Amiga Format CD 23/Amiga Format AFCD23 (Feb 1998, Issue 107).iso/-in_the_mag-/emulation/faqs/colecovision.faq

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›7mColecoVision Frequently Asked Questions! ›0m
ColecoVision FAQ! Version 3.6


Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996   Joseph M. Huber and James Carter

All rights reserved.  This document may be copied, in whole or in part,
by any means provided the copyright and contributors sections remain
intact and no fee is charged for the information.  Contributors
retain the copyright to their individual contributions.

The data contained herein is provided for informational purposes
only.  No warranty is made with regards to the accuracy of the
information.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional contributions always welcome!  Please mail additional information,
opinions, and comments to either:

Joe Huber - [e-mail]

or

James Carter - [e-mail]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last update: July 24, 1996.

Contributors:
JH) Joe Huber
JC) James Carter
01) Noel Tominack
02) Tony Mason
03) Jeff Lodoen
04) Jonny Farringdon
05) Sean Kelly
06) Gary Carino
07) Charles Cafrelli
08) Scott Marison
09) Greg Kam
10) Joshua See
11) Ralph A. Barbagallo III
12) Joey McDonald
13) Geoff Oltmans
14) Gregg Woodcock
15) Allan Liscum
16) Greg Chance
17) Tris Orendorff
18) Scott Stone
19) David Strutt
20) Jeff Coleburn
21) Lee Seitz
22) Jerry Greiner
23) Bill Loguidice
24) Norman Sippel
25) Kevin Slywka
26) Ben Lott
27) Ken Arromdee
28) Swampthing
29) Bruce Tomlin
30) Christian Puryear
31) Patrick Lessard
32) Matt Burback
33) Brad Ensminger
34) Thomas Farrell
35) Ken Kupelian
36) Blue Sky Rangers
37) Craig Pell
38) Chris Smith
39) Kevin Horton
40) Curtis J.
41) Bill Esquivel
42) Greg Hunter
43) Kyle Snyder
44) Roger Fulton
45) Phil Stroffolino
46) Daniel Stevans
47) Marat Fayzullin
48) The Piper
49) Frank Groeten
50) Dennis Brown
51) Lawrence Schick
52) Robert Merritt
53) Jason Weesner
54) Sam Etic
55) Stephan Freundorfer

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0) What is ColecoVision?
2.0) ColecoVision and ADAM Specs
3.0) Hardware List
    3.1) Hardware known to exist
    3.2) Hardware believed -not- to exist
    3.3) Review of the Telegames Personal Arcade
    3.4) Hardware Tidbits
4.0) Cartridge List
    4.1) Carts known to exist
    4.2) Carts believed -not- to exist
    4.3) CBS product numbers
    4.4) Cartridge Tidbits, Tips, and Easter Eggs
    4.5) Cartridge Hardware Cheats
    4.6) ColecoVision and ColecoVision/ADAM catalogs
        4.7) The BEST cartridges
    4.8) The most popular cartridges
    4.9) Rare gems
    4.10) High scores
5.0) Internet sites
    5.1) Instructions
    5.2) Books and Periodicals
        5.2.1) ColecoVision Experience
    5.3) ColecoVision Homepage
    5.4) Coleco FTP Site
6.0) Stickers
7.0) Technical Details
    7.1) ColecoVision Memory Map
    7.2) ColecoVision I/O Map
    7.3) ColecoVision BIOS Details
    7.4) ColecoVision Video RAM Details
    7.5) Cartridge Slot Pinout
    7.6) ADAM Printer/Power Port
    7.7) ADAM Programming Tips
8.0) Separate Audio/Video Hack
9.0) Copying ColecoVision Cartridges
10.0) Repair Tips
    10.1) To fix a rolling picture/video problems:
    10.2) To avoid an automatic level select problem:
    10.3) To fix an automatic level select problem:
    10.4) To fix a broken roller controller:
    10.5) To fix a poorly responding controller:
    10.6) To fix a dead cartridge:
11.0) ColecoVision Dealers
12.0) ADAM Dealers, User Groups, and Bulletin Boards


1.0) What is ColecoVision?

Coleco (a contraction of COnneticut LEather COmpany) was the first
company to introduce a "dedicated chip" home video game system, with
the Telstar Arcade in 1976.  (The Magnavox Odyssey, based on Analog
technology, was the first home video game system overall, debuting
in 1973.)  Trying to build upon the enormous initial success of the
unit, Coleco decided to bring out nine different Telstar models.  But
within a year, 75 other manufacturers had introduced similar units,
and combined with with production snags, a shortage of chips, and a
push towards hand held games, Coleco skirted with disaster.  While
Coleco sold over $20 million of hand held games, it had to dump over
a million Telstar units, and the company lost $22.3 million in 1978.
With the introduction of units with games stored on interchangeable
cartridges, Fairchild and then Atari had eliminated any remaining
market for the simple pong games.

On June 1, 1982, Coleco re-entered the fray with the announcement of
its "third generation" video game system, ColecoVision.  Touting
"arcade quality", ColecoVision took aim at the seemingly unassailable
Atari 2600.  Coleco wanted "Donkey Kong", a very hot arcade hit, to be
their pack-in.  In December '81, they went to Japan to make a deal with
Nintendo for the rights to Donkey Kong.  The Coleco executive wanted to
return to the US to show his lawyers the contract before signing, but was
told to sign now, or risk losing Donkey Kong to Atari or Mattel, who were
currently going though channels to get the rights themselves.  Under the
pressure, the Coleco executive signed.

In April '82 Coleco and Nintendo were threatened with lawsuits from Universal
Studios who claimed Donkey Kong was an infringement on their King Kong.
Coleco had invested a fortune in the ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong
that was only 4 months from its premiere release.  Thinking that they didn't
stand a chance in court, Coleco decided to settle, agreeing to pay Universal
3% of all Donkey Kong sales.  Nintendo decided to fight it, and some time
later actually won.  Coleco then filed suit and got some of their lost
royalties back.

The bulk of Coleco's library, however, was comprised of overlooked coin-op
games such as Venture and Lady Bug.  With a library of twelve games, and
a catalog showing ten more on the way (many of which were never released),
the first one million ColecoVisions sold in record time.  In 1983 it topped
sales charts, beating out Atari and Mattel, with much of its success being
contributed to its pack-in, Donkey Kong.  The ColecoVision soon had more
cartridges than any system except the Atari 2600, and with the 2600
converter still today has more playable games than any other system.

The ColecoVision introduced two new concepts to the home videogame
industry - the ability to expand the hardware system, and the ability
to play other video game system games.

The Atari 2600 expansion kit caused a flurry of lawsuits between Atari
and Coleco.  After the dust cleared, the courts had decided that it was
acceptable for Coleco to sell the units.  As a result of this Coleco
was also able to make and sell the Gemini game system which was an exact
clone of an Atari 2600 with combined joystick/paddle controllers.

Coleco was also the first home videogame maker to devote the majority of
their product line to arcade conversions, using the superior graphics
of the ColecoVision to produce nearly arcade-quality games, albeit often
missing a screen or level.

Coleco truly shocked the industry by doing so well.  In a year, the stock
rose in value from 6 7/8 a share to 36 3/4.  The following items were
taken from Fortune or March 7, 1983:

"Six months ago, hardly anyone expected Coleco to ride so high.  [Company
 President Arnold] Greenberg was known in the industry as a  self-promoter
 overly sanguine about Coleco's prospects.  Says one security analyst:
 "He was always gilding the lily.  Wall Street developed a basic distrust
 of the company."  So did the Securities and Exchange Commission.  In 1980
 it charged Coleco with misstating financial results to mask troubles."

"But almost overnight Coleco's image has changed.  ColecoVision, the
 video game player introduced last August, is one of the most popular
 consumer products around.  The trade, paying homage to its technological
 advancement, has dubbed it "the third wave" - wave one being the Atari
 VCS, wave two being Mattel's Intellivision - and the most discerning
 critics, kids, love it.  The 550,000 game players Coleco made last year
 flew off the shelves by Christmas-time.  Coleco's sales nearly tripled
 from $178 million in 1981 to $510 million last year, and the net income
 shot up 420% to $40 million."

"Coleco's charge into the market last summer was well timed.  Atari and
 Mattel were engaged in a multimillion-dollar mud-slinging battle on
 television.  George Plimpton in Mattel commercials lampooned the graphics
 on Atari's VCS game player, while Atari blasted Intellivision's dearth
 of hit games.  Then Coleco suddenly arrived on the scene with the best
 of both: good graphics and good games.  With a greater amount of memory
 allocated to screen graphics, ColecoVision provided a much better
 picture than Atari.  Although ColecoVision at $175 was $75 more
 expensive than Atari's VCS, discerning video players were willing to pay
 a higher price for more lifelike graphics.  ColecoVision's pictures were
 also better than those of Intellivision, and the retail was $35 lower."

"To make ColecoVision even more attractive the company gave away with
 each unit a $35 Donkey Kong cartridge.  "Donkey Kong was a very
 serviceable gorilla," says Greenberg.  "Once we convinced the consumer
 of the merits of the hardware, Donkey Kong pushed him into buying.""

"Another popular feature has been ColecoVision's expandability.
 Accessories like the $55 Turbo module, a steering wheel, gas pedal,
 and gear shift used to play a road racing game, can be plugged into
 the console.  The company's $60 Atari adapter enables ColecoVision to
 play Atari VCS-compatible cartridges.  Atari doesn't approve - it's
 suing Coleco for $850 million, charging patent infringement - but game
 addicts do.  Coleco sold 150,000 Atari adapters in just two months.
 Coleco's latest add-on, the Super Game module, was shown at last
 week's American Toy Fair. It adds more memory to ColecoVision and
 provides additional play variations."

"Coleco's software approach was to go after licensed arcade games and
 to make cartridges for Atari's VCS and Intellivision in addition to
 it's own game player.  Although Coleco hadn't built a single
 ColecoVision when it was negotiating licensees in 1981, the licensers
 liked Coleco's plan to make products for all three leading game systems.
 Coleco reached agreements with five firms, landing nine hit arcade
 licensees. Last year the company sold eight million cartridges."

"Flush with last year's successful foray in video games, Arnold Greenberg
 predicts even more good news is on the way.  "We are a terror in the
 marketplace," he boasts.  Greenberg proclaims that Coleco will increase
 it's market share in video game players this year from 8% to 25%,
 supplanting Mattel as No. 2."

"Achieving such lofty goals may be difficult.  Coleco last year paid
 only $250,000 for the rights to Donkey Kong, but Atari later had to pay
 an estimated $21 million to license E.T. for it's coin-operated and
 home video games.  Late last year Coleco reached an agreement with the
 game maker Centuri for licenses to three arcade games: Phoenix,
 Vanguard, and Challenger.  Then just before the contract was to be
 signed, Atari won the license by making a higher offer.  Parker
 Brothers also outbid Coleco for the Popeye license.  "Coleco's position
 is still not assured," says Barbara S. Isgur, a security analyst at Paine
 Webber.  "They were helped last year by the phenomenal success of Donkey
 Kong.  What will they do for an encore?"

"Arnold Greenberg remains optimistic. He notes that Coleco has already
 signed license agreements to bring out 30 new games by year-end.  In
 January, Coleco made CBS the principal foreign distributor for it's
 products.  In return Coleco will begin developing and marketing for
 ColecoVision home video cartridges licensed by CBS from Bally, a major
 arcade game maker."

Unfortunately, the ColecoVision suffered the same fate as the rest in
the great video game shake-out of 1984.  Coleco's unsuccessful bug-ridden
ADAM computer only complicated the problem.  Some believe if it wasn't
for Coleco's Cabbage Patch dolls, they would have completely disappeared.
Even the Cabbage Patch dolls couldn't keep Coleco going forever, though;
the company went under for good a few years later.  Ironically, Mattel
(the producers of Intellivision) now own the rights to the Cabbage Patch
dolls.

Coleco stopped production of the ColecoVision in 1984.  Their last few
titles (Illusions, Spy Hunter, Telly Turtle, and Root Beer Tapper) were
barely seen in stores.  Soon after that, Telegames bought much of
Coleco's stock and even produced a few titles of their own that didn't
reach the shelves before the shake-out.  As recently as 1991 a mail
order electronics store was known to sell ColecoVision motherboards
and joysticks.

When Coleco left the industry they had sold more than 6 million
ColecoVisions in just two years, even with the last year being troubled
by the shake-out.  Many in the industry believe if it wasn't for the
videogame crash of '84, that Coleco could have gone through the 80's as
the system of choice, especially with its proposed Super Game Module.  It
was clearly beating Atari and Mattel, but just didn't have the installed
base to last out the crash.

                     Timeline
                                 --------

   Aug 1982 - ColecoVision released
       1982 - Expansion Module #1: Atari 2600 Converter released
       1982 - Module #2, Driving Controller released
   Feb 1983 - Super Game Module announced
       1983 - Super Game Module demoed (non-playable) at New York Toy Show
   May 1983 - Advertising of the Super Game Module starts; runs through July
   Jun 1983 - ADAM computer introduced
   Aug 1983 - Super Game Module schedule to go on sale
   Oct 1983 - Super Game Module dropped
  Fall 1983 - ColecoVision Roller Controller released
       1983 - ColecoVision Super Action Controllers released
Winter 1983 - The video game market begins to crash
Spring 1984 - The video game industry collapses. All production stops.
   Jan 1985 - Coleco drops the ADAM computer
       1985 - Telegames picks up where Coleco left off, putting out new titles
   Dec 1985 - Nintendo NES is test-marketed in New York City
       1988 - Telegames releases the "Personal Arcade" ColecoVision clone.

- JH, JC, 03, 07, 10, 13, 14, 25, & 50


2.0) ColecoVision and ADAM Specs

        ColecoVision:

             Resolution: 256 x 192
                    CPU: Z-80A
                   Bits: 8
                  Speed: 3.58 MHz
                    RAM: 8K
          Video RAM: 16K (8x4116)
Video Display Processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A
                Sprites: 32
                 Colors: 16
                  Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489AN; 3 tone channels, 1 noise
          Cartridge ROM: 8K/16K/24K/32K

        ADAM:

             Resolution: 256 x 192
                    CPU: Z-80A
                   Bits: 8
                  Speed: 3.58 MHz
        Video Speed: 10.7 MHz
                    RAM: 64K (128K optional)
          Video RAM: 16K (8x4116)
                    ROM: 8K
Video Display Processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A
                Sprites: 32
                 Colors: 16
                  Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489AN; 3 tone channels, 1 noise
          Cartridge ROM: 8K/16K/24K/32K
        Disk Drives: 2 * 160K (opt)
    Digital Data Drives: 2 * 256K
          Modem: 300 Baud (opt)
            Printer: 120 wpm Daisy Wheel, 16K buffer
          Other: Serial/Parallel Port (opt), Auto Dialer (opt)

What really distinguished the ColecoVision from other systems of the era
was its 32 sprite capability.  It made it easier to design sprite intensive
games like Slither.

Scrolling on the Coleco was sort of chunky because they did not have special
hardware for scrolling like the Atari units did - but some games (notably
Jungle Hunt and Defender) _do_ manage to scroll well, so there was a
software workaround of some kind.

All Coleco cartridges, and many third party titles, incorporated a
patience-testing twelve second delay before the game select screen showed
up.  One story commonly cited (and apparently mentioned in Electronic
Games magazine at the time) is the following: before ColecoVision reached
the marketplace, Coleco invested heavily in advertising for the system,
building up significant demand.  The problem was software support.  Few
programmers knew the ColecoVision's quirky assembly language, and there
wasn't time to train more.  So the engineers at Coleco designed an emulator
that allowed progammers to code in a far more common and well known
language, Pascal.  Coleco then hired programmers familiar with Pascal to
design software for the ColecoVision, and thus were able to provide
software to meet the demand.  The only problem with the scheme was the
twelve second delay the emulator caused while starting up.

As good a story as this makes, it's incorrect.  The real reason behind
the twelve second delay is a loop in the ColecoVision BIOS - the delay
was purely intentional.  The way companies such as Parker Brothers,
Activision, and Micro Fun avoided the delay was to simply bypass the
ColecoVision BIOS. - JC, 08, 10, 12, 27, 29


3.0) Hardware List

Key:

Manufacturer -
    AM) Amiga
    CB) CBS Electronics
    CE) Championship Electronics
    CO) Coleco
    HS) High Score
    PP) Personal Peripherals
    PS) Pusher Sales
    SU) Suncom
    SV) Spectravideo
    TG) Telegames
    WI) Wico

3.1) Hardware known to exist

Name                       Manuf.    Number    Comes With...
================================================================================
Champ Adapter                   CE    CA-340
CBS ColecoVision               CB        Donkey Kong
ColecoVision                   CO        Donkey Kong
Co-Stickler                   PS
Expansion Module #1 (2600 Adapter)       CO    2405
Expansion Module #1 Adapter           CO
Expansion Module #2 (Driving Controller)   CO    2413    Turbo
Expansion Module #3 (ADAM Computer)       CO        Buck Rogers
Grabber Balls                   HS
Joy Sensor                   SU
Joystick, ColecoVision               WI
Perma Power Battery Eliminator/AC Adapter  CO    2298
Personal Arcade                   TG        Meteoric Shower
Power Stick                   AM
Quickshot III Deluxe               SV    SV103
Roller Controller               CO    2492    Slither
Super Action Controllers           CO    2491    Super Action Baseball
Super Sketch Pad               PP    G2500    Sketch Master

3.2) Hardware believed -not- to exist

Expansion Module #3 (Super Game Module - wafer version) by Coleco.

