Thanks for checking out the video! Here's my Instagram: instagram.com/gregsgameroom/ My Flashcarts: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gLtdd9merMWYon0.html 5 Minute History: The Atari 2600 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fp6mlLuAsLDce4U.html Why I HATE Atari! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d6qGgquU05qXnIU.html

Enjoyed the video. The Atari 5200 was the system I had when the crash hit. I remember being very disappointed when I could no longer find games for it in the stores. I ended up selling mine and along with birthday money bought an Atari 800XL, which remains my favorite 8 bit system that I owned in the 80's.

Love these comparison vids, keep up the good work!

The Colecovision was made to compete with the 2600, not the 5200.

The 5200 is my favorite console of all time. Pretty much because it was the first time I really played Pac-Man at home. My family got one as a Christmas gift. I became pretty good with the 5200 controller, and up until a few years ago I had a small business repairing the controllers. I know I've done over a hundred of them. Parts for the joysticks are getting kind of rare. I use the one that had a circuit board and a 3D printed shell.

It's kinda funny that the 5200 was a console converted FROM a computer system while the Colecovision was a console converted INTO a computer system (the ADAM)!

I'm always partial to the ol' ColecoVision, and that'll never change... but I'll admit, this video had me doing quite a few double-takes on some of those 5200 titles. Another one right out of the park, my friend! Good stuff. 👍

Always enjoy watching these comparison videos of retro consoles! thanks for sharing such fun to watch content Greg.

I wanted to get an ATARI 5200 but didn’t have enough money…so I bought an Arcadia/Starpath Supercharger for my VCS-2600. It really extended the life of the system and I have fond memories of finishing DragonStomper…Escape From The Mindmaster…Phaser Patrol…and the mail-in purchase at its EOL Survival Island. Seriously…those were Big-League wins as a kid. Then when ATARI’s 7800 that I was reading about just didn’t happen/disappeared, I bought my first computer…an ATARI 800XL computer. It had near perfect arcade ports…like what you showed…Donkey Kong…Popeye…Dig Dug etc. I never knew about any video-game crash because us kids were basically all converting to computers and computer games. Arcades were closing but that was to be expected from too many opening(Arcade Wars in my area…20 tokens/$1) and home video-games becoming closer & closer versions to the arcade games. Oh…if that 7800 had released in 1984 or even 1985, I would probably not bought the 800XL and more than likely had an ATARI 16-bit computer as my first computer.

This is a fantastic comparison video.

These are always great to watch, Greg! Nice work.

The Atari 5200 is the one console I always wanted to love so much more than I ever I did.

The 5200 was a fun system until the controllers wore out!!! So fragile!!!

Awesome video

Thank you for such lovely videos. I've never seen the 5200 here in the UK (Scotland) but I do love the look of the games. I should figure out how to emulate them along with the 8bit range.

Great video. Tapper did appear on the 5200. I have it. I have Tutkenham for the 5200.

Love the video, great comparisons! And I have to agree with nearly all of your choices (except for Zaxxon, the CV "scrolling" kills it for me), even though I am an Atari only guy. I have two 2600s, a 5200 and a 600XL with 64 KByte RAM extension. You earned a subscription!

Thanks for this really interesting, the 800xl was my second computer after the Vic20. The 800xl is probably my favourite computer from back in the day, the coleco is awesome as well although i never had one, it's quite close to early Sega consoles right?

Great comparison!!!

there are 8 bit conversions to the 5200 for sale on Atari Age or at least there used to be. I do have 5200 cartridges of Spy Hunter and Donkey Kong Jr. Oh and I'm one of the few people that actcually likes the controller, and if you have 2 of them and Robotron, you got the best version for home ever with faithful twin stick shooting. It's what I use to showcase the 5200 at the PGX Game Convention. EDIT: the 5200 conversion i have of Spy hunter does have the music, so I don't know what version your playing unless the person that ported it over added it maybe

The 5200 version of Choplifter is in hi-res graphics. On an Atari hi-res graphics was a three color mode due to artifacting on NTCS tvs. So, it looks much better if played in NTSC.

This video brings back so many memories. Still have my ColecoVision from childhood, with a ton of games, and even the roller controller & Atari 2600 adapter (system & roller controller still in original boxes). I played the hell out of that thing. Tried to play it several years ago, but the controllers & cartridge slot need serious contact cleaning for that to happen.

