RickR

Dang though!!! The night my mom brought home the 2600, with Combat, Breakout, Space Invaders, and Night Driver!!!! That might be the greatest moment of my life!!

The year was 1984, and I had just turned four years old a few weeks before Christmas.  It turned out that Santa Claus not only brought a 5200 for me that year, he hooked it up to the console TV in our living room overnight!  I later heard through the grapevine that Santa had bought the 5200 pretty close to Christmas, but didn't realize until he got it back to his workshop and opened it that the included pack-in game was Super Breakout and not Pac-Man.
 
OH NO.
 
Apparently I was a Pac-Man fiend even at that early age -- I think the neighborhood club where my parents often dated in the late 1970s had a Pac-Man cabinet, and they must have taken me there at times to play on it.  I definitely recall playing arcade Pac-Man at a very young age, but couldn't tell you where or when.  I certainly remember watching the Pac-Man cartoon on ABC when it aired in '82 - '83, and I *was* Pac-Man for Halloween one year, too.  I'd love to find a photo of that -- I was this enormous, bulky, yellow, homemade cardboard monstrosity -- but so far no luck...
 
Anyway, at the 11th hour, Santa and his helper were scrambling around trying to find a store and/or elf that still had Pac-Man in stock.  It came down to the wire, but long story short: I was a very happy kid on Christmas morning.  I can't recall what other games were under the tree that first year -- I'll have to dig out the old family photos to take a look.  For Christmases every year after that for the next 6-8 years, there would be at least a game or two under the tree.  I'd guess that I played Joust, River Raid, and Star Raiders more than any of the others over the years, but 5200 Pac-Man was the start of it all for me.  I never had another console in the house growing up, so video gaming at home was Atari 5200 or nothing until we saved up and bought our first computer (a Mac LC).

It's a great game. I still have the original one from childhood...just wish I'd kept the box. It's still a ton of fun.
 
Best Mattel handhelds are Basketball, Baseball, Football, and Football 2.

Sorry guys, but Omega Race has been listed and already got a bid, which I wasn't expecting so soon.
You can follow it here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Omega-Race-Atari-2600-1983-Complete-CIB-w-Booster-Grip-Box-Manual-/252420632528?hash=item3ac5712fd0:g:eFcAAOSwMNxXWwuy

Thank you RickR for adding to my small Atari 8bit collection, also loving the 2600 games! That Jungle Hunt artwork

Kraft joystick - identical to the brown one in the top post except black. 

Coleco Gemini outdid Atari. Smaller size and much better RF quality. It must have completely enraged Atari management to have their hardware stolen like that.

It's a great game. I still have the original one from childhood...just wish I'd kept the box. It's still a ton of fun.
 
Best Mattel handhelds are Basketball, Baseball, Football, and Football 2.

Hey guys. Here is my latest video. I talk about competing companies in the home console business creating products for each other using the Coleco Expansion Module as a focus. This topic fascinates me more than any other topic when it comes to gaming in the early 1980's. Hope you enjoy!!!!    
 
A quick chat about the Coleco Expansion Module 1
 

I went back to the antique store, but the electronic baseball game was gone. But in its place was this basketball game so i thought at least i came out with something

Looks like a huge "Ooooops!" moment.

Kraft joystick - identical to the brown one in the top post except black. 

As I've mentioned before, I don't collect a whole lot of PAL games, but this one was on my hit list for sure.  Why?  Atari Corp strikes again...
 

 
Oh man, Atari Corp, what are you doooooinnnnnnng?  One run of Midnight Magic cartridges had their label sheets cut backwards, meaning that the end label doesn't show the title of the game and the main label shows it twice.  Here it is next to the correct release:
 

 
I'm not sure how many of these got to retail.  They come up for sale every now and then, but they don't seem to be in big demand -- Midnight Magic is not a rare game, and the label variation (if you want to call it that) is essentially just a printer's (dumb) error.  For someone who loves the quirks and mistakes of Atari Corp, though, it's a perfect collection piece.
 

