|
N
|
Nova
Blast |
Imagic |
Shooter |
|
| Why settle for defending ten
people when you can be the guardian of four
enormous cities? That's the premise behind
Nova Blast, a fast, smoothly scrolling shooter
that's far superior to the ColecoVision version
of
Defender. | |
| |
O
|
Oil's
Well |
Sierra
On-Line |
Action |
|
| Oil's Well, but it isn't
great, and it sure as hell isn't as fun as
Pac-Man. The gameplay is kinda inventive,
but if you've gotta get this game, go for the PC
version with the pumped up graphics and
Petrosaur
intermissions. | |
| |
|
Omega
Race |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| What are these giant
bacteria doing crawling around on my pool
table? Oh, wait... never mind. It's
just someone playing Omega Race on the
ColecoVision
again. | |
| |
|
One on One with Dr. J &
Larry Bird |
Microfun |
Sports |
|
| Why'd they replace Julius
Erving and Larry Bird with two blocky sumo
wrestlers? They play hoops about as well
as sumo wrestlers would,
too. | |
| |
P
|
Pac-Man |
Atarisoft |
Action |
|
| Atarisoft does it again...
but doesn't get a chance to release it. Oh
well... at least it's out now! I'd say
this was the best Pac-Man
conversion on the ColecoVision,
but... | |
| |
|
Pac-Man
Collection |
E. Mello |
Action |
|
| ...this port tops it
hands down. It features not only an
arcade-perfect conversion of Pac-Man, but its
sequel Ms. Pac-Man and a hidden bonus game as
well. Now that's what I call
well-rounded! | |
| |
|
Pepper
II |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| I was one of the half dozen
people lucky enough to play the arcade game, and
I've gotta admit, this is a close
conversion. It was definitely the best
maze game on the ColecoVision before Pac-Man
came
around. | |
| |
|
Pitfall! |
Activision |
Action |
|
| Remember the old garbage
commercials? Well, this is a wimpy, wimpy,
wimpy translation of the hefty, hefty, hefty
2600 classic. Honestly, the 2600 game is
better. | |
| |
|
Pitfall 2: The Lost
Caverns |
Activision |
Adventure |
|
| If it weren't for Super
Pitfall on the NES, this would be the worst
version of Pitfall II ever
made. | |
| |
|
Pitstop
II |
Epyx |
Racing |
|
| Bland graphics and
repetitive gameplay set this game a few laps
behind Turbo. The pitstop in the title is
a unique feature, but who the hell wants to be
stuck in a pitstop when you could be
RACING?! | |
| |
|
Popeye |
Parker
Bros. |
Action |
|
| Another lacking arcade
translation with poorly animated single color
sprites. I'll tell you what, Parker
Bros... I'll pay you Tuesday for a copy of this
today. | |
| |
|
Porky's |
Fox |
Action |
|
| Race a cartoon David
Duchovny (hey, that's what he looks like!)
around a variety of rounds, hoping to blow up a
greasy spoon while avoiding characters from the
film. You definitely don't want
someone named Ms. Ballbricker catching
you! | |
| |
|
Power
Lords |
Probe
2000 |
Action |
|
| An ambitious action game
that's noticably more complex than its Odyssey2
counterpart. Whether it's as fun or
as satisfying as the Power Lords board game
remains a mystery, but it's pretty good by
ColecoVision
standards. | |
| |
|
Purple Dinosaur
Massacre |
J.
Dondzila |
Shooter |
|
| The kind of game you'd
expect to see on Newgrounds is now available on
your
ColecoVision! | |
| |
Q
|
Q*Bert |
Parker
Bros. |
Action |
|
| A good enough translation of
the weird Gottlieb coin-op... but corners were
obviously cut, as was often the case with Parker
Bros' arcade
ports. | |
| |
|
Q*Bert's
Qubes |
Parker
Bros. |
Action |
|
| The sequel to Q*Bert lets
you spin cubes with different colors stamped on
each side, giving the game a more cerebral, Erno
Rubik-inspired
challenge. | |
| |
|
Quest for Quintana
Roo |
Sunrise |
Adventure |
|
| Probably the best
ColecoVision game by Sunrise (not exactly high
praise, is it?), but Montezuma's Revenge is
faster, less confusing, and more
fun. | |
| |
R
|
River
Raid |
Activision |
Shooter |
|
| The only real improvement I
saw was that the game stamps each bridge with a
number... otherwise, it's about the same as the
2600 version, with sharper (but less colorful)
graphics. | |
| |
|
Robin
Hood |
Xonox |
Action |
|
| Fight Prince John's corrupt
soldiers! Save the lovely Maid
Marion! Get a circumcision by Rabbi
Tuckman! No, wait, that's not right...
