Any 8-bit "cart only" collectors out there?

[jlnsctt]

I was just wondering if there is any cart collectors for the 8bit out there, and if so what are your collections like?comments on collecting for the 8bit? What are your rarest games?

I love the 8bit far and beyond the 2600 as the games are so much more "arcade perfect"....Anyone disagree?

Best Regards,Julian

[Clint Thompson]

I don't have a collection , but I do plan on collecting... I used to have about 15 carts and thought they were so much better then 2600/7800 *though don't get me wrong, 7800 is still awesome!*

 

I've got about 6 carts right now without an 800 or any Atari to play them on still waiting to get one somewhere! =)

 

Clint Thompson

[Lemmi]

Sadly i only have 7 carts for my 800xl, i would love to get more but, i just find it hard to remove the computer from its nice box

[Callipygous]

Generally, collecting for the 8-bit is cheaper than the 2600. There are simply less collectors. Don't breath a word of this to anyone I have most of the rare games like Star Maze and Fort Apocalyse and the Romox titles. A couple of Tigervision titles surfaced recently: Espial and Matterhorn (went for over $300). There are so few of these that they may loaner/review carts rather than released titles. Bounty Bob Strikes Back often goes for $100, although it is not really among the rarest titles. Just one of the most popular.

With a real computer, you also have a lot of language and utility carts. These can be extramely rare because they were often homebrews, burned on eproms and sent out on demand. Some collectors just ignore them.

[Thelen]

I try to collect them - if I can get them in box - have also some sealed titles. but i only have +/- 25 titles and 19 in box. it's a real problem if you live in holland, there are only the most common titles.

 

Thelen

[DuckandCover]

I just recently obtained my 800XL about four months ago, and have been buying carts for it off and on sonce then. My collection is still pretty small, but growing. I'd certainly agree that obtaining the carts that I have has been much less expensive than expanding my 2600 collection. Most of the 8-bit carts I have are in the common/uncommon range...but I've had a blast playing them! K-razy Shoot Out and Galaxian are my addictions at the moment.

[Jetboot Jack]

Hi!

 

I do collect 800/XL/XE carts - but focused on Atari 1st Party titles for the most part...

 

I have every Atari release (I've not bothered with dupes - like Donkey Kong in old and new XE packaging), plus a good smattering of 3rd party titles, I would estimate I have well over 1/2 of all the released games on cart...

 

I've not collected any of the NEW carts - since most are just exisiting games (like Preppie etc) dumped to cart - although I am tempted...

 

sTeVE

[SS]

I'd love to have a better collection of carts for my 800XL but the things are darned hard to find! So far I've only got ~12 or so.

[Markimus of K.]

I'd love to have a better collection of carts for my 800XL but the things are darned hard to find!  So far I've only got ~12 or so.

 

Yeah, I'm in the same range, these seem very hard to find.

[Tempest]

I've got a huge 8-bit cart collection. I grew up with an Atari 400 so its always been my favorite. My cart collection can be seen here: http://www.msu.edu/user/reicher6/8bit/8bitcarts.txt

 

I guess my rarest carts are: BBSB, Typo, Pastfinder and Des Chiffres Et Des Lettres. And of course my prototypes.

 

Tempest

[Goochman]

Count me a another BBSB owner - I also have a Diamond cart as well - Most everything else is common Atari releases

[Gregory DG]

Count me a another BBSB owner - I also have a Diamond cart as well - Most everything else is common Atari releases

 

Hmmm... Maybe BBSB isn't as rare as we think? I too have a copy. (Which I like to crow about since it's the only truly rare game I have. GIVEN to me by a friend at work.)

[flicky]

I have quite a large Atari 8-bit cart collection (around 160 or so). The rarest titles I have are probably Crystal Castles, Carnival Massacre, Gridrunner, Up'n'Down, and the XE Demo Cart.

 

Cheers

Jon

[Andre]

Hi,

 

At least there are two "pure" cartridge collectors: Mario's other Brother (Gene, are you still alive?) and Andrew Krieg. I collect carts too, beside disc and tape software. The rarest cartridge in my collection is "Matterhorn" from Tigervision (I think only two copies are known - worldwide).

 

Greets from Germany,

 

Andre

[Thelen]

is crystal castles rare ? i can't believe that, I have 2 boxed (blue xe box)

 

Thelen

[Tempest]

I'm not sure if Crystal Castles is really rare, but it's somewhat hard to find and rather expensive. I wouldn't thin it was any rarer than say BBSB.

 

Andre, did you get that Matterhorn off ebay? I remember seeing an auction for it. I wonder how many were made? It looks like it's a normal producton cart, I can't believe more haven't turned up by now.

 

Tempest

[Andre]

Tempest: Andre, did you get that Matterhorn off ebay?

 

Yes, but at ebay.de (it was sold with a bunch of other carts).

 

Tempest: It looks like it's a normal producton cart.

