ColecoVision's abilities rarely used...

[Aswald]

Colecovision would've been even better except for one thing: its abilities were rarely, if ever, used.
Consider Donkey Kong; only 3 screens and game elements missing in those 3. Why? It was a 32K system; it could easily have handled a full version!
Consider Gorf, Time Pilot, Mr. Do!, Q*Bert, Frogger, Defender, and so many others. When the CV's abilities were used properly- as in Boulder Dash, Burgertime, Ladybug, Cosmic Avenger, Bump 'n Jump, Alcazar, and Frenzy, for example- the results were magnificent. So why weren't the CV's abilities used in ALL of the games?
One reason was my generation. We came after the Baby Boomers but before Generation X; somehow we don't really exist as a demographic; do YOU know my generation's name? No. You have seen many cover stories on the Baby Boomers; some on Generation X and the WW2 Generation, but have you seen any on mine? Hardly. All too frequently, the marketers- usually Baby Boomers who didn't play video games- sat around talking to each other about what my generation wanted, rather than asking us. THIS is how they concluded that we wouldn't pay a few extra dollars for a better version, that "nobody" liked vector graphics, and that video games were dead in 1984! The problem was that in those days my generation were the the ones playing the games, but nobody ever asked us what we wanted. Nintendo did not make this mistake when they brought the NES to America in 1985, which is an important reason as to why they were so successful.
As a result, many games for the CV- and other systems- were rushed out or failed to use the console's full abilities; marketers told the company officials we weren't willing to wait a bit or spend a few extra dollars. Read "The Dilbert Principal" to get an idea of how this works.
There were of course other factors, but what I have said here is never discussed- maybe for the same reason!
It doesn't really matter how many abilities a game console has; if they are not used, then you will have inferior games. Sadly, this was often the case of the ColecoVision, Atari 5200, and 3rd generation consoles in general.
By the way, ADAM's House sells a 4-screen version of Donkey Kong Jr.. It is real, I own it, and it is quite good.

[imported_Anonymous]

Hey,I never thought of that! I always did want to know what happened back in the 80s,maybe what you said is one of the reasons. Does anyone think the Japan companies are going to do the same things and go out of business?
Maybe someone out there will make good versions of the games Coleco screwed up- Popeye,Star Wars,Mr Do,Subroc,Time Pilot,etc.

[thegamepeddler]

speaking of Adam's House, what's the url for that site? I can't find it anywhere.

[Tabac]

It's http://www.ecoleco.com

I agree with you Aswlad, everybody except us, the kids with no name, decided the faith of video games in the 80s. Why 84 was the year of the video game crash ? Me, I've never stopped playing and loving video games. It's the same for all my friends.

Just a thought!

Steve Bégin

[thegamepeddler]

thanks, I forgot that they changed their name. It was probably 84 because of the success of Activision and Imagic. Keep in mind that before 1980 there was no such thing as a third party developer. This impacted many aspects of Atari's business dealings. For instance, the console was basically off the shelf and therefore easy to copy without penalty(gemini, ColecoVision expansion module). Also, they had no licensing agreement for making games(which helped the NES and helped kill the SMS in the U.S.). As a result you had all of these machines floating around that could play Atari games. Also, after seeing that a third party game developer could make good money, everyone and their mom tried their hand at it, and unfortunately the vast majority of them were not Activision/Imagic quality. The market just got flooded with cheap games... This was the dawn of home consoles, I don't think most people over 30 really understood that there was a real difference between the systems. And stores got stuck with huge amounts of overstock and after getting stung, had a really sour taste in their mouth. Give them a year to cool off, 85, and they're ready to go again with the NES... And the NES was nothing more than doom for everything before it. As a kid you'd get laughed at for having a SMS, let alone having to still play Atari games...

[thegamepeddler]

I should also add that I think the fact that the Atari 5200 was incompatible with 2600 games and that most of the 5200 games were 2600 rehashes really hurt Atari, and lets face it, they carried the market for the majority of the time except for 82-83. There Coleco had the market lead, but made their own bonehead move with the Adam. Imagine if the Adam never existed and the Super Game Module had been released. It probably would have lessened the impact of the crash, Nintendo most likely would have thought twice about entering the U.S. market and things would be very different. Seems like there are just a ton of factors, many of which were just really unfortunate business decisions.

[imported_Anonymous]

The 5200 had much bigger problems than 2600 compatibility. The thing was the size of a TV (ok maybe a little smaller), the joysticks were the worst ever made and the power supply connected to the 'TV Switch' which made a clicking sound when the 5200 was turned on (no more selecting TV/Game, the 5200 would come on automatically).

When people heard the clicking sound they thought their TV was being damaged and some folks whose TV died shortly after getting a 5200 blamed Atari!

Now,
If the 5200 used the same carts as the Atari 800 (which it was based on) and had normal joysticks it woulda rocked!

Oh well..............

[imported_Anonymous]

I'd like to say that I agree with Aswald's comment, except for one point. You said game developers weren't maxing out CV's capabilities (true) but that the NES fixed all that when it came over. NES suffered the same fate as the 2600, some true gems amongst a flood of crappy, unimaginative games that used all the best elements of the good ones. Nintendo's in-house developers did (and do) make games for their systems better than any others in the world (for any system), but only a few other companies actually maxxed out the NES. I think the same could be said today (hell look at PS2).

