|
Welcome to the ColecoVision
Collection List, or as I prefer to call it, the ColEx.
The ColEx is a list of nearly every ColecoVision game ever
made, complete with ratings, release data, and brief
descriptions of every title.
Each game is given a letter grade
similar to those used on report cards. However,
there is an additional letter grade, "S", reserved solely for
the handful of ColecoVision games that everyone should
try. Even if you don't have a ColecoVision, run them
from an emulator... trust me, I know you'll like them.
The Gameroom Blitz also recommends games marked with an "A",
and thinks ones marked with a "B" are worth a shot if you
liked similar titles... for instance, you'll want to try Nova
Blast if you enjoyed the Defender arcade game. "C" rated
games are crap shoots... they could have been much better
games if it hadn't been for annoying flaws like choppy
scrolling and single colored sprites, but you might enjoy them
anyways. I wouldn't bother with "D" rated titles, and
all the games given an "F" are, as the rating suggests,
failures.
Speaking of ratings, you'll find
a graph at the end of the ColEx ranking all the companies who
released these games back in the early 1980's. It's just
a fun little thing I've done to illustrate which third parties
were the Konamis and Capcoms of the time... and which ones
were more like the late, not so great Acclaim or T*HQ.
Naturally, since the homebrew designers weren't making games
back then, they're not included in the graph.
Well, I guess that's it.
Feel free to dive right in... and for maximum enjoyment, play
some of the games on the ColEx (either with a real
ColecoVision or an emulator) and compare your opinions to
mine.
#
|
2010: The Graphic Adventure
Game |
Coleco |
Action/Puzzle |
|
| An inventive puzzle game
that's perhaps a little too puzzlingly
complicated. But hey, if you can follow the plot
to the
films... | |
| |
A
|
Air
Battle |
Dan
Bienvenu |
Shooter |
|
| The ColecoVision version of
the airplane battles in Combat. The
digitized background is pretty rough.
| |
| |
|
Alcazar: The Forgotten
Fortress |
Activision |
Adventure |
|
| An impressive, complex
precursor to Zelda with challenging gameplay and
fairly attractive
graphics. | |
| |
|
Alphabet
Zoo |
Fisher
Price |
Education |
|
| Search through a maze for
letters spelling out the names of badly drawn
animals. Someone hand me a copy of
Pac-Man... or a gun. Right now, I'm not
picky. | |
| |
|
Amazing
Bumpman |
Telegames |
Education |
|
| Don't expect Math Blaster
quality out of this one. This ugly rubbish
(something about pushing around numbers) never
makes a hint of
sense. | |
| |
|
Amazing
Snake |
SET |
Action/Maze |
|
| This is probably the fastest
snake game I've ever played. That's good
because it's more exciting this way... but bad
because it's very easy to crash into walls.
| |
| |
|
Antarctic
Adventure |
Coleco/Konami |
Action/Racing |
|
| Konami proved their
worth as a developer early on with this
cute, fun racing game that could very easily
have inspired Out-Run and other racing
titles. | |
| |
|
Aquattack |
Interphase |
Action/Shooter |
|
| This was Interphase's
attempt to capture the excitement of a James
Bond film, but the convoluted control makes
this seem more like Austin Powers. Not
groovy,
baby! | |
| |
|
Artillary
Duel |
Xonox |
Strategy |
|
| This precursor to games like
Scorched Earth and Worms is
pretty impressive by Xonox's
low standards, although the graphics are
rough. | |
| |
B
|
BC's Quest for
Tires |
Sierra
On-Line |
Action |
|
| A fast side-scrolling
platformer that plays a little like a clumsy
version of Moon Patrol without the
extraterrestrial
conflicts. | |
| |
|
BC II: Grog's
Revenge |
Sierra
On-Line |
Action |
|
| Another lame-brained
designer made the mistake of trying to add
adventure elements to a game that didn't need
them. | |
| |
|
Beamrider |
Activision |
Shooter |
|
| Dave Rolfe's overlooked but
entertaining shooter, with a futuristic grid
background which unfortunately restricts your
movement. | |
| |
|
Blockade
Runner |
Innerphase |
3D
Shooter |
|
| A butt-ugly Star Raiders
clone that's too complicated and rarely ever
exciting. Most of the six million similar
games on the 2600 are
better. | |
| |
|
Boulder
Dash |
Microfun |
Puzzle |
|
| An intensely challenging
puzzle game that borrows some ideas from Dig Dug
but expects a whole lot more from the
player. | |
| |
|
Brain
Strainers |
Coleco |
Education |
|
| A jumble of crappy
mini-games designed to test your patience- er,
math skills. That's edutainment,
folks! | |
| |
|
Breakout |
D.
