Colecovision System Review - Gamester81 

I had a Coleco vision as a child. My uncle was a career Radio Shack District Manager. At some point he acquired a Coleco Kiosk with a bunch of games and all the controllers. Eventually the whole setup was moved to my house.

back in the day of good yt videos, no ads, no censorship, shoutout to other youtubers etc

"Connecticut Leather Company" ... "switched to making above ground pools, which is kindof random..." The story behind this as I understand it is that Coleco started out making leather craft kits. At first they used real leather for them, but after a time, as a cost saving measure, they switched to imitation leather, which lead to them getting into space-age materials like polyvinyl and plastics. This lead them into manufacturing above ground swimming pools that made use of these materials in large quantity. Then they branched out into making other accessories for pools -- inflatable floats, toys, cleaning equipment, and the like. This got them into the toy business, and when toys started incorporating electronics, and the video game was invented, they decided to enter into this industry as well. It's a really interesting story about how one thing can lead to another. They also manufactured Cabbage Patch Kid dolls when those were a fad in the 80s because they had the tooling needed to manufacture the doll heads, which were made from plastic.

One of your best reviews bud; very interesting, informative and what a beast of a controller!

Im surprised you didnt do a review for this sooner John! Very informative and entertaining! Thanks for the great review :)

Thanks for the mention! I can't wait to see your next videos.

Wow thanks for taking me back to the good old days of gaming, this was also my first game system that I ever played. Great vid

Good video John. Always interesting to know about these old video game systems.

This takes me back man. Thank you for the upload. I came on RU-vid to show my son my favorite retro system and came across this video. This was my favorite system and I had a lot myself, that is until the master system and the Nintendo came out.

Great video probably the coolest I've seen from you in a while. I had no idea about the history of Coleco and had always wondered what the Donkey Kong port looked like. All of your reviews should be like this.

The Colecovision was my first video game console and was a mainstay on the family's living room television up until the NES replaced it three years later. Avenger, Beamrider, Artillary Duel, and Pitfall II were my absolute favorites from that era.

Front Line uses the Super Action Controller too.

you really kind of came alive in this review,crackin small jokes and going deeper in depth on system background information.You should remember this review and use it as a standard for your other videos.

Awesome ColecoVision review I need to get one to and with the expansions.

Interesting history on Coleco. Great video, as always.

Sweet as man! Hoping too see some more reviews on more largely known consoles soon!

I think i just got sold on getting a colecovision I myself never had one I had a nes as a first system but my cousin had it. You seem to have a way bringing back old memories John. So many awesome arcade games on this system.

Wow. The Colecovision looks like an awesome console! I really like the controllers and the games for it. It's a lot more unique than other consoles. Especially that Donkey Kong game! It looks awesome! Love this review Gamester81! Keep it up broski.

my first console... what an amazing machine... .. i remember,, when i made my 80s tag vid u commented about how i used cbs carts,, and i never even knew that the american carts didnt have the cbs branding on them.. so thank you for bringing it to my attention,,

"Get into a fight you can do some real damage with this thing!" Lol we're replacing brass knux with game controllers now?

i'm a recent subscriber and i LOVE your videos! NEVER stop making them!

Wow that expansion module allowing you to play Atari 2600 games is awesome! Really enjoyed the review John.

Never knew that there was no lock out - will have to source some carts from the US now. I worked in a store in the 80's and we sold over 20 coleco's a day when they came out. We literally had a delivery a day and had them stacked up everywhere to cope with the demand each day. This was actually my only game system I bought myself in the 80's (other than an early multi-game pong), but went to two different friends to play Atari or Intellivision. Great video thanks.

Dear Gamester81 -I am EXTREMELY grateful for your review of the Colecovision!It really reaches my childhood and your review is awesome as usual!By the way, I read online somewhere that the delay is caused by the loading of some sort of machine code that was unique to Coleco,hence the blue screen and delays at the beginning of the ROM loading.Thanks again so much and I really look forward to yr review of the ADAM computer! If you know how to play "Turbo" using Meka, I'd be much obliged!

very nice reviews, i love the colecovision :) greetings from switzerland

Nice Colecovision games John, definatley a couple there I haven't really seen but would love to see some gameplay of Brain Strainers & Tapper. Keep up the amazing videos = )

Colecovision was our first family game console. I have a soft spot for it and always will. I can't get the game Turbo to play however on any of the available emulators. I mostly use the emulator Meka. Which works pretty well. Thanks for posting your video John, I look forward to every subscription update.

Great video as always. A Vectrex review would be cool ha.

@c0ldb33r Actually it is indeed Connecticut and not Colorado. Thanks for watching.

Great review, and great system.

This is really awesome i never played before i had the 2600 but the caleco looks really awesome for the time the features and the expansion had to be great fun great video Gamester like always.

Woah, didn't know the Colecovision was named after my state. Thanks for the video!