  With 30K RAM and 128K "microwafers" shaped like miniature diskettes. The
  games were to have intermissions, high-score lists, and extra levels.
  It was to be packaged with Super Donkey Kong; later, that was changed
  to Super Buck Rogers and Super Gorf.  It could have been an excellent
  addition to the ColecoVision system allowing you to play your old carts
  and the new Super Games, but Coleco decided to turn it into the ADAM
  computer. - JC, 25

  Kevin Slywka submits the following:

  The following is a quote from the article, One million A.C.(after
  ColecoVision)  Brown, Michael William;  Electronic Fun: Computers and
  Games; June 1983

  -Note: The article contains several screen shots and a what appears to be
  a mock up of the Super Game and several game wafers.

  "...the Super Games are stored on mini-cassettes (which are about
   the length and width of a business card) called Super Game Wafers...
   the module has a magnetic micro-tape drive mechanism behind a slot in
   the front left panel.  Inside the wafers is approximately 50 feet of
   specially formulated magnetic tape about an eighth of an inch wide."
  (Brown p41)

  Brown claims to have played the system for 8 hours over two different
  days.  Load time for the wafers is clocked at about 10 seconds.  Super
  Games Brown tested:  Super Donkey Kong, Super Donkey Kong Jr., Super
  Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle.  Brown further notes better colors
  and additional levels in all three games.  Planned titles included:
  Zaxxon, Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom, Time Pilot, Turbo and Sub-Roc.
  Brown also notes the ability to enter your initials for high score,
  which is then stored on the tape.

  In Video Games Magazine(Feb.'84) an article on the Texas Instruments
  Compact Computer 40(a peripheral for the TI 99/4A) mentions the tape
  wafers meant for the Super Games: "...this system uses the Entrepo
  floppy wafer system that is in use elsewhere, and was almost part
  of Coleco's Super Game Module and ADAM."

  The Super Game Module appeared to not have a realistic chance of
  success at Coleco Industries.  In an interview of Coleco president,
  Arnold Greenberg, by Steve Bloom (Video Games, Oct. '82) Bloom
  paraphrases Greenberg as saying, "...it is Colecos resolve to market
  a keyboard (Module #3) some time next year."   In Electronic Games
  (Jan. '83): Test Lab (Cohen, Henry B.) writes that, "...Coleco is
  working on a keyboard and Ram Cram for ColecoVision which should
  turn the system into a full-scale, high powered home computer system."
  Clearly Coleco intended to develop a ADAM-like computer all along,
  but the question remains as to why they decided to develop the Super
  system in the first place.  If the Super module had been released it
  likely would have insured Colecos success for at least a while longer.
  Although given the cynicism of magazine writers and consumers after
  the Super Module failed to appear it is uncertain if it would have
  been enough to save Coleco from its eventual fate.

  Description of the pictures in the Electronic Fun magazine article(kws):

  The module shown appears to be the real thing(although almost
  certainly a mock-up) with a slot for the super tape wafers on the left
  side of the module(even a small slot that corresponds to the door on the
  super wafer can be seen).  A small LED is near the super wafer door,
  probably to indicate a read\write or power light.  The "Expansion Module
  Interface" is on the lower right of the module.  The top of the unit has
  the ColecoVision face-plate and a reset button on the far right.

  Below the module three wafers are shown:  They have the appearance
  of micro-cassettes, they are all black and appear to have a door on
  the left rear of the wafer.  Super Donkey Kong, Super Donkey Kong
  Junior, and Super Smurf (in fine print: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle) are
  represented.  There is a game package which bears a striking resemblance
  to a CD jewel case(although it appears to be made of vinyl) has Buck
  Rogers Planet of Doom on the cover.  The by-line on the case states:

    "For use with ColecoVision Expansion Module #3"
    "AN ADVANCED VIDEO GAME THAT"
    "PLAYS ALL SCREENS INCLUDING"
    "BEST SCORES AND INITIALS!"

  The vinyl game case carries a part number of "#2645" - 25

Expansion Module #3 (Super Game Module - CED version) by Coleco.

  A second Super Game module was also rumored.  It used a format called
  CED, using video records - vinyl records with much finer grooves,
  stored in cases so as to avoid contact save by the needle of the system.
  In an interview with Ralph Baer, who worked on this system, he said it
  was really zippy and in some respects better than CDROM. - 11, 34

  CED stands for Capacitance Electronic Disk system, and was pioneered
  by RCA.  RCA used this technology in all of there CED video disk players,
  which competed with the Laserdisc format until 1985 when RCA discontinued
  all of its players.  Coleco chose the CED format because RCA could create
  a computer controllable random access machine that was very affordable.
  The Coleco CED system would have come with two major components: the Coleco
  "controller" Module (#3) that plugs into the front of the system, and
  the RCA/COLECO CED player that connected to the Module and the T.V. set.
  Reportedly the price would be around $395-$495 for a complete set-up.
  Interestingly, the Coleco CED system would still play all of RCA's
  movie and music video disks, which was a big selling point for RCA.
  So you would have a Video Quality arcade system, and movie player - all
  in one.

  From Video Games and Computer Entertainment, June 1991:

  'Talk of the future reminds Baer of the aborted, ahead-of-its-time
   project he launched in 1982.  The ideal interface, the ColecoVision
   video game console and an RCA CED player.  "Things advanced to the
   point that RCA actually made a few CED peripherals.  Then along came
   the ADAM computer and ended it all.  What I'd like to see is not
   going to happen."  He'd like to see CED revived, instead of the
   industry going to CD.  He worries that CD will fail to deliver the
   full-motion video that people expect.' - 12

ColecoVision (THE ORIGINAL VERSION) by Coleco.

  Remember seeing the first "glimpses" of the ColecoVision system in
  Electronic Games magazine?  The first pictures of the system showed
  a much more attractive looking system than what we got as a final
  product.  The system itself had a white faceplate where the ColecoVision
  logo appears now and the controllers were very different.  They had blue
  side buttons, orange pound and star keys on the keypad, and the finger
  rollers that were later introduced on the Super Controllers.

  The finger rollers, which were to have been located between the keypad
  and joystick, were supposed to be available for use as either speed
  controllers, or as a paddle controller.  They were dropped at the last
  minute, though if you open up a controller you can see the schematic for
  it on the circuit board. - 07

  The finger rollers shown in Daniel Cohen's book "Video Games", page 57,
  are located beneath the keypad. - 24

Intellivision Adapter by Coleco.

  Coleco had plans for an adapter that would play Intellivision cartridges.
  Supposedly there are several working prototypes of this adapter that were
  shown at electronic shows. If Coleco would have only gone through with
  production, the ColecoVision would have been able to play Intellivision,
  2600, and ColecoVision cartridges! - JC

Modem by AT&T/Coleco.

  Not to be confused with the ADAM modem, which does exist.

  An article in Newsweek, September 19, 1983, on page 69 announced the
  following:

  'American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and Donkey Kong?  An unlikely
   combination, perhaps, but one that became a reality last week when the
   venerable communications giant hooked up with Coleco Industries, the
   videogame maker, in a join effort to make entertainment software
   available by telephone to 25 million owners of video games and home
   computers.'

  'Under the plan, AT&T and Coleco will develop a "modem", an electronic
   device that will connect a home computer or video game by telephone to
   a central data base.  Coleco will supply the software programs, such
   as Donkey Kong or two of its other popular video games, Smurf and
   Zaxxon.  The service will be offered sometime next year for about $20
   a month; the modem is expected to cost $100.' - 13

Sensory Grip Controller by Coleco.

   The Super Action Controllers were supposed to have a sensory feature,
   so that when (for example) Rocky threw a punch in Super Action Boxing,
   you would feel it in the handle. - 13

3.3) Review of the Telegames Personal Arcade        by James Carter

INTRODUCTION:

TELEGAMES produces and sells a ColecoVision compatible system called the
"Personal Arcade". The Personal Arcade was originally produced several
years after Coleco stopped production of the ColecoVision. It's very small
(12"x5"x1"), white, and comes with Nintendo-like gamepads. It uses a normal
sized power supply (6' cord) which is less than 1/2 the size of the
ColecoVision's ridiculously bulky one. It also comes with a game/TV
switchbox (10' cord) like the ColecoVision. It also contains two separate
expansion ports that were never taken advantage of.

COMPATIBILITY:

The ads and box say "Compatible with over 100 ColecoVision cartridges".
TELEGAMES operators claim that it is compatible with 95% of all the
ColecoVision cartridges, but won't provide a list of which ones it won't
work with.  So far I've come up with 10 after testing it on 65 cartridges.
Actually, *all* the cartridges work, it's just that the "Personal Arcade"
uses different joystick wiring and any cartridge made specifically for
the Super Action Controllers, Driving Module, or the Roller Controller
will be unplayable, among others.  In fact, regular ColecoVision or Atari
compatible joysticks cannot be used on the Personal Arcade either.

GAMEPADS:

The gamepads are 1 3/4" x 4 3/4" and nicely fit into the sides of the
unit.  The cables are 3 feet long and stiffer than normal.  A personal
grudge is the fact that the cables attach to the side of the gamepad
instead of the rear, making it harder to comfortably grasp.  They are
also slightly too small and cheaply made in my opinion.

KEYPAD:

A single keypad is built into the unit and the buttons are a smaller
3/8"  square, compared to the 5/8" square of the normal ColecoVision
controller. It is made of a thin membrane that works with the slightest
touch. The keypad has no frame like on the ColecoVision controller.
It looks like the following:
      1 2 3 4 5 *
      6 7 8 9 0 #
This changed keypad size and format means overlays cannot be used. It
also means it is very difficult to play keypad intensive games where
quick reflexes are needed.  Now you must take your hand off the gamepad,
and look down to press the right key, instead of the ColecoVision
joystick where you just move your thumb without looking.

NON-COMPATIBLE LIST:

The following are unplayable on the Personal Arcade due to controller problems:
  Fortune Builder (needs 2 separate keypads in 2-player head-to-head mode)
  Front Line (Super Action Controller game)
  Rocky Super Action Boxing (Super Action Controller game)
  Slither (Roller Controller game)
  Super Action Baseball (Super Action Controller game)
  Super Action Football (Super Action Controller game)
  Super Action Soccer (Super Action Controller game)
  Super Cobra (2nd button "bomb" doesn't work)
  Turbo (Driving Module Game)
  Victory (Roller Controller game)

KEYPAD INTENSIVE LIST:

The following do work perfectly on the Personal Arcade, but are difficult
to play because of the need for very quick keypad presses:
  Aquattack
  Blockade Runner
  Mouse Trap
  Spy Hunter
  War Games

BUILT IN GAME:

The Personal Arcade comes with a built-in game called "Meteoric Shower".
A decent shoot'em up game in which you have a ship in the middle of the
screen and you shoot waves of enemy ships that attack from above and below.

DISPLAY:
The Personal Arcade removes the famous multi-colored "ColecoVision"
opening screen from all of Coleco's cartridges, replacing it with a green
background and Japanese writing, with the words "1986 BIT CORPORATION".
Other publisher's opening screens are unaffected.

FINAL THOUGHTS

PROS:

The best thing the personal arcade has going for it is the price. Only
$39.95 for a brand new system, with a decent built in game, and you get
to choose 1 brand new cartridge ($19.95 or less, about 40 to choose from)
also.  If you prefer gamepads, then that is a plus also.  The smallness
of the system makes it much easier to store and move around.

CONS:

If you have a perfectly working ColecoVision there is really no reason
to buy the Personal arcade, unless you want a back-up system.  (...or you
have a burning desire to play Meteoric Shower. - JH)  The gamepads are
less than desired, and no other joysticks can be used in their place.
The fact that you can't use Super Action or Roller Controller games
(not to mention others) is a big thumbs down for those that already
invested in those controllers and cartridges.  The keypad on the system
may be great for choosing levels, but is a pain to use keypad intensive
games.

NOTE: Telegames lost all of their Personal Arcade stock to a tornado
      in April, 1994.

3.4) Hardware Tidbits

Atari Touch Pad / Children's Controller / Star Raiders Controller -

    The following buttons and/or combinations of buttons correspond to
    various inputs on the ColecoVision:

    DESIRED      PRESS THIS ON
    COLECO KEY   ATARI TOUCH PAD
    -----------------------------------------------
      1          * position
      2          7 position
      3          1 + * + 7.  The 7 may not be necessary.
      4          1 + 4 + 7 + *.
      5          4 + 7.
      6          1
      7
      8
      9
      *          4 + *
      0          1 + 4
      #          1 + 7
    Left button
    Right button 1 + 3, or 4 + 6, or 7 + 9, or * + #. - 20

CBS ColecoVision -

    Looks and operates just like my 'standard' ColecoVisions, but the
    metallic faceplates are different.  On top, it says "1 / 0" instead of
    "Off / On", and the front plate reads:

    ________________________________________________________________________
    CBS  Coleco   Video Game/Home Computer System     [expansion slot]   CBS
         Vision
    Electronics
    ________________________________________________________________________

    CBS Electronics bought out the Coleco rights when Coleco bit the bullet.
    They marketed mostly in Europe. You can find most if not all of the Coleco
    games with a CBS label.  They are all or mostly all PAL games.  However,
    since the ColecoVision doesn't care, it doesn't matter.  Plug them in and
    they play like NTSC! - 20, 22

Champ Adapter -

    A near exact duplicate of the Coleco Keypad, minus the upper half that
    contains the joystick.  Instead it has a 9-pin slot so you can plug
    in your favorite joystick and still have use of the keypad.  It also
    can double as a joystick extension cable since the Champ Adapter cable
    is 6' long. - JC

Co-Stickler -

    Plastic "snap" on joysticks for the standard ColecoVision
    controllers. - JH

Expansion Module #1 -

    The following Atari 2600 cartridges are incompatible with the 2600
    Adapter:

    Texas Chainsaw Massacre - JH
    Most Tigervision titles - 19 (but Miner 2049'er works - JH)
    All Supercharger games - 19 (will work, but only if cover of
    expansion module has been removed) - 26

Expansion Module #1 Adapter -

    This device plugs into Expansion Module #1 (2600 Adapter) to allow
    some Atari 2600 cartridges which have compatibility problems to be
    played.  Supposedly it was only sent through the mail to those
    customers who called Coleco with complaints of 2600 cartridge
    problems. - JC

Expansion Module #2 -

    The driving controller can be used to play Victory, which officially
    requires the Roller Controller. - 46

Grabber Balls -

    They're red balls of a stick that snap on the ColecoVision controller,
    making it more arcade-style.  Work *fantastic* when locked into the
    Roller Controller, and played with Robotron on the 7800. - JC

Joy Sensor -

    A lot like an Intellivision II controler.  Has a membrane kepad area
    and a membrane joystick, plus what appear to be rapid fire controls
    that might be variable.  Well made. - 41

Perma Power Battery Eliminator/AC Adapter -

    Replaces the batteries in Expansion Module #2 (Driving Controller) - JC

    This is a _weird_ device.  Since the only way to power the unit is with
    batteries (there's no alternate for a power source, so the connection
    is required), the "Battery Eliminator" is shaped like batteries. - JH

Power Stick -

    A great joystick for non-keypad, one button games.  Having the keypad
    and second button above the joystick makes it awkward for those games,
    though. - JH

Roller Controller -

    To use the Roller Controller on a game which doesn't require its use
    (such as Centipede or Omega Rage), leave the Joystick/Roller switch
    in the Joystick position. - JH

    Driving Module games can be played with the Roller Controller by
    doing the following:

    1) Switch the setting to "Joystick".
    2) Choose the game you wish to play.
    3) Switch the setting to "Roller Controller".
    4) Go.  The leftmost button acts as the accelerator.

