A CIB Colecovision plus 2600 expansion module for $80... not too shabby. Lmk some must own games and any cartridge storage solutions, preferably wall mountable.

Coleco Vision and Vectrex were easily my 2 favorite video game systems as a kid. Was addicted to both of them.

Our first gaming system was a cheap PONG clone in 1977, but then we got the ColecoVision in 1982, and that's when I really fell in love with home conversions. The ColecoVision had so many great ports. Some of my favorites were, DK, DKJR, Q*Bert, LadyBug, Cosmic Avenger, Mr. Do!, and the AtariSoft games were also amazing (Defender, Centipede, Jungle Hunt). We also had the RollerController (with Slither), Super Action Controllers (with Super Baseball), and the steering wheel (with Turbo). I have all of those (still factory sealed), and many games, but my preferred way of playing is via Keven Horton's FPGA core. I play it on both the Analogue Mega SG, and the Analogue Pocket. Perfect ColecoVision games on an amazing quality portable is just amazing. :)

I remember us getting one for Christmas. My dad set it up and my brother and I could not get past the 1st wall. Our dad took over and showed us how to do it and proceeded to clear the level without dying. We thought, “What a natural!” Years later, he divulged the reason he was so good was that he played all night before we woke up! All of those games brought us so much joy for a long time: Zaxxon, Donkey Kong, DK Jr, QBert, Gorf, Smurf, Pitfall with the 2600 expansion…so many more I cannot remember.

You can't go wrong with the Coleco in your collection. It is a great console!

I just scored one in almost mint condition at an auction over the weekend with Expansion #1 and 2. Came with a few Colecovision games but about 30 Atari games. The boxes were in great shape and almost all of the manuals were there. When I disassembled the units for cleaning, I had to do nothing. They were mint. Best auction buy for me ever.

On my Colecovision DK, you always had to press up and up again to climb ladders more quickly. Thanks for the video.

When you watch the show-me retro channel, you get such a longing for the good old days, when people didn't regret everything, but enjoyed life by going out to play and of course playing video games.

War Games does NOT require a roller controller as suggested by another viewer...it DOES however require the use of the regular controller's keypad in order to play...the cartridge came with plastic overlays which slid into/over the key pad that helped facilitate play, but if you have the game manual which explains how the game is played...you could play without the keypad overlay and just as easily shove a piece of paper in there and take a pen and make your own keypad overlay, or memorize the keypad layout from the manual and play. It was a very fun & challenging game that I adored back in the day being a fan of the film. Basically the U.S. map is divided into sectors (6 I believe) and you hafta defend each sector from incoming attacks...Think multiple screens of Missile Command that you have to jump amongst and defend, but not just missiles...You hafta scramble jets to intercept jets, and even subs to intercept subs on the coastal sectors. All of this is done in a Missle Command style of gameplay with everything going on at once trying to keep the Defense Condition from dropping to 1 in each of the sectors. If I remember correctly there's also a satellite (which looked sorta like the Sun) that randomly roams the sectors that can be utilized in a pinch and aimed/fired in all directions when it's in a sector which helps manage all the mayhem... My top 6 favorite Colecovision titles of ALL time were: 1. Donkey Kong (of course) 2.Donkey Kong Jr. 3.Zaxxon 4.Jungle Hunt 5..WarGames 6.Decathlon by Activision Those games were light years ahead of their time in terms of Arcade Quality via home console back in 1982! Heck id still play any of these fondly today. Dunno why but as games get larger and larger they seem to no longer be as fun as they used to be...maybe it's just me but I haven't really enjoyed a game since the XBOX 360 days!

I loooved the Colecovision. It was such a big game changer. Plus I loved donkey Kong & DK Jr. Never heard of War Games though. (Not the movie)

All time fav retro console. When I sold my collection in 2005, had close to 90 games. Miss it :( Best version of Beamrider ever. :D

colecovision is such a great machine - the arcade game conversions were amazing at the time.

I love how the ad in the beginning says "The Only System You'll Ever Need" XD

I have always liked the Coleco Vision. I currently have one and the same expansion pack that you have. Definitely reminds me of the good ole days. Great system all around. Not a ton of must have games but you really only need about a dozen and you’re good. Great video and congrats on picking one up!