Bienvenu |
Action |
|
| Based on the popular Atari
game, but not quite as smooth. The bricks
look nice, though.
| |
| |
|
Buck Rogers and the Planet of
Zoom |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| If only Mel Blanc were
around to review this crummy shooter with
horrible 3D effects... "Bidee bidee bidee...
this sucks,
Buck." | |
| |
|
Bump 'n
Jump |
Coleco |
Action/Racing |
|
| The control's a little
sluggish, but the rest of the game is pretty
fast, offering a sense of excitement and panic
that's lacking from many arcade ports on the
ColecoVision. | |
| |
|
Bump 'n
Jump |
Mattel |
Action/Racing |
|
| A rough, unpolished version
of the game that was eventually distributed by
Coleco itself. Nearly everything is worse,
but the sound and gameplay suffers the most...
your car is sluggish and the music lacks depth
and
personality. | |
| |
|
Burgertime |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| Very close to the Data East
coin-op, with detailed sprites and surprisingly
colorful playfield
objects. | |
| |
|
Burgertime |
Mattel |
Action |
|
| A reasonable translation of
the arcade game, but Coleco's version is much
more
colorful. | |
| |
|
Bustin Out
1 |
D.
Bienvenu |
Action |
|
| Behind brick wall number
one, we have... boobies!
| |
| |
|
Bustin Out
2 |
D.
Bienvenu |
Action |
|
| And behind brick wall number
two... more boobies! Seriously, this is a
side-view Breakout clone with the added bonus of
nudie
pictures. | |
| |
C
|
Cabbage Patch Kids: Adv. in the
Park |
Coleco/Konami |
Action |
|
| Another fabulous, nearly
arcade quality Konami release that plays like a
less complex Pitfall or Super Mario
Bros. | |
| |
|
Cabbage Patch Kids Picture
Show |
Coleco |
Creativity |
|
| Dress (or UNdress, if you
dare) Coleco's chubby faced dolls and prance
them around a bunch of blocky
backgrounds. | |
| |
|
Campaign
'84 |
Sunrise |
Action |
|
| A silly and very slow action
game capitalizing on a dull election, in the
year people were most sick of video games.
Oops. | |
| |
|
Carnival |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| A fine translation of a game
inspired by the arcades of the 50's and 60's,
before video games were
invented. | |
| |
|
Centipede |
Atarisoft |
Shooter |
|
| A decent conversion of the
popular Atari coin-op. Nicely animated but
kind of ugly
sprites. | |
| |
|
Choplifter |
Coleco |
Action/Shooter |
|
| I've never gotten too
excited about this game, and this is a pretty
barebones translation. The gameplay is
solid,
however. | |
| |
|
Chuck Norris:
Superkicks |
Xonox |
Fighting |
|
| Trust me, it's not as
exciting as it sounds. The fights are as
stiff and leaden as Chuck Norris' acting,
and the maze sections are a complete
annoyance. | |
| |
|
Congo
Bongo |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| 3D Donkey Kong,
anyone? Looks marvelous on the
ColecoVision but the isometric viewpoint does
hurt the
gameplay. | |
| |
|
Cosmic
Avenger |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| It looks promising, but
despite all the window dressing there's just not
enough in this shooter to shoot!
Frustrating gameplay,
too. | |
| |
|
Cosmic
Crisis |
Bit Corp |
Action |
|
| A more impressive game than
Coleco's own Space Panic but it's nowhere near
as fun as Mr Do!'s
Castle. | |
| |
|
Cosmo Fighter
2 |
M.
DeKogel |
Shooter |
|
| I have to give Marcel credit
for pulling this off, but I've played better,
more focused shooters on the
ColecoVision. | |
| |
D
|
Dac-Man |
D.