    Direction can be changed using the joystick in some as-yet
    undetermined manner. - 24

    You can get very strange behavior by using the roller controller
    for joystick games?  Try wiggling it around while playing Smurf
    and you can move above or under the proper "ground" area
    so that none of the enemies can kill you! - 14

Super Sketch Pad -

    Came in a box with a black background and a horizontal rainbow across
    the top, marked "Super Sketch".  In addition to the ColecoVision
    version, there were Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, & TI 99/4A models.
    The ColecoVision version has a silver sticker on the top right corner
    that says Model G2500 For Use with Colecovision.  The Sketch Unit
    itself is white with a brown plastic piece used for the drawing.  One
    of the strangest things about it is that it does not plug into the
    joystick port.  The cable is attached directly to the right side of
    the cartridge.  The cartridge label is mostly silver with Super
    Sketch with the horizontal rainbow with it.

    The sketch unit it has 5 controls.  Two "Lift" buttons, one on each
    side, allow drawing to be turned off.  "Select" allows selection of
    colors and menu items on the left side of the screen; "Menu" brings
    the menu up and/or removes it.

    The program itself say Super Sketch while fluctuating through different
    colors upon power-up.  Just below that it says:

        Copyright 1984 Personal Peripherals, Inc.
                Irving,Texas
                  By: Steve Roubik
               Press MENU to proceed.

    The program really is nothing more than a doodle program.  Menu
    options are:

    Clear
    Swap
    Expert
    Brush

    (The 16 Colors)

    Eraser
    Draw
    Fill
    Show

    It comes with a large white envelope that says Super Sketch starter
    kit.  Inside is the owners manual, quick reference card, 6 drawings
    to trace with, and a warranty card. - 42

Telegames Personal Arcade -

   The Personal Arcades were originally made by the Bit Corporation, and
   marked as DINA units with a second cartridge slot for some unknown
   purpose. - 30

   The joypads that come with the Personal Arcade are 2600 compatible;
   they also have an irksome quirk for anyone used to the ColecoVision:
   they're reversed (i.e. right is left, left is right).

   Besides the games listed above, Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle is
   incompatible with some Personal Arcades, and the 2600 Adapter will
   not work due to power and RF cable positioning.

   The pause switch is incompatible with ColecoVision cartridges, so
   it is apparently used by cartridges which go in the second slot. - 14, 52

   At least two different version of the Personal Arcade (with different
   power supplies) exist. - JH


4.0) Cartridge List

Key:

Name -
    (d) Demo
    (p) Prototype
    (C) End label notes the cart is for ColecoVision
    (CA) End label notes the cart is for ColecoVision and ADAM
    (C/CA) Both end label varieties are available
    (S) Came with Silver and Blue SierraVision label
    (W) Came with White SierraVision label
    (S/W) Both SierraVision label varieties are available

Manufacturer -
    20) 20th Century
    AC) Activision
    AT) AtariSoft
    BC) Bit Corp.
    BR) Broderbund
    CB) CBS
    CO) Coleco
    CV) ColecoVision Reverse-engineering Society
    EP) Epyx
    FP) Fisher Price
    FS) First Star
    IM) Imagic
    IN) Interphase
    KO) Konami
        MA) Mattel
    MF) Micro Fun
    OD) Odyssey
    PB) Parker Brothers
    PP) Personal Peripherals
    PR) Probe 2000
    SE) Sega
    SI) SierraVision
    SP) Spinnaker
    ST) Starpath
    SU) Sunrise
    SV) Spectravideo
    SY) Sydney
    TG) Telegames
    TI) Tigervision
    XO) Xonox

Yr - Year of Release

Number - Part Number

Cn (controller) -
    C)  Standard ColecoVision Controller _only_
    D)  Driving Controller
    Do) Driving Controller (optional)
    P)  Super Sketch Pad (Personal Peripherals)
    R)  Roller Controller
    Ro) Roller Controller (optional)
    S)  Super Action Controllers -only-
    So) Super Action Controller (optional)
    The default is Standard Coleco -or- Super Action Controller.

K (memory, in kilobytes) -
     8)  8KB ROM
    16) 16KB ROM
    24) 24KB ROM
    32) 32KB ROM

O (overlay) -
    X) Overlay Exists for Standard Controller
    Y) Overlay Exists for Super Action Controller
    Z) Overlay Exists for Standard Controller _and_ Super Action
       Controller

R? (rarity) -
    C)  Common
    U)  Uncommon
    R)  Rare
    ER) Extremely Rare
    UR) Unbelievably Rare
    NA) Not Available

Rating -
    1) Awful
    2) Poor
    3) OK
    4) Good
    5) Very Good
    N/A) Not Applicable

    Format: Rating/# of people rating.
        For example, 3.3/4 would mean 4 people had rated the
        cartridge, with an average rating of 3.3.

Type -
    Adv    - Adventure Game
    Avoid  - Shot Avoidance Game
    Card   - Card Game
    Chase  - Chase Game
    Defend - Defensive Shoot 'em Up Game (i.e., you can only shoot shots)
    Demo   - Demonstration Cartridge
    Drive  - Driving Game
    Educ   - Educational Game
    Ladder - Games Which Require Climbing to an Objective
    Maze   - Maze Game
    Misc   - A Combination of Various Game Types
    Pinbll - Pinball Game
    Pool   - Pool Game
    Puzzle - Puzzle Game
    Round  - Collect Items Game
     Shoot  - Shoot 'em Up Game
    Split  - Split & Recombine Game
    Sport  - Sports Game
    Strat  - Strategy Game
    Test   - Test Cartridge
    Text   - Text Adventure

Note - Telegames owns the rights to manufacture many ColecoVision cartridges,
and still does so.  As a result, many games listed below are also available
from Telegames in assorted cases (many reused) with varied labels.  Games
listed below for Telegames are either (1) only available from Telegames, (2)
only available from Telegames and Bit Corp, or (3) are marketed by Telegames
under a different name.

Note - CBS produced games for Coleco for European release.  As a result, many
Coleco titles listed below are also available from CBS in PAL format.  Games
listed below for CBS are those marketed by CBS under a different name.

Note - CBS also produced many "prototype" games in Europe.  These cartridges
have been packaged and sold in many places; on the list below, prototypes
produced in quantity by CBS are marked (p - CBS).

4.1) Carts known to exist

Name                        Manuf.  Yr  Number  Cn  K   O  R?   Rating  Type
================================================================================
2010: The Graphic Action        CO  84  2618        32  X  R    3.8/5   Puzzle
    Game (CA)
A.E. (p)                        CO                         UR           Shoot
ADAM Demo Cartridge (d)         CO                         UR           Demo
Alcazar the Forgotten Fortress  TG      TC-201      32     R    4.0/1   Adv
Alphabet Zoo                    SP  83  ABC-CV      16     R    3.0/2   Educ
Amazing Bumpman                 TG                  16     R    2.0/1   Educ
Antarctic Adventure (CA)        CO  84  2429        16     U    4.0/4   Drive
Aquattack                       IN  84  2-004       16     ER   3.0/1   Shoot
Artillery Duel                  XO  83  99022       16     R    4.5/4   Strat
Artillery Duel/Chuck Norris     XO  83  6233        16/16  UR     N/A
    Superkicks (double-end)
B.C.'s Quest for Tires (S)      SI  83  OTL-902     16     U    4.0/7   Adv
B.C.'s Quest for Tires II:      CO  84  2620        24     R    3.5/4   Adv
    Grog's Revenge (CA)
Beamrider                       AC  83  VS-003      16     U    4.6/5   Shoot
Blockade Runner                 IN  84  2-002       16     R    2.5/4   Shoot
Boulder Dash                    TG      TC203       16     R            Ladder
Brainstrainers (CA)             CO      2696        16     R    2.0/2   Educ
Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom (CA) CO  83  2615        24     C    2.8/4   Shoot
Bump 'n' Jump (CA)              CO  84  2440    Do  24     U    3.4/5   Drive
Bump 'n' Jump (p)               MA      7575        16     UR           Drive
BurgerTime (CA)                 CO  84  2430        16     U    4.0/6   Ladder
BurgerTime (p)            MA      7514               UR           Ladder
Cabbage Patch Kids              CO  84  2682        16     U    3.0/5   Adv
    Adventure in the Park (CA)
Cabbage Patch Kids Adventure    CO                  16     UR           Adv
    in the Park (p)
Cabbage Patch Kids Picture      CO  84  2600        32  X  R    2.0/3   Educ
    Show (CA)
Campaign '84                    SU  83  1604        16     ER   3.3/3   Strat
Carnival (C)                    CO  82  2445        16     C    3.3/7   Shoot
Centipede                       AT  83  70004   Ro  16     C    4.1/7   Shoot
Choplifter! (CA)                CO  84  2690        16     ER   3.8/4   Shoot
Chuck Norris Superkicks         XO  83              16     R    2.5/2   Adv
Congo Bongo (CA)                CO  84  2669        24     U    3.4/5   Ladder
Cosmic Avenger (C)              CO  82  2434        16     C    2.9/10  Shoot
Cosmic Crisis                   BC      PG901       16     UR           Maze
Cosmic Crisis                   TG                  16     R            Maze
Dam Busters, The (CA)           CO  84  2686        32  X  R    2.0/3   Shoot
Dance Fantasy                   FP      DCF-CV      16     ER   2.0/1   Educ
Decathlon                       AC  83  VS-006      16     U    3.5/6   Sport
Defender                        AT  83  70002       24     U    3.5/8   Shoot
Destructor (CA)                 CO  83  2602    D   32     U    2.7/7   Shoot
Dig Dug (p)                     AT                         UR           Maze
Dr. Seuss: Fix-Up the Mix-Up    CO  84  2699        16  X  R    3.0/3   Puzzle
    Puzzler (CA)
Donkey Kong (C/CA)              CO  82  2411               C    3.5/11  Ladder
Donkey Kong Junior (C)          CO  83  2601        16     C    4.1/9   Ladder
Dragonfire                      IM      O6611       16     R    3.0/1   Adv
Dukes of Hazzard (CA)           CO  84  2607    D   32     R    2.0/3   Drive
Escape From the Mindmaster (p)  EP      6200               UR
Evolution (CA)                  SY  83              16     R    4.0/2   Misc
Facemaker                       SP      FMK-CV      16  X  R    1.0/2   Educ
Fall Guy (p - CBS)              20              Do  16     UR           Drive
Fathom                          IM      O6205       16     R    3.0/1   Adv
Final Test Cartridge            CO                  16     UR   2.0/1   Demo
Flipper Slipper                 SV      SE291       16     R    2.0/1   Pinbll
Flying Brassieres (p)           AT                         UR           Shoot
Fortune Builder (CA)            CO  84  2681        32  X  R    4.3/4   Strat
Fraction Fever                  SP  83  FRF-CV      16     R    2.3/3   Educ
Frantic Freddie                 SV      SE232       16     R    3.0/1   Ladder
Frenzy (CA)                     CO  84  2613        24     U    4.3/6   Shoot
Frogger                         PB  83  9830        16     U    4.0/4   Ladder
Frogger II Threedeep!           PB  84  9990        16     R    2.8/5   Ladder
Front Line (CA)                 CO  83  2650    S   24  Y  U    2.8/5   Shoot
Galaxian                        AT  83  70006       32     ER   4.5/2   Shoot
Gateway to Apshai               EP  84  610R        16     R    3.4/5   Adv
Gorf (C)                        CO  83  2449        16     C    3.5/11  Shoot
Gust Buster                     SU      1601        16     ER   2.0/2   Adv
Gyruss                          PB  84  9980        16     R    4.2/6   Shoot
H.E.R.O.                        AC      VS-005      16     U    5.0/5   Shoot
Heist, The                      MF  83  MCL520      24     U    3.5/4   Chase
Illusions (CA)                  CO  84  2621        16     R    3.3/3   Split
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll         XO      99062       16     ER   1.0/2   Text
James Bond 007                  PB  83  9900        16     R    3.0/3   Adv
Joust (p)                       AT                         UR           Shoot
Juke Box                        SP      JUK-CV      16     R    3.0/2   Puzzle
Jumpman Junior                  EP      590R        16     U    4.5/6   Ladder
Jungle Hunt                     AT      70007       24     ER   3.7/3   Adv
Ken Uston Blackjack / Poker (C) CO  82  2439            X  C    2.7/7   Card
Kevtris                         CV  96                     ER   5.0/1   Puzzle
Keystone Kapers                 AC  84  VS-004      16     R    2.7/3   Chase
Kung Fu Superkicks              TG  83              16     R    3.0/1   Adv
Lady Bug (C)                    CO  82  2433        16     C    4.0/10  Maze
Learning with Leeper (S/W)      SI      LLL-901     16     R    2.5/2   Educ
Linking Logic                   FP  84  LNL-CV      16     ER   5.0/2   Educ
Logic Levels                    FP      LLV-CV      16     ER   5.0/1   Educ
Looping (C)                     CO  83  2603        16     C    3.0/9   Shoot
M*A*S*H (p - CBS)               20                  16     UR           Avoid
Make-A-Face                     SP                  16  X  UR   1.0/2   Educ
Masters of the Universe: The    MA  84  7759               UR
    Power of He-Man (p)
Masters of the Universe II (p)  MA  84                     UR
Memory Manor                    FP      MEM-CV      16     ER   3.0/1   Educ
Meteoric Shower                 BC  86              16     NA   2.7/3   Shoot
Miner 2049er                    MF  83  MCL521      24     C    3.9/7   Ladder
Mr. Do! (C/CA)                  CO  83  2622        24     C    3.9/10  Maze
Mr. Do!'s Castle                PB      A9820       16     R    4.5/4   Ladder
Monkey Academy (CA)             CO  84  2694        32     R    3.3/3   Educ
Montezuma's Revenge             PB  84  9660        16     U    4.3/6   Ladder
Moon Patrol (p)            AT                         UR           Shoot
Moonsweeper                     IM  83  O6207       16     C    3.8/4   Shoot
Motocross Racer                 XO      99026       16     ER   3.0/3   Drive
Motocross Racer/Tomarc the    XO  83              16/16  UR     N/A
    Barbarian (double-end)
Mountain King                   SU  84  1605        16     ER   3.3/3   Ladder
Mouse Trap (C)                  CO  82  2419        16  X  C    3.6/10  Maze
Music Box Demo (d)              CO                  32     UR           Demo
Nova Blast                      IM  83  O6607       32     U    3.5/4   Shoot
Oil's Well (S)                  SI  83  OWL-901     16     R    3.8/4   Maze
Omega Race (CA)                 CO  83  2448    Ro  16     C    3.8/9   Shoot
One-On-One                      MF  84              24     R    3.0/1   Sport
Pac-Man    (p)                     AT  83  70001              UR   5.0/1   Maze
Pepper II (C/CA)                CO  83  2605        16     C    3.4/8   Maze
Pitfall!                        AC  83  VS-001      16     U    3.2/5   Adv
Pitfall II                      AC  84  VS-008      16     U    3.5/2   Adv
Pitstop                         EP  83  600R    Do  16     U    3.0/6   Drive
Popeye                          PB  83  9810        16     C    3.3/10  Adv
Porky's (p)                     20                         UR
Power Grabber (p)               SY                         UR
Q*Bert                          PB  83  9800         8     C    4.2/10  Maze
Q*Bert's Qubes                  PB      9950        16     ER   5.0/3   Puzzle
Quest for Quintana Roo          SU  83  1603        16     R    3.7/3   Adv
River Raid                      AC  84  VS-002      16     U    3.4/5   Shoot
Robin Hood                      XO  83  99023       16     R    3.7/3   Adv
Robin Hood/Sir Lancelot         XO  83                16/16  UR     N/A
    (double-end)
Roc 'n Rope (CA)                CO  84  2668        24     U    3.6/5   Ladder
Rock 'n' Bolt                   TG      TC-202      16     R    5.0/1   Puzzle
Rocky Super Action Boxing (CA)  CO  83  2606    S   24  Y  C    3.3/6   Sport
Rolloverture                    SU      1602        16     ER   3.0/1   Puzzle
Root Beer Tapper (CA)           CO  84  2616        32     R    3.7/6   Shoot
Sammy Lightfoot (S)             SI      SLL-901     16     ER   3.0/2   Ladder
Schtroumpfs                     CB      4L1939      16     ER   3.1/9   Adv
Sector Alpha                    SV      SE220       24     ER   2.5/2   Shoot
Sewer Sam                       IN  84  2-001       24     ER   3.2/5   Shoot
Sir Lancelot                    XO  83  99024       16     ER   3.0/2   Adv
Sketch Master                   PP      G2500   P          UR   4.0/1   Educ
Skiing                          TG                  16     R            Sport
Slither (CA)                    CO  83  2492    R   16     C    4.2/9   Shoot
Slurpy                          XO      99061       16     ER   2.5/2   Shoot
Smurf Paint 'n' Play            CO  84  2697        32  X  R    2.0/3   Educ
    Workshop (CA)
Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's      CO  82  2443        16     C    3.1/9   Adv
    Castle (C)
Space Fury (C)                  CO  82  2415        16     C    2.7/7   Shoot
Space Panic (C)                 CO  82  2447        16     C    2.6/8   Ladder
Spectron                        SV  83  SE234       16     R    3.5/2   Shoot
Spy Hunter (CA)                 CO  84  2617    So  32  Z  R    4.5/5   Drive
Squish'em featuring Sam         IN  84  2-003       16     U    3.7/3   Ladder
Star Trek: Strategic            CO  84  2680    So  24  Y  U    4.0/7   Shoot
    Operations Simulator (CA)
Star Wars: The Arcade Game      PB  84  9940        16     U    3.5/6   Shoot
Strike It                       TG                  16     R    2.0/1
Subroc (CA)                     CO  83  2614        24     C    2.4/9   Shoot
Super Action Baseball (C/CA)    CO  83  2491    S   32  Y  C    3.1/7   Sport
Super Action Football           CB              S       Y  ER           Sport
Super Action Football (CA)      CO  83  2422    S   32  Y  C    3.0/3   Sport
Super Action Soccer             CO              S   32  Y  ER           Sport
Super Cobra                     PB  83  9850         8     R    2.5/4   Shoot
Super Controller Test Cartridge CO                         UR           Test
Super Cross Force               SV      SE237       16     R    3.3/3   Shoot
Super Front Line Demo (p)    CO                         UR           Demo
Tank Wars                       BC      PG902       16     UR           Shoot
Tank Wars                       TG                  16     R            Shoot
Tarzan (CA)                     CO  84  2632        24     R    3.0/5   Adv
Telly Turtle (CA)               CO      2698        16     R    2.3/3   Educ
Threshold (S)                   SI  83  THQ903      16     ER   2.7/3   Shoot
Time Pilot (C/CA)               CO  83  2633        16     C    3.0/7   Shoot
Tomarc the Barbarian            XO      99025       16     ER   2.0/1   Adv
Tournament Tennis               IM  84  O6030       32     ER   3.0/1   Sport
Tunnels & Trolls (d)            CO      2441        32     UR           Demo
Turbo (C)                       CO  82  2413    D   16     C    2.9/9   Drive
Tutankham                       PB  83  9840        16     R    3.5/4   Adv
Up 'n Down                      SE  84  009-21      16     ER   4.7/3   Drive
Venture (C)                     CO  82  2417        16     C    3.9/10  Adv
Victory (CA)                    CO  83  2446    R   24     U    3.3/7   Shoot
Video Hustler (p - CBS)         KO                  16     UR   3.0/1   Pool
War Games (CA)                  CO  84  2632    R   24  X  C    3.9/7   Defend
War Room                        PR  83  2153CL  Ro  32  X  U    4.3/6   Defend
Wing War                        IM  83  O6209       16     U    4.3/4   Shoot
Wiz Math (W)                    SI      WML-900     16     ER   2.0/1   Educ
Word Feud                       XO      99060       16     ER   3.0/1   Educ
Yolk's on You (p - CBS)         20                  16     UR   3.0/1   Round
Zaxxon (C)                      CO  82  2435        24     C    3.2/9   Shoot
Zenji                           AC  84  VS-007      16     R    5.0/1   Puzzle