I think for zaxxon, DK, DK Jr and Buck Rogers, Coleco might have been holding off on some better graphics and levels for their SGM versions and/or ADAM version. Probably would have been a better comparison since you used the Atari computer version in some instances. Love the video tho.

What hardware limitations did the Coleco have when it came to multiple color sprites and scrolling?

The 5200 holds up surprisingly well in my opinion - I thought the Coleco would beat it handily; but man, the scrolling on that system is bad. Interestingly, the Coleco port of HERO looks just like the C64 version.

Great video! I do have a nit to pick though ... I feel it's kind of unfair to use the Atari 800 version of Donkey Kong since the 5200 never got it and then NOT compare it to the Coleco Adam version of Donkey Kong which is the more fair comparison. IMO. Otherwise great video. Subbed!

Donkeykong and dk jr are both my favorites on the colecovision,now if only somebody could emulate the atari 400/800 on the atari 5200 by simply lining up those memory locations with each other,that should do the trick right? Because both systems are exactly the same hardwarewise except for the memory location differences between the two.

Funny you talk about Gorf having an identity crisis, since the wild variety of levels was one of the big selling points in Midway's marketing for the game. Of course they were kind of trying to obscure the fact that it was basically "Copyright Infringement: The Game", ripping off two of the big Japanese games Midway licensed for US release (Space Invaders and Galaxian) without the permission of Taito or Namco. The other big draw was the synthesized speech, which as far as I know never made its way to any of the home ports (I doubt most of the early 8-bit consoles and computers could've done that anyway).

I had Spy Hunter on Atari 8 bit, and it had all the Peter Gunn theme music.

Great video! I had a few of these on the 5200, and i was always curious on how they compared with Colecovision. The C64 would've been a great one to compare on some of these. Beamrider was amazingly close to the 5200. I hated the 5200 controllers due to them breaking, but they were great for Star Raiders and Countermeasure.

5200 versions of Donkey Kong Jr. and Jungle Hunt look WAY closer to the arcade versions than the ColecoVision versions. I don't know what this guy is smoking.

Great video. I had not seen a lot of these on ColecoVision, or at least seen them in decades. Wild the differences in hardware that causes the Coleco to be capable of more colorful backgrounds, but less colorful sprites, and then seeing how bad it's scrolling and sprite movement were in a lot of the games. I remember being jealous of it's versions of Donkey Kong and DK JR, but seeing them here, I'm like yeah I'd rather go back and play my Atari 8 Bit ver. What's strange is, some of the ColecoVision games didn't have the monochrome sprites and jumpy movement frames? Like, watching those versions of Defender and the movement and shooting and ships broke my brain. Ditto for the movement in Miner 2049er. So I really wonder what the technical limitation was, versus it being some kind of skill issue or maybe they got better at programming certain things later on? Like, some games simply can't scroll or sprite frames are clunky, but they got nice scrolling on Jungle Hunt which almost seems harder, and the sprite movement and animations were fine on some of the games as well. I will say, you really undersell how the 5200 joystick impacts some of these games. It's super hard to jump to the top in Mountain King, or stop on the right part of the alligator heads in Pitfall using that stick, or to do some of the finer jumps and stops in Miner 2049er.

I think Moon Patrol was available for both of these consoles back in the day. I didn't have the 5200 back then but one of the neighbors did and they had Moon Patrol, Pacman and Mario Bros on it.

Great video sir! I grew up with a 5200 as that weird system I hooked up when I got bored with the NES. I still have it and never heard about the CV till about a decade ago. The modern releases have now pushed me to favor the CV over the 5200, which is wild as usually nostalgia wins! Having the Phoenix is pretty awesome too! Even the CV of Centipede has won me over lately, mainly because that spider on 5200 is a real bastard.

Pitfall 2 on the 5200 has a second quest on it too, be ready to be frustrated lol

My favorite version of "Choplifter" was the port for the Sega Master System. If you've never played that one, you really need to check it out. =)

This was just before my time so I don't really have a dog in this fight. I started gaming in 1986 with the Nes and Master System. Having said that I believe the Colecovision was the better console overall. I'm curious as to which machine is the most powerful? Also had the video game crash not happened could the Atari 5200 or Colecovision held their own against the Japanese onslaught that was about to take place? How much stronger was an Nes/Master System to the 5200/Colecovision?

