Kid A Posted February 10, 2017 Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) 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.... 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 February 10, 2017 by Kid A Justin, The Professor and Ballblaɀer 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballblaɀer Posted February 10, 2017 Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 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. Kid A, RickR, Justin and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid A Posted February 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 Hmmm.....so i was talking to the guy who bought it after the auction and I remember him saying that he had a long drive back to Arizona. Check out what I just found on eBay and where its shipping from. http://www.ebay.com/itm/162387603184 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted February 10, 2017 Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 Interesting stuff. "Porno Pong" is kind of a creepy name and idea. I'd rather get a more tame proto myself. Ballblaɀer and Kid A 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid A Posted February 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 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. Rowsdower70 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted February 10, 2017 Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 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 would have been interesting to see it properly disassembled & dumped though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid A Posted February 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 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 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowsdower70 Posted February 10, 2017 Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 $360 to $1800 is quite a markup. Quote "For you - Rowsdower from the 70 - have been appointed Omnivisioner of the Game Grid." ~ Atari Adventure Square Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid A Posted February 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 $360 to $1800 is quite a markup. Think he'll get it? Rowsdower70 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowsdower70 Posted February 11, 2017 Report Share Posted February 11, 2017 Think he'll get it? Nah. I doubt it. Ballblaɀer 1 Quote "For you - Rowsdower from the 70 - have been appointed Omnivisioner of the Game Grid." ~ Atari Adventure Square Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted February 11, 2017 Report Share Posted February 11, 2017 Seems doubtful. But who knows? Sure seems like for that kind of cabbage, you'd want full provenance of knowing it's history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted February 11, 2017 Report Share Posted February 11, 2017 I wonder if some of these loaners are from the company switching ownership sometimes. Still it's interesting Atari history and nice to see that these didn't not get destroyed so we can at least enjoy their presence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fergojisan Posted February 11, 2017 Report Share Posted February 11, 2017 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. Ballblaɀer and Justin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted February 14, 2017 Report Share Posted February 14, 2017 (edited) 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. Edited February 14, 2017 by Scott Stilphen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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