At Games Colecovision, Intellivision, 2600 Flashbacks Pre-order

[bb_hood]

Alright, Colecovision Flashback is out and uh... it's okay... I suppose... it mostly works correctly.

Controller pinout is screwed up so you're stuck with the pack in controllers, which aren't all that great feeling. Most games run fine but some have missing or gimped sound. Overall sound is just a hair off but no big deal for most games. The Heist runs at half speed, which sucks.

Excellent video, I enjoyed it. Yeah, considering the issues with the controllers I can say this is something I dont want. I was really hoping for a system that would let me play Mr. Do! without having to use a coleco controller or the super action controller.
And yeah those spinnaker games are bad. THey probably only included them to boost the number of 'games', if you can call them that.

[Melf]

I've checked TRU, Walmart, and Sam's, and I haven't seen any of these ANYWHERE. Are you sure Sept. 22 was the launch date? No one I've asked in-store has any idea what I'm talking about.

[InsaneDavid]

Excellent video, I enjoyed it. Yeah, considering the issues with the controllers I can say this is something I dont want. I was really hoping for a system that would let me play Mr. Do! without having to use a coleco controller or the super action controller.
And yeah those spinnaker games are bad. THey probably only included them to boost the number of 'games', if you can call them that.

Thanks! I would honestly be happier with a system that ran 30 good CV games with proper controller setup than this artificially inflated ho-hum attempt and reviving the brand. For what we got, it's not terrible, just disappointing.

I've checked TRU, Walmart, and Sam's, and I haven't seen any of these ANYWHERE. Are you sure Sept. 22 was the launch date? No one I've asked in-store has any idea what I'm talking about.

100% certain for TRU but not for other retailers. I know inventory showed up on the west coast stores before most other places. If you don't see them in the electronics department, check over in the board games area as this stuff ends up over there sometimes.

[Greg2600]

If you're in Puerto Rico, Melf, then the street date may not apply. Your country has 100 extra hurdles to selling goods, often delays retailers.

[megasdkirby]

If you're in Puerto Rico, Melf, then the street date may not apply. Your country has 100 extra hurdles to selling goods, often delays retailers.

It usually gets released on the same day, unless the store that is going to sell them has little or no interest in stocking it. For instance, Sears can bring a game well before street date if they know it will sell great (like they did with Destiny on all platforms and with the Playstation 4 console), but any other item or game will take time to arrive because the "high" interest is not there.

My guess is that some companies don't see this as a "Day One Must Have" purchase, so it will eventually arrive with other items on a cheaper rate. I checked Sam's in Rexville, Bayamon yesterday and it was not in stock either. My guess is that it will arrive later next week.

[dgdgagdae]

Thanks for the review, David. I was looking forward to picking this up, since I probably will never bother trying to buy a ColecoVision. After seeing what you had to say about the controllers, maybe I'll wait to see if it eventually goes on clearance somewhere.

I heard what you said about the Intellivision Flashback. I checked YouTube, and I can't find any reviews of that one. Sounds like it's well built, but I'd really like to know if the controllers are the same size as the original controllers. As in, can they take originally sized overlays? The fact that the CV Flashback can't makes me wonder.

[InsaneDavid]

Thanks for the review, David. I was looking forward to picking this up, since I probably will never bother trying to buy a ColecoVision. After seeing what you had to say about the controllers, maybe I'll wait to see if it eventually goes on clearance somewhere.

I heard what you said about the Intellivision Flashback. I checked YouTube, and I can't find any reviews of that one. Sounds like it's well built, but I'd really like to know if the controllers are the same size as the original controllers. As in, can they take originally sized overlays? The fact that the CV Flashback can't makes me wonder.

Thanks. The system is still fun and the performance is decent but yeah, there are definitely some issues at hand. The fire buttons also seem to be swapped, as mentioned. Interestingly the control descriptions in the included documentation still mark left and right fire button functions properly so there must have been a pretty big disconnect within AtGames when it came to product testing.

I haven't played a ton of Intellivision in my time but the controllers felt properly sized when I was handling them. I can't see dropping $40 on it but if I'm able to find some kind of a discount coupon or the like to get it down to $30, I'll give it a shot.

[bb_hood]

Im not a fan of the original coleco controller to begin with, its a shame that you cant use anything other than the one it comes with.
This seems like the type of item that Ill probably find at salvation army for 6$ used.

If they had put in just a little more effort this could have been much better than it apparently turned out to be.

[Steve W]

This seems like the type of item that Ill probably find at salvation army for 6$ used.

I've bought a bunch of plug-and-plays including Atari Flashbacks of various models like that, for me it's the best way. It's kind of a bummer to pay full price for the Atari Flashback 1 only to play a bunch of badly programmed games on what is essentially a Famicom clone. If you have doubts, just wait for it to show up in a thrift after Christmas. I wish I would have waited for a year or two when the Intellivision 25-in-1 plug-and-play came out several years ago, I bought it immediately and wished I hadn't.


