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Atari 2600 loaner cart auctioned off at So Cal Retro Gaming Expo last weekend.


Kid A

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So last week i attended the SCRGE on Ontario CA. Had a good time and saw the Nintendo Playstation prototype, which was awesome.

 

As i mentioned in that thread, there was an auction at the show. One item grabbed my attention in particular. It was one of those atari loaner carts for the 2600. You know, the ones that look like this....

 

post-79-0-40658600-1486767568.jpg

Im sure most of you have seen these before.

 

The game according to the label was called Porno Pong. According to the seller, it was a proto of what would eventually become the gamen Batchelor Party by Mystique.

 

I was interested and i was bidding on it.

 

Then something hit me.

 

Why would a 3rd party prototype, let alone an adult game, be in an atari 2600 shell complete with an atari loner label on it? I know activision had protos with red labels on them. After thinking about it, i stopped bidding because i had my doubts about its authenticity. If i remember correctly, it sold for around $210.

 

What are your guys thoughts on this?

Edited by Kid A
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This one here? (eBay, $1800 BIN)

 

There have been other third-party protos found in Atari loaner shells (Activision's Bridge and Checkers, Parker Bros' Frogger, and Imagic's Trick Shot and Demon Attack, as a few examples).

 

I think it's legit.  The auction puts forward two theories:
 

1) It was programmed by someone at Atari, and the rights were then sold to Mystique

2) It's related to the lawsuit filed by Atari against Mystique

 

I think #2 is far more likely, though it's certainly possible that it's for another reason entirely -- someone once suggested that the third-party games in Atari loaners were a result of Atari testing to make sure that another publisher's cartridge didn't damage or otherwise affect the console hardware.

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This one here? (eBay, $1800 BIN)

 

There have been other third-party protos found in Atari loaner shells (Activision's Bridge and Checkers, Parker Bros' Frogger, and Imagic's Trick Shot and Demon Attack, as a few examples).

 

I think it's legit. The auction puts forward two theories:

 

1) It was programmed by someone at Atari, and the rights were then sold to Mystique

2) It's related to the lawsuit filed by Atari against Mystique

 

I think #2 is far more likely, though it's certainly possible that it's for another reason entirely -- someone once suggested that the third-party games in Atari loaners were a result of Atari testing to make sure that another publisher's cartridge didn't damage or otherwise affect the console hardware.

I really wanted it but the guy who bought it was another vendor there and on top of it, i dont know if you are all familiar with Pat the NES punk, but he was bidding on it too. I just know for a fact that they would have more cash in their pockets than i did. And as soon as i bid the other guy would not hesitate to bid higher.

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This one here? (eBay, $1800 BIN)

 

There have been other third-party protos found in Atari loaner shells (Activision's Bridge and Checkers, Parker Bros' Frogger, and Imagic's Trick Shot and Demon Attack, as a few examples).

 

I think it's legit.  The auction puts forward two theories:

 

1) It was programmed by someone at Atari, and the rights were then sold to Mystique

2) It's related to the lawsuit filed by Atari against Mystique

 

I think #2 is far more likely, though it's certainly possible that it's for another reason entirely -- someone once suggested that the third-party games in Atari loaners were a result of Atari testing to make sure that another publisher's cartridge didn't damage or otherwise affect the console hardware.

I don't see any of those titles at http://www.atariprotos.com/, not that they don't exist ....

 

there are even some "proto's" that Best Electronics shipped out using correct parts and everything -but- not truly "the real thing"

 

IMHO I think you used your better judgement by cancelling the bidding when you did. If it is authentic my best guess the value would be the $210.oo buyer paid but certainly not the asking price on Ebay ... perhaps all the fees & trouble guy went through to get it he might break even :P

 

would have been interesting to see it properly disassembled & dumped though

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I don't see any of those titles at http://www.atariprotos.com/, not that they don't exist ....

 

there are even some "proto's" that Best Electronics shipped out using correct parts and everything -but- not truly "the real thing"

 

IMHO I think you used your better judgement by cancelling the bidding when you did. If it is authentic my best guess the value would be the $210.oo buyer paid but certainly not the asking price on Ebay ... perhaps all the fees & trouble guy went through to get it he might break even :P

 

would have been interesting to see it properly disassembled & dumped though

I just got off the phone with my buddy who was with me. We were talking about this cart and how I found it on eBay. He told me that he remembers it selling for closer to $360. I must have stopped paying attention after I was done bidding

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I've run across this phenomenon many times in my podcast research, I wish I could remember all the titles offhand. I agree with Ballblazer's second point, that it may be related to the lawsuit. Which may be why there's some Activision titles as well. In the case of Frogger, they were supposed to put it out in 1987 but they didn't.

 

Frogger: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-frogger_25805.html

 

Cakewalk: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-cakewalk_27710.html

 

Chopper Command: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-chopper-command_27919.html

 

Cosmic Ark: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-cosmic-ark_27915.html

 

You get the point. The caveat here is that these haven't been dumped. Rabbit Transit from Starpath has been though.

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-rabbit-transit_11876.html

 

It's weird. :)

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Maybe it's me, but the top label on that Bachelor Party cart looks fake/homemade, with the white edge across the top and the fact that the whole thing looks ready to fall off.  And no, no Atari in-house programmers made any Mystique games, or any other adult games; in fact, Atari went after such companies to prevent them from selling them.

 

I can ask some alumni, but my thinking is the main reason some 3rd-party titles have been found as legitimate Atari Loaner carts is for Atari's own research.  Every top company back then looked at the code for their competitor's games, to gain insight on how certain tricks were done.  The other reason would be for legal reasons, as Ballblazer mentioned.  Atari was quick to sue competitors over any perceived notion one of their licensed games was being knocked off.   For example, Atari sued Imagic over Demon Attack since they felt it was a knockoff of Phoenix.  Although Atari took more of an issue with Imagic's Intellivision port of Demon Attack, an Atari Loaner cart of the VCS version has been found.

post-1089-0-89476200-1487041980.jpg

Edited by Scott Stilphen
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