Postby scotland171 » October 1st, 2014, 7:26 pm
My Intellivision and Colecovision flashbacks arrived in the mail today from Toys R Us preorder. Saving one for the holidays, but getting long weekend 'guests' next week, so this will be my 8 bit therapy. Not sure which one I will enjoy in October as I'm excited to hook them up and start retro gaming. These Flashbacks have such a great vibe, and I'm glad I ordered a set.
Things I noted already (have not plugged it in yet):
1) There are only a handful of overlays. There may be 60 games, but the Intellivision Flashback has about a dozen overlays. The Colecovision even fewer. I was hoping for many many more than that.
2) The Intellivision controller does *not* work on an vintage Intellivision. I have a Sears Super Video Arcade version on the Intellivision with plug in controllers, but even though the Flashback controllers are 9 pin, they are not wired the same. There is a guy on Atari Age selling adapters at $12 bucks a pop to do that.
3) The Colecovision controllers do *not* work on a vintage Colecovision. That guy on Atari Age will probably make some adapters for these too.
So, if part of your rationale for this is for overlays or backup controllers, nope. Still, games you play here are less wear and tear on the original, so they may help in that secondary manner.
4) The Intellivision Flashback controller seems the right size and same type of keypad. The Colecovision controller is smaller, and oddly, the controller knob on the top is set closer to the handset. My vintage Intellivision and Colecovision have sticklers on them, and I may order some for these too.
5) At Games have *minimal decoration* when it came to aesthetics and extras. There is an instruction book which has tiny font and run off a b&w printer. We've seen that before with the Atari flashbacks, which is disappointing, but most of the units look pretty cool. They have also cut back on any decorations to their units. The Inty Flashback has golden stickers and woodgrain stickers, but the Colecovision unit struck me immediately that it has a cheap sticker on the top. No attempt at anything shiny, faux woodgrain, just utilitarian cheap black plastic on the Colecovision Flashback. Reminds me of the Genesis unit I bought last year in that regard. Something that goes back in the box right away after playing with it.
I'm interested to see what Leo and others think. Edit: Clarify its the Colecovision model that has a cheap sticker. The Intellivision Flashback looks much better.
-Scotty
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