anyway, I kind of liked this game, even though
the characters are super shrimpy and you're
defenseless in the last
round. | |
| |
|
Roc 'n
Rope |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| I don't get it. Why
didn't Coleco just have Konami program
this? It was their arcade game, after
all. Oh well. It's not bad as it
is... it has more variety than Donkey Kong did,
and the music's pretty
nice. | |
| |
|
Rock 'n
Bolt |
Activision |
Puzzle |
|
| Why weren't people paying
attention to these games before Tetris was
released?! You'll wonder too after playing
this excellent puzzler, featuring attractive
isometric
graphics. | |
| |
|
Rocky Super Action
Boxing |
Coleco |
Sports |
|
| Imagine fighting Mr. T with
wooden splints tied to your arms and legs.
You'd feel pretty helpless, wouldn't you?
Well, this game makes you feel the same
way. | |
| |
|
Rolloverture |
Sunrise |
Action |
|
| This weak, confusing
platformer with a musical theme turned out to be
Sunrise's symphony of destruction. Good
riddance, I
say. | |
| |
S
|
Sammy
Lightfoot |
Sierra
On-Line |
Action |
|
| Guide the love child of
Conan O'Brien and Elvis through an unforgiving
series of rounds that require some
experimentation and a lot of perfect
timing. I'm tempted to cut Coleco's
flawed port of Donkey Kong a break after playing
this unattractive and downright sadistic
platformer. | |
| |
|
Sector
Alpha |
Spectravideo |
Shooter |
|
| Believe it or not, game
companies' unhealthy obsession with 3D graphics
ruined plenty of games in the 80's as
well. This miserable shooter is just one
of them. | |
| |
|
Sewer
Sam |
Innerphase |
Action/Shooter |
|
| Ever wonder what Doom would
have been like on the ColecoVision? Try
this, then imagine there's a lot more blood and
bigger
enemies. | |
| |
|
Sir
Lancelot |
Xonox |
Action |
|
| Thank you, Atarisoft!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now we
can play Joust instead of having to settle for
THIS. | |
| |
|
Skiing |
Telegames |
Sports |
|
| A simplistic skiing game
with two events and the world's most
unconvincing
animation. | |
| |
|
Sky
Jaguar |
E. Mello |
Shooter |
|
| This Konami title,
originally released for the MSX computer, is a
welcome addition to the ColecoVision
library. You won't find another shooter on
the system that's this complex... or
challenging! | |
| |
|
Slither |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| It's Centipede with a
Tex-Mex flavor. The great graphics and
trackball compatibility do enhance the game, but
unlike Centipede, it just isn't very
intense. | |
| |
|
Slurpy |
Xonox |
Action |
|
| What is that thing? A
bagpipe? An animated kidney?
Whatever it is, it sucks far more than the
mindless enemies that float around waiting to be
devoured. | |
| |
|
Smurf Paint 'n Play
Workshop |
Coleco |
Creativity |
|
| This is essentially Cabbage
Patch Kids Picture Show with new backgrounds and
characters (who, thankfully, have their pants
stapled on this time). Um, er, Gargamel
looks kind of
cool... | |
| |
|
Smurf Rescue from Gargamel's
Castle |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| Not a bad little platformer,
but Konami's Cabbage Patch Kids has larger,
crisper graphics. It is better than the
ColecoVision version of Pitfall!,
though. | |
| |
|
Space
Fury |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| It's a more confusing, and
confused, version of Asteroids with flickery
graphics and three different power-ups.
The alien at the beginning is a nice piece of
eyecandy. | |
| |
|
Space Invaders
Collection |
E. Mello |
Shooter |
|
| An exceptional conversion of
both Space Invaders and Space Invaders Part II,
with absolutely nothing omitted. The games
look and feel, but not quite sound, EXACTLY like
the arcade versions. It's too bad Coleco's
own games (particularly Gorf) weren't this
faithful... | |
| |
|
Space
Invasion |
J.
