While the general public fondly remembers the Nintendo Entertainment System as the first arcade-quality home console, retro enthusiasts and hardcore gamers agree that there was one system that surpassed the NES in critical acclaim, impact, and nostalgia: the ColecoVision.
The Story of the Colecovision, What Could Have Been! – Video Game Retrospective
In its short two-year lifespan, ColecoVision shattered expectations and sales records. It was on its way to becoming the most successful console in history, if not for the industry collapse of 1983 and 1984, and the risky gamble of repurposing the console into a home computer.
In some ways, the title of this article might have been better: Coleco: The House that Atari Built, since Coleco has created an entire corporation dedicated to cloning and improving Atari technology.
By 1975, Atari's Pong was popular in arcades and independent living units, outselling its only competitor, the Magnavox Odyssey. With Pong's success, several companies tried to get into video games, including the Connecticut Leather Company (also known as Coleco), which started with leather goods and then moved into making plastic paddling pools.
