By the early 80s Nintendo had only dipped a toe into the home video game pool with their own Pong clone, the Color TV Game System. Nintendo's main game business was coming from arcades with their first major hit, Donkey Kong. At the time there was a bidding war between Atari and Mattel for the home video game rights to Donkey Kong, but Coleco swooped in with an immediate offer and a promise to make the game higher in quality than any other system could deliver. DK went to Coleco who made a near perfect recreation and packaged it with the ColecoVision. The chance to play the arcade hit at home drive drove sales of the console to major success.
The other factor in ColecoVision breaking sales records was their first Expansion Module. Since the ColecoVision was built with computer technology, just like a computer it could be modified with hardware add-ons that expanded its capabilities. Expansion Module #1 launched alongside ColecoVision and contained an emulator that would allow the system to play Atari 2600 cartridges. Gamers now had a single system that could cross-platforms, giving ColecoVision the largest library of games than any other console. This pushed ColecoVision over the top as it quickly outsold both Atari and Intellivision in a matter of months.
Atari tried to intervene by suing Coleco for violating their 2600 patent, but at the time video games were such a new concept that there were few laws in place protecting ownership rights. Atari had taken a beating trying to protect their tech over the years, not just with Pong clones but with the courts allowing unauthorized games to be made for the 2600. Coleco was able to squeeze through the courts by proving they had built their emulator with off-the-shelf parts. As none of the individual components were owned by Atari, the courts didn't feel it was a patent violation. Upon this ruling Coleco not only continued with their sales, but made a separate stand alone 2600 clone called the Coleco Gemini.
The Games
The ColecoVision touted arcade quality games in a home system, and although these were not direct ports of the coin-op arcade titles, they were remade to match the ColecoVision's capability which was still more advanced than anyone had previously seen in a home system.
The Donkey Kong game that came with the system is not only the closest ColecoVision came to recreating an original arcade game, but it is the most complete version of Donkey Kong ever released for a home system. Even the version Nintendo released themselves for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and more recently the Nintendo Wii, does not contain all of the arcade levels.
While many could argue that the launch titles, especially Donkey Kong, are remarkably close to arcade quality, many of the systems subsequent games did not show as much time or care. Visually and gameplay-wise there were numerous ColecoVision titles that couldn't hold a flame to their coin-op counterparts, such as Galaga and Popeye.
