Coleco's console punched straight at the arcade: a Z80, the proven TMS9918A video chip, and a pack-in port of Donkey Kong so close to the coin-op that it sold the machine on its own. An expansion module even let it play Atari 2600 games — a bold shot at the whole market.
The Four Natures
each piece emerges by one of four natures
The Idea
the three-beat story
A Zilog Z80A at 3.58 MHz with the Texas Instruments TMS9918A video chip gave near-arcade graphics, and a startlingly faithful Donkey Kong in the box proved it. For a moment, ColecoVision was the most powerful console you could buy.
The same TI video chip family used in the MSX computers and others: tiled backgrounds, 32 sprites, 16 colours. Well-understood, capable, and the backbone of the ColecoVision's strong ports.
An add-on let the ColecoVision play Atari 2600 cartridges — legally controversial and audacious, briefly giving Coleco's machine the largest game library around.
The Teardown — Click a Block
the machine, laid out as a block diagram — the main processor on top, the rest of the silicon beneath, buses showing what talks to what. Click any block to read its spec. An accurate architecture diagram (a teardown illustration, not a schematic).
The Spec Sheet
the headline numbers — the spec edition
3.58 MHz.
32 sprites · 16 colours.
3 square + noise.
cartridge ROM.
plays Atari 2600 games.
The Reckoning
the teardown, and the honesty about it
The Domain: Open It and Spec It
the teardown
- EXEREÚNESIS takes a real, made machine apart down to the chip and writes the honest spec — not a story-world but a technical anatomy.
- >One of a growing series of console teardowns; siblings link from the marquee.
Two-Layer Honest
datasheet vs lore
- Settled: the Z80A, the TMS9918A video, the SN76489 sound, and the 2600-compatible expansion module are documented.
- Flagged: it arrived just before the 1983 crash that wiped out much of the US console market — its short life was timing, not hardware; noted.
Render, Not Invent
sourced
- Summarized from the public technical record for the COLECOVISION; the manufacturer and its engineers are cited, not minted.
- No ROMs, BIOS, or copyrighted code are reproduced. Emergents are physical components; the block diagram is an illustration, not a schematic.
The Roster
every chip and part as an ACI .agent — each a birth certificate & a nature (6)
