Adam



"The ColecoVision family computer system."

Coleco's Adam computer was meant to be the company's savior, after the Crash of '83 shot down the ColecoVision console. In fact, not only it was derived from the ColecoVision, it was available both as an expansion module for it or as a standalone machine. It was planned as a powerful and affordable system, even though it had a bundled printer, a luxury at the time. However, even the best-laid plans often go awry... and the Adam was far from a well-laid plan.

Let's count the ways Coleco fucked up:

Due to manufacturing problems, it was released several months after the announced date, at a higher price than planned. Its failure rate was extremely high. It was not possible to use the computer without the printer attached, because that's where they decided to put the power supply. That also made it incompatible with any other printer in the market. Its BASIC was full of bugs. Its tape drives seemed outdated, as other machines were moving to faster and more reliable floppy disks. And worst of all: the Adam generated a strong magnetic pulse when it was powered on, potentially erasing any tape left in the drives or even near the machine.