| smbhax [sys=PC; cat=Action_Variety; reg=UC] |
| | | From Steam. Actually maybe mainly a set-top box thing--Google results are overwhelmingly for that--so maybe this Steam release was kind of an afterthought, that might explain the lack of controller support (I made a community input for the DualSense for it in Steam Input 'p'), lack of options, games running in a huge simulated TV bezel border, and why people sale-waiting on the high price on the Steam forum were finding it pretty much never goes on sale.
Also some quirks with the clunky UI, like if you hit one of the fire keys to load a game, instead of Enter (for Start?), the whole thing just exits.
Those problems aside, it's a single 5.x MB file, seems to run the 40 included games okay, and does have fast forward, rewind (didn't try), and a save state (per game?).
But you can extract the games with a Python script, so who cares about the official exe?
https://github.com/ZetTheLegendaryHero/Colecovision-Flashback-40-Game-Pack-ROM-Extractor
Does not extract a ColecoVision BIOS file though, and most of the recommended emulators -- emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/ColecoVision_emulators -- plus Gearcoleco, which is getting some Google buzz -- require a BIOS.
But two of I think the longer-running emulators don't require a BIOS: ColEm and CoolCV. CoolCV is drastically light on options, and maybe a hair slower than ColEm? Anyway I'll probably just be sticking to ColEm unless I run into a compatibility problem there. (Neither has been updated since early 2020s.)
Mostly I got it for Exidy's maze game Pepper II.
Was also thinking of Antarctic Adventure, but it's pretty much just like the original MSX version--in that Konami collection for PS1--except it doesn't seem to have turns in the tracks. Still pretty fun in its cute and super-hard penguin way.
Evolution also looks interesting but looks like it becomes a flashing/shooting game on the last (human) stage, ack.
The last I was thinking of, slightly, was Sir Lancelot, a perhaps rather light weight Joust rip-off. ; D
If I was into shooting games anymore there'd probably be some good retro possibilities here, but currently I'm not.
I do seem attracted to the ColecoVision graphic style, though: big and blocky but not too blocky, along similar lines to MSX and NES; colors maybe a bit brighter than NES. (Wikipedia says was an inspiration for NES.) |
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| | | AntarcticAdventure.cv
Aquattack.cv
BrainStrainers.cv
BumpnJump.cv
Choplifter.cv
CosmicAvenger.cv
Evolution.cv
Fathom.cv
FlipperSlipper.cv
FortuneBuilder.cv
FranticFreddy.cv
Frenzy.cv
GatewayToApshai.cv
GustBuster.cv
JumpmanJunior.cv
JungleHunt.cv
Miner2049er.cv
Moonsweeper.cv
MountainKing.cv
MsSpaceFury.cv
NovaBlast.cv
OilsWell.cv
OmegaRace.cv
PepperII.cv
QuintanaRoo.cv
Rolloverture.cv
SammyLightfoot.cv
SirLancelot.cv
Slurpy.cv
SpaceFury.cv
SpacePanic.cv
SquishemSam.cv
SuperCrossForce.cv
TheHeist.cv
Threshold.cv
TournamentTennis.cv
Venture.cv
WarRoom.cv
WingWar.cv
Zaxxon.cv |
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| | | WELL turns out the two emulators I thought worked without needing the ColecoVision BIOS actually just came with it 'p', illegally of course, so looks like I'll have to stick to the Flashback after all. ; D
(Google pointed me to "Retroarch ColecoVision emulator in Batocera" which supposedly doesn't need a BIOS -- https://wiki.batocera.org/systems:colecovision#bios -- but Batocera is a mini standalone gaming-focused Linux-based OS or something so that's not really gonna work for me.) |
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| | | (Google AI at the top of google search results ;P says "Batocera does not require a BIOS file for
ColecoVision emulation because the libretro core (emulator) used, such as gearcoleco or bluemsx, is designed to run without it, bypassing the need for original firmware. The emulator emulates the console's hardware directly, making the system BIOS unnecessary for functionality." That sounds great and all but I can't find where it referenced that from; doesn't seem to be in batocera's wiki thing. Gearcoleco standalone definitely needs a BIOS. And for ColecoVision BlueMSX's site directs you to a separate download that has an 8KB coleco.rom in it. 'p' AND Google AI results separately praise ColEm and CoolCV--the two I thought didn't need the BIOS but then found they just have it in 'em to start with--as not needing you to get a BIOS, without making it clear that that's because they already have it, not because they don't need it at all. So, yeah, not trusting Google AI on this. OY.) |
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| | | | blueMSX's--see entry 2024--web site directs you to a file containing an 8KB coleco.rom for its ColecoVision "resources," so it sure looks like blueMSX also needs the BIOS, like Gearcoleco--see entry 2019--and in fact all the ColecoVision emulators I looked at. 'p' |
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| | | Which also included Mesen--see entry 1536--ares--see entry 1758--BizHawk--see entry 2020--and I think MAME--see entry 1541--although MAME just said it was missing a bunch of weird files, as usual.
