For a full profile of the ColecoVision see - ColecoVision - Profile of the Record Breaking Home Arcade
While the masses fondly remember the Nintendo Entertainment System as the first arcade quality home console, retro enthusiasts and hardcore gamers agree that there was one system that trumped the NES in both critical acclaim, impact and nostalgia, the ColecoVision.
In its brief two year lifespan ColecoVision broke expectations, sales records and was well on its way to becoming the most successful console in history, had it not been for the industry collapse in 1983/84 and a risky gamble to convert the console into a home computer.
The Pre-History:
In some respects the name of this article could have been titled, Coleco: The House that Atari Built, as Coleco created an entire business on cloning and advancing Atari technology.
In 1975 Atari's Pong was a major hit in both arcades and self contained home units, far exceeding sales of their only competition, the Magnavox Odyssey. With the overnight success of Pong, all kinds of companies were attempting to make the leap into video games, including the Connecticut Leather Company (aka Coleco), who had started their business in leather goods and then moved into manufacturing plastic wading pools.
A year after Pong's release Coleco entered the video game fray with the very first Pong clone, the Telstar. In addition to containing Pong (called Tennis here) the chip had been modified to include two variations of the game, Hockey and Handball. Having more than one game also made the Telstar the world's first dedicated console.
Although Atari owned the rights to Pong, legally they couldn't battle the tidal wave of clones hitting the market. There was already a grey area surrounding the game as Atari themselves had "borrowed" the concept and design from Tennis for Two, which some ague to be the very first video game, as well as the Magnavox Odyssey's Tennis game that released a year prior to Pong.
At first the Telstar was a big seller and over the next two years Coleco released several different models, each with more Pong variations and an increase in quality. The microchip that Telstar used was actually manufactured by General Electric. As GE wasn't bound by an exclusive agreement any company seeking to get into the video game business could get their own Pong clone using the GE chips. Eventually even Atari turned to GE as it was a cheaper solution than manufacturing the chips themselves. Soon the market was flooded with hundreds of different Pong rip-offs, and sales started to nosedive.
As people began to tire of Pong, Atari saw the potential in creating a system with a wide variety of games on interchangeable cartridges, and in 1977 they released the Atari 2600 (aka Atari VCS) . The 2600 quickly became a major success, dominating the market until 1982 when Coleco decided to go back to the well of Atari tech for the ColecoVision.
Body of a Console - Heart of a Computer.
In 1982 the home market was dominated by the Atari 2600 and Mattel's Intellivision. Many had tried to compete, but failed...until ColecoVision came along.
By the early 80s computer technology was becoming less expensive thanks to the Commodore 64, and consumers were craving higher quality games. Coleco delivered by being the first to put a computer processor into a home video game console. Although this increased the cost to 50% higher than the competition, it allowed Coleco to deliver near arcade quality.
Although the advance technology was a selling point, it wasn't enough to pull away customers from the established, dominating force of the Atari 2600. In addition to needing a hit game, for Coleco to steal away customers from the 2600 they would also need to once again steal Atari's tech.
