Graphics
256×192
- Colors on screen
- 15
- Palette
- 15 colors
- Sprites
- 32
Below: Game Boy 4 colors · Above: Amstrad CPC 16 colors
ColecoVision
Also known as CBS ColecoVision
- Coleco
- Home console
- Second generation
141 ColecoVision games, all playable free in your browser.
Coleco launched the ColecoVision in North America in August 1982, and CBS Electronics released it in Europe in July 1983 as the CBS ColecoVision. Built around a Zilog Z80 processor and a Texas Instruments TMS9918-family video chip, it offered a closer approximation of contemporary arcade games than rivals such as the Atari 2600 and Intellivision.
- First released · North America
- 1982
- Units sold
- 2M+
- CPU
- 8-bit
- Games in the library · all playable
- 141
TIMELINE
1982–1985
- NANorth America
- EUEurope
- ENDDiscontinued
Games per release year
| Year | Games |
|---|---|
| 1982 | 9 |
| 1983 | 57 |
| 1984 | 69 |
| 1985 | 1 |
| 1986 | 3 |
| 2001 | 1 |
- Atari 2600Atari 2600: Sep 1977 – 1992
- SpectrumZX Spectrum: Apr 23, 1982 – 1992
- ColecoColecoVision: Aug 1982 – 1985
- Atari 5200Atari 5200: Oct 1982 – May 21, 1984
- VectrexVectrex: Oct 1982 – Feb 1984
- NESNintendo Entertainment System: Jul 15, 1983 – Sep 25, 2003
- SG-1000Sega SG-1000: Jul 15, 1983 – Oct 1985
All 36 systems
- Atari 2600Atari 2600: Sep 1977 – 1992
- SpectrumZX Spectrum: Apr 23, 1982 – 1992
- ColecoColecoVision: Aug 1982 – 1985
- Atari 5200Atari 5200: Oct 1982 – May 21, 1984
- VectrexVectrex: Oct 1982 – Feb 1984
- NESNintendo Entertainment System: Jul 15, 1983 – Sep 25, 2003
- SG-1000Sega SG-1000: Jul 15, 1983 – Oct 1985
- MSXMSX: Oct 21, 1983 – 1993
- Amstrad CPCAmstrad CPC: Jun 21, 1984 – 1990
- Master SystemSega Master System: Oct 20, 1985 – 1996
- Atari 7800Atari 7800: May 1986 – 1992
- X68000Sharp X68000: Mar 28, 1987 – end not recorded
- PC EnginePC Engine / TurboGrafx-16: Oct 30, 1987 – Dec 16, 1994
- CPS-1Capcom CPS-1: May 13, 1988 – May 11, 1995
- GenesisSega Genesis / Mega Drive: Oct 29, 1988 – 1997
- PCE CDPC Engine CD / TurboGrafx-CD: Dec 4, 1988 – end not recorded
- Game BoyGame Boy: Apr 21, 1989 – Mar 31, 2003
- LynxAtari Lynx: Sep 1, 1989 – 1995
- Neo GeoNeo Geo: Apr 16, 1990 – 2004
- Game GearSega Game Gear: Oct 6, 1990 – Apr 30, 1997
- SNESSuper Nintendo: Nov 21, 1990 – Sep 25, 2003
- Sega CDSega CD / Mega-CD: Dec 12, 1991 – 1996
- CPS-2Capcom CPS-2: Sep 10, 1993 – Dec 22, 2003
- Neo Geo CDNeo Geo CD: Sep 9, 1994 – 1997
- 32XSega 32X: Nov 1994 – 1996
- PS1PlayStation: Dec 3, 1994 – Mar 23, 2006
- N64Nintendo 64: Jun 23, 1996 – 2002
- CPS-3Capcom CPS-3: Nov 21, 1996 – end not recorded
- NAOMISega NAOMI: 1998 – end not recorded
- GBCGame Boy Color: Oct 21, 1998 – Mar 31, 2003
- NGPCNeo Geo Pocket Color: Mar 19, 1999 – Oct 30, 2001
- PS2PlayStation 2: Mar 4, 2000 – Jan 4, 2013
- WonderSwanWonderSwan Color: Dec 9, 2000 – 2003
- GBAGame Boy Advance: Mar 21, 2001 – 2010
- OpenBOROpenBOR: 2004 – today
- TIC-80TIC-80: Mar 22, 2017 – today
A bar that fades out means the end date is unknown. Fantasy consoles and game engines are still available.
UNDER THE HOOD
Technical specifications
Processor
3.58MHz
- CPU
- Zilog Z80A
- Core
- Zilog Z80
- Word size
- 8-bit
- Texas Instruments TMS9928A (NTSC) / TMS9929A (PAL) — video display processor (TMS9918 family)
Below: Spectrum 3.5 MHz · Above: Amstrad CPC 4 MHz
Memory
1KB
- Main RAM
- 1 KB
- Video RAM
- 16 KB
- BIOS ROM
- 8 KB
Below: Atari 2600 128 bytes · Above: NES 2 KB
Sound
4channels
- Chip
- Texas Instruments SN76489
Three square-wave tone generators and one noise generator
Sales
2million+
- Scope
- Worldwide installed base, over 2 million (as of 1983)
- Best-selling game
- Donkey Kong
Media
Cartridge
- Cartridge
- up to 31 KB
Family line
- Before
- Coleco Telstar series
- This system
- ColecoVision
THE STORY
About the Coleco
Its first catalog of 12 cartridges included the first home version of Nintendo's Donkey Kong as the pack-in game, and around 136 games were published between 1982 and 1984, among them Zaxxon, Lady Bug, Cosmic Avenger and Venture. Coleco sold more than 500,000 units by Christmas 1982 and passed one million in early 1983. Expansion modules let the console play Atari 2600 cartridges or turn it into the Adam home computer, alongside special controllers such as a steering wheel, a trackball and the Super Action Controller.
Sales fell sharply in 1984, and the ColecoVision was discontinued in 1985 as Coleco withdrew from video games after the costly failure of the Adam; total sales exceeded 2 million consoles. Masayuki Uemura, who led development of Nintendo's Famicom, cited it as a benchmark, and a homebrew scene has continued since 1996.
- Launched with the first home version of Nintendo's Donkey Kong as its pack-in game.
- Expansion Module #1 played Atari 2600 cartridges, giving it the largest software library of any console of its day.
- Expansion Module #3 turned the console into the Coleco Adam home computer.
- Masayuki Uemura said the ColecoVision set the bar that influenced his approach to the Famicom.
- Its TMS9918-family video chip supports 32 sprites, with up to four per scan line.
THE LIBRARY
141 Coleco games on Back2OldGames
141
games, all playable right in your browser
Release years 1982–2001
<p class="lib-span">50 developers</p>Genres
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Players
80 games with a known number of players.
Regions
THE GAMES
The Coleco library
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Sources
Specifications and history from the sources below (Wikipedia text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; facts summarized in our own words). Library numbers come from the Back2OldGames catalog.
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