Zaxxon (Coleco/ColecoVision 1982)

[zaxxxon]

Great game if there ever was one... Once made it to level 13 on a single quarter in an arcade.

[krishnasoftDOTcom]

Atari 2600 version rules! You can tell where you are. You can't tell where you are in all the other versions I have seen. Who cares about the graphics if you have no control over where you are-- just look at the video-- the player misses all the aircraft because he has no idea of his position. It's a game, not a movie so user control is MOST important!

[Umma6umma]

@krishnasoftDOTcom That's true, but part of the challenge of Zaxxon IS that you have to deal with the isometric view. I'll be honest, the real reason I miss the aircraft is that I suck at the game. If you let them home in on you, fire, and then get out of the way of their shots you can take control of the game and its view.

[CaptainFantastik1]

This was such a great game for that time. Spent countless hours playing.

[Tanru2000]

OMG I was just thinking about this game the other day!! So cool and moody!

[Swecan76]

they say dark souls and demon souls is hard, fuck that try out Zaxxon, then you know frustration.

[Swecan76]

OMFG I had one of these consoles,the Coleco.

I totally forgot what the name was of the console, and I used to play this game Sazxxon, but I always got stuck at one part.

[honeybearfur]

I always thought the targets looked like bee hives and garbage cans.

[fabianlerso]

Era lo massss

[fabianlerso]

Erac lo massss

[MarkP0rter]

im impressed at what was technically already possible in 82. i would have imagined this was from 86.

[hippocrates72]

I used to own this ! what a great game by its time !!

[SimsMoyal]

i never understood how to pass that house with the bomb in the end

[lurkerrekrul]

@SimsMoyal - The "house" is the robot Zaxxon, although he looks completely different in the Colecovision version. In fact, the whole game looks like some weird mix of Zaxxon and Super Zaxxon. Anyway, to defeat the robot, you have to get your height just right and blow up the missile before he fires it. You'll continue if you blow it up after he shoots, but then you don't get the bonus points for destroying him. Use the gauge on the left as a guide. Once you find the right height, remember it.

[SimsMoyal]

@lurkerrekrul thank you very much for explaining it .... for years i couldn't figure it out - perhaps because of the awful graphics of the cga i could never understand what that thing was

[SimsMoyal]

i never understood how to pass that house with the bomb in the ned

[phrixil]

The Colecovision was the Sega Dreamcast of the second generation console era. It's games' graphics absolutely put everything else to shame and this game is a great example of such.

[Lumotaku]

@phrixil

I don't understand your analogy to dreamcast. The dreamcast had shitty controllers so did the colecovision unless you opted for the many third party josticks you could buy. the dreamcast didnt have many good games either. Colecos library had plenty of great games.

[spazzman90]

THANK YOU for skipping all the intro crap and just showing us the game. Appreciate the post!

[Rubens1995able]

It's just me or the spacecraft doesn't go out of fuel?

[Rubens1995able]

I've played it on PS2's sega genesis collection. I have not gone so far, though.

[tkoizumi]

People were such a fool, they thought this was a 3D. But in fact it is called isometric. Even today we are not 3D. It is 3D Rendered graphics... Not even our so called 3D Tv's aren't 3D, they are 2D image on a different layers. To truly get the 3D, we need something like holograms like in startrek haha.

[chainsawcharlie]

wow... talk about a trip down memory lane. I don't know how many hours I wasted on this game

[NinjaGhostScorpion]

One of the first games I ever played.

[EcoPanorAmico]

how many month if gaming on this..whhhahahahahahaha amazing!!!!!!

[mossimock]

Wuaoo.  had a smile on my face through out the whole video remembering when i was a kid.. THANKS MAN!!!.. I have to show this to my son!!!

[ghos7bear]

This game looks awesome, graphics is great.

[hngryGenghis]

This game was obviously from a time when special effects weren't very special.

[dieselducy]

That was a HARD game!!

[tron3entertainment]

Ever Play Super Zaxxon? It moves so fast you hardly have time to fly and navigate. Let alone shoot and score. It was near impossible.

[dieselducy]

@tron3entertainment I loved that game. I now have it on my computer..

[fazares]

i like the sg-1000 port better:)

[TJae1]

 bring the arcade experience home ~

[GialloHorror]

ColecoVision for the win!!

Look at those 80's graphics! Epic! Thanks for the memories. I miss this stuff!

