nosweargamer

For some reason, seeing your picture inspired me to add matching eye patches to the main characters. 

I even gave a double eye patch to one of the soldiers, but since it looks like he has three eye, he should still be able to see.
 
Thanks to Ballblazer for given me another Atari game where the art far exceeds the game:

New, Sealed Ikari Warriors on the 2600 for trade, or sale if interested.

The latest trade from one Mr. No-Swear Gamer arrived over last weekend and helped me to complete another 2600 set: 44 Activision NTSC games.
 

 
This set was a god deal more difficult to compile than the Atari text label carts, but fortunately none of the titles are MEGA-rare.  A handful of them can command $20+ each, but I'm glad to be able to say that I traded for a couple of them (Double Dragon, Beamrider) and got excellent deals on a few others (including River Raid II, Rampage, and H.E.R.O.)
 

 
Honestly, the tough task is finding some of these titles in "collector" condition.  A number of them seem near impossible to find without ugly, mottled Actiplaque staining.  Robot Tank is probably the worst offender -- I'm not sure I've *ever* seen a completely clean one!  I'm generally happy with this set's condition, although it's fairly obvious for which of these I'd still like to find upgrades. 
 
This is a set I put together almost completely from scratch -- the only carts I had in my collection from back-in-the-day were Ice Hockey, Space Shuttle, and Pitfall.
 
A few notes about my Activision library:
 
- Boxing has the original foam dust protector still inside.  Activision quit including them with their cartridges relatively quickly -- they're not "rare" per se, but you'd have to think that 99.9% of the time they were just discarded.
- Carts I was pleasantly surprised to find "in the wild" (at yard sales, flea markets, through Craigslist, or bought from game shops): Cosmic Commuter, Kung Fu Master, Private Eye, River Raid II.
- Pressure Cooker is the International version, and has retained the "N" sticker (i.e. NTSC, as opposed to PAL and SECAM).  The font used for the game title on the main and end labels is also thicker/bolder than the "normal" version.
- You can't really see it in the photo, but my version of Stampede is one of the earlier release carts that mentions the "Atari Video Game System" instead of "Atari Video Computer System™" that got used later -- not entirely sure what brought about that change.
 
I made up my mind early on not to collect the blue label re-release Activision carts, but I'm hanging onto one for posterity (Enduro, my favorite Activision title).  Keeping it company is the one known NTSC white-label Activision cartridge, Space Shuttle:
 

 
One minor label variation I have is seen on the international version of Pitfall II.  It features the copyright notice in both English and French along with a different catalog number, but most notably it doesn't have "LOST CAVERNS" printed on the end label like its standard counterpart:
 


 
Last but not least, the aforementioned, legit rare French-Canadian labels for Boxing, Ice Hockey, Skiing, and Tennis:
 

 
These pretty much *never* turn up for sale.  A copy of "Le Tennis" is currently on eBay, though, and if the seller were asking a reasonable price I'd consider upgrading the one I've got considering that I think these are some of the coolest 2600 labels out there!
 
Activision carts remaining to collect:

- Ghostbusters II -- PAL format only
- Fighter Pilot -- PAL format only, but it's the same game as Absolute's "Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator" (and therefore a low priority)

Ebay find! $0.66 for the pair

Ep 254: Lost Luggage

Wow! That is some crazy FFL numbers! I recall seeing one copy in an EB Games. Only time I saw one, but at that time, Jag stuff was hard to find in stores in general.
 
Do you got any 7800 stories

For some reason, seeing your picture inspired me to add matching eye patches to the main characters. 

I even gave a double eye patch to one of the soldiers, but since it looks like he has three eye, he should still be able to see.
 
Thanks to Ballblazer for given me another Atari game where the art far exceeds the game:

Another great trade with the No Swear Gamer!


Just check out the awesome artwork featuring Lyssa, Corwyn, and the mighty glaive!

Rampage
Atari 2600
Difficulty: Default
High Score: 61,800
May 1, 2016

My first complete Atari 2600 set: text label cartridges!
 

 

 
The Atari text label library is no doubt the easiest of the various Atari label types to complete.  I'd like to upgrade a few of them at some point, most notably Basic Math (which has a faded end label), but all in all I'm super happy with the condition of these.  A few notes:

- Othello is the only text label cartridge with an all-caps title.  I believe this was one of the last text label carts produced, right before they started to introduce picture labels.
- Combat is the only text label cartridge that I know of that has a variant with 1) text in multiple colors on the main label, and 2) "Made in Taiwan" printed on it.
- My copies of Home Run and Hunt and Score have gold-colored borders on their main labels.  For whatever reason, the ink on the color-border labels seems to bleed/fade more than the white-border labels.  These are two I'd like to upgrade to the other, sharper style.
- There's lots of red and yellow/gold here, and unfortunately, that's just the way it is.  I'd like to eventually replace Brain Games with the blue text version, but that's really the only non-red/yellow/gold text label I don't have.
- Some of the red labels (Miniature Golf, Slot Racers, and Star Ship) exhibit the fade pattern I mentioned in my post about the numbered text labels, where you can see that the printer laid down a rectangular layer of red ink instead of just inking the text itself.
 
 
Another complete set: Epyx games.
 

 
Like the Activision carts, these are tough to find without serious glue staining.  California Games is from my original childhood collection, while the other two are recent additions.
 
 
And one last complete set for now: Mythicon games:
 

 
Fire Fly and Sorcerer are near mint, with mint manuals.  Hoping to find a Star Fox to match.  BTW, the "Star Fox" text is not faded -- for whatever reason, this title was printed pink-ish while the other two are red.  Similarly, the end label for Fire Fly is the only one that has "by Mythicon" printed in white -- the other two are gray.

Or you could have the ultimate Sega experience....

Yes you could lock on to Sonic 3, Sonic 2 (to play with Knuckles in the game) and Sonic 1 (bonus stage).

Whoa, is that the game you could lock the regular Sonic 3 into for a whole new experience?

My next project is to clean and test this box of stuff as step 1 in getting a bunch of NES systems ready for sale.

 

No! They re-released horrid games under new names

Whoa, happy Atari Day, peeps! I really need to get some gear to show the love. I may not own much Atari (yet), but I've been inspired to fire up the XEGS right now. Defender!
 

No! They re-released horrid games under new names

Super Thanks to Rows and BB for my latest additions!
Rows also sent a toy football man, which was quickly snatched up by my kids.

Definitely!
Have you updated you trade list since your convention?

My Closet Clean Out Continues!
Here's a copy of Task Force with its box, no manual. The box is missing the small piece cardboard inside that holds the cartridge near the top, so it falls all the way to the bottom. 

Ep 254: Lost Luggage

I could use Krull if we can figure out a trade.  I still owe you one.

More loose 2600 games for trade including some less common titles.
Some labels are in bad shape.
I can take more pictures or price specific titles if needed.

Super Thanks to Rows and BB for my latest additions!
Rows also sent a toy football man, which was quickly snatched up by my kids.