# 80's Colecovision/Atari nostalgia **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 26, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326 "2003-03-26T17:10:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/21 "2003-03-27T02:26:28Z")
LADYBUG!!! _bwahahahahaha_ My husband put a Colecovision emulator on our PC, and now, once again, I am the QUEEN of Ladybug!!! DIE BUGS! FB ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/22 "2003-03-27T02:30:05Z")
I had a ColecoVision as a kid. I was good at all the games I had, but my favorite was Venture. I scored 5,000,000 points on that game, I was that good. I also had Donkey Kong, Cosmic Avenger, Ladybug, Zaxxon, Mousetrap and Centepede. We also had the Atari Cartridge adapter which allowed us to enjoy games like Pitfall, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Riddle of the Sphinx. Oh for those days! ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/23 "2003-03-27T03:00:22Z")
My brother begged for a Colecovision for Christmas and his wish was answered. Unfortunately, the first unit we got didn’t work. I think we had to drive 2 hours to St. Louis to exchange it. The second unit worked for a little while and then something went wrong with it (which may have necessitated a second trip to St. Louis - I don’t remember). Luckily the third one worked and (as far as I know) still does. My best game was **Subroc** - not because I was good - but because it was an extremely easy game to play. My favorite was **Heist** - a fairly relaxing game in which one navigated a museum to steal paintings. Besides those two, we had several other games: **Venture** - my brother likes to tell the story of how he and Dad started a 2-player game one evening and got really, really far. Then Dad said it was time for my brother to go to bed. After my brother left, Dad stayed up till 5am (the amount of time increases with each telling) and racked up a bazillion points. I believe the record still stands - as does the resentment. **Zaxxon** - this game never did much for me - I always struggled to kill the robot at the end of the level and it always freaked me out when it shot those howling droids at me. **Donkey Kong** - I don’t think I ever got past level 3 - the elevator screen (I think). I had heard there was a really cool level at some point further up in the game, but I never got to see it. **War Games** - a very creepy game in which the USSR nuked your cities while the game emitted a creepy electronic air raid siren and flashed messages saying things like “Chicago is lost.” **Centipede** - we had the roller attachment that made it nearly impossible to do any more than just swerve your “guy” across the screen in a blur. **Omega Race** - who could forget the little white triangle that shot at those shape-thingies? **Q\*bert** - @!#!?@! **Ladybug** - My mom’s favorite game. I liked winning the Vegetable Round-up (or whatever the heck it was called). I think we also had **Miner 2049’r** but I don’t remember too much about it. We didn’t own **Smurf** , but we rented it once. My smurf kept tripping over daisies and buttercups and died. Special honorary mention must go to **Ken Uston’s Blackjack Poker** which my brother, for reasons that are unclear, dubbed **Ken Uston’s Cheatinest Blackjack Poker**. My best friend had an Atari and I loved to go visit and play **Pitfall** and **SuperBreakout**. _sigh!_ I really could go for a game of **Heist** right now. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/24 "2003-03-27T03:27:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferret Herder \* > \*\*At a local computer game store, I saw a packaged classic Atari 2600 controller - and apparently it was set up such that if you hooked it up to a TV, inside the base of the controller was the ‘OS’ for the game machine and 10 pre-loaded classic games! Pity there’s no way to add more, but that looked like a great and inexpensive shot of nostalgia. \*\* It WAS available from Avon (yes Avon). It was produced by [www.jakkspacific.com](http://www.jakkspacific.com) whick seems to have gone walkabout. We got one for xmas. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/25 "2003-03-27T04:06:40Z")
Growing up, we had an Atari 400 and then an Atari 2600. I was about 3 or 4 when we got it (my brother is 5.5 years older than me), but I loved attempting to play those games! My favourites were Joust!, Pit Fall, Crystal Castles, Food Fight, Pole Position, and Q\*bert. Of course, I wasn’t too good, being that young, but I had so much fun! I still remember how the muscles in your hand would cramp up _terribly_ on the joystick you needed for Pole Position. Oddly enough, after having other advanced gaming systems, we sold our Playstation (our most recent new acquisition) and now, sitting in its place… an Atari 800, bought on e-Bay for $30. All of our games still work as well as our joysticks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/26 "2003-03-27T05:26:56Z")
Bwahaha…you realize what we sound like? _\_ “Yep.” _spit_ _ping!_ “Those young whipper-snappers like to shoot with dem dere semee-auto dealybobbers…but I’ll take the cold weight of a Colt 45 in my hands any day of the week…when the shit hits the fan?..yesiree bobcat…” ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/27 "2003-03-27T05:57:16Z")
Gaaahh! Wargames for the Colecovision! I remember that now that you mention it. It was a weird sort of next-generation Missile Command. You had to direct interceptors, anti-ballistic missiles and… destroyers, perhaps, to knock down incoming missiles, bombers, and missile subs. Had the map of the US broken up into six sectors you had to switch to as threats came in. Damn. Nostalgia. [sub]Oh mighty Google, I do beseech thee, find me an emulator…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/28 "2003-03-28T20:51:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnT \* > \*\*Star Raiders! 😃 > > Who here had an ET cart? \*\* I had both. I actually LIKED E.T. On the harder difficulty levels it was quite a challenge, and was more varied than most 2600 games of the time. ---