Has anybody worked out what the screwy pinout is on the Coleco Flashback? It would be nice if all I had to do to get an original Colecovision controller working on it was to make some kind of jumper box to correct the pin configuration.

[dgdgagdae]

I wish I would have waited for a year or two when the Intellivision 25-in-1 plug-and-play came out several years ago, I bought it immediately and wished I hadn't.

That thing was so unbelievably bad. I got it as a Christmas gift, and what a waste of a gift it was.

[Melf]

My guess is that some companies don't see this as a "Day One Must Have" purchase, so it will eventually arrive with other items on a cheaper rate. I checked Sam's in Rexville, Bayamon yesterday and it was not in stock either. My guess is that it will arrive later next week.

This is what I was thinking. It will probably just sneak into stores eventually. It's something that will sell, but it's not considered a must have, day 1 item, so that's why it's not in stock yet.

[kaedesdisciple]

I just picked up one of the Colecovisions last night and I had tempered my expectations having played with a few of these before. I sat on my living room floor this morning, hooked it all up, pressed the power button and had my WTF moment before one minute had passed: how do I navigate the damn menu? It was like I had controllers that were already broken like the days of old before I even touched them since I had to press with some serious force to get them to kinda move in any direction, and the fire buttons only worked about 70% of the time. I was able to get into the games, but I wound up dying every 5 seconds because I could only mash the controller to get anything to move so far before getting unintentionally hit with something else.

The picture is good and the sound is okay, but I can't control it? Complete and utter failure, very disappointed. I think I'ma go bust out my real Colecovision.

[Leo_A]

That doesn't sound right, I recommend returning it for a replacement.

[josekortez]

FYI, I saw all three systems (Genesis, Atari and Colecovision) for sale at Dollar General yesterday along with the handheld Sega. The Colecovision box said that it was a Dollar General exclusive. All of the systems I mentioned here were $40 each. I would caution everyone to wait until Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday before buying, however, since I bought the Sega handheld on sale at Dollar General last year. The best thing about the Colecovision system is that it includes Antarctic Adventure as a bonus game. If you've played this classic game, you already know how much fun it is.

[Atarileaf]

Excellent video, I enjoyed it. Yeah, considering the issues with the controllers I can say this is something I dont want. I was really hoping for a system that would let me play Mr. Do! without having to use a coleco controller or the super action controller.
And yeah those spinnaker games are bad. THey probably only included them to boost the number of 'games', if you can call them that.

Just use a Genesis pad on a real CV, that's how I play Mr. Do

If this At Games product did allow for swapping in a genny controller I might be interested but using those stock controllers makes this a dud for me. I wouldn't own a real CV if I had to use those stock controllers and it's the reason I don't own an Intellivision. Can't stand this "phone pad" fad in the early/mid 80's with the CV, INTV, and 5200.

[Greg2600]

To further complicate, Walmart are selling an Atari Flashback 5 with WIRED controllers.

[bb_hood]

Just use a Genesis pad on a real CV, that's how I play Mr. Do

Nah, if I remember correctly, the genesis pad doesnt work with Mr. do.. the d-pad controls dont line up and one of the diagonal down buttons pauses the game. So it does work but you have to unpause the game every 10 seconds. Ive had to use the super action controller in the past to enjoy mr. do on coleco.

[Atarileaf]

Nah, if I remember correctly, the genesis pad doesnt work with Mr. do.. the d-pad controls dont line up and one of the diagonal down buttons pauses the game. So it does work but you have to unpause the game every 10 seconds. Ive had to use the super action controller in the past to enjoy mr. do on coleco.

Hmmm, maybe it's because I have a modded genesis controller. Got one years ago from a fellow on youtube who does great modding work. I never had an issue with Mr. Do. I'll have to try a regular genesis controller then.

Also, wouldn't a standard atari joystick work? Mr. Do is a one button game anyway. Just use a cv joystick in port 2 to select the game and use the joystick to play the game.

[bb_hood]

Hmmm, maybe it's because I have a modded genesis controller. Got one years ago from a fellow on youtube who does great modding work. I never had an issue with Mr. Do. I'll have to try a regular genesis controller then.

Also, wouldn't a standard atari joystick work? Mr. Do is a one button game anyway. Just use a cv joystick in port 2 to select the game and use the joystick to play the game.

I no longer have a coleco to play mr. do!... I remember being very annoyed that I couldnt use the regular genesis controller. I remember having the same problem with a few other coleco games as well, one of the d-pad directions triggers the pause.
An atari joystick might work, I dont remember having tried one of those.

[Atarileaf]

I no longer have a coleco to play mr. do!... I remember being very annoyed that I couldnt use the regular genesis controller. I remember having the same problem with a few other coleco games as well, one of the d-pad directions triggers the pause.
An atari joystick might work, I dont remember having tried one of those.

I checked some threads on atariage where it was mentioned that a standard joystick would work. I'll have to break out my CV and give it a try.