Oh well the exception was Final Burn Neo--see entry 1663--which just said it didn't support the GAME I tried by command line, Pepper II--and I couldn't get its GUI to list any games it did support, but I also hate its loader, so that part might have been me. |
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| | | | Note to self: remember, if for some weird reason you ever want/need to use that Python ROM extractor again, first you take the big "AUTO" file out of the .exe with 7-Zip (;D), then you run the .py in the directory with the AUTO to get the .cv game files out of it. |
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| | | Used & tested ColecoVisions are going for ~$200 on eBay currently, and recommended "affordable" EPROM programmers about $150, hot air rework station desoldering kit for "proper" chip removal appear to start at maybe around $50 but apparently actual decent ones that won't melt are more like $100. So that's about $450 for starters for getting a 100% "legal" ColecoVision BIOS to use for emulation, if everything goes right. Not sure how complicated the actual dumping is and if there are more steps you have to do to get the dump into emulator-usable form.
So... Colecovision Flashback, then, runs in non-borderless screen. "Action Buttons" Z and X and "Action Button" Space; Z seems to be the same as Space, whereas X does something else.
If you press X on the game select menu, it acts like you hit ESC, and exits the application. 'p'
Hunted a bit for undocumented buttons that might remove the huge UI bezel or something, found nothing.
"Rewind" jumps back 7 seconds, then plays forward while showing a time countdown; during that time, hitting a control breaks you into current time and full control. 7 seconds is the max you can go back, though, and it's a jump rather than a smooth zip back, so I'd probably just stick with spamming the save state anyway.
Back to BIOS discussion, the ColecoVision BIOS is infamous for imposing a 12-second wait at the BIOS screen with the colorful Coleco logo and game name. There is some sort of rumor that this was due to make sure all ROMs had time to initialize properly, but it's not clear that's true; here's an apparent story from back in the day suggesting it was done purely for branding purposes (ie guy wanted CV logo to show for x seconds) https://forums.atariage.com/topic/252821-12-second-delay-screen/?do=findComment&comment=3514495 . Hacked versions of the BIOS have been produced since then to reduce the delay: "No Delay" BIOS reduces the wait to 3.3 seconds(?), "Skip" BIOS leaves the 12-second wait but skips it if fire is pressed. Apparently going too fast--as with No Delay--can break some games.
In Flashback, wait time seems to vary: some games--Pepper II--seem to have nearly 12 second delay, some--Antarctic Adventure--more like 3 seconds, some--Evolution--don't show a BIOS screen at all. |
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| | | | (There is a ColecoVision cartridge adapter -- https://savethehero.builders/products/colecovision-adapter -- for the Sanni cart reader--see entry 1526--uh but yeah you'd still need the BIOS.) |
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| | | Wikipedia's Coleco entry refers to two late-90s Windows CD-ROM ColecoVision game collections: "Personal Arcade Vol. 1" and "Colecovision Hits Volume One," both from Telegames. Telegames' site for them is still up -- http://www.telegames.com/pub_win.htm -- but the demo download(s?) are not there. The PAV1 demo is on https://archive.org/details/pa_web -- only allows 3 plays, and only seemed to let me play Pitfall--or was that just because it was the first one I'd clicked on? Parts of the menu were upside-down, but the game seemed to play okay, I think it was Z (wait, maybe Space) to jump, arrows to move. Can't figure out how to reset the number of plays, probably hidden somewhere in registry I suppose.