Colecovision was one of my fondest Christmas memories. I know I'm 9 months late to this but WAR GAMES was one of my favorite games as a kid. There were plenty of games with inscrutable game mechanics at the time, but I knew how to play WAR GAMES on Coleco and had a blast with it.

Holy crap!! Demon attack! I haven't thought about or heard about that game in ages. I loved that game. I was absolutely addicted to it. Must have played a 48 hours straight at one point.Also Rocky Boxing!

My whole family loved playing Ladybug. When my mother got the Special, the whole household cheered and had no idea what to expect and then we realized it was a Special LEVEL you had a timer to finish. Exciting times.

Best Open of all time: "Remember when I said I was done collecting? [Dramatic Pause of Shame] -- Well, I bought a ColecoVision."

ColecoVision was my childhood system! DK and Zaxxon are great as are Carnival and, a personal favorite, Artillery Duel (2-player only). Cartridge storage is pretty easy. The cart size is a near exact match to Atari 2600/7800 so anything that works for those will work for ColecoVision as well.

Augh! Beamrider's got two buttons! You're supposed to fire lasers at regular enemies, then save the missiles for the boss! (If you were using that STD controller, then the second button doesn't work. Using that controller is as uncomfortable as HAVING an STD.)

I loved Colecovision. I had one in the 80s great games, great graphics, and the controllers were fine too.

Although I never owned one, I too had always wanted one. And also like you, we already had a 2600 so my parents were not keen on spending their hard-earned money on a new system. Anyway, the interesting thing about the Colecovision is that it is basically made entirely from off-the-shelf parts. Amazing that other companies didn't do the same. CV always had the best arcade ports back then, at least between them, the 2600 and Intellivision. Also, it used the same video chip as the TI 99-4/a yet its games were WAY better.

I think Activision had a policy that all games looked and played the same on all systems; that's why the Colecovision version resembles the Atari. They broke this rule a couple of times, most notoriously with the Atari 5200/Atari 8-bit computer version of Pitfall II having a second adventure after you finished the first.

A couple of things: ColecoVision controller: They are not the best. But, with some games, you will need to use them, use an official ColecoVision compatible controller, or I believe a third party released a splitter, so you can use both an Atari controller and they Coleco keypad. Beamrider: Great game! You are just playing it wrong. With this game, you may have to use the Coleco controller, as there are two types of weaponry: The phasers, which will destroy the enemies and some of the other targets and debris, and the bombs, which will destroy anything. But, you only get three of these, and you should really save them for the end-of-stage boss. Wargames: You may have to use the Coleco controller for this game, as I am pretty sure that there are keypad overlays for the controller. River Raid: There are some minor graphical tweaks. But, nothing to write home about. This game is really about the game-play, and is a classic!

I remember plsying my buddies Colecovision and the game i associate Colecovision with is Zaxxon. Brings me back to the good old days. Makes me sad about Real Estate prices especially then versus now for some reason

This whole video made me smile so much, such a lucky find, i would love to own one.

Special memories. I’ve got them all on emulators, but I think I might have to hunt one down to add to my nostalgia collection.

I was the same way as a kid. Only had the 2600 growing up but always wanted the Coleco Vision because the games looked so much like the arcade compared to Atari. My dad did buy the Coleco Adam computer, but took it back to Toys 'R Us after about 5 days after people at work told him the world was going PC IBM clone computers. DK looks so good on this.

Zaxxon venture looping, donkey kong mouse trap carnival! they all good! def my favorite,. very awesome man!! Thanks fer sharing!

Coleco, oh my goodness. I remeber, Turbo, I drove my father crazy trying to find the tubro wheel and pedal until finally he found it! That's when I knew I was his favorite lol.