4.2) Carts believed -not- to exist

Coleco was infamous for not putting out advertised cartridges. Several
of the carts were shown in the catalog that came with the ColecoVision.
It is not known if the screen shots shown were simple artist renditions,
or if somewhere an actual demo or prototype of the cartridges exist. - JC

The following cartridges, put out by the listed manufacturer, reportedly
do not exist, even as a prototype or demo cart.  Solid evidence of their
existence would be greatly appreciated.

Name                 Manuf.  Number  Notes
================================================================================
005                             CO           (Unreleased)
9 to 5                          20           (Unreleased)
Air Defense                     OD   2153CL  (Released as War Room by PR?)
Alcazar the Forgotten Fortress  AC         (Only Telegames release exists)
Apple Cider Spider        SI         (Unreleased)
Aquatron            IN           (Released as Aquattack?)
Armoured Assault                SV   SE232   (Unreleased)
Astro Chase                     PB   9860    (Unreleased)
Barbados Booty                  PB           (Unreleased)
Boulder Dash                    FS         (Only Telegames release exists)
Bung the Juggler                SY           (Wiz game - never finished)
Cabbage Patch Playground        CO           (Unreleased)
Capture the Flag                CO           (Unreleased)
Caverns and Creatures           OD   2147CL  (Unreleased)
Chess Challenger                CO   2438    (Unreleased)
Choplifter!                     BR         (Only Coleco release exists)
Circus Charlie                  PB           (Unreleased)
Crash Dive                      PB   66013   (Unreleased)
Crisis Mountain                 MF           (Unreleased)
Destruction Derby               CO           (Working title for Destructor?)
Dimensional Puzzles             CO           (Unreleased)
Dino Eggs                       MF         (Unreleased)
Domino Man                      CB   80013   (Unreleased)
Donkey Kong 3                   CO         (Unreleased)
Dot to Dot Zot!            SY         (Unreleased)
Dracula                CO   2608    (Unreleased)
Dragon's Lair            CO           (Unreleased)
Dragonstomper            ST   6400    (Unreleased)
Dungeons & Dragons IV        MA   7861    (Unreleased)
The Earth Dies Screaming    20         (Unreleased)
Flashlight            MA   7863    (Unreleased)
Flashpoint            OD   2148CL  (Unreleased)
Globe Grabber                   MF         (Unreleased)
Grog!                SY         (Working title for B.C. II)
Head to Head Baseball           CO   2423    (Super Action BB released instead)
Head to Head Football           CO   2422    (Super Action FB released instead)
Horse Racing                    CO   2442    (Unreleased)
Hydroplane            MA   7866    (Unreleased)
Illusions            MA   7760    (Sold to Coleco for release)
Jawbreaker            SI         (Unreleased)
Journey                CO           (Unreleased)
Lord of the Dungeon             PR         (Unreleased)
Lunar Leeper            SI         (Unreleased)
M.A.S.H. II            PB   66015   (Unreleased)
Maddenness            CB   80122   (Unreleased)
Magic Carpet            MA   7865    (Unreleased)
Master Builder            SV   SE233   (Unreleased)
Masters of the Universe        MA         (Unreleased)
Ms. Pac-Man            AT           (Unreleased)
Missile Command                 AT           (Untested Prototype ROM exists!)
Mr. Cool            SI           (Unreleased)
Mr. Turtle                      CO   2432    (Unreleased)
Mountain King                   CB         (Only Sunrise release exists)
Necromancer            CO         (Unreleased)
Number Bumper            SU           (Unreleased)
Pastfinder                      AC         (Unreleased)
Phaser Patrol            ST   6100    (Unreleased)
Phoenix                CO         (Unreleased)
Pink Panther            PR   2152CL  (Unreleased)
PizzaTime            MA   7864    (Unreleased)
Pole Position            AT         (Unreleased)
Power Lords                     PR   2149CL  (Unreleased; advertisement exists)
Rainbow Walker            CO           (Unreleased)
Rip Cord                        CO   2431    (Unreleased)
Rock 'n' Bolt                   AC         (Only Telegames release exists)
Round Up            CO           (Unreleased)
Satan's Hollow            CB         (Unreleased)
Scraper Caper                   TI         (Unreleased)
Short Circuit            MF         (Unreleased)
Side Trak                       CO   2418    (Unreleased)
Silicon Warrior            EP         (Unreleased)
Skiing                          CO   2436    (Only Telegames release exists)
Smurf Plan and Learn            CO   2444    (Unreleased)
Smurfette's Birthday        CO   2444    (Unreleased)
Spacemaster X-7            20           (Unreleased)
Spectar                         CO   2421    (Unreleased)
Spook Maze            SY           (Working title for Wiz Math)
Stunt Flyer            SI         (Unreleased)
Summer Games            EP         (Unreleased)
Sword & the Sorcerer        CO   2619    (Unreleased)
Tac-Scan            CO   2635    (Unreleased)
Temple of Apshai        EP         (Unreleased)
Time Runner                     MF         (Unreleased)
Toy Bizarre            AC         (Unreleased)
Wild Western            CO         (Unreleased)
Wings                CB         (Unreleased)
Wizard of Id's Adventure    SY         (Unreleased)
The Wizard of Oz        CO   2636    (Unreleased)
Wizard of Wor            CB   2421    (Unreleased)
Wiz Lab                SY         (Unreleased)
Wiz Music            SY         (Unreleased)
Wiz Type            SY           (Unreleased)
Wiz Words            SY         (Unreleased)
Wiz World            SY         (Unreleased)
Wrath of Quintana Roo        SU           (Unreleased)


4.3) CBS product numbers - 55

Coleco games for the European market were produced by CBS Electronics in
England.  The carts have the same size as the US ones, but the upper end
has a different shape.  There is a finger-thick indentation on each side,
probably to make it easier to get the cart out of the system slot.  The
labels are black; on the upper half there's the CBS/Colecovision character
and the name of the game.  Below is a white box with a lot of writing,
copyright and production information, the model number (4Lxxxx), and often
the sentence "for use on pal-tv-system only". Sometimes the labels are
multilingual.

Cartridge                    Coleco #    CBS #
=========                    ========    =====
2010: The Graphic Action Game            2618        ???
Antarctic Adventure                2429        ???
B.C.'s Quest for Tires II: Grog's Revenge    2620        ???
Brainstrainers                    2696        ???
Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom            2615        4L4448
Bump 'n' Jump                    2440        ???
BurgerTime                    2430        4L4454
Cabbage Patch Kids Adventure in the Park    2682        ???
Cabbage Patch Kids Picture Show            2600        ???
Carnival                    2445        4L2007
Choplifter!                    2690        ???
Congo Bongo                    2669        ???
Cosmic Avenger                    2434        4L2024
Dam Busters, The                2686        ???
Destructor                    2602        4L4460
Dr. Seuss: Fix-Up the Mix-Up Puzzler        2699        ???
Donkey Kong                    2411        4L1922
Donkey Kong Junior                2601        4L1980
Dukes of Hazzard                2607        ???
Fortune Builder                    2681        ???
Frenzy                        2613        4L4311
Front Line                    2650        ???
Gorf                        2449        4L1905
Illusions                    2621        ???
Ken Uston Blackjack / Poker            2439        ???
Lady Bug                    2433        4L2039
Looping                        2603        ???
Mr. Do!                        2622        4L2073
Monkey Academy                    2694        ???
Mouse Trap                    2419        4L1990
Omega Race                    2448        4L4305
Pepper II                    2605        4L1878
Roc 'n Rope                    2668        ???
Rocky Super Action Boxing            2606        ???
Root Beer Tapper                2616        ???
Slither                        2492        4L4255
Smurf Paint 'n' Play Workshop            2697        ???
Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle / Schtroumpfs 2443        4L1939
Space Fury                    2415        4L1998
Space Panic                    2447        4L1952
Spy Hunter                    2617        ???
Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator    2680        ???
Subroc                        2614        ???
Super Action Baseball                2491        ???
Super Action Football                2422        ???
Super Action Soccer / Super Action Football    ???        ???
Tarzan                        2632        ???
Telly Turtle                    2698        ???
Time Pilot                    2633        ???
Tunnels & Trolls                2441        ???
Turbo                        2413        4L2057
Venture                        2417        4L1973
Victory                        2446        4L4065
War Games                    2632        ???
Zaxxon                        2435        4L1956


4.3) Cartridge Tidbits, Tips, and Easter Eggs:

Alcazar the Forgotten Fortress -

    This game was designed by Activision, but never released by them.
    All known copies were released by Telegames, but with a combined
    Activision/Telegames label.

B.C.'s Quest for Tires II: Grog's Revenge -

    The following secret codes can be used to change levels: - 17

    Mountain 1:   2,2 in cave 3
                     3,3 in cave 5
          4,4 in cave 1
          5,5 in cave 1

    Mountain 2:      2,2 in cave 1
          2,3 in cave 1
          4,4 in cave 1
          4,5 in cave 5
          6,2 in cave 10
          7,8 in cave 5

    Mountain 3:      3,1 in cave 5  (hint: "as easy as pi", ie. 3.1415925)
          4,1 in cave 7
          5,9 in cave 8
          2,5 in cave 8

Blockade Runner -

    Need the manual - 01

Bump 'n' Jump -

    Pales in comparison to Intellivision version, with off-key music,
    washed-out colors, sluggish control, unforgiving collision detection,
    and other errors and annoyances. - 20

BurgerTime -

    After completing the first round of boards, the game speeds up.  Thus,
    pepper is in short supply as well as your patience.  Includes six
    boards, two _more_ than the arcade version (the Intellivision version
    actually includes still two more).  Based upon the arcade game by Data
    East. - 24

Cabbage Patch Kids Adventure in the Park -

    Prototype is an enhanced version of the released product, not a
    predecessor. - JH

Carnival -

    Shoot the hardest targets (pipes and letters) first; once you get
    down to a few targets the ducks come out in volume, leaving little
    time or ammunition to shoot the harder stuff. - JC

    Based upon the arcade game Sega. - 24

Centipede -

    Atarisoft made a perfect port of Centipede for ColecoVision.  With
    roller controller, you have the arcade version at home!  Based upon
    the arcade game by Atari. - 24

    In the Centipede cart rom, there is a message at the end of the code:

        IF YOU ARE READING THIS, AND YOU WORK AT COLECO,
    THEN PLEASE TELL GEORGE KISS I SAID HELLO.  THANKS.

                                   SINCERELY, LARRY CLAGUE

        PROGRAMMED BY:              L CLAGUE
        GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION BY:  L CLAGUE
        SOUND DATA SUPPLIED BY:     A FUCHS
        START DATE:                 04/20/83
        COMPLETION DATE:            08/23/83 - 31

Chess Challenger -

    From the catalog: - 24

    Chess Challenger by Fidelity (Chess Challenger (C) 1977)
    Strategy Game Cartridge
    #2438

    This game uses the World Champion Chess programs by Fidelity.  Plan
    your defense with care -- the computer is a formidable opponent.  But
    don't get too confident -- he'll never play the same way again!

Chuck Norris Superkicks -

    Also released as Kung Fu Superkicks, by Telegames. - JC

Congo Bongo -

    Based upon the arcade game by Sega. - 24

Cosmic Avenger -

    With some skill, you can make the homing missile that come at you
    strike the UFO's by dodging the missile so it goes in front of you,
    then moving up and down, using it like a guided missile. - JC

    For a completely different gaming experience, trying seeing how long
    you can survive using bombs _only_. - JH

    Based upon the arcade game by Universal. - 24

The Dam Busters -

    This game is damn near impossible without the manuals - 01

    Survival tips:

    Don't fly over the icons on the map.  These are German bases that
    will throw up a bunch of flak.

    Don't let your engines overheat, turn down the throttle after takeoff.

    If an engine catches fire extinguish it and shut down the
    corresponding one on the other wing.  If you don't the Lanc. will
    be difficult to control.  Don't do this a second time.

    You must come in at a certain altitude and airspeed to drop the bomb.
    Don't forget to get the bomb spinning or the indicators will not
    come up on the pilot's window.

    Be certain to retract the landing gear after takeoff.

