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Is this a prototype?


Kid A

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So about 9 months ago, a friend came into a game shop i help out at and came in with a box that had an atari 400 which the housing was all cracked and broken, and a handfull of games like pengo, pole position, space invaders, donkey kong and more. There was one that was unmarked and had a label that reads GABE on it. He asked me if i wanted it for free and being it was pretty damaged. And naturally i said yeah!

That night i test the 400 to see if it works,and it does!

I pop in the cart marked GABE and its a game called Kindercomp.

 

 

Today, for some reason i opened it and discovered that theres a EPROM that has a sticker on it. I know that this is not typically how its done. Do you guys think this is some sort of prototype?

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Edited by KidA0723
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The sticker is most likely to protect the EPROM.  If the EPROM has a window, and it's exposed to UV light like sunlight, it can damage the EPROM.  There's usually some kind of handwriting on the labels that protect the EPROM(s) but I don't see that here.  It almost looks like an old price tag sticker.  That shell looks almost like the Sega style shells found on some 2600 games.  Does the game have copyright text on a Title Screen or anything?

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I found a YouTube video on this.

 

 

It appears to have been an official release.  It was available for other computer consoles as well.  Chances are that your copy had lost its label at one point and someone simply used a label to put their name on it.  But...I could be wrong and you could have a prototype of what I have found.  It's really hard to say as Atari systems have tons of prototypes floating around that never got released or were forgot about...and I'm pretty sure there are some that we have yet to see.

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Well this is interesting.  I don't own Kindercomp....but I own a couple of other Spinnaker carts.  I actually have TWO copies of Alphabet Zoo, and they have two different shell types!  (PS - one of these is now for sale/trade in my store).  Note the grip strips on the back of the top row.

 

I also included MasterType, which is a different company completely, yet uses the same cart shell as one of the Spinnaker games. 

 

None of mine has a loose label, so I can't open them up too see if an EEPROM is present. 

 

My best guess is that some of the minor 3rd party software houses farmed out the manufacture of their carts to whoever was cheapest, and that could change over a production run.  That EEPROM board you found may just be a prototype/proof for a new cart production run.  They didn't waste anything...just throw that test cart into the run....

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Edited by RickR
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So about 9 months ago, a friend came into a game shop i help out at and came in with a box that had an atari 400 which the housing was all cracked and broken, and a handfull of games like pengo, pole position, space invaders, donkey kong and more. There was one that was unmarked and had a label that reads GABE on it. He asked me if i wanted it for free and being it was pretty damaged. And naturally i said yeah!

That night i test the 400 to see if it works,and it does!

I pop in the cart marked GABE and its a game called Kindercomp.

 

 

Today, for some reason i opened it and discovered that theres a EPROM that has a sticker on it. I know that this is not typically how its done. Do you guys think this is some sort of prototype?

 

its a spinnaker cart for sure. as soon as i saw it, i said typical for them. they used a very poor glue material for their labels. that happens a lot. i still have some of their games in stock.

 

thanks,

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

VIDEO 61 & ATARI SALES
www.atarisales.com
22735 Congo St. NE, Stacy, MN 55079
651-462-2500

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