ColecoVision is the 2nd most remembered classic system

[opcode]

I just found this very interesting online quiz. From the results you can see that the ColecoVision is the 2nd most remembered pre-crash classic system, behind only the Atari VCS.

 

http://www.sporcle.com/games/videogame_systems_results.php

 

The Atari 2600 got remembered by 44% of all quiz takers, while the ColecoVision was remembered by 31%. Next came the Atari 5200 and Intellivision, both with roughly 27%.

Not bad for a system that lasted no more than 3 years. In fact more people remembered the ColecoVison than the 3DO or Turbografx.

[AtariLeaf]

It was my second favorite system growing up.

[chrisbid]

if not for the adam, colecovision couldve become the next gen console of choice instead of the NES

[joeybastard]

if not for the adam, colecovision couldve become the next gen console of choice instead of the NES

 

I couldn't agree more. I think if they had concentrated on the Super Game Module or even started on a CV 2 they would have survived the crash and been around a little longer.

[newcoleco]

if not for the adam, colecovision couldve become the next gen console of choice instead of the NES

 

I couldn't agree more. I think if they had concentrated on the Super Game Module or even started on a CV 2 they would have survived the crash and been around a little longer.

The Super Game module was the next best thing to extend ColecoVision life just enough to stay in the market. Cheap personal computers was taking the video game market, and Coleco Industries wanted to stay in the market so they decided to offer a computer. Too bad, the Adam computer was delayed and buggy the first time. However, Coleco Adam computer had good potential and even today still suprizing me with projects like using compact flash cards as simulated harddrives which is a technology used today inside some ultra portable laptop pc.

[else]

Cheap personal computers was taking the video game market,

 

This was not really true, although the media had the executives at Atari, Mattel, and Coleco convinced that it was. So all three companies rushed headlong in the the computer market, and all ended up committing suicide (well, not Mattel, but they left the electronics market for a LONG time after that). Then Nintendo came along and found (to their surprise and happiness) that they had the market more-or-less all to themselves!

Edited December 4, 2008 by else

[shadow460]

Odd. If someone had asked me to name two pre crash systems, I'd have said the VCS and the Arcadia 2001.

[Artlover]

Interesting quiz.

 

I got 53/69 with like 2 and a half minutes left when I gave up. So I'm in the top 0.8 percent.

 

My best was the PV-1000, with only 1.8% of the people getting it (thanks to another thread tonight for reminding me of that system!)

 

In lieu of that, the next best honest guess I knew without recent recall was the Emerson Arcadia 2001 at only 3% getting it.

 

What SUCKS about this quiz is that it is damned specific with how you type answers in, and it doesn't like even the slighest typo or even the most insignifigant of missing information.

[Artlover]

I just found this very interesting online quiz. From the results you can see that the ColecoVision is the 2nd most remembered pre-crash classic system, behind only the Atari VCS.

 

The Atari 2600 got remembered by 44% of all quiz takers, while the ColecoVision was remembered by 31%. Next came the Atari 5200 and Intellivision, both with roughly 27%.

Not bad for a system that lasted no more than 3 years. In fact more people remembered the ColecoVison than the 3DO or Turbografx.

BTW, doesn't the Atari Pong (1975) count? 88% of the people remember that!

Edited December 3, 2008 by Artlover

[Chickybaby]

What SUCKS about this quiz is that it is damned specific with how you type answers in, and it doesn't like even the slighest typo or even the most insignifigant of missing information.

 

I had that problem as well and found it very irritating. I knew many of the systems but had to keep retyping a few because of stupid little mistakes.

[nester]

Yeah, I couldn't get it to take the Xavix, because I didn't know what it was really called. Also, this quiz leaves off the RCA Studio II, Adventurevision, and the NUON. Although I guess if I don't like it than I can make my own quiz.

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

coleco was and still is the best.

[newcoleco]

coleco was and still is the best.

With humour, it's the same words in this video about the Roller Controller (and ColecoVision).

[retroillucid]

coleco was and still is the best.

 

... & will always be!