[SlurkaDurka]

this is a blast from the past i remember geting a high score of 500 000 id play for ages dad wasnt to happy when i got better than him

[pilarlacasa]

Nice sound!! Thanks

[tyendor]

Great memories. I loved this game.

[brianoblivion]

awesome!

[frikyouall]

Castle wall FAIL.

Looks cool, though. Wish I'd had this as a kid, Id've rocked that b****all night long.

[oasisbeyond]

guy playing this is a moron..... geez This was gold

[drmorb]

u suck

[forker51]

Tinnitus. XD

[c0uchsl0uch]

what was the name of that game where you were in the jungle and you had to swing on those vines and then you had to run away from the giant boulders ??

[JawingSalamander]

@c0uchsl0uch That was Jungle Hunt

[ClassicTVMan81]

@c0uchsl0uch

Congo Bongo, also originally produced by Sega.

[jksonny]

Loved this game!

[misterEric123]

I had this game and I remember being disappointed !

[Bugzelot]

To kill the jets in space, the groups of three, you had to be down all the way.

[Bugzelot]

I bought this at Sears when it first came out. I always felt a bit off after playing it tho, like a dark feeling. It was so desolate.

[WitchOvAgnesi]

FAIL

Thanks for the memories tho!

[quaxk]

I remember at first thinking it was impossible to play, but then ended loving it, one of my favorite coleco games

[honeybearfur]

I used to play this game for HOURS!  Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Good times! Games nowdays are too real......they take away the imagination!

[lurkerrekrul]

The collision detection doesn't look too precise...

[heybugs]

If you're gonna release a clip playing a game that was so easily winnable, DON'T SUCK.

[AoFparson]

this ws far adcanced game on the far advanced collecovision.never had one until nowerdays. which i had

[Calbenmike]

I always thought Colecovision owned Atari, this game was very hard IMO

[AussieHuddo]

This version craps all over the Atari 2600 version!!

[AtariAndre42]

@AussieHuddo DUH, comparing 1977 hardware with 1982 hardware isn't exactly fair right ?

Then try to compare Atari's 8 bit computer version to the Coleco. The Atari 8 bit hardware is from 1979. The program released in 1983 and it SMOKES the Coleco version...SMOOTH scrolling and much harder (like the arcade)...

[fijiboy68]

I felt bad the day my father got this for us. I think he paid $149 at Toys R Us back in 83. Atari 5600 and Commodore were too expensive at the time...Thanks for the post and the memories!

[rdbiker69]

Thanks for posting. I used to dream about having Colecovision and Zaxxon would have been worth it!

[thebig1]

I like the Atari 2600 version better.

[Pablos544]

Link? I'd like to see what could be better.

[thebig1]

Just type in Zaxxon for atari 2600

[Pablos544]

I agree it's .. different, but the real zaxxon was surely more like that of the Coleco Vision.

[joejumps4fun]

shooting and flying sounds remind me of Captain Skyhawk from NES

[mlg73]

Man, seeing this clip brought back a bunch of great memories of me, my brother and uncle sitting around the living room TV playing Zaxxon. I remember when I first got the game and how difficult it was to make it past the first stage. But one you get your bearings, it becomes pretty easy. Thanks for posting!

[nUaSvAy]

Thats pretty good. almost 3d! In 1980 too!

[ThrilloVanHouten]

Gotta love the chunky scrolling tile-based backgrounds.

Now that I think about it, how did the Atari 800/5200 version pull it off smoothly? It couldn't have been done with nothing but sprites...

[StarBoors]

I still have my Coleco..Think they say it's worth $1000.00 now....Had it since Christmas 1983...

[hhairball9]

I STILL have my Coleco Vision with Zaxxon, Dig-Dug, Frogger, and Donkey Kong!..lol

[StarBoors]

Me too!

[tom11zz884]

This game sold alot of systems for the colecoVision, and the colecovision had the best version of zaxxon out of all the systems at that time.

[purpleroxmysox12]

This was back when SEGA had proper games....*sigh*and not no hedgehog THAT TALKS......those were the good ol' days when Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't around to be such a huge disgrace........I miss those days.

[adog262]

What's wrong with a hedgehog that talks? Isn't that better than games like Subroc where you shoot ships and flying saucers? (Well, not really...)

[electronicoffee]

This boss looks HELLA HARD! ZOMG.