Bienvenu |
Action |
|
| The ColecoVision definitely
needed a Pac-Man game in its library, but this
one doesn't quite fill that niche. Too
choppy. | |
| |
|
Dam
Busters |
Coleco/Sydney |
Flight
Sim |
|
| Offers all the frustration
of flying a WWII craft without the illusion of
flight. Those little yellow dots barely
give you the illusion of
MOVEMENT. | |
| |
|
Dance
Fantasy |
Fisher-Price |
Music/Rythym |
|
| Program a mannequin to
perform sequences of badly animated dance
routines. I think I'll cut Dance Dance
Revolution a lot more slack after having played
this. | |
| |
|
(The Activision)
Decathlon |
Activision |
Sports |
|
| It's a shame Atarisoft never
released Track 'n Field for the ColecoVision,
but this is good enough. Plenty of events,
as the title suggests, and a lot of them are
quite fun. | |
| |
|
Defender |
Atarisoft |
Shooter |
|
| Doesn't look or feel as
smooth as the other versions, and that slick,
responsive gameplay is very important in a game
this tough. A rare miss from
Atarisoft. | |
| |
|
Destructor |
Coleco |
Action/Racing |
|
| Drive around crushing
roaches that turn into crystals... now there's a
concept that's hard to resist! Hard to
play, but strangely
fun. | |
| |
|
Dig Dug |
Atarisoft |
Action |
|
| An acceptable translation of
Dig Dug, but it's not quite as solid as
Atarisoft's other titles. The graphics
(especially the flickery sprites) are kind of
ugly. | |
| |
|
Donkey
Kong |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| I'd call this roughly half
an arcade translation. So much from the
coin-op is missing, it's ridiculous. It
plays fairly well,
though. | |
| |
|
Donkey Kong
Jr. |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| Not quite as disappointing
as Donkey Kong on the ColecoVision, but not what
you'd call a polished
conversion. | |
| |
|
Dr. Seuss's Fix-Up the
Mix-Up |
Coleco |
Education |
|
| Sure, it's just an easier
version of those sliding tile games, but those
well drawn Sneetches remind me of all the times
my mom used to read Seuss books to me when I was
a kid.
(snif) | |
| |
|
Dragonfire |
Imagic |
Action |
|
| Gorgeous artwork, but this
has got to be one of the most unforgiving
versions of Dragonfire I've ever
played! | |
| |
|
The Dukes of
Hazzard |
Coleco |
Racing |
??? |
| The 3D viewpoint in this
driving game is surprisingly well done, but I
can't quite figure out how to play it. It
looks very promising,
though... | |
| |
E
|
Escape from the
Mindmaster |
Epyx |
Adventure |
|
| Not quite as impressive as
the 2600 version, but it's still a challenging
and inventive first person maze
game. | |
| |
|
Evolution |
Sydney |
Action |
|
| To quote Mark Hamill, this
unlikable selection of mini games is a
"conceptual nightmare". I mean, evolving
from a rat to a beaver to an ape? Talk
about your missing
links. | |
| |
F
|
Facemaker |
Spinnaker |
Education |
??? |
| I can imagine the face
I'd make if my parents had bought me this
game when I was a
kid... | |
| |
|
The Fall
Guy |
Fox |
Action/Racing |
|
| The driving in this game is
about as on-rails as you can get... only
Dragon's Lair has less interaction. The
frustrating platform sections are no picnic,
either. | |
| |
|
Fathom |
Imagic |
Action |
|
| It's hard not to be reminded
of Ecco the Dolphin while playing this game, but
you can also transform into a seagull to collect
items in
mid-air. | |
| |
|
Flipper
Slipper |
Spectravideo |
Action |
|
| What the hell is this, Marty
Stouffer's Wild Breakout?! This is much
more playable than it should be, even with those
nasty bent
paddles. | |
| |
|
Fortune
Builder |
Coleco/Synapse |
Strategy |
|
| SimCity on the ColecoVision
sounds about as likely as Street Fighter II on
the 2600, but it does exist. And it's
really well done,
too! | |
| |
|
Fraction
Fever |
Fisher-Price |
Education |
|
| Ugh... I can believe that
this is by Tom Snyder. It's every bit as
boring and pointless as his old talk show.
Bounce a pogo stick around and... and...