Dondzila |
Shooter |
|
| A slightly compromised
version of Space Invaders with smaller
characters but a very impressive title
screen. | |
| |
|
Space
Panic |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| Similar to Lode Runner, but
with slow, clumsy, and frustrating
gameplay. Mr. Do!'s Castle clobbers this
one. | |
| |
|
Spectron |
Spectravideo |
Shooter |
|
| A colorful shooter with what
sounds like Journey music at the beginning of
every game. This would have been a whole
lot more memorable if it had different rounds or
a boss or SOMETHING to hold the player's
attention. | |
| |
|
Spy
Hunter |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| It's better than the arcade
game, believe it or not! The main reason
why is that the control is a lot more precise
now that the aggravating stick shift is
gone. | |
| |
|
Squish 'Em
Sam |
Innerphase |
Action |
|
|
"OK, Mr.
Wolfcastle, say the line."
"I am
Squish Them Sam!"
"No, no!
Squish 'EM!"
"Squish THEM!"
"Oh,
just climb that building and crush those alien
insects with your
feet." | |
| |
|
Star
Fortress |
J.
Dondzila |
Shooter |
|
| It's a slightly choppy port
of the Vectrex game Star Castle, but judging
from their work in Omega Race, I don't think
Coleco themselves could have given us a better
conversion. | |
| |
|
Star Trek: Strategic Ops
Simulation |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| On the ColecoVision and
everywhere else, Star Trek has no trouble
kicking Star Wars' overhyped ass. A fun,
unique shooter with multiple perspectives,
including a very impressive view from the
bridge. | |
| |
|
Star Wars: The Arcade
Game |
Parker
Bros. |
Shooter |
|
| It's hard to be satisfied
with this after playing the beautiful and
intense coin-op. It's like being stuck
with Jar Jar Binks after Han Solo gets frozen in
carbonite. | |
| |
|
Steamroller |
Blue Sky
Rangers |
Action |
|
| An inventive, fast-paced
Pac-Man derivitive that starts out tough but
becomes much easier- and more fun- when you get
used to the odd play mechanics (the steamrollers
can't reverse direction unless you hit the
brakes). | |
| |
|
Strike
It! |
Bit Corp |
Action |
|
| This dull Breakout clone has
no trackball support, and you can't even control
the paddle with the little dial on the bottom of
your Super Controller. This, of course,
means that it plays like
ass. | |
| |
|
Sub-Roc |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| Sort of a first-person
shooting gallery with jets, UFOs, and ships
firing missiles at you. Hideously choppy
and ugly, but I've gotta admit, it's fun to get
socked with the
missiles. | |
| |
|
Super Action
Baseball |
Coleco |
Sports |
|
| Nice artwork, but I could
never figure out how to play this game. I
think you need a second player to get the most
out of it. | |
| |
|
Super Action
Football |
Coleco |
Sports |
??? |
| I haven't had the chance to
try this one yet... but if it's like the other
Super Action Sports games, I'm very lucky I
missed it. | |
| |
|
Super Action
Soccer |
Coleco |
Sports |
|
| An underpowered soccer game
with some of the most hilariously crude camera
close-ups I've ever seen. The graphics
look like something a caveman would chisel into
the side of a large
rock. | |
| |
|
Super
Cobra |
Parker
Bros. |
Shooter |
|
| If cobras only bite when
they're provoked, you have to wonder what Parker
Bros. did to make this one so mad.
| |
| |
|
Super Cross
Force |
Spectravideo |
Shooter |
|
| Double barrel your enemies
with two cannons, placed at the top and bottom
of the screen. Plays fairly well but the
cross fire play mechanic can be a little
frustrating.
| |
| |
|
Super Donkey
Kong |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| If this is Coleco's apology
for their first mediocre Donkey Kong
translation, they owe me another
apology. | |
| |
T
|
Tank
Wars |
Bit Corp |
Shooter |
|
| A pretty good clone of
Namco's Tank Battalion/Battle City, but it's
very repetitive, and a little sloppily
designed. | |
| |
|
Tapper |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| Serve (root) beer to dozens
of demanding customers in this slightly watered
down conversion of the Bally/Midway
classic. | |
| |
|
Tarzan |
Coleco |
Action/Fighting |
|
| You'll be amazed at the
atmosphere in this adaptation of the legendary
novels. There's everything from lush
jungle scenery to the constant pounding of
native drums... and the amount of variety is
surprising for a ColecoVision game.
| |
| |
|
Telly
Turtle |
Coleco |
Education |
|
| A ColecoVision version of
LOGO, the fad programming language of the
time. Fortunately, the smart parents
taught their kids BASIC instead of showing them
how to steer around a turtle with a piece of
chalk stuck up its
butt. | |
| |
|
Threshold |
Sierra
On-Line |
Shooter |
|
| Like Megamania for the 2600,
but without the personality. Sure, you got
a couple of funny mothership encounters, but
past that you won't remember much about this
shooter. | |
| |
|
Tic-Tac-Toe |
D.