I found an image of Colecovision Hits Volume One, which seems to have all 10 games of the first collection plus more--both collections have some games not in Flashback--but didn't see any obvious ColecoVision BIOS file knocking around in there, so I guess there's no point in getting one of these old CD-ROMs off eBay, unless I REALLY wanted to play the games (which I think I could do, for instance could probably burn an ISO and run it virtually with PowerIso). 'p'
(Oh the games in CHV1 are (from MobyGames):
Alcazar: The Forgotten Fortress (Telegames)
Amazing Bumpman (Telegames)
Aquattack (Interphase)
Beamrider (Activision - included in Personal Arcade Volume One, clone of Konami's Juno First arcade game)
Blockade Runner (Interphase)
Campaign '84 (Sunrise, strategy/simulation)
Cosmic Crisis (Bit Corp/Telegames)
Decathlon (Activision, olympic/multi-sports)
Dragonfire (Imagic, platformer)
Fathom (Imagic)
Gust Buster (Sunrise)
H.E.R.O.(Activision, maze/adventure)
Keystone Kapers (Activision, platform)
Meteoric Shower (Bit Corp)
Moonsweeper (Imagic, side-scrolling-shooter)
Motocross Racer (Xonox, racing)
Mountain King (Sunrise - included in Personal Arcade Volume One, platform/adventure)
Nova Blast (Imagic - included in Personal Arcade Volume One)
Pitfall! (Activision - included in Personal Arcade Volume One, platform)
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (Activision, platform)
Quest for Quintana Roo (Sunrise - included in Personal Arcade Volume One)
River Raid (Activision - included in Personal Arcade Volume One, overhead scrolling shooter)
Rock n' Bolt (Activision/Telegames, puzzle/platform)
Rolloverture (Sunrise)
Sir Lancelot (Xonox - included in Personal Arcade Volume One)
Skiing (Coleco/Telegames, slalom)
Strike It (Telegames)
Tank Wars (Bit Corp/Telegames - included in Personal Arcade Volume One)
Tournament Tennis (Imagic - included in Personal Arcade Volume One)
Zenji (Activision, puzzle- clone of Konami's Locomotion arcade)
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| | | | (Looking at the list of games https://www.mobygames.com/platform/colecovision/ , I'm not sure what others I would really have wanted to be able to play, anyway. (A friend of mine had Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle--those are the ones I remember, anyway--but I don't recall being THAT enamored with any of them really (he had them running on a huge projection TV, THAT was pretty neat).)) |
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Toddling through all 40 games:
0:00 - video, controls, etc
9:26 - Antarctic Adventure
17:38 - Aquattack
21:09 - Brain Strainers
22:55 - Bump 'n' Jump
26:31 - Choplifter
29:43 - Cosmic Avenger
31:13 - Evolution
37:33 - Fathom
44:26 - Flipper Slipper
50:35 - Fortune Builder
51:57 - Frantic Freddy
56:41 - Frenzy
58:32 - Gateway to Apshai
1:03:07 - Gust Buster
1:04:02 - Jumpman Junior
1:14:17 - Jungle Hunt
1:15:00 - Miner 2049er
1:16:56 - Moonsweeper
1:18:06 - Mountain King
1:19:42 - Ms. Space Fury
1:23:36 - Nova Blast
1:24:29 - Oil's Well
1:25:09 - Omega Race
1:26:19 - Pepper II
1:35:32 - Quest for Quintana Roo
1:37:21 - Rolloverture
1:39:01 - Sammy Lightfoot
1:40:58 - Sir Lancelot
1:42:46 - Slurpy
1:47:02 - Space Fury
1:48:24 - Space Panic
1:57:25 - Squish'em Sam
1:58:37 - Super Cross Force
1:59:02 - The Heist
2:00:26 - Threshold
2:01:10 - Tournament Tennis
2:02:15 - Venture
2:02:59 - War Room
2:03:51 - Wing War
2:05:19 - Zaxxon
2:06:02 - wrap!
Runs in 1440x900 exclusive fullscreen, with the games shrunk down and a bit to the left side inside that huge goofy beveled bezel. 'p' No controller support. Irregular ~45ish fps. 'pp'
Turned out to be a little less into Pepper II than I thought I'd be and a little more into Jumpman Junior, but I still can't even get into Konami's adorable and brutally hard Antarctic Adventure--of which this seems to be a fine port--so what am I doing here, I dunno, I guess I can't quite handle the power of Connecticut Leather Company after all.
A script from GitHub will dump all 40 game ROMs but emulators DO require a ColecoVision BIOS also and I wasn't able to find a legal source for that short of dumping an actual CV EPROM myself so that's pretty much out. ; D
Anyway I dunno that I liked any of 'em enough to want to come back that much really. If I was into shmups maybe one or two a' those would'a been slightly interesting, I dunno.
Coleco is currently owned by an identically-named holding company, NOT ATARI like I speculatively mumbled (it's Intellivision who's now owned by Atari; and Atari is the renamed French videogame conglomerate Infogrames, of course--not that this has anything to do with Coleco, particularly). 'p'
The set-top box version apparently has 60 games, although 12 are "homebrews": https://gametrog.com/product/colecovision-flashback-system/ .
It was Konami's "Super Cobra" (follow-up to "Scramble," which wasn't ported to major systems of the time) MSX port in those Japanese PS1 "Antiques" compilations, specifically--that I was thinking of in relation to ColecoVision port of Universal's "Cosmic Avenger" here; Super Cobra was ported to loads of systems, including the ColecoVision. (Oh or possibly I was thinking of the Scramble and Super Cobra ports in Konami's PS1 "Konami Arcade Classics" compilation, which DID make it to the States.)
Oh see I always thought the C64 game I played was "Temple of Apshai" but that's a weird different game in the series; I guess it was Gateway to Apshai.
Oh that's right. In addition to having a super-wacky Dr. Seuss-ish run animation, Wikipedia says Space Panic is pretty much the first platformer--came out before Donkey Kong (they were called "climbing games" or "ladder games" for a while).
The character in the arcade version of Space Panic does NOT have a comical run animation--and not even a bubble helmet! Same in the other port, to the short-lived Casio PV-1000. So obviously Coleco's is the best version. |
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