zzz... | |
| |
|
Frantic
Freddy |
Spectravideo |
Action |
|
| Another Spectravision dud
starring a fire extinguisher with gangly arms
and legs. Santulli was right... it's a
lame mascot for an equally crappy
game. | |
| |
|
Frenzy |
Coleco |
Action/Shooter |
|
| Even without the voice, this
is better than the arcade game... the animation
is more convincing and the music is
fantastic. | |
| |
|
Frogger |
Parker
Bros. |
Action |
|
| A most excellent conversion
of the arcade game... some tunes and slightly
sharper artwork are the only things that are
missing. | |
| |
|
Frogger II:
Threedeep! |
Parker
Bros. |
Action |
|
| The multiple levels in this
sequel add variety to the game, but Frogger II
isn't as user friendly as the original... and
the jagged graphics don't help matters
much. | |
| |
|
Front
Line |
Coleco |
Action/Shooter |
|
| A precursor to Commando with
clumsy aiming control and a bowlegged army
that seems to have been trained by Gomer
Pyle. | |
| |
G
|
Galaxian |
Atarisoft |
Shooter |
|
| An almost flawless
conversion of the arcade game... it makes me
wish the ColecoVision had lasted long enough to
get a translation of the sequel,
Galaga. | |
| |
|
Gateway to
Apshai |
Epyx |
Role-Playing |
|
| An excellent RPG that most
likely inspired games like Fatal Labyrinth and
Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon. It could
definitely use a game save feature,
though. | |
| |
|
Gorf |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| An absolutely rotten
translation of the Midway coin-op. Judging
from the cheesy graphics and gameplay, I doubt
the programmers even played the
original. | |
| |
|
Gust
Buster |
Sunrise |
Uh...? |
|
| I was really looking forward
to this, but the confusing and limited control
ruins it. Try Balloon Kid on the Game Boy
instead. | |
| |
|
Gyruss |
Parker
Bros. |
Shooter |
|
| This arcade translation has
that cheap console feel, with single colored
enemies and imprecise collision detection, but
it still turned out better than Gorf
did. | |
| |
H
|
Happy
Halloween |
D.
Bienvenu |
Shooter |
|
| An overhead view shooter by
Ms. Space Fury co-creator Daniel Bienvenu.
| |
| |
|
H.E.R.O. |
Activision |
Action/Shooter |
|
| Just as fun and challenging
as the 2600 game, but with colorful new
backgrounds... this could have been called
H.E.R.O. DX. Probably Activision's best
ColecoVision
title. | |
| |
|
The
Heist |
Microfun |
Action |
|
| Microfun, eh? Well, I
had a microscopic amount of fun playing this,
that's for sure. There's plenty of boredom
and frustration to go around,
though. | |
| |
I
|
Illusions |
Coleco/Nice
Ideas |
Puzzle? |
|
| The only illusion around
here seems to be the gameplay... there's barely
any. It's a shame, because the isometric
playfields are
beautiful. | |
| |
|
It's Only Rock 'n
Roll |
Xonox |
Simulation |
|
| I know, it's only rock 'n
roll, but I hate it, hate it, yes I do! I
could have forgiven all the text if the
simulation had been well designed, but it's
not. Suck it,
Clive. | |
| |
J
|
James Bond:
007 |
Parker
Bros. |
Action/Shooter |
|
| This frustrating
side-scrolling shooter is only slightly better
than Aquattack because the controls aren't as
convoluted. | |
| |
|
Jeepers
Creepers |
D.
Bienvenu |
Action |
??? |
| An expanded version of Happy
Halloween by Daniel Bienvenu, written
specifically for ColecoVision owners.
| |
| |
|
Joust |
Atarisoft |
Action |
|
| It's a prototype, but even
without sound you could argue that it's better
than the 5200 version. Like most Atarisoft
games, it's a great arcade translation with no
details
spared. | |
| |
|
Jukebox |
Spinnaker |
Action |
|
| As tough as it is to figure
out, you can't help but love this game.
It's colorful, the music is great, and I love
the ending with the dancing
cats! | |
| |
|
Jumpman
Junior |
Epyx |
Action |
|
| Another brutally hard enemy
jumping, ladder climbing action game in the
tradition of Miner 2049'er and Lode
Runner. | |
| |
|
Jungle
Hunt |
Atarisoft |
Action |
|
| Smooth scrolling and
responsive gameplay make this worth picking up,
especially if you were a fan of the arcade
game. | |
| |
K
|
Ken Uston Blackjack and
Poker |
Coleco |
Gambling |
|
| Why, Ken, why?! I had
so much faith in you... but then you had to go
and let your name get stapled to this EXTREMELY
limited gambling sim. You should have
endorsed the Intellivision
game! | |
| |
|
Kevtris |
K.
Horton |
Puzzle |
|
| One of the best ColecoVision
homebrew titles available. Kevin's version
of Tetris plays pretty well and has loads of
features. | |
| |
|
Keystone
Kapers |
Activision |
Action |
|
| Surprisingly, this is kind
of garish and blocky in comparison to the 2600
version. The new title screen and stylish
1930's soundtrack are nice touches, but the VCS
game is still
better. | |
| |
|
Kill Barney in
Tokyo |
J.
Dondzila |
Action |
|
| A hack of John Dondzila's
Purple Dinosaur Massacre set in Japan.
Where else would you put a mutant lizard that's
horrifying beyond description?
| |
| |
|
Killer
Instinct |
J.
