Ballblaɀer

Totally agree with Rick's assessment. I'll also throw my hat in the ring for: Joust (a very good port, and I prefer the 5200's "ceiling" bounce physics to the 7800 version) Mountain King (I know I'm in the minority but I think this game is great fun if you stick around long enough to master the jumping) Zone Ranger (harder to recommend as a "must-own" given its scarcity, but I feel it's a hidden gem for the system) Robotron: 2084 (two sticks + joystick coupler = love) ...and last but not least, the games that make good use of the excellent Trak-Ball: Missile Command, Centipede, and Tempest (not released during its production run, but could have been).

Nothing too Earth-shattering here, but have a look at some newly available 2600 carts: Dig Dug is missing its end label -- all the rest are fine. Defender (Sears) is unavailable. Take a look at my newly-updated trade/sale list if you're looking for something else!

My collection saw some really big additions in December, including a handful of 2600 carts I was beginning to feel like I'd never find. I'm also enjoying collecting foreign carts way more than I thought I would. Check out these new beauties: The top two rows are all NTSC format; the bottom row, L-to-R, is PAL, PAL-M (Brazil), PAL. Going through 'em, in order: Gray label Asteroids NTSC is crazy rare, and was the next-to-last unique silver/gray USA title I still needed. PAL versions of the gray label Asteroids are way more common. NTSC versions are all copyright 1986 and mention the joystick controllers. PAL versions don't mention the joysticks, and sometimes also have the old picture label style end label (with blue text). Sears pic label Canyon Bomber is more rare than most guides claim; I've only seen a few copies show up on eBay in the last 20 months. I absolutely love the artwork -- I wish this copy were slightly cleaner but I'm thrilled to have it regardless! After this addition, Gunslinger and Superman are the final two on the Sears pic label list... Obélix is a quite uncommon cart as well, though nowhere on the same order of rarity as the first two carts listed. I find it to be a pretty enjoyable game, actually, and I'm really glad to have gotten a great deal on this one. The final silver/gray label NTSC cart now needed: Asterix. The Atari Corp version of Missile Command with controller info omitted was a huge find -- it also has a unique Harry/Hammer Fat font end label (see below). I'm still in search of a Basic Programming with the same style of end label. Guardian is the second-rarest cart produced by Apollo (the rarest, Lochjaw, is orders of magnitude harder to find). Got this really nice example as part of a trade/sale with an AA member. Dishaster is about as rare as the other four Zimag carts, but to snag one with such a great label was super unexpected. They're usually in horrible shape; I honestly wondered if I'd gotten one with a repro label but... it's legit! Pac-Kong (aka Spider Maze, Spider Monster, Spider Kong, Inca Gold) puts up a formidable fight when it comes to worst Atari 2600 game ever. But... it does score highly in the title department with me! It has literally nothing to do with Pac-Man or the Transformer-looking thing on the label. One *could* draw a slight comparison with Donkey Kong gameplay, but... yeah, no. The Polyvox version of Beamrider is considered one of the rarest Polyvox carts -- between that and Mr. Chin I think I now have the two hardest-to-find titles. I love that Polyvox carts look like the Atari silver/gray labels, but yet you'll find Activision games, Parker Brothers games, and a few other non-Atari games mixed in. Last but not least, Kampf um die Schatzinsel was a Quelle (a German department store / mail-order company -- think Sears) produced cart, and it's the same as an original game by Home Vision called Treasure Discovery (also known as Treasure Island). It's... not a good game, haha. I've had to put the brakes on collecting for a little bit, but there's one more purchase that I made in December that I look forward to sharing soon...

Silverhawks has that sweet guitar/synth solo, but... even after docking it points for including Snarf, the Thundercats intro is my choice! Great thread idea. Looking forward to more!

