Well, the saga of the retro Coleco Chameleon Console appears to have come to an end. Colecovision have issued a statement today that confirms what seemed to be inevitable in recent weeks – that the Coleco Chameleon project is finished.
“The update that you were all anxiously awaiting: Retro VGS has decided that the work that they have created is not sufficient to demonstrate at this time,” the statement explained. “Consequently, we can no longer proceed with the project and the Chameleon project will be terminated. This separation is amicable. We wish them luck in the future. We thank the gaming community for their continued support, input, vigilance, and trust.”
The sad story began way back in December of 2015, when we reported right here that “Coleco was back” with a new retro console. It would play cartridge-based games in 8-, 16- and 32-bit styles, and it just looked really cool. A Kickstarter campaign was planned for February of this year, and everyone was excited.
Then, the problems started. The Kickstarter campaign for the console was delayed “to make it even better.” Some also raised voices of concern after a New York Toy Fair showing of the console, claiming it was just a “SNES inside a Jaguar game shell with a capture kit.” Retro, the company behind the project, tried to assuage fears by posting what they claimed was the system’s insides. But it was soon discovered that the picture they posted was actually just a PCI capture card.
That was when Colecovision stepped in, promising they would look into the matter. And as they say, the rest is history. Is this really the end for the Coleco Retro project? Something tells us there are still a few chapters left in this story – but we’ll let you know if we hear anything.