Love the videos lately… been catching up on a lot of your videos lately.. love the different take and subject matter your bringing- keep it up👍 As far as Coleco: my top games have always been Smurf Zaxxon Lady Bug Mouse Trap

My parents bought me a Colecovision when it first came out in August of 83 for my birthday, I had wanted an Atari 2600, but I loved the Coleco more. I still have mine with every single game/expansion modules

Its a thing of beauty. Who doesn’t love picking up things we couldn’t have in childhood. Enjoy (from London Eng.)

I picked up a used Colecovision from a pawn shop in the summer of '86 and was able to add B.C.'s Quest For Tires, BurgerTime, Campaign '84, Congo Bongo, Cosmic Avenger, Destructor, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Frenzy, Gorf, Jumpman Junior, Ken Uston BlackJack/Poker, Lady Bug, Looping, Miner 2049er, Mouse Trap, Slither, Space Fury, Spy Hunter, Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator, Star Wars: The Arcade Game, Tarzan, The Heist, Turbo, Venture, Wargames and Zaxxon in our collection, along with the Roller Controller and driving controller before I stopped seeing games and things for it around. You probably need to use the keypad and overlay for Wargames. I was glancing through the old manual (which sadly, has water damage so some parts are hard to read). I did see that buttons 7 and 9 aren't use on the keypad during play.

If you have a chance, pick up the Colecovision Super Action Controllers. I had those as a kid and they are a fantastic experience. Very fun and very unique.

I had barely heard of the Colecovision BITD. I was happy with my Atari 2600, or the Coleco Gemini at my mom's house. I had played the CV in more recent years thru the ColEm emulator, and it is super-impressive for its arcade ports. Donkey Kong's climbing mechanics are very wonky and require you to push up twice while on the ladder to climb properly, IIRC. Outside of arcade ports there isn't much to recommend with the CV. I'd recommend Frogger, Pepper II, Mouse Trap, Burgertime, Spy Hunter, Carnival, Mr. Do, Mr. Do's Castle, Venture, Q*Bert, Frenzy, Centipede, Looping, and Slither. Thanks for the video; I also have a fondness for the system and have several videos on it. The regular controllers are bad, I agree-- but the Super Action Controllers are a whole new level of pain!

I have one of these with the Atari expansion piece. It’s in the original box. Played probably played 10 times ever. I got it for Xmas when I was little. I’m 49 years old.

ColecoVision was and STILL IS one of my favorite systems of all time. Controller-wise, though, it was the best controller at the time. Obviously, they don't compare to a Sega Genesis controller, but as a purist who is looking to have that same experience I had back in the 80's.... I only use the original controllers (on all systems). Great vid!

Blowing into the cartridge works every time!! 😂

¡Excelente video! ¡Hermosa la ColecoVision con todos esos cartuchos que obtuviste! Tuve una allá por 1984; y uno de los juegos que más me sorprendió, por sus gráficas, fué Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle... Lindos recuerdos. ¡Saludos cordiales!

Great video! We started with a 2600 in 1980 and Dad got us a Coleco a couple or few years later. I think it is the most underrated system of that early era. It was a real leap in power over the 2600. We only ever had a handful of games for it. But, I can recommend Donkey Kong, Ladybug and Zaxxon. We also had Turbo (Pole Position-like racing game) and it was awesome, but it does require the steering wheel/gas pedal expansion set. I never minded the Coleco controllers. In fact, we used them on our Atari after those joysticks bit the dust. I still have our old Coleco and it works just fine! Edit: I posted the comment above before watching the entire video…it looks like you ended up getting all of the games I recommended, lol. When playing Zaxxon, keep firing ahead of you to ensure you aren’t about to collide with something. If an object (wall, etc.) is in your line of flight, your laser bursts will impact the object and give you a chance to adjust your trajectory. Zaxxon was probably my favorite, but yeah it was kind of challenging. And, I will ALWAYS prefer Colecovision Ladybug over ANY version of Pac-Man…true story. Plug in that Coleco controller and give these games another shot.

Loved Pepper II and Gateway to Apshai... those games ruled

It's an awesome investment. I have one with the atari expansion module is how i play my Atari games. Years later i also bought an ADAM. I was lucky one of the local flea market guys had just come back from a retro fair in the late 90s and so i was able to get loose carts of most of the games i wanted.