**Author:** ![NameAlreadyTaken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@NameAlreadyTaken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NameAlreadyTaken)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/29 "2003-03-28T21:00:37Z")
How about old and obscure consoles? When I was a kid, we were on the cutting edge with a used [Fairchild Entertainment System](http://www.classicgaming.com/gamingmuseum/channelf.html). It was the first step up past dedicated PONG consoles, and had really weird shift-knob joysticks. All the neighbor kids got Atari’s and could play in color. ---
**Author:** ![ForgottenLore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@ForgottenLore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForgottenLore)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/30 "2003-03-28T21:17:09Z")
My best friend and I both had Intellivisions, and we used to swap cartridges. The best part was playing Auto Racing on his machine, because ever since his kid brother spilled 7-Up on the console, the games would start doing REAL interesting things once it had a chance to warm up. Roads disappeared! Trees turned into capital Hs! Chaos ensued! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/31 "2003-03-29T00:50:43Z")
Star Fleet to Star Cruiser 7 Mission Complete New Rank Is Garbage Scow Captain Class 4 Congratulations. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JamesCarroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@JamesCarroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JamesCarroll)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/32 "2003-03-29T01:13:59Z")
Aside from the Atari 2600 I forget the names of the consoles. What was the one that had a gold disk instead of a joystick? It also had a key pad that looked like a telephone above it. We didn’t have that one, though I remember playing baseball on it as a kid and thus began my love of baseball. The one we had was black, had a push pad like the above unit, but it was below a short nub of a joystick that actually worked better if you put your thumb on top to push it. My dad used to play Zaxxon on that machine for hours. He actually put some athletic tape on the top of the stick so that his thumb wouldn’t slip. Oh, and yes, we also had an IBM PC Jr. I learned to program Pascal on that when I was in 6th grade. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/33 "2003-03-29T08:26:57Z")
**JamesCarroll** : The first system (the one you didn’t have) was the Intellivision, the second, the Colecovision. Technically, the controllers were identical, functionally. Both had a sixteen direction joystick (though the Intellivision’s was that gold stickless base, precursor to the Nintendo controller) two seperate “fire” buttons (the IV actually had four buttons, but they were two linked pairs, high and low) and a 12 key keypad. The IV games generally made use of all of that. The Colecovision, with the exception of the WarGames cart, and one or two others (Mousetrap?) ignored the added functionality of the keypad. [sub]_Now_ I see why higher education was wasted on me. Too many brain cells already had hardwired information taking up space.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/34 "2003-03-29T13:39:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnT \* > \*\*Who here had an ET cart? \*\* I have them all. [They’re buried in my dad’s backyard.](http://www.snopes.com/business/market/atari.htm) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/35 "2003-03-29T16:39:08Z")
> [@](#): > > I had a ColecoVision as a kid. I was good at all the games I had, but my favorite was Venture. I scored 5,000,000 points on that game, I was that good. I was a god on that game. I just never died, and could play it for hours and hours on end. Unfortunately after about 4 hours the unit would overheat and freeze-up. I still play some of those game from time to time with an emulator. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/36 "2003-03-29T17:06:55Z")
Remember Colecovision’s **2010**? There was another game I enjoyed for it that I can’t remember the name of. It was a management simulation. You had to build ski lodges, resorts, hotels, etc, and turn a profit. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/37 "2003-03-30T06:49:51Z")
Remembered another 2600 game of dubious entertainment value… Anyone else dig on the Superman cart? Clarkieboy had to nab Lex Luthor (in a a helicopter back pack, no less) and three or four henchmen, whilst rebuilding the three parts of the bridge they destroyed, and avoiding these Kryptonite satellites… or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/38 "2003-03-30T15:37:02Z")
iirc, if you hit the x-ray vision button (or whatever) before Supes hit the phone booth and turned to Clark Kent in the beginning, the bridge wouldn’t blow up… ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/39 "2003-03-30T15:46:53Z")
I had a lot of other 2600 carts, but only a few stick in my mind. **Bezerk** – because it was freakin’ cool! **Pac-Man** – did anyone else feel ripped off after all of the hype for this one? **Raiders of the Lost Ark** – funny, I don’t remember Indy jumping from the top of a mesa and trying to snag a tree branch with his parachute in the movie. . . . I’d list more, but an insane smiley face seems to be bouncing towards me. mustn’t touch the walls. . . mustn’t touch the **ZAAAP** ---
**Author:** ![Thunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a8b319/32.png) [@Thunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thunder)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326/40 "2003-03-30T19:29:26Z")
Didya know as you’re about to get ET in the spaceship, you can walk off that screen (IIRC), and when you walk right back in, it looks like the spaceship his crushed ET into a blob by landing on him, and then the game crashes. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-colecovision-atari-nostalgia/164326.md?page=3)