[imported_Anonymous]

I think Aswald maent Nintendo asked people what they wanted when they got here, Atari did'nt do that.
Heard the Sega dreamcast is in trouble. Same with Nintendo and Playstation. Whose going to be the next video game company- China?!

[imported_Anonymous]

I used to work at Coleco. As the art director, I worked on every colecovision game produced in-house. The real reason for limitations on any games was the cost of cartridge ROM at the time. Some game were only allowed 8 or 16k ROMS. Others, like Zaxxon, were allocated more.

[Aswald]

Hello, Angrysmurf!

Granted, the cost of cartridge ROM was a consideration, but it seemed to be the only consideration at times.
When Nintendo decided to start up in America, they sank millions into the operation, and when they decided to move from New York City to Seattle, they spent even more to do this.
The point here is simple: to make money, you have to SPEND money; just imagine how much stronger ColecoVision would've been if some extra money had been spent on cartridge ROM instead of the ADAM) in order to produce higher quality, complete versions of beloved arcade games, such as Time Pilot, Mr. Do!, Donkey Kong, Subroc, and Gorf.
Angrysmurf, I and other ColecoVision owners would have been perfectly willing to wait a bit longer and spend a few more dollars to get better versions, no matter what some Baby Boomer marketer told you. Those penny-pinching strategies, plus the fact that Coleco spent many millions on its ill-fated ADAM computer, didn't work very well, did they?
What was the point in making a game system with 32K ROM capacity if you didn't USE it?
If the full abilities of the ColecoVision had been used, if games such as Tunnels and Trolls had been released, there would have been no way Nintendo could ever have dominated the market. The only reason they did was because they listened to the consumers, and filled the void left by the 1984 crash.
By the way- we all know that art directors can only work with what they are given, so nobody is blaming you.

[goss]

Concerning Coleco putting out incomplete versions of classic games, Nintendo had the same problem. One that comes to mind directly is Donkey Kong for the NES. Like the Coleco version it is missing the beloved Pie Factory sequence. At the point in the NES development it would have been no problem at all to included this on the cartridge. Seeing as Donkey Kong was put out by Nintendo originally why did they choose to do this? Money? I doubt it.
If someone knows please come forward.

[C-Man]

Man, I think u gotta remember something: A game has to get to market when it's HOT. If it arrives too late it's DEAD. Maybe u classic gamers dont know that because u are collecting all this stuff 20 years after it was made, but this is true. If Donky Kong had hit the shelves AFTER the Donkey Kong fad had already passed (due to longer time needed to do ALLscreens), no one would buy it.

[imported_Anonymous]

C-Man, you have to realize that rushing a game out "while it's hot" is one of the most idiotic things a company can possibily do! Ever hear of the Atari 2600 Pac-Man? Where did THAT fiasco get them?
Also, the ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong was made in 1982. The NES versions- first the 3-screen and then the improved 4-screen- became available in America several years after that, yet sold well, even long after the "fad" had died down in the arcades.

The single most important thing to consider is long-range loyalty, since that is what enables a company to survive for any length of time. When you come out with any video game system, no matter how great its abilities are, you know that within several years someone will come out with one with even better abilities. You laugh when you compare a ColecoVision with your Playstation; but can the once unbeatable NES or even Genesis stand up to it? No.
For this reason, it is foolish to rush out a game to save a few dollars or meet some mindless schedule, which is often written up by marketers or CEOs with no comprehension of the realities behind programming (the 2600 E.T was such a disaster because Atari was only given about 6-8 weeks to make it by the CEO of then-parent company Warner Communications). Unfortunately, programmers are usually given no choice, which is why nobody should ever blame people like AngrySmurf- at least, nobody who has ever run into those sort of situations, as I have.
By turning out the best possible versions of popular arcade games you not only sell a good product, but you also earn the trust (i.e future dollars!) of your customers, plus they will be less likely to go with a newer console, because its versions won't be so much better than the ones they already have. Imagine the best possible versions of Donkey Kong, Mr. Do!, Victory, Space Fury, Q*Bert, etc. for ColecoVision, as well as the sort of role-playing games a 32K ROM game system was capable of- do you think people would've flocked to the NES if those sort of games were already in people's collections?

[imported_Anonymous]

As someone who owned a Sears Video Game System (aka ATARI 2600) and later bought a COLECOVISION when it first came out, which I still own with expansion #1, it came with one game, DONKEY KONG. Maybe programmers or companies are not the problem; DONKEY KONG was copyrighted; therefore, a license had to be purchased. As pointed out be NAswald even NES, who owned the copyright, did not include all of the screens. DEFENDER from ATARISOFT is very true to the arcade version as is FRONT LINE.

[Aswald]

Actually, I am NAswald. The computers here are a bit awkward...
The problem with Donkey Kong wasn't Nintendo; once they sold Coleco the license, Coleco was free to make any sort of a home videogame version they wanted, just as Atari was free to make any sort of a computer version (which was complete). AngrySmurf said it best: programmers were told what and how much they had to work with, so they did the best they could with what they were given.
Sadly, business decisions were and still are often made by people who don't really understand the realities of the business.