Coleco Envy

[BillyHW]

Agreed. I not once saw a 5200 or 7800 next to the vast supply of NES, SEGA and even Turbogrfx machines. Radio Shack promoted the TG16 like it was sent from God trying to sell it when it first came out. Hell I even saw a couple Neo Geo's but never once a 5200 or 7800. Only place left that even sold 2600's after the NES and GENESIS around here was Consumers Distributing. Speaking of which, I really miss Consumers. Was a heck of business model.

LOL, their catalogues were crack for a young boy, but their business model was "out of stock". There's a good reason they went bankrupt.

[DracIsBack]

LOL, their catalogues were crack for a young boy, but their business model was "out of stock". There's a good reason they went bankrupt.

 

Yeah - that's what I always remember. Standing in line for an item only to be told, "Yes - it's not available".

 

Shop-Rite before it was the same way.

[ryoder]

The choppy scrolling is a matter of coding. The standard TMS9918 can compete safely with other vdp's with HW assisted scrolling.

Look at this on msx1 (on a plain TMS9918)

http://www.file-hunter.com/MSX/Uridium48.html

 

Pixelboy is porting it from msx1 to coleco

There are no scroll register on the ColecoVision from what I understand. The F18A gives you those registers.

[Inky]

I always thought the choppy scrolling was due to the cv's video chip with the "two color" bug

Edited February 8, 2017 by Inky

[phoenixdownita]

There are no scroll register on the ColecoVision from what I understand. The F18A gives you those registers.

He's telling you that through clever programming and tile mapping the 9918 can do some form smooth scrolling on the lower 2/3 of the screen, follow the link posted earlier and check the details. Mind you it is a pretty recent discovery, it wasn't know in 82.

[they show horizontal scrolling, unclear if the same technique applies to vertical but I don't see why not]

[artrag]

Yes, software scrolling can be implemented also for vertical scrollers, this is for Colecovision

 

Anyway, that Defender clone in my post (Desolator) is from 80's, so the lack of games with smooth scrolling on machines with the TMS9918 in many cases was lack of time or laziness of the coders

[jhd]

 

Agreed, as I have before. I'd wager that the 7800's Canadian penetration was limited to a day's driving distance from Atari Canada's headquarters in Markham. While I *did* see it in the wild, rarely, in Toronto-area stores in the late '80s to early '90s, that certainly wasn't true for me in western Canada.

 

Just to add to this, I grew-up in Nova Scotia, and I never saw a 7800 either when they were new, or at a garage sale or flea market through the late-1990s when I moved to Alberta.

 

I once encountered a lonely 7800 cartridge in a game shop Ottawa, mixed in with the discounted 2600 titles. That is the only time I have seen anything 7800 related "in the wild" here in Canada.

[Jinks]

I bought a used 7800 in saskatchewan about 2 years ago. It was the only 7800 related item I have ever seen for sale in my province. Retro game stores etc nothing. Same can be said for the 5200 as well.

 

Seen lynx and atari computer, jaguar, and of course 2600.

 

The 7800 was likely bought from ebay from the states.

[DracIsBack]

 

Just to add to this, I grew-up in Nova Scotia, and I never saw a 7800 either when they were new, or at a garage sale or flea market through the late-1990s when I moved to Alberta.

 

I once encountered a lonely 7800 cartridge in a game shop Ottawa, mixed in with the discounted 2600 titles. That is the only time I have seen anything 7800 related "in the wild" here in Canada.

 

We recently launched an archives of newspapers for a company I worked at of all the newspapers in New Brunswick. I did a search for the 7800 and it absolutely showed up - both in classifieds and also in flyer ads.

 

As someone who bought the 7800 brand new in Ottawa when it was new (K Mart in Bell's Corners) and looked for Atari games stores across Ottawa, my experience was absolutely that they were all available for at least a brief period of time. However, they didn't stay on the shelves as long as the NES or SMS did. For example, Zellers only carried the XEGS one season, then dropped it. The 7800 lasted maybe two Christmases at K Mart, and was dropped. The 2600 jr was around longer and more frequently.

 

Also, Atari Canada stopped getting new games in. I ordered from them directly and found that - while they listed newer titles, they didn't really get anything newer than TOWER TOPPLER and CROSSBOW and DARK CHAMBERS. I actually bought Double Dragon new at Toys R Us.