    To shake fighters, try a corkscrew maneuver (downward spiral). - 17

Dig Dug -

    Programming of this game was completed. - 53

Defender -

    Since the ColecoVision could not handle scrolling very well due its
    electronic design, the scrolling leaves Defender to be desired.
    However, it keeps true to the Williams arcade game. - 24

Donkey Kong -

    Move Mario up the first broken ladder then bring him back down, walk
    him to the left so that his back is almost touching the same broken
    ladder, and then move him a step of two to the right and jump.
    Depending on the version you have, he'll fall through the bottom and
    land in screen 2, or after several seconds he'll appear on the top
    girder next to Kong. This apparently doesn't work with all versions
    of the cartridge. - JC

    In the 3rd screen, get to the top right hand part of the screen where
    the purse is. Below is a short ladder, get right above it and wiggle
    up & down, you'll fall through the metal floor. - JC

    When climbing up or down any ladder, you can move at super speed by
    pausing momentarily (allowing the joystick to center), and then
    continuing your climb. - JC

    Perfect port of the original game except for two flaws.  First, Donkey
    Kong is on the wrong side of the first board (easy for anyone to pick
    up).  Second, there is no mudpie level which means the rivet and
    elevator (with no "bouncing springs") levels are repeated.  Based
    upon the arcade game by Nintendo. - 24

    You can score for jumping when underneath a rolling barrel.  On the
    fourth girder (one level below Donkey Kong), wait until a barrel one
    level above comes to the lower end of the girder.  As it comes across,
    follow it, and jump while underneath it. - 24

    On the elevator screen, go up to donkey kong instead of climbing the
    ladder.  He won't kill you; you could climb the second ladder and
    jump around him and make his face turn brown. - 48

Donkey Kong Jr. -

    Uses the same music for the key-n-lock level as used for the final
    level on Popeye for ColecoVision.  Based upon the arcade game by
    Nintendo. - 24

    In the screen containing pelicans, you can actually climb through
    the dirt.  To do so, get underneath a patch of dirt, and climb all
    the way up to the dirt.  At that point, move Donkey Kong Jr. left,
    right, and left again.  You can then climb right through the dirt. - 32

    On the springboard birds screen, jump to the top ledge on the right
    of the screen, and approach the gap.  Walking off the ledge, Junior
    grabs an invisible vine that let you climb up to the celing in
    midair. - 48

Dot to Dot Zot! -

    Originally created for the Nabu Home Computer network, a ColecoVision
    conversion was rumored but never completed. - 17

Dragon's Lair -

    Right before the crash, Coleco had the rights to Dragon's Lair, and
    was going to release an expansion unit to let you hook up an LD
    player.  The idea was the controller would be the ColecoVision, and
    you could play Dragon's Lair in its entirety. - 16

    A version of Dragon's Lair was released for ADAM. - JH

Dungeons & Dragons IV -

    The Intellivision D&D game then in development, Tower of Mystery,
    was the third D&D game from Mattel, so apparently this game was
    envisioned as an original.  Started 11/28/83. - 36

Epyx games -

    Two case variants, one has a normal rounded case end and the other has
    a tapered end much like Imagic carts.  Gateway To Apshai is normally
    the regular case and the other two normally have tapered cases." - 01

Escape From the Mindmaster -

    Of note: the startup screen is an EPYX screen, not an Arcadia or
    Starpath screen, so this effort apparently occured after Starpath
    had been acquired by Epyx. - 5

Facemaker -

    It's Mr. Potato-Head on a cartridge! - 01

    Also released as Make-A-Face. - JC

Flashlight -

    Conversion of an Intellivision/Atari game then in development.
    Scheduled start: 12/19/83. - 36

Flying Brassieres -

    Never intended for release, this prototype is actually a privately
    burned variation upon Moon Patrol, with a different variety of
    objects (including bras) to shoot at. - 22

Fortune Builder -

    The mother of all Sim* games!  But you need both the manual and the
    "Strategy Guide" to play - 01

    And the overlays certainly don't hurt, either. - JH

Frenzy -

    Pressing "#" during the game resets the game. - 24

    Killing Otto in the Big Otto maze is a deadly mistake - Big
    Otto sends out hordes of super-fast Ottos to get you. - 24

Frogger -

    Perfect port of the arcade game by Sega. - 24

Frontline -

    You can get away with using a normal controller by hitting 1-2-3 at
    once on the keypad to launch a grenade/get into the tank - 01

    You can move through the holes in the wall by rotating and pushing
    forward at the same time. - JC

Galaxian -

    The following dedication is coded into the ROM for the cart:

    DEDICATED TO THE ONE I LOVE
    I LOVE YOU JENEANE (sp?) - 08

Gateway to Apshai -

    Manual helpful but not necessary - 01

Gorf -

    Loses points for not having the "Galaxian" stage like the arcade
    game - 01

    Based upon the arcade game by Bally/Midway. - 24

Horse Racing -

    From the catalog: - 24

    Horse Racing by Fidelity (Original copyright is (C) 1982)
    Casino Game Cartridge
    #2442

    They're off and running!  Watch the board as the odds change.  The
    horses start out of the gate -- then jockey for position on the
    straightaway.  Which horse will win ... place ... show?  For the next
    race, the computer changes the entries and if you want, even the
    track conditions!  It's a different race every time!

Hydroplane -

    A point-of-view speedboat race, based on an Intellivision game in
    development at the time.  Program start 11/21/83. - 36

Illusions -

    Very surreal game once you figure out what to do... - 01

    And it makes -no- sense until you do... - JH

Journey -

    In 1983, Electronic Games magazine reported that Coleco had purchased
    exclusive rights to the Bally/Midway Journey arcade game (not to be
    confused with Journey Escape for the 2600). - 38

Joust -

    Programming was completed for this game. - 53

    I've had one report that Joust was released, but absolutely no
    independent confirmation of this. - JH

Kung Fu Superkicks -

    Also released as Chuck Norris Superkicks, by Xonox. - JC

Lady Bug -

    This is (IMHO) the BEST arcade conversion available on the
    ColecoVision. - 18

    Based upon the arcade game by Universal. - 24

Linking Logic -

    Imagine this: a man on a pedestal sitting on the left side of the TV
    screen.  You, his faithful fowl pet, are sitting on the other side on
    a similar pedestal at the same height.  Your mission: help your master
    make it through the room maze using parts lying around.  Can you fly
    around placing the parts in the right spots before your master sets foot
    into the maze?

    Like Sierra On-line's "The Incredible Machine," you must place the parts
    (such as a ladder or crossover board) to help your master safely pass
    through the maze.  You have a limited amount of time, though, because
    the pedestals raise up every few seconds.  When it gets to the top floor,
    your master will go through the maze.

    Designed by Freida Lennekerker. - 24

Looping -

    Similar to the later game, Sopwith, for PC, you fly a plane around
    the screen and shoot at things.  What Sopwith lacked in graphics,
    this game lacked in gameplay.  Based upon the arcade game by Venture
    Line. - 24

Magic Carpet -

    Scheduled to begin 2/6/84.  Since the Nice group continued working
    after 1/20/84, it's possible that a playable version of this game
    was developed. - 36

Make-A-Face -

    Also released as Facemaker. - JC

    Listed as a pirated version in the Digital Press Price Guide. - JH

Masters of the Universe: The Power of He-Man -

    Programmed by Steve Roney, based upon the original Atari version
    of the game.  The game was completed just before Mattel Electronics
    closed down, but was never released. - 36

Masters of the Universe II -

    Being programmed by Eric del Sesto based upon the original
    Intellivision version (which was never released by Mattel, but
    instead reworked by INTV Corp. using different characters and
    released as Diner, a sequel to BurgerTime).  Unfinished. - 36

Meteoric Shower -

    Not released as a cartridge, the game is only available in the built
    in version that comes with the Telegames Personal Arcade. - JH

Missile Command -

    A playable version was never developed.  Only a title screen was
    created. - 53

Mr. Do! -

    If you drop two adjacent apples and get crushed by the first one, you
    are squished but don't die. You then have to restart the game. - JC

    The pause button is "*".  Hit it once for a blank screen with
    repetitious music; hit is twice more to begin play again.  Based
    upon the arcade game by Universal. - 24

    You can fire through thin walls at short distance in Mr. Do!, and
    can freeze all enemies by taking the "treat" in the middle when the
    Extra apple at the top of the screen is on a red letter. - 54

Mr. Do!'s Castle -

    In order to get the most alphamonsters in "Mr. Do!'s Castle", hit
    one or two of the key blocks with your hammer as you cross the
    board.  After destroying all the monsters except for two or three,
    you can hit the last key block and run up to the top of the board
    and stand near the door.  Wait for the unicorns to get near you and
    get the door "prize" and hammer away!  This was an old arcade trick
    I used quite frequently, and it still works for this game.

    In "Castle", red unicorns are the tamest ones.  Green unicorns are a
    bit wilder, and both red and green unicorns can be knocked down a
    level.  However, the blue unicorns are the meanest, and a lone
    unicorn will double into two blue unicorns if it gets stuck in a
    hole or cannot find you.  This can work to your advantage if you
    have reached the door "prize" and let a lone unicorn get stuck in a
    hole.  When it doubles and turns blue, they will immediately come up
    to you at the top of the castle so you can grab the prize and knock
    two of the letters out really quickly.

    "Castle" is the best arcade translation of all the ColecoVision games.
    It also proves that Coleco's version of Mr. Do! could have been better,
    looking like a rush job in comparison.  However, both Mr. Do! games
    are worth getting because they have a lot of replayability in them. - 24

    Most boards have sections with skulls such that you can kick a ladder
    away, leaving only one path for the unicorns to approach from.  To take
    maximum advantage of these setups, do the following:

    1) Knock out the frontmost skull (on the side enemies will approach
       from).
    2) Hammer the frontmost cherry.
    3) As red unicorns approach, simply knock them through the hole.
       There's no need to waste the skull traps on them, since they are
       easy to deal with.
    4) When a lone green unicorn lands in the hole, knock it through.  It
       will turn purple, but don't worry!  Back up to the next cherry, and
       hammer it as the newly formed purple unicorn dashes forward, crushing
       it.
    5) Back up and repeat the process until there are no cherrys left,
       several green unicorns approach at once, or one or more purple
       unicorns storm into the trap.  As soon as there are purples
       approaching, continue retreating and hammer free any remaining
       cherries, then hit the final skull to kill all squirming purples
       as well as any unicorns unfortunate enough to be standing below the
       platform.

    With good timing, it is possible to hammer a unicorn that is rising
    out of a hole just as the new block forms, and kill it (or knock it
    back into the hole if it is a purple one).  This is helpful when you
    are cornered in a tight spot.

    To maximize the number of letters you catch on any given stage, try the
    following strategy:

    1) Hammer two of the keys, leaving the key closest to the top of the
       screen.
    2) Hammer as many holes as you can while luring the unicorns downwards,
       until you have a free path from the third key to the magic door at
       the top of the screen.  Avoid killing the unicorns unless necessary.
    3) Hit the final key, and immediately dash to the top of the screen,
       turning the unicorns into letters.  The longer you wait after
       grabbing the third key before touching the magic door, the shorter
       the period of time that the unicorns will remain as letters.
       Conversely, if you do it quickly, the unicorns will remain letters
       for a very long time!
    4) The letters will flee towards the bottom of the screen.  Chase them,
       dropping down the holes you already made whenever possible (this is
       quicker than climbing down ladders, and better yet you can land on
       top of letters and squish them).

    With this method (even on the difficult levels later in the game), you
    can easily grab 3 or more letters per screen.  It's even possible to
    get a full "EXTRA" all on one stage! - 45

Mr. Turtle -

    From the catalog: - 24

    Mr. Turtle (TM)
    Action Game Cartridge
    #2432

    Mr. Turtle (TM) comes to life on the screen, but needs your help on his
    treasure hunt.  His goal is to collect the prizes that are located on
    both land and under water.  But -- each prise is guarded by an animal,
    some firece, some funny.  Mr. Turtle (TM) must outwit the creatures to
    obtain each treasure and score points.

Mouse Trap -

    Since there's no pause feature in this game, you can trap yourself
    in one of the rooms if you need a break.  You can also trap the cats
    in rooms to make it easier for you to do the maze. - JC

    The keypad gets in the way of the gameplay.  The 2600 version is more
    fun because it has one button, but Coleco could have chosen to make
    the doors open using one button and eating the biscuit being the other
    button.  Based upon the arcade game by Exidy. - 24

Nice Ideas -

    At one time a division of Mattel Electronics located in Nice,
    France.  Due to French laws, Mattel was not allowed to shut down
    their Nice office on January 20, 1984 with the rest of Mattel
    Electronics - instead, they were required to find a buyer for
    the division.  The programmers stayed on the Mattel payroll working
    on their games until finally the division found investors that
    enabled them to buy the operation themselves, renaming it Nice Ideas.
    They sold two of their completed Intellivision games to INTV Corp.
    and three of their completed ColecoVision games (Bump 'n' Jump,
    BurgerTime and Illusions) to Coleco. - 36

Omega Race -

    If you use Roller Controller for the two play game, you will make both
    ships mirror the other's actions.  One RC controls both ships!  Based
    upon the arcade game by Bally/Midway. - 24

    In a one play game, rotate your ship so that it points straight up
    or down, and thrust until you bump into one of the walls.  You will
    then keep bouncing between the top and bottom, and can rotate your
    ship toward the right hand side of the screen, and fire away.  Works
    well until you get to higher levels. - 54

Parker Brothers -

    There are two boxes used by Parker Bros.  One is the typical "boxed"
    game with two box parts that open up to reveal the game and
    instructions.  The other is a clone of the standard Coleco box with
    Parker Bros. written on it instead. - 24

    Parker Bros. used the same serial numbers for their games around the
    world with one exception--for foreign release, a "A" was added
    to the serial number of the game. - 24

Pac-Man -

    Has the same aspect ratio as the 2600 (and 5200 - JH) version; plays
    really well, and maintains all the bonuses and intermissions.  The title
    screen includes a neat dissolve-in of "Pac Man".  Atari did not
    release the cartridge because of their advertising campaign at the
    time, which boasted "you will only be able to play Pac-Man on the
    Atari!". - 53

    The _best_ home version of Pac-Man I've ever played.  Scores over the
    competition on the basis of:

    2600 - absolutely everything (no big surprise)
    5200 - better detail (the ghosts have eyes) and better control
    NES  - better control (which outweighs the aspect ratio and
           attract screen advantages of the NES version in my opinion)

    Seems to be 100% complete and ready for release. - JH

Pepper II -

    Graphics are very similar to those of the unreleased Side Trak.  Based
    upon the arcade game by Exidy. - 24

Pitfall! -

    You can walk through some walls by jumping at them. - JC

PizzaTime -

    The _real_ sequel to BurgerTime, started 1/3/84.  Since the
    Nice group continued working after 1/20/84, it's possible that
    a playable version of this game was developed. - 36

Popeye -

    Very good port, but the characters needed a bit more detail (which
    I'm sure the ColecoVision could have handled).  On the other hand,
    this is the only port I know of which has the Sea Hag and Sweet Pea.
    Based upon the arcade game by Nintendo. - 24

Porky's -

    The cartridge shell looks like a bare Epyx/Spinnaker style case, with
    a plain white rectangular hand written label.  Inside, there is a
    standard board with 2 EPROMs.

    The start up screen is all blue, with a 1983 "Fox Electronics" copyright
    notice, and skill options at the bottom of the screen.  According to a
    guy who has the Porky's programmer for an instructor, he never made a
    2600 port, so that was done after he had left.

    The game play is similar to the 2600, only with better graphics and
    sounds (yes, the female showering looks more female).  The first
    Screen is the Frogger-like sequence in the same order, just with
    improved graphics.  The second screen is the "pole-valut-over-the-lake"
    screen.  You still have to build the ladder wrung by wrung; and Porky
    is himself is walking around the ledges beneath the ladders.  Porky
    is particularly well-animated--with a black ten-gallon hat, white
    T-shirt, blue jeans, and a cigarette in his mouth.

    The third screen, the "girls shower room" had the girl scrubbing up
    in the shower, she was slightly more rounded and womanlike than the 2600
    version; the silhouette was dark gray, and the shower curtain light
    gray.  When Mrs. Ballbricker comes after you, she is also well-done;
    with gray hair, a green shirt, and blue pants.  She also clearly has
    tweezers she is pinching in the air.  Only two different objects can
    be retreived from the shower room to stop the objects in the
    Frogger-like screen:  the detonator, and either a coil of rope or a
    fork or a wrench.  These objects alternate for each row of the first
    screen; the first object stopped the odd rows, the second the even rows.

    In the last screen, "The girders beneath Porky's", still had Porky
    walking around, making a nusciance out of himself, and it still had
    those annoying arrows supposedly to point you in the right direction
    to climb.

    The only problem with the game is that after getting past the locker
    room screen to the screen underneath Porky's--you cannot go
    anyplace. - 01, 43

Q*Bert -

    Just like the arcade game by Gottlieb. - 24

Q*Bert's Qubes -

    Very fun puzzle game.  As Q*Bert moves, he turns six-sided cubes
    around.  To win a level, you need to match up tic-tac-toes of cubes.
    The "Coily"-like mouse will chase you around the diamond playfield,
    but will fall of if he lands on a turning cube.  Sam and Slick are a
    real pain on the higher levels.  The pause button is "0".  Based upon
    the arcade game by Mylstar.

    Level One -- Two sides orange, four sides blue
                 Win 1 tic-tac-toe

    Level Two -- Three sides orange, three sides blue (1st two screens)
                 Six colors (white, red, blue, orange, yellow, green)
                    (3rd and 4th screens)
                 Win 1 tic-tac-toe

    Level Three -- Six colors and win 2 tic-tac-toes

    Level Four -- Six colors and win 3 tic-tac-toes

    Level Five -- Six colors, win 1 tic-tac-toe, but you can undo
                  completed cubes

    The label on the cart is the logo of Q*Bert's Qubes with no picture
    of Q*Bert or the playfield.  Unlike the first Q*Bert, the label is
    designed to be read while inserted into the ColecoVision on the
    correct side.  (Q*Bert's Qubes & Mr. Do!'s Castle are the only two
    Parker Brothers releases with this style of label design. - JH) - 24

    If you'd like to try the arcade version, there was one up and running
    at HersheyPark (Hershey, PA) as of 1994.  The ColecoVision version is
    a wonderful port. - JH

Quest for Quintana Roo -

    Manual helpful but not necessary - 01

Rip Cord -

    From the catalog: - 24

    Rip Cord (TM) by Exidy (Original game copyright is (C) 1978)
    Arcade Game Cartridge
    #2431

    This sky diving game puts you in charge of a parachutist.  You've
    got to time his jump, and allow him to free fall as long as you dare.
    Then, pull his rip cord, and get him to land exactly on one of the
    targets.  But watch out - the sky is full of dangerous helicopters.