For me at least

[schuwalker]

My favorite system of all time

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

Coleco delivered what we wanted in home games. it was the closest thing to the arcade that we wanted. Sure, my first system was the 2600 but my second was the CV and once you got it, you never uttered the words "atari" again. the 5200 was nice, but coleco's library was so much bigger and better. not only that, it dove into other arcade styles with its controllers and expansion modules, and they worked great. so much to love!

[opcode]

if not for the adam, colecovision couldve become the next gen console of choice instead of the NES

 

I couldn't agree more. I think if they had concentrated on the Super Game Module or even started on a CV 2 they would have survived the crash and been around a little longer.

 

Ah, the Super Game Module.... Isn't it ironic that Nintendo released the Disk System a couple of years later in Japan and saw huge sales of the device and games?

[Pixelboy]

Ah, the Super Game Module.... Isn't it ironic that Nintendo released the Disk System a couple of years later in Japan and saw huge sales of the device and games?

It only demonstrates that Coleco was a victim of bad timing. Magnetic floppies were not the norm back when the SGM was being designed. That's why they went with their waffer technology, which didn't work (and later evolved into the ADAM datapack cassettes, which was swiftly replaced by 5-inch floppies soon after). A few years later, Nintendo comes out with the FDS, just when floppies are entering industry (and consumer) acceptance, and makes waves.

 

As our own Pac-Man Collection demonstrates, it's entirely possible to make a 128K ColecoVision cartridge, and the natural question to ask would be why didn't Coleco do it? Answer: 128K chips were still too expensive in 1983. But not too long afterwards, the NES came out with the first 128K carts, and prices for those chips dropped, pushing a shift into the entire gaming industry. So again, Coleco was a victim of bad timing, because they were already bankrupt by the time they could have upgraded their CV carts with bigger ROMs.

[joeybastard]

What exactly was the wafer technology? I picture little interchangable cards sort of like micro sd or other flash cards.

[opcode]

What exactly was the wafer technology? I picture little interchangable cards sort of like micro sd or other flash cards.

 

Continuous loop tape ...

Not bad if you ask me, provided the technology is reliable and inexpensive. I read once that the original wafer drive was more reliable than the ADAM datapacks, but more expensive...

 

Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stringy_floppy

 

Actually this article published in The New York Times in 1983 seems to indicate that Coleco was going with the Entrepo microwafer.

 

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...755C0A965948260

Edited December 10, 2008 by opcode

[else]

What exactly was the wafer technology?

Coleco said publicly they were going to use the Exatron (aka Entrepo) Stringy Floppy.

 

They were actually produced for other systems, and come up for sale on eBay occasionally. There's one for sale right now as a matter of fact:

 

Exatron Stringy Floppy

 

So just picture the unit in this auction in a different case, and you've got the Super Game Module....

Edited December 10, 2008 by else

[joeybastard]

Ah, I get it. Thanks!

[else]

Exatron and Entrepo are/were the same company.

 

In Video Games magazine, June 1983, page 49 it says that "Last February the Exatron Corporation changed its name to Entrepo (meaning "a storage place")".

 

Note that the company is still around today (amazingly), and it's name is Exatron. So this mostly likely means that it changed it's name back or it never actually changed it's name after all. Maybe they have some prototype Super Game Modules lying around just collecting dust somewhere???

Edited December 10, 2008 by else

[opcode]

What exactly was the wafer technology?

Coleco said publicly they were going to use the Exatron (aka Entrepo) Stringy Floppy.

 

They were actually produced for other systems, and come up for sale on eBay occasionally. There's one for sale right now as a matter of fact:

 

Exatron Stringy Floppy

 

So just picture the unit in this auction in a different case, and you've got the Super Game Module....

 

I believe the Exatron and the Entrepo were different technologies. From the link you posted, the Exatron drive and tape look nothing like the published pictures of the SGM and microwafers.

Edited December 10, 2008 by opcode

[else]

I believe the Exatron and the Entrepo were different technologies

 

I don't know about different technologies, but they definately WERE the same company. Obviously since the Super Game Module was never produced it's hard to say if it was the same technology or not (does vaporware even count as a technology?). So being that they were the same company, I'd say it's very likely that the technologies were at least quite similar.

 

Please see my earlier post with reference to an article that explains the confusion about the two company names.

Edited December 10, 2008 by else