 

Without question, the NES and SMS were carried longer, and in more stores in my experience. But I don't quite buy the whole "Well, I never saw it, so therefore it was never ..." thought process.

Edited February 9, 2017 by DracIsBack

[Jinks]

Thats why i bought one on ebay in the early 2000s. I seen them on there and remembered from my childhood seeing them in the fylers showing 5200 and 7800 games when i bought new 2600 games. I never knew what those consoles looked like untill the 2000s when I searched for them on the internet.

I bought the 7800 on ebay out of curiosity and then joined atariage.

The system runs on homebrew only.

Interesting that the 7800 made it to some large city possibly cities in Canada.

K mart never had those here states only. Zellers and Woolworth were the 2600 jackpots.

The biggest city was only 10k people. I never wrote atari about my wetdreams so they had no way of knowing..

[DracIsBack]

The biggest city was only 10k people. I never wrote atari about my wetdreams so they had no way of knowing..

 

You may have been disappointed. I had the worst customer experiences with Atari Canada and USA. They'd put out price lists listing products that they didn't actually carry. You'd place an order and they'd call you up saying, "Yeah - those aren't in stock. You'll have to pick another". They wouldn't do partial refunds and it was often trial and error about what was actually sold by them.

 

Atari USA wasn't much better. They sent me a defective Scrapyard Dog and then claimed they "never received the package" when I sent it back. Eight months later, I called to complain and then they "found it".

[jhd]

We recently launched an archives of newspapers for a company I worked at of all the newspapers in New Brunswick. I did a search for the 7800 and it absolutely showed up - both in classifieds and also in flyer ads.

 

As someone who bought the 7800 brand new in Ottawa when it was new (K Mart in Bell's Corners) and looked for Atari games stores across Ottawa, my experience was absolutely that they were all available for at least a brief period of time. However, they didn't stay on the shelves as long as the NES or SMS did. For example, Zellers only carried the XEGS one season, then dropped it. The 7800 lasted maybe two Christmases at K Mart, and was dropped. The 2600 jr was around longer and more frequently.

 

If K-Mart sold the 7800, that would explain why I never saw one -- the only location in Metro Halifax in the 1980s was quite some distance away in suburban Dartmouth (Westphal Plaza, IIRC). My family only went there once every few years. Zellers, in contrast, was only a few blocks from my house, and Sears was also close by, so those are the stores that I knew well.

 

(Woolco was also located somewhere over in Dartmouth, and Towers was almost as far away in Bedford, so we shopped there much less frequently.)

 

 

Would you be willing to post the URL of the newspaper website? I am interested in seeing it for non-video game reasons.

[DracIsBack]

 

If K-Mart sold the 7800, that would explain why I never saw one -- the only location in Metro Halifax in the 1980s was quite some distance away in suburban Dartmouth (Westphal Plaza, IIRC). My family only went there once every few years. Zellers, in contrast, was only a few blocks from my house, and Sears was also close by, so those are the stores that I knew well.

 

(Woolco was also located somewhere over in Dartmouth, and Towers was almost as far away in Bedford, so we shopped there much less frequently.)

 

 

Would you be willing to post the URL of the newspaper website? I am interested in seeing it for non-video game reasons.

 

Makes sense. Owning a SMS II and 7800, I got pretty good at scouring the neighborhood to see who had what. As I said above, in Ottawa, it varied, depending on where and when you looked.

 

Compu-Centre - all NES and SMS only.

 

Consumer's Distributing - Had NES and SMS. Atari systems - Atari 2600 jr only.

 

Zellers - had Atari 2600 jr consistently. Carried the XEGS for a Christmas, but it tanked and was dropped pretty fast

 

K Mart - Outside of NES and SMS, had 2600jr and 7800 but never really got beyond the 1986-7 games. I bought my 7800, Karateka, Xevious and others there.

 

Microplay - Carried SMS and NES new, only used 2600 and 7800 games. They actually told me right after I bought the 7800 in Dec 1988 that it was "discontinued"

 

Toy City - Had all three systems and games. I bought Tower Toppler there when it was new because K Mart didn't get it. I seem to remember them having XEGS games but not the system for a while.

 

Toys R Us - had all systems. Was the only one in Ottawa I remember having 3rd party 7800 games. Bought Double Dragon, F18 Hornet and Title Match Pro Wrestling from them.

 

 

 

 

 

[DracIsBack]

 

Would you be willing to post the URL of the newspaper website? I am interested in seeing it for non-video game reasons.