Roc 'n Rope -

    Based upon the arcade game by Konami. - 24

Root Beer Tapper -

    When at the end of bar grabbing a tip, just tap the joystick and you
    instantly appear back at the front of the bar. - JC

Sammy Lightfoot -

    Plays just like the old Apple II version.  This should _not_ be taken
    as a compliment... B^) - JH

Schtroumpfs -

    A French release of Smurf Rescue. - JH

Side Trak -

    From the catalog: - 24

    Side Trak (TM) by Exidy (Original game copyright is (C) 1979)
    Arcade Game Cartridge
    #2418

    You must direct the locomotive down the track and pick up passengers
    along the way.  In doing so, you must avoid a deadly runaway train that
    is out to demolish your locomotive!  Can you stay on the track and score?

Skiing (Coleco) -

    From the catalog: - 24

    Skiing
    Sports Game Cartridge
    #2436

    See the course right through the skier's goggles!  He must race down
    the snow covered slopes, nogotiating the sharp curves with precision
    and avoiding the treacherous moguls, trees, and other obstacles.  His
    goal is to traverse the course and reach the finish in record time!

Skiing (Telegames) -

    Telegames Skiing does not have the same graphics as the Coleco
    Skiing which was in the introductory catalog.  Whereas Coleco's
    catalog showed a 1st-person perspective, Telegames' Skiing
    is more like Activision Skiing for the Atari 2600. - 08

Slither -

    Based upon the arcade game by Century II. - 24

Smurf Play and Learn -

    From the catalog: - 24

    Smurf Play and Learn Cartridge by Peyo (Smurf (TM) Peyo (C) 1982)
    Play & Learn Cartridge
    #2444

    This educational cartridge with Smurf (TM) characters bring basic
    learning concepts to the screen and encourages children to solve the
    problems and situations.  Their zany antics make learning fun!

Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle -

    At the last screen with the skull and Smurfette, leave the room and
    Smurfette will drop her dress. - JC

    If you come up to a hard screen, go back to the screen you just came
    through, and then return - the screen will change shape each time, so
    you can do it until an easier one appears. - JC

    On game 4, move back and forth between screens 1 & 2 for about a minute,
    and you'll receive 919,500 points. - JC

Space Fury -

    Save the best dock for last, since you'll be stuck with it for the
    rest of the game. - JC

Space Panic -

    The stupidest game I have ever played, IMHO.  Why would you want to
    dig holes, let a monster fall in, and they fall down a level and die?
    Stupid!  Based upon the arcade game by Universal. - 24

Spectar -

    From the catalog: - 24

    Spectar (TM) by Exidy (Original game copyright is (C) 1980)
    Arcade Game Cartridge
    #2421

    You must direct an armoured car through a tangled maze - negotiating
    sharp turns at high speeds.  But as you traverse the terrain, a variety
    of tank-like vehicles emerge to attack and destroy your car.

Spy Hunter -

    At the fork in the road, the left path give's you the oil supply
    truck, and the right gives you the missiles.  You can use the supply
    truck as a weapon by not entering it and moving it back and forth so
    it collides with your enemies.  When in the boat, it's safer to stick
    to the right; you don't get attacked as much and that's the side the
    exit is on. - JC

Squish'em featuring Sam -

    If you like 20th Century Fox's 2600 game "Fast Eddie," you will like
    Squish'em.  It has similar gameplay plus has, IMHO, the first "sound-
    byte" included in it.  Sam actually talks to you (i.e., "Ouch!"
    "Wow!").  It's worth the price of admission!  Also of note is the fact
    the cart has a hanger built into it. - 24

    The following dedication is coded into the ROM for the cart:

    This space dedicated to all those hackers who program in 8K but
    are given 16K and to all accountants who want 15K promos - 8

Star Wars: The Arcade Game -

    Explosion of death star not as impressive as other versions - 01

Subroc -

    Sega could not decide whether to make a submarine or an airplane game.
    So they compromised.  Based upon the arcade game by Sega. - 24

Super Action Football (CBS) -

    This is equivalent to Coleco's Super Action Soccer. - JH

Super Action Football (Coleco) -

    My copy of the instructions give the part number as 2422 - the
    intended number (per the ColecoVision catalog) for Head to Head
    Football. - JH

Super Cobra -

    "Missing levels" - 01

Sydney Development -

    While Sydney only released one game on their own (Evolution), they
    were a major player in the ColecoVision arena.  Many, many games
    were created or translated for ColecoVision by Sydney.  Among
    these:

    River Raid
    Keystone Kapers
    B.C.'s Quest for Tires
    B.C.'s Quest for Tires II: Grog's Revenge
    Wiz Math
    The Dam Busters

    The company survived past the video game market crash by switching
    over to the Commodore 64 and IBM PC. - 17

Tarzan -

    If you are low on energy, keep punching the hunter at the campsite
    until you are at full strength. - JC

    Designed by Lawrance Schick - 51

Time Pilot -

    "Handles like its constipated" - 01

    Different feel using the ColecoVision controller than the arcade game,
    which was put out by Konami. - 24

    The Roller Controller works much better; with it, Time Pilot has
    the feel of the original. - 20

Tunnels & Trolls -

    Only contains opening title. - JC

    From the catalog: - 24

    Tunnels & Trolls (TM) by Flying Buffalo, Inc. (T&T (C) 1975)
    Fantasy Game Cartridge
    #2441

    Your expedition involves your entrance into a dungeon made up of
    hallways and chambers.  But -- the underground is populated by
    monsters.  Choose to fight or run!  Select a weapon, cast magic
    spells or use your wits to defeat the monsters and claim the
    treasures!  For one to four players.

Turbo -

    Based upon the arcade game by Sega. - 24

Venture -

    Move in and out of a room several times very fast, and a demon
    outside will appear from nowhere and kill you. - JC

    Based upon the arcade game by Exidy. - 24

Victory -

    Based upon the arcade game by Exidy. - 24

    The CBS release of Victory has the Quarks (and other features) that
    were missing in the Coleco release. - 40

Video Hustler -

    Nearly finished. - JC

War Games -

    "Need the manual" - 01

    Roller Controller is used for 2 player game only. - JH

War Room -

    "Manual helpful but not necessary" - 01

Wing War -

    Though it is not exactly known what triggers the egg, the designers
    initials appear in the sky. - JC

Wiz Type -

    A Commodore 64 version was finished, but buried by Sierra.  The
    ColecoVision version was never done. - 17

Zaxxon -

    Based upon the arcade game by Sega. - 24

    Tips from ColecoVision Experience magazine:

    As each round opens, your ship approaches the first asteroid,
    which is topped by a high wall.  To avoid crashing into the wall,
    use your laser cannon to confirm your flight path.  Since the
    laser cannon fires straight ahead, the position where your shots
    detonate indicates the path of your ship.  If your opening shots
    strike the wall, move until they pass through the center area of
    the wall's opening.  This will ensure that you enter the asteroid
    safely.

    As you fly along the surface of the asteroid, stay low enough (about
    the first mark on the altimeter scale at left) to hit the turrets
    and tanks on the asteroid surface.  Keep to the left as much as
    possible, destroying enemy turrets first, and fuel tanks after
    you've eliminated the turrets that defend them.  The turrets fire
    both forward and sideways, and theirmissiles move rapidly, so
    you'll almost certainly be hit if you get close to a turret without
    destroying it.  Fire at the turrets from a distance, then weave back
    to the right to hit fuel tanks.  Remember to keep an eye out for the
    vertically rising missiles that come out of the ground silos - and
    don't forget the equally deadly missiles launched from the turrets.
    Don't climb unless necessary to avoid a missile or a wall - even two
    seconds at high altitude will bring a fast, hard-to-avoid homing
    missile down on you.

    As you leave the first asteroid to enter deep space, move toward the
    center of the screen to give yourself maximum maneuverability.  Then
    wait for the first of the enemy fighters.  You'll find that they're
    very hard to hit until they approach and prepare to launch their
    missiles.  The best technique for survival in deep space is  1. Wait
    until crosshairs appear in front of your ship.  2. Fire instantly.
    3. Dive or climb immediately.  Don't fire and remain still - even if
    you hit the enemy fighter its missile will still destroy you.
    Practice this wait-fire-move sequence until you can confidently
    destroy the enemy fighters.  By the way, it can't hurt to start
    firing at enemy fighters as soon as they appear on the edge of the
    screen.  Unfortunately, long distance hits are hard to come by.

    The action will abruptly slow as you approach the mighty ZAXXON.  Move
    your ship to the right to draw ZAXXON over toward that side of the
    asteroid so you can fire at it.  Then rise to an altitude of about
    2 1/2 marks on the screen altimeter, and begin firing as rapidly as
    possible.  When ZAXXON launches a homing missile, try to hit it
    several times to neutralize it (you'll see it change color), then
    continue to fire at ZAXXON itself.  Remember, only multiple hits at
    the right height can destroy ZAXXON - and earn you points.  If you
    can't score these hits and destroy the homing missile, your fire
    will at least drive ZAXXON back and you can begin another round of
    attack. - 35

Zenji -

    Manual is roughly the size of a bookmark, and is completely
    unnecessary. - JH

4.4) Cartridge Hardware Cheats

    As in many systems, a careful change to the right address can
    significantly change the flavor of a game.  For those using a
    ColecoVision emulator, data at the following addresses can be
    changed with various effects.

Antartic Adventure - 49

    Addresses 0AEA-0AEBh - Rest Dist.   - Decimal Digits
    Addresses 0AEC-0AEDh - Time         - Decimal Digits; bytes are reversed

B.C.'s Quest For Tires - 31, 49

    Address        0388h - Extra Lives  - FFh means "None"; 254 maximum
    Address        22EAh - Lives Check  - Set to 00h for infinite lives

B.C.'s Quest For Tires II: Grog's Revenge - 31, 49

    Address        032Fh - Extra Lives  - FFh means "None"; 254 maximum
    Address        0351h - Extra Lives  - FFh means "None"; 254 maximum
    Address        037Dh - Lives Check  - Set to 00h for infinite lives

Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom - 49

    Address        0104h - Areas Left   - 00 = 01 = Skip round 1

BurgerTime - 31

    Address        01F4h - Lives Check  - Set to 00h for infinite lives
    Addresses 127C-127Eh - Monster Gen  - Set all to 00h for no monsters
    Addresses 1332-1334h - Hit Detect   - Set all to 00h to become invincible

Carnival - 49

    Address        01D7h - Bullets      - Max 3C = 60

Cosmic Avenger - 49

    Address        00ADh - Extra Lives  - FFh means "None"; 254 maximum

Donkey Kong - 31,49

    Addresses 01FB-01FDh - Lives Check  - Set all to 00h for infinite lives
    Addresses 0560-0561h - Score        - In hex; max 06 27 = 9990 (0 added)
    Addresses 05AA-05ABh - Bonus Score  - In hex
    Address        186Ch - Extra Lives  - For harder levels
    Address        1875h - Extra Lives  - For easy levels

Donkey Kong Junior - 31

    Address        020Ch - Extra Lives  - For harder levels, player 1
    Address        0216h - Extra Lives  - For easy levels, player 1
    Addresses 034D-034Fh - Lives Check  - Set all to 00h for infinite lives

Frantic Freddy - 49

    Address        044Fh - Enemies Left - Enemies needed to kill on level

Frenzy - 49

    Address        06EDh - Movement?    - 01 = move to next screen

Frogger - 49

    Address        1612h - Extra Lives  - FFh = 255 maximum

Galaxian - 31, 49

    Addresses 0240-0242h - Lives Check  - Set all to 00h for infinite lives
                                          (Setting 0242h to any number but 03
                                           is sufficient)

Gorf - 31

    Address        0133h - Extra Lives  - FFh means "None"; 254 maximum
    Address        28E8h - Lives Check  - Set to 00h for infinite lives

Jumpman Junior

    Address        0394h - Extra Lives  - FFh = 255 maximum
    Address        0399h - Level

Lady Bug - 31,49

    Addresses 0125-0127h - Lives Check  - Set all to 00h for infinite lives
    Address        0390h - Extra Lives  - FFh means "None"; FEh = 255 maximum
    Addresses 0393-0395h - Score        - Decimal digits; 999,999 maximum

Looping - 49

    Address        0171h - Extra Lives  - 80h = 128 maximum

Moonsweeper - 49

    Address        1A4Dh - Extra Lives  - FFh = 255 maximum

Mouse Trap - 31, 49

    Address        0362h - Extra Lives  - FFh means "None"; 254 maximum
    Address        0365h - Dog Biscuits - FFh means "None"; 254 maximum
    Addresses 0366-036Bh - Score        - Decimal digits; 999,999 maximum
    Address        08A1h - Transform    - Set to 00h, become dog permanently
    Address        2A38h - ???          - Set to 00h, "Score becomes crazy"

Pepper II - 49

    Address        00F0h - Extra Lives  - Maximum FDh = 254
    Address        00FFh - Extra Lives  - For Player 2
    Addresses 020B-020Dh - Score        - Hex; max 9F 86 01 - 99999 (0 added)
    Addresses 0216-0218h - Score        - For Player 2

Popeye - 49

    Address        00D4h - Extra lives  - Maximum 3Fh = 15
    Address        00D9h - Round        - Maximum 39h = 9

Q*Bert - 49

    Address        005Bh - Level/Round  - 19 = 1/1, 1F = 1/7, 20 = 28 = 2/0
    Address        05B4h - Coordinates
    Address        0638h - Lives Check  - Set to any but 05h for infinite lives

Root Beer Tapper - 31

    Addresses 2963-2965h - Lives Check  - Set all to 00h for infinite lives

Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle - 49

    Address        00A2h - Extra lives  - Maximum FFh = 255
    Address        0167h - Energy       - Maximum FFh = 255

Spy Hunter - 49

    Addresses 0053-0055h - Score        - Maximum 3Fh 42h 0Fh = 999,999
    Addresses 0056-0057h - Bonus Timer  - Maximum E7h 03h = 999

Super Cobra - 49

    Address        0108h - Level        - Range: 1-11
    Address        0176h - Extra Lives  - Maximum 55h = 86
    Address        01BFh - Fuel         - Maximum 6Fh = 111; 0B/full, 78/error

Tutankham - 31

    Address        0161h - Lamps        - Maximum 0Fh = 15
    Address        0876h - Extra Lives  - For easy level, player 1; max 15
    Address        087Eh - Extra Lives  - For hard level, player 1
    Address        0880h - Extra Lives  - For medium level, player 1
    Address        0882h - Extra Lives  - For easy level, player 2
    Address        0886h - Extra Lives  - For medium level, player 2
    Address        0888h - Extra Lives  - For hard level, player 2
    Address        0B69h - Monster Gen  - Set to 00h for no monster generation
    Address        2269h - Monster Move - Set to 00h to keep monsters in nests

Up 'n Down - 49

    Address        01C5h - Extra Lives  - Maximum FFh = 255

Venture - 31, 49

    Addresses 032E-0330h - Lives Check  - Set all to 00h for infinite lives
    Address        09B3h - Extra Lives  - FFh means "None"; 254 maximum

Zaxxon - 31,49

    Addresses 0085-0086h - Score        - Maximum E7 03 = 999 (00 added)
    Addresses 011A-011Bh - Score        - Player 2
    Address        01B9h - Extra Lives  - For easy levels
    Address        01BDh - Extra Lives  - For harder levels
    Address        01E4h - Status       - 00/player 2 left, 02/player 1-2 lives
    Address        01E6h - Lives Check  - Player 2
    Address        02CEh - Lives Check  - Set to 00h for infinite lives

4.5) ColecoVision and ColecoVision/ADAM catalogs

    Unlike Atari and Mattel, Coleco didn't put out catalogs regularly.
    The catalog was included with the unit is better known for the titles
    that _didn't_ turn up than those that did.  A second catalog with a
    mixture of ColecoVision and ADAM items appears to have been released
    shortly before the death of both systems, as it appears to include
    nearly all of the late ColecoVision releases.  The contents of each
    catalog:

    1982 catalog: -24

    Introduction to ColecoVision
    Introduction of Expansion Module #1 and #2 coming soon
    Donkey Kong (# 2441, Ninendo, Arcade)
    Space Fury (The Official, # 2415, Sega, Arcade)
    Venture (# 2417, Exidy, Arcade)
    Side Trak (# 2418, Exidy, Arcade)
    Mouse Trap (# 2419, Exidy, Arcade)
    Spectar (# 2421, Exidy, Arcade)
    Rip Cord (# 2431, Exidy, Arcade)
    LadyBug (# 2433, Universal, Arcade)
    Cosmic Avenger (# 2434, Universal, Arcade)
    Zaxxon (The Official, # 2435, Sega, Arcade)
    Carnival (The Official, # 2445, Sega, Arcade)
    Turbo (The Official, # 2413, Sega, Arcade)
    head-to-head baseball (# 2423, Sports)
    head-to-head football (# 2422; Sports)
    Skiing (# 2436, Sports)
    Horse Racing (# 2442, Fidelity Electronics, Inc., Casino)
    Blackjack/Poker (Ken Uston) (# 2439, Casino)
    Tunnels & Trolls (# 2441, Flying Buffalo, Inc., Fantasy)
    Chess Challenger (# 2438, Fidelity, Strategy)
    Smurf (# 2444, Play & Learn)
    Smurf Rescue In Gargamel's Castle (# 2443, Action)
    Mr. Turtle (# 2432, Action)
    Expansion Module Descriptions
      1 -- Atari 2600 adapter # 2405
      2 -- Driving Module # 2413

    Note that _none_ of the pictures appear to be actual screen
    shots; there are subtle differences between the pictures and
    the actual games in the case of every released game.