A tip for DK that makes it better: When climbing the ladders, climb up or down a bit, pause for a split second, then continue. Mario will climb twice as fast this way. Otherwise it's VERY slow compared to the arcade. There is also a fun little WARP TRICK for the barrel board, where if you 1. climb up the the first half ladder 2. climb back down 3. take exactly two movements to the left 4. then jump to right, you will jump right through the bottom of the board, and depending on the ROM version, Mario will either fly up from the bottom to the top of the level after a few seconds, or he will immediately start on the rivets board. It's a fun trick to pull off. I actually did this one while playing a game with my brother back in 1983, but we had no idea how I did it and couldn't replicate it until it was posted a few months later in ColecoVision Experience magazine. -Matt

I had the white Donkey Kong cartridge..Ahh my childhood came n went too quickly

Friend had one. Love the games. Donkey Kong, Jumpman Junior, and tons of others! Don’t pass on Jumpman Junior

Greetings from Argentina! My dad bought that when I was 5, like you said, it was the Ferrari of video consoles, my favorite game were "Donkey Kong Jr." and a later acquisition "Cabbage Patch Kids Adventures in the Park". I remember 30 kids from kindergarten being in my home and the Coleco was the vedette of the day.

I was 12 years old when I won Coleco in the "lottery", after that it became a completely new form of childhood.

War Games requires the Coleco Roller Controller (Trac Ball). War Game is Missile Command taken to the next level.

THANK you for using a proper CRT.

I’ll never forget Xmas morning under the tree me and all my brothers got a colecovision! Minds were blown!! Recommended games: Venture Mouse trap Carnival Gorf Nova Blast Donkey Kong Jr Mr Do Frenzy Montezumas revenge

Gratz I'm happy you found one in such great condition with the box and 2600 module is a bonus. Sometimes just playing on OG hardware is super fun. My only issue and it's the same issue as a 2600. I don't own a CRT so I would need to get it modded or find an upscale solution. I have only played Colico on emulation and it would have blown my mind as a kid.

I bought a colecovision loose along with a steering wheel and two controllers 1,5 years ago and i am very happy with it, I do gor exciting games for it including,donkeykong,donkeykong jr,popeye,space panic and more.

I really love the controller can be put into the console design of the early 80s consoles, makes things very tidy, I wished modern consoles would have slots where you simply could place your controllers into! The either are always lying around or are somehwere placed which is not even console related (and in many cases people have to search for them) Would go a mile, but would disturb the clean look significantly, thats why no one does it anymore!

I had the same setup, including the Atari adapter. That one you have is like near mint condition. Mr. Do, Carnival, Mouse Trap, Super Cobra, Qbert, River Raid - some of the best video games of all time!!

Something you might wanna investigate - There's a way that you can jump to the second level in Colecovision's DK - you jump at a certain spot on the ground floor, and you "fall" through the floor and end up on the second level. We discovered it by accident back in the day...

I had a coleco back in the 90’s and had close to 80 games but I eventually sold it.

Smurfs, zaxxon, frogger, all of them, and collectorvision has a bunch of new games for the coleco🎉

I had an Atom computer which played Colecolvision games. The controller was a handheld and the best game was the baseball game

System was way ahead of its time.

Love the video. It's so funny what you were saying about owning a 2600 back in the day, but really wanting a Colecovision - totally relate to that thought. I had a "rich" neighbor that had one, and it became instantly obvious his Colecovision was so much better graphics than the Atari. I recently bought one off of Facebook Marketplace as well...paid more than you did, you got a great deal I think considering condition. One question, you mention "restoring" the manuals and boxes a little bit...what is your process for that?

Been wanting one of these to add to my collection but can't find a guaranteed working for a decent price. Hopefully one day I will find one.

I had 1 of them back when they came out dam I'm old I'm 51 years now.