Collection odds and ends post! Here are some relatively new things in my collection: 1) Maze Craze first-run print box art, kinda speciously advertising 256 game variations (the rationale: 16 games X 4 speeds X 4 visibilities) with alternate/original artwork: These boxes are uncommon, but I wouldn't call them rare. Not sure anyone knows how many of these were made before Atari switched to the "old-timey cop with a stick" artwork and the more reasonable 16 games description. I guess maybe Atari didn't want people to associate the video game with serious crime, so instead went for the more "Keystone Kops"-like motif? I've asked Tim Lapetino about it and will update if he has an answer. 2) Speaking of the Keystone Kops, here's a "Katch the Krook" scratch card that was included in some of the Keystone Kapers boxes by Activision: Ferg recently mentioned this in his 2600 Game by Game Podcast about Keystone Kapers. Pretty neat to have even though I'm not a CIB collector. Activision making you buy an additional game to claim a prize is fairly insidious! 3) With my recent acquisition of Oscar's Trash Race I now have all of the CCW and Kids' games in my collection: If you look closely, the Alpha Beam and Snoopy carts are Atari Corp (1986) releases, hence the nice labels with less plaque. As far as I know, Atari Corp versions exist for at least six of these (not sure about Cookie Monster Munch). 4) While I don't intend to try to collect all of the Atari 2800 game boxes, there are a certain few that I'd really like to have and this is one of them: The Japanese text on the back of the box that describes the gameplay seems to be a pretty good translation of the original English text. "Beware of snakes!"

What's cooler than being cool? Ice cold! Also: the Atari 2800. Of the VCS models I like the look and feel of the Atari Heavy Sixer best. (If anyone has a spare that they would trade straight-up for a Sears Heavy Sixer, PM me.) I use my 2600 Jr more than any other for its convenience, but it's only so-so in the looks department in my mind. I really like the all-black Ireland Jr model, though!

I'm in if you can slot me in toward the end. (Maryland)

Some resolutions for 2017: - Shift more focus to collection display and away from collection expansion. Too much stuff of mine is hidden away in drawers! - Complete and share some of the infosheets I've been working on. Closest one to being ready is a list/table of confirmed Atari/Sears instruction manuals. - Finish a few work-in-progress articles for the IO blog. - Keep my sale/trade/want list more up to date. Done! For now, anyway... - Track my collection more effectively. Also done! (2600) / (5200) / (7800) Now just have to keep it current... - Find and share a photo of me dressed as Pac-Man for Halloween 1987 or thereabouts. - Attempt to register an official world record on an Atari game. Yars' Revenge, maybe?

Welcome to a great forum! I'd love to hear about what Atari consoles you've collected... Best for a happy 2017 to you as well!

The single-sheet instructions are definitely a product of companies like Atari and Activision getting cheap with their product quality starting in 1983-1984. I have in my collection two single-sheet B&W Atari manuals: Combat (2600) and Super Breakout (5200). I can't put my fingers on the Combat sheet, and I'm hoping it's not lost. But here's the 5200 SB. Here's a link to check out what the Combat single-sheet looks like. These single-sheet manuals exist for the following 2600 titles: Adventure, Combat, Dodge 'Em, Indy 500, Maze Craze, Video Pinball. Probably more than just those, but I've seen those six so far. Activision was doing similar things; for example they went from a full-color Enduro manual, to a B&W version, to a plain-Jane text-on-a-folded-sheet version like this: Awesome pickups, KidA!

$113 CIB in September RarityGuide.com lists it for $80 CIB. So without the manual, I'd probably say $75 - $90 would be a good starting point. Great score at that auction!

From NSG: A couple of VCS Activision manuals I needed, plus Xenophobe! Love this game. This brings my 7800 collection to 18 games -- it was at ZERO before I joined the forums! This is all your fault...

If it gets into an accident, does it play audio of the Pac-Man death sound?

Does what it says on the tin: https://kotaku.com/a-pac-man-rickshaw-is-coming-to-tokyo-1790178622

Bumping thread. First post now has 15 boxed VCS games. IO folks get first crack! Atari.IO bonus: take ALL of them for $100 plus shipping.

