ColecoVision

Toy manufacturer Coleco has already produced pong clones, but will only publish its module-based console at a time when the market is already divided. But the late start also has an advantage: the ColecoVision can shine with current technology – it is the first system that offers graphics in game hall quality.

Ironically, Coleco does not have the means to buy important arcade licenses, but then the company succeeds in a coup: not Atari or Mattel, but newcomer Coleco is awarded the contract for Nintendo’s arcade hit Donkey Kong, apparently because Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi likes the company. The implementation is excellent, and Coleco adds it to the new console. The game provides million-fold sales, and a further 150 modules appear.

The video game crash the following year proved fatal for the ColecoVision. Coleco continued offering the console until summer 1985, but went bankrupt three years later.