RVG Forum

Activision are probably best known for titles like Pitfall, Ghostbusters and Kaboom! but one of their best early titles without doubt is Beamrider. Much like many of their other early games this is clearly inspired by somebody else’s game – Konami’s highly under rated Juno First. It also has many elements that are reminiscent of Atari’s Tempest too. The screen is drawn out like a grid that scrolls into the horizon giving a really good pseudo 3D effect. You control a ship at the bottom that can move left and right and shoot into the distance. Enemies move along the grid towards you at a rapid pace constantly changing their direction. As well as shooting at you they will also try to smash into you so a quick trigger finger and some fast reflexes are required to take them out first or avoid them. Some of the enemies can’t be killed with your normal weapon so you must use one of your valuable missiles. These must also be used to destroy the huge end of level motherships too and timing is the key here. You start with just 3 and they are replenished when you lose a life or complete a level. Beamrider is very impressive from a graphical point of view with its 3D effect and super smooth scrolling. The sound effects suit the game incredibly well too but it’s the fast action addictive gameplay is the real winner here. Beamrider is a simply fantastic game for the Colecovision and one that you will be trying to beat your high score on for a very long time to come.

In this conversion of the hugely popular 1982 Data East arcade game you control our hero Peter Pepper who is trying to build himself some burgers! To do this you must go around the screen and walk the length of each ingredient (bun, meat patty, tomato and lettuce) so it falls one level. If it lands on top another ingredient, the latter one in turn drops a level. Each burger is completed when all vertically aligned ingredients have been dropped from their platforms and onto a waiting plate below. While making these burgers, Peter Pepper, must also deal with three enemies who are out to stop him called Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Pickle and Mr. Egg. The enemies can be hurt or stopped in different ways; dropping bits of the burger onto them kills them while a blast from your pepper pot temporarily stuns them. If you are clever you can also trick an enemy to walk onto the ingredient just as you finish walking across it to drop them both. As the game goes on the levels get harder with more platforms and less routes of escape. This version of the game is easily one of the best I have seen and really does solidify the Coleco’s reputation of being an arcade system in the home. The graphics and sound are near identical to the original coin-op and the gameplay is every bit as enjoyable too. Mattel did a really fine conversion of this game, better even than their own Intellivision iteration, and it must be considered a must have game for the system.

A conversion of the popular 1980 Sega arcade game, Carnival, is basically a shooting gallery game. You control a pistol at the bottom of the screen and move it left and right shooting at the targets, fairground style. Among the fluffy bunnies and cuddly owls that you shoot at are also blocks that contain ammo. These must be shot to keep your bullets topped up, a bar at the bottom shows you how much you have. On the bottom row are classic yellow ducks that from time to time dive-bomb you Galaxian style! If they get you then you lose both ammo and points. At the top of the screen is a big spinning wheel protected by a shield. To complete a level you must shoot all of the “pipes” that are attached to it. Either side of the shield is a very small amount of space where you can shoot the pipes if you time it right as they spin round. Among the targets are also letters that spell BONUS, shoot all of these and you get to play a bonus round where you have to hit a polar bear as many times as you possibly can! The ColecoVision conversion of this game is without doubt the best on any home system. They totally nailed the graphics, sound and gameplay from the original coin-op. In fact a special mention really should go to the music, the Coleco rendition of Sobre las Olas is excellent, but then the ColecoVision does share the same sound chip as the arcade game. Carnival is a hugely fun and rewarding game for the ColecoVision that will really appeal to arcade aficionados.

Centipede has always been regarded as a quintessential Atari arcade classic and this ColecoVision version might not be one of the most talked about home versions but it’s definitely one of the best. For those who don't know Centipede is a single screen shooter where you have a little gun (bug spray?) at the bottom that has limited movement up and down as well as left and right. The screen is full of mushrooms that can be shot and the Centipede himself starts at the top and then moves his way down, but if he hits a mushroom it sends him straight down a level. If he hits several mushrooms in a row his descent can be very rapid and this also causes his movement to speed up too. The Centipede is made up of sections, so you have to shoot all of them to kill him and they can move independently once split up. If he reaches the bottom before you destroy him then he starts to regenerate. There are also other garden creatures like spiders, flies and even scorpions (got any of them in your garden?) that are trying to kill you. This is as frantic as a shooter as they come and Atari did a generally good job of the conversion. The graphics aren’t the best in this game, I found them to be a bit lacking in detail with their single colour sprites/objects but the sound holds up well. Most importantly though the game plays really well and offers up a great work out for shoot ‘em up fans.