Manuals for trade/sale. Conditions vary. Figure $3.00 for shipping unless you want enough that it goes over the 1lb First Class maximum. If you have a trade list for me to look at, send it via PM! $0.50 each for the small black manuals. Brain Games is taken. $0.75 each for large white manuals. Missile Command comes in two sizes. $0.25 for Asteroids insert. $0.75 for top row items. Phoenix is sold. There's a VCS manual on the top row that has a torn cover (underneath the nice one) -- that one's $0.25. $0.50 for the Green Atari catalog. $0.25 each for Red Atari Rev. D and Rev. E catalogs. $1.50 each for the Atari Stars '83 fold-out posters. $0.50 for Atari Force 1. $0.25 for Swordquest Fireworld comic missing cover. $0.50 each for Atari 5200 booklets/poster. $1.00 each for Activision game manuals. $0.50 each for product catalogs. $1.00 for Q*Bert manual. $0.50 for Parker Bros. catalog. $0.75 for Space Jockey. Lost Luggage is sold. $1.00 for Summer Games. $0.25 for extra worn Astroblast manual. $0.75 for better Astroblast and Space Attack manuals. $1.00 for M*A*S*H manual. $2.00 for Spike's Peak manual. $0.50 for Imagic catalog. $0.75 for Demon Attack manual. $0.75 for B&TB (Intellivision) manual. If you want a large stack of manuals, you can also feel free to make an offer!

Still interested in the VTech Learning Window that I picked up a while back? PM me if so!

I might be able to help with the Sears Heavy you're after. Not sure if you'd be interested in a fixer-upper, but I have the one that I mentioned in this thread, which I haven't had the chance to mess with any further. I have a second unit that needs cleaning and is so far untested -- I should be able to do that tomorrow. I've also got a number of 2600 doubles itching for a new home. Will update my list ASAP!

GIS for "steampunk atari": improved thrunge plate for '77!

This has somehow flown under my radar until now, but: AN ART OF ATARI POSTER BOOK IS COMING! 40 pages with detachable 16" x 12" posters showcasing Atari artwork. Pre-orders are underway at Amazon. If I get more information about what's included, I'll pass it along!

I think this particular one is either from Mexico (which uses NTSC) or Brazil (which uses PAL-M, which is still 30hz and 525 scanlines). You can find the same clone for sale on the Central/South American version of eBay, Mercado Libre. Here's one from their Mexico site, for example. There are similarly manufactured clones with even more built in games, though a number of the games often don't work. The built-in games on this clone are almost certainly the same as the ones included on Atari's 32-in-1 cart that came with PAL 2600 Jr models... but I'm curious to know if they aren't!

That's awesome! Love the Famiclones that look like other game systems. There are also clones that look like a PS1, a PS2, a PS3, an Xbox...

Likewise. Starbuck66 even checked in with me to make sure everything was okay when my post office failed to notify me of my package availability. Once retrieved from the PO Black Hole, everything was picture perfect! He even went above and beyond, picking up for me from a local game shop one of the uncommon VCS label variant carts on my want list. Thanks again!

Scott will have to jump in here with the info you two need, but I can attest to a totally smooth transaction with Scott (& Tim) from 2600connection.com -- I bought 5 VCS carts and a small stack of manuals from them back in April and was satisfied from start to end. I got one total price quote for everything (including shipping) so I can't say exactly what it was, but it was certainly reasonable. RickR, the copy of Porky's that I traded to you a little while ago originally came to me through that purchase.

Set your DVRs (or VCRs, if you want to do this right!)... I was reminded by this A.V. Club "oral history" of the Double Dare obstacle course that Nickelodeon will be airing a 30th anniversary Reunion Special tomorrow night at 9PM (I think this is for all USA time zones, but double check your local listings). Apparently if there's enough interest/ratings, this could end up being more than a one-off. I'd love for them to reboot this show!