Chronogamer - Coleco Telstar Combat (Coleco, 1977)

RSS Bot · October 21, 2007

Coleco Telstar Combat (Coleco, 1977)

I lost my battle with Coleco Combat!

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As described in this thread I have a Coleco Combat unit with crappy stickers and a single broken joystick. I took the thing apart (using the "hair dryer" trick) and discovered a snapped "eye-hook" style leaf switch. After putting it off for a few months, I finally took the thing into a local arcade cab repair shop (S&B Amusements in Austin, TX near Northcross Mall) and they looked at it and said: "Mmm, nope, we've got nothing to replace that style of leaf switch."

So, daunted, I took the floppy-limbed thing home and decided I might be able to wrangle some gameplay footage out of the console. Unable to load it to my website for some reason, I've put it on YouTube:

Coleco Combat - Move, Shoot and Explode

In the video you can see many elements of other tank games including the "guided missiles" and the mines. The sound effects come through a speaker built in to the console and do an adequate job of conveying a fairly generic "video tank" sound.

I suspect that my console is busted in more ways than just one of its joysticks (black tank's left stick, by the way) as the tanks in the game seem to ignore all of the white barriers, including the border around the playfield. The barriers do serve to block any missiles, however, causing them to explode prematurely -- a nice touch to the design, I think, as I've played other tank games that merely have the missiles disappear if they hit a barrier. I also like that the screen flashes when a shot is fired.

Another nice touch is that the tanks are given a feeling of inertia to some extent. To get a tank moving there isn't a sudden lurch forward, there's more of an acceleration, this makes the controls feel a little sluggish, but I think the effect is intended and appropriate. Speaking of the controls, let's talk about the controls.

The whole point of picking this particular dedicated console out of a large field of available dedicated consoles (which I WON'T be playing) is because of its unique control scheme. Reminiscent of the Kee Games arcade release, Tank II, the Coleco Telstar Combat console features two "tank controller" stations. Each side has two "up-down-only" grip joysticks, one of which has a fire button on the top of it. While not being a direct, licensed descendant of Tank II, it looks, controls and plays a lot like it, making it a very nice "arcade perfect" attempt for the home.

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FYI: pictured above is not my actual unit. My actual unit is too horrible in its disfiguration to show to anyone at the moment.

These controls, however, no matter how keen, had a bit of a learning curve. My son, who has demonstrated ability at picking things up quickly when it comes to most videogames, took more than his usual 20 seconds to understand how to operate his on-screen vehicle. Obviously, I haven't exposed him to enough tank controls in real life and will have to rectify that situation as soon as possible, though I think the real ones involve pedals.

Here's a clip showing the lack of working barriers as well as my son trying to understand the tank controllers:

Coleco Combat - Broken Barriers

This console supposedly has four different tank game versions. Other than a slight change in background contrast between each one, all four variations are fairly indistinguishable to me. Most likely, this represents yet another failing of my hardware. If I find out anything about those variations I'll edit this entry appropriately.

Compared to other tank-a-like games in the home from the 70s (on the Fairchild, the Atari VCS or the Odyssey^2), this isn't a bad example, mostly because it offers the specialized controls. However, given its limited variation in gameplay I can't see it taking up space under my TV for very long. What would be cool is if I could figure out how to rig the controls up to work on the Atari VCS for Combat or future VCS tank games...now that's a good reason for keeping this console around!

The next retro-out-of-chronogaming-sequence console we'll do is what is commonly known as Atari Stunt Cycle, also chosen for its unique controller. It won't take as long to get to as Coleco Combat did, I'm certain of that! ₁₆₄₃₇

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?a...;showentry=4048