 
Still has the PAL sticker on the back. 

Kraft joystick - identical to the brown one in the top post except black. 

Atari 2600 and 2 joysticks.  No power supply.  Everything works!  From Goodwill.
 
Black Kraft joystick - also from Goodwill.
 

Atari 2600 and 2 joysticks.  No power supply.  Everything works!  From Goodwill.
 
Black Kraft joystick - also from Goodwill.
 

Kraft joystick - identical to the brown one in the top post except black. 

That reminds me of the time I found a stack of VIC-20 carts at Salvation Army.  Video Games are $3, but the lady insisted they were cassette tapes.  0.25. 

Just added a pretty scarce game to my 2600 collection:
 

 
One of two released games by Wizard Video Games (i.e. the same Wizard Video that produced The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, among others), this is probably one of the five rarest NTSC 2600 titles in my current collection.  It's not so rare that it's never seen for sale, but one often seems to need to pay a premium to pick it up since its unique place in gaming history makes it desirable to many game collectors.
 
There are a number of different repros and otherwise unofficial variations of TCM floating around for sale, but this one is the real deal.  How to tell?  There's a few things to look for.  All original TCM cartridges use the same white-colored PCBs that Apollo used for their games:
 

 
If you see one that's green, blue, brown, mauve, vermillion, or any number of other colors, it's not an original.  Another thing to look out for is the unique cartridge shell.  A lot of reproductions and fakes use standard Atari cartridge shells, but Wizard used a snap-together casing (no screws) with deep sawtooth grips on the sides and wrapping around to the back:
 

 
There's also a smooth rounded-off rectangle on the back of the cartridge that you don't otherwise find on 2600 games.  I didn't take a photo of the reverse side, but you can check one out over in this AA thread.  The print quality on the labels is mediocre, and there are clearly some areas where the ink didn't print all the way to one edge, etc.
 
Now, about the game itself.  Wizard Video Games actually marketed their two releases (the other being Halloween) as the first violent games for adults.  There was a third Wizard title slated for release (Flesh Gordon) but it was never sold, and a prototype has not yet turned up for it.  In any case, their marketing and interviews in the media seem to make it clear that they were trying to carve out a new demographic for gaming: adults.  Adults that liked to be "stimulated" with violence and such things.  More than one of their advertisements refers to people being tired of "childish pastimes" like "eating dots and chasing ghosts".
 
Apparently these games are largely rare today because retailers would not display the games along with the rest of their products, or advertise them much if at all.  If you wanted a Wizard game, you needed to go into a store and ask for it by name, because they'd be kept under the counter or otherwise away from precious, innocent eyes.  Not many ended up being sold, and Wizard closed up their gaming venture after only the first two released titles.
 

 
One thing that I continue to see mentioned in so many articles and blurbs about this game is that there was parental backlash (i.e. actual protests) to these games in particular.  Can anyone confirm with first-hand knowledge or an actual source?  The only thing close I've been able to find so far is this Sept. 9, 1983 article from the Deseret News, and it's really just one guy who doesn't enjoy the idea of violent video games.  I've seen a few more primary source articles and things that definitely refer to people protesting the other adult games (Custer's Revenge, Bachelor Party, etc.) but I'd love to know more about how Wizard's two games were received by the general public.

What's funny is I still need to review the mini atari joystick pnp I got from the junk box which I thought came from you!

Ehh

Well, great.  Now I have to watch ALL the plug and play reviews.  Bye bye afternoon productivity. 
 
#BingeWatchingNoSwearGamer

I too love these things.  They are inexpensive and fun. 

Well, great.  Now I have to watch ALL the plug and play reviews.  Bye bye afternoon productivity. 
 
#BingeWatchingNoSwearGamer

I too love these things.  They are inexpensive and fun.