Dondzila |
Action |
|
| A hack of John Dondzila's
Purple Dinosaur Massacre, with surprisingly well
drawn characters from Nintendo's computer
rendered fighting game.
| |
| |
L
|
Ladybug |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| Coleco's answer to Pac-Man
could have been almost as fun, but your
character tends to stick on walls too often, and
the bad guys almost always have the upper
hand. | |
| |
|
Learning with
Leeper |
Spinnaker |
Education |
|
| What's that freakish eyeball
thing?! Oh no, it's coming this way!
No, I don't want to count and color pictures
with you! Get away from me!!!
ARRGH!!! | |
| |
|
Linking
Logic |
Spinnaker |
Puzzle |
|
| Spinnaker might have been on
to something with this one, because it plays
just a little like Lemmings. Create a safe
path for your character and make him pick up
bricks on the way
down. | |
| |
|
Logic
Levels |
Spinnaker |
Puzzle |
|
| Similar to Linking Logic,
but faster. In this, you've got to set up
a path for a baseball, then drop it, hoping to
get the most possible points from collisions
with bonus
items. | |
| |
|
Looping |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| The weird side-scrolling
flight game that inspired NiGHTS, Sega's weird
side-scrolling flight game. Unfortunately,
this isn't as fun thanks to choppy scrolling and
unforgiving
gameplay. | |
| |
|
Lord of the
Dungeon |
Probe
2000 |
Role-Playing |
|
| This RPG was the most
complex game of its kind on the ColecoVision,
but unfortunately, it was never released by
Phillips and is not yet available as a ROM.
| |
| |
M
|
Matt
Patrol |
Atarisoft |
Action/Shooter |
|
| It's a prototype with
slightly altered graphics, but because the
translation is so good, you can definitely tell
this is Moon Patrol. You won't believe the
smooth gameplay and attention to
detail. | |
| |
|
Memory
Manor |
Spinnaker |
Education |
|
| This would have been more
fun as a simple game of Memory, but the
designers added a lot of unnecessary elements
that make the game
drag. | |
| |
|
Meteoric
Shower |
Bit Corp |
Shooter |
|
| A Galaxian clone with
enemies attacking from above and below...
you can imagine the number of unfair deaths that
result from this. Built into the Telegames
Personal Arcade.
| |
| |
|
Miner
2049'er |
Microfun |
Action |
|
| I was never very interested
in this game. It's a challenging cross
between Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, but it's a
little TOO tough... screw up and you have to do
the level all over again. People really
hate that. | |
| |
|
Monkey
Academy |
Coleco/Konami |
Education |
|
| Konami may be talented, but
even they can't make an educational game kids
would want to play. At least Monkey
Academy is more polished than Spinnaker's
learning
games. | |
| |
|
Montezuma's
Revenge |
Parker
Bros. |
Action |
|
| A deep side-scrolling action
game which offers players the chance to explore
dozens of rooms, each filled with treasures,
power-ups, and
enemies. | |
| |
|
Moonsweeper |
Imagic |
Shooter |
|
| An intense shooter with
convincing 3D effects and enough features to
keep it from getting boring, but not enough to
overcomplicate
it. | |
| |
|
Motocross
Racing |
Xonox |
Racing |
|
| This game would have been
crap anyways, but Xonox didn't need to salt the
wound by forcing the player to use the
ColecoVision keypad to shift gears and even turn
their
bikes. | |
| |
|
Mountain
King |
Sunrise |
Action |
|
| Sunrise should never have
gotten this license... this version of the game
is nowhere near as smooth or enjoyable as
Mountain King on the 5200. It's barely
better than the 2600
game! | |
| |
|
Mouse
Trap |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| Throw Pac-Man and bad Tom
& Jerry episodes in a blender and you've got
this. A decent game, but opening and
closing the gates is
annoying. | |
| |
|
Mr. Do! |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| One of several unacceptable
arcade translations by Coleco. There isn't
even any scrolling in this game and it's STILL
choppy! | |
| |
|
Mr. Do!'s
Castle |
Parker
Bros. |
Action |
|
| More people should play
this. It was spectacular in arcades and
still very good on the ColecoVision.
Imagine Lode Runner, but less puzzle oriented
and a lot more fun.
| |
| |
|
Ms. Space
Fury |
D.
Bienvenu |
Action |
|
| A wacky platformer that's
more impressive than most homebrews and even a
little bit better than the ColecoVision version
of Miner
2049'er. | |
| |
|
|
|
CLICK
FOR M-Z... | |
|
|