Console War Coleco vs. Atari

From 1982, Coleco challenged market leader Atari with the Colecovision, initially through an expansion module that allowed Atari 2600 games to run on its own console. Atari sued but lost because Coleco had not used patent-protected components. Following the ruling, Coleco released the Gemini, a fully compatible Atari 2600 clone. The ruling may still have relevance to the development, publication and use of emulators.

Externally, the rivalry between the two companies is shown at a number of TV spots with comparative advertising. The spots produced by Coleco highlight compatibility with the Atari 2600 and expandability through expansion modules, while Atari promotes the technical advantages of the 2600 successor Atari 5200. An absurd highlight of this marketing war is a spot by Atari that compares Pac-Man on the 5200 with Pac-Man on the Colecovision – but in fact, it is Atari’s own 2600-Pac-Man implementation, which, according to critics, is misguided, which runs on a Colecovision with expansion module.

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