Neuwicz |
Strategy |
|
| Well, the ColecoVision plays
a decent game of Tic Tac Toe. But then
again, so does just about everyone who's out of
preschool. | |
| |
|
Time
Pilot |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| Time Pilot deserved a better
translation than this, but as choppy as it is,
this game is still playable... and even
fun. | |
| |
|
Tomarc the
Barbarian |
Xonox |
Action |
|
| They should have kept the
Thundarr the Barbarian license. At least
that way, they'd have... well, Thundarr the
Barbarian. Unfortunately, the game doesn't
offer too much
else. | |
| |
|
Tournament
Tennis |
Imagic |
Sports |
|
| Plays better than many of
the sports games on the ColecoVision, but the
graphics aren't that great, and it is just
tennis. | |
| |
|
Tunnels &
Trolls |
Coleco |
Demo |
N/A |
| The title screen for an
embarassingly obvious Dungeons & Dragons
clone that was never finished. I mean,
really... Tunnels &
Trolls? | |
| |
|
Turbo |
Coleco |
Racing |
|
| A fun racing game with lots
of colorful scenery. Turbo is surprisingly
relaxing... I've spent nearly an hour just
passing
cars. | |
| |
|
Tutankham |
Parker
Bros. |
Shooter |
|
| It doesn't have the huge
variety of monsters in the 2600 version, but it
is a much closer translation of the
Konami
coin-op. | |
| |
U
|
Up 'n
Down |
Sega |
Action |
|
| A port of the innovative but
clumsy driving game with dumbed down
graphics. Another game with a seemingly
provocative name, Bump 'n Jump, is more solid
and
playable. | |
| |
V
|
Venture |
Coleco |
Action |
|
| Hunting for treasure in a
variety of dangerous rooms is a great idea, but
the clunky control and repetitive gameplay make
it less exciting than it could have
been. | |
| |
|
Victory |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| I'd enjoy this a lot more if
it made more sense, had smoother scrolling, and
didn't force you to use a
trackball. | |
| |
|
Video
Hustler |
Coleco |
Sports |
|
| I know, I know... it's kind
of a clumsy pool sim, and it's not even
finished. What can I say? I'm a sucker for
Konami's games. Besides, I like the arcade
style play
mechanics. | |
| |
W
|
War
Games |
Coleco |
Strategy |
|
| A superb adaptation of the
film which plays like Missile Command, except
from an overhead viewpoint and with a lot more
options. Rumor has it that the graphics
were good enough to make high-ranking military
officials of the time
nervous. | |
| |
|
War Room |
Probe
2000 |
Strategy |
|
| War Games' more cynical
cousin. Blast missiles and stockpile
supplies in a futile attempt to keep the United
States from being destroyed by communism.
Makes me wonder if Rósha Harris had a hidden
agenda... | |
| |
|
Wing War |
Imagic |
Action |
|
| A surprisingly long
adventure that plays like an expanded aerial
version of Imagic's Fathom. Wing War
offers both enjoyable, addicting gameplay and
astounding
graphics. | |
| |
|
Wizard of Id's
Wizmath |
Sierra
On-Line |
Education |
|
| Probably the best of the
educational games on the ColecoVision. It
plays a little like Pengo, except you have to
push blocks with numbers together to create
equations. Nicely drawn sprites, and
fairly challenging if you're honest about your
age. | |
| |
X
Y
|
The Yolk's On
You |
Fox |
Action |
|
| Nudge a bunch of eggs into a
barn before they hatch. A game this simple
needed cartoony graphics and fast-paced gameplay
to make it work, and Yolk's has
neither. | |
| |
Z
|
Zaxxon |
Coleco |
Shooter |
|
| This isn't a perfect arcade
translation, but it's hard to complain about
that when the isometric graphics are so
amazing. Plus, Zaxxon is still in here,
which is something I wasn't sure about when I
first bought the
game. | |
| |
|
Zenji |
Activision |
Puzzle |
|
| This great puzzle game was
released at entirely the wrong time... if
Activision had held onto it for just a few more
years it could have given that other ethnically
flavored puzzler Tetris a run for its
rubles. | |
| |
|
|
|
CLICK
FOR A-M... | |
|
|