ColecoVision emulators

Revision as of 22:33, 10 September 2026 by Ilyagredasov (talk | contribs) (Adam: Warrants a separate table)
ColecoVision
Manufacturer Coleco
Type Home video game console
Generation Second
Release date NA: August 1982
EU: July 1983
Discontinued August 1985
Predecessor Coleco Telstar series (1978)
Emulated
For other emulators that run on ColecoVision hardware, see Emulators on ColecoVision.

The ColecoVision was the second-generation video game console produced by Coleco in August 1982 before being discontinued in 1984, partly due to the ongoing crash in North America at the time. It retailed for $174.99 ($584 in 2026) and had a Zilog Z80 CPU at 3.58 MHz with 8 KBs of RAM. Notably, it provided gamers with experiences very much like the arcade versions of games, as well as having Donkey Kong as a pack-in title to showcase this, although the Atari 2600 and Intellivision could do the same with the respected hardware. It shares largely the same underpinnings as the SG-1000. Indeed, a clone of the SG-1000 known as the Dina 2-in-1 (sold in the United States as the Telegames Personal Arcade) had support for both SG-1000 and ColecoVision games, though compatibility with the latter is spotty due to the lack of an expansion module interface or a second numeric keypad, rendering two-player ColecoVision games unplayable.

Emulators

Before editing, review the Getting involved and Recommended pages. See system requirements page for performance demand of the emulators.
See tables for hardware variants, enhancements, hardware features and peripherals.
For more details such as licensing, programming language, emulation method, visit each emulator’s dedicated page.
Name Platform(s) Latest version Adam libretro Retro
Achievements
License Active Compatibility Recommended
x86
FinalBurn Neo
fbneo_libretro
        WIP builds
libretro core
Non-commercial [N 1]
MAME         0.289 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
JollyCV
libretro
        2.0.1 BSD-3-Clause (Permissive) 100%?
BizHawk     2.11.1 MIT
BSD-3-Clause
ColEm         5.6 Proprietary
ADAMEm SDL     git ?
DSP       0.24WIP3 Non-commercial
ares       git Artifacts
v148
roadmap ISC (Permissive) 95.39%
145 out of 152 reported titles
ZEsarUX               13.0 GPL (Copyleft) ?
Obentou         0.2.1 ? GPLv2 (Copyleft) ?
CoolCV       0.6.9 Proprietary
Mugrat   0.5.0 Proprietary
Snepulator     26.02 MIT (Permissive) ~
Pantheon   16.458 Proprietary ~
ADAMEm   Acorn 1.0 (MS-DOS)Acorn ? ~
E.mul T.wo   git GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
Phoenix       2.8.JAG Proprietary ~
vdmgr   0.2.7 Proprietary ~
blueMSX
blueMSX_libretro
   
      [N 2]
2.8.2
libretro core
GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~[N 3] ~
Gearcoleco           libretro core
1.7.0
? ? GPLv3 (Copyleft) TBD
Mesen       2.2.1 ? ? ? GPLv3 (Copyleft) TBD
Retro Virtual Machine       2.1.10 Proprietary TBD
higan (火眼)
byuu (謬/view)
        v110 GPLv3 (Copyleft) [N 4]
Clock Signal       2026-07-23 BSD-3-Clause (Permissive)
Bee       2.4.3 Proprietary
FreezeSMS   4.6 Proprietary
MEKA       2025-08-17 Proprietary
DarcNES       9b0401/9b0313 Non-commercial
ADAM+     1.1.06.26 GPLv3 ?
ARM
ColEm+      
 
 
5.6.4 (Android) Proprietary
ares   git Artifacts
v148
roadmap ISC (Permissive) 95.39%
145 out of 152 reported titles
Gearcoleco       libretro core
1.7.0
? ? GPLv3 (Copyleft) TBD
ZEsarUX       13.0 GPL (Copyleft) ?
NumPadPlayer   1.0.5 Proprietary ~
Provenance       3.3.0
git
? ? ? ?
Folium     App Store ($)
2.0
Latest IPA
? ? ? GPLv3 (Copyleft) ? ?
fbneo_libretro     libretro core NC [N 1]
MSX.emu
(blueMSX tech)
        1.5.85git
Pandora build 15
1.5.46.02
GPLv3 (Copyleft)
blueMSX_libretro    
   
libretro core GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
Consoles
fbneo_libretro     libretro core Non-commercial [N 1]
blueMSX_libretro    
   
   
libretro core ?
ColEm   2.6.1 ? Proprietary
WiiColEm   0.3 ? Proprietary
ColemPS2   2.0 ? Proprietary
AdamX   v4 ?
(D)ColEm   0.99 ? Proprietary
CollisionGC   1.01 b1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
ColecoDS   11.0 Proprietary
CoG   0.9.7 beta ?
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 FinalBurn Neo was confirmed as having better compatibility than MAME/MESS, blueMSX, openMSX and CoolCV. See this topic.
  2. Only available outside Windows as a libretro core (e.g., RetroArch).
  3. Libretro core is still active.
  4. Superseded by ares

Enhancements

Name BizHawk ColEm ADAM+ ADAMEm SDL DSP ares FinalBurn Neo CoolCV JollyCV MAME Mugrat

Hardware features and peripherals

Name BizHawk ColEm ADAM+ ADAMEm SDL DSP ares FinalBurn Neo CoolCV JollyCV MAME Mugrat
Hardware features
Peripherals Expansion Module #1 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Expansion Module #2 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Super Game Module ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MegaCart ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Roller Controller ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Super Action Controller Set ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Misc. F18A replacement board
(See here and here)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Expansion Module #1

Attachable add-on that lets you play Atari 2600 games which contained reverse-engineered TIA chip with the rest of electronics being Atari's original console hardware.

Expansion Module #2

A driving controller (steering wheel + gas pedal) compatible with 5 games: Turbo, Destructor, Bump 'n' Jump, Pitstop, and The Dukes of Hazzard.

Roller Controller

A trackball natively compatible with 2 games: Slither and Victory. A joystick mode switch on the roller controller allows it to be used with others.

Super Action Controller Set

A set of two handheld joystick controllers. Each controller has a ball-top joystick, four finger triggered action buttons, a 12-button numeric keypad, and a "speed roller". Compatible with 4 games: Super Action Baseball, Super Action Football, Rocky Super Action Boxing and a conversion of the arcade game Front Line.

Adam

Adam
Developer Coleco
Type Home computer, Hybrid video game console
Generation Second generation
Release date 1983
Discontinued 1985
Emulated

The Coleco Adam is a home computer and expansion device for the ColecoVision by American toy and video game manufacturer Coleco. The Adam was an attempt to follow on the success of the company's ColecoVision video game console. It was available as Expansion Module #3 for the ColecoVision, converting it into a home computer, and as a standalone unit. As such, it had the benefit of being entirely compatible with all ColecoVision games and peripherals. The computer came with 64 KB of memory, a tape drive for a proprietary medium called Digital Data Packs, a daisy wheel printer, and productivity applications, along with two DDPs for SmartBASIC and Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom Super Game. It was released in October 1983 with the initial price of $700.

Hardware features and peripherals

TODO: Hardware table filled with relevant information.