Retro Gaming Nerds Presents - The ColecoVision

Released in 1982, Coleco jumped into the home console market with a gaming console that had graphics and sounds that far surpassed ANYTHING on the market at that time. Powered by the Zilog Z80 8bit processor, which is used in the Sega MasterSystem, Game Boy Color, and a handful other consumer devices throughout the 80's.

Coleco was able to snag up the licensing rights to produce the home version of Donkey Kong, beating out Atari. Coleco then used this victory to pack the game with the Colecovision to encourage buyers. Commercially, the unit sold well during the holiday season selling 500,000 units. The ColecoVision's direct competitor was the more powerful, but commercially unsuccessful Atari 5200.

The ColecoVision released an Atari VCS expansion module that allowed it to expand its library by allowing owners to play Atari VCS titles on their ColecoVision.

Total sales of the ColecoVision are unclear, but are in excess of 2 million units over its lifespan. The unit was discontinued in 1985. AtGames has released a Flashback unit with a multitude of classic games built in. Just like the Intellivision Flashback, the ColecoVision version is not based on true hardware, and relies on emulation.