Yes indeed dude!!! Love this! I’ll pick the Coleco over the 5200. Atari for life though! Haha

I enjoyed this video but I feel disappointed that you didn't give a score at the end. I would have to go back and tally them myself to see which one wins. :(

They have an updated rom for Donkey Kong for the 5200/8-bit and other than the right side on the first screen it looks almost exact! It's really good!

I actually loved the 5200 controller. They broke a lot, but when they worked, they were fantastic. I agreed with all your picks as I was watching. Oh man, these bring back memories! I was lucky enough to have both these systems as a kid.

Two consoles I still don’t own in my collection. This video will help me hone in on the one I will hunt down first. 😁

Mountain King - This is a pretty good game, but it's more than just a high score chaser. There are several steps you need to take to clear each level. First, you need to collect 1,000 diamonds. You can do this by walking over the visible diamonds, but there are also treasure chests that MAY give you even more in one shot. You can only see them when you press the button to shine your flashlight, but that also makes the normal diamonds disappear, so it's a trade off. Also, the chest may contain nothing but bats. Once you've collected 1,000, music will start playing. You follow the music to the flame spirit. The music will get louder, the closer you get. You'll see it flash briefly, but it will be visible in the beam of the flashlight. Once you have it, go to the bottom of the mountain and you'll find a temple Position yourself directly under it and kneel to offer the flame spirit to the guardian, then you can climb up into the temple and stake the crown. At this point, up-tempo music will start playing and you have a limited amount of time to take the crown to the highest peak of the mountain, which has a small fire on it. However, this is made much more difficult by the fact that you will lose the crown if you get hit by a bat. Oh, and if you go to the very bottom level, you'll get webbed up by a giant spider. Waggle the stick to escape before it comes back and eats you. Ironically, the Atari 2600 version has the best fade in/out of the flame spirit music of all the versions I've tried. On the 2600, it's a very smooth increase/decrease in volume. On all the other versions, it just seems to go in steps, and will go from low to silent like someone flipped a switch. Zaxxon - I agree that the Colecovision version looks the best, but that constant, high-pitched droning sound in the background drives me nuts.

Pitfall II for the 5200 is easily the hands down winner especially since it has a hidden level.

My 2600 experience was great. But when I saw the ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong? I was instantly amazed and impressed! I wanted one! And when the Adam Home Computer came out, I thought, OOOH a possible educational solution? A way in perhaps? Nope. LOL. Especially since we had already got the Atari 5200, which I loved BTW. I've always loved Sports Games and the "Real-Sports" series were awesome! Tempest another unique game. It was a decent system that gets a lot of hate. Which I don't quite understand.

Why is the first stage of Donkey Kong backwards in both versions compared to the arcade?? I never played the Atari version, but I DEFINITELY remember playing the Colecovision version in the original orientation!

Interesting dual, thanks. The Atari seemed to be able to pull off way better scrolling/frame rates than the Colleco or maybe it was just a matter of better developers..? Who knows..cheers anyways ☺️

Aside from the controls not being too good on either system the 5200 and Colecovision were both badass at the time. It was a fun time for video games in the early 80's. I bought the 5200 with paper route money and very much enjoyed it

5200 was my first console. I remember finding a table of really cheap games for it at Toys R Us. The term "Dead System" wasn't common yet. I just thought I was lucky finding cheap games 😂 I still have all of it too

I wonder how easy it is to get Atari 8 bit computer games running on the 5200? I know its trivial to get 5200 games running on the Atari 8 bit but I don't know if the reverse is true. Side note, the ColecoVision version of Zaxon was one of the most expensive games I've ever bought. It was $45 which in todays money is $143.17

Guys can someone tell which system I had... Each game had its own slide that you would put into the controller to play it's before the commodore 64 era.. I'm afraid I can't remember much more

I had alot of fun with Qbert and Frogger both om 5200 once I get used to the controls. Defender was phenomenal on 5200.

Love ❤your ❤channel 😊

My first console was a hand-me-down 5200 (with the 2600 adapter too)… I loved that damn system, far more than it deserved

I agree with most of your choices. Mountain King can be fun, if not terrible frustrating at times, but the instructions are necessary. Same goes with ET for the 2600 since you mentioned it.

