If you were old enough to remember the Christmas of 1982, chances are good that you remember the Colecovision. Though it is often derided by the modern gaming media and lumped in with Atari when it comes to seeking blame for the 1983 crash (A good chunk of the units being defective at launch didn’t help), the Coleco was nonetheless a spectacular console with a great variety of games. Having grown up with one, I have fond memories of playing nearly arcade perfect versions of Gorf and Donkey Kong, as well as slowly killing my chances at any kind of social life with marathon sessions of Antartic Adventure and Buck Rodgers. Much like the Turbografx, the Coleco has become sort of an “also-ran” in the pantheon of gaming consoles, which is especially sad, given the great library it gained it such a short time span.
Perhaps hoping to cash in on that nostalgia, the company responsible for resurrecting the Coleco name in 2005 (River West Holdings), has announced their “return” to the market with a retro console that bears the industry pioneer’s name. Slated for release sometime next year and hoping for a formal announcement and demonstration at this upcoming February’s New York City Toy Fair, the Coleco “Chameleon”, as it’s named, will play classic Coleco titles as well as brand new games developed in, quote, “the 8, 16 and 32-bit styles”.
Perhaps most interesting, at least for this writer, is that extra care is being taken in the packaging of these new games, since they are going to come with an early Sega-Genesis-esque hard plastic clamshell case that contains full color manuals and liner notes documenting the development of each title. Say what you will about the Coleco name or its reputation, but if there’s one thing I (and many others) miss, it’s the old fashioned game cases.
While there have been several popular retro consoles that have released over the years, such as The Retron, The Atari Flashback (and it’s clones), and even a Commodore 64-branded phone that plays legally emulated C64 games, there hasn’t been much in the way of new hardware that plays new games developed exclusively for the machine itself. The idea of a new console developed solely for 80s/90s kids who not only want retro games but also *new* retro games sounds appealing, though risky considering the options already out there in the mobile (and emulation) landscape.
One thing to note, however, is that the new console is supposedly a revamped version of the Retro VGS machine which failed its indiegogo campaign earlier this year. Also, it has said that a second attempt at gaining funds will be made, only this time via Kickstarter.
We’ll find out this February if all the attention is warranted once it gets its official debut.