    1984? catalog: - JH

    * - ADAM only

    ColecoVision Video Game System (#2400)
    ADAM The ColecoVision Family Computer System (#2410)
    *ADAM 5 1/4 Disk Drive (#7817)
    *ADAMLink Direct Connect Modem (#7818)
    *ADAM Second Digital Data Drive (#2409)
    *ADAM 64K Memory Expander (#2562)
    ColecoVision/ADAM Super Action Controller Set (#2491)
    ColecoVision/ADAM Roller Controller (#2492)
    ColecoVision/ADAM Expanstion Module #2 (#2413)
        (The Perma Power Battery Eliminator, #2298, is mentioned)
    *ADAM Blank Digital Data Pack (#2564)
    *ADAM Replacement Ribbon Cartridges (#7806)
    Brain Strainers (#2696)
    Telly Turtle (#2698)
    Mokey Academy (#2694)
    Smurf Paint 'N' Play Workshop (#2697)
    *Electronic Flashcard Maker (#7662)
    *Flash Facts: Vocabulator (#2900)
    *Flash Facts: Flashbacks (#2901)
    *Flash Facts: Trivia (#2902)
    *Expertype (#7602)
    Fortune Builder (#2681)
    *Wacky Word Games (#7657)
    *Richard Scarry's Best Electronic Word Book Ever (#7658)
    Cabbage Patch Kids Picture Show (#2600)
    Dr. Seuss Fix-Up The Mix-Up Puzzler (#2699)
    *ADAMCALC (#7831)
    *Smartletters & Forms (#7805)
    *ADAM Home Software Library (#7826)
    *Smartfiler (#7813)
    *Recipe Filer (#7814)
    *Address Book Filer (#7815)
    *Smartlogo (#7600)
    *CP/M 2.2 and Assembler (#7832)
    *Dragon's Lair (#2683)
    *The Official Zaxxon (#2623)
    *Donkey Kong Junior (#2629)
    *Donkey Kong (#2628)
    *The Best of Broderbund (Choplifter & A.E.) (#7850)
    *2010: The Text Adventure Game (#7849 - Data Pack; #9659 - Disk)
    *The Best of Electronic Arts (Hard Hat Mack & Pinball Construction
        Set) (#7852)
    *Family Feud (#7710)
    *Jeopardy (#7716)
    2010: The Graphic Action Game (#2618)
    Root Beer Tapper (#2616)
    Illusions (#2621)
    The Dam Busters (#2686)
    BC's Quest For Tires II: Grog's Revenge (#2620)
    Omega Race (#2448)
    Victory (#2446)
    Roc 'N Rope (#2668)
    The Official Carnival (#2445)
    The Official Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom (#2615)
    Bump 'N Jump (#2440)
    The Official Congo Bongo (#2669)
    Donkey Kong (#2411)
    The Official Zaxxon (#2435)
    Exidy's Mousetrap (#2419)
    Front Line (#2650)
    The Official Space Fury (#2415)
    Looping (#2603)
    Donkey Kong Junior (#2601)
    Gorf (#2449)
    Venture (#2417)
    Time Pilot (#2633)
    Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator (#2680)
    The Official Subroc (#2614)
    Super Action Football (#2422)
    Rocky Super Action Boxing (#2606)
    Choplifter (#2690)
    Destructor (#2602)
    The Dukes of Hazzard (#2607)
    Antarctic Adventure (#2429)
    Tarzan (#2632)
    War Games (#2637)
    Cabbage Patch Kids Adventures in the Park (#2682)
    Burgertime (#2430)
    Mr. Do (#2622)
    Cosmic Avenger (#2434)

4.6) The BEST cartridges

    Just what the best cartridges for any system are is largely a
    matter of taste.  One person's favorite is often another's dust
    collector.  However, the following cartridges have all been rated
    highly by a significant number of FAQ contributors, and therefore
    might be most worth seeking out by a collector new to ColecoVision.

    Antarctic Adventure
    Artillery Duel
    B.C.'s Quest for Tires
    Beamrider
    Burgertime
    Centipede
    Donkey Kong Junior
    Fortune Builder
    Frenzy
    Frogger
    Gyruss
    H.E.R.O.
    Jumpman Junior
    Lady Bug
     Mr. Do!'s Castle
    Montezuma's Revenge
    Q*Bert
    Slither
    Spy Hunter
    Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
    War Room
    Wing War

4.7) The most popular cartridges

    ColecoVision Experience magazine (see 5.2.1) ran a "most popular/
    best selling" titles list in each issue.

    Spring, 1983; most popular:

    1. Donkey Kong
    2. Zaxxon
    3. Venture
    4. Ladybug
    5. Cosmic Avenger
    6. Mouse Trap
    7. Carnival
    8. Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle

    Fall, 1983; best selling as of June 1983:

    1. Donkey Kong Junior
    2. Zaxxon
    3. Gorf
    4. Space Fury
    5. Mouse Trap
    6. Space Panic
    7. Lady Bug
    8. Pepper II
    9. Cosmic Avenger
    10. Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle

    Winter, 1984; best selling as of September 1983:

    1. Donkey Kong Junior
    2. Zaxxon
    3. Space Fury
    4. Mouse Trap
    5. Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle
    6. Space Panic
    7. Gorf
    8. Looping
    9. Pepper II
    10. Lady Bug

4.8) Rare gems

    The following cartridges haven't been rated by enough people to
    justify including them among the "BEST" cartridges, but have
    received great support from those who have rated them.  Worth
    taking a second look at, should you have the luck to happen upon
    them...

    Galaxian
    Kevtris
    Linking Logic
    Logic Levels
    Pac-Man
    Q*Bert's Qubes
    Rock 'n' Bolt
    Up 'n' Down
    Zenji

4.9) High scores

    ColecoVision Experience magazine (see 5.2.1) included a high score
    list in their Winter, 1984 issue:

    Lady Bug
    Level - 139
    Score - 3,714,220

    Chris Heverman
    Montgomery, AL

    Donkey Kong Junior
    Score - 232,700

        Gary Reimer
        McAlester, OK

    Pepper II
    Score - 1,837,930

        Elizabeth Kaleita
        Sterling Heights, MI

    Venture
    Score - 1,985,000

        Richard Abate
        New Haven, CT

    Smurf Rescue In Gargamel's Castle
        Score - 451,000

        Jim Brogan
        St. Paul, MN


5.0) WWW sites

5.1) Instructions

    James Carter has put together a repository of ColecoVision
    instructions.  These include the text of the instructions only,
    and are in a text file format.  They are available at no cost;
    however, it is asked that if you have any instructions which
    are not currently available, that you either enter them yourself
    or make them available for James to scan.

    The instructions are available via WWW at Greg Chance's History
    of Home Video Games Homepage:

    URL - http://www.sponsor.net/~gchance/

    Or via email from James at:

    [e-mail]

5.2) Books and Periodicals

A list of books and periodicals covering classic videogames is maintained
by Lee Seitz, and is available via WWW at:

    URL - http://iquest.com/~lkseitz/

5.2.1) ColecoVision Experience

Of particular note among ColecoVision literature is the ColecoVision
Experience magazine, brought out by Coleco.  Three issues came out,
containing ColecoVision news, new products, best seller lists, high
scores, strategy tips, and articles about such subjects as the ADAM
computer, the making of War Games, and intervies with game designers. - 35

5.3) ColecoVision Homepage

A ColecoVision Homepage created by Norman Sippel can be found at:

    URL - http://www.infinet.com/~ngsippel/cv.html

5.4) Coleco FTP Site

    An FTP site has been created for Coleco stuff.  The addresses:

    For downloads:  altair.komkon.com  /pub/Coleco
    For uploads:    altair.komkon.com  /incoming/Coleco

    Items at the site include the ColEm ColecoVision emulator,
    documentation, and ROM images. - 47


6.0) Stickers

When the ColecoVision arrived, part of the hype was sets of puffy stickers.
One sheet contained stickers for Mr. Turtle, Head-To-Head Football,
Mouse Trap, and Rip Cord; another contained Head-To-Head Baseball,
Spectar, Side Trak, and Venture.  Each had a screen shot.

Some notes of interest:

o Spectar and Rip Cord are the same pictures as the ColecoVision box.

o Head-To-Head Baseball, other than the diamond itself, doesn't share the
   same graphics as Super Action Baseball.

o Side Trak looks an awful lot like Pepper II.  Instead of a man running
   around the track, a track cart is running on the tracks trying to pick
   up little men. - 24


7.0) Technical Details

7.1) ColecoVision Memory Map

    0000H - BIOS ROM
      .
    1FFFH
    2000H - Expansion port
      .
    3FFFH
    4000H - Expansion port
      .
    5FFFH
    6000H - Start of RAM (1K mapped into an 8K spot)
      .
    7FFFH
    8000H - Cart ROM (broken into 4 sections, each enabled seperately)
      .
    FFFFH

7.2) ColecoVision I/O Map

        00-1F - No Connection
        20-3F - No Connection
        40-5F - Video
        60-7F - Video
        80-9F - No Connection
        A0-BF - No Connection
        C0-DF - Sound
        E0-FF - Controllers; E2 is special, as well as E0 - E0 appears
        to be the readback, and E2 appears to be the scan - 39

7.3) ColecoVision BIOS Details

The ColecoVision contains a ROM which essentially acts as a BIOS for the
system.  Upon startup, it begins to execute code at 0000H.  The first step
executed is a check to see if a cart is plugged in.  This is performed by
checking two locations in the cart's memory - if the two bytes read are
55H and AAH then the ColecoVision knows a cart is in the system.  Otherwise,
it displays the standard "Turn Power Off Before..." screen.

If a cart is in the system, the BIOS passes control to the cart.  The cart
can then use some, all, or none the functions found in the BIOS.  Some of
the functions provided in the BIOS include the title screen and game select
screen.

The famous twelve second delay is part of the title screen routine. - 8

The address range for cartridges is 8000H to FFFFH, a total of 32K. - 29, 31

7.4) ColecoVision Video RAM Details

The video RAM is broken up into tables which are user movable.
The tables which exist include:

The Name Table (this tells us what is in the background)
The Pattern Table (this tells us how each 8x8 character looks)
The Color Table (this tells us what colors to use for a given 8x8 pattern)
The Sprite Table (this tells us where sprites are, what they will look like,
                  their color, and how many to display)
The Sprite Pattern Table (this defines the 8x8 or 16x16 pattern for a sprite)

Four video modes exist:

        A text 40x24 mode.

        A multi-color mode w/ sprites (multi-color breaks the backgroun into
        4x4 squares of 1 color per square. Smurf Paint 'n Play uses this mode.)

        Graphics 1 mode w/ sprites (32x24 8x8 character background. Each
        character is made up of 1 color only.)

        Graphics 2 mode w/ sprites (same as Graphics 1 mode except each
        character can have different colors for each of it's 8 rows.)

The Video RAM is accessable _only_ through the I/O ports, which is why
scrolling is difficult. - 8, 39

7.5) Cartridge Slot Pinout

Looking from the top of the unit:

 D2   D1   D0   A0   A1   A2   SHLD A3   A4   A13  A5   A6   A7  E000 GND
  1    3    5    7    9   11   13   15   17   19   21   23   25   27   29
  2    4    6    8   10   12   14   16   18   20   22   24   26   28   30
C000  D3   D4   D5   D6   D7   A11  A10 8000  A14 A000  A12  A9   A8   +5

Pin 13 is the shield ground.  It is connected to a screw post, but not to a
signal  The four chip selects are active low. - 29

7.6) ADAM Printer/Power Port

(Colors of COLECO wires are indicated after voltage ratings)

    1  2  3  4  5
     6  7  8  9

Pin 1 = 12V BROWN
Pin 2 = 12V RED
Pin 3 = 5V  ORANGE
Pin 4 = -5V YELLOW
Pin 5 = Ground GREEN
Pins 6, 7, 8 = Serial Data Clock, Serial Data, Signal Ground?
Pin 9 = No connection - 13

7.7) ADAM Programming Tips

Computers and Electronics April 1984 issue includes a number of programming
tips and ideas for the ADAM, including a number of projects. - 44


8.0) Separate Audio/Video Hack                by Sean Kelly

(The following is a modification which can be used to improve your
 ColecoVision.  The authors of this list and this modification can not
 be responsible for any damage done to your unit or person as a result
 of attempting this modification.)

This is a rather feeble attempt at describing the hack to the ColecoVision
video game system to give separate audio and video outputs to the system.
I am what I call an "Electronics Tinkerer" meaning I have no formal
education in electronics and basically only know what I have been able to
figure out by ripping apart everything I own <grin>!

I am a collector of Classic video games and systems and ran across this
hack on one of the many ColecoVision systems I own.  It actually works
quite well and gives the on-screen images a much crisper look to them.
Audio is generally pretty poor on the ColecoVision and this hack doesn't
do much to help it.

In order to get things started you have to open up the ColecoVision by
removing the 8 screws on the bottom of the case.  With the screws removed,
the case is still something of a pain to open because of the lip on the
expansion port, but just keep working at it and it will eventually come
apart.  Next thing is to remove the screws holding down the motherboard
itself (three of them I believe) and take the motherboard out of the case.
On some versions of the ColecoVision the aluminum cover is soldered to
the circuit board.  If this is the case on yours, you will have to desolder
it and remove both the top and bottom parts to the aluminum cover.  Set
everything but the motherboard aside and you are ready to get to work.

The person that did the hack on this system uses a small automotive-type
fuse block terminal to mount the components of the circuit board on.  I
have located it in the 1992 Radio Shack catalog (page 150) and it is RS
part #274-688.  It comes in a package of four for $1.29.  Here is a list
of the components used: AGAIN - I have no formal electronics education
and don't really know how to read all the weird symbols on the parts.  I
will do my best to describe them (I have also labeled them on the line
below for future reference - take note):

  Transistor - No part # markings at all.  Only thing on it is a white, red,
  (T1)         and green stripe in that order from top to bottom.  I assume
               this tells what kind/type it is?

               POSSIBLE (!) RS Part #276-1617   $1.98 (pkg. of 2)

  Capacitor  - Electrolytic type with  part #N8408 on it.  It also has the
  (C1)         marking "470uf 35v", but the "u" is one of the funny symbols
               that I have no idea what it means.

               RS Part #272-1030    $ .99

  Capacitor  - Ceramic Disc type.  Only marking on it is an underlined "47".
  (C2)

               RS Part #272-121   $ .39 (pkg. of 2)

  Resistor   - I know these are defined by the colored stripes (See - I'm
  (R1)         not a complete idiot!!  haha).  The stripes are: Orange,
               Orange, Brown, and Gold.

  A/V Cable  - One Audio/Video cable with the RCA plugs cut off on one end.

  You will also need about 5 small pieces of wire around 4" long each.

We're looking at a total of about five bucks to do this so for parts that do
not come in packages of two or more, I would suggest buying an extra one,
unless you know what you're doing, in case you screw something up.

The center connector on your terminal will be the ground for all the
components because it is the only terminal that sticks out on both sides
of the block.  The part the extends on the bottom will be used to mount
to terminal to the ColecoVision motherboard.  Directly to the right of
the RF modulator (big silver box on the motherboard) right under the
letter of the revision of the motherboard (the one I am looking at is
"J") you will have to scrape off a section of the green coating so you
can solder the terminal on the bottom to the motherboard.  After
soldering this bend the terminal block so that it is standing straight
up from the motherboard.

