5200 vs. Colecovision - which is most-advanced (technically)

[veronica_marsfan]

Discuss.

[gepeto]

The Timex Sinclar was and is the most powerful supercomputer ever made. It is so powerful it is even powering the pentagon and Norad to this day. The powerfull big brain cell chip is the stuff of legends.

[BydoEmpire]

I don't know. But I do know that I've personally enjoyed the 5200 games quite a bit more. In fact, I like the 5200 controllers much better than the CV's as well. Although the CV does play a mean game of Mr Do. I honestly never bothered looking into the specs (i'm sure they're on wikipedia).

[idrougge]

The Colecovision generally has higher-resolution graphics, the 5200 has more colours and hardware scrolling.

[RJ]

I read in a gaming mag back in '83 or so the 5200 is basically an Atari 400 computer inside.

[j_factor]

5200 is indeed very similar to the Atari 400 computer; Colecovision, for its part, is very similar to the Speccy. The Coleco has a faster CPU, but I don't really know much about the other hardware features of the systems. I've been told that Colecovision didn't have scrolling in the hardware.

[idrougge]

Colecovision, for its part, is very similar to the Speccy.

No, it's quite dissimilar. The Speccy didn't have sprites, and the Coleco doesn't have direct access to its VRAM.

[blue lander]

It's nothing like the Spectrum except for having the same CPU. The Colecovision is basically an MSX computer with less RAM and a different sound chip.

[veronica_marsfan]

I read in a gaming mag back in '83 or so the 5200 is basically an Atari 400 computer inside.

Correct.

And no it's not as simple as looking-up specs. Some people say Colecovision is superior technically; and others say the 5200 is the more-powerful machine.