 

Mine has a Teldec-Carrere sticker (like Tigervision carts for the Atari 2600 sold in Germany) on the backside of the case. The rom itself is embedded in a blob of something I cannot identify (but it looks to be the same as used on the Springer carts). So, I think it has been sold/distributed officially (i.e., non-prototype).

 

The other Matterhorn was bought by a collector (?) from US.

 

Greets,

 

Andre

[+Mitch]

I'm a cartridge only collector, though I also have APE for playing disk games. I have around 60 or so carts. My rarest is probably Baseball from InHome Software.

 

Mitch

http://atari7800.atari.org

[betaphile]

I don't own any of those fancy hard to find carts these people are talking about. I own a Gorf cart not sure how rare these are I've been told they were only for the 800/400 series not sure though. I own two BASIC carts one brown one silver gave the other silver one to a friend. 800/400 carts I'm interested in hard to find, 2600 ones are easy to find mention ATARI 2600 to anybody they know what your talking about, mention ATARI 800/400 and get a blank stare or "HUH" response. I've only met a few people who know that one! Most interesting one of them had to be my high school technology teacher(Shop and Basic Electronics).

[Albert]

I'm a huge Atari 8-bit fan, as I really got into high gear learning how to program on an 800XL, ran a huge (for the time) BBS on one for several years, and played tons of games on 8-bits. I have a large cartridge collection, and collect all the non-game cartridges as well. I, too, have BBSB, which I seem to recall paying around $100 for on eBay (quite a bit less than the 5200 version nets). And I think BBSB is considerably rarer than Crystal Castles. Someday I'll catch up to Andrew Krieg.

 

I'm looking forward to adding the Atari 8-bit section to AtariAge.

 

..Al

[tyranthraxus]

Well I collect the carts, though I only have about 12, the problem is that

its very hard to find them locally unlike 2600 stuff. I've got a few

cassette games and disk games that I've picked up because I got them

mixed in with lots of 80s C=64 or IBM games which I also collect.

I'm just an old computer game collecting machine!!

 

I do enjoy the carts though and it seems that Atari really pushed the

cart market more than Commodore did. The Commodore cart slot is

in an awkward spot and I rarely saw C= carts back in the day. Where

atari put the slot quite prominently in the 400/800/XL in the begining

before seeming to abandon the cartridge for a short while.

 

John

[Rob Mitchell]

I have two carts for sale:

 

Atari IN-STORE DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM CARTRIDGE

CXL4019 vertical ATARI on right side of label. JCPenny sticker on back.

This is an early 400/800 metal back "<<<LEFT CARTRIDGE"

Very nice: $65.

 

Also boxed EASTERN FRONT with nice pristine manual. Outline ATARIRX8039 across bottom of label. This is an early 400/800 metal back "<<<LEFT CARTRIDGE" Box in nice condition. $20.

 

Reply by private email.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[video game addict]

I had 80 carts, but I sold off all my educational crap, Sesame Street titles, some typing game, etc. I'm down to around 70 or so now. I don't really consider myself a collector yet.

 

And I too had BBSB, but sold it recently since I already had a 5200 version(All complete and in the box ), and figured I'd rather have the money for other things. I think I paid like 70 cents for it when I found it at a thrift and it went for like $100 on ebay.

 

My rarest carts now, would have to be Crystal Castles, Captain Beeble, or Spy Hunter.

[Atar1G1rl]

As much as I love and adore my Atari 800 and 800XL, I never have gotten into collecting the carts for it! I have a bunch of games and other software on floppy, but I always ended up getting distracted by collecting carts for my consoles and other systems instead.

 

I only have the my BASIC cart, QIX, Frogger, Star Wars Arcade, Pac-Man, and I can't remember the other one... Bah! I need to try to build up the carts collection for it where I can since I have no idea how to repair any of my floppy drives if/when they go kaput!

[jlnsctt]

Hey everybody!!!!

 

Thanks for posting all of these great responses to this thread! I noticed that some people mentioned that these carts are hard to find, and I agree with that a little. They are more challenging than 2600 carts I think(no offence to my other favorite system!), which is half the fun of collecting.

Cart prices ,many of you seem to think are also cheaper than 2600 carts,which I agree with to a point. The rarest of carts still demand a hefty premium, though maybe not as high as a 2600 quadrun or such.

Nobody seemed to touch much on quality of games though. That is my main reason for collecting only for the 8 bit now. I just love the games!!!! I realize you all probably do as well,,,,I just thought it was kind of funny that it was not brought up as much as rarity/pricing.

As a quick side note to Al, I cannot wait until you have the 8bit guide up either!! Any idea when?

My own collection is neither huge nor tiny by comparison to this thread, I have around 70 games with Orc Attack being my rarest....But by no means my favorite!!!!horrible game.

My favorite game is probably Gyruss, I love classic arcade shooters!

Once again , thanks for all the great posts,and I hope all the other 8bit cart collectors will chip in on this thread so we can see who everybody is!!

Best Regards, Julian Scott