I never owned a Colecovision, or even knew anyone who had one. I've only ever played the games under emulation. Maybe I've just had bad luck, but my opinion of actual Coleco hardware isn't the greatest. Our first video game console was an Atari Video Pinball unit. It worked perfectly. Then I got a Coleco Telstar Combat tank game. It never worked properly. The picture was distorted and rolled unless the TV was adjusted just so. Then I got a Coleco Telstar Arcade. The pack-in cartridge never worked. My parents got me a second cartridge, but since it didn't have any driving games on it, I never got to use the steering wheel on the console. After about a month, the gun started to malfunction in that it would always score a hit no matter where it it was pointed. You could leave it in the holster and get a perfect score. Next I got an Atari 2600, which worked perfectly. Over the years, I also got an Intellivision II, Atari 5200 and Atari 7800, all of which worked great. OK, the Intellivision was a little finicky about how far the cartridges needed to be pushed in, but other than that, it had no problems. A few years ago, I found a box of video game stuff in the trash. There were three Atari 2600s and one Colecovision. Two of the 2600s worked fine, while one wouldn't turn on. The Colecovision turned on, but I couldn't get it to start any of the games that were with it. Ironically, the Atari expansion module was also in the box and THAT worked like a champ. As for games, out of the ones I've played, I recommend Pepper 2. It's not the most graphically impressive, or original game, but I enjoyed it.

The coleco river raid contour/river-flow layout seems to be different from the 2600 (which is all straight lines).

Beamrider is an excellent game, just gotta give it a chance.

One of my favorite consoles ever...

Wow this is before my time… I’ve never heard of this colecovision. Holy cow

We never owned a Colecovision and still don't but absolutely a step up from the 2600👌 Real good condition too👍

I wasn’t alive back then the first ever console i got was an xbox 360☠️☠️☠️ but i love the way this one looks super cool ^_^

had a colecovison great console my must have games were Donkey kong, carnival, mouse trap, Gorf, Smurf Rescue at Garmel's castle

great price and condition overall. i've always been curious about how to a better picture quality if not wanting to use a rf unit.

Dude try Jumpman junior...and looping Those where always my faves when my dad had one

I said the exact same thing to my wife a year ago..... I bought a colecovision

I still remember the smell of it when I opened the box 😌 yes it smelled so good. I would wake up early in the morning to play the smurfs game😁 edit : venture was actually super addictive but like ladybug you need a good controller or you will bang your head on the floor 😂

We lived next to a couple (and their child) who had an intellivision. One time they came over to our house, and we had Donkey Kong playing on the ColecoVision. I remember the lady just staring at the game. I suppose she was impressed by the graphics.

I bought one too, last week. It's great but big! Somebody said online the Colecovision is like the PlayStation of the 80's and I agree. Must own? That would be Omega Race which is easily the best version on any system by a mile!

Overseas they combined the coleco and sega sg1000 in one system because they were essentually the same

Cv could have easily kept pace with nes through the 80s had Coleco not gone under. With increasing rom,ram in later carts plus added cpu chips like nes carts got, coupled with increasing skill at coding for the cv, coulda had much longer life. I preordered my cv June 82 and got it August 82. Compared to the dominant Intv and 2600, the cv was amazing. Have to put the cv in context. Besides a massive jump in visuals vs the 2600 and intv, and a real deal expansion port, the atari 8 bit xl series and c64 were either a year off or too expensive. It took until late 83 and into 84 for the a8 and c64 to drop in price as viable game options vs the cv. And by late 84, Jan 85 we were all aware of the coming Amiga and St 16 bit "color macs" for unheard of low prices for their capabilites. I had an St by Fall 85, after the Adam add on computer for the cv.

For Beamrider, if you were still using that Genesis controller that's probably why you couldn't shoot. if not then the Coleco controller was probably having problems.

Lady Bug is the best game of Coleco.

