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Exp. Mod. #03: Super Game Module

Coleco · 198x · Expansion Module Prototype
Catalogue IDCVH-0099
ManufacturerColeco
Year198x (approximate)
TypeExpansion Module (Expansion)
PlatformColecoVision
StatusPrototype
SourceCV Systems Protos 82-8x

Notes

Coleco's original Expansion Module #3, announced and never released: a module to push the ColecoVision closer to the arcade machines it was converting, with games supplied on tape rather than in cartridges.

What was announced

  • 30K of added RAM, for games larger and more detailed than a cartridge allowed.
  • 128K continuous-loop Super Game Wafers, based on the Exatron Stringy Floppy - room for more levels, intermissions and a high score table you could put your initials in.
  • Shown at the New York Toy Fair in February 1983, at a planned $125.

Why it never shipped

  • The release slipped from July 1983 to the autumn, and the pack-in changed from Super Donkey Kong to Super Buck Rogers and Super Gorf.
  • The video game crash of 1983 arrived first. Coleco turned the project into the ADAM computer, and Module #3 became the ADAM instead.

NOTE THE NAME COLLISION: Opcode Games' modern Super Game Module, widely used today, is a different product that revives the idea decades later.