Two things happened back in 1983, I got my first real full time job working as a technical specialist for an alarm company, KASTLE security in Philadelphia. Second, I bought my first video game system. A Coleco. Still have it. Not sure where I got the Adam controller for it though :) Sure Atari had the edge with a million games and intellivision had the better graphics. But the Coleco combined both of these and added better sound. Not to mention more memory for the cartridges. The joystick was a hybrid between the Atari stick and the intellivision joypad. But the thing that sold it the most was because it came with donkey kong. Donkey kong was still one of the most played arcade games and the Coleco version was the closest home translation of any video game. I remember paying $150.00 for the Coleco. It had already been out for almost a year and had come down about $50.00. I didn't by any other games because the video store I went to had them to rent. The first two games I rented were Smurf's rescue and venture. It was expensive to rent back then. The games were 2 bucks a day. I don't remember much exactly from my early Coleco days except there was a job layoff 3 months after I got it and I had a lot of time on my hands. My mother had given me the Atari and it was 1983 and the video game industry seemed like the biggest thing going. Some time late in 83 I had just got another job so I had some money finally. I remember spending a few hours in an arcade playing this older game called Mr. Do, similar to dig dug, and then seeing it come out for the Coleco. $36 dollars later I had my first full priced game. Then came frenzy and Frogger and Qbert. All between 30 and 35 bucks each. Then 1984 came around and the video store started selling used video games for $5 and $10. I spent way too much money the next few months. I bought Smurf's, space fury, pepper, ladybug, carnival, and about a dozen others. Then the first so called educational game came out for the Coleco. Face maker. Since I had kids I was guilted into spending the $30 on that :) About the same time I got jumpman junior and got addicted. The 7 year old was playing games at that time so we had to split the TV. I picked up the roller controller on a close out for $30 and since slither didn't compare to centipede I had to buy that also. That was the most money I paid for any Coleco cart. $39. Now that I look back I can see I spent more money on Coleco cartridges than I have spent on games for any other system to date even. Hmm, what else do I remember from the Coleco. One day I remember was a forth of July I wasn't feeling too well and the family went out for the entire day I ended up playing wing war for almost 10 hours. I also remember having dreams about that game. The graphics were other worldly. I remember BC's quest for tires was the first game that really looked like a cartoon. Wargames was a fun strategy game. Tarzan got exciting for a while. Gateway to Apshi wouldn't work and the store wouldn't take it back. Turbo worked with the roller controller. I spent $20 for the worst shooting game I had ever seen called cross force. The only redeeming quality of that game was the incredible music for the first 10 seconds of the game. And the last game I bought new from a store was in 1985 and it was cabbage patch kids. I toyed with the idea of getting a Coleco Adam because I only had the Sinclair computer then. But something held me back from spending that 300 bucks. I'm glad :) I had picked up 2 other Coleco games with the super controllers and the Atari 2600 attachment. And dozens of games at yard sales, between then and the early 90's. I hadn't played a Coleco game in 7 or 8 years until I found a mention of an emulator. This was unbelievable. Being able to play games that I hadn't seen in 15 years. Talk about a flashback. I didn't realize Sega had so many games on the Coleco. And so much fun packed into simple ideas. Sure first person games like doom are advanced now. But back then games like subroc and dam busters were just as fun and intense.

By the way. The cartridge pictures are actual scans of my carts. The first and last Coleco games I bought. And for some strange reason the only 2 I have duplicates of :) And here is the rest of my Coleco setup. Yes I have 2 Coleco's but only one power supply.

times I mentioned COLECO today!