Def read the manual and learn how to play WarGames. One of my favorite games for the system. If you like the movie, you’ll love the game. 👍

I guess I was a spoiled kid, because I had a 2600 and a Colecovision. Maybe it helped that my parents were divorced... Dad bought me and my older brother a 2600 for Christmas 1979, and my mother bought me a Colecovision a few years later. Gotta agree with you on Lady Bug... it's a great game! I like it more than Pac Man. If you haven't yet, you should check out Looping, I think that was the cart that came with the system, that one was a lot of fun too! Enjoy your new system! I'm 54 and thinking about getting back into these old machines. 👍

Also (last post I swear)., have you seen or played OpCode's "DK Arcade" port? It looks very close to the arcade version. Probably even better than the NES port (which itself, saw a better homebrew port, in TATE mode, with arcade perfect barrel A.I, etc.). The Opcode version also utilizes a "Super Game Module" for the sound, which adds more memory and an extra sound channel, iirc. The for this seems to be very hard to find, and Opcode has since stopped selling both the physical copies and the roms, due to obvious reasons. **(If anyone has a link for this I'd love to test it out), DK is my favorite game on the CV.

The ColecoVision controllers are the best gamepads in gaming history. I still use them to play modern-day MMOs, Jedi Fallen Order, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and Cyberpunk 2077.

I actually grew up with this controller first. It was the best if the controls back then and better that a D-Pad in terms of game performance. I've got a funny saying about the controllers. The good news is that the controls are ambidextrous. The bad news is you're going to learn to be ambidextrous, because with the cramps you get, you have to switch hands when you have a 2 second break in the game.

Like a real collector 😂 After how many consoles did you say stop? Are you still adding new consoles to your collection? 😅

i had one a long time ago, with the atari expansion unit too, but after a couple years the power supply failed, and dad took me to a few electronic stores but by that time replacement parts were non existent anywhere, even from the store it came from the clerk told me i could no longer order parts, as the first Nintendo was on the horizon and all coleco parts were discontinued....

Ps - Love River Raid but agree that Activision dialled in their conversion for Colecovision - compared to Zaxxon and what the developers (Sega?) achieved on the system, its a bit of a let down.

Lol i have one with about 20 atari and coleco game cartridges. Bought em all for like 50 bucks at a flea market

The better "River Raid " version is the orginal Activison cartridge. You can play it with the Coleo adapter. But you don't see the tank by the bridge. 😮 But that was one of the great things about Coleco, you can get an adapter and play any Atari or Activision game you wanted to. "War Games* is probably the most innovative game at that time. I always thought the map graphics were great too. It's solid. It's an awesome game for its time. The game "Destructor" is also a great game, it needs the wheel adaptor - my recommendation Controller - I never thought the controller was bad. It was actually quite sophisticated for its time. War Games was one of the few to trully take advantage of all the available buttons. Plus it had a 360 degree feel.

Never played Coleco. I had a 2600 as a kid, and then went right to NES. I picked up an Intellivision a couple years ago just to try it out.

Smurfs Rescue from Gargamel's Castle

“That wasn’t a kill screen”. LMAO.

We had one in about 1983, only had 3 games for it such as Donkey Kong, Turbo and Zaxxon. I wish we had of had more games for it but alas... :( Funnily enough my next system was a downgrade, it was the Atari 2600 but then things got much better with the C64 and far better with the Amiga. Would be nice to get a Colecovision again.

Those controller were far far better than the Intellivision ones.... Especially, the side buttons... I literally hurt my thumbs using the IV Controllers... till they bled! Had to reach under with other fingers to use the buttons on the other side. So the Coleco controllers were paradise compared to the Intellivisions... :D

Nice! Notice however the screen interference you are getting while playing Donkey Kong? That is due to using the Pro Pad 6. I have no idea why, but when using this gamepad I get the same thing on both my Colecovision and my 7800. If I use a normal 6-button Genesis controller that doesn't happen. Weird. It must be pulling additional power or something.

The best games of mine are from the best; Lady Bug, Pepper II, Mr. Do, Looping, Venture, Space fury, Pitstop, Cosmic avenger, Gorf and probably some more, can't remember everything. Turbo was of course great at first, but in the end not very special. On the other hand, with the Atari adapter, I really liked games like river raid, H.E.R.O and many others.

I just picked up a colecovision 63 in 1 cart on eBay for 50 bucks. I believe there are still Some left. It’s well worth it

and the games I won with the console were mouse trap, turbo. Later purchased were Cosmic avenger, Gorf and Zaxxon. Zaxxon was a huge disappointment compared to the arcade equivalent.