[blade004]

The boss is actually piss easy like the rest of the game but its still BRILLIANT!! .. I went without lunch for a couple of months at school so i could use my lunch money to buy the game :)

[redcardinalist]

I have to say that the sound in this game would get on my nerves after about 5 seconds :(

[ajjs02]

it's great that you have this game and it's great that you posted this, but, you suck dude. U have an unlimited number of bullets. don't ever stop shooting and don't ever stop moving. and you can even kill the missles that fly up in front of you. . Colleco rules. Colleco lives. He man where's the roach clip. ah fuck it. lets do botts instead. LMFAO. O_o

[aerok11]

this game used to kick my ass as a back then....i betcha itd still kick my ass....

[orangetide]

the audio reminds me of my TI-99, probably the same audio chip. Probably the same video chip too. Considering its simplicity the system was really a lot of fun.

[daveheel]

as opposed to atari and intellivision, colecovision concentrated on porting arcade games. they did a great job

[thebig1]

All these systems Atari 2600, colecovision, and intellivision were 8 bit systems but colecovision just seemed to have more power than the other 2. How is that possible if all 3 were 8 bit systems?

[AtariAndre42]

@daveheel Yeah, Atari never ported arcade games....no....never.......

[brazensteel]

hahha this brings back so many memories

[773SleepyHollow]

Zaxxon was an empty suit.

[allenjeremy]

I had a Colecovision when I was young and I had this game

[mastertung7]

nice game always waned.game zaxxon.had the console with xpansion.but never played this game i agree this was one of the best on coleco. great post kat, great post

[dougd1015]

The ColecoVision version I'll admit isn't bad.

I would still prefer teh Master System version, but this one does stand out.

[fluffydolly]

i haven't played this in 20 years!

[FATIGUEDOUT]

u just jogged my memory 24 years. i played this game endlessly

[weaponnerd]

This must be the best game for colecovision ever! The graphics are fantastic for it's time!

[rjasin123]

I owned an Atari 2600 and when Colecovision came out I had my first orgasm. Almost like the arcade. And for that time was great for a kid.

[cranie4]

I to this moment can't decide if I liked Zaxxon or not. It was a strange angle to play and the altitude could be tough to gauge. I loved the castle adventure game though..I THINK it was called Venture but I might be wrong.

[DelMinor]

Always used to make jokes about how it sounded like fries going down into hot grease when you crashed.

[thegasface]

countless hours on this and berzerk as a kid, thanks for the memories

[werewolfantipaladin]

Now this is how a game was done properly given the limits of the console. I remember countless hours of trying to get the altitude just right and then fighting that damn robot at the end, only to have it take off after you blasted it's missle.

[kaceirvine123]

wow its 3d!

[BXtoMTK]

wow really good graphics for the time.

[SpiritualAwakenings]

Yeah, that's why I bought the ColecoVision--or begged my parents to buy it for me and my brother. This game decided it for me at the store.

[djjohnmartin]

i used to own this game and system. Long story why i no longer have it, but want it back. Found an online dealer who wants $70 for a refurbished COlecovision with two games. Zaxxon and SUbroc were my faves, but MOusetrap and Lady Bug were pretty good too. Donkey Kong and DK Jr. were the best translations to home console from arcade at the time (1983). I had hoped some of the games for Coleco would eventually get to PS2, but they haven't. Midway,KOnami,etc haven't done them yet :(

[zzzxtreme]

wow challenging

[chandraalvin]

this was an excellent game , someone should

bring it up to date and release it based on a similar theme.. just the name ..Zaxxon

from the great compu nerd 80s

[illegalsmilereturns]

nice clear quality upload w/perfect sound. nicey done thx

[doctormusic78]

awesome it reminded me of afternoon spent playing so many yrs ago!

[nuktubian]

Loved this system and game.

[farmhandfilms]

Thanks for this, brings back memories of my youth, ever play Looping (for Coleco)?

[Umma6umma]

Looping was a lot of fun, I remember the arcade AND the CV version.

[farmhandfilms]

did they ever have Joust for Coleco? Love that game, for that era.

[classof77]

Looping! For the ColecoVision! Holy cow, never imagined I'd see a reference to that again.

Fun, unusual game.

[ClassicTVFan82]

To destroy Zaxxon fire six laser shots at him before he launches his missile at you.

[Umma6umma]

It shows how much my depth perception has suffered over the years when I run into the very first wall...

[Umma6umma]

It was definitely another startling arcade translation for the ColecoVision.