AMSTERDAM REPRESENT.....my mom helped makes these when I was little..still got this and my ADAM computer

Great review. The only old school console i own at the moment is a Atari 7800 which is backwards compatible with 2600 games. One day i might pick up this system and a vertrex, now that was a great system.

That super controller looks awesome. I remember when the ColecoVision entered the console gaming market. Up until then I was pretty much only played the Atari 2600 and then this baby came along and when I played Donkey Kong on this system I was blown away. Burger King was a good arcade port also and Tron was fun also. The games on this system always looked better than the 2600. Great review and gameplay footage. Thanks for shariing.

The secret fifth stage you're thinking of isn't on the ADAM DK, it's on the ADAM DK Jr. The channel Gaming History Source mentioned how to access it on their Let's Compare DK Jr. video.

After watching this video I saw a full page ad for the Adam Computer in the december 1983 edition of Enter Magazine. That machine looks cool.

I think if Coleco didn't work on that Adam computer junk we would still see them today. Cool review.

This was my first system also.. I had the expansion adaptor also that played Atari 2600 games.. I love revisiting my childhood and I'm glad I had this generation.. But, what sucked about these old systems though is that once you clicked the power off your high scores would be gone.. We'd have to write them down and to get trophies/patches we'd have to take a picture of the screen and send it in to Activision! I can't help but wonder in an alternate dimension if Atari and Coleco had played their cards a little better it would be the ColecoVision 7 vs Atari One today.. Or something to that effect..

colecovision and the intelevision were awesome back in the early 80's. This system along with the intelevison is what turned me into a gamer. My dad still has this system in his attic the only thing is that it no longer works.

@Sypran It's not like that, in this case the module is pretty much an actual VCS that draws it's power from and sends it's A/V information through the Colecovision. Basically if you added power and RF output to the module it would essentially BE an Atari system. Famiclones have such compatibility issues as they are mostly NES on a chip internally.

I went from Odyssey 2 to Colecovision. Never owned the 2600. Did get expansion module and bought a few 2600 games. I still have mine with all the expansions plus the new super game module with about 100 games. I play it just as much as my Xbox one. Awesome system.

One of these days I have to shell out the cash to get one of those machines. Good video man.

sweet video man

what is a good price for a refurbished colecovision and atari adapter with 2 controllers and all hookups?

A great system all around. It looks totally retro, it has awesome games, unique but questionable controllers. Definitely glad I got one.

My first system was an Atari 2600. I begged for it for Christmas after I found out my friend had the system for a while. When I finally got is for Christmas, he ended up getting ColecoVision. I was amazed at the difference in graphics and gameplay. It wasn't until the end of it's life that I finally got the system. Had it for a year and a half before it died. Flash forward 20 years..I bought TWO on Ebay (One I forgot that I was bidding on, the other I bought. $100 for two systems!)

I loved this, back in the 80,s i would like to get another one, but probably wont.

That controller looks pretty badass.

colecovision and the intelevision were awesome back in the early 80's. This system along with the intelevison is what turned me into a gamer. My dad still has this system in his attic the only thing is that it no longer works. I remember playin baseball and whatever with that hand contorller...lmao

Love it. Now I just need to fix my colecovision. Any suggestions?

is the expansion 1 compatible with everything? if it happens to be deterrent hardware I can imagine there might be some problems (kinda like clone consoles with Castlevania 3 or Virtual racing)

Man I need to get my game systems back. I used to collect video game systems and games but I sold them about 5 years ago because I needed the money. I even had an Atari 2600 ugh. But I going to get them all back. But I think i want to add Colecovision to my list of games as well.

awesome video gamerster81 liked and subbed!

Oh, man. That took me back. The first game I ever played on any machine was Smurf on the Colecovision. I must have been maybe 10 years old or something. :D

another cool review :)

Hey john great vid and i have one quick question, What should i buy, an ATARI 2600, a ATARI 7800 or a COLECOVISION

Looks like there were variants on the power supply as well. I happened to have with mine a power brick similar something used with the Commodore 64.

Great video of what's probably my favorite system! Got me a little worried there when you were going through your carts. Thought you didn't own a copy of Venture :-)

The outside the US consoles also use a transponder box instead of that beast adapter, and it has a coaxial cable coming from the console itself, s'cool.

cheers bro awesome review i had one of these back in the day when it came out i remember playing donkey kong i still feel today it was one of the best ports of the game and i love jungle hunt there were a lot of great titles it only makes you wonder had the stuck with it what might be lol cheers bro and thanks for sharing and a huge thumbs up !!!!

i have nearly the same memories of this system as you do lol. except i was abit ... non existent when they system was actually released lol. but it was the first system i played and it was awesome. smurf was one of the first games i played, but definitely qbert and ladybug were my favourites... ahh i wish my mother didnt throw out my coleco :(. great video as always man

Great review, if you have it, can you please make a review of the Amstrad GX4000

Dude I was really young when my bros had Coleco, Been interested so I bought one on EBay. Think it's broken I'm not getting any images in the TV. But I got a question. Does the system itself make any noises when it turns on because this one is like Dead silent. Seller is trying to tell me it def works.

the controller with the many buttons and the back then big kilobyte amount in rom's, there could've been cool rpg's possible on it. If programming would not be so impossible to learn for me, I'd have loved to create somthing on it. It had such a strong cpu for the time.