 

This link is here, though it's behind a paywall unfortunately.

 

https://www.telegraphjournal.com/

[jhd]

 

This link is here, though it's behind a paywall unfortunately.

 

https://www.telegraphjournal.com/

 

I'm a subscriber (Well, technically, my Mother is, but since I pay the bill...)

[+SpiceWare]

[they show horizontal scrolling, unclear if the same technique applies to vertical but I don't see why not]

 

 

The Rally X port does smooth scrolling in both direction.

[+davidcalgary29]

Does anyone have Atari Canada's purchase lists/order forms for the 7800 and XEGS from the late '80s and early '90s? I recall seeing a number of listed titles (ie. MIDIMaze XE, Xenophobe, Tower Toppler) that were obviously never released (although Atari Canada did demo MIDIMaze at a TAF user meeting). I never did see anything with Mat Mania Challenge XE on one of them...did anyone else?

[DracIsBack]

Does anyone have Atari Canada's purchase lists/order forms for the 7800 and XEGS from the late '80s and early '90s? I recall seeing a number of listed titles (ie. MIDIMaze XE, Xenophobe, Tower Toppler) that were obviously never released (although Atari Canada did demo MIDIMaze at a TAF user meeting). I never did see anything with Mat Mania Challenge XE on one of them...did anyone else?

 

I'll dig around and see if I still have them.

[sonicdan]

hi… sorry to chime in as a noob… been a longtime lurker on here… never felt the urge to post a comment until now.

weird thing is, the 7800 was already said to have 'failed' in the 80's because its library was more or less outdated back in the day.

I do own a lot of recent 7800 homebrews - and I love'em!! - but I find it odd that the vast majority rely on early 80's maze-games or vertical shooters… just like the first generation of 7800 games in the 80's.

 

I mean, those games are great - but we know the 7800 can do better… OF COURSE I wish the 7800 would get ports in the same vein as the Colecovision (Gradius) or as the Atari 8-bit computers (Bomb Jack, Space Harrier)! Or maybe Crystal Castles, Arkanoid, Tempest, Pac-land, Paperboy or Marble Madness when it comes to (Atari) arcade games. The 7800 gets even less mid-80's games than the 2600 which had its limits pushed with Thrust and Boulder Dash.

So yes, I do have a Coleco envy… no, wait… I love my Ataris and don't want a Colecovision anyway…

[8th lutz]

hi… sorry to chime in as a noob… been a longtime lurker on here… never felt the urge to post a comment until now.

weird thing is, the 7800 was already said to have 'failed' in the 80's because its library was more or less outdated back in the day.

I do own a lot of recent 7800 homebrews - and I love'em!! - but I find it odd that the vast majority rely on early 80's maze-games or vertical shooters… just like the first generation of 7800 games in the 80's.

 

I mean, those games are great - but we know the 7800 can do better… OF COURSE I wish the 7800 would get ports in the same vein as the Colecovision (Gradius) or as the Atari 8-bit computers (Bomb Jack, Space Harrier)! Or maybe Crystal Castles, Arkanoid, Tempest, Pac-land, Paperboy or Marble Madness when it comes to (Atari) arcade games. The 7800 gets even less mid-80's games than the 2600 which had its limits pushed with Thrust and Boulder Dash.

So yes, I do have a Coleco envy… no, wait… I love my Ataris and don't want a Colecovision anyway…

There actually is a homebrew version of Arkanoid for the Atari 7800 out there, but its not completed. Crazy Briz is the closest game to Arkanoid out there on the same system and is an excellent paddle game.

 

The same thing is true with the systems version of Tetris.

 

One of the reasons for so many game ports of late 1970's or early 1980's games on the homebrew side for the 7800 is for many years, there was not a homebrew board for 128k 7800 games. While the 7800 had 128k and 144k games in its lifetime, the homebrew scene was a different animal.

 

Programmers only could go up 48k games without bankswitching. The other reason is the limited amount of Pokey sound chips. When Atari created the 7800, they wanted cartridges to have sound chips and extra ram built in the cartridge as a way to cut cost for the system. The other reason is the Atari 7800 actually is naturally for doing

 

The other thing to look at is the Atari 7800 XM mess. The Atari 7800 XM supposed to 128k and 2 different sound chips that doesn't include the Atari 2600 sound chip.