ColecoVision Games May Get a New Lease on Life via Kickstarter

[Michael Epstein]

ColecoVision Games May Get a New Lease on Life via Kickstarter

New license-holders want to put ColecoVision games back in the living room.

Publisher Rantmedia Games started a new Kickstarter today to revive a set of games released on the retro console ColecoVision. The publisher, who recently picked up the Colecovision license, wants $250,000 to subsidize "a faithful recreation" of the original ColecoVision library for modern platforms.

Do you remember ColecoVision? Sure you do. It's that Atari-era console with knobby joystick and the number pad on the controller. Still doesn't ring a bell? Well, that's ok. First released in 1982 with 12 games, 145 ColecoVision titles were released on the platform over its three-year lifespan.

Rantmedia says that hitting that initial goal will only guarantee an iOS release, but the company has "ambitions" to eventually bring the platform to "Android, Mac, PC and even hardware like PS Vita," depending on the campaign's success. Rantmedia has a track record porting retro games to iOS: Their last project, Vectrex Regeneration, was an app sporting a "megapack" of games originally released on the Vectrex, another console from the same era.

The proposed app would feature 20 official games, plus a small selection of homebrew titles, including:

Antarctic Adventure
BlackJack/Poker
Bump 'n' Jump
Brain Strainers
Choplifter
Destructor
Fortune Builder
Frenzy
Jumpman
Jumpman Junior
Jungle Hunt
Montezuma's Revenge
Ms. Space Fury
Pepper 2
Space Fury
Super Action Boxing
Super Action Football
Super Action Baseball
Super Action Soccer
Zaxxon

If funded, the ColecoVision app would launch on the Apple App Store in March, 2014.

Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rantmediagames/colecovision]

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[antidonkey]

Oh man.....Montezuma's revenge brings back some memories. Some of the other titles I played at the arcade but MR was a huge source of entertainment when I was chilling at a neighbors house. We were an Atari family while they had the Colecovision and Odyssey.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

I'm all for porting older titles to current platforms, particularly as backward compatibility is being phased out

Preserve game history

 

[robinkom]

Ah, ColecoVision... my very first console.

It's a great thing they want to do in keeping our history alive and introducing it to a new generation, but I'd rather give the money to an effort that would aim to recreate the home experience with console-on-a-chip "Flashback" style machines like what was done with the SEGA Genesis and Atari 2600, for example.

I'm a proponent of the authentic experience or as close as you can get to it. Half the skill and fun involved in playing Coleco games was wrestling with the awkward joystick and trying to stave off carpal-tunnel. You can't beat the real thing.

 

[Glaice]

A little too late I'm afraid.

 

[lordbevo]

No Venture, no sale!

 

[Rad Party God]

Hmmm... I absolutely love the idea of what they're trying to make, but I didn't grew up with the ColecoVision and I've never played it before, so sadly, I'm not enthusiastic about this. However, I'd love to see Sega do something similar for the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for 360 & PS3 for a more authentic experience.

 

[Callate]

The Colecovision was an awesome system for its time, but most of the games for it were either arcade ports or had comparable or better versions elsewhere. I wish them well in their endeavors, and I'm all for preserving video game history, but I don't think they're likely to find Kickstarter or commercial success.

 

[hexFrank202]

We've secured the rights to all of these games, and now we need your money so that we can bring you these games! Even though we're a publisher and you'd think that would be our job to fund, but you know.

 

[schrodinger]

ColecoVision games, huh?

Should I break out my old corded phone for old times sake?

Or even better, a corded TV remote.

 

[Signa]

No Venture, no sale!

My thoughts too. It's the only game I'm nostalgic for on the Coleco.