Since many of the components will be "tied" together, you might want to
connect them all to the posts first and then solder them later.  The way
I am going to describe how to connect them will (hopefully) make it as
easy as possible to understand.  The following is a listing of each post
numbered from 1-5, left to right, looking at the terminal block from the
back of the motherboard.  Looking at the "back" you will be looking at
the channel 3-4 switch as well as the RCA plug that is used to connect
the ColecoVision to the TV/Game switch now. Here is what goes on each post:

  Post #1 - The LEFT "leg" of the transistor.  I am looking at the
            transistor on the side that is curved - where you can see the
            color bands.

            One of the small pieces of wire goes from this post to the right
            leg of the disc capacitor on the ColecoVision motherboard
            itself marked "C22".

  Post #2 - The CENTER "leg" of the transistor.

            One "leg" from the Disc capacitor.

            One of the small pieces of wire goes from this post to the
            underside of the ColecoVision motherboard.  It will be EXTREMELY
            hard for me to explain where to connect this on the bottom of
            the motherboard since there are no markings on this side.  The
            only way I can describe it is to say that it is being connected
            to one of the components in the RF modulator.  The RF modulator
            is "outlined" in a sense on the bottom of the MB with solder
            because of grounding.  You need to connect it to the pin that
            has the marking "+12" at about 5 O'Clock.  This is the closest
            pin to he "+12" marking.


  Post #3 - This is the GROUND post.  One side of the resistor is connected
            here.

            The two ground wires from the RCA cables must be connected here
            also.  Each Audio/Video wire has two wires inside of it.  In
            general, one is shielded in plastic and the other is not.  The
            unshielded wire is the ground.  Connect the unshielded wire from
            each cable to this post.


  Post #4 - The side of the Electrolytic capacitor (C1) that the arrow
            printed on the capacitor points to.

            This is where I am sort of unable to help you.  The positive
            wire from the Audio or Video wire needs to be connected to this
            post.  Since the RCA ends are cut off the cable I don't know
            which is which.  It should not damage anything by connecting
            them the wrong way, so you will have to take a guess.  One of
            them goes on this post and the other goes on post #5.

  Post #5 - The other of the positive Audio/Video wires gets connected here.

            One of the small pieces of wire goes here.  This one is even
            harder to describe than the one on post 2.  The "outline" in
            solder around where the RF modulator is mounted on the opposite
            side is where you are going to connect this wire.  Looking at
            the bottom of the MB with the expansion port facing you the part
            of the "outline" you need to connect this wire to will be on
            your left.  It's  small section of solder (compared to the
            section on the right) and is about 1.5-2 inches long.  Connect
            this wire anyplace here.

You now have one leg of the transistor (T1), one leg of the resistor (R1),
and one leg of each capacitor just hanging there right?  Connect all of
these together, but do not connect them to any of the posts.  Just sort
of let them hang there.

The person who did this to my system also has one other wire connected
to the bottom of the motherboard, but the other end of it has been cut and
is not connected to anything.  I assume this serves no purpose.


9.0) Copying ColecoVision Cartridges

Some ingenious hackers figured out a way to copy the ADAM Computer's
Super Data Packs to blank cartridges that then can be used on the
ColecoVision.  Most of the ADAM Super Data Packs were duplicates of
ColecoVision Cartridges, but contained an extra screen or other extras
the cartridge version lacked. - JC

FWIW, I've now seen both a Super Donkey Kong and Super Donkey Kong Junior
cart.  The only extras I saw in Super DK Jr. were music during the level
selection, and a fourth screen, but Super Donkey Kong adds some end-of-
screen graphics (the carry-away after screen 1 and falling girders after
screen 2) in addition to its fourth screen. - JH

Note that copying cartridges or software is a violation of copyright
law unless permission to do so has been received from the rights holder.

Also note that pirated and reproduction cartridges for ColecoVision do
exist.  Some dealers sell them; some refuse to.  Not surprisingly, pirated
cartridges are considered to have very little collectible value, so be
aware that they exist - particularly if you run across demo carts and/or
extremely rare titles.


10.0) Repair Tips

The following are suggestions for solving problems with your
ColecoVision.  The authors of this list and these tips can not be
responsible for any damage done to your unit or carts as a result
of attempting these fixes.

10.1) To fix a rolling picture/video problems:

The problem is with the power switch.  You'll notice that if you were
to jiggle it a little without turning the system off that it will make
a complete mess of your screen.  What I suggest is that you desolder
the power switch from the circuit board, take the metal cover off of
it and clean all the contacts and re-grease them after cleaning them.
Make sure the metal cover is REALLY TIGHT when you put it back on though.
>From then on if you are very careful when turning the unit on/off it
should work OK for you.

If you still have a problem go to an electronics store... and get a
similar switch and replace it.  Nothing else you can do really. - 05

                - - -

Sorry if this is stating the obvious, but you seem to have a combination
of an intermittent open and a heat sensitive component.

Get a can of "cold spray" made for isolating thermal intermittents:
should be a couple of bucks at a local electronics shop.  If you can
get the box open and get to all the components, it should be fairly
straightforward to figure out which one is the bad guy.

Actually, by your description (starts good, goes bad after 2 minutes,
can be affected mechanically) leans towards a bad solder connection
(or socket it the darn thing has them).  It may be as easy as touching
up a few solder connections. - 06

                - - -

If the video problem is simply vertical lines dragging behind the sprites,
it can sometimes be solved by using a different power supply. - 16

                - - -

A number of problems (warping sprites, lack of audio, lines in sprites,
etc.) can, in many circumstances, be solved simply by assuring a solid
connection between the power supply and unit.  This can require
hardwiring the power supply to the unit. - 33

                - - -

In some cases, sprite problems can be solved by cleaning the cartridge
in question.  But if the startup screen has letters screwed up, such as
CKHACK, you probably have a bad DRAM.  U10 is D7 and U17 is D0.  CKHACK
indicates a bad D2 line, which would be U15.  General directions for
replacing a bad chip can be found in Section 10.3. - 29

10.2) To avoid an automatic level select problem:

One common ColecoVision trouble is that the controller ports break down
easily, causing symptoms such as the ColecoVision thinking the keypad is
constantly being pressed (which can cause the a game to be automatically
started, as the level select is essentially instantaneous).  A frequent
source for this problem is the high sensitivity to static electricity
which the controller port pins exhibit.  To avoid the problem, simply
don't touch the controller port pins unless properly grounded. - 08

10.3) To fix an automatic level select problem:

One possible piece which can be blown by static electricity at the
controller ports (see 10.2) is the SN74LS541N chip, a 3-to-8 decoder.
If this is the chip that's blown, then replacing this chip (a generic
component, available at any good electronics store) can solve the
problem. - 13, 15

Parts:

    A good soldering iron (with a very thin tip)
    Computer solder (thin)
    Solder wick
    Needle nose pliers
    An SN74LS541N chip
    Two 2.2K K27 resistor packets (optional/recommended)

Getting started:

Plug in and turn on the Coleco with a Donkey Kong cart inserted.  When the
game automatically goes into play mode, note if the Mario moves without
touching the joystick.  If so, then the 1st player chip is definitely
damaged.  If a two player game is the one automatically started (which
seems to be the prevalent fail mode) automatic movement of the second
player's Mario likewise indicates that the 2nd player chip is certainly
damaged.  Lack of automatic movement does not rule out the possibility that
either or both chips are damaged; indeed, given the automatic select problem,
it's likely that at least one chip is damaged.  But determining that one
chip is certainly damaged can minimize your work.

Surgery:

1) Turn off and unplug your ColecoVision, removing the cartridge.

2) Make certain that you are properly grounded, if possible.

3) Open the plastic casing for the unit.

4) Remove the metal cover from the board by desoldering it.  It just
   gets in the way so its better to remove it.  It is not essential to
   the working of the game, though it can be resoldered later if desired.

5) the bare board upside down and find the soldering connections for the
   SN74LS541N chip that you wish to replace.

6) Note the orientation of the SN74LS541N you intend to replace, so that
   you can be certain that you provide the same orientation for the
   replacement chip.

7) Take the soldering iron and solder wick.  Place the wick on one of
   the solder connections on the board.  Press the solder iron on the wick.
   The iron will heat up the wick which will heat up the solder.  The
   solder will turn liquid and be absorbed by the wick.  This takes some
   practice before you get the hang of it.

8) Absorb as much of the solder as possible from all of the connections
   to the chip you're removing as possible.

9) Flip the board back over and take the pliers.  This is where you have
   to get tough with your Coleco, and let it know who's boss!  Growl at
   it occasionally to let off steam.  Now, being careful not to
   harm any other components on the board, grip the defective chip with
   the pliers and pull and pry.  It's OK to break the chip because it's
   defective garbage anyway.

*** Note - it's a good idea to wiffle each of the pins to pop them off
    any remaining solder.  In fact, if the chip really is dead, it's
    better to just snip or Dremel all the pins off first, _then_ desolder
    the pins individually. - 29

10) After forcibly removing bits of the defective chip from the board,
    remove any broken pins stuck in the board, extra solder, etc. so that
    the area that was occupied by that chip is clean.  Suck up the solder
    from the pinholes with the wick so that you can see right through the
    board through each pinhole.  Gee, your ColecoVision never looked better!

11) Take the new SN74LS541N chip and gently install it in the board,
    inserting the pins in the pinholes.  Make sure that the chip is
    oriented in the same direction that the original chip was!  Gently
    bend the pins if necessary so that they all go in the holes.  Be
    careful not to press too hard as you might bend some pins that aren't
    properly aligned with their holes.

12) Flip the board over.  Take the solder iron and the computer solder
    and solder each connection carefully.  Isn't this fun?  Don't you
    feel like a computer technician now? :)

13) Optional/recommended: Replace the resistor packets on the port in a
    similar (though much easier) manner.  For these parts, note the DOT
    orientation when replacing.

14) Put the board back in the plastic case to avoid shock.

10.4) To fix a broken roller controller:

When a roller controller will not register movement in one pair of
directions (up-down or right-left), the problem might be with the infrared
motion detectors.  The pair of sensors appropriate to the direction
simply need to be replaced with new off the shelf send and receive sensors.

Jumping and contact problems can usually be traced to the bearings.
Sometimes these problems can be solved by cleaning the bearings; often,
however, the problem can not be solved. - 11, 14

10.5) To fix a poorly responding controller:

A simple cleaning with a can of compressed air and TV tuner cleaner can
greatly improve the responsiveness of the standard controllers.

10.6) To fix a dead cartridge:

Most cartridge problems are a result of bad (or no) contact between the
cartridge and the system.  Cleaning the cartridge and system contacts
with alcohol usually solves the problem.  As a last resort, a pencil
eraser or emery board can be used on the contacts of the cartridge. - JH


11.0) ColecoVision Dealers

ColecoVision cartridges are nearly always cheapest when purchased from a
thrift store or flea market.  For example, I've purchased a great majority
of the carts I own, including a number of difficult to find titles, for
$1 to $5.  However, when you can't find a cartridge, there are a number
of dealers who sell (via mail order) a line of ColecoVision cartridges:

Note: the following are listed alphabetically.  An attempt has been
made to provide basic information about their ColecoVision lines.
Inclusion on this list carries with it no recommendation, either
positive or negative, about the dealer.  Additional dealers who
sell a line of ColecoVision products via mail order will be gladly
added to the list.


Adam's House
    Snail Mail: Rt. 2, Box 2756
            Pearland, TX 77581
    Phone: [phone]

    Carry a wide range of cartridges and hardware, all new.  Take
    MC/VI.  Cartridge review manual available free with any order.

    Note: According to Adam's House, a number of the titles in
    their catalog are reproductions, produced under a European
    license and imported.  If you want to know whether a title
    is the original version or a reproduction, ask them.

Dayton Discount
    Snail Mail: Hwy 92
            Belleville, WI 53508
    Phone: [phone]

JerryG Visionaries
    Snail Mail: 14700 NW Bonneville Loop
                Beaverton, OR 97006
    EMail (preferred): [e-mail]

    Carries a wide range of cartridges and hardware, new and used.
    Catalog available via email.  Takes MC/VI.

Sean Kelly
    Snail Mail: 5789 N. Milwaukee
            Chicago, IL 60646
    Phone: [phone]
    EMail: [e-mail]

    Carries a wide range of cartridges and hardware, new and used.

MP Games
    Snail Mail: 2 Rock Ridge Dr.
                Norwalk, CT 06854
    Phone: [phone]

    Carries a small selection of used cartridges and hardware.

Telegames UK
    Snail Mail: Wigston
            Leicester
            LE8 1TE
            England
    Phone: [phone]

    Carry a wide range of cartridges and hardware, all new.  Take
    MC/VI.  Overseas shipping is #10.00 and up (U.S. - #12).
    Note: Telegames has legitimate parts for games they do not
    have cases for, and will package said parts in other cases.

Telegames USA
    Snail Mail: Box 901
            Lancaster, TX 75146
    Phone: [phone]

    Carry a wide range of cartridges and hardware, all new.  Take
    MC/VI.  Note: Telegames has legitimate parts for games they do
    not have cases for, and will package said parts in other cases.

Then Games (Scott Stone/Mark Terry)
    Snail Mail: 100-23 West Milton Road
                Milton, Vermont 05468
    Phone: 6-9pm EST [phone] ask for Scott -or-
                     [phone] ask for Mark
    EMail: [e-mail]

    Carry a moderate variery of new and used cartridges.  Catalog
    available via email.

Steven J. Tucker
    Snail Mail: 9897 York Road
            North Royalton, OH 44133
    EMail: [e-mail]

    Carries a moderate variety of used titles and hardware.  Catalog
    available via email.

Video Magic (Frank Polosky)
    Snail Mail: P.O. Box 9542
            Pittsburgh, PA 15223
    Phone: [phone]

    Carries a wide range of cartridges and hardware, new and used.

Gregg Woodcock
    Phone: [phone]
    EMail: [e-mail]

    Carries a small selection of cartridges and hardware, new and
    used, including the Telegames Personal Arcade.

In addition, numerous collectors will post carts for sale or trade on
rec.games.video.classic and rec.games.video.marketplace.


12.0) ADAM Dealers, User Groups, and Bulletin Boards

The following list was posted by Joey McDonald.  Others to include
additions/corrections/etc. include:

Geoff Oltmans

--- ADAM VENDORS ---

Howard Pines, Oscar's Computers
224-F Eglin Parkway
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548
[phone]

Terry Fowler, ADAM's HOUSE
Rt. 2, Box 2756, 1829-1 Co. Rd. 130
Pearland, TX 77581
[phone]

Alan Neeley, ADAM-LINK-OF UTAH
2337 South 600 East
Salt Lake City, Utah 84106
[phone]

Steve Major, The ADAM Connection
P.O. Box 562, Mason Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919-0562

--- USER GROUPS ---

ECAUG
P.O. Box 4934
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549-4934

--- ADAM BBS's ---

ADAM CASTLE - MO
300 Baud-9pm/9am-7days
314-431-5722
sysop: Shawn Merrick

ADAM CONNECTION BBS - NY
300/1200/-24 hours
[phone]
Sysop: Steve Majors

ADAM EXCHANGE BBS - OH
300/1200/2400/-24 hours
[phone]
Sysop: George Koczwara

ADAM-LINK BBS - AZ
300/1200 Buad-24hours
[phone]
Sysop: Rusty Gillott

ADAM-LINK BBS - UT
300/1200 6pm/9am+wkends
[phone]
Sysop: Alan Neeley

ADAM LINK BBS - NJ
300-24 hours
[phone]
Sysop: Fred Vicente

ADVENTURE LINE - MICH
300 24hours
[phone]
Sysop: ?

AWAUG BBS - VA
300/1200 24hours
[phone]
Sysop: Jeff Jodoin

CAT'S LAIR BBS - VT
300/1200 24hours
[phone]
Sysop: Pete Ames

COLECO DEPOT BBS - NY
300 8pm/12mid/7days
[phone]
Sysop: Daryll Quinn

GAS STATION - TX
300/1200 24hours
[phone]

IEAUG - CA
300/1200 24hours
[phone]
Sysop: Larry Overman

INNER CIRCLE - FL
300/1200 24hours
[phone]

LAS VEGAS ADAMLINK - NV
300 24-hours
[phone]

MACH-I BBS - WI
300/1200
[phone]

MAINE BBS - ME
300/1200
[phone]

MICRO INNOVATIONS BBS - VA
300/1200/2400 (24hourswkends)
[phone]

MSB BBS - AZ
300/2400 24hrs
[phone]

NORTHERN LINK BBS - CAN
300/1200 24hrs
[phone]

ROCKY MOUNTAIN BBS - CO
300/1200 24hrs
[phone]

ST. LOIS BBS - MO
300/1200
[phone]

TAPPS - CAN
300/1200
[phone]

THOMAS ELECTRONICS - CAN
300/1200/2400 24hrs
[phone]

TRADING POST - OH
300/1200 24hrs
[phone]

VOICE OF AN EAGLE - KY
[phone]
Created: April 1, 1996. Updated: September 10, 1996.
 ›0m