Regarding Gorf, I’d opine that the Atari 400/800 version (Roklan) was the best version. The 5200 version, while graphically identical, was unplayable due to the 5200 controller and the way the movement of the ship was programmed. Colecovision Gorf looked AWFUL - almost nothing like the arcade. Control was improved significantly over the 5200. For the record, Champ Games recently released a STELLAR version of Gorf for the Atari 2600. It beats the 400/800/5200 and Colecovision hands-down. I concur on Donkey Kong and DK Jr. The Atari 8-bit versions were superior, but the 5200 never saw an official release of either game. Colecovision Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator was FAR SUPERIOR on the Colecovision. Better graphics and gameplay much closer to the arcade machine. You are spot-on about 5200 Defender and Centipede. Both superior to the Colecovision, but the Coleco versions were still excellent.

Star wars the arcade game for the 5200 was really good.

I used to spin the Gyruss ship around arriving to planets like you did. Sort of a toilet flush.

It's just not Galaxian if the aliens don't squeal "Galax-seein!" when they die. Same deal with the Space Invaders marching to "SPACE IN-VA-DERS, SPACE IN-VA-DERS" as they drop down and reverse direction.

The Activision games on the Colevision were exactely like the MSX convertions due to both having same processor.

Frogger 5200 you MUST have the music off cause yes it has all the correct music

The coleco lacked hardware scrolling capabilities.

For the Donkey Kong comparison, it would had been better to compare the Atari 8 Bit to the Coleco Adam version. The home consoles didn't have enough memory for the Cement Factory stage.

Keep in mind that some of the CV versions were made by Atari via their Atarisoft division. I can only guess they tried not to make the CV version better than those for Atari consoles/computers. Honestly I'm surprised how well they did for their non-atari platform ports.

The funny thing is is in my life. I didn’t know pretty much anything about the 5200 or the Coleco vision because I grew up in the Sega age though my uncle did give me two Ataris A 52o0 @ 2800 , With a trash bag full of games (thanks to the game crash )but none of his games actually fit the 5200 they only worked with a 2800 and I thought the controllers were absolutely horrible….. But that was for the folks a couple years ahead of me that were born in the late 70s and early 80s

Best version was for the Coleco Adam

Oh man this is going to be retro porn. Just going to grab some pop corn and sit back and watch this. I had a Coleco as a kid but I also bought 5200 games when they were blowing them out but never had the console. Still got a bunch of them mint in box. Looking forward to this!

Colecovision was a pretty impressive console for the time, I think it's a pity it didn't do better in the market. It was generally a pretty good system, but there was little adoption of it.

I never got a 5200. Just the 2600.

As a kid I only played 2600, Coleco would have blown me away.

Although I generally agree with your assessments as far as sounds go, Greg, I will say that the ColicoVision has more trebble in its sounds, and I prefer the more bass Atari 5200 sounds.

I can assure you that Frogger is made by SEGA. I have a cocktail unit sitting 10 feet away from me and it is clearly branded as SEGA.

Funny thing is if you played the Adam version of Donkey Kong and Junior, all 4 stages are there

I have to say the Atari 5200 games look very impressive for its time. I have a Coleco but was always apprehensive buying a 5200 because of the faulty controllers. I know they have 3rd party controllers but I'm a purest when it comes to retro game collecting and always have to use the original accessories 🙂

I never owned either console but have always been intrigued by both. So seeing them face off is kind of like watching Mechagodzilla vs King Ghidora

I think it’s interesting how lazy Activision ports to the Coleco were. Either they didn’t take the time to learn it or they outsourced to a lazy dev. I assume they only half hearted them.

Anyone notice when the Coleco went super detail, the frame rate went to hell?

It seems to me the Atari 8 bit computer versions shouldn't be in these comparisons. This is a comparison between the Atari 5200 vs the Colecovision. Although the 5200 borrows from the 8 bit Atari computers, it's a different system with different cartridges and offerings. The Colecovision beat the 5200 to market. Especially in a wide release. Packing in Donkey Kong, the biggest hit game at the time was brilliant and was the main reason we bought one when we loved our Atari 2600. I wasn't a fan of the NES however or most of Nintendo's games after Donkey Kong. I really liked the Atari 8 bit computers, but they were expensive when they came out and in the early 80s when these consoles came out. I got a 1200XL on closeout but already had several computers by then. I don't know how long the 5200 was in development for, but at the time it felt like it was too little too late with the Colecovision on the market. I only knew one person that bought a 5200.

