechang Lee 18:17, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
That's weird that the redirect wasn't created automatically when I moved the page. Oh well; no worries; it's there now. As for that guy's claim, I still disagree. The words are all bunched up, and the company's own documentation seems to support "ColecoVision". I think it was supposed to be a play on the word "television", much as "Intellivision" was. — Amcaja 18:52, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
If you peruse the documentation accompanying anything sold for the system, at the time the console was referred to by Coleco Industries Inc. as either the "COLECOVISION™", or when not all-caps "ColecoVision™". One could probably make an exhaustive search of the literature, but I would hazard that instances where the words appear to be broken apart result from design aesthetics and not much else. D.brodale 20:41, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Retail price

How much did the system cost at launch? How did game prices compare with competing systems? --Navstar 15:42, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Original MSRP was $174.99, if I'm not mistaken. Atari 2600 was around $99.99 retail by '82. Not sure about Mattel's Intellivision. StagParty 20:26, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
Oddly, Consumer Reports tagged the pricing at ~$200 (I would guess $199.99) in its November 1982 write-up of the console, though. D.brodale 20:36, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] CBS photo

Anyone find it a bit odd that the photo associated with this article is that of the CBS model (and inserted CBS Ladybug cartridge) sold in the European/Australian markets, and not that sold in the US market, which is the primary focus of the article itself? D.brodale 20:35, 1 September 2007 (UTC)