John, all these systems you own Sir. How many in your collection are the same machines you bought new as a kid?

@Sypran Well worth tracking down, many great games and some titles not seen everywhere like FRENZY the sequel to Berzerk. It was more about having the arcade experience at home.

I miss the 80s...my favorite console next to my 2600....

Those controllers are so retro, I know it would be more convenient if the blaster triggers were at the front instead of the side.

is he refering to the "pie factory" stage?

I think all TVs in sweden (among other countries?) uses RF for antenna connection. My TV has one of those connections in the back anyways.

I finally got around to getting a Colecovision about 6 months ago. I love it. It's definitely the best quality of the consoles of the time, but I'm not sure if I like it more than the Intellivision. Colecovision has great arcade games, but Intellivision has great exclusives like Astrosmash and Shark Shark!. They're both great systems, though, and I have them both (along with the 2600) hooked up at all times. Although, I think the Coleco gets extra points for the power supply.

I might try and find a Super Game Module and pull the old Colecovision out of storage.

well I have seen consoles typically go for 30-40 dollars with the adapter maybe 60 to 90 maybe more in some cases

is that the same Colecovision that you had growing up? or did you have to buy it over again?

@Wetcamerainc What does ps3 or 360 have to do with colecovision?

I'm curious, Gamester. Does the Supercharger work in the 2600 expansion module? I dunno if anyone would want to try and risk it. I was just wondering. Great review as always. The Colecovision is one of the saddest casualties of the crash. =/

can you do a review on the intellevision as well?

I was too poor to afford any of this stuff as a kid so I just liek watching you now to see what I missed

oh sorry someone was trying to give me a call on this controller lol great review bud

Being a lefty, I thoroughly enjoy this controller. I even preferred it over the Super Action Controller. Favorite game: Gateway to Apshai. Runners up: Pepper II LOOPING Zaxxon Mr. Do Mouse Trap Lady Bug Cosmic Avenger DK & DK Jr Smurf Rescue Love this machine. I need to invest into controller adapters to USB to make emulators more fun.

I find it funny that modern american tv's use the coaxial f-connecter for rf, australian tv's have not changed since the 80's and still use the classic rf plug so you can play classic consoles on modern tv's without any conversion, coaxial f-connections are used for broadband internet down here, i just found it interesting how different countries use different connections, hook ups, etc. be much easier to make everything universal. anyways awesome review!! cheers

I loved the colecovision !!! :D

@kreeddem Actually, no, while Both have PowerPC IBM processors, the Xbox's is higher clocked and has 3 cores, while the PS3's is lower clocked, and has 7 cores, Emulation would be extremely hard, considering how hardware dependent the game might be.

I can't wait till christmas, cos i think my parents might be gitting me a colecovision with donkeykong, donkeykong jr, and gorf.

Buddy I like your videos a lot , but you do very few Game play with the systems , you this would be great if you can do one with this system , Please .!!

hey Gamester81, do you have any other gameconsles???????

Is there any video game system you don't have?

@MaximumRD ahh ok, well I'm also thinking of other things like the Genesis 3, but that was cause of missing hardware or something not connected not sure which. as long as all the hardware is there, and can do the exactly the same thing then I guess its alright! (I saw one in the flee market today, and I would have picked it up but there was no colecovision systems there so and I wanted to make sure about that) now my search is on to buy the thing when the store reopens and then find a coleco!

i still got my coleco with some boxed games

Great Vid , I have one of the CBS D.K.j karts. I em pretty sure it was boughten New @ Sears or Eaton's here in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. #1 for the most time I've playit, BurgerTime, Popeye, DKj,

Ron Jeremy and Gamester should do a stand up comedy show together

And remember kids; unlike the Intellivision, the Colecovision's controllers are NOT hardwired. So you can replace them with any controllers that share that common plug-type. Sega Genesis controllers will work, as will Atari 2600 ones. And given how stiff the default controller's stick is, you might do well to invest in some after-market controllers for the thing.

5:08 i got one for my lil cousin for his atari 2600 for like a buck.. they are dirt cheap.. you want to ask for "Component/RCA to Coaxial" adapter

No mention of Montezuma's revenge. Odd.

Damn it if I had the space and money I'd buy one of these things! *shakes a fist* Great material as always, John.

I ended up selling it for $20 and buying a NES. So I'm skeptical about buying anything that uses RF or before 1990. I tested the NES before I bought it though, so I would get one if I could test it and it worked well.

Great system. I need to find another working one so I can finally play my Sammy Lightfoot!

The Coleovision is amazing! I just wish the games were a little cheaper for it.

This thing is hell to deal with when it is broken i found stickers in mine stating that certain parts where broken XD