Using the Atari computer ports? Compare them to the Adam computer ports and not just the Colecovision

I'm fairly sure there's a Coleco Adam version of Donkey Kong that is more complete than the original cart. EDIT: Yes, there are videos of the Adam version on KZfaq and it's definitely more complete than the Colecovision version.

I think your video is unfair. You used an 8-bit computer to judge some Atari conversions, Why didn't you use the ADAM version of some games for Colecovision? For example, Donkey Kong & Donkey Kong Jr. has all 4 screens in the ADAM version.

Coleccovison Defender looks so much better!! Surprised by your opinion there.

Do vs of playstation and sega saturn

iunno, I personally thought the colecovision gamepad was fine especially when you compare it to the atari 5200 and the matel intellivision's controllers

Love the comparisons and videos of these classics however I will say it is slightly unfair to compare computer versions to consoles considering to how the two systems are actually designed and programmed. And it is very unfair to compare a homerbrew version which the programmer had years to make it with a console version where the programmer likely had a deadline of just a few weeks which was often all they were given by the companies they worked for back then.

Star wars is great when using the trackball.

Coleco had a great controller.

I am sorry but you should not put homebrew game in your list. become colecovision had some great homebrew like mario brothers game and pacman and ms pacman. also Atarisoft unreleased Pacman for colecovision and Moon Patrol. Also colecovision adam Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr had all the screens.

I rememberr begging my parents for a 5200 but I got the big NO, you have your other Atari and we aren't buyiing you the same games again. If only the 5200 was backwards compatible out of the gate.

No Greg, ET for the 2600 sucks to you BECAUSE you refused to read the manual.

Colecovision better system

DOOD!

I have to disagree with you on keystone kapers, the graphics on the ColecoVision are awful, washed out flat colors with very little details! I can’t believe you picked the ColecoVision over the Atari 5200 on graphics?

I remember having my first pause button w/ the 5200 blew my mind! Loved my colecovision too but I hated the controller more than the 5200 one.

Great video. While I have respect for the Colecovision and its fan base, I am an Atari man for life. That being said, I admit In super biased in favor of the 5200. I own both and the 5200 just has more of an arcade like feel to me. The only genre I give Coleco the edge is with the racing game Turbo and the driving wheel expansion module. Ill admit, that blew me away at the time

I'm going to be honest: i'm from this generation. Had an Atari 2600, but nowadays,i just can't stand those grafics and sound. I can only enjoy from nes/master system to late generations

You really need to get your eyes checked.. the Atari donkey Kong games look nothing like arcades or play like them it’s nowhere near the arcade versions.. the most moronic part is the arcade versions are on switch..

Unfair comparisons the 8bit Atari computer versions shouldn't count

Actually two comments about the control. The Atari 5200 control is more of a real joystick but is analog and doesn't have snapback which ironically plays analog games really well what are tension towards the centre would actually ruin the game (like Kaboom and Warlords if there was such a version of it) but the problem was digital game suffered for it. The colecovision basic controller what is a usable controller if instead of moving it with your thumb you took your thumb and index finger gravitron opposite edges of the circle and shifted it north south east or west like you would a joystick. If you did that the ColecoVision controller turned out to be a good controller. The ColecoVision super action controllers even better, but it's only flawed game is tutankham where the concept of luck fire and write fire gets defeated by vertically placed buttons on the super action. Also one thing no one talks about is the fact that five out of the Eight Second Generation machines had ambidextrous controllers as OEM parts. And a lot of the arcade controls had ambidextrous controllers to whether original cabinets or modded cabinets to recycle games. The joke I like to tell is the good news about the second generation is that a lot of the joysticks are ambidextrous and can be used with either hand on the stick. The bad news is the controls are so uncomfortable with you holding him in the air that you're going to learn to be ambidextrous with these controllers because your muscles are going to get stiff and you need to change hands at a life or level in order to continue playing on. Unfortunately they threw out the baby of ambidexterity with the bathwater of the poor controller design of that era. If you want to read about my opinions on ambidexterity beyond that including a true life Zero to hero story and a conspiracy that is plausible, visit SinisterSticks.com

We should all pretend there were no games whether arcade or home consoles until 1985...just saying